Poverty in Russia

This article concentrates on poverty debates during the last few years of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev and in Russia today under Yeltsin. Some references to previous years are made in order to provide some historical context for these debates. The article is divided into two parts: the first examines debates on the definitions of poverty, while the second looks at its depth and extent. The discussion will provide one more illustration of the now generally accepted thesis that the way poverty is defined inevitably affects the extent of measured poverty and the policy measures for its amelioration.     

Some bivariate uniform distributions

Bivariate uniform distributions with dependent components are readily derived by distribution function transformations of the components of non-uniform dependent continuous bivariate random variables (X,Y). Contour plots of joint density functions show the various, and varying, forms of dependence which can arise from different distributional forms for (X,Y) and aids the choice of bivariate uniform distributions as empirical models.     

Perceptions of Board Chair Leadership Effectiveness in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Organizations

This article reports on the results of a multi-year, multi-phase international quantitative research investigation into perceptions of board chair leadership impact in nonprofit and voluntary organizations in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, this research tests four hypotheses and a hypothesized model derived from theoretical perspectives on chair leadership effectiveness that emerged when the results of a prior grounded theory research investigation were reviewed ex post facto through the lens of leadership literature (see Harrison and Murray, NPML, accepted). The purpose of this phase of the research is to determine: (a) whether there is empirical support for the theoretical perspectives advanced; and (b) which perspective offers the best explanation for why some board chairs are perceived as having more impact in the role than others. The results suggest chair leadership effectiveness is best understood as a multi-dimensional theoretical construct explained by more than one leadership theory. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and directions for further research.     

Patronage, Moral Regulation and the Recruitment of Indian Affairs Personnel, 1879–1900

En tirant parti du cas de l'expansion du Département des affaires indiennes pendant les deux dernières décennies du XIX^e siècle, l'au-teur analyse la relation entre le népotisme politique et la régulation morale dans le processus de la formation de l'état. Le projet de népotisme politique et celui de la régulation morale ont tous deux joué un rôle central dans la nomination de candidate à des postes au sein du département. Pourtant, la pratique qui consistait à nommer le personnel selon leurs liens politiques, familiaux ou religieux allait parfois à l'encontre du projet de régulation morale. La situation conjugate, la compétence et les habiletés physiques ont contribuéà déterminer si ceux qui étaient nommés pour des raisons de népotisme ont pu garder leur poste au département pendant un certain temps.
Using the case of the expansion of the Department of Indian Affairs during the last two decades of the 19th century, this paper analyses the relationship between political patronage and moral regulation in the process of state formation. Both political patronage and the moral regulation project played central roles in determining who was appointed to positions in the Department. However, the practice of appointing personnel on the basis of their political, family or religious connections was at times antithetical to the moral regulation project of the Department of Indian Affairs. One's marital status, competence and physical abilities played roles in determining whether those appointed on the basis of patronage stayed employed in the Department for very long.     

A bootstrap approach to Pluto's origin

The solar nebula theory hypothesizes that planets are formed from an accretion disk of material that, over time, condenses into dust, small planetesimals, and that the planets should have, on average, coplanar, nearly circular orbits. If the orbit of Pluto has a different origin to the other planets in the solar system, then there will be tremendous repercussions on modelling the spacecrafts for a mission to Pluto. We test here the nebula theory for Pluto, using both parametric and non-parametric methods. We first develop asymptotic distributions of extrinsic means on a manifold, and then derive bootstrap and large sample distributions of the sample mean direction. Our parametric and non-parametric analyses provide very strong evidence that the solar nebula theory does not hold for Pluto.     

Dr. Carver's odyssey

Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations (Third Edition), by John Carver. San Francisco: Jossey‐Bass, 2006. 448 pp., $36.00 cloth.     

Estimators for a Poisson parameter using ranked set sampling

Using ranked set sampling, a viable BLUE estimator is obtained for estimating the mean of a Poisson distribution. Its properties, such as efficiency relative to the ranked set sample mean and to the maximum likelihood estimator, have been calculated for different sample sizes and values of the Poisson parameter. The estimator (termed the normal modified r.s.s. estimator is more efficient than both the ranked set sample mean and the MLE. It is recommended as a reasonable estimator of the Poisson mean ( λ) to be used in a ranked set sampling environment.     

Canadian Visa Officers and the Social Construction of “Real” Spousal Relationships

Cet article examine l'existence d'un paradoxe de facilitation/contrôle dans le cadre des efforts gouvernementaux de contrôler la migration des époux. La littérature sur le jugement discrétionnaire et les fonctionnaires de proximité est utilisée pour analyser comment les agents canadiens des visas décident quelles relations de couples sont “vraies” ou “fausses”. Cet article démontre que les agents des visas utilisent plusieurs cadres de référence pour construire des modèles types de ce que sont les relations “normales” entre époux. Ces modèles types permettent aux agents des visas de construire des cas comme crédibles ou non crédibles, et ce processus établit les bases des décisions concernant l'exclusion et l'inclusion d'immigrants. This paper questions whether there is a facilitation/enforcement paradox associated with state efforts to control spousal migration. The literature on discretion and street‐level bureaucrats is used to analyze how Canadian visa officers make decisions about which spousal relationships are “real” and which are “fake.” The paper shows that visa officers use various cultural frameworks to construct typifications of “normal” relationships. These typifications allow visa officers to construct cases as credible or not credible, and constitute simultaneous bases for decisions about immigrant exclusion and inclusion.