Statistical inference through AFT model for biotechnical systems

The objective of this paper is to model the phenomenon of degradation-to-failure for assemblies used for lumbar arthrodesis, starting from the analysis of their structure/geometry, the load applied and the kind of failure when several occur. An AFT model is proposed to model the joint effects of the applied load and the structural dimensions of the brand (namely length and diameter of the screw, presence of a connector or not) on the failure time due to a screw failure. The estimations of S–N curves and maximum permissible load (named critical load) values are provided as functions of the structural dimensions of the product. This allows comparisons of devices in terms of key factors determining product behavior and ageing under loading stress.     

Differences in drinking expectancies and motives for regular education and special education high school students with emotional/behavioral disorders

Alcohol expectancies and drinking motives were compared for regular education students (n=159) and students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) receiving special education services (n=51). Differences existed between groups with respect to expected negative social consequences and emotional and physical outcomes associated with drinking. Across groups, drinkers reported more positive alcohol expectancies than non-drinkers, while non-drinkers reported more negative alcohol expectancies than drinkers. Differences also existed between the regular education and EBD students who drank with respect to coping, conformity, and social motives. Accounting for sample sizes differences, the relationship between alcohol use and negative physical effect was stronger for regular education students, while the relationship between alcohol use and conformity motives was stronger for the EBD group.     

Sexual Orientation and Wage Discrimination in France: The Hidden Side of the Rainbow

This article is the first study to present an econometric evaluation of wage discrimination based on sexual orientation in the French labor market. Having identified same-sex couples using the French Employment Survey, we estimate the wage gap related to sexual orientation in the private and public sectors, in order to analyze whether or not lesbians and gays suffer a wage penalty. The results obtained show the existence of a wage penalty for homosexual male workers, as compared with their heterosexual counterparts, in both the private and public sectors; the magnitude of this discrimination varies from about ?6.5?% in the private sector, to ?5.5?% in the public sector. In the private sector, the wage penalty suffered by gay employees is higher for skilled workers than for the unskilled, and??in both sectors??the wage penalty is higher for older workers than for younger ones. As with many other countries, we do not find any evidence of the existence of a wage discrimination against lesbians.     

Pathological Gamblers: Inpatients’ versus Outpatients’ Characteristics

Several researchers and clinicians have questioned the advantages and disadvantages of inpatient and outpatient treatment for people suffering from pathological gambling. This study compares the characteristics of pathological gamblers seeking inpatient and outpatient treatment. A total of 233 pathological gamblers (inpatients = 134, outpatients = 99) participated in the study. Results show that inpatients have more severe gambling problems than those receiving outpatient services. Similar results were obtained on most other related variables such as anxiety, depression, alcohol consumption, and comorbidity. These results are discussed in terms of the costs and benefits of these two treatment modalities.     

With tact and measure? French doctors wrestling with the idea of assessing their medical practice

This article focuses on the impact of measuring quality in family medicine. Throwing the reforms that have affected private practice into temporal perspective shows that it has recently undergone a decisive “metric-oriented turn”. Effects of quantitative assessment on general practitioners are observed thanks to two original studies on preventive care. Professionals’ critiques and forms of resistance are examined before delving into the experiences and arguments of GPs who consent to the measurement of medical work, even agreeing to do it themselves. We end by evaluating the ongoing inflections of the professional model and the way the private medical sector in France is governed.     

Combining Quantitative Risk Assessment of Human Health,Food Waste,and Energy Consumption: The Next Step in the Development of the Food Cold Chain?

