The power series distribution wite unknown truncation parameter: Two sample problem

The uniformly most powerful unbiased tests are formulated for the two sample problem of the power series distribution with unknown truncation parameter.     

中国农村贫困人口的估计与瞄准问题

随着农村低保的全面实施,中国的农村扶贫从开发式扶贫为主转变为扶贫开发与最低生活保障并重,扶贫资源也大幅度增加.然而,这一政策转变似乎没有带来明显的减贫效果.我们的研究发现,由于数据基础和估计方法不同,国家统计局估计的贫困人口和民政部门确定的低保人口在很大程度上是两个不同的群体.国家统计局估计的是经济上的贫困人口,而这些贫困人口绝大部分有劳动能力.民政部门确定的农村低保人口主要是一些特殊的人群(残疾人、慢性病人等没有劳动能力的人口).这些人口中的相当部分的收入水平并不低于贫困线.中国需要建立统一的贫困人口识别机制,改善农村扶贫对象的选择和瞄准机制,以提高扶贫效果.     

Friends or Enemies?: Generational Politics in the Korean American Community in Los Angeles

This paper examines generational politics in the Korean American community in Los Angeles. After outlining how the Immigration Act of 1965 led to the acceleration of generational transition in the contemporary immigrant experience, the paper focuses its attention on the entry of the post-immigrant generation into Korean American community politics. Relying on interviews and case studies, the entry of the post-immigrant generation is examined both as a source of new political resources for community mobilization as well as a new source of intra-community conflict. As greater numbers of the post-immigrant generation reach adulthood and become active in political affairs, the issue of generational politics will play an increasingly important role for shaping not only the political developments in immigrant communities but also the broader politics of the American society.     

Intergenerational Coresidence and Nearness in Korea and Japan: Unbalanced Aspects of Family Changes

Abstract  This study aims to explain similarity and difference in geographic proximity between elderly parents and their children in Korea and Japan. Using data sets from two nationally representative surveys conducted in Korea and Japan, this study examines the extent to which needs and kinship of elderly parents and regional constraints influence intergenerational coresidence and nearness.
Results highlight a complex feature of intergenerational relationship in Korea and Japan. Advanced economic and health conditions of Korean elderly parents increase the likelihood of living with children. For Japanese elderly parents, however, coresidence with children is significantly likely to occur in response to their disadvantaged economic status. These results suggest that the elderly Korean are more likely than the elderly Japanese to lack not only economic and health resources but also opportunities in obtaining family support in a time of need.
Characteristics of children, however, show a similar trend between the two societies. Both societies maintain a strong son preference for extended family living arrangement. Eldest children in both societies are more likely than their siblings to live with or near elderly parents. However, children of younger cohorts in both societies are significantly more likely than those of older cohorts to maintain a disperse geographic network indicating a significant change in family attitude among different cohorts.
Finally, this study finds a more disperse family network among rural elderly parents than urban elderly parents in both societies reflecting the fact that massive rural-to-urban migration of young population has contributed to geographic segregation of kinship in these societies.     

The workhouse populations of Lancashire in 1881

This article investigates the characteristics of the workhouse populations in Lancashire in 1881. The analysis is based on the snapshot view provided by the 1881 census and, despite the limitations of such an approach, this large-scale survey reveals significant variations in the experience of poverty and local relief policies in a largely industrial region that had been at the forefront of the anti-poor law movement. The workhouse populations are shown to be diverse, and contrast markedly with pauper populations previously studied. Lancashire's Poor Law Unions are divided into three types: conurbation, urban industrial and rural. These three groups appear to represent three different patterns of workhouse residency. The workhouse populations in rural Lancashire are broadly similar to those discussed elsewhere, being dominated by elderly males. However, urban industrial workhouse populations contained large numbers of adults of working age and the absence of children from workhouses in the conurbation is particularly striking.     

Predictors of the transition from experimental to daily smoking in late adolescence and young adulthood

Although smoking initiation is rare in young adulthood, the progression to a higher level of smoking still occurs at this developmental stage. Thus, this study was aimed at exploring predictors of the transition from experimental to daily smoking in late teens and young adults using the 2nd and 3rd waves from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Predictors were chosen based on Problem Behavior Theory and others that have been found to be influential in the literature. Of the variables studied, age, racial-ethnic identity (Black and Hispanic as compared to White youth), risk-taking tendency, and marijuana use predicted daily smoking 5 years later. Only one predictor, GPA, was protective for reducing the likelihood for the transition to daily smoking. The results are discussed in regard to implications for prevention of the progression to persistent daily smoking.     

Slope-rotatable designs with equal maximum directional variance for second order response surface models

The concept of sloperotaiability with equal maximum directional vari ance for second order response surface models is introduced as a new design property. This requires that the maximum variance of the estimated slope over all possible directions be only a function of p, which is the distance from the design originif is shown that a rotatable design satisfies this property Also, minimization of tiie maximum variance of the estimated slope over all possible directions is proposed as a new design optirnality criterion, and op¬timal designs are called slope-directional minirnax designs. For the class of cquiradial designs, the slope-directional minirnax designs are compared with D— optimal designs.     

Technical Note – Pricing Below Cost Under Exchange‐Rate Risk

Pricing below cost is often classified as “dumping” in international trade and as “predatory pricing” in local markets. It is legally prohibited from practice because of earlier findings that it leads to predatory behavior by either eliminating competition or stealing market share. This study shows that a stochastic exchange rate can create incentives for a profit‐minded monopoly firm to set price below marginal cost. Our result departs from earlier findings because the optimal pricing decision is based on a rational behavior that does not exhibit any malicious intent against the competition to be considered as violating anti‐trust laws. The finding is a robust result, because our analysis demonstrates that this behavior occurs under various settings such as when the firm (i) is risk‐averse, (ii) can postpone prices until after exchange rates are realized, (iii) is capable of manufacturing in multiple countries, and (iv) operates under demand uncertainty in addition to the random exchange rate.     

Organizational Silence and Whistle‐Blowing on IT Projects: An Integrated Model*

An individual's reluctance to report bad news about a troubled information technology (IT) project has been suggested as an important contributor to project failure and has been linked to IT project escalation as well. To date, information systems researchers have drawn from the mum effect and whistle‐blowing literature to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence bad news reporting. More recent theoretical work in the area of organizational silence offers a promising new conceptual lens, but remains empirically untested. In this research note, we integrate key elements of Morrison and Milliken's (2000) model of organizational silence, which has never been empirically tested, with the basic whistle‐blowing model adapted from Dozier and Miceli (1985) . Using a role‐playing experiment, we investigate how organizational structures/policies, managerial practices, and degree of demographic dissimilarity between employees and top managers create a climate of silence and how this climate, in turn, affects an individual's willingness to report. Our results show that all three types of factors contribute to a climate of silence, exerting both direct and indirect influence on willingness to report, as hypothesized. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.