Developmental Patterns in Marital Satisfaction: Another Look at Covenant Marriage

This study investigated differences in the trajectory of marital satisfaction in the first 7 years between couples in covenant versus standard marriages. The authors analyzed data on 707 Louisiana marriages from the Marriage Matters Panel Survey of Newlywed Couples, 1998–2004, using multivariate longitudinal growth modeling. When the sample was restricted to couples who remained married over the duration of the study, a marginal benefit of covenant status was found for husbands. This effect was largely accounted for by covenant husbands' more extensive exposure to premarital counseling. The linear decline in marital satisfaction over time that obtained for both husbands and wives was not, however, any different for covenant marriages versus standard marriages. Couples characterized by more traditional attitudes toward gender roles were significantly less satisfied than others. High premarital risk factors, initial uncertainty about marrying the spouse, and the presence of preschool‐age children in the household were all corrosive of marital satisfaction at any given time.     

Correlates of perceived effectiveness of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative

A three-level growth-curve model was applied to estimate perceived impact growth trajectories, using multi-year data from project and school surveys on outcome and program implementation collected from 59 sites and approximately 1165 participating schools in the Safe Schools and Healthy Students Initiative. Primary interest is to determine whether and how project-level and school-level correlates affect schools’ perceptions of the Initiative's effectiveness over time when the effects of the pre-grant environmental conditions, grant operations, and near-term outcomes are considered. Coordination and service integration, comprehensive programs and activities for early childhood development, and change in school involvement were found to be significant predictors of school-perceived overall impact when the effect of poverty was considered. Partnership functioning, perceived importance of school resources, and school involvement were found to be significant predictors of school-perceived impact on substance use prevention when the effect of poverty was considered.     

The Pursuit of Continuous Improvement in the Field of Intergenerational Relationships: The Discipline of the Second Curve

This article presents a case for the field of intergenerational relationships to embrace the challenges associated with progressing its reputation, boundaries, and potential in the twenty-first century. The concept of the Sigmoid curve based upon curvilinear logic and the discipline of the second curve is introduced as a means of understanding how individuals, organizations, and institutions need to deal with the challenge of constant renewal as a consequence of rapid social change. The field of intergenerational relationships is challenged to align itself with the discipline of the second curve by (1) improving the impact of research through knowledge-based transfer and (2) exploring new fields of inquiry in the interest of maintaining and advancing relevance and legitimacy.     

从“凯恩斯效应”到“阿米曲线”——政府规模与经济增长关系的非线性转向

政府规模与经济增长之间的关系问题是宏观经济研究中的核心问题之一.关于两者关系的传统研究往往以线性假定为基础,所以实证结果出现了巨大的差异.这种现象促使研究者从非线性角度重新审视政府规模与经济增长之间的关系.“巴罗法则”在内生增长框架内为政府规模与经济增长关系研究提供了一个标准的分析框架,揭示了两者之间的倒“U”关系.而“Armey曲线”不仅非常直观地表达了政府规模与经济增长之间的非线性关系,同时还指出这种非对称关系的非对称性质,具有很强的总结性和政策指导意义.     

Do military veteran and civilian students function differently in college?

Objective: The authors sought to assess military veterans' functioning in college by comparing their experience with that of civilian students. Participants: The study, conducted from April 2012 to February 2013, included 445 civilian and 61 student service member/veteran (SSM/V) undergraduates, drawn from a community college and two 4-year Catholic colleges, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. Methods: Participants completed anonymous online surveys. Six areas of functioning in transition to college were examined: Health, Fitting In, Emotional Adjustment, Productivity, Perceived Career Support, and Social Engagement. Results: Students, both SSM/V and civilian, with past exposure to a potentially traumatic event fit in worse than students without such exposure. Past exposure to trauma was associated with poorer emotional adjustment in civilian students, but not in SSM/V. Conclusions: Implications of results were discussed.     

Accuracy of approximate progressively censored reliability sampling plans for exponential models

Reliability sampling plans provide an efficient method to determine the acceptability of a product based upon the lifelengths of some test units. Usually, they depend on the producer and consumer’s quality requirements and do not admit closed form solutions. Acceptance sampling plans for one- and two-parameter exponential lifetime models, derived by approximating the operating characteristic curve, are presented in this paper. The accuracy of these approximate plans, which are explicitly expressible and valid for failure and progressive censoring, is assessed. The approximation proposed in the one-parameter case is found to be practically exact. Explicit lower and upper bounds on the smallest sample size are given in the two-parameter case. Some additional advantages are also pointed out.     

使用PC1D 5.9模拟高效单晶硅太阳能电池

介绍了使用PC1D 5.9软件模拟高效单晶硅太阳能电池的方法。通过建立太阳能电池的结构模型和参数模型,在模拟的电池测试环境下,仿真得到太阳能电池的电压-电流曲线和量子效率曲线,并根据太阳能电池的理论,计算填充因子和转换效率的值。     

Multivariate outliers and decompositions of mahalanobis distance

Two decompositions of the Mahalanobis distance are considered. These decompositions help to explain some reasons for the outlyingness of multivari- ate observations. They also provide a graphical tool for identifying outliers including those that have a large influence on the multiple correlation coefficient, Illustrative examples are given.     

Contrasting the Gini and Zenga indices of economic inequality

The current financial turbulence in Europe inspires and perhaps requires researchers to rethink how to measure incomes, wealth, and other parameters of interest to policy-makers and others. The noticeable increase in disparities between less and more fortunate individuals suggests that measures based upon comparing the incomes of less fortunate with the mean of the entire population may not be adequate. The classical Gini and related indices of economic inequality, however, are based exactly on such comparisons. It is because of this reason that in this paper we explore and contrast the classical Gini index with a new Zenga index, the latter being based on comparisons of the means of less and more fortunate sub-populations, irrespectively of the threshold that might be used to delineate the two sub-populations. The empirical part of the paper is based on the 2001 wave of the European Community Household Panel data set provided by EuroStat. Even though sample sizes appear to be large, we supplement the estimated Gini and Zenga indices with measures of variability in the form of normal, t-bootstrap, and bootstrap bias-corrected and accelerated confidence intervals.     

《典型的美国佬》中的阴阳思想

中国传统文化中的阴阳思想,对理解《典型的美国佬》的主旨有着崭新的意义。通过分析小说中特蕾萨身上所体现的阴阳合一思想、张家人的自我与"反自我"的阴阳转化思想和拉尔夫转变过程中蕴含的阴阳调和思想,尝试解构男女性别、自我与"反自我"以及东西方文化的阴阳对立,并且指出阴阳和谐是作家消解性别矛盾、人格分裂和文化冲突的文化理想。