Using Scanner Data to Construct CP1 Basic Component Indexes

This article considers how scanner data could be used in constructing component indexes for the U.S. Consumer Price Index. One product, coffee, in two cities generates over 1.8 million observations in just over two years, so coping with the sheer volume of data would be a challenge. Some other findings are (1) some aggregation of prices into “unit-value” averages is necessary for practical reasons and to avoid bias, (2) chained Laspeyres indexes are very high, (3) “modified” Laspeyres indexes have some upward bias but much less than a true Laspeyres index, (4) Fisher ideal or modified Edgeworth indexes perform well, and (5) aggregating prices across outlets to form city-level unit values reduces the discrepancies between index-number formulas.     

Goal Orientation and Performance of Family Businesses

Family businesses consist of family members pooling their resources together to achieve a particular goal for the family business. The objectives of this study were to profile the characteristics of the family businesses and business owners by owners’ goal orientation and to examine the influence of goal orientation on family business performance. The mean differences in values of business size, business age, and business liabilities were statistically significant by owners’ goal orientation. The major findings of this study suggest that owner goal orientation had a statistically significant effect on business performance. Specifically, setting a business goal such as growth or a positive reputation with customers had a significant and positive impact on family business performance.     

Long-term low-dose dehydroepiandrosterone replacement therapy in aging males with partial androgen deficiency

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) age-related withdrawal is very likely to be involved in the aging process and the onset of age-related diseases, giving rise to the question of whether preventing or compensating the decline of these steroids may have endocrine and clinical benefits. The aim of the present trial was to evaluate the endocrine, neuroendocrine and clinical consequences of a long-term (1 year), low-dose (25?mg/day) replacement therapy in a group of aging men who presented the clinical characteristics of partial androgen deficiency (PADAM). Circulating DHEA, DHEAS, androstenedione, total testosterone and free testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, allopregnanolone, estrone, estradiol, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), cortisol, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels were evaluated monthly to assess the endocrine effects of the therapy, while β-endorphin values were used as a marker of the neuroendocrine effects. A Kupperman questionnaire was performed to evaluate the subjective symptoms before and after treatment.

The results showed a great modification of the endocrine profile; with the exception of cortisol levels, which remained unchanged, DHEA, DHEAS, androstenedione, total and free testosterone, DHT, progesterone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone, estrone, estradiol, GH, IGF-1 and β-endorphin levels increased significantly with respect to baseline values, while FSH, LH and SHBG levels showed a significant decrease. The Kupperman score indicated a progressive improvement in mood, fatigue and joint pain.

In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that 25?mg/day of DHEA is able to cause significant changes in the hormonal profile and clinical symptoms and can counteract the age-related decline of endocrine and neuroendocrine functions. Restoring DHEA levels to young adult values seems to benefit the age-related decline in physiological functions but, however promising, placebo-controlled trials are required to confirm these preliminary results.     

Optimal 3×3 factorial and 3-ray designs for drug interaction experiments with dichotomous responses

The only information available to an investigator designing an initial combination drug study is for each drug used singly. The designs that we investigated are constructed using this information. Within the major body of the paper we consider experiments using nine points arrived at from 3x3 factorial and 3-ray design plans for which D-optimal solutions are obtained under the hypothesis of no interaction.     

On the use and evaluation of prospective scan methods for health-related surveillance

Summary.  We review some prospective scan-based methods that are used in health-related applications to detect increased rates of mortality or morbidity and to detect bioterrorism or active clusters of disease. We relate these methods to the use of the moving average chart in industrial applications. Issues that are related to the performance evaluation of spatiotemporal scan-based methods are discussed. In particular we clarify the definition of a recurrence interval and demonstrate that this measure does not reflect some important aspects of the statistical performance of scan-based, and other, surveillance methods. Some research needs in this area are given.     

Reasoning With Case Studies: Issues Of An Aging Workforce

Case studies are an ideal research approach to generate in-depth and contextualized data. Many specific data collection approaches can be incorporated to gather data through a case study, but the information so gathered is interpreted in terms of a single case. When a set of case studies is conducted on a particular research theme, the question arises as to what kinds of inferences can be made with a small number of cases. Problems of inference are increased when the cases have been selected opportunistically or haphazardly and when the universe of all potential cases cannot readily be defined. Charles Ragin has distinguished between the logic of multivariate analysis and the logic of comparative case analysis. Drawing on this distinction, this article will describe the ways in which inferences can be drawn, and the nature of such inferences, from a multiple case study approach. Reasoning from multiple case studies is an inductive process that uses comparisons to generate hypotheses and to provide limited tests through the principle of falsification. This approach was used in developing a synthesizing report based on seven large case studies from the project, “Issues of an Aging Workforce.” Five Canadian and two American case studies were conducted in corporate settings in different economic sectors. The case studies used qualitative methods (focus groups and key informant interviews) and survey data from employees and managers. Thus, the logic of multivariate analysis was used, along with inductive reasoning with qualitative data, within cases, and a logic of comparative case analysis when seeking to make and test generalizations based on the set of seven cases.     

A model of numbers of births in three countries,with persistent forty‐year cycles

A non‐linear model of fertility is described, which was derived from data for more than a century from England and Wales, New Zealand, and the U.S.A. The demographic transition is modelled with a logistic function, and age‐specific fertility rates are estimated using lognormal distributions. The stepwise inclusion of a partner availability estimate in the model showed that it accounts for twenty‐nine percent of otherwise unexplained variance. Projected future births stabilise in sustained or limit cycles with periods a little longer than 40 years, and amplitudes at least 7% of the mean. The necessary conditions for cycle persistence are outlined on a graph of maximum and minimum fertility parameters.     

Costs of Treating Depression With Individual Versus Family Therapy

Depression is one of the most common concerns that bring clients to treatment. Although marriage and family therapy has been shown to be an effective treatment, little research exists regarding the cost‐effectiveness of related services. In this study, we examined claims data for 164,667 individuals diagnosed with depression to determine (a) differences in the cost of treating depression according to type of therapy and license type, (b) differences in recidivism rates by age, gender, type of therapy, and type of mental health professional, and (c) differences in cost‐effectiveness by therapy modality and type of professional. The results showed that services provided by marriage and family therapists resulted in the lowest recidivism rate, and family therapy services were the least expensive.     

Plagiarism and the Web

TechNotes is a new occasional column in the Journal of Social Work Education designed to bring to readers’ attention new developments in technology of relevance to social work education. In this first column, Robert F. Vernon, associate professor, School of Social Work, Indiana University/Purdue University at Indianapolis, Shirley Bigna, assistant director, Krannert Memorial Library, University of Indianapolis, and Marshall L. Smith, professor, Social Work Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, describe technology that can help educators to deal with plagiarism.