Visual behavior differences in females as a function of self-perceived expertise

The present study investigated the effects of expert power on subjects' visual behavior while speaking and while listening. Female subjects were selected for dyads on the basis of their areas of expertise. Each pair was matched so that the topic on which one subject felt expert was an area in which the other subject felt inexpert. When discussing an area of expertise, subjects exhibited equivalent rates of look-speak and look-listen behaviors; when discussing areas of inexpertise or neutral topics, subjects looked less while speaking and while listening. Factors contributing to visual dominance behavior were considered.The considerable assistance of Deborah Vinicur and Deborah Leuchter is gratefully acknowledged.     

On confidence intervals for nonmonotone parametric functions and an application to the squared mean of the normal distribution

Consider the problem of obtaining a confidence interval for some function g(θ) of an unknown parameter θ, for which a (1-α)-confidence interval is given. If g(θ) is one-to-one the solution is immediate. However, if g is not one-to-one the problem is more complex and depends on the structure of g. In this note the situation where g is a nonmonotone convex function is considered. Based on some inequality, a confidence interval for g(θ) with confidence level at least 1-α is obtained from the given (1-α) confidence interval on θ. Such a result is then applied to the n(μ, σ ²) distribution with σ known. It is shown that the coverage probability of the resulting confidence interval, while being greater than 1-α, has in addition an upper bound which does not exceed Θ(3z_1−α/2)-α/2.     

ATOD prevention programming in the non-school hours and adolescent substance use

To reduce problems associated with youth substance use, Indiana developed funding streams and infrastructure to facilitate coordination of statewide prevention efforts. These prevention efforts aimed at youth include programming in the non-school hours. To examine the relationship between these efforts and youth substance abuse, students indicating participation in one or more prevention activities were compared to non-participant students. Results revealed that participating middle school students were less likely to have reported use of tobacco than their non-participating peers. Also, participation in prevention activities in the non-school hours was related to a lower likelihood of alcohol use among high school students.     

Predicting Intentions to Report Administrative and Disciplinary Infractions: Applying the Reasoned Action Model

The present study focuses on the reporting ofadministrative and disciplinary irregularities. Thereasoned action model (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) isapplied to predict officers' intentions to report illegal or irregular activities in the IsraeliDefense Forces. The findings show that although themodel's two predictors (attitude toward reporting andsubjective norm) significantly predicted intention to report, the effect of subjective norm wasmuch stronger than the effect of the attitude component.In spite of the military's strong formal system andalthough social forces have great potential to impose the reporting norm on an organization'smembers, actual reporting does not meet expectations.The results are discussed in light of the organizationalculture that develops as the combat unit struggles to survive in an extremely turbulentenvironment.     

Disciplining bioethics: towards a standard of methodological rigor in bioethics research

Contemporary bioethics research is often described as multi- or interdisciplinary. Disciplines are characterized, in part, by their methods. Thus, when bioethics research draws on a variety of methods, it crosses disciplinary boundaries. Yet each discipline has its own standard of rigor--so when multiple disciplinary perspectives are considered, what constitutes rigor? This question has received inadequate attention, as there is considerable disagreement regarding the disciplinary status of bioethics. This disagreement has presented five challenges to bioethics research. Addressing them requires consideration of the main types of cross-disciplinary research, and consideration of proposals aiming to ensure rigor in bioethics research.     

Second order minimax estimation of the mean

In this study we consider the problem of the improvement of the sample mean in the second order minimax estimation sense for a mean belonging to an unrestricted mean parameter space R⁺${\mathbb{R}}^{+}$. We solve this problem for the class of natural exponential families (NEF's) whose variance functions (VF's) are regular at zero and at infinity. Such a class of VF's (or NEF's) is huge and contains (among others): Polynomial VF's (e.g., quadratic VF's in the Morris class, cubic VF's in the Letac&Mora class and VF's in the Hinde–Demétrio class); VF's belonging to the Tweedie class with power VF's, VF's belonging to the Babel class and many others. Moreover, we show that if the canonical parameter space of the corresponding NEF is R$\mathbb{R}$ (which is obviously the case if the support of the NEF is bounded), then the sample mean as an estimator of the mean cannot be further improved. This work presents an original constructive methodology and provides with constructive tools enabling to obtain explicit forms of the second order minimax estimators as well as the forms of the related weight functions. Our work establishes a substantial generalization of the results obtained so far in the literature. Illustrations of the resulting methods are provided and a simulation-based analysis is presented for the negative binomial case.     

A characterization of the exponential distribution by means of coincidence of location and truncated densities

In this note we provide a characterization of the exponential distribution by means of the coincidence of location and truncated densities. We provide two proofs. The first is obtained directly via simple calculus while the second hinges on the characterization of the exponential distribution by its constant hazard rate.     

Challenges to care coordination posed by the use of multiple health IT applications

Coordinating care for hospitalized patients requires the use of multiple sources of information. Using a macroergonomic framework (i.e. the work system model), we conducted interviews and observations of care managers involved in care coordination across transitions of care. When information is distributed across multiple health IT applications, care managers experience a range of challenges, including organizational barriers, technology design problems, skills and knowledge issues, and task performance demands (i.e. issues related to individual information processing and management and sharing of information). These challenges can be used as a checklist to evaluate the proposed IT infrastructure that will allow the integration of multiple health IT applications and, therefore, support coordination across transitions of care.     

Evidence-based practice in social work: perceptions and attitudes among Norwegian social workers

Although the concept of evidence-based practice (EBP) eludes precise definition, it is used as a trademark label to ensure that practice is based on science and thereby effective and of high quality. Proponents of EBP have proposed that both education and practice in social work should be transformed according to the principle of EBP. They attribute critical opposition to EBP to a lack of knowledge of what EBP is. In this article, we endeavour to clarify the concept and present results from a survey among social workers (N?=?2060) from Norway. The survey results show that although many have heard of the concept, few have precise knowledge about it. However, the more educated social workers are (master’s level), the clearer their opinions, both critical and non-critical. The results are discussed in relation to neo-liberal governance and development of social work.     

The concept of international migration as reflected in data collection systems

The problems of statistics relating to international migration have been well documented. It is a fact that the concepts of legal nationality, residence, place of birth, time, and purpose of stay underlying those statistics vary considerably, not only between countries but even within countries through time or between different sources of information within the same country. The crusade to achieve greater homogeneity in the concepts underlying flow statistics on international migration was started at least 55 years ago, but despite some encouraging developments, it is unlikely that homogeneity will be achieved during the rest of this century. This article analyzes how these 5 basic concepts are used to characterize migration. Statistical systems generally use at least 1 or more of these concepts to identify migrants from other international travelers. A review of these basic concepts reveals the great influence that legal or regulatory considerations exert, whether explicitly or implicitly, in their definitions. Perhaps one of the most serious problems in understanding how migration is viewed and measured by national statistical systems is to disentangle the legal or quasilegal nature of certain concepts from those that can be taken at face value. The tendency to sift from their meaning all legal impurities and thus transform them into reflections of actual events operates under the assumption that migrants are free agents, able to determine their durations of stay, absence, or the type of work that they will perform. In reality, the freedom of migrants stops where the State's prerogatives start, and statistics often reflect an uneasy compromise between the 2. Despite their many deficiencies, statistics on international migration are a rich source of information, not only about quantitative aspects of the process, but also about how the process is conceived by their generators. A careful evaluation of their meaning, scope, and limitations can be, therefore, a rewarding exercise.