Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Re(Searching) The Truth About Our Criminal Justice System: Some Challenges, Janet Ruane

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article considers the current face-off between “facts vs. alternative facts” as it relates to research on lethal encounters between police and minority citizens. I begin by reviewing major measurement challenges for those studying lethal police shootings and potential improvements for how we document police shootings. I also consider the increasing reliance on use of body cams and surveillance videos for what they may (or may not) bring to improving documentation of police/citizen encounters. Next I address a larger issue that provides the context for the “facts vs. alternative facts” dilemma: science's loss of standing as the recognized superior way …

Say At Home, Or Stay At Home? Policy Implications On Female Labor Supply And Empowerment, Vidya Atal

Department of Economics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper develops a theory of female labor supply in a general equilibrium framework in the context of a developing economy. In stage 1, men and women decide whether to get married foreseeing the power and market dynamics in stage 2. Single people make their own decisions whereas married couples make decisions together, the power distribution among partners is determined endogenously. It is shown that female labor supply can take different shapes due to structural differences between economies and multiple equilibria might occur, causing low female labor force participation trap. As for policy implications, we find that tax-break to the …

Learning To Heal: The Impact Of A Restorative Justice Program On Crime Victims, Jacquelyn P. Poplawsky

Theses & Dissertations

In the United States, someone is murdered, raped, robbed, or assaulted every 26 seconds (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2015). Violent victimization is a uniquely disorienting dilemma because it is the result of harm from another human being. Extensive research has shown that crime victims’ complex emotional and psychological needs are not adequately fulfilled by the dominant retributive system of justice. The other paradigm of justice that has received extensive consideration from theorists and scholars, with research that now covers multiple continents and 3 decades, is restorative justice.

Restorative justice theory and practice have become effective complementary, and at times, alternative …

The Impact Of Culture On Hispanic Entrepreneurs As Mediated By Motivation, Challenge, And Success, Valerie V. Ballesteros

Theses & Dissertations

In the modern economic environment, demographic shifts in U.S. population resulting from changing immigration, changing economic policies and environments, and growing socioeconomic disparity, scholarly research examining the business behavior of specific groups and the impact of behavior on the broader marketplace is valuable and necessary. Hispanic entrepreneurs, when compared to both minority and non-minority business-owners, started and flourished in successful business ownership at a greater growth rate than any other group (Davila, Mora, & Zeitlin, 2014). Since the beginning of the 21st century, Hispanic entrepreneurs have become a measurable economic force. The cultural experience of the Hispanic entrepreneur is important …

Social Engagement And Health: A Structural Equation Modelling Analysis Of Downstream Links To Health Outcomes Among White-Collar Professionals, Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq Bin Mohd Nazan

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND HEALTH: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING ANALYSIS OF DOWNSTREAM LINKS TO HEALTH OUTCOMES AMONG WHITE-COLLAR PROFESSIONALS

by

Ahmad Iqmer Nashriq bin Mohd Nazan

The University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 2017

Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Amy E. Harley

High level of social engagement has been associated with improved health outcomes. Its capacity to influence one’s health has led to the conception of Berkman’s social relationship model which hypothesizes that health is impacted by social relationship through a series of causal processes that begin at the macro-social level (upstream factors) to micro-psychobiological processes (downstream factors). Social engagement …

Assessing The Relationships Between Multicultural Training, Cultural Identity, And Multicultural Counseling Competence Among Master’S Level Counseling Students, Rachel Reinders

Theses and Dissertations

The discrepancy between the demographics of the American population and mental health providers means that providers will increasingly be called upon to work with clients who are different from the provider. This study evaluated the relationship between multicultural competence (MCC), ethnic identity, and worldview variables for Master’s level counseling students enrolled in an introductory multicultural counseling course. It also included an analysis of course factors. A total of 201 students completed the survey at both the beginning and end of the semester. Students reported higher levels of ethnic identity development at the end of the semester as compared to the …

