Circular Strongly Balanced Repeated Measurements Designs

Magda (1980 Magda , C. G. ( 1980 ). Circular balanced repeated measurements designs . Commun. Statist. Theor. Meth. 9 : 1901 – 1918 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Hedayat (1981 Hedayat , A. S. ( 1981 ). Repeated measurements designs-IV: recent advances (with discussion) . Bull. Int. Statist. Inst. 1 : 591 – 610 . [Google Scholar]) first considered the construction of circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs. Sen and Mukerjee (1987 Sen , M. , Mukerjee , R. ( 1987 ). Optimal repeated measurements designs under interaction . J. Statist. Plann. Infer. 17 : 81 – 91 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Roy (1988 Roy , B. K. ( 1988 ). Construction of strongly balanced uniform repeated measurements designs . J. Statist. Plann. Infer. 19 : 341 – 348 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) considered the optimality and existence of circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs based on the method of differences and Hamiltonian decomposition of lexicographic product of two graphs. In this article, we consider the construction of circular strongly balanced repeated measurements designs using the newly proposed method called cyclic shifts, and propose some new designs for p < v.     

Study on lumbar kinematics and the risk of low back disorder in female university students by using shoes of different heel heights

The study was taken up to investigate the effects of heel heights on lumbar kinematics and the risk of Low Back Disorder (LBD) in females. Nineteen female university students (24.5 ± 3.36 yrs) volunteered in the study. Lumbar kinematics was measured by using Industrial Lumbar Motion Monitor (iLMM). The volunteers were asked to walk for a distance of 50 meters in 3 different given conditions i.e bare foot (Heel 0), with flat heels (Heel 1) and with high heels (Heel 2). Heights of Heel 1 and Heel 2 were 1.5 ± 0.84 cm and 5.5 ± 1.70 cm respectively. The Lumbar kinematic parameters studied were- Average Twisting Velocity (ATV), Maximum Sagital Flexion (MSF) and Maximum Lateral Velocity (MLV). It was observed that all the above mentioned Lumbar kinematics - ATV, MSF and MLV increases with increase of heel heights, which in turn increases the risk of LBD. As a result of increase in Lumbar kinematic values with increase in heel heights, LBD risk has also increased. Mean and SD of the LBD risk with Heel 0, Heel 1 and Heel 2 were 16.79 ± 6.04%, 19.00 ± 7.38% and 22.11 ± 6.98% respectively. Lower stature with high heels showed higher risk of LBD than the higher stature with high heels.     

Construction of neighbor designs of block size 4 for all values of v ≥ 5 by using the method of addition

In this article, a general method of construction of neighbor block designs is given. The designs are constructed using variation of a simple method which we refer to as the method of addition (renamed as the method of cyclic shifts). We give complete solution of neighbor balanced designs for k = 4 for any value of v. We also give many series of generalized neighbor designs (GNDs). In the last section, we have constructed GNDs in a sequential manner (as Did John 1981) for v ≤ 50 and r is multiple of k.     

A new way to order independent components

A relatively newer computational technique adopted by statisticians is known as independent component analysis (ICA) which is used to analyze complex multidimensional data with the objective to separate it into components that are independent to each other. Quite often the main interest for conducting ICA is to identify a small number of significant independent components (ICs) to replace the original complex dimensions with. For this, determining the order of identified ICs is a pre-requisite. The area is not unaddressed but it does deserve a careful revisiting. This is the subject matter of the paper which introduces a new method to order ICs. The proposed method is based upon regression approach. It compares the magnitude of the mixing coefficients and regression coefficients of the regression of the original series on ICs. Their compatibility determines the order.     

Universally Optimal Designs Balanced for Neighbor Effects

The performance of a treatment is affected by the treatments applied to its adjacent plots, especially in the experiments of agriculture, horticulture, forestry, serology and industry. Neighbor designs ensure that treatment comparisons are least affected by neighbor effects, therefore, this is a rich field of investigation. In this paper, criterion for construction of universally optimal neighbor balanced designs is discussed.     

Emotional Support for Health Care Professionals: A Therapeutic Role for the Hospital Ethics Committee

Hospital ethics committees (HECs) are typically charged with addressing ethical disputes, conflicts, and dilemmas that arise in the course of patient care. HECs are not widely viewed as having a therapeutic role for health care professionals who experience psychological distress or anticipatory grief in the course of discharging professional duties. A case is presented in which an ethics consultation was requested, chiefly, to secure emotional support for health care professionals who had been asked by a patient to discontinue life-sustaining treatments. As the case demonstrates, HECs may be called upon to provide emotional support and reassurance to health care professionals who willingly carry out psychologically difficult actions, even though these actions may be ethically uncontroversial. In providing this service, the HEC may not necessarily engage in its customary activity of deliberating an ethics issue and resolving a conflict but may still provide valuable assistance, as in the case presented.     

Impact of Political Risk and Uncertainty on FDI in South Asia

This study examines the potential effect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty on FDI in South Asia. To highlight the affect of political risk and macro policy uncertainty on FDI, we setup a theoretical framework based on oligopolistic and imperfect competition environment in host country. Autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) is used to examine the impact of political risk and macro economic policy uncertainty index on FDI inflows. Macroeconomic policy uncertainty and political risk indices are constructed for this purpose. The long run results show negative affect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty indices on FDI inflows. Trade openness shows positive effect on FDI inflows only in short run while in long run it has negative impact on due lack of creditability regarding consistent trade liberalization policy and high trade cost. Furthermore, the market size significantly affects the inflow of FDI both in long run and short run which shows that FDI inflows in South Asia are mainly depend on market size. South Asian economies need to focus on political and macroeconomic factors along with FDI incentives policies to attract more FDI.     

Living in the city: school friendships,diversity and the middle classes

Much of the literature on the urban middle classes describes processes of both affiliation (often to the localities) and disaffiliation (often from some of the non‐middle‐class residents). In this paper, we consider this situation from a different position, drawing on research exploring whether and how children and adults living in diverse localities develop friendships with those different to themselves in terms of social class and ethnicity. This paper focuses on the interviews with the ethnically diverse, but predominantly white British, middle‐class parent participants, considering their attitudes towards social and cultural difference. We emphasize the importance of highlighting inequalities that arise from social class and its intersection with ethnicity in analyses of complex urban populations. The paper's contribution is, first, to examine processes of clustering amongst the white British middle‐class parents, particularly in relation to social class. Second, we contrast this process, and its moments of reflection and unease, with the more deliberate and purposeful efforts of one middle‐class, Bangladeshi‐origin mother who engages in active labour to facilitate relationships across social and ethnic difference.     

Forecasting demand for food in Libya—using confidence limits

Many developing countries are not self-sufficient in food production and they depend on food imports. In order to plan imports well in advance, the demand for food must be forecasted. If the forecasts are too low, the people suffer. On the other hand if the forecasts are too high—the food being a perishable commodity—resources of the country are wasted. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) undertakes such forecasts occasionally. The FAO however links the food consumption to the income of a country and then just assume future income. Such forecasts have no scientific validity and could both fall short or be grossly excessive. In this study, the methodologies of Time Series and Regression Analysis are combined to avoid any guesses. Then confidence intervals are built so that it can be stated, e.g. with 95 per cent confidence that a nation will not eat more than the amount specified. A comparison of costs is made and it is shown that a country can save millions of dollars through the method of statistical confidence limits rather than by adding arbitrary quantities to means and averages. Finally savings possible in some other developing countries, by adopting the proposed method, are tabulated.