Government Risk Management Priorities: A Comparison of the Preferences of Asian Indian Americans and Other Americans

A survey was conducted of approximately 200 Asian Indian Americans and 200 other residents of New Jersey in order to understand the risk management priorities that they want government to have. We found that Asian Indian Americans, especially younger women, focused on personal/family risks, such as alcohol and drug abuse, sexual abuse, and domestic violence. The New Jersey comparison group, in contrast, placed war/terrorism and loss of health care services and insurance at the top of their priorities for government. These results suggest stressful acculturation-related issues within the Asian Indian community. Both populations want more risk management from government than they believe government is currently providing. Respondents who wanted more from government tended to dread the risk, be fearful of the consequences, trust government, and have a feeling of personal efficacy. Within the Asian Indian American sample, wide variations were observed by language spoken at home and religious affiliation. Notably, Muslims and Hindi language speakers tended not to trust government and hence wanted less government involvement. This study supports our call for studies of recent migrant populations and Johnson's for testing ethnic identity and acculturation as factors in risk judgments.     

Non-negative estimation of variance components in heteroscedastic one-way random-effects ANOVA models

There is a considerable amount of literature dealing with inference about the parameters in a heteroscedastic one-way random-effects ANOVA model. In this paper, we primarily address the problem of improved quadratic estimation of the random-effect variance component. It turns out that such estimators with a smaller mean squared error compared with some standard unbiased quadratic estimators exist under quite general conditions. Improved estimators of the error variance components are also established.     

On a characterization of the dispersion matrix based on the properties of regression

This paper provides a partial solution to a problem posed by J. Neyman (1965) regarding the characterization of multivariate negative binomial distribution based on the properties of regression. It is shown that some of the properties of regression characterize the form of the nonsingular dispersion matrix of the parent distribution, which, interestingly enough, corresponds to only two types viz. those of positive and negative multivariate binomial distributions.     

Finding the Delicate Balance: Serials Assessment at the University of Nevada,Las Vegas

Abstract

In the spring of 2003 the University Libraries at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), conducted a Serials Assessment Project which combined technology with effective communication between library users and subject librarians to successfully identify journals that could be cancelled, should cancellations be necessary due to budgetary constraints. Although the library had conducted similar assessments in 1998 and 2000, a fresh look at past assessments resulted in an innovative approach. The project and experience proved to be tremendously positive for both the library and its users. This article describes the planning and process by which the UNLV libraries designed and conducted the 2003 review of UNLV's serials collection, comparing it to methods used in the two previous assessments.     

Reliability estimation based on ranked set sampling

In this paper we consider the problem of estimating the reliability of an exponential component based on a Ranked Set Sample (RSS) of size n. Given the first r observations of that sample, 1≤r≤n, we construct an unbiased estimator for this reliability and we show that these n unbiased estimators are the only ones in a certain class of estimators. The variances of some of these estimators are compared. By viewing the observations of the RSS of size n as the lifetimes of n independent k-out-of-n systems, 1≤k≤n, we are able to utilize known properties of these systems in conjunction with the powerful tools of majorization and Schur functions to derive our results.     

Progressively censored tests for clinical experiments and life testing problems based on weighted empirical distributions

In the context of time-sequential studies, progressively censored tests for a simple regression model based on weighted empirical distributions are considered for ungrouped as well as grouped data situations. Early decision rules based on such tests are formulated. The asymptotic theory of the proposed tests rests on a construction of suitable empirical processes and their convergence (in distribution) to appropriate Gaussian functions. Critical values of the proposed test statistics are obtained by simulation, For a hypothetical example (of practical interest), a comparative study is made for the empirical powers and stopping times for some rival tests.     

Empirical Bayes estimation in finite population sampling under functional measurement error models

The paper considers simultaneous estimation of finite population means for several strata. A model-based approach is taken, where the covariates in the super-population model are subject to measurement errors. Empirical Bayes (EB) estimators of the strata means are developed and an asymptotic expression for the MSE of the EB estimators is provided. It is shown that the proposed EB estimators are “first order optimal” in the sense of Robbins [1956. An empirical Bayes approach to statistics. In: Proceedings of the Third Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability, vol. 1, University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 157–164], while the regular EB estimators which ignore the measurement error are not.     

On the equivalence of two approaches to simplicity in the analysis of block designs and some related results

Two seemingly different approaches to simplicity in the analysis of connected block designs, and their relationship to the concepts of balance are discussed.