Predicting distances using a linear model: the case of varietal distinctness

Differences between plant varieties are based on phenotypic observations, which are both space and time consuming. Moreover, the phenotypic data result from the combined effects of genotype and environment. On the contrary, molecular data are easier to obtain and give a direct access to the genotype. In order to save experimental trials and to concentrate efforts on the relevant comparisons between varieties, the relationship between phenotypic and genetic distances is studied. It appears that the classical genetic distances based on molecular data are not appropriate for predicting phenotypic distances. In the linear model framework, we define a new pseudo genetic distance, which is a prediction of the phenotypic one. The distribution of this distance given the pseudo genetic distance is established. Statistical properties of the predicted distance are derived when the parameters of the model are either given or estimated. We finally apply these results to distinguishing between 144 maize lines. This case study is very satisfactory because the use of anonymous molecular markers (RFLP) leads to saving 29% of the trials with an acceptable error risk. These results need to be confirmed on other varieties and species and would certainly be improved by using genes coding for phenotypic traits.     

‘How dare you pretend to be disabled?’ The discounting of transabled people and their claims in disability movements and studies

Although the contours of the ‘disabled person’ category are questioned by anti-ableist activists, they remain rigid regarding transabled people (who want to become disabled). For anti-ableist activists, transabled people do not count as disabled. They are perceived to: be falsely disabled; steal resources from disabled people; and be disrespectful by denying, fetishizing, or appropriating marginalized realities. By combining critical discourse analysis, genealogy, and deconstruction, I examine these negative discourses to encourage alliances between anti-ableist activists and transabled people. Ideas developed in disability and trans studies reveal the limits of these discourses anchored in ableist and cisnormative* assumptions.     

TEACHING THE PRODUCTION/OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CORE COURSE: INTEGRATING LOGISTICS PLANNING ACTIVITIES

This paper discusses the benefits of restructuring the introductory undergraduate production and operations management (pom) course to improve its pedagogical effectiveness and to better convey the importance of integrating logistics planning activities. The introduction of a dynamic integrative semester-long case study which involves students in applying pom concepts and tools through a simulation game is reported.     

The dynamics of hapū research relationships

Abstract

The Whakaki Lake Trust has a long history of being an active kaitiaki of Whakaki Lake and has developed a hapū-based restoration and enhancement programme at the Lake property. Part of this programme has involved working with a range of external agencies and researchers. Research relationships have become an important part of the restoration process to build the capability and capacity of hapū to execute activities associated with restoration. In addition, relationships have provided an opportunity to strengthen and expand the knowledge base that hapū can draw upon to inform ecological restoration and resource management decisions. Some of these relationships have been adversarial and a source of much frustration. As a consequence the Trust has developed very clear expectations and policy around working with others. My experience of developing a doctoral research project with Whakaki Lake Trust is used here to discuss hapū expectations of research and resultant academic dilemmas.     

Penalized Maximum Likelihood Estimator for Normal Mixtures

The estimation of the parameters of a mixture of Gaussian densities is considered, within the framework of maximum likelihood. Due to unboundedness of the likelihood function, the maximum likelihood estimator fails to exist. We adopt a solution to likelihood function degeneracy which consists in penalizing the likelihood function. The resulting penalized likelihood function is then bounded over the parameter space and the existence of the penalized maximum likelihood estimator is granted. As original contribution we provide asymptotic properties, and in particular a consistency proof, for the penalized maximum likelihood estimator. Numerical examples are provided in the finite data case, showing the performances of the penalized estimator compared to the standard one.     

中国古代慈善事业的发展特点

中国古代慈善事业在漫长的历史发展过程中不但逐渐形成了庞杂而丰富的思想体系,而且其慈善主体也实现了从最初单纯的国家慈善到以国家慈善为主、宗族慈善和宗教慈善为重要补充的多元化发展过程。另外,中国古代慈善事业的发展轨迹还明显具备与整个中国古代社会兴衰相表里的重要特点。     

Interdisciplinary team discussion on work environment issues related to low back disability: a multiple case study

