The Impact of Patronymic Attractiveness on Employability

We link patronymics (first and last names presented together) to success in the job market by investigating the influence of name attractiveness on employability. Using data from a recruitment agency, we tested (binomial regression) for effects associated with age, gender, and name attractiveness on job interview outcomes. We found that candidates with more attractive patronymics were more likely to be retained by employers.     

‘How dare you pretend to be disabled?’ The discounting of transabled people and their claims in disability movements and studies

Although the contours of the ‘disabled person’ category are questioned by anti-ableist activists, they remain rigid regarding transabled people (who want to become disabled). For anti-ableist activists, transabled people do not count as disabled. They are perceived to: be falsely disabled; steal resources from disabled people; and be disrespectful by denying, fetishizing, or appropriating marginalized realities. By combining critical discourse analysis, genealogy, and deconstruction, I examine these negative discourses to encourage alliances between anti-ableist activists and transabled people. Ideas developed in disability and trans studies reveal the limits of these discourses anchored in ableist and cisnormative* assumptions.     

University Students’ Attitudes Toward Same-Sex Parenting and Gay and Lesbian Rights in Portugal

The purpose of this study was to explore university students’ attitudes toward same-sex parenting and toward gay and lesbian rights. A total of 292 participants, aged between 18 and 27 (M = 21) responded to a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward parenting by gay men and lesbians, gay and lesbian rights, and beliefs about the etiology of homosexuality. Results revealed that the majority of students were against gay and lesbian parenting, gay and lesbian equal rights, and believed that homosexuality has a social/environmental basis. It was found that sexual prejudice is highly prevalent in Portuguese university students, and implications of these findings are discussed.     

To test or not to test: do workplace drug testing programs discourage employee drug use?

Workplace drug testing programs are often met with intense criticism. Despite resistance among labor and consumer groups and a lack of rigorous empirical evidence regarding effectiveness, drug testing programs have remained popular with employers throughout the 1990s and into the current century. The present study analyzed nationally representative data on over 15,000 US households to determine whether various types of workplace drug testing programs influenced the probability of drug use by workers. The study estimated several empirical specifications using both univariate and bivariate probit techniques. The specification tests favored the bivariate probit model over the univariate probit model. Estimated marginal effects of drug testing on any drug use were negative, significant, and relatively large, indicating that drug testing programs are achieving one of the desired effects. The results were similar when any drug use was replaced with chronic drug use in the models. These results have important policy implications regarding the effectiveness and economic viability of workplace anti-drug programs.     

Dynamic Impacts of a Catastrophic Production Event: The Foot‐and‐Mouth Disease Case

In foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) free countries, the occurrence of an FMD outbreak is a rare event with potentially large economic losses. We explore the dynamic effects of an FMD outbreak on market variables and economic surplus taking into account the largely neglected issue of farm bankruptcy. Simulations are performed on a stylized agricultural economy, which is a net exporter before the outbreak. We find complex dynamic market effects when the farm credit market suffers from information imperfections leading to farm closure. Welfare effects are also dramatically altered. Domestic consumers may lose in the long run from an FMD outbreak because domestic supply contracts. On the other hand, farmers able to resist this event may ultimately gain. Our analysis also shows that these effects are not monotone, making any efficient policy response to this catastrophic event quite challenging.     

Limit results for ordered uniform spacings

Let Δ _k:n  = X _k,n  − X _k-1,n (k = 1, 2, . . . , n + 1) be the spacings based on uniform order statistics, provided X _0,n  = 0 and X _n+1,n  = 1. Obtained from uniform spacings, ordered uniform spacings 0 = Δ_0,n  < Δ_1,n  < . . . < Δ _n+1,n , are discussed in the present paper. Distributional and limit results for them are in the focus of our attention.     

Influence diagnostics in a multivariate normal regression model with general parameterization

Patriota and Lemonte [24] introduced a quite general multivariate normal regression model. This model considers that the mean vector and the covariance matrix share the same vector of parameters. In this paper we present some influence assessment for this model, such as the local influence, total local influence of an individual and generalized leverage which are discussed. Additionally, the normal curvatures for local influence studies are derived under some perturbation schemes.     

Consequences and Costs of Closing a Publicly Funded Methadone Maintenance Clinic

Objective. We examine volunteering to support the relief effort after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building. We address two issues: (1) how widespread was volunteering and what forms did it take, and (2) does Wilson and Musick’s (1997a) “integrated theory of volunteer work” help to explain variation in volunteering in this disaster situation? Methods. We use data from the 1996 Oklahoma City Survey (OKC Survey). The 1996 OKC Survey is based on a random sample of the adult population of Oklahoma City and was administered 10 months after the bombing. Results. Nearly 75 percent of the sample respondents volunteered to support the relief effort in at least one way; giving money and donating nonprofessional goods or services were the two most prevalent volunteer activities. Socioeconomic status, knowing someone killed or injured in the bombing, belonging to voluntary organizations before the bombing, and being affiliated with a religious denomination were predictors of volunteering, depending on the type of volunteer activity considered. Conclusions. The magnitude of volunteering after the Murrah Building bombing was in line with volunteer efforts after other disasters. The integrated theory of volunteer work is a useful framework for studying volunteering after disasters.     

À propos de l’article de François-Xavier de Vaujany, « Les figures de la gestion du changement sociotechnique »

The approach adopted by François Xavier de Vaujany draws from “structurationist” research in English-speaking social sciences, a current that shares with the sociology of technology a vision of the contextual and negotiated nature of the links between technical and organizational phenomena. Various trajectories in the way organizations use new information and communication technology can be compared; and the role, examined that specific mediators play in the appropriation process. This approach provides stimulating input in discussions about the impact of new technology on organizational change.     

Fast and Accurate Inference for the Smoothing Parameter in Semiparametric Models

A fast and accurate method of confidence interval construction for the smoothing parameter in penalised spline and partially linear models is proposed. The method is akin to a parametric percentile bootstrap where Monte Carlo simulation is replaced by saddlepoint approximation, and can therefore be viewed as an approximate bootstrap. It is applicable in a quite general setting, requiring only that the underlying estimator be the root of an estimating equation that is a quadratic form in normal random variables. This is the case under a variety of optimality criteria such as those commonly denoted by maximum likelihood (ML), restricted ML (REML), generalized cross validation (GCV) and Akaike's information criteria (AIC). Simulation studies reveal that under the ML and REML criteria, the method delivers a near‐exact performance with computational speeds that are an order of magnitude faster than existing exact methods, and two orders of magnitude faster than a classical bootstrap. Perhaps most importantly, the proposed method also offers a computationally feasible alternative when no known exact or asymptotic methods exist, e.g. GCV and AIC. An application is illustrated by applying the methodology to well‐known fossil data. Giving a range of plausible smoothed values in this instance can help answer questions about the statistical significance of apparent features in the data.