Machine learning and design of experiments with an application to product innovation in the chemical industry

Industrial statistics plays a major role in the areas of both quality management and innovation. However, existing methodologies must be integrated with the latest tools from the field of Artificial Intelligence. To this end, a background on the joint application of Design of Experiments (DOE) and Machine Learning (ML) methodologies in industrial settings is presented here, along with a case study from the chemical industry. A DOE study is used to collect data, and two ML models are applied to predict responses which performance show an advantage over the traditional modeling approach. Emphasis is placed on causal investigation and quantification of prediction uncertainty, as these are crucial for an assessment of the goodness and robustness of the models developed. Within the scope of the case study, the models learned can be implemented in a semi-automatic system that can assist practitioners who are inexperienced in data analysis in the process of new product development.     

Education and the allocation of time of married women in Iran

Review of Economics of the Household - In the past two decades Iranian women have become much better educated and reduced their fertility, by more than two-thirds. However, their participation in...     

Longitudinal patterns of anger reactivity and risk‐taking: The role of peer‐context

The current study examined the interplay between children's dispositional anger and susceptibility to peers' influence in increasing children's risk‐taking behaviors. Participants in the current study were children from a larger study of temperament and social–emotional development who were followed across 9, 24, 36, 48, and 60 months. Dispositional anger was measured using mothers' reports across 9 and 48 months. At 60 months, children played a risk‐taking computer game in presence of an unfamiliar peer who watched the child play. The child's risk‐taking was assessed during the game as the unfamiliar peers' reactions were coded based on comments that were peer directed, reflective of praising the target child's performance, or object directed, indicative of excitement toward the game. A latent profile analysis revealed three longitudinal anger profiles across infancy to early childhood: high stable, average stable, and low stable anger. Results suggested that as peers' object‐directed comments predicted risk‐taking independent of children's anger, the association between peer‐directed comments and risk‐taking was dependent on children's dispositional anger. Specifically, when peers praised the target child's performance, children in the high stable anger profile showed increased risk‐taking propensity. Findings are discussed based on the importance of considering both temperamental characteristics and aspects of the peer context in relation to children's risk‐taking.     

Correction to: Do women directors contribute to R&D? The role of critical mass and expert power

Journal of Management and Governance - An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.     

AN EXISTENTIAL PERSPECTIVE ON DIFFERENTIATION/FUSION: THEORETICAL ISSUES AND CLINICAL APPLICATIONS

This paper calls for a recognition of existential issues in family therapy. It begins by noting the importance of "big questions" to families, reviews the roots of existential philosophy and existential therapy, offers an example of the usefulness of connecting existential thought to the family field by discussing differentiation/ fusion from an existential perspective, and offers guidelines for clinical application.     

Response Effects in the Electronic Survey

This report examines the electronic survey as a research tool.In an electronic survey, respondents use a text processing programto self-administer a computer-based questionnaire. As more peoplehave access to computers, electronic surveys may become widespread.The electronic survey can reduce processing costs because itautomates the transformation of raw data into computer-readableform. It can combine advantages of interviews (e.g., prompts,complex branching) with those of paper mail surveys (e.g., standardization,anonymity). An important issue is how the electronic surveyaffects the responses of people who use it. We conducted anexperimental sample survey on health attitudes, behaviors, andpersonal traits using two forms of administration: electronicand paper mail. Closed-end responses in the electronic surveywere less socially desirable and tended to be more extreme thanwere responses in the paper survey. Open-ended responses thatcould be edited by respondents were relatively long and disclosing.These findings are consistent with other research on computer-mediatedcommunication, raising general issues about using computersto collect self-report data.     

The Influence of Recruiter Characteristics and Organizational Recruitment Support on Perceived Recruiter Effectiveness: Views from Applicants and Recruiters

There is very limited information availableabout whether organizational recruitment practicesinfluence the impressions made by recruiters on jobapplicants. In response to the scarcity of two-sidedinformation about recruitment processes, the present studyobtained data directly from 1571 applicants and 216matched recruiters who interviewed them. Results suggestthat, similar to previous research, a large proportion of variance in applicants overall impressionsof recruiters could be explained as a function of theirimpressions about more specific recruitercharacteristics and behaviors, particularly perceivedconcern for the applicant and information given toapplicants, and enthusiasm regarding the job vacancy. Inaddition, recruiters self-perceptions of overalleffectiveness were also highly predictable on the basis of more specific self-perceptions, particularlyself-perceived interpersonal effectiveness. However,applicants' perceptions of recruiter effectiveness werenot well predicted by recruiters' self-perceptions of behavior, or by reported organizationalrecruitment support. Implications for future researchand practice are discussed.     

Professions and Powerlessness: Female marginality in the learned occupations

This paper argues that the existing sociological literature on the learned professions and on scientific occupations has developed in ways that are now theoretically unproductive. One sympton of this dead-end is the failure of sociologists of the professions to include research on scientists in their discussions and vice versa. A second symptom is the lack of attention to the implications of the work of Jamous, Peloille. and Bourdieu in both the sociology of scientists and of professions. The third symptom of the malaise is the failure to generate sociologically plausible explanations for the marginalisation of female entrants to science and the professions. The paper argues that a novel direction for sociological argument can be derived by remedying the three symptoms simultaneously.