Anova and minque type of estimators for the one-way random effects model

The one-way random effects model with unequal variances and unequal sample sizes is considered. Estimation of the variances, variance of a single observation (total variance), and the standard error of the unweighted mean are considered. Precision of the Analysis of Variance and Unweighted Sums of Squares type of estimators and the Minimum Norm Quadratic Unbiased Estimators with a priori weights are examined.     

The size-density hypothesis in Great Britain: Analysis of a deviant case

Recent studies have found size of territorial units to vary inversely with population density, the only exception to this regularity being Great Britain, where size and density were found to be unrelated. The present research accounts for this anomaly by demonstrating Britain's historical conformity to the size-density relation. The size-density hypothesis is further supported by direct test, made possible by a recent reorganization of british counties. Results show that reorganization has restored the expected inverse relation between size and density and has restructured the size and density of counties in a manner precisely specified by underlying theory.     

Personalized Neural Networks Underlie Individual Differences in Ethnic Identity Exploration and Resolution

This study examined how ethnic identity relates to large-scale brain networks implicated in social interactions, social cognition, self-definition, and cognitive control. Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation (GIMME) was used to create sparse, person-specific networks among the default mode and frontoparietal resting-state networks in a diverse sample of 104 youths aged 17–21. Links between neural density (i.e., number of connections within and between these networks) and ethnic identity exploration and resolution were evaluated in the full sample. Ethnic identity resolution was positively related to frontoparietal network density, suggesting that having clarity about one’s ethnic group membership is associated with brain network organization reflecting cognitive control. These findings help fill a critical knowledge gap about the neural underpinnings of ethnic identity.     

Family Capital: Implications for Interventions with Families

Social capital has been extensively discussed in the literature as building blocks that individuals and communities utilize to leverage system resources. Similarly, some families also create capital, which can enable members of the family, such as children, to successfully negotiate the outside world. Families in poverty confront serious challenges in developing positive family capital, because of lack of resources. For those families that are successful in developing positive family capital, family capital can help to create positive outcomes for family interactions. Thus, family capital can provide information about opportunities, exert influence on agents who make decisions involving the actor, provide social credentials that indicate a connection to a social network, and reinforce the actor's identity and recognition, which maintains access and entitlement to these social resources.     

Characterizing Mother’s Dating After Divorce

Mothers dating after divorce is a dynamic process, where not all mothers date the same way after divorce. However, few studies have examined the different ways that mothers date after divorce, which should influence maternal well-being, risk behaviors, and the quality of their relationships. This study characterizes four different approaches to mothers’ repartnering (referred to as repartnering histories): no dating, dating one partner monogamously, dating multiple partners serially, and dating multiple partners simultaneously. Each repartnering history is characterized by demographic variables, relationship quality, and maternal well-being. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Scheduling in a Management Context: Uncertain Processing Times and Non-Regular Performance Measures*

Decision makers often face scheduling problems in which processing times are not known with certainty. Non-regular performance measures, in which both earliness and tardiness are penalized, are also becoming more common in both manufacturing and service operations. We model a managerial environment with task processing times (which include sequenceindependent set-up times) prescribed by three-parameter lognormal distributions. Upon completion, each task derives a reward given by a particular piecewise-linear reward function. The objective is to select a sequence of tasks maximizing the expected total reward. The relative generality of the problem renders many enumerative methods inapplicable or computationally intractable. To overcome such difficulties we develop efficient priorityinduced construction (PIC) heuristics which build up a complete schedule by inserting tasks (singly from a list) into a partial sequence of tasks. In each partial and complete sequence a period of idle time is permitted prior to the first task. Performance on realistic-sized problems is very encouraging, with cost penalties averaging less than one percent.     

The National Health Service — Can it Survive?

The National Health Service is valuable. It is also expensive. Its promise of universal health care, free to all at the point of delivery, is a source of pride and some comfort, and is also perhaps the greatest achievement of the welfare state. But with demands on it rising, and a population that lives longer into expensive old age, can it possibly be sustained? Should there be rationing? Must the funding be changed? Nigel Edwards examines the dilemmas.