Stress and tobacco use among African-American adolescents: the buffering effect of cultural factors

Tobacco is a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality and a primary reason for health disparities among African Americans. In this study we explore the role of stress in smoking and cultural factors that protect against stress among African-American adolescents. Our sample consisted of 239 youth who were recruited into the study while enrolled in 8th and 12th grade. Measures of risk factors (stress, school transition stress, and community disorganization), moderator or protective factors (religious support and intergenerational connections), and 30-day tobacco use were collected. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted. Intergenerational connections moderated the effect of stress on past 30-day tobacco use. Religious support moderated the effect of neighborhood disorganization on past 30-day tobacco use. Religious support also moderated the effect of stress on past 30-day tobacco use. The findings have implications for prevention efforts to consider religious beliefs and practices and also to link youth with supportive adults in their community.     

产业结构升级视阈下安徽省经济发展方式转变的实证分析

产业结构升级是转变安徽经济发展方式、实现经济可持续发展的内在要求，实现经济由数量型扩张向质量型发展的动力需求.文章在阐述产业结构升级对促进安徽省经济发展方式转变的理论基础上，首先对三大产业的增长与经济增长关系做初步分析，然后选取测度产业结构升级的经济发展指标，用综合评价法构建一套科学的产业结构升级与经济发展的关系框架，最后以产业结构升级为视角对安徽省如何转变经济发展方式提出建议.     

试论毛泽东的文化创新及其对中华民族精神的传承

毛泽东是中国共产党的卓越领导人,也是中华民族精神的传承者和中国先进文化的创新者之一,他为此进行了一生艰辛的探索,同时也把马克思主义的先进思想和人民群众在革命和建设中的成功经验融入中华民族精神,形成了具有中国特色的新民主主义文化和社会主义文化,即民族的、科学的、大众的文化,使中华民族精神具有明显的时代特征,得到新的升华.     

Measuring Attitudes About Intimate Partner Violence Against Women: The ATT-IPV Scale

In lower-income settings, women more often than men justify intimate partner violence (IPV). Yet, the role of measurement invariance across gender is unstudied. We developed the ATT-IPV scale to measure attitudes about physical violence against wives in 1,055 married men and women ages 18–50 in My Hao district, Vietnam. Across 10 items about transgressions of the wife, women more often than men agreed that a man had good reason to hit his wife (3 % to 92 %; 0 % to 67 %). In random split-half samples, one-factor exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (N ₁ = 527) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N ₂ = 528) models for nine items with sufficient variability had significant loadings (0.575–0.883; 0.502–0.897) and good fit (RMSEA = 0.068, 0.048; CFI = 0.951, 0.978, TLI = 0.935, 0.970). Three items had significant uniform differential item functioning (DIF) by gender, and adjustment for DIF revealed that measurement noninvariance was partially masking men’s lower propensity than women to justify IPV. A CFA model for the six items without DIF had excellent fit (RMSEA = 0.019, CFI = 0.994, TLI = 0.991) and an attitudinal gender gap similar to the DIF-adjusted nine-item model, suggesting that the six-item scale reliably measures attitudes about IPV across gender. Researchers should validate the scale in urban Vietnam and elsewhere and decompose DIF-adjusted gender attitudinal gaps.     

Estimation and Simulation of the Riesz-Bessel Distribution

ABSTRACT

In this article, further properties of the Riesz-Bessel distribution are provided. These properties allow for the simulation of random variables from the Riesz-Bessel distribution. Estimation is addressed by nonlinear generalized least squares regression on the empirical characteristic function. The estimator is seen to approximate the maximum likelihood estimator. The distribution is illustrated with financial data.     

Biodiversity,coastal protection and resource endowment: Policy options for improving ocean health

The paper develops a production function for the Global Ocean Health Index (OHI) for 2013. Data from the Ocean Health Statistics, plus from the Human Development Index (HDI) for 151 countries are used. We employ two-stage regression model to conduct this evaluation. The Tobit model, used to obtain the estimated dependent variable, results show Coastal Protection, Livelihoods and Economies, Tourism and Recreation, Iconic Species, Clean Water and Biodiversity, Food Provision, Artisanal Fisheries Opportunities, Natural Products, and Carbon Storage are significant variables. The rank regression in the second stage showed that HDI and Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) significantly influenced the predicted value of the OHI. Policy makers should note that biodiversity increases have the greatest effect on OHI, and its improvement is within reach of even the poorest country. Countries with varying levels of resource endowment may choose different techniques to improve OHI, but the implementation of MPAs should be priority.     

No-cointegration test based on fractional differencing: Some Monte Carlo results

This paper examines the use of the t-statistic in the Geweke–Porter-Hudak regression for the estimation of the fractional differencing parameter as a test for cointegration. The critical values of the test statistic are estimated using Monte Carlo methods. The results confirm that the test will over-reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration if the standard-normal critical values are used. The estimated critical values are generally robust to the nuisance parameters in the autoregressive or moving average specification of the error process of the component time series. Exceptions occur when the dependent variable in the cointegration regression follows an autoregressive process with a large positive parameter or a moving average process with a large negative parameter.     

Semiparametric regression under long-range dependent errors

In this paper, we consider a semiparametric regression model under long-range dependent errors. By approximating the nonparametric component by a finite series sum, we construct consistent estimators for both parametric and nonparametric components. Meanwhile, convergence rates for the consistent estimators are also investigated. Additionally, an optimal truncation parameter selection procedure is proposed.     

Estimated Generalized Least Squares for Random Coefficient Regression Models

ABSTRACT. This paper considers a general class of random coefficient regression (RCR) models to represent pooled cross-sectional and time series data. A new method is given to estimate the covariance matrix of the error component in these RCR models. Also, the asymptotic and small sample properties of the estimated generalized least squares estimator of the regression coefficient vector are established. Procedures for testing a linear restriction on the mean vector of the random coefficients are derived. Finally, a test for non-randomness in the RCR model is devised, and the asymptotic distribution of the test statistic is obtained.     

Voices from Vietnam: experiences of children and youth with disabilities,and their families,from an Agent Orange affected rural region

This study examines the experiences of young people with disabilities from ethnic minorities, and their families, in central Vietnam. The study is set in an area contaminated by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Data were gathered from interviews with youth with disabilities and interviews and focus groups with mothers who had children with disabilities. Respondents expressed confronting multiple barriers to inclusion, education, health and well-being similar to other persons with disabilities and their families from around the world. Participants sought broad-ranging human rights as they described experiencing stigmatization and marginalization from negative social reaction toward disabilities and by residing in a location known for dioxin contamination. The participants’ voices are not only important in informing program responses to support implementation of Vietnam’s new National Law on Persons with Disabilities, but also timely as the US government considers proposed legislation providing material support for Vietnamese nationals affected by Agent Orange.