Using Economic Theory and Research to Better Understand Volunteer Behavior

The literature on the determinants of volunteering for nonprofit organizations is highly complex, and noconceptual model has received general support (Winniford, Carpenter, and Grider, 1997). Researchers often cite the huge economic impact that nonprofit organizations have on the economy as a whole. However, they seldom mention the small but potentially important body of research on the determinants of the supply of volunteer labor that appears in the economics literature. �The purpose of this article is to outline some of the economic arguments used to explain the determinants of volunteering and point out some cases where they may support other theories and concepts concerning the determinants of volunteering.     

HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Intervention for Women who have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence

A growing body of literature highlights the association between women who have experienced intimate partner abuse (IPA) and their heightened risk for HIV/AIDS (human immune deficiency syndrome/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome) infection. Finding HIV risk reduction strategies that are contextually relevant for this population is an important public policy priority. This qualitative study researched women who have experienced intimate partner abuse in order to develop a HIV/AIDS risk reduction intervention unique to their circumstances. This pilot study explored the critical components of such an intervention among a racially/ethnically stratified (African-American, Mexican-American and Anglo) sample of women (n=43) who have experienced IPA. Focus groups were conducted and transcribed, and a content analysis was used to identify major themes. In all five focus groups, participants viewed the research as interesting, good, beneficial, and/or important based on their perceptions of risk for infection. Respondents felt that they knew of ways to protect themselves from infection in non-abusive relationships; however, acknowledged the difficulties of doing so given the context of their abusive relationships. Examining the racial/ethnic differences across focus groups showed that the language used by women is quite variable. The ways in which survivors define rape, sexual abuse, and their own experiences are all unique; however, their actual experiences have many similarities. Discussed at length are the topics participants shared as critical in informing the design of an intervention and the relevance of the findings to social work clinical practice is explained.     

On some mixture models based on the Birnbaum-Saunders distribution and associated inference

In this paper, we consider three different mixture models based on the Birnbaum-Saunders (BS) distribution, viz., (1) mixture of two different BS distributions, (2) mixture of a BS distribution and a length-biased version of another BS distribution, and (3) mixture of a BS distribution and its length-biased version. For all these models, we study their characteristics including the shape of their density and hazard rate functions. For the maximum likelihood estimation of the model parameters, we use the EM algorithm. For the purpose of illustration, we analyze two data sets related to enzyme and depressive condition problems. In the case of the enzyme data, it is shown that Model 1 provides the best fit, while for the depressive condition data, it is shown all three models fit well with Model 3 providing the best fit.     

Toward Defining the Causal Role of Consciousness: Using Models of Memory and Moral Judgment from Cognitive Neuroscience to Expand the Sociological Dual‐Process Model

What role does “discursive consciousness” play in decision‐making? How does it interact with “practical consciousness?” These two questions constitute two important gaps in strong practice theory that extend from Pierre Bourdieu's habitus to Stephen Vaisey's sociological dual‐process model and beyond. The goal of this paper is to provide an empirical framework that expands the sociological dual‐process model in order to fill these gaps using models from cognitive neuroscience. In particular, I use models of memory and moral judgment that highlight the importance of executive functions and semantic memory. I outline each model as it pertains to the aforementioned gaps in strong practice theory. I then use the models from cognitive neuroscience to create an expanded dual‐process model that addresses how and when conscious mental systems override and interact with subconscious mental systems in the use of cultural ends for decision‐making. Finally, using this expanded model I address the sociological debate over the use of interview and survey data. My analysis reveals that surveys and interviews both elicit information encoded in declarative memory and differ primarily in the process of information retrieval that is required of respondents.     

Two-tailed asymptotic inferences for a proportion

This paper evaluates 29 methods for obtaining a two-sided confidence interval for a binomial proportion (16 of which are new proposals) and comes to the conclusion that: Wilson's classic method is only optimal for a confidence of 99%, although generally it can be applied when n≥50; for a confidence of 95% or 90%, the optimal method is the one based on the arcsine transformation (when this is applied to the data incremented by 0.5), which behaves in a very similar manner to Jeffreys’ Bayesian method. A simpler option, though not so good as those just mentioned, is the classic-adjusted Wald method of Agresti and Coull.     

Performance of coefficient of variation estimators in ranked set sampling

In this paper, we propose and evaluate the performance of different parametric and nonparametric estimators for the population coefficient of variation considering Ranked Set Sampling (RSS) under normal distribution. The performance of the proposed estimators was assessed based on the bias and relative efficiency provided by a Monte Carlo simulation study. An application in anthropometric measurements data from a human population is also presented. The results showed that the proposed estimators via RSS present an expressively lower mean squared error when compared to the usual estimator, obtained via Simple Random Sampling. Also, it was verified the superiority of the maximum likelihood estimator, given the necessary assumptions of normality and perfect ranking are met.     

More nonparametric Bayesian inference in applications

Discussion of “Nonparametric Bayesian Inference in Applications” by Peter Mueller, Fernando A. Quintana, Garritt Page: More Nonparametric Bayesian Inference in Applications.     

Are Private Interests Clouding the Peer-Review Process of the WHO Bulletin? A Case Study

Readers’ trust on the medical literature has been eroded, and journal editors and some editorial boards are taking measures to ensure that authors fully and accurately report research findings and disclose conflicts of interest. This article describes a case study in which the papers editor of the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin influenced the content of an article that had been approved by the external reviewers. The editor objected to the publication of the large price differentials of the new molecular entities (NMEs) across the Latin American countries where they had been tested and the limited added therapeutic value of the NMEs that had been assessed by independent drug bulletins. This article summarizes the exchanges with WHO staff and posits the hypothesis that the WHO Bulletin might be affected by the shifts in WHO financing. Several authors have raised concern about the impact of financial conflicts of interest in WHO activities in the field of nutrition, intellectual property, and in the emergency response to the flu pandemic. Moreover, it has been reported that powerful WHO contributors pressured WHO into revising its publication policy. This is the first time that authors question if these conflicts of interest are also affecting the editorial independence of the WHO Bulletin.