Nonparametric predictive selection with early experiment termination

Nonparametric predictive inference (NPI) is a statistical approach based on few assumptions about probability distributions, with inferences based on data. NPI assumes exchangeability of random quantities, both related to observed data and future observations, and uncertainty is quantified using lower and upper probabilities. In this paper, units from several groups are placed simultaneously on a lifetime experiment and times-to-failure are observed. The experiment may be ended before all units have failed. Depending on the available data and few assumptions, we present lower and upper probabilities for selecting the best group, the subset of best groups and the subset including the best group. We also compare our approach of selecting the best group with some classical precedence selection methods. Throughout, examples are provided to demonstrate our method.     

Ambiguous Loss Research,Theory, and Practice: Reflections After 9/11

This article contains an overview of three decades of research, theory development, and clinical application about ambiguous loss. Although the work includes both physical and psychological types of ambiguous loss, the focus is the aftermath of 9/11 (September 11, 2001), when the World Trade Center collapsed following terrorist attacks. On the basis of her previous work, the author was asked to design an intervention for families of the missing. She reflects on what she learned from this unexpected test and presents new propositions and hypotheses to stimulate further research and theory that is more inclusive of diversity. She suggests that scholars should focus more on universal family experience. Ambiguous loss is just one example. Encouraging researchers and practitioners to collaborate in theory development, she concludes that research‐based theory is essential to inform interventions in unexpected times of terror, and in everyday life.     

Endogenous agenda formation in three-person committees

This paper analyzes a 3-person voting game in which two or three players have the ability to choose alternatives to be considered. Once the set of possible alternatives and the structure of the voting procedure are known, the players can solve for the outcome. Thus, the actual choice over outcomes takes place in the choice of alternatives to be voted on, i.e., the agenda. An equilibrium to this agenda-formation game in shown to exist under different assumptions about the information relative to the order of the players in the voting game. Further, this equilibrium is computed and found to possess certain features which are attractive from a normative point of view.Prepared for delivery at the 1985 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, The New Orleans Hilton, August 29–September 1, 1985. We would like to thank Richard McKelvey, Norman Schofield and two anonymous referees for valuable comments and suggestions. We retain responsibility for remaining errors.     

Variance Estimation and Asymptotic Confidence Bands for the Mean Estimator of Sampled Functional Data with High Entropy Unequal Probability Sampling Designs

For fixed size sampling designs with high entropy, it is well known that the variance of the Horvitz–Thompson estimator can be approximated by the Hájek formula. The interest of this asymptotic variance approximation is that it only involves the first order inclusion probabilities of the statistical units. We extend this variance formula when the variable under study is functional, and we prove, under general conditions on the regularity of the individual trajectories and the sampling design, that we can get a uniformly convergent estimator of the variance function of the Horvitz–Thompson estimator of the mean function. Rates of convergence to the true variance function are given for the rejective sampling. We deduce, under conditions on the entropy of the sampling design, that it is possible to build confidence bands whose coverage is asymptotically the desired one via simulation of Gaussian processes with variance function given by the Hájek formula. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed variance estimator is evaluated on samples of electricity consumption data measured every half an hour over a period of 1 week.     

Task analysis of healthcare delivery: A case study

Human error and medical error are highly known as contributors to patient safety [Institute of Medicine (IOM), November 1999. To err is human: building a safer health system. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309068371/html/11.html (accessed 05.03.07); Institute of Medicine (IOM), March 2001. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309072808/html (accessed 05.03.07); Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), 2007. Failure mode, effect, and criticality analysis (FMECA) worksheet. Available at: http://www.jcaho.org (accessed 24.06.07)]. A study was performed to identify the process flow affiliated with elder patients transitioning through different continuums of emergency and non-emergency care. This research is part of a larger research effort to develop and implement a web-based healthcare system that enables hospitals and nursing homes to share patient information resulting in increased knowledge of a patient's medical history, decreased errors and enhanced patient safety. Future research efforts for this study are also presented.     

Financial reporting in Europe: Prospects for research

This paper is a commentary on the future of financial reporting in Europe and on how research into accounting issues can be relevant to policy makers. Combining scholarship in accounting with scholarship in management can offer insight into national and global issues where accounting communicates information that affects managerial decisions at the microeconomic level and political decisions at the macroeconomic level. The paper cites examples of recent research in financial reporting and points to the current work plans of leading policy makers to illustrate the potential for researchers to influence policy directions. The context of financial reporting, nationally and globally, and the data available in the public domain, provide continued opportunities for researchers investigating accounting issues in the private sector and the public sector.     

Comparative Capitalism without Capitalism,and Production without Workers: The Limits and Possibilities of Contemporary Institutional Analysis

The aim of this paper is to consider the extent to which the comparative capitalism literature fully reflects the available empirical evidence in its attempts to model different versions of capitalism and, in particular, whether it adequately captures the roles of diverse stakeholders within the capitalist system. In doing so, particular attention is accorded to the varieties of capitalism literature, business systems theory and regulation theory. In addition, there is reflection in the paper on whether any strand of the literature is able to deal effectively with the recent economic crisis and systemic change. It is argued that more attention needs to be devoted to exploring the structural causes of change and the marginalization of the interests of key social groupings, most notably workers, from the process of institutional redesign.     

Life satisfaction,self‐esteem,and personal happiness among Mexican and African Americans

Since the publication of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the writings of Thomas S. Kuhn have had a great impact on the way sociologists perceive developments within their discipline. This essay offers a critical review of the Kuhnian framework and questions the unreflective endorsement of this perspective. After a brief summary of the main points in Kuhn's approach, this paper argues that Kuhnian approaches preclude the possibility of an investigation of the historical relations and developments that mediate the production of scientific knowledge. Kuhn retains a reified view of science free from both sociohistorical influence and critical scholarship. Ideas still beget ideas, and knowledge gained through scientific investigation is still cumulative.