Modified S-charts for controlling process variability

To help in the detection of variance increases and decreases, three modified versions of traditional Shewhart S-charts are evaluated in terms of their average run length values. One scheme uses control limits based on equal tail chi-square distribution probabilities. The second uses control limits based on unequal tail probabilities. The third uses warning limits based on equal tail probabilities, but requires two successive points beyond the warning limit to give an out-of-control signal. They all result in better average run length values than the traditional S-chart. Also, if the only concern is the detection of variance increases, then both S-charts and warning limit charts without lower control limits are shown to have better average run length values than those of the traditional charts.     

The Contribution of Irish Immigrants to the Quebec (Canada) Gene Pool: An Estimation Using Data from Deep-Rooted Genealogies

European settlement in Quebec (Canada) began in the early 17th century, with the arrival of French pioneers. After the British Conquest in 1760, immigrants from the British Isles began to settle in some parts of Quebec. Many of these immigrants were Irish Catholics. Historians and genealogists have identified several names of Irish origin in the French Canadian population, and many scholars have wondered about the importance of the integration of Irish migrants and their descendants within this population. The purposes of this study are to identify and characterize the founders of Irish origin to estimate the importance of their genetic contribution to the contemporary Quebec population, and to measure the variability of this contribution according to the founders’ period of arrival and county of origin in Ireland. Data was obtained from a set of 2,223 ascending genealogies going back as far as the early 17th century. The average genealogical depth is a little more than 9 generations, with many branches reaching 16 or 17 generations. Although Irish founders explain less than 1% of the total Quebec gene pool, results show that nearly 21% of the genealogies contain at least one Irish founder. These founders contributed to the peopling of all regions of Quebec, but there are some important variations from one region to another. A majority of the Irish founders immigrated during the 19th century, and most of them came from the counties of Southern Ireland.     

The Eternal Triangle: Sixty Years of the Centre–Periphery Relationship in the National Health Service

The history of the National Health Service in England is marked by a paradox. Even while successive governments used the rhetoric of power to the periphery, the exhort‐and‐hope system of 1948 was transformed into a command‐and‐control system over the next 60 years. The contrast between rhetorical aspirations and policy trajectory can be traced back, this article argues, to a debate in the 1945 Cabinet about the design of the NHS: a debate which set out the tension between three policy goals – equity, efficiency and democracy. The pursuit of equity and efficiency (variously defined) has provided the rationale for centralization, at the expense of democracy seen as control by elected local bodies. The major change over time has been less in central government's policy ambitions than in its administrative capacity. New organizational structures and managerial techniques made it possible to exploit opportunities created by information technology.     

The resentful undergrowth of nostalgia: Ontological insecurity,relative deprivation and powerlessness

This article untangles competing conceptualisations of nostalgia and identifies a specific form of collective-restorative nostalgia as politically significant. We argue that the link between resentment and this type of nostalgia emerges from their joint critique of the socio-political realities of the present. Nostalgia provides spatial and temporal orientations for a group's experiences of resentment through highly selective recollections of the heartland and an idealised golden age. We hypothesize that nostalgia leverages the heartland and the golden age to formulate claims for recognition and restored status on behalf of those who feel left behind by late modernity. Next, the article uses structural equation modelling and the 2019 Belgian National Election Study to reveal how resentment (consisting of ontological insecurity, group relative deprivation, and powerlessness) mediates between structural characteristics and nostalgia. Our findings suggest that each component of resentment individually contributes to explaining the nostalgia of less educated and economically deprived individuals.     

A Model for the Transportation of Hazardous Waste*

Many decision problems, such as the transportation of hazardous waste, can be modeled by networks. However, due to the imprecise nature of much of the information decision makers have available, it is sometimes difficult to determine a best approach to the problem. To alleviate this problem, a network model that combines both precise and imprecise information is presented for the transportation of hazardous waste. The properties of the network model are investigated and solution procedures are presented.     

SOME STATISTICAL ISSUES IN THE ESTIMATION OF A SIMPLE COST-VOLUME-PROFIT MODEL*

This paper presents point and interval estimators of both long-run and single-period target quantities in a simple cost-volume-profit (C-V-P) model. This model is a stochastic version of the “accountant's break-even chart” where the major component is a semivariable cost function. Although these features suggest obvious possibilities for practical application, a major purpose of this paper is to examine the statistical properties of target quantity estimators in C-V-P analysis. It is shown that point estimators of target quantity are biased and possess no moments of positive order, but are consistent. These properties are also shared by previous break-even models, even when all parameters are assumed known with certainty. After a test for positive variable margins, Fieller's [6] method is used to obtain interval estimators of relevant target quantities. This procedure therefore minimizes possible ambiguities in stochastic break-even analysis (noted by Ekern [3]).     

Profitieren Kinder mit Migrationshintergrund von pädagogischen Fachkräften mit Migrationshintergrund?Do migrant children benefit from migrant teachers?

This paper tests the assumption that a stronger presence of migrant teachers in preschool can help to reduce ethnic disadvantages and contribute to more equality of opportunity. To this end, migrant children who are taught by teachers with a migration background are compared to those who are confronted with only autochthonous teachers in their day-care centre. The outcome variables include competencies in German language, mathematics, science, as well as social competencies of the children. In addition, the study investigates the contact frequency of migrant parents with the day care centre to test whether contact is enhanced in centres which employ migrant teachers. Contrary to expectations, propensity score matching analyses based on the Kindergarten cohort of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) show that migrant children do not achieve higher competencies when being taught by migrant teachers. Similarly, contact to migrant parents is not improved. More teachers with a migration background will hardly reduce ethnic disadvantages in educational outcomes.