Using power transformations when approximating quantiles

Estimators are obtained tor quantiles of survival distributions. This is accomplished by approximating Lritr distribution of the transtorrneri data, where the transformation used is that of Box and Cox (1964). The normal approximation as in Box and Cox and, in addition, the extreme value approximation are considered. More generally, to use the methods given, the approximating distribution must come from a location-scale family. For some commonly used survival random variables T the performance of the above approximations are evaluated in terms of the ratio of the true quantiles of T to the estimated one, in the long run. This performance is also evaluated for lower quantiles using simulated lognormai, Weibull and gamma data. Several examples are given to illustrate the methodology herein, including one with actual data.     

On the robustness of the extreme deviate test for a single multivariate outlier against heavy-tailed distributions

In this paper we assess the sensitivity of the multivariate extreme deviate test for a single multivariate outlier to non-normality in the form of heavy tails. We find that the empirical significance levels can be markedly affected by even modest departures from multivariate normality. The effects are particularly severe when the sample size is large relative to the dimension. Finally, by way of example we demonstrate that certain graphical techniques may prove useful in identifying the source of rejection for the multivariate extreme deviate test.     

Forcible,Drug-Facilitated,and Incapacitated Rape and Sexual Assault Among Undergraduate Women

Abstract

Objective: To examine the prevalence of drug-related sexual assaults, identify the frequency of assaults that occur following voluntary versus involuntary drug or alcohol consumption, and identify contextual correlates of drug-related assaults. Participants: College-student females (n = 314). Methods: Volunteers reported experiences with forcible and drug-related sexual assaults in the spring semester of 2004. Follow-up queries regarding the most severe drug-related assaults determined whether the assaults followed voluntary or involuntary alcohol or drug consumption. Results: 29.6% (n = 93) of the respondents reported a drug-related sexual assault or rape; 5.4% (n = 17) reported a forcible sexual assault or rape. Voluntary incapacitation preceded 84.6% of drug-related assaults and involuntary incapacitation preceded 15.4% of drug-related assaults. The majority of drug-related assaults (96.1%) involved alcohol consumption prior to assault. Conclusions: Drug-related sexual assaults on college campuses are more frequent than are forcible assaults and are most frequently preceded by voluntary alcohol consumption.     

Say Yes First: follow up of a five-year rural drug prevention program

Say Yes First--To Rural Youth and Family Alcohol/Drug Prevention (SYF) was a 5-year, federally-funded U.S.D.H.H.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) project that involved 859 children in the class of the year 2000. The children in four rural school districts were followed from Grade 4 to Grade 8 from 1991 to 1996. Initial results in a previous publication showed significant lower drug usage in this cohort than comparison students. A follow-up of 120 SYF participants and 136 comparison students in high schools using the National Youth Survey (Follow Up Questionnaire) indicated lower usage of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs for the program students and lower lifetime prevalence of marijuana use for program vs. comparison students. SYF students had higher course grades, lower school absenteeism, more positive attitudes toward school, less trouble in school and less negative self-appraisal. Program students also reported greater participation in sports, more family communication and fewer disagreements or arguments with their parents.     

An analysis of VDT monitor placement and daily hours of use for female bifocal users

A population of 72 bifocal wearers was studied to determine the relationship between VDT (video display terminal) placement for those who reported musculoskeletal pain and those who did not. The mean hours worked was 50.4 minutes (p=0.003) greater for those who reported head/neck pain versus those who did not and 48.6 minutes (p=0.004) greater for those who reported shoulder/arm pain that those who did not. There was no statistically significant difference between the means of monitor height, distance, or angle for those who reported pain symptoms versus those who did not. This study indicates that, self reported pain symptoms are correlated with hours of VDT work and that there appears to be a threshold at approximately five hours for pain symptoms among bifocal wearers. No such correlation can be made for monitor placement     

Social rights and social resistance: opportunism, anarchism and the welfare state

This conceptually oriented paper adopts a critical perspective on the question of social rights and asks whether, in contemporary circumstances, claims to social welfare based on rights can provide a meaningful basis for social resistance to poverty or oppression. Past approaches to the question of rights as a means of resistance are characterised as either opportunistic or anarchistic. Opportunistic approaches give rise to ameliorative compromise, anarchistic approaches to nihilistic or inherently hopeless struggle. Nonetheless, it is argued, it is possible to conceptualise rights to social welfare in ways that do not obscure the basis of social exploitation and that do project human need as the basis for social resistance.     

Detection of interactions in experiments on large numbers of factors

One of the main advantages of factorial experiments is the information that they can offer on interactions. When there are many factors to be studied, some or all of this information is often sacrificed to keep the size of an experiment economically feasible. Two strategies for group screening are presented for a large number of factors, over two stages of experimentation, with particular emphasis on the detection of interactions. One approach estimates only main effects at the first stage (classical group screening), whereas the other new method (interaction group screening) estimates both main effects and key two-factor interactions at the first stage. Three criteria are used to guide the choice of screening technique, and also the size of the groups of factors for study in the first-stage experiment. The criteria seek to minimize the expected total number of observations in the experiment, the probability that the size of the experiment exceeds a prespecified target and the proportion of active individual factorial effects which are not detected. To implement these criteria, results are derived on the relationship between the grouped and individual factorial effects, and the probability distributions of the numbers of grouped factors whose main effects or interactions are declared active at the first stage. Examples are used to illustrate the methodology, and some issues and open questions for the practical implementation of the results are discussed.     

Heterosexual Masculinities,Anti‐homophobias,and Shifts in Hegemonic Masculinity: The Identity Practices of Black and White Heterosexual Men

In this study, I use in‐depth interview data with black and white heterosexual men to explore shifts in the role of homophobia in the social construction of heterosexual masculinities. A continuum is introduced to map a range of interactional practices through which these men enact heterosexual masculinities. Heterosexual men who, on one end of the continuum, construct their heterosexual masculinities through homophobic practices establish strong boundaries of social distance from gays. The other end documents heterosexual men's anti‐homophobias, moving from men who establish weak boundaries to those who blur them. These heterosexual men's anti‐homophobic stances trade on the prestige of being tolerant of gays, with black men's anti‐homophobias drawing on their experiences with racism.     

No Human Resource is an Island: Gendered,Racialized Access to Work as a Performer

This article explores the reproduction of gendered, racialized conceptions of age and appearance in structuring access to performing work. Analysis of this issue leads to discussion of a key supposition: that central work experiences of women performers are manifestations of their position as formal and informal proxies for women's experiences in wider society. Women performers are formal proxies in that they are employed to ‘be women’; to represent women for consumption in the circuit of culture. They are informal proxies in that they are allocated to highly segmented labour markets based on wider patterns of gendered, racialized social relations.