A candidate-set-free algorithm for generating D-optimal split-plot designs

Summary.  We introduce a new method for generating optimal split-plot designs. These designs are optimal in the sense that they are efficient for estimating the fixed effects of the statistical model that is appropriate given the split-plot design structure. One advantage of the method is that it does not require the prior specification of a candidate set. This makes the production of split-plot designs computationally feasible in situations where the candidate set is too large to be tractable. The method allows for flexible choice of the sample size and supports inclusion of both continuous and categorical factors. The model can be any linear regression model and may include arbitrary polynomial terms in the continuous factors and interaction terms of any order. We demonstrate the usefulness of this flexibility with a 100-run polypropylene experiment involving 11 factors where we found a design that is substantially more efficient than designs that are produced by using other approaches.     

Human dimensions of forest management: an empirical study of stakeholder perspectives

Although much has been written on the human dimensions of forest management, there has been little empirical investigation of how forest stakeholders themselves conceptualize this domain. We used a conceptual content cognitive mapping (3CM) task along with a short survey to explore the perspectives of 23 forest stakeholders in the Pacific Northwest on the human factors relevant to appropriate forest management. Study participants were chosen from three groups: employees of the U.S. Forest Service at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie Forest, employees of a large timber company, and area environmentalists. Three distinct human dimensions emerged: Traditional intangible benefits (aesthetic concerns, recreation and cultural resources), Values and expectations (considering multiple values, maintaining public expectations, considering social acceptability and maintaining public confidence in forestry), and Process issues indecision making (public involvement, communication across boundaries, collaboration and taking an interdisciplinary approach). In this article, we discuss these three dimensions, the differences found among the stakeholder groups in the importance they placed on each of these dimensions, and the benefits of the 3CM method in this context.     

Agent or Steward: The Target CEO in a Hostile Takeover: Can a Condemned Agent be Redeemed?

This article examines the differences, tensions and overlaps between agency and stewardship theories of corporate governance. The context is a hostile bid for Blue Circle Industries, a FTSE 100 company, and the focus is upon its Chief Executive Officer’s actions in response. CEOs occupy a position of pivotal importance during such takeover bids, and it is salient to examine their resultant motivations and payoffs. While agency theory suggests that CEOs may act in self-interested ways, diverging from the interests of shareholders, ongoing stewardship theory sees CEOs as fundamentally honest and caring about their company and shareholders’ interests. The hostile bid is an opportunity for the target CEO to fight at any cost, or to act in the best interests of stakeholders.In examining the target CEO’s actions, this article suggests there is more complexity than these two theories acknowledge and the relationship between them is not one of simple opposition. The article identifies a framework for making sense of CEO/stakeholder relationships, and highlights the importance to boards of understanding how CEOs manage differential stakeholder pressures over time.     

Interblock information in multidimensional block designs

In many experimental situations, d-way heterogeneity among experimental units may be controlled through use of multiple blocking criteria. In some cases it is reasonable to regard some or all of the block effects as random. Then the model is mixed and observations within blocks are correlated. Very general estimators of treatment effects and their dispersion matrix with recovery of interblock information are provided. They apply to designs with d > 1 blocking criteria that may be crossed, nested, or a combination thereof. These general results may be specialized to provide analyses of new classes of MBD's or used directly for numerical analyses of designs in the general class, perhaps through use as the basis for very general computer programs. Estimation of variance components is discussed, and an example is provided to illustrate adaptation of the general results.     

Personal and social drinking motives, family drinking history, and problems associated with drinking in two university samples.

Two drinking motives scales, Negative Personal (NP) motives and Positive Social (PS) motives, derived from Mulford and Miller's Definitions of Alcohol Scales, and a Negative Family Models (NFM) scales designed to reflect family modeling of drinking-related problems were evaluated for internal consistency and association with college students' scores on a drinking-related Social Complications (SOCCOMP) scale. In both initial (n = 553) and cross-validation (n = 293) samples, all four scales demonstrated high internal consistency. Multiple regressions of NP, PS, and NFM scales, together with measures of quantity and frequency of drinking on SOCCOMP for both samples, yielded highly significant multiple R's, confirming the additive association of these measures with problem drinking outcomes. An unanticipated finding of positive associations between PS drinking motive and SOCCOMP is reported.     

Modern marriage and ancient evidence

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