Nebraska Business And Consumer Confidence Index: December 1, 2017, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

Consumer and business confidence surged in Nebraska during November. The Consumer Confidence Index – Nebraska (CCI-N) rose to 106.2 in November from 95.1 in October. The November value is well above the neutral level of 100.0. Likewise, the Business Confidence Index – Nebraska (BCI-N) rose from 102.7 in October to 114.1 in November, which is also well above the neutral value of 100.0. When asked about the most important issue facing their business, customer demand was mentioned by 32 percent of respondents. Nearly as many businesses mentioned workforce issues. In particular, the availability and quality of labor was mentioned as …

Legacy - December 2017, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

SCIAA Newsletter - Legacy & PastWatch

Contents:

Oemler Pottery: A Prehistoric Mystery.....p. 1
Director's Notes.....p. 2
Reconstructing Hawthorne: A New Documentary Film.....p. 3
Tracking Hernando de Soto.....p. 4
The Last Morning of the War: Archaeology on the Appomattox Court House Battlefield.....p. 7
Archaeology in South Carolina: Exploring the Hidden Heritage of the Palmetto State.....p. 9
The First Radiocarbon Dates from 38FA608.....p. 10
Port Royal Sound Stone Fleet Survey...p. 12
Update on Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Development Project: Ground-Truthing Operations.....p. 15
ART/SCIAA Donors Update August 2016-December 2017.....p. 18 Please Support the New Stanley South Student Archaeological Research Endowment Fund.....p. 20

Robust Measures Of Variable Importance For Multivariate Group Designs, Tolulope T. Sajobi, Lisa M. Lix

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Variable importance measures based on discriminant analysis and multivariate analysis of variance are useful for identifying variables that discriminate between two groups in multivariate group designs. Variable importance measures are developed based on trimmed and Winsorized estimators for describing group differences in multivariate non-normal populations.

Modeling Agreement Between Binary Classifications Of Multiple Raters In R And Sas, Aya A. Mitani, Kerrie P. Nelson

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Cancer screening and diagnostic tests often are classified using a binary outcome such as diseased or not diseased. Recently large-scale studies have been conducted to assess agreement between many raters. Measures of agreement using the class of generalized linear mixed models were implemented efficiently in four recently introduced R and SAS packages in large-scale agreement studies incorporating binary classifications. Simulation studies were conducted to compare the performance across the packages and apply the agreement methods to two cancer studies.

Inferential Procedures For Log Logistic Distribution With Doubly Interval Censored Data, Yue Fang Loh, Jayanthi Arasan, Habshah Midi, M. R. Abu Bakar

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The log logistic model with doubly interval censored data is examined. Three methods of constructing confidence interval estimates for the parameter of the model were compared and discussed. The results of the coverage probability study indicated that the Wald outperformed the likelihood ratio and jackknife inferential procedures.

Approximating The Distribution Of Indefinite Quadratic Forms In Normal Variables By Maximum Entropy Density Estimation, Ghasem Rekabdar, Rahim Chinipardaz

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The quadratic form of non-central normal variables is presented based on a sum of weighted independent non-central chi-square variables. This presentation provides moments of quadratic form. The maximum entropy method is used to estimate the density function because distribution moments of quadratic forms are known. A Euclidean distance is proposed to select an appropriate maximum entropy density function. In order to compare with other methods some numerical examples were evaluated. Also, for discrimination between two groups by the Euclidean distances, we obtained a stochastic representation for the linear discriminant function using the quadratic form. The maximum entropy estimation was an …

Missing Data In Longitudinal Surveys: A Comparison Of Performance Of Modern Techniques, Paola Zaninotto, Amanda Sacker

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Using a simulation study, the performance of complete case analysis, full information maximum likelihood, multivariate normal imputation, multiple imputation by chained equations and two-fold fully conditional specification to handle missing data were compared in longitudinal surveys with continuous and binary outcomes, missing covariates, and an interaction term.

