Coping and Helping to Cope: Perspectives of Children of Palestinian Political Detainees

This qualitative study investigates how children of Palestinian political detainees in Israeli detention cope with their fathers' absences. Researchers conducted 16 semi‐structured interviews with children, mostly aged 15 and older in the West Bank. Three themes are discussed that emerged from the interview data: how children cope with their sadness; the children's perspectives on community support; and older children's support to siblings and parents. Practitioners can support children by providing counselling to mothers and organising interventions, which give children the opportunity to connect. It is important that the agency of the older children is taken into account and built upon.     

Computationally and statistically efficient model fitting techniques

A significant challenge in fitting metamodels of large-scale simulations with sufficient accuracy is in the computational time required for rigorous statistical validation. This paper addresses the statistical computation issues associated with the Bootstrap and modified PRESS statistic, which yield key metrics for error measurements in metamodelling validation. Experimentation is performed on different programming languages, namely, MATLAB, R, and Python, and implemented on different computing architectures including traditional multicore personal computers and high-power clusters with parallel computing capabilities. This study yields insight into the effect that programming languages and computing architecture have on the computational time for simulation metamodel validation. The experimentation is performed across two scenarios with varying complexity.     

Estimation of generalized exponential distribution based on an adaptive progressively type-II censored sample

In this paper, based on an adaptive Type-II progressively censored sample from the generalized exponential distribution, the maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimators are derived for the unknown parameters as well as the reliability and hazard functions. Also, the approximate confidence intervals of the unknown parameters, and the reliability and hazard functions are calculated. Markov chain Monte Carlo method is applied to carry out a Bayesian estimation procedure and in turn calculate the credible intervals. Moreover, results from simulation studies assessing the performance of our proposed method are included. Finally, an illustrative example using real data set is presented for illustrating all the inferential procedures developed here.     

Optimal Contract Design for Mixed Channels Under Information Asymmetry

The mixed‐channel model is becoming increasingly popular in the marketplace. In this model, a firm selling through the traditional supply chain of wholesaler and retailer opens a direct channel to the customer through Internet sales. Because both channels have their respective advantages, the manufacturer is attracted to this business model. However, it also leads to channel conflict, with the retailer feeling threatened by direct competition. One way of eliminating the possibility of this channel conflict, where the retailer is allowed to add value to the product to differentiate its offering to the customers, is proposed in this paper. The retailer is also given full authority to make pricing decisions. This paper presents a model, under this scenario, of obtaining optimum pricing decisions by both parties, the amount of value added by the retailer, and the manufacturer's wholesale price to the retailer. Our model incorporates information asymmetry, where the manufacturer has incomplete information about the retailer's cost of adding value. We obtain closed‐form contracts with incomplete information and compare them with those with complete channel coordination. We also develop a number of managerial guidelines and identify future research topics.     

Motivating Retail Marketing Effort: Optimal Contract Design

We study a distribution channel where a manufacturer relies on a sales agent for selling the product, and for investing in the most appropriate marketing effort. The agent's effort is hard to monitor. In addition, the cost of effort is the agent's private information. These impose challenges to the manufacturer in its endeavor to influence the agent's marketing effort provisions and to allocate profit between the two parties. We propose two contract forms. The franchise fee contract is a two‐part price schedule specifying a variable wholesale price and a fixed franchise fee. The retail price maintenance contract links the allowed retail price that the agent charges customers with total payment to the manufacturer and sales level. Under information asymmetry, for implementing either contract form, the manufacturer needs to offer a menu of contracts, hoping to invoke the “revelation principle” when the agent picks a certain contract from that menu. We show that the two contract forms perform differently, and each party's preference toward a particular contract form is linked with the total reservation profit level and/or the sales agent's cost type. We provide managerial guidelines for the manufacturer in selecting a better contract form under different conditions.     

