A Survey regarding the Reporting of Simulation Studies

Hoaglin and Andrews (1975) proposed standards for computational practice and the reporting of computation-based studies. They observed that “statisticians … often pay too little attention to their own principles of design.” To see if the design and reporting had improved, we surveyed five major statistical journals for 1975, 1978, and 1981 to ascertain whether reported simulation studies involved a specified design, justified the choice of the number of iterations, and specified the random number generator(s) used. Eighteen percent of the 1,198 papers surveyed included results based on simulation. We found that 9% of the papers including a simulation study justified the choice of the number of iterations and 44% at least partially specified the random number generator. Hoaglin and Andrews's observation appears still to be true.     

To Join or Not to Join: Gay-Straight Student Alliances and the High School Experiences of Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender Youths

This retrospective study investigates 79 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) college students’ experiences attending high schools with gay-straight student alliances (GSAs). Responses to two, open-ended survey questions were analyzed thematically to identify reasons that underlie GSA non-membership and to model facets of GSAs that may impact the GSA-related experiences of LGBT youths. Three frames of reference for understanding GSA non-membership and perceptions of GSAs emerged. Implications for predicting GSA membership and identifying protective mechanisms of GSAs are outlined. Suggestions to help GSA leaders and advisors enhance specific aspects of GSAs that appear to be associated with positive perceptions of GSAs are also provided.     

Enclosures,Enclaves, and Entrapment*

The article takes a position against recent theories of globalization and mobility by arguing that there are important trends toward increased immobility. Whereas goods travel relatively freely in a global market, the same cannot be said for people. Various forms of immobility are explored through the key notion of enclaves. While ghettoes and wall building have been traditional aspects of the enclosure of people, the article argues that new biological technologies offer enhanced methods of tracking and containing people. The principal cause behind these developments is a greater emphasis on securitization by the state and hence globalization theories are criticized insofar as they propose that state borders have become more porous.     

Nursing Research Journals

Abstract

Recent discussions concerning the mission and direction of graduate programs in library and information science (LIS) have become heated. In a response to a call for greater communication between practitioners and LIS educators, eight librarians who are relatively recent graduates of LIS graduate programs offer their views on what they wish their programs had taught them about serials. All are either working in serials or have serials experience. Serials Review 2003; 29:26–35.     

SCOAP3 and Open Access

SCOAP3 is an innovative Open Access initiative for publishing in high-energy physics. The model is viewed by many as a potential solution to multiple issues related to the financial crisis, the peer review system, scholarly communication, and the need to support institutional repositories. This installment of “The Balance Point” presents articles written by three Open Access advocates, outlining the SCOAP3 proposal, benefits of participation, and some of the roles libraries, publishers and scientists can play in making important changes to scholarly communication. Contributors discuss scalability and transferability issues of SCOAP3, as well as other matters of concern.     

Targeting Spatial Clusters of Elderly Consumers in the U.S.A

For business demographers, a noteworthy aspect of national population aging is the course of its onset at local scales, such as neighborhoods and individual city blocks. Across the U. S., particular neighborhoods are evolving through aging in place into de facto retirement communities, populated by elderly residents who continue to live independently. An increasingly common manifestation of this development is the so-called naturally occurring retirement community (NORC)—a neighborhood where adults have stayed on and grown old while younger people have drifted away. NORCs materialize gradually over time where initial cohorts settle in close proximity and age in place, while subsequent younger cohorts move away. These settings offer novel opportunities for prolonging independent living in old age. They constitute distinctive readymade consumer markets as well, especially for businesses that rely on word of mouth. We present a general approach to spotting NORCs. We then consider such enclaves as potential target markets, both for community planners aiming to centralize service delivery to the elderly and for businesses offering types of services that can be bundled profitably for these residential concentrations of elderly.     

Generating testable socio-technical systems theory

Suggestions for enhancements to socio-technical systems (STS) theory are offered based on a multiyear development process. First, researchers engaged in an iterative process of working with socio-technical systems (STS) and non-STS practitioners of organizational design to operationalize STS theory. Second, the operationalized theory was validated using an 86-company survey. Third, the operationalized theory was field-tested to discover its usability for practitioners addressing real-world organizational design problems.