Learning effects in coders and their implications for managing content analyses

From the perspective of study management, research is surprisingly lacking on two of the major challenges for planning and performing content analysis: determining the sample size (i.e. number of objects to code) and the required number of coders to hire. The optimization of both of these numbers will ultimately determine how efficiently available resources are used. This study contributes to the methodological discussion on coding by identifying and conceptualizing the role of learning effects with respect to the coding task and by highlighting the importance of considering the coding process when managing a content analysis. We present empirical evidence for the existence and impact of learning effects on coders’ coding speed. Accordingly, study management should take account of learning effects when determining the sample size and number of coders. We also provide an illustrative example of how learning effects can impact the results of pretests.     

Fuzzy integrated QFD,FMEA framework for the selection of lean tools in a manufacturing organisation

Lean Manufacturing (LM) is a well-established system to improve performance of any manufacturing industry by eliminating wastes through globally accepted tools and techniques. Industries are trying to adapt lean principles in order to optimise the resources like people, equipment, material and schedule for being efficient in the competitive market. This paper proposes an integrated approach for selecting appropriate lean tools in reliable lean perspective to enhance these critical resources. The approach exercise a hybrid model which uses fuzzy QFD to prioritise the critical resources in relation with identified wastes and fuzzy FMEA to assess the risk associated with each sub elements to address lean implementation. For waste identification, plant layout and Value Stream Mapping are considered. The model is demonstrated based on the data collected from a manufacturing industry to illustrate the application. Significant improvements are quantified with the help of future state map and plant layout.     

A procedure for optimal augmentation of multidimensional designs

The augmentation of an existing multidimensional design is discussed from the point of view of estimability of certain two-factor interactions which are nonestimable from the original design. A general procedure is proposed which achieves this with a minimal number of additional assemblies and which is optimal in a certain sense. The individual steps in this procedure are described in detail and illustrated by an example.     

Nuclear Power‐Related Facilities and Neighboring Land Price: A Case Study on the Mutsu‐Ogawara Region,Japan

From the perspective of risk, nuclear‐power‐related facilities (NPRFs) are often regarded as locally undesirable land use. However, construction of NPRFs contributes to social infrastructural improvement and job creation in the host communities. This raises a question: How large are these positive and negative effects? To approach this question from an economic viewpoint, we estimated the hedonic land price function for the Mutsu‐Ogawara region of Japan from 1976 to 2004 and analyzed year‐by‐year fluctuations in land prices around the NPRFs located there. Land prices increased gradually in the neighborhood of the nuclear fuel cycle facilities (NFCFs) in Rokkasho Village, except for some falling (i) from 1982 to 1983 (the first official announcement of the project of construction came in 1983), (ii) from 1987 to 1988 (in 1988, the construction began and opposition movements against the project reached their peak), and (iii) from 1998 to 1999 (the pilot carry‐in of spent fuels into the reprocessing plant began in 1998). Land prices around the Higashidori Nuclear Power Plant decreased during the period 1981–1982, when the Tohoku Electric Power Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power Corp. announced their joint construction plan. On the other hand, we obtained some results, even though not significant, indicating that land prices around Ohminato and Sekinehama harbors changed with the arrival and departure of the nuclear ship Mutsu, which suffered a radiation leak in 1974.     

Six Distributional Effects of Environmental Policy

While prior literature has identified various effects of environmental policy, this note uses the example of a proposed carbon permit system to illustrate and discuss six different types of distributional effects: (1) higher prices of carbon‐intensive products, (2) changes in relative returns to factors like labor, capital, and resources, (3) allocation of scarcity rents from a restricted number of permits, (4) distribution of the benefits from improvements in environmental quality, (5) temporary effects during the transition, and (6) capitalization of all those effects into prices of land, corporate stock, or house values. The note also discusses whether all six effects could be regressive, that is, whether carbon policy could place disproportionate burden on the poor.     

