Theorizing the US Racial State: Sociology Since Racial Formation

This article reviews theoretical developments in the sociology of the US racial state since the publication of Michael Omi and Howard Winant's groundbreaking Racial Formation in the United States. After briefly outlining their theory, it surveys the still diminutive literature and concludes by pointing to promising future directions, drawing on insights from other disciplines and incipient stirrings from within sociology. Destabilizing the unquestioned assumption that the United States is and has been a nation‐state, the article reconceptualizes it as an empire‐state. This turn establishes a firmer footing for the claim that the United States is intrinsically a racial state and yields a generative framework for reconsidering and stimulating scholarship toward more effective analysis and critique.     

The Timing of Capacity Investment with Lead Times: When Do Firms Act in Unison?

We study competitive capacity investment for the emergence of a new market. Firms may invest either in capacity leading demand or in capacity lagging demand at different costs. We show how the lead time and other operational factors including volume flexibility, existing capacity, and demand uncertainty impact equilibrium outcomes. Our results indicate that a type of bandwagon behavior is the most likely equilibrium outcome: if both firms are going to invest, then they are most likely to act in unison. Contrary to much received wisdom, we show that leader–follower behavior is very uncommon in equilibrium where firms do not have volume flexibility, and will not occur at all if lead times are sufficiently short. On the other hand, if there is volume flexibility in production, then the likelihood of this sequential investment behavior increases. Our findings underscore the importance of operational characteristics in determining the competitive dynamics of capacity investment timing.     

Validation and Psychometric Properties of Academic Major Satisfaction Scale Among Korean College Students

The purpose of this research was to adapt and validate the 6-items Academic Major Satisfaction Scale (AMSS, Nauta in J Career Assess 15(4):446–462, 2007) for use in Korea. The scale was tested using 275 college students in South Korea. Results indicated adequate internal-consistency reliability of 0.87, and adequate test–retest reliability of 0.84. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a unidimensional structure and measure invariance tests showed equivalent structure across gender groups. Correlations with career decision self-efficacy and variables related to subjective well-being ranged from moderate-tohigh and were all significant. All the results suggest suitable fit among the population of Korean college students. Suggestions for usage of and future research on the AMSS in the Korean context are discussed.     

An empirical Bayes approach to evaluation of results for a specific region in multiregional clinical trials

To accelerate the drug development process and shorten approval time, the design of multiregional clinical trials (MRCTs) incorporates subjects from many countries/regions around the world under the same protocol. After showing the overall efficacy of a drug in all global regions, one can also simultaneously evaluate the possibility of applying the overall trial results to all regions and subsequently support drug registration in each of them. In this paper, we focus on a specific region and establish a statistical criterion to assess the consistency between the specific region and overall results in an MRCT. More specifically, we treat each region in an MRCT as an independent clinical trial, and each perhaps has different treatment effect. We then construct the empirical prior information for the treatment effect for the specific region on the basis of all of the observed data from other regions. We will conclude similarity between the specific region and all regions if the posterior probability of deriving a positive treatment effect in the specific region is large, say 80%. Numerical examples illustrate applications of the proposed approach in different scenarios. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust R-Estimation of a Consensus Value from Multi-Center Studies

We consider multi-center experiments (for determining a consensus value) conducted in possibly heterogeneous set-ups leading to unbalanced heteroscedastic one-way random effects models. When normality of both the random components and their homoscedasticity are in doubt, standard statistical methods may not be valid. Two robust R-estimators (for the common location parameter), based on signed-rank statistics, are proposed and their properties studied. When large heteroscedasticity is present or the distribution of random effect is abnormal, the proposed estimators perform better than the classical weighted least squares and selected estimators. This feature is illustrated with an arsenic in oyster tissue problem, along with some other simulation studies.     

