On the umvu estimators after using a normalizing transformation

The conditional distribution given complete sufficient statistics is used along with the Rao-Blackwell theorem to obtain uniformly minimum variance unbiased (UMVU) estimators after a transformation to normality has been applied to data. The estimators considered are for the mean, the variance and the cumulative distribution of the original non-normal data. Previous procedures to obtain UMVU estimators have used Laplace transforms, Taylor expansions and the jackknife. An integration method developed in this paper requires only integrability of the normalizing transformation function. This method is easy to employ and it is always possible to obtain a numerical result.     

The Coming of Game Theory

This is a brief historical note on game theory. We cover its historical roots (prior to its formal definition in 1944), and look at its development until the late 1960's.     

College students and tattoos. Influence of image,identity, family,and friends

Tattoos are popular among many groups of people. College students from a large university in the southwestern United States were queried using the 134-item Armstrong Team Tattoo Attitude Survey. Findings documents a progressive increase in tattooing and reflect significant support for tattoos, even from non-tattooed students. Similar and positive demographic characteristics were present in individuals who were both non-tattooed and tattooed. In addition, tattooed people were viewed positively, even among non-tattooed respondents. Friends significantly affected procurement and possession of tattoos, whereas of all family members, the sister was the only significant influence. Overall, friends, identity, and image seem to be the major influences for obtaining tattoos.     

Education-related inequity in healthcare with heterogeneous reporting of health

Reliance on self-rated health to proxy medical need can bias estimation of education-related inequity in healthcare utilization. We correct this bias both by instrumenting self-rated health with objective health indicators and by purging self-rated health of reporting heterogeneity that is identified from health vignettes. Using data on elderly Europeans, we find that instrumenting self-rated health shifts the distribution of visits to a doctor in the direction of inequality favouring the better educated. There is a further, and typically larger, shift in the same direction when correction is made for the tendency of the better educated to rate their health more negatively.     

Accelerated Test Models for System Strength Based on Birnbaum-Saunders Distributions

Recent research in cumulative damage models for strengths of systems has yielded various statistical distributions that incorporate a system size variable and follow a generalized Birnbaum-Saunders form. These models can be unified as a three-parameter Birnbaum-Saunders-type family of distributions, where the third parameter arises from the size variable through the cumulative damage approach. In this paper, the generalized three-parameter Birnbaum-Saunders distribution is characterized, and examples of cumulative damage models for system strength that fit this form are given. Also, estimation and asymptotic theory are developed for the generalized distribution, and illustrations are presented for experimental strength data for carbon composite materials.     

Characterizations of the β- and the Degree Network Power Measure

A symmetric network consists of a set of positions and a set of bilateral links between these positions. For every symmetric network we define a cooperative transferable utility game that measures the “power” of each coalition of positions in the network. Applying the Shapley value to this game yields a network power measure, the β-measure, which reflects the power of the individual positions in the network. Applying this power distribution method iteratively yields a limit distribution, which turns out to be proportional to the well-known degree measure. We compare the β-measure and degree measure by providing characterizations, which differ only in the normalization that is used.      

Individual relationship education program as a prevention method for intimate partner violence

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have detrimental effects on the lives of partners and children. The authors examined the effectiveness of a relationship education program, titled Within My Reach (WMR), to prevent IPV in a naturalistic nonrandomized adult sample. The sample included participants who endorsed no physical violence in their relationship and no to very low controlling behaviors at pretest. At 6-month follow-up the participants in the WMR group reported statistically significant fewer controlling behaviors than the comparison group (d = .45). Although there were no statistically significant differences between the WMR and comparison group in physical violence at 6-month follow-up, the findings were in still favor of the WMR group (d = .15).