Reproducibility of clinical data I: continuous outcomes

Across a variety of clinical settings, repeated measurements on an individual, obtained under identical circumstances, often differ from one another. This implies the measurements lack perfect reproducibility. Topics related to reproducibility of clinical measurements are introduced in this paper. In this first of two parts, continuous outcomes are addressed. The intraclass correlation coefficient, ρ, has been the traditional coefficient of reproducibility for continuous outcomes. The importance of ρ regarding observations on an individual, and observations among populations, is outlined. Estimation and inferential procedures for ρ are reviewed and worked examples are provided. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Restructuring Flexibility: Case Studies of Part‐Time Female Workers in Six Workplaces

The article is based on six workplace case studies within a local economy and investigates the reasons behind the different utilization of part‐time workers within these workplaces. The research examines the content and nature of part‐time work in these organizations and the experiences of the part‐time workforce. The findings suggest that we need to distinguish between three types of part‐time workers; core, peak and ancillary. It is argued that such distinctions capture the variegated utilization of part‐time workers and contribute to the debate concerning the integration or marginalization of part‐time staff within workplaces. Furthermore, workplace cultures are an important arena for contextualizing these discussions. It is contended that the different uses of part‐time workers can be explained by different sectoral and organizational contexts but that the nature of part‐time work is also influenced by existing social relations within the workplace, notably with respect to gender, class and age.     

Do Parents of Girls Have a Higher Risk of Divorce? An Eighteen‐Country Study

Using data from the June 1980 Current Population Survey, Morgan, Lye, and Condran (1988) reported that families with a daughter have a higher divorce risk than families with a son. They attribute this finding to the higher involvement of fathers in raising a son, which in turn promotes marital stability. We investigate the relation between gender composition of children and parents’ divorce risk with cross‐national data from the Fertility and Family Survey. These data, which cover 16 European countries, Canada, and the United States, do not support a general hypothesis that sons contribute more to marital stability than daughters.     

On diagnostic checking of the autoregressive conditional intensity model

The autoregressive conditional intensity model proposed by Russell (1998) is a promising option for fitting multivariate high frequency irregularly spaced data. The authors acknowledge the validity of this model by showing the independence of its generalized residuals, a crucial assumption of the model formulation not readily recognized by researchers. The authors derive the large‐sample distribution of the autocorrelations of the generalized residual series and use it to construct a goodness‐of‐fit test for the model. Empirical results compare the performance of their test with other off‐the‐shelf tests such as the Ljung–Box test. They illustrate the use of their test with transaction records of the HSBC stock.     

The Skew‐normal Distribution and Related Multivariate Families*

Abstract. This paper provides an introductory overview of a portion of distribution theory which is currently under intense development. The starting point of this topic has been the so‐called skew‐normal distribution, but the connected area is becoming increasingly broad, and its branches include now many extensions, such as the skew‐elliptical families, and some forms of semi‐parametric formulations, extending the relevance of the field much beyond the original theme of ‘skewness’. The final part of the paper illustrates connections with various areas of application, including selective sampling, models for compositional data, robust methods, some problems in econometrics, non‐linear time series, especially in connection with financial data, and more.     

Challenging the Rhetoric of Choice in Maternal Labour‐Force Participation: Preferred Versus Contracted Work Hours

The notion of choice in maternal labour‐force participation (LFP) is a contentious one, with assertions that LFP is a direct result of either personal inclinations, such as employment commitment or external factors, such as historically available opportunities. This article suggests an alternative framework for understanding and testing choice in LFP using preferred versus contracted work hours. It explores these constructs quantitatively in a group of working mothers (N = 275) with dependent children and investigates qualitatively the underlying reasons for discrepant preferred versus contracted work hours in a sub‐sample of these women with under‐school‐aged children (N = 20). The results show that nearly two‐thirds of women working full time would prefer to work part time and the major reasons for not acting on their preferences is because of the nature of the job and the lack of career opportunities available for part‐time employees.     

古代爱情戏中女性爱欲的生理学解读

不少古代爱情戏张扬了女人的性欲,而已有的文学研究中却常常忽视古代妇女的身体生理状况。古代医学文献有“花癫”的记载和对女人生理状况的分析。文学与历史互相印证传统文化中非人性的冰冷。性梦和离魂这些个体经历折射出古代妇女总体生存形态中某些长期被漠视的性状况。爱情文学研究可吸收科学研究方法,对女性性欲给予理性解剖。     

Consent as Resistance,Resistance as Consent: Re‐Reading Part‐Time Professionals’ Acceptance of Their Marginal Positions

The part‐time employee has traditionally occupied a marginal position in organizations. The recent increase in the numbers of part‐time professionals, however, has been seen as offering potential for the status of the part‐time employee to improve. Evidence to date suggests that this improvement has not taken place and that the part‐time professional is also marginalized. Interestingly, research suggests that part‐time professionals may not experience their subordinate positions as problematic, often believing that the drawbacks of reduced hours working are a legitimate consequence of their ‘choice’ to work part‐time. Such ‘choices’ are frequently attributed to part‐timers’ prioritization of non‐work activities. In this article, using a Foucauldian approach to identity, we argue that choices need to be understood as both situated in time and space and constituted through discourse. Using these ideas we provide a re‐reading of part‐timers’ consent to their marginalization, arguing that their responses to their positions at work can also be understood as resistance to some of the dominant norms of professionalism. We set out the conditions that might be implicated in translating subjective resistance into more material actions.     

The Dyadic Adjustment Scale: A Reliability Generalization Meta‐Analysis

We conducted a reliability generalization meta‐analysis to examine the internal consistency of Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS; Spanier, 1976 ) scores across 91 published studies with 128 samples and 25,035 participants. The DAS was found to produce total and Dyadic cohesion, Consensus, and Satisfaction scores of acceptable internal consistency, although lower than those originally reported by Spanier (1976) . Reliability estimates of these scores did not differ by the sexual orientation, gender, marital status, or ethnicity of the sample. The Affective Expression subscale was found to produce scores with poor Cronbach’s alpha across studies. Reliability estimates of Affective Expression scores were highly influenced by sample characteristics. The implications of these results are discussed as they relate to the use of the DAS in research.     

Temporal Aggregation of Stationary and Non-stationary Continuous-Time Processes

Abstract.  We study the autocorrelation structure of aggregates from a continuous-time process. The underlying continuous-time process or some of its higher derivative is assumed to be a stationary continuous-time auto-regressive fractionally integrated moving-average (CARFIMA) process with Hurst parameter H . We derive closed-form expressions for the limiting autocorrelation function and the normalized spectral density of the aggregates, as the extent of aggregation increases to infinity. The limiting model of the aggregates, after appropriate number of differencing, is shown to be some functional of the standard fractional Brownian motion with the same Hurst parameter of the continuous-time process from which the aggregates are measured. These results are then used to assess the loss of forecasting efficiency due to aggregation.