Intake Fraction Variability Between Air Pollution Emission Sources Inside an Urban Area

The cost‐effective mitigation of adverse health effects caused by air pollution requires information on the contribution of different emission sources to exposure. In urban areas the exposure potential of different sources may vary significantly depending on emission height, population density, and other factors. In this study, we quantified this intraurban variability by predicting intake fraction (iF) for 3,066 emission sources in Warsaw, Poland. iF describes the fraction of the pollutant that is inhaled by people in the study area. We considered the following seven pollutants: particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NO_x), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), benzo[a] pyrene (BaP), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb). Emissions for these pollutants were grouped into four emission source categories (Mobile, Area, High Point, and Other Point sources). The dispersion of the pollutants was predicted with the CALPUFF dispersion model using the year 2005 emission rate data and meteorological records. The resulting annual average concentrations were combined with population data to predict the contribution of each individual source to population exposure. The iFs for different pollutant‐source category combinations varied between 51 per million (PM from Mobile sources) and 0.013 per million (sulfate PM from High Point sources). The intraurban iF variability for Mobile sources primary PM emission was from 4 per million to 100 per million with the emission‐weighted iF of 44 per million. These results propose that exposure due to intraurban air pollution emissions could be decreased more effectively by specifically targeting sources with high exposure potency rather than all sources.     

Paradigms of measurement

In this study some conceptual developments in the theory of measurement are reframed with the use of a model-theoretic interpretation. These paradigms (physical, extended physical and representational paradigm) which emerge in the process of reconceptualization are discussed. This discussion enables us to highlight a certain logic behind a series of developments in the theory of measurement and leads to a new, more general conceptualization.     

Order preserving property of moment estimators

Balakrishnan and Mi (2001) considered order preserving property of maximum likelihood estimators. In this paper there are given conditions under which the moment estimators have the property of preserving stochastic orders. The preserving property for the usual stochastic order as well as for likelihood ratio one is considered. Sufficient conditions are established for some parametric families of distributions.     

The Complete Gradient Clustering Algorithm: properties in practical applications

The aim of this paper is to present a Complete Gradient Clustering Algorithm, its applicational aspects and properties, as well as to illustrate them with specific practical problems from the subject of bioinformatics (the categorization of grains for seed production), management (the design of a marketing support strategy for a mobile phone operator) and engineering (the synthesis of a fuzzy controller). The main property of the Complete Gradient Clustering Algorithm is that it does not require strict assumptions regarding the desired number of clusters, which allows to better suit its obtained number to a real data structure. In the basic version it is possible to provide a complete set of procedures for defining the values of all functions and parameters relying on the optimization criterions. It is also possible to point out parameters, the potential change which implies influence on the size of the number of clusters (while still not giving an exact number) and the proportion between their numbers in dense and sparse areas of data elements. Moreover, the Complete Gradient Clustering Algorithm can be used to identify and possibly eliminate atypical elements (outliers). These properties proved to be very useful in the presented applications and may also be functional in many other practical problems.     

On the Characterization of Copulas by Differential Equations

We study the semigroup action induced by univariate conditioning of copulas. Based on this, we give a new characterization of bivariate copulas in terms of flows generated by solutions of ordinary differential equations with not necessary continuous right side. Several applications, related to concordance ordering of copulas, illustrate the usefulness of this result.     

Multiscale interpretation of taut string estimation and its connection to Unbalanced Haar wavelets

We compare two state-of-the-art non-linear techniques for nonparametric function estimation via piecewise constant approximation: the taut string and the Unbalanced Haar methods. While it is well-known that the latter is multiscale, it is not obvious that the former can also be interpreted as multiscale. We provide a unified multiscale representation for both methods, which offers an insight into the relationship between them as well as suggesting lessons both methods can learn from each other.     

NEITHER ‘NON–’NOR ‘BECOMING’

The concept of whiteness is seductive; it strikes a chord and resonates, highlighting what was long ignored in the history of immigrants in America. However, in reading the literature, one cannot help but be troubled by the reduction of a plethora of relations to a singular binary, as important as that binary may be. This paper examines the experience of Polonia (the Polish Diaspora) in America, drawing on broad historical evidence as well as a particular ritual of identification (the Pulaski Day Parade in Philadelphia), in order to highlight the follies of reducing the immigrant experience to one of ‘becoming white.’ This paper challenges three major assumptions in whiteness studies: the particular relationship between ethnicity and race found therein; the assumptions regarding the assimilation of immigrant groups; and the centrality of the white/black binary in processes of identification. Ultimately, the argument presented here posits that to maintain whiteness as an analytically useful concept, it needs to be placed within the complex multitude of relations in which it occurs in the actual experiences of immigrants.     

The persistence of cliques in the post‐communist state. The case of deniability in drug reimbursement policy in Poland

This article explores a key question in political sociology: Can post‐communist policy‐making be described with classical theories of the Western state or do we need a theory of the specificity of the post‐communist state? In so doing, we consider Janine Wedel's clique theory, concerned with informal social actors and processes in post‐communist transition. We conducted a case study of drug reimbursement policy in Poland, using 109 stakeholder interviews, official documents and media coverage. Drawing on ‘sensitizing concepts’ from Wedel's theory, especially the notion of ‘deniability’, we developed an explanation of why Poland's reimbursement policy combined suboptimal outcomes, procedural irregularities with limited accountability of key stakeholders. We argue that deniability was created through four main mechanisms: (1) blurred boundaries between different types of state authority allowing for the dispersion of blame for controversial policy decisions; (2) bridging different sectors by ‘institutional nomads’, who often escaped existing conflicts of interest regulations; (3) institutional nomads’ ‘flexible’ methods of influence premised on managing roles and representations; and (4) coordination of resources and influence by elite cliques monopolizing exclusive policy expertise. Overall, the greatest power over drug reimbursement was often associated with lowest accountability. We suggest, therefore, that the clique theory can be generalized from its home domain of explanation in foreign aid and privatizations to more technologically advanced policies in Poland and other post‐communist countries. This conclusion is not identical, however, with arguing the uniqueness of the post‐communist state. Rather, we show potential for using Wedel's account to analyse policy‐making in Western democracies and indicate scope for its possible integration with the classical theories of the state.