Controlling Power Retailer's Gray Activities Through Contract Design

We develop a model that captures dynamic relationships of a supply chain populated by a dominant retailer and a number of fringe retailers. The two types of retailers are asymmetric in buying power, retailing cost, and the ability to service the manufacturer's product. The wholesale prices offered through a quantity discount (QD) schedule can coordinate such a supply chain, but invite channel flow diversion type of gray trading between the dominant retailer and the fringe retailers. Our analysis is focused on how such a channel can be coordinated and the gray market activities be prevented. We propose a dynamic QD contract or a revenue‐sharing contract that the manufacturer can use to fight the gray market activity. The performance of the supply chain and the manufacturer's profit under each of the two contract forms are compared and managerial guidelines are provided to help the manufacturer make a judicious choice.     

VIOLENCE

This qualitative research study explores determinants of child labor in two low‐income urban communities in Beirut and reveals that violence against children, both at home and at school, is a recurring theme. Our analysis of interviews with and observations of working children and their parents in their homes and at the children's work places shows that violence is an important determinant of child labor. Findings reveal that, contrary to the importance usually placed on family and school for children's well‐being, certain home and school environments may indeed be unfavorable for learning and development and thereby play a role in a child's decision to leave school and start work at a young age.     

Maximum likelihood estimation of the linearly structured correlation matrix by a Jacobi-type iterative scheme

Mukherjee and Maiti [Q-procedure for solving likelihood equations in the analysis of covariance structures, Comput. Statist. Quart. 2 (1988), pp. 105–128] proposed an iterative scheme to derive the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters involved in the population covariance matrix when it is linearly structured. The present investigation provides a Jacobi-type of iterative scheme, MSIII, when the underlying correlation matrix is linearly structured. Such scheme is shown to be quite competent and efficient compared to the prevalent Fisher-scoring (FS) and the Newton–Raphson iterative scheme (NR). An illustrative example is provided for a numerical comparison of the iterates of MSIII, FS and NR choosing the Toeplitz matrix as the population correlation matrix. Numerical behaviour of such schemes is studied in the context of ‘bad’ initial try-out vectors. Additionally a simulation experiment is performed to judge the superiority of MSIII over FS.     

Sex differences in remarriage and spouse selection

This paper explores on an international basis the incidence of remarriage among total marriages, the levels and differences in remarriage rates among widowed and divorced males and females, and differences between males and females in spouse selection according to the previous marital statuses of spouse and bride or groom. Remarriage rates by sex and previous marital status are estimated using vital registration data in combination with census information; there are 47 countries that have such data. The results of the analyses indicate that there are a number of general patterns of remarriage and spouse selection that tend to hold across countries.     

Why Do Neighbors Have Different Environmental Priorities? Analysis of Environmental Risk Perception in a Beirut Neighborhood

Differences in environmental priorities within an urban neighborhood of Beirut are analyzed. The explanatory capabilities of five categories of contextual variables are compared: socioeconomic status, locality, health, behavior, and environmental beliefs. Semi-structured interviews with key individuals in the community and residents were first conducted. Four environmental issues of concern were identified. A survey was carried out to identify the relative priority accorded by respondents to these four issues, and to measure variables likely to explain differences of opinion. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted for each of the four problems. The 99% confidence interval (CI) of the odds ratio (OR) was used as a test of significance. Respondents suffering from a respiratory disease (OR = 6.94, 99%CI = 1.54-31.25), those living in less crowded houses (OR = 4.88, 99%CI = 1.38-17.24), and those not living close to the neighborhood's industrial street (OR=5.26, 99%CI = 1.01-27.78) are significantly more likely to rank poor air quality first. Significant associations are found between poor water quality as first priority and nonpresence of a smoker in the household (OR = 6.12, 99%CI = 1.84-20.32) and perception of water salinity as a problem (OR = 7.46, 99%CI = 1.50-37.03). Males (OR = 6.94, 99%CI = 1.02-47.62) and tenants versus owners (OR = 10.49, 99%CI = 1.36-80.61) are significantly more likely to rank the residential-industrial mix first. Socioeconomic variables retain their explanatory capability in the studied neighborhood, despite relatively small income disparities. Behavioral variables, such as smoking, may be causative factors of priorities. Analyzing relative priorities, rather than "concern" or lack of it, reveals more complex patterns of association. Identifying environmental-perception divide lines can help develop a more inclusive and effective participatory environmental management.