Modelling and simulation for one‐day cricket

This article is concerned with the simulation of one‐day cricket matches. Given that only a finite number of outcomes can occur on each ball that is bowled, a discrete generator on a finite set is developed where the outcome probabilities are estimated from historical data involving one‐day international cricket matches. The probabilities depend on the batsman, the bowler, the number of wickets lost, the number of balls bowled and the innings. The proposed simulator appears to do a reasonable job at producing realistic results. The simulator allows investigators to address complex questions involving one‐day cricket matches. The Canadian Journal of Statistics © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada     

Eating in: home, consumption and identity

Food is perhaps one of the most mundane and taken for granted parts of our everyday life, yet the ways we think about shopping, cooking and eating are actually intensively reflexive. This paper uses the example of food to explore questions of identity in relation to the specific cultural location of 'the home'. Using case study examples the paper illustrates some of the complex ways in which identities, throughout the lifecourse, are produced, articulated and contested through food consumption and the spatial dynamics of cooking and eating. In doing so the paper demonstrates that households, rather than being single units of food consumption, can be sites of multiple and sometimes contradictory consumption practices and that it is necessary to understand how patterns of eating are negotiated and contested within households in order to understand how the home functions as a 'consumption site'.     

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome projections in England and Wales: interplay of methodology and data

Since the late 1980s, regular monitoring of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic in England and Wales has been carried out through the work of successive national working groups. One of their tasks has been to provide short-term projections of the incidence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. In this paper the data and methods used in this projection work are reviewed and results critically assessed with the aim of highlighting the strong interaction between methodological developments and data acquisition.     

The gendered dimensions of bushfire in changing rural landscapes in Australia

This paper examines gender differences in awareness, preparedness and attitudes towards bushfire amongst landholders in rural landscapes affected by amenity-led in-migration in southeast Australia. It considers the potential of conceptualising bushfire not as a gender-neutral natural phenomenon but as an important means by which traditional gender roles and power relations within rural landscapes are maintained. Landholders were found to uphold conventional views of bushfire management as “men’s business” despite changing social circumstances. Consequently, key gender differences exist within landholders’ bushfire risk awareness, bushfire knowledge, the perceived need for bushfire preparedness measures, the willingness to perform certain tasks, and the belief in personal capacity to act. We argue that covert and less visible as well as overt gender roles and traditions are important factors in understanding landholders’ engagement with bushfire management. When gendered dimensions of bushfire are investigated in the context of hegemony, a paradox emerges between women choosing not to take control of their own bushfire safety and women being denied the opportunity to take control. The complex and contradictory actions and attitudes to bushfire that materialise through an analysis of gendered social experiences complicate attempts to create more gender-sensitive frameworks for bushfire management. The tenacious and embedded nature of gender role divisions within both public and private spheres was furthermore found to act as economic, social and political stumbling blocks for empowerment opportunities. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this paper maps out gendered dimensions of bushfire through landholders’ narratives and actions. The implications of these dimensions for bushfire management have direct relevance to recent international discussions of the vulnerability of the growing number of people living in bushfire-prone rural–urban interface areas.     

Optimal change-over designs for correlated observations

Design implications of an autoregressive model for change-over experiments are investigated. In this model, the residual effect due to the previous treatment is assumed to be proportional to the response in the previous period. In addition, the errors from the same experimental subject are assumed to be correlated according to a first-order autoregressive model. Models with fixed and random subject effects are discussed separately. An attempt has been made to identify and construct optimal or nearly optimal designs in various situations. Empirical conclusions of Taka and Armitage [Commun. Statist. Theor. Meth. (1983)12, 865-876] regarding the efficiency of some designs have also been confirmed.     

Factors Associated with Gamblers: A Population-based Cross-sectional Study of South Australian Adults

Objective To determine, using a random telephone survey, the prevalence of various gambling activities among South Australian adults, the prevalence of adult problem gamblers using the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) instrument, and to examine the problem gamblers by demographic and health-related risk factors.Method A random representative sample of South Australian adults selected from the Electronic White Pages. Overall, 6045 interviews were conducted (73.1% response rate) using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology.Results Overall, 75.6% (95% CI: 74.5–76.7) of respondents had participated in at least one gambling activity during the last 12 months and 2.0% (95% CI: 1.7–2.4) were identified to be problem gamblers. A wide range of factors was associated with problem gambling at a univariate level, when compared to frequent gamblers. The logistic regression analysis highlighted that problem gamblers were more likely to speak a language other than English, be employed part time and a smoker when compared to frequent gamblers. Problem gamblers were also more likely to have a mental health condition (according to the Kessler 10), have had suicidal thoughts and know of services for gambling problems.Conclusion There is a wide range of characteristics associated with problem gambling in South Australia. All of these factors need addressing during policy development to assist problem gamblers.     

Statistical analyses for round robin interaction data

This paper considers the analysis of round robin interaction data whereby individuals from a group of subjects interact with one another, producing a pair of outcomes, one for each individual. The authors provide an overview of the various analyses applied to these types of data and extend the work in several directions. In particular, they provide a fully Bayesian analysis for such data and use a real data example for illustration purposes.     

Recalling a Difficult Past: Whites’ Memories of Birmingham*

This article examines the intersection between collective memory and autobiographical memory through in‐depth interviews with twenty whites who came of age in the midst of key events in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Most interviewees report few autobiographical memories of the events of the Civil Rights Movement and the racial conflict surrounding these events. Instead, many center their recollections on the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The forgetting of autobiographical memories has been aided by a coalition of silence among whites about the era of integration and by reiterated media images that shaped recollections of the past. These white southerners have been able to renarrativize their pasts to forget memories that link them with the ideology of segregation and to reconstruct the self to be usable in the present. The article demonstrates ways that autobiographical memory is a social construction rather than an act of retrieval.