On Old-Fashioned Versus Modern Homonegativity Distinction: Evidence From Poland

Psychological research on prejudice against homosexuals distinguishes between old-fashioned (traditional) and modern (contemporary) homonegativity, which differ with regard to their content, correlates, and consequences. The current research offers evidence for the validity of old-fashioned versus modern homonegativity distinction in the post-communist, East European context. In Studies 1 and 2 (Ns = 295 and 327, respectively) the Polish adaptations of the non-gendered and gendered Homonegativity Scale (Morrison, Parriag, & Morrison, 1999) and the Modern Homonegativity Scale (Morrison & Morrison, 2003) were developed. Furthermore, divergent (discriminant) validity of traditional and contemporary anti-homosexual prejudice was demonstrated. Old-fashioned and modern homonegativity exhibited differential relationships with social distance and support for same-sex couples’ relational rights.     

Bootstrap methods for multivariate hypothesis testing

The nonparametric and parametric bootstrap methods for multivariate hypothesis testing are developed. They are used to approximate the null distribution of the test statistics proposed by Duchesne and Francq (2015 Duchesne, P., Francq, C. (2015). Multivariate hypothesis testing using generalized and {2}-inverses—with applications. Statistics 49:475–496.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), resulting in bootstrap testing procedures. In the problem of testing for the mean vector of a multivariate distribution, the asymptotic validity of the bootstrap methods is proved. The finite sample performance of the new solutions is demonstrated by means of Monte Carlo simulation studies. They indicate that for small-sample size, the bootstrap tests provide a better finite sample properties than the asymptotic tests considered by Duchesne and Francq (2015 Duchesne, P., Francq, C. (2015). Multivariate hypothesis testing using generalized and {2}-inverses—with applications. Statistics 49:475–496.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]).     

The Past in the Present. Lessons on Semiotics of History from George H. Mead and Boris A. Uspensky

This article examines the parallels between George H. Mead's theory of time and Boris A. Uspensky's semiotics of history, looking for implications relevant to the symbolic interactionist theory of historical processes. It suggests that Mead's theory of time and theory of communication hold important implications for semiotic analysis of the historical dimension of sociocultural phenomena. A further aim is to link the symbolic interactionist tradition of the Chicago school with the Tartu school and its semiotics of history. This would fuel the further development of both theoretical orientations.     

Radio Free Europe and the Catholic Church in Poland During the 1950s and 1960s.

A review of the literature on Radio Free Europe’s role throughout the Cold War reveals its underdeveloped historiography. Yet, how valuable are RFE’s reports and broadcasts as a tool for historical exploration? Drawing on a wealth of materials from Polish programming, this analysis uses the case study of the role of the Catholic Church in Poland throughout the 1950s and the 1960s, to appraise not only the content of RFE reports but also the extent to which they can be used as a historical tool. The reports reveal, for example, that the Church became politically active already in the mid 1960s during its struggle with the Communist regime over the Millennium anniversary celebrations and the issue of Poland’s Western territories. This analytical framework allows for an examination of RFE’s comments in terms of what they might tell us about what really happened, and in terms of what they actually tell us about the station’s perceptions of what happened. The station’s position as an observer, critic and participant in the turmoil of the Cold War, gave it a distinct ability to access both the realities behind the Iron Curtain and the Western perceptions of what was happening in the satellite countries.     

Two Means Together? Effects of Response Bias and Sensitivity on Communicative Action Detection

Numerous lines of research suggest that communicative dyadic actions elicit preferential processing and more accurate detection compared to similar but individual actions. However, it is unclear whether the presence of the second agent provides additional cues that allow for more accurate discriminability between communicative and individual intentions or whether it lowers the threshold for perceiving third-party encounters as interactive. We performed a series of studies comparing the recognition of communicative actions from single and dyadic displays in healthy individuals. A decreased response threshold for communicative actions was observed for dyadic vs. single-agent animations across all three studies, providing evidence for the dyadic communicative bias. Furthermore, consistent with the facilitated recognition hypothesis, congruent response to a communicative gesture increased the ability to accurately interpret the actions. In line with dual-process theory, we propose that both mechanisms may be perceived as complementary rather than competitive and affect different stages of stimuli processing.

     

Synthetic and composite estimation under a superpopulation model

Under a simple superpopulation model for an arbitrary sampling design we derive optimal linear unbiased estimators/predictors of a mean in a domain. They can be viewed as synthetic and composite estimators of small area estimation theory when no auxiliary variable is available. Moreover, we show that the only requirement for optimality of a sampling strategy is to use any sampling plan of fixed sample size together with traditional estimators (as designed for simple random sampling without replacement). Finally, for symmetric sampling plans, simplified formulas (based on the first two moments of sample sizes) for optimal synthetic and composite estimators and their MSE’s are derived. Throughout the paper we consistently use the model-design setup.     

Nonparametric estimation of the ROC curve based on smoothed empirical distribution functions

The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve is a graphical representation of the relationship between false positive and true positive rates. It is a widely used statistical tool for describing the accuracy of a diagnostic test. In this paper we propose a new nonparametric ROC curve estimator based on the smoothed empirical distribution functions. We prove its strong consistency and perform a simulation study to compare it with some other popular nonparametric estimators of the ROC curve. We also apply the proposed method to a real data set.     

Proposition of a General Formula for Price Indices

In this article, we propose a general formula for aggregative price indices that satisfies most postulates coming from the axiomatic price index theory. We show that the ideal Fisher index, Laspeyres and Paasche formulas, and a lot of other indices are particular cases of the proposed formula. Moreover, using the general formula we can easily define new indices, that would satisfy given postulates. We also present an interesting result for the proposed formula.     

A version of the Kolmogrov–Feller weak law of large numbers for maximal weighted sums of random variables

Abstract

In this paper we establish Kolmogrov–Feller weak law of large numbers for maximal weighted sums of i.i.d. random variables.     

Winter habitat selection of Corvids in an urban ecosystem

Urban Ecosystems - Urban areas attract birds during the winter when cities provide a predictable source of food and relatively stable weather conditions. However, many other factors determine the...