Sequential Hypothesis Tests for Identifying the Minimum Dose with a Threshold Effect

We propose a procedure to identify a lowest dose having greater effect than a threshold dose under the assumption of monotonicity of dose mean response in dose response test. So, we use statistics based on contrasts among sample means and apply a group sequential procedure to our procedure to identify effectively the dose. If we can identify the dose at an early step in the sequential test, since we can terminate the procedure with a few observations, the procedure is useful from an economical point of view. In a simulation studies, we compare the superiority among these procedures based on three contrasts.     

Production and changeover control policies of a class of failure prone buffered flow-shops

This article deals with a stochastic optimal control problem for a class of buffered multi-parts flow-shops manufacturing system. The involved machines are subject to random breakdowns and repairs. The flow-shop under consideration is not completely flexible and hence requires setup time and cost in order to switch the production from a part type to another, this changeover is carried on the whole line. Our objective is to find the production plan and the sequence of setups that minimise the cost function, which penalises inventories/backlogs and setups. A continuous dynamic programming formulation of the problem is presented. Then, a numerical scheme is adopted to solve the obtained optimality conditions equations for a two buffered serial machines two parts case. A complete heuristic policy, based on the numerical observations which describe the optimal policies in system states, is developed. It will be shown that the obtained policy is a combination of a KANBAN/CONWIP and a modified hedging corridor policy. Moreover, based on our observations and existent research studies extension to cover more complex flow-shops is henceforth possible. The robustness of such a policy is illustrated through sensitivity analysis.     

Challenges of implementing restorative justice for intimate partner violence: An Islamic perspective

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently recognized as a critical public health concern and a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, Muslims – a religiously and socio-culturally diverse faith-based populace – are not an exception. To address this complex area of criminal justice and social policy, some scholars advocate implementing restorative justice (RJ) approaches. While RJ approaches have been traditionally used in Islamic cultures for conflict resolutions, to date, few studies have investigated how RJ operates in dealing with IPV in Muslim countries and communities. This article explores how RJ approaches towards IPV operate in some Muslim countries/communities, and offers insights into developing culturally and religiously appropriate ways of implementing RJ in IPV situations among Muslims. Given the prevalence of IPV among Muslims, the question is particularly important and timely. Taking exclusively limited examples of RJ approaches that have been used to mediate IPV cases in Muslim countries and communities, this paper found one significant challenge in the RJ approaches among Muslims: community acceptance of IPV. To reduce IPV in Muslim society, it is necessary to develop treatment models and techniques that meet cultural and religious needs. This paper found that since RJ is not alien to Islamic teachings, RJ approaches can be implemented effectively in dealing with IPV among Muslims by ensuring justice and equity of the abused woman. The findings of this paper will assist policymakers, practitioners, and service providers in providing religiously and culturally appropriate care when addressing IPV issues among Muslims.     

Point-symmetry models and decomposition for collapsed square contingency tables

For square contingency tables with ordered categories, there may be some cases that one wants to analyze them by considering collapsed tables with some adjacent categories combined in the original table. This paper proposes three kinds of new models which have the structure of point-symmetry (PS), quasi point-symmetry and marginal point-symmetry for collapsed square tables. This paper also gives a decomposition of the PS model for collapsed square tables. The father's and his daughter's occupational mobility data are analyzed using new models.     

On the maximum number of constraints for s-symbol balanced arrays of strength t

Several upper bounds on the maximum number of constraints for s-symbol balanced arrays of strength t are given. Some bounds derived here include the results obtained by Rafter and Seiden (1974), Chopra (1982, 1983) and Saha, Mukerjee and Kageyama (1983).     

