Captain George Henry Lane‐Fox Pitt‐Rivers and the Prehistory of the IUSSP

Captain George Henry Lane‐Fox Pitt‐Rivers, Secretary General of the International Union for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems (IUSIPP, 1928–ca. 1942), the precursor of today's International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP, 1947–present), was a central figure in population science during the 1930s. With his pro‐Nazi activism, anti‐Semitism, Red‐baiting, and failure to leave any intellectual mark of consequence, he is an idiosyncratic and in some ways unattractive subject. However, an examination of Pitt‐Rivers's role as Secretary General reveals a wealth of information about the IUSIPP as it lurched toward collapse. It casts light, as well, on the struggle for scientific legitimacy between eugenic racialists and reformers in the 1930s, a struggle in which he played a controversial and divisive role. Using a combination of newly discovered and old archival material, this article traces Pitt‐Rivers's involvement with the Union, the British eugenics establishment, Nazi population science, and far‐right British politics during this turbulent decade when demography emerged as an international discipline.     

An Alternative FMEA Method for Simple and Accurate Ranking of Failure Modes

Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a methodology for prioritizing actions to mitigate the effects of failures in products and processes. Although originally used by product designers, FMEA is currently more widely used in industry in Six Sigma quality improvement efforts. Two prominent criticisms of the traditional application of FMEA are that the risk priority number (RPN) used to rank failure modes is an invalid measure according to measurement theory, and that the RPN does not weight the three decision criteria used in FMEA. Various methods have been proposed to mitigate these concerns, including many using fuzzy logic. We develop a new ranking method in this article using a data‐elicitation technique. Furthermore, we develop an efficient means of eliciting data to reduce the effort associated with the new method. Subsequently, we conduct an experimental study to evaluate that proposed method against the traditional method using RPN and against an approach using fuzzy logic.     

Exploring social constructions of followership: A qualitative study

This study adopts a qualitative approach to deconstruct the meaning of followership. Interviews were conducted with employees in various industries to examine how individuals socially construct their roles as followers and to explore followership schemas and contextual influences that relate to these constructions. Results suggest that while some individuals socially construct definitions around passivity, deference and obedience, others emphasize the importance of constructively questioning and challenging their leaders. With regard to personal qualities that are thought to make followers effective, major themes such as obedience, expressing opinions, and taking initiative were found to be most disparate across different groups of followers. Results also revealed that contextual factors may affect both followership constructions and behavior in the follower role. These findings have important implications regarding a need to examine the construct of followership in leadership research, as well as raise interesting possibilities for advancing an “expanded” view of leadership in organizations.     

The economics of adoption of children from foster care

Federal initiatives since 1996 have intensified the efforts of states to achieve adoption for children in foster care. For many waiting children, the path to adoption is long. The authors offer an economic analysis of adoption from foster care, with an emphasis on the reasons why achieving the goal of adoption for all waiting children may be so difficult. The authors then estimate the determinants of adoptions from foster care across the states using data for fiscal years 1996 and 1997. Adoption assistance subsidy rates stand out as the most important determinant of adoptions from foster care, followed by use of alternatives (e.g., intercountry adoption). Adoptive matching on the basis of race does not appear to prevent adoptions from foster care in the aggregate, leaving flaws in the matching process, such as a lack of information and difficulty using the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC), as a primary reason why children wait.     

Bayesian utilitarianism and probability homogeneity

This paper investigates, within the axiomatic framework of Jeffrey-Bolker decision theory, two kinds of conditions and the relation between them: (1) The Utilitarian condition that social rankings of prospects be representable by an expected utility function that is a weighted sum of the expected utility functions representing individual rankings; and (2) Homogeneity conditions on the probabilities and preferences of individuals. In particular, we show that identity of individuals’ probabilities is necessary and sufficient for the Utilitarian condition to hold and that the homogeneity of individuals’ probabilities can be derived from a Pareto condition on the relation between individual and social rankings, provided that these rankings are separable in a particular sense.This paper has considerably benefited from comments by John Broome, Isaac Levi and an anonymous referee. Special thanks to Philippe Mongin who provided encouragement, help and careful criticism throughout the development of this paper.     

In Memoriam: Frank Wilcoxon

A mosaic is a graphical display of cross-classified data in which each count is represented by a rectangle of area proportional to the count. The positions and sides of the rectangles are set to encourage comparisons between counts in the figures. Mosaics are useful for discovering unusually high or small counts and for discovering dependencies between variables. In principle, mosaics may be used for any number of cross-classifying variables, but six seems to be a practical maximum. A mosaic is given for a four-way classification of Nielsen ratings.     

Influence of Satisfaction with Services on Assisted Living Resident Satisfaction

The purpose of our investigation was to provide insight into the service domains that most heavily influenced self-reported resident satisfaction among residents in assisted living facilities. Data was gathered from the 2008 Press Ganey Assisted Living Survey. Satisfaction with service domains was measured using 7 subscales addressing the areas of activities, staff attentiveness, meals, apartment space, facility attractiveness, personal issues, and management. Generalized linear mixed models were specified to assess the influence of demographics, functional status, self-rated health, and satisfaction with service domains on resident satisfaction. In the final multivariate model self-rated health, independence with laundry and finances, and satisfaction with aides, meals and management demonstrated a significant positive effect on resident satisfaction. As the number of assisted living facilities continues to increase, senior management would be wise to consider which domains of service are particularly salient in assisted living environments.     

The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Young Adult Provision on Childbearing: Evidence From Tax Data

We use panel U.S. tax data spanning 2008–2013 to study the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) young adult provision on an important demographic outcome: childbearing. The impact is theoretically ambiguous: gaining insurance may increase access to contraceptive services while also reducing the out-of-pocket costs of childbirth. Because employer-reported U.S. Wage and Tax Statements (W-2 forms) record access to employer-provided benefits, we can examine the impact of the coverage expansion by focusing on young adults whose parents have access to benefits. We compare those who are slightly younger than the age threshold with those who are slightly older. Our results suggest that the ACA young adult provision led to a modest decrease in childbearing.     

Using process evaluation to determine effectiveness of participatory ergonomics training interventions in construction

The construction industry continues to experience high rates of musculoskeletal injuries despite the widespread promotion of ergonomic solutions. Participatory ergonomics (PE) has been suggested as one approach to engage workers and employers for reducing physical exposures from work tasks but a systematic review of participatory ergonomics programs showed inconclusive results.. A process evaluation is used to monitor and document the implementation of a program and can aid in understanding the relationship between the program elements and the program outcomes. The purpose of this project is to describe a proposed process evaluation for use in a participatory ergonomic training program in construction workers and to evaluate its utility in a demonstration project among floor layers.