Quasiextinction Probabilities as a Measure of Impact on Population Growth

A probabilistic language based on stochastic models of population growth is proposed for a standard language to be used in environmental assessment. Environmental impact on a population is measured by the probability of quasiextinction. Density-dependent and independent models are discussed. A review of one-dimensional stochastic population growth models, the implications of environmental autocorrelation, finite versus "infinite" time results, age-structured models, and Monte Carlo simulations are included. The finite time probability of quasiextinction is presented for the logistic model. The sensitivity of the result with respect to the mean growth rate and the amplitude of environmental fluctuations are examined. Stochastic models of population growth form a basis for formulating reasonable criteria for environmental impact estimates.     

Analysis of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission Act

The following article by Keith Whyte represents the first of occasionally reprinted publications that are relevant to important historical events in the field of gambling studies. This article describes the act that led to the formation of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. This Commission released its findings to the President and Congress of the United States during June of 1999.     

Task-related and Partner-related Selection Criteria in UK International Joint Ventures

This paper identifies partner selection criteria in a sample of UK international joint ventures with Western European, US and Japanese partners. Rankings of selection criteria are derived for the sample using a typology that distinguishes between task-related and partner-related selection criteria. The most important task-related criteria are found to be access to knowledge of local market, access to distribution channels, access to links with major buyers and access to knowledge of local culture. The most important partner-related selection criteria are trust between the top management teams, relatedness of partner's business and reputation. A parsimonious set of selection criteria for the sample is provided by means of factor analysis. Hypotheses are tested on the relationship between the relative importance of selection criteria and a number of characteristics of the sample—partner nationality, industry of the joint ventures, joint-venture purpose, geographical location of the venture, initial approach for joint-venture formation and relative partner size. The greatest variation in the relative importance of selection criteria occurs with the geographic location of the joint venture.     

The Impact of Imperfect Processes on Production Run Times

This paper investigates the interaction between the economics of production and imperfections in the production process. Specifically, this paper is the first to devise a model in an attempt to provide managers with guidelines to choose the appropriate production run times to buffer against both the production of defective items and stoppages occurring due to machine breakdowns. In addition to providing several structural properties of the model, we show that a manager will always incur a cost penalty when (s)he uses the results of two oft‐cited models‐the EMQ (Economic Order/Manufacturing Quantity) and the NR‐E (No‐Resumption, Exponential machine breakdown)‐to determine production run times.     

Normality testing: two new tests using L-moments

Establishing that there is no compelling evidence that some population is not normally distributed is fundamental to many statistical inferences, and numerous approaches to testing the null hypothesis of normality have been proposed. Fundamentally, the power of a test depends on which specific deviation from normality may be presented in a distribution. Knowledge of the potential nature of deviation from normality should reasonably guide the researcher's selection of testing for non-normality. In most settings, little is known aside from the data available for analysis, so that selection of a test based on general applicability is typically necessary. This research proposes and reports the power of two new tests of normality. One of the new tests is a version of the R-test that uses the L-moments, respectively, L-skewness and L-kurtosis and the other test is based on normalizing transformations of L-skewness and L-kurtosis. Both tests have high power relative to alternatives. The test based on normalized transformations, in particular, shows consistently high power and outperforms other normality tests against a variety of distributions.     

Father-daughter incest: data from an anonymous computerized survey

Retrospective data were entered anonymously by 1,521 adult women using computer-assisted self-interview. Nineteen were classified as victims of father-daughter incest, and 241 were classified as victims of sexual abuse by an adult other than their father before reaching 18 years of age. The remaining 1,261 served as controls. Incest victims were more likely than controls to endorse feeling damaged, psychologically injured, estranged from one or both parents, and shamed by others when they tried to open up about their experience. They had been eroticized early on by the incest experience, and it interfered with their adult sexuality. Incest victims experienced coitus earlier than controls and after reaching age 18 had more sex partners and were more likely to have casual sex outside their primary relationship and engage in sex for money than controls. They also had worse scores on scales measuring depression, sexual satisfaction, and communication about sex than controls.