Integer-valued autoregressive processes with periodic structure

In this paper the periodic integer-valued autoregressive model of order one with period T, driven by a periodic sequence of independent Poisson-distributed random variables, is studied in some detail. Basic probabilistic and statistical properties of this model are discussed. Moreover, parameter estimation is also addressed. Specifically, the methods of estimation under analysis are the method of moments, least squares-type and likelihood-based ones. Their performance is compared through a simulation study.     

A note on the mortality of british troops in Australia and New Zealand 1788–1864

TheMonthly Returns to the War Office in London are used to calculate death and sickness rates for British troops in Australia and New Zealand. In the first half of the century death rates peak in 1835–39 before declining, and are generally lower than for troops stationed in Britain. The sickness rates show no clear trend, apparently because of the impact of epidemics and war.     

Salting and other union tactics: A unionist’s perspective

The author was exposed to his first organizing campaign in 1955 while working for Solomon & Durham Construction Company, a contractor out of Quincy, Florida performing a job in the Ft. Walton Beach area. In 1956 he was initiated as a member of the International Hod Carriers', Building and Common Laborers' Union of America, Construction and General Laborers Local 741, while working in Indiana for H. C. Price Construction Company, a contractor out of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 1959 he became a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and, in the ensuing years, a salt, local union officer, organizer, International Representative, Director of Organizing and, finally, Executive Assistant to the International President. During this period he earned a BS in Labor Studies from Antioch University. He left the employ of the IBEW in September 1995 but remains active in its affairs. Beginning in the late 1970s, he developed the construction organizing tactic we now know as “salting” which he taught in continuing seminars under the imprimatur of the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO; New England Construction Organizing Committee; and the George Meany Center for Labor Studies. It was during this period that he wrote the “salting resolution” which was eventually condemned by the Eighth Circuit Court but resurrected by the Supreme Court in Town & Country Electric1. In the summer 1995 volume of the Labor Studies Journal, published by the University and College Labor Education Association in cooperation with Transactional Periodicals Consortium — Rutgers University, Jeffrey Grabelsk2 holds that the author is “considered by many to be a pioneer of contemporary construction organizing.”     

Control charts for monitoring the median in non-negative asymmetric data

Statistical Methods & Applications - Control charts are commonly used for monitoring the mean of processes. However, there are practical applications in which asymmetric data are the standard....     

Flexible models for non-equidispersed count data: comparative performance of parametric models to deal with underdispersion

AStA Advances in Statistical Analysis - Count data as response variables are commonly modeled using Poisson regression models, which require equidispersion, i.e., equal mean and variance. However,...     

Social Implications of the Immediacy of Death

Face à l'imminence de leur propre mort, des mineurs emmurés lors d'un désastre minier s'inquiètent plus de la portée sociale de leur décès que de la mort elle-même ou de l'au-delà. Se considèrant morts d'un point de vue social tout en étant vivants, ils se représentent la discontinuation de leurs actes inachevés, les rôles sociaux qu'ils cessent de jouer et le caractère incomplet de leurs réalisations. Ceux qui vont mourir, comme ceux qu'ils laissent, voient le terme mis à un certain nombre de rôles et ils recherchent tous deux un débouché institutionnel pour leur émotion et la reconnaissance de ce qu'ils ont accompli pendant leur vie.     

Clinical social work education in palliative and end-of-life care: relational approaches for advanced practitioners

This paper describes the first post-Master's program in the US in end-of-life care for social workers. Developed at the Smith College School for Social Work, this program used innovative relational methods in student recruitment, curricular design, supervision, and leadership development, based upon input from the faculty, students, and field supervisors. Collaborations emerged with funders, agencies, and programs nationally. The program was based on a pedagogical stance that clinical work with dying people requires the capacity to be fully present- in individual, group, and family work; in interdisciplinary meetings; and in advocating for quality and equity of care-while attending to diverse and at-risk populations. Students deepened their clinical skills and took leadership in the field of end-of-life care.