New Approach of Directional Dependence in Exchange Markets Using Generalized FGM Copula Function

This article presents an application of copula methodology in exchange markets. In this article, we consider the concept of directional dependence given by Sungur (2005 Sungur , E. A. ( 2005 ). Some observations on copula regression functions . Communications in Statistics—Theory and Methods 34 : 1967 – 1978 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We also consider and study directional dependence for generalized Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern (FGM) distributions, which are a member of the Rodríguez-Lallena and Úbeda-Flores (2004 Rodríguez-Lallena , J. A. , Úbeda-Flores , M. ( 2004 ). A new class of bivariate copulas . Statistical Probability Letters 66 : 315 – 325 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) family, C(u, v) = uv + f(u)g(v). Examples of the generalized FGM distributions are provided with exchange market data of the Euro, Canadian dollar, Korean Won, Japanese Yen, and Hong Kong dollar against the U.S. dollar.     

Multinomial Selection for Comparison with a Standard

The multinomial selection problem is considered under the formulation of comparison with a standard, where each system is required to be compared to a single system, referred to as a “standard,” as well as to other alternative systems. The goal is to identify systems that are better than the standard, or to retain the standard when it is equal to or better than the other alternatives in terms of the probability to generate the largest or smallest performance measure. We derive new multinomial selection procedures for comparison with a standard to be applied in different scenarios, including exact small-sample procedure and approximate large-sample procedure. Empirical results and the proof are presented to demonstrate the statistical validity of our procedures. The tables of the procedure parameters and the corresponding exact probability of correct selection are also provided.     

The Roles of Worker Expertise,Information Sharing Quality,and Psychological Safety in Manufacturing Process Innovation: An Intellectual Capital Perspective

This paper examines the roles of three elements of intellectual capital in implementing process innovations. Building upon prior literature, we develop a model describing how worker expertise, information sharing quality, and psychological safety work together as elements of the human, structural, and social dimensions of intellectual capital to influence the technical success of manufacturing process innovation (MPI) projects. Results of an analysis of data describing 179 MPI projects in US firms strongly support a multidimensional, process‐oriented view of intellectual capital's effects on MPI project technical performance. We also find that the incrementalness of an MPI project plays a moderating role over the relationship between worker expertise and MPI performance. Our study provides insights on how intellectual capital can be more effectively accumulated in a project environment.     

Paradoxes of social mobility in London

We analyse social mobility in London and seek to address two paradoxes. Among people living in London, relative mobility, or social fluidity, appears to be remarkably low when compared with other regions of Great Britain. But social fluidity among people who were brought up in London is similar to that of people brought up elsewhere in Britain. This is our first paradox. Furthermore, it is widely held that social fluidity is higher among people with higher levels of education, yet, the proportion of people with a University degree is much higher among people living in London than in any other region: how is this compatible with its relatively low social fluidity? This is our second paradox. We address these puzzles and find that they are largely explained by patterns of migration into and out of London by two groups that have received little attention hitherto in studies of mobility in the capital: International migrants and people who were brought up in London but who no longer live there.     

Evaluation of hazard brochures using topic viewing durations: Application to tsunami evacuation brochures

This study describes a novel method of assessing risk communication effectiveness by reporting an evaluation of a tsunami information brochure by 90 residents of three Pacific coast communities that are vulnerable to a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and tsunami—Commencement Bay, Washington; Lincoln City, Oregon; and Eureka, California. Study participants viewed information that was presented in DynaSearch, an internet-based computer system that allowed them to view text boxes and tsunami inundation zone maps. DynaSearch recorded the number of times each text box or map was clicked and the length of time that it was viewed. This information viewing phase was followed by questionnaire pages assessing important aspects of tsunami hazard and sources of tsunami warnings. Participants gave the longest click durations to what to do in the emergency period during earthquake shaking and in its immediate aftermath before a tsunami arrives—topics that should be displayed prominently in tsunami brochures and emphasized in talks to community groups. The smallest adjusted click durations were associated with advance preparations for a tsunami—topics that can be posted on websites whose URLs are printed in the brochures.