Designs for estimating the difference between two responses

In this paper the problem of designing experiments for estimating the difference between responses at two arbitrary points in the region of interest is considered. Under the average mean squared error criterion the design moment conditions have been worked out. The results have been applied to the class of central composite designs.     

Smoothing techniques via the bezier curve

Although the Bezier curve is very popular in the area of computational graphics it has rarely been used by statisticians. In this paper we develop methods and techniques for use of the Bezier curve in estimation of density and regression function. Also, asymptotic mean integrated square error for both estimators are derived. Comparisons with kernel estimator are conducted using simulation.     

Censored Kullback-Leibler Information and Goodness-of-Fit Test with Type II Censored Data

The Kulback-Leibler information has been considered for establishing goodness-of-fit test statistics, which have been shown to perform very well (Arizono & Ohta, 1989; Ebrahimi et al., 1992, etc). In this paper, we propose censored Kullback-Leibler information to generalize the discussion of the Kullback-Leibler information to the censored case. Then we establish a goodness-of-fit test statistic based on the censored Kullback-Leibler information with the type 2 censored data, and compare the test statistics with some existing test statistics for the exponential and normal distributions.     

Rethinking Women and Their Bodies in the Age of Biotechnology: Feminist Commentaries on the Hwang Affair

Many Korean women felt strongly positive about donating their eggs for Hwang Woo Suk’s research, in spite of the fact that Hwang was accused of fraud. It is said that there is a kind of unique ‘egg donation culture’ among Korean women, which urged them to donate their eggs for his research. However, positing such a Korean ‘egg donation culture’ does not seem to give a sufficient explanation of why so many Korean women were seemingly willing to provide their own eggs for Hwang’s research. Instead, we suggest that egg donation issues in the Hwang affair can be interpreted under the paradoxical context, in which Korean women are situated in the age of biotechnology. On the one hand, the invisibility of women as subjects in the public sphere led to their lack of social control over ova trafficking and made it possible for a huge number of eggs to be supplied secretly for Hwang’s team. The patriarchal structure of family, the myth of economic growth, and the restricted activities of feminist organizations are possible contributors to the invisibility of Korean women. On the other hand, in the practices of bodily technologies such as cosmetic surgery and reproductive technologies, Korean women have been highly visible. With the help of those technological instruments, women have been empowered to own their own bodies and to have them at their disposal. We argue that these dualistic realities of women as egg owners can explain the egg donation culture among Korean women in the Hwang affair.

Temporal Disaggregation: Methods,Information Loss,and Diagnostics

This research provides a generalized framework to disaggregate lower-frequency time series and evaluate the disaggregation performance. The proposed framework combines two models in separate stages: a linear regression model to exploit related independent variables in the first stage and a state–space model to disaggregate the residual from the regression in the second stage. For the purpose of providing a set of practical criteria for assessing the disaggregation performance, we measure the information loss that occurs during temporal aggregation while examining what effects take place when aggregating data. To validate the proposed framework, we implement Monte Carlo simulations and provide two empirical studies. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

An exploratory data analysis in scale-space for interval-valued data

We propose an exploratory data analysis approach when data are observed as intervals in a nonparametric regression setting. The interval-valued data contain richer information than single-valued data in the sense that they provide both center and range information of the underlying structure. Conventionally, these two attributes have been studied separately as traditional tools can be readily used for single-valued data analysis. We propose a unified data analysis tool that attempts to capture the relationship between response and covariate by simultaneously accounting for variability present in the data. It utilizes a kernel smoothing approach, which is conducted in scale-space so that it considers a wide range of smoothing parameters rather than selecting an optimal value. It also visually summarizes the significance of trends in the data as a color map across multiple locations and scales. We demonstrate its effectiveness as an exploratory data analysis tool for interval-valued data using simulated and real examples.     

Development and evaluation of the physical activity questionnaire for elderly Japanese: the Nakanojo study

The Physical Activity Questionnaire for Elderly Japanese (PAQ-EJ) is a self-administered physical activity questionnaire for elderly Japanese; the authors report here on its repeatability and direct and indirect validity. Reliability was assessed by repeat administration after 1 month. Direct validation was based on accelerometer data collected every 4 s for 1 month in 147 individuals age 65-85 years. Indirect validation against a 10-item Barthel index (activities of daily living [ADL]) was completed in 3,084 individuals age 65-99 years. The test-retest coefficient was high (r = .64-.71). Total and subtotal scores for lower (transportation, housework, and labor) and higher intensity activities (exercise/sports) were significantly correlated with step counts and durations of physical activity <3 and >or=3 METs (r = .41, .28, .53), respectively. Controlling for age and ADL, scores for transportation, exercise/sports, and labor were greater in men, but women performed more housework. Sex- and ADL- or age-adjusted PAQ-EJ scores were significantly lower in older and dependent people. PAQ-EJ repeatability and validity seem comparable to those of instruments used in Western epidemiological studies.     

Pathways from workplace flexibility to turnover intention: Role of work–family conflict,family–work conflict,and job satisfaction

This study examined the prevalence of workplace flexibility and the mechanisms that allow workplace flexibility to influence turnover intentions through work–family and family–work conflicts and job satisfaction among low‐wage workers in South Korea. Participants included 250 low‐wage workers whose monthly salary was less than 2 million Korean won (approx. $1,900). The study results indicate that low‐wage workers have limited access to workplace flexibility and that workplace flexibility plays a significant protective role in reducing their turnover intention, indirectly by decreasing work–family conflicts and enhancing job satisfaction. This article also discusses the implications of these findings for labor policy and social work practice.