Suicide prevention and community-level indictors

This study sought to develop a set of easily obtainable, relevant measures of a community's condition that could be used to guide its suicide prevention efforts. Existing data were gathered across 159 Georgia counties for nine potential social indicators (rates of net migration, divorce, unemployment, violent crimes reported, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs [DUI] crashes, high school dropouts, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF], percentage of population aged 65 or older, and percentage of population who are white males) that had been chosen by the communities. Data on the social indicators from 1995 through 1999 were averaged and analyzed to determine their correlation with aggregated 5-year county suicide rates. Results of multivariate modeling procedures showed number of DUI crashes and percentage of the population aged 65 or older to be significant correlates of the suicide rate, controlling for other potential indicators. These preliminary data may provide a useful model of a county's 5-year suicide rate among counties reporting 20 or more suicides. Research with additional indicators and in other states will help determine the generalizability of these findings to other communities.     

Planning for electricity generation in India

A country's economy and its energy base have a complex yet strong relationship. As a result the provisioning of an increasing quanta of energy is a vital pre-requisite for the economic growth of a country. With certain exceptions it has been found from a study of the per capita electric energy generation and per capita income that between 0·7 and 2 units of electric energy are required for generation of one unit of income. The exact relationship will vary from country to country depending on the particular energy-mix, the extent of industrialization and the energy efficiency of the economy. In the case of India, with the increasing contribution being made by the manufacturing, mining, transportation and communication sectors to the gross national product, the linkage between energy consumption and the deflated GNP are specific and strong. This paper outlines the methodology by which the relationship has been modelled and a forecast made of the energy demand.     

Ergonomics content in the physical education teacher's guide in Rwanda

An important aspect that affects the effectiveness of ergonomic programs is that inefficient mechanical functioning start at an early age and that back pain and posture problems are already evident in children. Children, from a very early age, as well as adults spend an ever increasing amount of their time in front of computer and television screens. The cumulative effect of this sedentary lifestyle leads to improper posture, as well as inefficient and harmful movement patterns and loss of basic physical skills. Physical Education course should deal not only with sports and physical activities, but also with broader aspects of life-skills and physical functionality. It should offer a solution to the modern technology-based society. Keeping this in perspective, Ergonomics content was introduced in Physical Education Teacher's Guide in Rwandan schools with an aim in preventing musculoskeletal disorder in children.     

THE DEVELOPMENTAL EFFECT OF STATE ALCOHOL PROHIBITIONS AT THE TURN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

We examine the quasi‐randomization of alcohol consumption created by state‐level alcohol prohibition laws passed in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. Using a large dataset of World War II enlistees, we exploit the differential timing of these laws to examine their effects on adult educational attainment, obesity, and height. We find statistically significant effects for education and obesity that do not appear to be the result of pre‐existing trends. Our findings add to the growing body of economic studies that examine the long‐run impacts of in utero and childhood environmental conditions. (JEL I18, D10, N41, N42)     

Analysis of incomplete data in experiments with repeated measurements in clinicaltrials using a stochastic model

A stochastic model is proposed to analyze the observation vectors of variable lengths in a long-term clinical trial. Using a Markovian normal density, the likelihood ratio tests for usual hypotheses are derived and asymptotic distributions of the test statistics are obtained. The use of 'step-down' procedure is discussed for the interim analysis and a numerical example is given to illustrate the methodology.     

Construction of fourth order rotatable designs with estimation of corresponding response surface

This paper provides the reader with a method of selectinga set of points which would form a rotatable design of order four . A fourth order response surface has been fitted and the variance function for the estimated response has been worked out.     

Group sequential analysis op a clinical trial with repeated measurements

Recently some work has been done in group sequential analysis for comparing two treatments with respect to the rate of change in a repeated measures design with staggered subject entries. We relax the involved assumption of linearity for the time-response curve and propose a group sequential procedure assuming multivariate normality with an ante-dependence structure for the repeated measurements obtained at protocol scheduled visits. The exit probabilities are determined through an a-spending function proposed by Lan and DeMets. A numerical example is given to illustrate the methodology.     

Managing Differentiation‐Integration Duality in Supply Chain Integration*

Existing research focuses on the positive returns to operational performance of firms’ supply chain integration (SCI) with suppliers, buyers, and customers. We draw on differentiation‐integration duality and contingency theory to suggest that manufacturing firms should seek to achieve both integration through supply chain coordination activities and differentiation through modularity‐based manufacturing practices (MBMP). Using a sample of 261 manufacturing firms, we identify an inverse U‐shaped relationship between SCI and operational performance. Furthermore, we find support for the importance of differentiation‐integration duality as a fit between high levels of SCI and high levels of MBMP results in enhanced operational performance. We find support for a contingency perspective as fit is especially critical at higher levels of environmental uncertainty. Implications for theory, practice, and further research are suggested.     

Deducing a taxonomy of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness: a comparative study of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour across three EU countries

This qualitative multiple case derived etic study focuses on perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness. It explores what employees in various organizations, organizational sectors and culturally diverse nations perceive as effective and ineffective managerial behaviour. Empirical findings from six emic replication studies carried out previously within three European Union countries were subjected to cross-case, cross-sector, and cross-nation comparative analysis. High degrees of sameness and similarity were found. Further analysis led to the emergence of a behavioural taxonomy comprised of 10 positive (effective) and 9 negative (ineffective) behavioural criteria. We find that managers and non-managerial staff in British and Romanian public-sector hospitals, and in British and German private-sector companies, perceive effective and ineffective managerial behaviour in much the same way. Our findings challenge past literature which argues that managers need to adopt different managerial behaviours to be effective in different organizational sectors and countries.