The preservation of perishable food via refrigeration in the supply chain is essential to extend shelf life and provide consumers with safe food. However, electricity consumed in refrigeration processes has an economical and an environmental impact. This study focuses on the cold chain of cooked ham, including transport, cold room in supermarket, display cabinet, transport by consumer, and domestic refrigerator, and aims to predict the risk for human health associated with Listeria monocytogenes, the amount of food wasted due to the growth of spoilage bacteria, and the electrical consumption to maintain product temperature through the cold chain. A set of eight intervention actions were tested to evaluate their impact on the three criteria. Results show that the modification of the thermostat of the domestic refrigerator has a high impact on food safety and food waste and a limited impact on the electrical consumption. Inversely, the modification of the airflow rate in the display cabinet has a high impact on electrical consumption and a limited impact on food safety and food waste. A cost–benefit analysis approach and two multicriteria decision analysis methods were used to rank the intervention actions. These three methodologies show that setting the thermostat of the domestic refrigerator to 4 °C presents the best compromise between the three criteria. The impact of decisionmaker preferences (criteria weight) and limitations of these three approaches are discussed. The approaches proposed by this study may be useful in decision making to evaluate global impact of intervention actions in issues involving conflicting outputs.     

The mortality impact of the August 2003 heat wave in France: investigating the 'harvesting' effect and other long-term consequences

In August 2003, Western Europe experienced a deadly heat wave. It is estimated that 15,000 people died in France from its direct effects. Applying an indirect estimation technique to the monthly number of deaths by sex, age, and place of residence for the period 1996-2003, we estimate the number of years that would have remained to those who died from the heat wave had they been spared. The paper also evaluates the role of the 'harvesting' effect of the 2003 heat wave in explaining the deficit of deaths recorded in 2004--estimated at 23,000 out of an expected total of 535,000 deaths. The harvesting effect was modest and accounted for fewer than 5,000 of the 'missing' deaths in 2004. The mortality decline in 2004 is thus due mainly to other factors. One hypothesis is that special efforts have been directed towards isolated older people as a consequence of the heat wave.     

Is consanguinity an impediment to child development?

Marriages between blood relatives—also known as consanguineous unions—are widespread in North Africa, Central and West Asia, and South Asia. Researchers have suggested that consanguinity has adverse effects on child development, but assessing its impact is not straightforward, as the decision to marry a relative might be endogenous to other socio-economic factors. Using a unique data set collected in rural Pakistan, this paper assesses the extent to which consanguinity is linked to children’s cognitive and physical development. It exploits grandfathers’ land ownership (current and past) and maternal grandparent mortality to identify the effect of endogenous consanguinity on child development. Children born into consanguineous unions have lower cognitive scores, lower height-for-age, and a higher likelihood of being severely stunted. More importantly, adverse effects are greater after accounting for the endogeneity of consanguinity, suggesting that impacts on child development are substantial, and likely to be larger than suggested in previous studies.     

Repartnering and (Re)employment: Strategies to Cope With the Economic Consequences of Partnership Dissolution

The economic consequences of a partnership dissolution have been described consistently in the research literature. For women all studies indicate severe financial losses, whereas men do not experience income decreases to the same extent. This article focuses on the 2 main strategies to cope with the economic consequences of a separation: repartnering and (re)employment. Using the European Community Household Panel Study we analyzed a sample of 66,292 individuals observed in a relationship of whom 4,925 subsequently separated and assessed the (relative) effect of both strategies in a cross‐national longitudinal perspective. Where men do not benefit financially from cohabiting with a new partner, repartnering proves to outweigh the benefits of reentering the labor force or increasing the working hours for most women. This especially applies to mothers.     

Gaussian Regularized Sliced Inverse Regression

Sliced Inverse Regression (SIR) is an effective method for dimension reduction in high-dimensional regression problems. The original method, however, requires the inversion of the predictors covariance matrix. In case of collinearity between these predictors or small sample sizes compared to the dimension, the inversion is not possible and a regularization technique has to be used. Our approach is based on a Fisher Lecture given by R.D. Cook where it is shown that SIR axes can be interpreted as solutions of an inverse regression problem. We propose to introduce a Gaussian prior distribution on the unknown parameters of the inverse regression problem in order to regularize their estimation. We show that some existing SIR regularizations can enter our framework, which permits a global understanding of these methods. Three new priors are proposed leading to new regularizations of the SIR method. A comparison on simulated data as well as an application to the estimation of Mars surface physical properties from hyperspectral images are provided.