Sample size choice for reliability verification in strength-stress models

This paper discusses the choice of sample size for experiments concerned with inference on R = P(Y < X), where X and Y are normal variates, in an acceptance-sampling-theory framework. A conservative approach is derived, and the properties of this solution examined by simulation.     

Shortest confidence and prediction intervals for the log-normal

We provide the shortest prediction interval for X, and the shortest confidence interval for the median of X, when X has the log-normal distribution for both the case σ², the variance of log X, known and unknown. Tables are given to assist the practitioner in constructing these intervals. A real-life example is provided to illustrate the results.     

Quality of life assessment and drug abuse treatment program evaluation

Quality of life assessment is used as an outcome measure technique to evaluate a central medical intake (CMI) unit for drug treatment programs. While significant improvements across time are evident in both perceived well-being and in the standard federal funding criteria, no differences are observed between those referred into treatment by the CMI and those entering directly. Moreover, the improvements observed are the same regardless of whether the patient stayed in treatment or not.     

Contracting United States Government Work: Organizational and Constitutional Models

Much of the basic work of the U.S. federal government is performed by private contractors. This reliance on contractors is not new. It is the product of bipartisan reform that dates to the mid-20th century. The reform has yielded major successes, but has left a legacy of unaddressed questions, including the ability of the official workforce to account for the government's work. This article recounts the history of the ongoing reform from two viewpoints. First, it reviews organizational models that serve as building blocks for the relationships between organizations and contractors. Second, it focuses on the constitutional models within which the organizational models operate. The underlying argument is that the early reformers identified questions of constitutional significance that have yet to be resolved, and at least three models for their possible resolution concurrently exist.     

Market returns? Gender and theories of change in employment relations

This paper explores recent arguments about the marketization of female labour, in the context of a wider analysis of the role of concepts like 'the market' and 'individualization' in sociological accounts of change in employment relations. It will be argued that within sociology there has been a tendency for rapid, large-scale changes in employment relations to be characterized as the breakdown of social influences or structures and as the emergence of atomized, individuated market forces. In the most recent models, change in the nature of gendered positions within employment are presented in terms of a decline of social structuring and social constraint. These emergent accounts hold similarities to classical economics, and to Marx's and Weber's accounts of employment, which also characterized new forms of employment relations in terms of the emptying of their social content and their replacement by market forms. We offer an alternative, moral economy, perspective which foregrounds the continued significance of social relations in the structuring of employment and employment change. We develop the argument through an analysis of gendered patterns of employment and change in family form.     

Do different dimensions of ethnic identity reduce the risk of violence among Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents in Hawai‘i?

This study examines whether different dimensions of ethnic identity are associated with reduced risk of violence among an understudied population: Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents. Drawing from survey data of 298 Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Japanese, and Filipino adolescents in Hawai‘i, this study focuses on whether three dimensions of ethnic identity (“affirmation and belonging,” “ethnic identity achievement,” and “other-group orientation”) related to overall and different types of violence. Results of the multivariate analyses reveal that higher levels of ethnic identity achievement are associated with reduced risk of overall violence and family/partner violence, which suggests that this dimension is a beneficial social-psychological resource. Contrary to our expectations, higher levels of ethnic affirmation and belonging are associated with attacking someone. In addition, other-group orientation has no relationship with violence. Implications of our findings regarding distinct effects for different dimensions of ethnic identification are discussed pertaining to developmental research and violence prevention.     

Generalized and Institutional Trust: Their Impacts on First- and Second-Order Environmental Cooperation

Environmental issues remain problematic, but a growing body of work shows that trust is a solution. Yet, studies offer competing arguments on what type of trust promotes cooperation, generalized versus institutional trust. Further, previous studies use a variety of measures to define environmental cooperation, including membership in environmental groups, recycling garbage, and purchasing green products. These measures are unalike but often considered as analogous. I argue that environmental measures fit within one of two frameworks: first-order cooperation or second-order cooperation. To address these discrepancies, I use 2000 and 2010 General Social Survey waves to determine how generalized trust and institutional trust differently affect first- and second-order environmental cooperation. The findings indicate that generalized trust is strongly linked to both forms of environmental cooperation, but the relationship of institutional trust on first- and second-order cooperation is inconsistent.     

Questions & Answers: The Role of Mathematical Models in Clinical Research

Given any generalized inverse (X'X)^? appropriate to normal equations X'Xb ⁰ = X'y for the linear model y = Xb + e, a procedure is given for obtaining from it a generalized inverse appropriate to a restricted model having restrictions P'b = 0 for P'b nonestimable.     

Procedures for investigating outliers when estimating in the general univariate linear situation-nonfull rank case

This paper is a continuation of GGD = Golub, Guttman and Dutter (1973) and DG = Dutter and Guttman (1974a), and will deal with the problem of how to handle outliers in the general univariate linear model situation y = Xθ + ?, ? = N(0, σ²I).when X is not of full rank, and where interest is in the estimation of τ = Bθ, where τ is assumed to be estimable. The special case B = X, that is, interest is in η = Xθ, is discussed.