The negative health effects of external whistleblowing: A study of some key factors

Blowing the whistle is a pro-social behaviour which can be highly effective if wrongdoing could be corrected without any adverse consequences for the person alleging or reporting it. However it is also risky and can cost whistleblowers their jobs and economic security as well as physical health and mental well-being. The purpose of this study was to identify the negative health effects—physical, behavioral, emotional, and mental—of whistleblowing and to examine the impact on these effects of dismissal, number of employees who blew the whistle in a group, income, and the passage of time. We statistically analysed survey data from external whistleblowers who had been identified by the news media in South Korea. This research differs from previous studies that explored the negative health effects of whistleblowing but did not distinguish between internal and external reporting. Our study contributes to the literature on the negative health effects experienced by whistleblowers and has implications for how to better protect them.     

Determinants of state long-term debt: The political market framework

Because it focuses on the moderating role of political institutions – which emphasize equilibrium policy outcomes under different institutional arrangements derived from the interaction of policy supply and demand – the political market framework provides useful insights for analyzing the determinants of state long-term debt. Thus, different types of state political institutions should affect the degree of long-term debt in terms of specific demands and supply. Despite the numerous studies that have either applied the political market approach to local governments in policy areas or have analyzed the determinants of long-term debt from only a financial management perspective, few studies have applied the political market framework to state governments. Thus, adopting a state financial management perspective and conducting a panel data analysis using state data from 1980 to 2014, this study identifies the reasons why state governments act on long-term obligations in terms of the political market framework. This study also aims to expand the application of the political market framework to state governments and to integrate determinants of state long-term indebtedness.     

Is Early Smoking a Causal Risk Factor for Later Cognitive Impairment? A 20-year Prospective Study with Time-varying Propensity Score Matching Based on Random Intercept and Slope

Although epidemiological studies support an association between smoking and cognitive impairment, existing data do not answer the question of whether this association is causal or arises from covariates. In this paper, we investigate smoking status, assessed from adolescence to adulthood, and subsequent cognitive problems in a large representative sample of youths. To analyze this data, we propose a method for causal effects using full matching based on the subject-specific random intercept and slope of the propensity scores. The findings suggest that earlier smoking is not a causal factor for later cognitive problem (odds ratio = 1.64, 95% CI: 0.97–2.80, p = 0.06).     

Unemployment in Families: The Case of Housework

Unemployment has consequences for individuals, but its impacts also reverberate through families. This paper examines how families adapt to unemployment in one area of life-time in housework. Using 74,881 observations from 10,390 couples in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we estimate fixed effects models and find that individuals spend between 3 and 7 hours more per week in housework when unemployed than when employed, with corresponding decreases of 1 to 2 hours per week in the housework hours of unemployed individuals' spouses. We are the first to show that unemployment is associated both with a reallocation of housework to the unemployed spouse and an increase in the family's total household production time. The results also provide evidence for gender differences in adjustments to the division of labor during unemployment, with wives' unemployment associated with an increase in housework hours that is double the increase for unemployed husbands.     

A taxonomy of mixing and outcome distributions based on conjugacy and bridging

Abstract

The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) is commonly used for the analysis of hierarchical non Gaussian data. It combines an exponential family model formulation with normally distributed random effects. A drawback is the difficulty of deriving convenient marginal mean functions with straightforward parametric interpretations. Several solutions have been proposed, including the marginalized multilevel model (directly formulating the marginal mean, together with a hierarchical association structure) and the bridging approach (choosing the random-effects distribution such that marginal and hierarchical mean functions share functional forms). Another approach, useful in both a Bayesian and a maximum-likelihood setting, is to choose a random-effects distribution that is conjugate to the outcome distribution. In this paper, we contrast the bridging and conjugate approaches. For binary outcomes, using characteristic functions and cumulant generating functions, it is shown that the bridge distribution is unique. Self-bridging is introduced as the situation in which the outcome and random-effects distributions are the same. It is shown that only the Gaussian and degenerate distributions have well-defined cumulant generating functions for which self-bridging holds.