On equivalence of fractional factorial designs based on singular value decomposition

The singular value decomposition of a real matrix always exists and is essentially unique. Based on the singular value decomposition of the design matrices of two general 2-level fractional factorial designs, new necessary and sufficient conditions for the determination of combinatorial equivalence or non-equivalence of the corresponding designs are derived. Equivalent fractional factorial designs have identical statistical properties for estimation of factorial contrasts and for model fitting. Non-equivalent designs, however, may have the same statistical properties under one particular model but different properties under a different model. Results extend to designs with factors at larger number of levels.     

Work stressors and cardiovascular disease

Over the past 20 years, an extensive body of research evidence has documented that psychosocial work stressors are risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease. These stressors, which appear to be increasing in prevalence, include job strain (the combination of psychological job demands and low job control), imbalance between job efforts and rewards, threat-avoidant vigilant work, and long work hours. This article reviews the evidence linking these stressors with hypertension and CVD, and the physiological and social psychological mechanisms underlying the associations. Also described are methods for measuring work stressors and new, more accurate techniques for measuring blood pressure. Finally, strategies for reducing work stressors and preventing hypertension and CVD are reviewed. These include clinical assessment, worksite health promotion, work organization interventions, legal approaches and work site surveillance.     

Continuous and robust measures of the overweight epidemic: 1971–2000

This article considers alternate measures of the overweight epidemic that are more robust to measurement error, continuous in the body-mass index (BMI) at the overweight threshold, and sensitive to changes in the BMI distribution. The measures suggest that prevalence rates may understate the severity of the overweight problem. Since 1971, the prevalence of overweight has increased by 37%, while the distribution-sensitive measure has increased by 173%. Furthermore, although Hispanics have the highest prevalence of overweight, the distribution-sensitive measures reveal that overweight Hispanics exceed the overweight threshold by the smallest proportion (21%), whereas overweight non-Hispanic blacks exceed the threshold by 33%, on average.     

Risk and the welfare state

The British welfare state developed as a state-centred response to the problem of handling the risks encountered in a typical life-course. The influential work of Giddens and others implies that the traditional welfare state is under attack from two directions: a changing international politico-economic environment limits the freedom of national governments to pursue independent policies involving relatively high taxation to finance social spending. At the same time, changes in the experience of risk and declining confidence in the expertise of welfare state planners and professionals undermine support for state-centred solutions. This approach fails to acknowledge that available non-state services are often inadequate to meet many everyday life risks and that the authority of private sector advisers, insurers and professionals is also increasingly open to question. This article discusses whether people reject welfare state solutions to problems of risk in the context of research on the perceptions and behaviour of people buying or selling their homes, considering provision for long-term care needs and defrauding social security carried out by the ESRC's Economic Beliefs and Behaviour programme. Individual responses endorse the continued provision of state welfare in order to meet unprovided risks alongside disenchantment with the record of both state and private professionals and planners and awareness that state retrenchment requires greater individual responsibility for meeting one's own needs. The theory of risk society requires development to recognize that citizens are not necessarily alienated from state welfare.     

Management and Business Ethics: A Critique and Integration of Ethical Decision-making Models

This paper critically reviews the literature relating to the management of ethics within organizations and identifies, in line with other authors, a gap between theory and practice in the area. It highlights the role of management (both as an academic discipline and from a practitioner perspective) in bridging this gap and views managers, with their sense of individual ethical agency, as a key locus of ethics within organizations. The paper aims to address the theory–practice gap by surveying the business ethics literature in order to identify, draw together and integrate existing theory and research, with a particular emphasis upon models of ethical decision-making and their relationship to work values. Such an endeavour is necessary, not only because of the relative neglect of management practice by business ethics researchers, but also because of the current lack of integration in the field of business ethics itself. The paper outlines some of the main methodological challenges in the area and suggests how some of these may be overcome. Finally, it concludes with a number of suggestions as to how the theory–practice gap can be addressed through the development of a research agenda, based upon the previous work reviewed.     

The teaching-family model: Research and dissemination in a service program

The Teaching-Family Model serves as an example of how research can be used as feedback to change a residential treatment program for youths. Further, research can serve to modify training and evaluation of the program as well. The feedback loop established by continual research and evaluation serves to improve program quality, thus facilitating dissemination as the model is adopted by more agencies.From 1967 to 1980, the Teaching-Family Model expanded from one group home in Kansas to more than 150 homes across the United States. Through both successes and failures, proponents of the Teaching-Family Model learned that research and evaluation can and must be a part of the treatment delivery system rather than an occasional adjunct.     

TERRITORY, VILLAGE IDENTITY, AND THE MODERN ESKIMO REINDEER MANAGER

Depuis le dCbut du xx sikcle, les Esquimaux de 1'Alaska occidental font Yelevage du renne domestiqu6. En d6pit de cette tradition bien ktablie, Ctre propriktaire d'un troupeau n'est pas encore c o n p comme une categorie professionnelle spCcialiske. L'origine territoriale des habitants, en tant que facteurtraditionnel orientant les relations sociales, continue d'Ctre le facteur pripondkrant. De la mCme manikre, la gkrance de l'entreprise d'ilevage du renne asuivi une ligne d'kvolution propre. Les produits du renne sont souvent transform& et distribuks B partir de critkres qui sont dict6s au propriktaire par ses
responsabilites communautaires.
Les planificateurs de l'Etat de l'Alaska veulent promouvoir l'industrie de 1'Clevage du renne. L'ensemble de ces facteurs converge pour placer le gCrant esquimau B l'avant-plan, car il doit reconcilier les exigences conflictuelles deson milieu culture1 en voie de transition.
Since the turn of this century, domesticated reindeer have been raised and marketed by western Alaskan Eskimo. In spite of its rather long history, native reindeer ownership has not become a specialized occupational category. The traditional criteria defining social relations - territorial origins - continues to enter these relations as a determinant force. Similarly, reindeer enterprise management has evolved uniquely. Reindeer products are often processed and distributed according to criteria imposed upon the owner by his village responsibilities.
State of Alaska planners are now hoping to develop domesticated reindeer as a local resource. These forces combine to place the Eskimo manager in the spotlight, as he seeks to reconcile conflicting demands from his changing cultural environment.     

Testing the efficacy of the theory of planned behavior to explain strength training in older adults

The purpose of this study was to use the constructs of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing older adults' participation in strength training. Two hundred men and women age 55 years and older were purposely sampled from seniors' centers in Ontario Canada. Participants completed a TPB questionnaire and reported their current physical activity participation. It was hypothesized that perceived behavioral control followed by attitude would be the strongest determinants of strength-training intentions and that intention would be the strongest determinant of strength-training behavior. Regression analyses revealed that subjective norm and perceived behavioral control explained 42% of the variance in intention and intention explained 40% of the variance in behavior. Gender and current strength-training participation did not significantly moderate the relationship between the TPB variables. The results suggest that interventions targeting subjective norm and perceived control might be helpful in promoting strength-training behavior among older adults.