Pathways among Caregiver Education,Household Resources,and Infant Growth in 39 Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Caregiver education is known to relate to the growth of children, but possible mediation mechanisms of this association are poorly characterized and generally lack empirical support. We test whether instructional capital (caregiver education) leads to improved infant growth through availability of physical capital (household resources) across a wide swath of low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC). Using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, we explore relations among caregiver education, household resources, and infant (M age = 0.99 years) growth in 117,881 families living in 39 LMIC. Overall, household resources mediated 76% of the small association between caregiver education and infant growth. When disaggregated by countries characterized by low, medium, and high levels of human development (as indexed by average life expectancy, education, and gross domestic product), household resources mediated 48–78% of the association between caregiver education and infant growth. Caregiver education had effects on infant growth through household resources in countries characterized by low, medium, and high levels of human development; for girls and boys; and controlling for indexes of infant feeding and health.     

Salt tolerance of common green roof and green wall plants

Detrimental effects of road deicing salt on vegetation are well known and have been well studied, with the exception of typical green roof plants, which could experience damage on green roofs with public access and green walls near roadways in cold climates. Two studies were conducted comparing salt tolerance of five Sedum species, two Allium species and a mixture of turf grasses when exposed to six levels of salinity applied either as foliar spray or as liquid applications to the soil. A third study compared salt tolerance when plants were placed at three distances from a major highway. Response variables measured included survival, a health score from 0 to 5, and a growth index. Allium cernuum, A. senscens and S. ellecombianum were relatively tolerant of both saline spray and soil inundation at high saline concentrations in terms of survival, mean health scores, percentage of healthy plants and growth index. Sedum reflexum was much less tolerant of saline spray at higher salinity concentrations and soil inundation regardless of salinity levels. Distance from the road had no effect on plant survival rates but plants farthest from the road had higher mean health scores and a greater percentage of healthy plants than plants closer to the highway.     

Comments on “bootstrapping time series models”

We take issue with the main suggestion in Li and Maddala (LiMa) that bootstrapping residuals is always the preferred approach and question some of their guidelines. We show that it can be potentially misleading to mimic the autocovariance structure of residuals, since it can be very different from that of true errors. We emphasize that the residuals are sensitive to model misspecification and generally not a part of the information set. We make constructive suggestions and propose a semiparametric method.     

Numerical optimization and surface estimation with imprecise function evaluations

This paper presents an investigation of a method for minimizing functions of several parameters where the function need not be computed precisely. Motivated by problems requiring the optimization of negative log-likelihoods, we also want to estimate the (inverse) Hessian at the point of minimum. The imprecision of the function values impedes the application of conventional optimization methods, and the goal of Hessian estimation adds a lot to the difficulty of developing an algorithm. The present class of methods is based on statistical approximation of the functional surface by a quadratic model, so is similar in motivation to many conventional techniques. The present work attempts to classify both problems and algorithmic tools in an effort to prescribe suitable techniques in a variety of situations. The codes are available from the authors' web site http://macnash.admin.uottawa.ca/~rsmin/.     

Minimum-wage increases and employment in franchised fast-food restaurants

Card and Krueger’s (1994) result that employment is unaffected by an increase in the minimum wage in the franchised fast-food restaurant industry appears to be inconsistent with conventional economic analysis. I take a closer look at the franchised fast-food industry and argue that the presence of brand-name capital does not allow franchisees to substitute away from labor or decrease the level of services provided to customers — employment levels in franchised fast-food restaurants are closely tied to sales.     

Challenges for Creating Community Career Partnerships: Perspectives From Practitioners

Community career partnerships can draw into working alignment the critical aspects of career development for students (K‐16) and the key social contexts that either promote or inhibit growth. The authors, using a qualitative research methodology, describe challenges faced by practitioners when attempting to create and implement a community career partnership. Implications for practice, theory, and public policies are discussed.     

Administrative Justice and Charging for Long-term Care

Correspondence to Greta Bradley, School of Nursing, Social Work and Applied Health Studies, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. E-mail: M.E.Bradley{at}hull.ac.uk Summary Drawing on the findings of a study in the area of charging forlong-term care for older people, this article makes links betweenperceptions and practices of local authority professionals andthe concept of administrative justice. The research revealedthat discretion was exercised at all levels, although not allstaff were aware of this. Cases may be treated differently andaccidents of geography, local political culture or personnelare likely to affect the outcome of financial assessments ofadults. The implications of this work remain timely since meanstested assessment of personal care and residency costs lookset to continue in England and Wales.