A Bayesian Approach for Multiple Response Surface Optimization in the Presence of Noise Variables

An approach for the multiple response robust parameter design problem based on a methodology by Peterson (2000) is presented. The approach is Bayesian, and consists of maximizing the posterior predictive probability that the process satisfies a set of constraints on the responses. In order to find a solution robust to variation in the noise variables, the predictive density is integrated not only with respect to the response variables but also with respect to the assumed distribution of the noise variables. The maximization problem involves repeated Monte Carlo integrations, and two different methods to solve it are evaluated. A Matlab code was written that rapidly finds an optimal (robust) solution in case it exists. Two examples taken from the literature are used to illustrate the proposed method.     

Evaluation of estimates of underenumeration in the census and the age pattern of mortality,philadelphia, 1880

The schedule of mortality by age for Philadelphia's 1880 population classified by sex and race showed aberrations from Coale and Demeny West, South, and North model life tables. Deviations from standard age patterns of mortality were especially pronounced for the black population. The question addressed in this paper is whether the alternative age patterns of mortality are produced by underenumeration in the 1880 census or by actual variations in the age-specific mortality experience. The conclusion was reached that the underenumeration of the urban population, especially the blacks, exceeds estimates for the national population. In addition, the results indicated that the black population faced risks of dying that genuinely differed from standard age patterns. An attempt to use a Brass logit model to generalize the black mortality experience met with success for females but not for males.     

Marital Conflict in the Context of Parental Depressive Symptoms: Implications for the Development of Children's Adjustment Problems

Relations among parental depressive symptoms, overt and covert marital conflict, and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined in a community sample of 235 couples and their children. Families were assessed once yearly for three years, starting when children were in kindergarten. Parents completed measures of depressive symptoms and children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Behavioral observations of marital conflict behaviors (insult, threat, pursuit, and defensiveness) and self report of covert negativity (feeling worry, sorry, worthless, and helpless) were assessed based on problem-solving interactions. Results indicated that fathers' greater covert negativity and mothers' overt destructive conflict behaviors served as intervening variables in the link between fathers' depressive symptoms and child internalizing symptoms, with modest support for the pathway through fathers' covert negativity found even after controlling for earlier levels of constructs. These findings support the role of marital conflict in the impact of fathers' depressive symptoms on child internalizing symptoms.     

Statistical Modelling of Brain Morphological Measures Within Family Pedigrees

Large, family-based imaging studies can provide a better understanding of the interactions of environmental and genetic influences on brain structure and function. The interpretation of imaging data from large family studies, however, has been hindered by the paucity of well-developed statistical tools for that permit the analysis of complex imaging data together with behavioral and clinical data. In this paper, we propose to use two methods for these analyses. First, a variance components model along with score statistics is used to test linear hypotheses of unknown parameters, such as the associations of brain measures (e.g., cortical and subcortical surfaces) with their potential genetic determinants. Second, we develop a test procedure based on a resampling method to assess simultaneously the statistical significance of linear hypotheses across the entire brain. The value of these methods lies in their computational simplicity and in their applicability to a wide range of imaging data. Simulation studies show that our test procedure can accurately control the family-wise error rate. We apply our methods to the detection of statistical significance of gender-by-age interactions and of the effects of genetic variation on the thickness of the cerebral cortex in a family study of major depressive disorder.     

Pushing boundaries and blurring categories in digital media and religion research

As religious identity and spiritual practices transform and expand in the digital media moment, this article advocates for more critical scholarship on media and religion that examines the complex ways that individuals make meaning in the digital age. First, I present an overview of foundational media and religion theories that analyze the interactions between these ever‐changing fields, such as the culturalist tradition, mediatization theory, and the social shaping of technology approach. Furthermore, this essay highlights insightful research trends that blur distinctions between media spaces and complicate definitions of religion. Finally, a discussion of gaps in the scholarship will justify an argument for more theories centered in international contexts, as well as analysis of the relationships between media technologies, aesthetics, affect, identity and religious expression. These emerging approaches provide more in‐depth discussions of how the fast‐changing and ever‐complex digital culture is deeply connected to the evolving nature of religion and human existence.     

Maternal Talk About Mental States and the Emergence of Joint Visual Attention

Twenty‐four infants were tested monthly for gaze and point following between 9 and 15 months of age and mother‐infant free play sessions were also conducted at 9, 12, and 15 months (Carpenter, Nagell, & Tomasello, 1998). Using this data set, this study explored relations between maternal talk about mental states during mothers' free play with their infants and the emergence of joint visual attention in infants. Contrary to hypothesis, mothers' comments about their infants' perceptual states significantly declined after their infants began to engage in joint visual attention. Comments about other mental states did not change relative to acquisition of joint visual attention skill. We speculate that after infants begin to reliably follow gaze and points, mothers may switch the focus of their conversation from their infants' visual behavior and experiences to the object of their mutual attention.     

Conceptualizing the “Wantedness” of Women's Consensual and Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences: Implications for How Women Label Their Experiences With Rape

Sex is often conceptualized either as wanted and consensual or as unwanted and nonconsensual, reflecting an implicit model of wanting that is unidimensional and dichotomous and that conflates wanting and consenting. This study has three objectives: developing a multidimensional model for conceptualizing the wantedness of a sexual act, using this model to compare women's experiences with rape and consensual sex, and assessing whether wantedness is related to rape acknowledgment. Participants were college women who described their experiences with rape (n = 77) or consensual sexual intercourse (n = 87). Results supported a multidimensional model of sexual wanting and a wanting—consenting distinction. Compared with acknowledged rape victims, unacknowledged rape victims reported wanting the sexual intercourse more despite not having consented.