Entropy Principles in Decision Making Under Risk

This paper considers decision problems where: (1) The exact probability distribution over the states of nature is not precisely known, but certain prior information is available about the possibilities of these outcomes; (2) A prior distribution over the states of nature is known, but new constraint information about the probabilities becomes available. The maximum entropy principle asserts that the probability distribution with maximum entropy, satisfying the prior knowledge, should be used in the decision problem. The minimum cross-entropy principle says that the posterior distribution is the one which minimizes cross-entropy, subject to the new constraint information. The entropy principles have not gone uncriticized, and this literature, together with that justifying the principles, is surveyed. Both principles are illustrated in a number of situations where the distribution is either discrete or continuous. The discrete distribution case with prior interval estimates based on expert opinions is considered in detail.     

Leader political support: Reconsidering leader political behavior

Historically, organizational politics and political leader behavior have been framed and characterized negatively, as self-serving and counter-productive. However, scholars have noted that political acts can achieve positive ends, and have called for further discussions of positive forms of political leadership. Continuing in this recent stream of research on positive perspectives on organizational politics, a framework of leader political support is proposed, suggesting that the positive features of leader political behavior, and testable propositions are developed. The leader political support construct is defined and its antecedents are explicated utilizing a social capital perspective. Additionally, social exchange theory is used to explain the consequences of leader political support. Contributions to both leadership and organizational politics literatures and directions for future research are discussed.     

The mad estimator: when is it non-linear? applications to two-way design models

The mean absolute deviation (MAD) estimator has recently received a great deal of attention as applied to full-rank linear regression models. This paper provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the MAD estimator to be a non-linear estimator, in which case conditions for the variance of the MAD estimator to be larger or smaller than those for OLS are, in general, unknown. The non-linearity of the MAD estimator is examined for several two-way designs; in particular (1) randomized block design (2) two-way nested design (3) two-way classification with interaction and (4) partially balanced incomplete block design     

Landscape,vegetation characteristics,and group identity in an urban and suburban watershed: why the 60s matter

As highly managed ecosystems, urban areas should reflect the social characteristics of their managers, who are primarily residents. Since landscape features develop over time, we hypothesize that present-day vegetation should also reflect social characteristics of past residents. Using an urban-to-suburban watershed in the Baltimore Metropolitan Region, this paper examines the relationship between demographics, housing characteristics, and lifestyle clusters from 1960 and 2000 with areas of high woody and herbaceous vegetation cover in 1999. We find that 1960 demographics and age of housing are better predictors of high woody or tree coverage in 1999 than demographics and housing characteristics from 2000. Key variables from 1960 are percent in professional occupations (+), percent of pre-WWI housing (−), percent of post-WWII housing (+), and population density (−). Past and present demographic and housing variables are poor predictors of high herbaceous cover in 1999. Lifestyle clusters for 2000 are very good predictors of high herbaceous coverage in 1999, but lifestyle clusters from 1960 and 2000 are poor predictors of high woody vegetation coverage. These findings suggest that herbaceous or grassy areas, typically lawns, are good reflections of contemporary lifestyle characteristics of residents while neighborhoods with heavy tree canopies have largely inherited the preferred landscapes of past residents and communities. Biological growth time scales of trees and woody vegetation means that such vegetation may outlast the original inhabitants who designed, purchased, and planted them. The landscapes we see today are therefore legacies of past consumption patterns.     

Document Delivery as a Supplement or Replacement for Serial Subscriptions

Abstract

Increasing serials costs and shrinking budgets present challenges for academic libraries to continue providing sufficient access to scholarly articles. Rapid document delivery services can serve as an effective means to fill the gap caused by serials cancellations. This column examines several of the existing document delivery service providers and addresses issues involved in their implementation.     

Stochastic Dominance: An Approach to Decision Making Under Risk

This paper introduces stochastic dominance as a technique to reduce the set of possible actions that a decision maker must consider in a decision problem under risk. The procedure usually does not choose an optimal action, but instead eliminates certain actions as unacceptable. Very little need be known about the decision maker's utility function. Two possible applications are presented: upgrading buildings to better withstand an earthquake; and choosing a site for a LNG facility.     

The Internalization Theory of the Multinational Enterprise: Past,Present and Future

This paper presents an agenda for extending the theory of international business in order to explain a wider range of phenomena. This, however, has to be done with due attention to the requirements of good social science theory. Relevant criteria are set out, together with a list of issues that new theory must address. Theory needs to focus on industries as well as firms, and make greater use of formal multi‐actor models. ‘Generalizing from the particular’ should be avoided; theory needs to be derived from general social science principles that have proved successful in cognate disciplines.     

Beyond the rhetoric: A 'working' version of child protection practice

This paper discusses a study of child protection practice in an Irish health board. By its use of a qualitative research paradigm, it seeks to fill an identified gap in the existing knowledge base by illustrating what social workers in child protection really 'do'. The normative framework employed by practitioners, through which they endorse or invalidate 'abuse' referrals, and adjudicate on their seriousness, is illustrated. The gulf between the official discourse portrayed in procedural guidance and the day-to-day reality of child protection practice becomes clear, and the way in which this creates space for, on the one hand, the application of moral reasoning, and, on the other, professional ambivalence, is analysed.