Large sample power of absolute moment tests

Sample kurtosis is a member of the large class of absolute moment tests of normality. We compare kurtosis to other absolute moment tests to determine which are the most powerful at detecting long‐tailed symmetric departures from normality for large samples. The large sample power of the tests is calculated using Geary's (1947) approximations of the moments of the test statistics. Using the system of Gram-Charlier symmetric distributions as alternatives, the most power is obtained using a moment in the range 2.5 ‐ 3.5.     

Optimal linear combinations using householder transformations

In pattern classification of sampled vector valued random variables it is often essential, due to computational and accuracy considerations, to consider certain measurable transformations of the random variable. These transformations are generally of a dimension-reducing nature. In this paper we consider the class of linear dimension reducing transformations, i.e., the k × n matrices of rank k where k < n and n is the dimension of the range of the sampled vector random variable.

In this connection, we use certain results (Decell and Quirein, 1973), that guarantee, relative to various class separability criteria, the existence of an extremal transformation. These results also guarantee that the extremal transformation can be expressed in the form (I_k∣ Z)U where I_k is the k × k identity matrix and U is an orthogonal n × n matrix. These results actually limit the search for the extremal linear transformation to a search over the obviously smaller class of k × n matrices of the form (I_k ∣Z)U. In this paper these results are refined in the sense that any extremal transformation can be expressed in the form (I_K∣Z)H_p … H₁ where p ≤ min{k, n?k} and H_i is a Householder transformation i=l,…, p, The latter result allows one to construct a sequence of transformations (L_K∣ Z)H₁, (I_K Z)H₂H₁ … such that the values of the class separability criterion evaluated at this sequence is a bounded, monotone sequence of real numbers. The construction of the i-th element of the sequence of transformations requires the solution of an n-dimensional optimization problem. The solution, for various class separability criteria, of the optimization problem will be the subject of later papers. We have conjectured (with supporting theorems and empirical results) that, since the bounded monotone sequence of real class separability values converges to its least upper bound, this least upper bound is an extremal value of the class separability criterion.

Several open questions are stated and the practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Feature combinations and the bhattacharyya criterion

We develop a procedure for calculating a kxn rank k matrix B for data compression using the Bhattacharyya bound on the probability of error and an iterative construction using Householder transformations. Two sets of remotely sensed agricultural data are used to demonstrate the application of the procedure. The results of the applications give some indication of the extent to which the Bhattacharyya bound on the probability of error is affected by such transformations for multivariate normal populations.     

Religion, spirituality and aging for "The Aging" themselves

This article explores some likely characteristics of the particular and specific experiences of the relationship between religion and spirituality for cohorts born before 1935 by attending to three main points: (1) the word "spirituality" came into common usage in the 1960s, well after people born before; (2) for some in cohorts born before 1935 "spirituality" had negative connotations; (3) a definition of "spirituality" is possible that can express the experience of older adults and, at the same time, sharpen our current understanding of the term to include cognitive, experiential, and volitional elements.     

Subprime Loans: A Reversal of Capital and a New Means of Inequality

This article provides a socio-historical analysis of particular financial instruments in the housing market. I argue that the production and consumption of subprime loans continue to evince a pattern of racial discrimination. Whereas racialized loans in the mid-1900s were based on providing credit to whites and precluding blacks from accessing credit (Wave I), a new means of financial production was predicated by the opposite (Wave II). Although the first wave of home ownership led to real increases in wealth, the second wave led to a housing bubble that resulted in less or negative wealth. Under the subprime era, banking institutions could reap profits when homeowners paid their loans on time or defaulted. White homeowners continued to fare better than black homeowners.     

Achieving Collaborative Competence through Interprofessional Education. Lessons Learned from Joint Training in Learning Disability Nursing and Social Work

The ability to work interprofessionally is widely regarded as essential to professional education and training for social work. The changing contexts of social work practice and the requirement for integrated working are regular reminders of the need for social work students to develop collaborative competence. Guidance preceding the development of the social work degree emphasised that social work students should undertake specific learning and assessment in partnership working and information sharing. This suggests that aspects of interprofessional education are relevant to the teaching and development of social work students if graduates are to successfully engage in complex practice.

This paper seeks to identify the competencies needed for successful collaboration. It then draws on evaluative research of joint training programmes in learning disability nursing and social work in England to discuss the unique experiences and perspectives of graduates whose social work training was exceptionally interprofessional. The paper will discuss how some of the findings from this research can indicate lessons for promoting collaborative competence in singly trained social work students. It will argue that interprofessional learning opportunities are one of the key ingredients for the development of critical practice.     

SPECTACLES OF ETHNICITY: FESTIVALS AND THE COMMODIFICATION OF ETHNIC CULTURE AMONG LOUISIANA CAJUNS

Drawing on the example of the Louisiana Cajuns, an ethnic group that has been enjoying a wave of popular revival in recent years, this study suggests that changes in the perception of an ethnic identity are related to socioeconomic transformation. We identify the festival as a key aspect of the Cajun revival since the 1960s. An examination of the history, activities, and contemporary spatiotemporal organization of festivals reveals similarities to other aspects of a society of mass consumption. Niche marketing , the structuring of recreation around the modern work week, and the establishment of personal identity through the purchase of symbolically rich commodities are all embodied in present - day Cajun festivals. At the same time, the consumption of ethnic commodities is linked by the consumers with a sense of tradition and descent from a mythic past. The festivals of southwestern Louisiana are, in this sense, invented traditions and, paradoxically, a measure of the assimilation of this particular ethnic group into American culture.