Outlier detection in linear models: a comparative study in simple linear regression

Five widely used test statistics for detecting outliers and influential observations were studied using Monte Carlo method . The test statistic based on Studentized residuals, with critical values given by Tietjen, Moore and Beckman (1973), appears to be the best procedure for detecting a single outlier in simple linear regression.     

The Effects of Parenting Stress,Perceived Mastery,and Maternal Depression on Parent–Child Interaction

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to test a model that delineated the interrelationships among parenting stress, perceived mastery (defined as the belief that one's life chances are under one's own control), maternal depression, and parent–child interaction. A secondary data analysis of the Fragile Family and Child Well-Being Study was conducted, using a sample of 2,650 mothers. Results suggest that parenting stress undermines one's sense of perceived mastery which, in turn, resulted in depression. Moreover, the results also indicated that parenting stress directly affected maternal depression and parent–child interaction. There was no support for the hypothesis that parenting stress undermines one's sense of perceived mastery which, in turn, resulted in depression, which affected one's parent–child interaction. Implications of these findings for professionals working with mothers of young children are discussed. Future research should test this model using other forms of parenting behavior.     

Unwed pregnancy decisions: Some background factors

Females pregnant out of wedlock who chose to bear their children in a maternity home situation were compared with females who chose abortion as their option. Maternity home pregnants were younger, less educated, more regular church attenders, less aware of abortion, less sexually premissive, in poorer relationship with the putative father, and less likely to be satisfied with their pregnancy decision than their abortion choice counterparts.     

Sustainable urban greening strategies for compact cities in developing and developed economies

Urban greening contributes notably to quality of life and ecosystem services in cities. Compact cities in developing and developed countries are commonly beset by greenspace deficit. Based on literature review supplemented by field studies in different cities, a sustainable urban greening strategy is proposed. Urban renewal and new developments without a greening vision could miss the opportunities to bring relief. The public and private sectors can join hands to insert plantable spaces into the urban fabric. Urban greenspaces (UGS) with good connectivity forming a green network to permeate the city constitute the hallmarks of a naturalistic design. Preservation and creation of natural areas with rich biodiversity offer a new dimension to UGS design. Greening benefits could be expressed in economic terms to complement conventional ecological-environmental emphasis. Outstanding trees could receive high-order conservation efforts, and trees in construction sites warrant enhanced protection. Tree transplanting demands an overhaul in concepts and skills. Improving roadside tree planting and maintenance offers a cost-effective way to upgrade the townscape. Ameliorating widespread soil limitations could remove a major hindrance to tree growth. Innovative ideas of development right transfer, street pedestrianization, river and canal revitalization, green roofs and green walls could mobilize hitherto underused plantable resources. Lacking appropriate institutional setup and scientific capability pose intractable bottlenecks. Innovative public policies and greening technologies are needed for sustained improvements. Amalgamating natural and social sciences in a multidisciplinary approach and reinforcing the link between science and public policies could overhaul greening.     

A new economic scheme for CCC charts with run rules based on average number of inspected items

New statistical techniques and procedures have been developed to control high-yield processes along with looking for process improvement opportunities and minimizing production cost. Cumulative count of conforming control chart is generally a technique for high-quality processes, when nonconforming items are rarely produced. The objective of this study is to design control chart based on cumulative count of conforming items and run rules that develops an economic model based on the average number of inspected items to design m-of-m CCC chart in order to facilitate minimum average cost per item produced. The optimal design parameters for different values of nonconforming fraction and different cost parameters in each scenario are determined. Finally, to analyze the behavior of optimal economic solutions, sensitivity analysis of the model parameters is performed.     

Using Empathy to Improve Intergroup Attitudes and Relations

Recently, social psychologists have given considerable attention to the possibility that empathy can be used to improve intergroup attitudes and relations. For this possibility to bear practical fruit, it is important to know what is meant by empathy because different researchers use the term to refer to different psychological states. It is also important to understand how each of these empathy states might affect intergroup relations by reviewing theory and research on the psychological processes involved, and it is important to consider the limitations of each form of empathy as a source of improved intergroup relations. Finally, it is important to consider the role of different empathy states in existing programs designed to improve intergroup relations, whether in protracted political conflicts, in educational settings, or via media. In this article, we pursue each of these goals.     

Bodies of work: skilling at the bottom of the global nursing care chain

ABSTRACT

In the midst of a growing global market for migrant care work, there is a need to investigate not only how such labour is consumed but how ‘ideal’ care workers are also produced. This paper investigates how schools within migrant-sending countries produce nurse labour through body work or the testing and honing of hospital procedures on patients’ bodies. Focusing on the case of the Philippines, this paper shows how the education of nurses for export creates a paradoxical impact on care work within local healthcare institutions. Aspiring nurse migrants provide much-needed manpower to understaffed public hospitals yet, treat poor patients as docile bodies to enhance their skills for future foreign employers. This practice creates an inherent inequality in the actual skilling of aspiring nurse migrants, where the poorest bodies allow nurse migrants to provide better care to more privileged bodies in wealthier nations.     

Anti-Afropolitan ethics and the performative politics of online scambaiting

ABSTRACT

Online scambaiting problematises the identity of the 419 scammer whose virtual labours connect significantly to the digital dimensions of Afropolitanism. When examined through the photographic practices demanded of 419 scammers in several Internet communities, scambaiting, a form of Internet vigilantism that is targeted at online scammers to avert scam, produces epistemic violence which evacuates the black male body of human dignity. Although scambaiting is potentially an ethical project, it embeds a system of oppression that generates Afropolitan masculinities, caricatured performances of the bodies of 419 scammers exhibited online as objects of shame. As a philosophical and aesthetic response to translocality and mobility, Afropolitanism stresses the cultural experiences and agency of ordinary Africans who assert a global sense of awareness. As both the Afropolitan subject and the 419 scammer are entangled in the assertion of agency, the globalism of both is shown to converge at the intersection of the digital. Building on Lisa Nakamura's essay on dogshaming, I argue that the sexual exploitation of black bodies on scambaiting websites gestures at technology's complicity in interpellating digital subjects and circulating social injustices. Unlike Nakamura, I foreground the performative aspects of scambaiting and connect these to Afropolitanism's intrinsic digitality.     

CEO humility,narcissism and firm innovation: A paradox perspective on CEO traits

We examine how two seemingly contradictory yet potentially complementary CEO traits—humility and narcissism—interact to affect firm innovation. We adopt a paradox perspective and propose that individuals can have paradoxical traits and that, in particular, humility and narcissism can coexist harmoniously, especially among the Chinese, whose philosophical tradition embraces paradoxical thinking and behaving. CEOs that are both humble and narcissistic are hypothesized to be more likely to have socialized charisma, to cultivate an innovative culture, and to deliver innovative performance. Two studies using multisource data involving 63 CEOs, 328 top managers, and 645 middle managers in Study 1 and 143 CEOs and 190 top managers in Study 2 support the hypotheses and point to new directions for studying CEO traits and their effects on firm outcomes.