Semi-Parametric Method To Estimate The Time-To-Failure Distribution And Its Percentiles For Simple Linear Degradation Model, Laila Naji Ba Dakhn, Mohammed Al-Haj Ebrahem, Omar Eidous

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Most reliability studies obtained reliability information by using degradation measurements over time, which contains useful data about the product reliability. Parametric methods like the maximum likelihood (ML) estimator and the ordinary least square (OLS) estimator are used widely to estimate the time-to-failure distribution and its percentiles. In this article, we estimate the time-to-failure distribution and its percentiles by using a semi-parametric estimator that assumes the parametric function to have a half- normal distribution or an exponential distribution. The performance of the semi-parametric estimator is compared via simulation study with the ML and OLS estimators by using the mean square error …

On Variance Balanced Designs, Dilip Kumar Ghosh, Sangeeta Ahuja

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Balanced incomplete block designs are not always possible to construct because of their parametric relations. In such a situation another balanced design, the variance balanced design, is required. This construction of binary, equal replicated variance balanced designs are discussed using the half fraction of the 2n factorial designs with smaller block sizes. This method was also extended to construct another variance balanced design by deleting the last block of the resulting variance balanced designs. Its efficiency factor compared with randomized block designs was compared and found to be highly efficient.

Jmasm 48: The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient And Adjustment Indices: The Fisher Approximate Unbiased Estimator And The Olkin-Pratt Adjustment (Spss), David A. Walker

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

This syntax program is intended to provide an application, not readily available, for users in SPSS who are interested in the Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient (r) and r biased adjustment indices such as the Fisher Approximate Unbiased estimator and the Olkin and Pratt adjustment.

On Poisson Quasi-Lindley Distribution And Its Applications, Razika Grine, Halim Zeghdoudi

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

This paper proposes a recent version of compound Poisson distributions named the Poisson quasi-Lindley (PQL) distribution by compounding Poisson and quasi-Lindley distributions. Some properties of the distributions are given with estimation and some illustrative examples.

Detection Of Outliers In Univariate Circular Data Using Robust Circular Distance, Ehab A. Mahmood, Sohel Rana, Habshah Midi, Abdul Ghapor Hussin

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A robust statistic to detect single and multi-outliers in univariate circular data is proposed. The performance of the proposed statistic was tested by applying it to a simulation study and to three real data sets, and was demonstrated to be robust.

Performance Evaluation Of Confidence Intervals For Ordinal Coefficient Alpha, Heather J. Turner, Prathiba Natesan, Robin K. Henson

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of the Fisher, Feldt, Bonner, and Hakstian and Whalen (HW) confidence intervals methods for the non-parametric reliability estimate, ordinal alpha. All methods yielded unacceptably low coverage rates and potentially increased Type-I error rates.

Around Gamma Lindley Distribution, Hamouda Messaadia, Halim Zeghdoudi

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Some remarks and correction on a new distribution, Gamma Lindley, of which the Lindley distribution is a particular case, are given pertaining to its parameter space.

Jmasm 49: A Compilation Of Some Popular Goodness Of Fit Tests For Normal Distribution: Their Algorithms And Matlab Codes (Matlab), Metin Öner, İpek Deveci Kocakoç

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The main purpose of this study is to review calculation algorithms for some of the most common non-parametric and omnibus tests for normality, and to provide them as a compiled MATLAB function. All tests are coded to provide p-values for those normality tests, and the proposed function gives the results as an output table.