From both a social and cost-benefit perspective, disability prevention and associated management strategies for assisting employees with back pain are only successful if they address critical return-to-work (RTW) determining factors present in the workplace, including ergonomic factors. Despite our current knowledge of the importance of an integrated team approach targeting these factors, questions remain regarding the conceptual framework adopted by contemporary rehabilitation teams as it relates to work-oriented interventions to accommodate employees back to work. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the work environment issues discussed by an interdisciplinary team engaged in the work rehabilitation process of low back disability cases. A qualitative content analysis was conducted for 10 sample cases that underwent a rehabilitation program in Quebec (Canada). Drawing on the results of these analyses, a framework representing a synopsis of practitioners' involvement in the person-environment dynamic is presented and discussed. This study makes a unique contribution to the understanding of the 'real-life' content of an interdisciplinary activity in disability management, thus, helping rehabilitation practitioners to build knowledge on the practical application of a cross-disciplinary framework to address work environment issues during the RTW process of those patients sick-listed due to back pain.     

Decreasing occupational injury and disability: the convergence of systems theory, knowledge transfer and action research

Many work injuries and their associated disabilities are preventable, but effective prevention requires coordinated action by multiple stakeholders. In trying to achieve coordinated action occupational health practitioners can learn valuable lessons from systems theory, knowledge transfer and action research. Systems theory provides a broad view of the factors leading to injury and disability and a means to refocus stakeholder energies from mutual blaming to effective strategies for system change. Experiences from knowledge transfer will help adopt a stakeholder-centered approach that will facilitate the concrete application of the best and most current occupational health knowledge. Action research is a methodology endorsed by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control, which provide methods for successfully engaging stakeholders needed to attain sustainable change. By combining concepts from the three fields we propose MAPAC (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Act, Check), a five-step framework for developing projects aimed at decreasing occupational injury and disability. Although most practitioners would be familiar with some of the concepts, we believe an explicit framework linked to transferable knowledge from these diverse fields can help design and implement effective programs. We provide examples of model application in workers compensation and in the healthcare workplace.     

Estimating the Effects of Residential Mobility: A Methodological Note

This article reviews the methodological challenges of estimating a causal association between mobility and children's cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Utilizing a comprehensive set of empirical articles published in the past 25 years that employ quantitative methods, it describes the limitations of previous studies and the innovative ways that researchers have attempted to deal with them. The concept of mobility is inconsistently operationalized along four dimensions: school versus residential, distance, timing, and frequency. Imprecise operationalization conflates different forms of mobility, which have differential effects on development. Attempts to estimate a causal association between mobility and development suffer from three sources of bias: selection, contextual shifts, and contemporaneous instigating events. (a) Methods that account for unobserved differences between mobile and nonmobile children have consistently shown smaller or even positive effects of mobility. (b) Moving can have a positive or negative effect on children's ecological contexts in ways that are systematically correlated with child development. (c) Moves are frequently catalyzed by changes in family structure and employment. The article concludes with recommendations for future research. Researchers should continue to engage fixed- and random-effect, matching, and instrumental variable techniques, each of which makes the question of causality explicit.     

Characteristics of Sexually Abused Children and Their Nonoffending Mothers Followed by Child Welfare Services: The Role of a Maternal History of Child Sexual Abuse

Considering the importance of mother’s support in the adaptation of a sexually abused child, it is relevant to determine if the mothers and children involved in an intergenerational cycle of child sexual victimization differ from dyads in which only the child has been abused. The purpose of this study was to compare mother–child dyads with sexually abused children according to whether the mother had herself been victim of child sexual abuse. The sample included 87 dyads with sexually abused children aged 3–18 years old and their mothers (44 reporting maternal and child abuse), followed by social welfare services of the province of Quebec (Canada). The two groups of mothers were compared on their past family abuse experiences and past family relations, their mental health history, their current psychological distress, their parenting behaviors, and their current levels of family functioning. Children were compared on their adaptation. Multivariate analyses indicated that mothers reporting child sexual abuse were more likely to report more other maltreatments in their childhood and greater prevalence of lifetime history of alcohol abuse disorders, dysthymia, and panic disorder compared with mothers who had not experienced CSA. Compared to children whose mothers had not experienced CSA, those whose mothers had experienced CSA showed higher rates of problems behaviors and were more likely to report having been sexually abused by a trusted person. These results highlight the specific clinical needs for the assessment and treatment for sexually abused children whose mothers experienced child sexual abuse.