General formulae for expectations, variances and covariances of the mean squares for staggered nested designs

Staggered nested experimental designs are the most popular class of unbalanced nested designs. Using a special notation which covers the particular structure of the staggered nested design, this paper systematically derives the canonical form for the arbitrary m-factors. Under the normality assumption for every random variable, a vector comprising m canonical variables from each experimental unit is normally independently and identically distributed. Every sum of squares used in the analysis of variance (ANOVA) can be expressed as the sum of squares of the corresponding canonical variables. Hence, general formulae for the expectations, variances and covariances of the mean squares are directly obtained from the canonical form. Applying the formulae, the explicit forms of the ANOVA estimators of the variance components and unbiased estimators of the ratios of the variance components are introduced in this paper. The formulae are easily applied to obtain the variances and covariances of any linear combinations of the mean squares, especially the ANOVA estimators of the variance components. These results are eff ectively applied for the standardization of measurement methods.     

Intergenerational earnings mobility in Japan among sons and daughters: levels and trends

This paper estimates the extent of intergenerational income mobility in Japan among sons and daughters born between 1935 and 1975. Our estimates rely on a two-sample instrumental variables approach using representative data from the Japanese Social Stratification and Mobility surveys, collected between 1965 and 2005. Father’s income is predicted on the basis of a rich set of variables, and we discuss changes in the Japanese earnings structure for cohorts born between the early 1900s and the 1960s. Our main results indicate that the intergenerational income elasticity (IGE) for both sons and daughters in Japan lies around 0.35, which is an intermediate value, by international standards. We discuss the sensitivity of the IGE to using either personal or family income as the income variable for both fathers and children. We also examine changes across cohorts in the IGE. Results indicate that intergenerational mobility has been roughly stable over the last decades.     

Tweeting democracy? Examining Twitter as an online public relations strategy for congressional campaigns’

Considering the integral relationship between public relations and democracy (Martinelli, 2011) coupled with the growing use of social media for democratic aims (Smith, 2011) the current study examines the effectiveness of Twitter as a public relations communications tool for congressional campaigns. Specifically, as a means of testing Twitter's effectiveness in informing and engaging voters, congressional candidate and political party Twitter use for all 435 U.S. House of Representatives races (N = 1284) are compared with 2010 election outcomes. Results indicate that candidates’ Twitter use significantly increased their odds of winning, controlling for incumbency and Party ID. Additionally, significant differences between incumbents’ and challengers’ Twitter use during the election cycle emerged, which has important implications for public relations practices aimed at achieving democratic outcomes.     

The efficacy and safety of short-acting testosterone ointment (Glowmin) for late-onset hypogonadism in accordance with testosterone circadian rhythm

Introduction: It is well known that there is a reduction of circadian rhythm in blood testosterone levels with aging. Our previous report revealed that 3?mg of short-acting testosterone ointment (Glowmin: GL) elevated serum testosterone levels to within the physiological range for 4–6?h. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical efficacy and safety of GL used topically once every morning, to enhance the circadian rhythm of testosterone, for late-onset hypogonadism (LOH).

Methods: A total of 61 LOH patients received 3?mg of GL topically once a day in the morning on scrotal skin for 24 weeks. The clinical efficacy of GL was evaluated by the aging males symptoms (AMS) scale, and blood sampling tests were measured before and after GL treatment.

Results: Mean patients age was 55.3?±?9.2 years old. Total AMS scores at 4, 12, and 24 weeks after GL treatments significantly decreased. The results of sub-analysis of AMS, including psychological, physical, and sexual factors also significantly improved after GL treatments. No severe adverse reactions or abnormal laboratory data were reported.

Conclusions: This study shows that TRT for LOH with once daily GL treatment supports testosterone circadian rhythm and should be considered to be an effective and safe therapy for LOH.     

Upper tolerance limit for the largest observation from censored samples

This paper deals with obtaining an upper tolerance limit for a largest observation X_(n) in an ordered sample of size n from a continuous distribution where the first m observations X₍₁₎ < X₍₂₎ < … < X_(m), l ≤ m < n, have been observed. A criterion of “goodness” of tolerance limit is developed, and a method is given to obtain the best tolerance limit. This method is applied to exponential and Pareto distributions.     

Strong Consistency of Reduced K‐means Clustering

Reduced k‐means clustering is a method for clustering objects in a low‐dimensional subspace. The advantage of this method is that both clustering of objects and low‐dimensional subspace reflecting the cluster structure are simultaneously obtained. In this paper, the relationship between conventional k‐means clustering and reduced k‐means clustering is discussed. Conditions ensuring almost sure convergence of the estimator of reduced k‐means clustering as unboundedly increasing sample size have been presented. The results for a more general model considering conventional k‐means clustering and reduced k‐means clustering are provided in this paper. Moreover, a consistent selection of the numbers of clusters and dimensions is described.     

Exposure to sided media coverage of an organization,subsequent group conversations,and public relations outcomes

We experimentally found a negative effect of subsequent group conversations after media exposure on the audience's attitudes toward the covered organization, while we found sided media exposure to predict both attitudes and behavioral intentions relevant to the covered organization. The extent of conversational engagement immediately following media exposure also helped predict future word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions. These results highlight the roles of interpersonal interactions after media exposure to explain and predict public relations outcomes.     

Expansions of the coverage probabilities of prediction region based on a shrinkage estimator

An expansion formula for the coverage probability of prediction region based on a shrinkage estimator proposed by Joshi [Joshi, V. M. (1967). Inadmissibility of the usual confidence sets for the mean of a multivariate normal population. Ann. Math. Statist., 38, 1868–1875.] is obtained. Its error bound is evaluated in terms of a function of an unknown parameter. Applying this result, three types of asymptotic expansions are derived. These expansions show inadmissibility of the usual prediction region.     

Two-stage procedures for the difference of two multinormal means with covariance matrices different only by unknown scalar multipliers

We consider the problem of constructing a fixed-size confidence region for the difference of means of two multivariate normal populations It is assumed that the variance-covariance matrices of two populations are different only by unknown scalar multipliers Two-stage procedures are presented to derive such a confidence region We also discuss the asymptotic efficiency of the procedure.     

Production seat booking system for the combination of make-to-order and make-to-stock products

This study deals with the problem of the production seat booking system. Like an airline or train booking system, customers' orders are assigned a production seat. Using the production seat booking system, inquiries about the delivery for individual orders can be answered quickly. The key issues in the production seat booking system are: (1) In which manufacturing environments are the production seat booking system appropriate and efficient? (2) How should the production seat be set? (3) How should orders be assigned a production seat? A production planning model is formulated for a production seat booking system with a combination of make-to-order and maketo-stock as production environment. Two kinds of variables are set as policy in the model: one is a variable for setting production capacity and the other a variable for assigning orders a production seat. By focusing on the characteristics of market demand, this paper clarifies the following points: (1) How do these policy variables affect the manufactuiring performance? (2) How does the buffer inventory for make-to-stock product affect the degree of the delivery date satisfaction for make-toorder products? (3) Within what range should the two policy variables be set in order to maintain the unfilled-rate of maketo-stock product under the specified level and the degree of delivery date satisfaction for make-to-order products over the specified level? This paper presents a basis for designing for a production seat booking system through a series of numerical experiments.