Fast and robust bootstrap

In this paper we review recent developments on a bootstrap method for robust estimators which is computationally faster and more resistant to outliers than the classical bootstrap. This fast and robust bootstrap method is, under reasonable regularity conditions, asymptotically consistent. We describe the method in general and then consider its application to perform inference based on robust estimators for the linear regression and multivariate location-scatter models. In particular, we study confidence and prediction intervals and tests of hypotheses for linear regression models, inference for location-scatter parameters and principal components, and classification error estimation for discriminant analysis.     

Inter‐Firm R&D Networks: the Importance of Strategic Network Capabilities for High‐Tech Partnership Formation1

We examine the role of different network capabilities of companies that influence the formation of R&D partnerships in pharmaceutical biotechnology. Strategic network capabilities, specifically centrality‐based capabilities and the efficiency with which companies choose their partners, are found to facilitate the formation of new partnerships. Unlike general experience with partnering, these strategic network capabilities play a crucial role in enabling companies to continue to interact with other companies through partnerships in a complex network setting.     

Technological sensibilities and the cyberpolitics of gender: Donna haraway's postmodern feminism

In this article, I discuss the far reaching implications of Donna Haraway's cyborg feminism for social and cultural theory. I argue that it allows us to re‐think the collapse of modernity not so much as the death of the social and the death of the subject, but as the eclipse of ‘Modern Man’ as the ‘natural’ anchorage of views from nowhere. Highlighting the inevitable particularism of embodiment, her notion of the cyborg marks the possibility of differential politics which combine critique with agonistique. Such an alliance could serve as particularly effective way of working through the challenge of postmodernity without either surrendering to ‘anything goes’ liberal pluralism or the romantic desperation of nihilistic fatalism.     

Altruistic Preferences for Life-Saving Public Programs: Do Baseline Risks Matter?

Cost-benefit analyses of life-saving public programs typically focus on the number of expected deaths avoided (statistical lives saved) as the metric for evaluating benefits. Although this measure of population risk is clearly important, it ignores the distribution of underlying individual risks. A similar number of lives can be saved by protecting relatively large populations with relatively low baseline risk as can be saved by protecting smaller populations faced with higher baseline risks. Should the value of saving a statistical life be sensitive to the baseline levels of risk to exposed individuals? This paper addresses this issue by focusing specifically on individuals’ altruistic values with regard to life-saving programs. Using results from a survey, this study finds that when individuals are asked to state their preference for equally costly life-saving programs that will only affect others’ level of risk, they prefer those that save more lives. More importantly, however, controlling for the number of lives saved, they also prefer programs that affect smaller populations facing higher levels of baseline risk. Furthermore, the results suggest that each order-of-magnitude increase in the level of baseline risk to others approximately doubles the altruistic value component of a statistical life saved.     

PREDICTION-FOCUSED MODEL SELECTION FOR AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS

In order to make predictions of future values of a time series, one needs to specify a forecasting model. A popular choice is an autoregressive time‐series model, for which the order of the model is chosen by an information criterion. We propose an extension of the focused information criterion (FIC) for model‐order selection, with emphasis on a high predictive accuracy (i.e. the mean squared forecast error is low). We obtain theoretical results and illustrate by means of a simulation study and some real data examples that the FIC is a valid alternative to the Akaike information criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) for selection of a prediction model. We also illustrate the possibility of using the FIC for purposes other than forecasting, and explore its use in an extended model.     

Positioning and role of public relations in large Belgian organizations

This paper studies the position and role of public relations in the hierarchical structure of Belgian organizations of at least 50 employees. Empirical data was collected from a web survey (n = 750) to find out to what extent principles of excellence in public relations are applied in Belgium.     

Stochastic geometry models in high-level vision

We survey the use of Markov models from stochastic geometry as priors in ‘high-level’ computer vision, in direct analogy with the use of discrete Markov random fields in ‘low-level’ vision. There are analogues of the Gibbs sampler, ICM and simulated annealing, and connections with existing methods in computer vision.     

Comparison of survival estimates obtained from three different methods of recapture in the same population of the great tit

Recaptures of marked birds can be used to estimate their survival. We suspect that the various methods of capture might not be equally suited for this purpose. In the long-term study of the great tit at our institute, recaptures were routinely made in three different ways: capture of parents feeding their young at the nest; capture of birds roosting in nest-boxes; mist-netting. We analyzed 20 years of captures from the study site at the Hoge Veluwe to obtain estimates of adult survival and capture rates from captures obtained by each method. The three sets of estimates differ and our analyses suggest that the best method was the capture of breeding birds, while mist-netting was the least suitable.     

Class and Other Identifications in Managerial Careers: The Case of the Lemon Dress

This article responds to concerns that research in the field of careers needs to bring together an action perspective with a recognition of the continuing impact of structural and cultural imperatives. To do so this article presents a symptomatic study. Through the concept of pedagogies of the everyday, this combines an action orientation with a recognition of how such pedagogies operate within networks of power. Specifically, the article argues that the development of new gendered understandings of management careers requires greater recognition of the continuing, though now relatively neglected, saliency of class. The article offers a summary of contemporary theorizations of class and concludes with a discussion of possible future directions for this field of research.