Moving and union dissolution

This paper examines the effect of migration and residential mobility on union dissolution among married and cohabiting couples. Moving is a stressful life event, and a large, multidisciplinary literature has shown that family migration often benefits one partner (usually the man) more than the other Even so, no study to date has examined the possible impact of within-nation geographical mobility on union dissolution. We base our longitudinal analysis on retrospective event-history data from Austria. Our results show that couples who move frequently have a significantly higher risk of union dissolution, and we suggest a variety of mechanisms that may explain this.     

为中国人民服务

我来自加拿大安大略省的多伦多市,相信大家对这个地方并不陌生,它是大山的家乡,白求恩医生也在此出生并接受医疗培训。我所在的约克大学就有一个本科生学院是以白求恩医生的名字命名的。白求恩医生的事迹感召着我们．我们每一位获奖外国专家都将永远为我们有机会“为人民服务”,为中国人民服务而心存感激,这是我们无上的荣耀。     

On a multiple endpoints testing problem

In a clinical trial comparing drug with placebo, where there are multiple primary endpoints, we consider testing problems where an efficacious drug effect can be claimed only if statistical significance is demonstrated at the nominal level for all endpoints. Under the assumption that the data are multivariate normal, the multiple endpoint-testing problem is formulated. The usual testing procedure involves testing each endpoint separately at the same significance level using two-sample t-tests, and claiming drug efficacy only if each t-statistic is significant. In this paper we investigate properties of this procedure. We show that it is identical to both an intersection union test and the likelihood ratio test. A simple expression for the p-value is given. The level and power function are studied; it is shown that the test may be conservative and that it is biased. Computable bounds for the power function are established.     

Describing the Dynamics of Attention to TV Commercials: A Hierarchical Bayes Analysis of the Time to Zap an Ad

This paper provides insights into the dynamics of attention to TV commercials via an analysis of the length of time that commercials are viewed before being 'zapped'. The model, which incorporates a flexible baseline hazard rate and captures unobserved heterogeneity across both consumers and commercials using a hierarchical Bayes approach, is estimated on two datasets in which commercial viewing is captured by a passive online device that continually monitors a household's TV viewing. Consistent with previous findings in psychology about the nature of attentional engagement in TV viewing, baseline hazard rates are found to be non-monotonic. In addition, the data show considerable ad-to-ad and household-to-household heterogeneity in zapping behavior. While one of the datasets contains some information on characteristics of the ads, these data do not reveal any firm links between the ad heterogeneity and the ad characteristics. A number of methodological and computational issues arise in the hierarchical Bayes analysis.     

Between Neo-liberalism and Neo-indigenismo: Reconstructing National Identity in Mexico

Heightened integration with the US coupled with the rise of an indigenous movement have challenged and strained long-held images regarding the US and the indigenous within Mexico. As a result, Mexico finds itself facing the difficult task of re-evaluating and reconstructing its national identity. This paper explores the traditional images of the US and the Indian shaping national identity in Mexico and the challenges posed today by neo-liberalism and neo-indigenismo. It sets out a range of current issues, explores the linkages and contradictions, and examines the state of national reform. Fundamentally, the paper strives to raise important theoretical questions and hence set the stage for further research into these issues.     

Compliance Strategies and Regulatory Effectiveness of Performance-Based Regulation of Chemical Accident Risks

This paper investigates the role that performance-based regulations can play in linking a firm's environmental, health, and safety concerns with their corporate strategy. The specific focus is on the performance standards required by the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) which require firms that store or use certain chemicals to develop a Risk Management Plan (RMP) for reducing the likelihood and impact of accidents at their plants. Data from a series of case studies and interviews of executives in chemical firms reveal that proactive companies integrated many of the requirements of the CAAA into their management systems prior to the regulatory requirements. Most of these firms tend to be large ones. Small firms often lack the resources to implement these regulations and hence have tended to have a more difficult time with compliance.     

Risk,Media, and Stigma at Rocky Flats

Public responses to nuclear technologies are often strongly negative. Events, such as accidents or evidence of unsafe conditions at nuclear facilities, receive extensive and dramatic coverage by the news media. These news stories affect public perceptions of nuclear risks and the geographic areas near nuclear facilities. One result of these perceptions, avoidance behavior, is a form of technological stigma that leads to losses in property values near nuclear facilities. The social amplification of risk is a conceptual framework that attempts to explain how stigma is created through media transmission of information about hazardous places and public perceptions and decisions. This paper examines stigma associated with the U.S. Department of Energy's Rocky Flats facility, a major production plant in the nation's nuclear weapons complex, located near Denver, Colorado. This study, based upon newspaper analyses and a survey of Denver area residents, finds that the social amplification theory provides a reasonable framework for understanding the events and public responses that took place in regard to Rocky Flats during a 6-year period, beginning with an FBI raid of the facility in 1989.     

Precedence tests and Lehmann alternatives

G = F ^k (k > 1); G = 1 − (1−F) ^k (k < 1); G = F ^k (k < 1); and G = 1 − (1−F) ^k (k > 1), where F and G are two continuous cumulative distribution functions. If an optimal precedence test (one with the maximal power) is determined for one of these four classes, the optimal tests for the other classes of alternatives can be derived. Application of this is given using the results of Lin and Sukhatme (1992) who derived the best precedence test for testing the null hypothesis that the lifetimes of two types of items on test have the same distibution. The test has maximum power for fixed κ in the class of alternatives G = 1 − (1−F) ^k , with k < 1. Best precedence tests for the other three classes of Lehmann-type alternatives are derived using their results. Finally, a comparison of precedence tests with Wilcoxon's two-sample test is presented. Received: February 22, 1999; revised version: June 7, 2000     

On Non-parametric Estimation of the Survival Function with Competing Risks

The non-parametric maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs) are derived for survival functions associated with individual risks or system components in a reliability framework. Lifetimes are observed for systems that contain one or more of those components. Analogous to a competing risks model, the system is assumed to fail upon the first instance of any component failure; i.e. the system is configured in series. For any given risk or component type, the asymptotic distribution is shown to depend explicitly on the unknown survival function of the other risks, as well as the censoring distribution. Survival functions with increasing failure rate are investigated as a special case. The order restricted MLE is shown to be consistent under mild assumptions of the underlying component lifetime distributions.     

On evaluating interactive statistical program packages

Most statistical computing for data analysis has come to depend upon statistical program packages. In recent years, interactive computing has become widespread both on large time-sharing systems and on mini-computers. This paper identifies ways in which interactive statistical software packages differ from batchoriented software and discusses evaluation considerations pertaining specifically to interactive packages.