ADDITIVE MODELS WITH PREDICTORS SUBJECT TO MEASUREMENT ERROR

This paper develops a likelihood‐based method for fitting additive models in the presence of measurement error. It formulates the additive model using the linear mixed model representation of penalized splines. In the presence of a structural measurement error model, the resulting likelihood involves intractable integrals, and a Monte Carlo expectation maximization strategy is developed for obtaining estimates. The method's performance is illustrated with a simulation study.     

Diagnosing the pathological gambler

This paper discusses problems of making the diagnosis of pathological gambling, a new diagnosis in the 1980 edition of DSM III. Suggestions are made for taking the patient's history, evaluating it, and ruling out other diagnoses. A checklist derived from DMS III is presented to help facilitate making an accurate diagnosis.An earlier version of this paper was read at the Fourth Annual Conference on Gambling, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, 1981.     

The Greater Complexity of Lived Race: An Extension of Harris and Sim*

Objectives. Harris and Sim (2002) recently demonstrated the complexity of lived race by exploring patterns of racial self‐identification. They raised important sociological questions about the role of context in racial self‐identification, but offered an incomplete picture of ethnic fluidity by excluding Hispanics from their analyses. We address this limitation with data on Hispanics from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Methods. Our social‐psychological approach, using compositional analysis, focuses on the lived experience of race and ethnicity as qualitatively similar conceptual categories. Results. Informed by the cognitive process of social categorization, we find that considerably more individuals show fluidity in racial and ethnic self‐identification across contexts than suggested by Harris and Sim. Conclusions. Harris and Sim's thesis is even more strongly supported by these findings than in their original analysis, and our findings reinforce their challenge to the assumed stability of racial and ethnic measurement in sociology. We conclude by proposing a change in the measurement of race/ethnicity in America.     

Rethinking constraints on public relations practice

Analysis of survey responses from 371 public relations professionals in four-year colleges and universities revealed two constraints on how public relations is practiced. In the communication technician role, disclosure of information about the organization is constrained. In the manager role, participation in the decision-making process is constrained. Implications of these constraints for what can be communicated outside and what can be done inside the organization are discussed. Strategies for practitioners and educators in addressing constraints are presented, particularly in light of the recent movement toward Total Quality Management (TQM) in U.S. organizations.Duane Sweep is a marketing officer for the First American Bank in Minot ND; Glen T. Cameron is an assistant professor and RuthAnn Weaver Lariscy is an associate professor, both in public relations at the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia.     

Changes in Product Attributes and Costs as Drivers of New Product Diffusion and Substitution

Diffusion theory has typically focused on how communication, internal or external to a social system, leads to adoptions and diffusion of an innovation. We develop a diffusion and substitution model based on a somewhat different perspective. In some cases, progressive improvements in product attributes and/or continual cost reduction seem to be a key driver of the diffusion process. For example, after introduction of the 5.25‐inch disk drive, its capacity continually increased, and accordingly, so did customer willingness‐to‐pay. Our model is based on a linear reservation price framework, in which a product is described by its depth (defined as the difference between a product̂s maximum reservation price and its production cost), and its breadth (related to the slope of its reservation price curve), indicating how broadly it appeals across various customer segments. Because of changes in product depths and breadths over time, customers who previously preferred the old product may later prefer the new product, thus creating the diffusion process. While the Bass model describes diffusion as a function of the coefficients of innovation and imitation, in our model, it is described by the coefficients of depth and breadth (the rates of change in relative depth and breadth), along with an S‐coefficient that we associate with the technology S‐curve. We fit our model to data from the disk‐drive and the microprocessor industries.     

GENERALIZED EXTREME VALUE ADDITIVE MODEL ANALYSIS VIA MEAN FIELD VARIATIONAL BAYES

We develop Mean Field Variational Bayes methodology for fast approximate inference in Bayesian Generalized Extreme Value additive model analysis. Such models are useful for flexibly assessing the impact of continuous predictor variables on sample extremes. The new methodology allows large Bayesian models to be fitted and assessed without the significant computing costs of Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods. We illustrate our new methodology with maximum rainfall data from the Sydney, Australia, hinterland. Comparisons are made between the Mean Field Variational Bayes and Markov Chain Monte Carlo approaches.