Bayesian Hypothesis Testing Of Two Normal Samples Using Bootstrap Prior Technique, Oyebayo Ridwan Olaniran, Waheed Babatunde Yahya

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

The most important ingredient in Bayesian analysis is prior or prior distribution. A new prior determination method was developed under the framework of parametric empirical Bayes using bootstrap technique. By way of example, Bayesian estimations of the parameters of a normal distribution with unknown mean and unknown variance conditions were considered, as well as its application in comparing the means of two independent normal samples with several scenarios. A Monte Carlo study was conducted to illustrate the proposed procedure in estimation and hypothesis testing. Results from Monte Carlo studies showed that the bootstrap prior proposed is more efficient than the …

A Monte Carlo Study Of The Effects Of Variability And Outliers On The Linear Correlation Coefficient, Hussein Yousif Eledum

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Monte Carlo simulations are used to investigate the effect of two factors, the amount of variability and an outlier, on the size of the Pearson correlation coefficient. Some simulation algorithms are developed, and two theorems for increasing or decreasing the amount of variability are suggested.

The Regression Smoother Lowess: A Confidence Band That Allows Heteroscedasticity And Has Some Specified Simultaneous Probability Coverage, Rand Wilcox

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Many nonparametric regression estimators (smoothers) have been proposed that provide a more flexible method for estimating the true regression line compared to using some of the more obvious parametric models. A basic goal when using any smoother is computing a confidence band for the true regression line. Let M(Y|X) be some conditional measure of location associated with the random variable Y, given X and let x be some specific value of the covariate. When using the LOWESS estimator, an extant method that assumes homoscedasticity can be used to compute a confidence interval for M(Y|X = x). A trivial way of …

The Impact Of Predictor Variable(S) With Skewed Cell Probabilities On Wald Tests In Binary Logistic Regression, Arwa Alkhalaf, Bruno D. Zumbo

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A series of simulation studies are reported that investigated the impact of a skewed predictor(s) on the Type I error rate and power of the Wald test in a logistic regression model. Five simulations were conducted for three different regression models. A detailed description of the impact of skewed cell predictor probabilities and sample size provide guidelines for practitioners wherein to expect the greatest problems.

Jmasm 47: Anova_Hov: A Sas Macro For Testing Homogeneity Of Variance In One-Factor Anova Models (Sas), Isaac Li, Yi-Hsin Chen, Yan Wang, Patricia RodríGuez De Gil, Thanh Pham, Diep Nguyen, Eun Sook Kim, Jeffrey D. Kromrey

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Variance homogeneity (HOV) is a critical assumption for ANOVA whose violation may lead to perturbations in Type I error rates. Minimal consensus exists on selecting an appropriate test. This SAS macro implements 14 different HOV approaches in one-way ANOVA. Examples are given and practical issues discussed.

Jmasm 50: A Web-Based Shiny Application For Conducting A Two Dependent Samples Maximum Test (R), Saverpierre Maggio, Gokul Bhandari, Shlomo S. Sawilowsky

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A web-based Shiny application written in R statistical language was developed and deployed online to calculate a new two dependent samples maximum test as presented in Maggio and Sawilowsky (2014b). The maximum test allows researchers to conduct both the dependent samples t-test and Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests on same data without raising concerns associated with Type I error inflation and choice of statistical tests (Maggio and Sawilowsky, 2014a). The maximum test in R statistical language provides a friendly user interface.

The Impact Of Inappropriate Modeling Of Cross-Classified Data Structures On Random-Slope Models, Feifei Ye, Laura Daniel

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Previous studies that explored the impact of misspecification of cross-classified data structure as strictly hierarchical are limited to random intercept models. This study examined the effects of misspecification of a two-level, cross-classified, random effect model (CCREM) where both the level-1 intercept and slope were allowed to vary randomly. Results suggest that ignoring one of the crossed factors produced considerably underestimated standard errors for: 1) the regression coefficients of the level-1 predictor; 2) the inappropriately modeled predictor associated with the misspecified crossed factor; and 3) and their interaction. This misspecification also resulted in a significant inflation of the level-1 residual variances …

A Remark For The Admissibility Of Rao’S U-Test, Z. D. Bai, C. R. Rao, M. T. Tsai

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

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Front Matter, Jmasm Editors

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

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