生态美学悖论：现代主义的失败，前现代的复活以及后现代的展望

如今我们知道出现了环境伦理学的一些事,这种伦理学为人们在日常生活行为中保护自然资源和生态系统并制止破坏生态的行为所需要的道德规范进行论证。生态伦理学的那些原则的根据,是希望在富裕而文明的城市生活和为保住地球而考虑着有所节制这两者之间达成和谐关系,即是说,在消费和节制欲望之间达成和谐关系。因此,我们眼见到作为西方化、工业化和城市化的现代主义的失败。那就是前现代的那种崇拜自然的怀旧情绪出现的原因。与此相当,现代美学,作为关于感性的哲学,也破产了。现在,时候到了,我们应该设想生态美学是可能的。为什么现在需要生态美学呢?其实,我们面临着现代美学本身的危机。我们的现代性过渡到了后现代时代,在这过渡的当口,产生了一些人不曾经历过的情况:直接和真东西接触难了,真东西让关于不可眼见的对象的那些铺天盖地的信息给遮蔽了;媒体和政治势力的黑手控制着人们的经验;城市化和无所不在的矫揉造作,把对于自然的感觉弄得麻木不仁;数字符号弄出来的影像和言辞,把艺术呈现搞得毫无力度。在后现代性的展望中,为了帮助美学恢复其意义这一目的,我们应该构筑生态美学。这种美学应该恰当地处理人对自然的关系、经验中的敏感性的意义,以及城市性的消费生活等问题。我们应该恢复关于我们的原初经验的思考,这种经验将使我们对美学的重要性进行重新评价。     

Child Anger Regulation, Parental Responses to Children's Anger Displays, and Early Child Antisocial Behavior

The display and regulation of child anger in family interaction was coded in a sample of 240 boys and girls at child age 6, and coded using the Specific Affect Coding System. Child antisocial behavior was longitudinally assessed, beginning in kindergarten. Pooled‐ and family‐level analyses were used to assess hazard rates for child anger. Parents’ ability to modulate their own emotions and negative behavior, and children's ability to down‐regulate anger were associated with increased latency for child anger. Hazard for child anger increased as parents’ insensitive and negative responses toward the child cumulated during family interaction. Macro‐level, non‐hazard analyses indicated that chronic levels of child antisocial behavior were associated with the frequency of parental negative behavior, but not with the frequency of child anger. Micro‐level hazard analyses indicated that children's ability to regulate anger was related to chronic levels of child covert but not overt antisocial behavior.     

Dealing with the 'Void': traumatic brain injury as a story

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered to drastically affect the individual's sense of self. To discover how people with TBI understand themselves, in-depth interviews with four individuals with TBI were conducted. Their narratives suggest that they feel they are carrying a 'void' in their understandings of their past and present. Individuals tend to fill the 'void' in their long-term memory with stories about the accident and recovery. The concept of 'void' is also useful in understanding how TBI survivors view the causal relationship between the accident, the brain injury and their present difficulties. This relationship can be another 'void' that threatens their sense of agency. The findings suggest that the experience of TBI appears as meanings in their self-narratives rather than as objective truth. Rehabilitation professionals should consider how their client interprets his or her TBI and self in everyday life when they work with this population.     

Yearly variation in recruitment and its effect on population dynamics inYoldia notabilis (Mollusca: Bivalvia), analyzed using projection matrix model

Summary Long-term variation in recruitment was estimated by constructing projection matrices for a marine bivalve,Yoldia notabilis, at two stations in Otsuchi Bay, northeastern Japan, and the effects of its variation on population dynamics were examined using a simple matrix model. The matrix model was developed from the Leslie matrix, in which the population growth rate λ was expressed as a function of recruitment rater ₀. The equilibrium recruitment rater _s, or the recruitment rate required to maintain population at constant size (λ=1), was expressed by the reciprocal of the reproductive value of a newly recruited individual. The estimates ofr _s for the field population were lower at the shallower station than at the deeper station, reflecting higher survivorship and fecundity. Past recruitment rate estimated both by the field samplings for 3 years and by the back-calculation from the current age structure for over 10 years showed large yearly variation, ranging between 0 and 58.6×10⁻⁴. The estimates were larger thanr _s, and hence, large enough to increase population size (λ>1) only in approximately one-third of the estimated years. This suggests that the population has been maintained by occasional successful recruitment occurring once every few years.     

Optimization problems for consecutive-2-out-of-n:G system

Abstract

This paper considers the optimization problems for a consecutive-2-out-of-n:G system where n is considered to be fixed or random. When the number of components is constant, the optimal number of components and the optimal replacement time are discussed by minimizing the expected cost rates. Furthermore, we focus on the above discussions again when n is a random variable. We give an approximate value of MTTF and propose the preventive replacement policy, respectively.