bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Product creation process at Philips Electronics
Authors: Olthuis Gerard P. H. 
Published: March 2003

About 3 years ago Dr F.P. Carrubba, Chief Technology Officer on the Board of Philips Electronics, stated that product creation is a core activity for Philips and thus needs continuous attention and improvement. A corporate‐wide Product Creation Process Improvement Drive was started. In this article describing the drive, we want to share our experiences that we think are important for a successful improvement drive.The elements to be addressed are:—a framework for the improvement drive;—top‐down or bottom‐up approach;—the creation of an assessment tool;—some considerations for the buy‐in process;—application of the assessment tool;—follow‐up after the creation of the assessment tool;—conclusion.
Why Compositionality Won’t Go Away: Reflections on Horwich’s ‘Deflationary’ Theory
Authors: Fodor Jerry , Lepore Ernie 
Published: March 2003

Paul Horwich argues for a ‘deflationary’account of compositionality, according to which, ‘. . . the compositionality of meaning imposes no constraint at all on how the meaning properties of words are constituted’. We have arrived at a tentative diagnosis, which is that Horwich fails to enforce several distinctions that turn out to be crucial. For example, sometimes he puts his main conclusion in the way we just quoted but sometimes, even on the following page, he puts it like this: ‘understanding one of oneÃs own complex expressions (non‐idiomatically) is, by definition, nothing over and above understanding its parts and knowing how they are combined’. We propose, in what follows, to consider how Horwich’s deflationary account of compositionality fares if the distinction between theories of meaning and theories of understanding is properly attended to. Here’s how we think it all turns out:– Horwich is right to claim that compositionality is neutral with respect to the metaphysics of understanding expressions when ‘understanding’ refers to a (merely) dispositional state; but not when it refers to an occurrent state.– Horwich is right strictu dictu to claim that compositionality is neutral with respect to the character of lexical meanings, but only strictu dictu.– Compositionality taken, together with other constraints that semantic theories are required to satisfy, reduces the options in the theory of lexical meaning to a bare minimum.The first part of the paper is about compositionality and understanding, the second part is about compositionality and lexical meaning.
Cultural Constructions of Childhood and Early Literacy
Authors: David Tricia , Goouch Kathy , Jago Martine 
Published: March 2003

This paper is based on the findings of two research teams, working collaboratively, between 1998 and 2000 in four countries: Australia, Singapore, France and England (see David et al 2000). Taking an ecological stance (Bronfenbrenner 1979), both teams adopted a cross‐cultural approach in order to gain a better understanding of the contexts in which young children become familiar with literacy. The team led by Bridie Raban worked in Singapore and Australia, that led by Tricia David in France and England. Early years practitioners in all four countries responded to questionnaires, were observed in action and interviewed. (Information about their training and about entry to primary school in each of the countries is given in the endnote.) In addition, the research teams carried out document analyses on Governmental, research and training literature and teachers’ plans, and discussed their findings with others in positions to be able to ‘authenticate’– or refute – findings. Further data were obtained through group interviews with parents of children attending selected settings involved in the research.Here we provide some of the evidence about the different views expressed by practitioners, our observational findings and analysis of the different pressures relating to literacy experienced in early childhood education and care settings. In each case the learning experiences practitioners provided for children were influenced by a range of factors, such as the contested role of preschools as preparation for schooling. In some settings this preparation was not explicit and practitioners often emphasised the importance of the ‘here and now’ nature of young children’s experiences. Rosenthal’s (2000) framework for exploring ‘collectivist’ and ‘individualist’ cultures in relation to their valued educational practices was applied to our findings, in order to identify how the cultural assumptions about literacy, learning and young children influenced the teaching approaches selected.
‘Theology on Its Knees’: The Arts as Religion
Authors: Marsh Clive 
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:Paul Corby Finney (ed.), Seeing Beyond the Word: Visual Arts and the Calvinist TraditionDavid Morgan, Protestants and Pictures: Religion, Visual Culture, and the Age of American Mass ProductionRichard Viladesau, Theological Aesthetics: God in Imagination, Beauty, and Art
Parametric Approaches to Productivity Measurement: A Comparison among Alternative Models
Authors: Kumbhakar Subal C. , Heshmati Almas , Hjalmarsson Lennart 
Published: March 2003

This paper deals with modeling total factor productivity (TFP) growth in a flexible manner using panel data. Several competing parametric models are used to explore whether there are any similarities in the estimates of TFP growth and technical change among these models. Using a primal approach, we decompose TFP growth into different components. The models are then used to measure productivity and technical change in the Swedish cement industry. In general, the results are found to be model dependent and often conflicting, although much less so for returns to scale and overall productivity growth. JEL classification:
O30; C33
Querulous Citizens: Welfare Knowledge and the Limits to Welfare Reform
Authors: Taylor‐Gooby Peter , Hastie Charlotte , Bromley Catherine 
Published: March 2003

AbstractGovernments face pressures to improve services and (at the same time) to contain taxes and to ensure that their decisions are accountable to increasingly well‐informed and challenging citizens. The dilemma of “squaring the welfare circle” confronts New Labour in a particularly acute form, since the party has set ambitious targets for improvements in the NHS, education and elsewhere, and is also committed to economic prudence and transparency. This article uses new data from a major national survey to investigate knowledge and beliefs in the main policy areas. It shows that most people are generally strikingly well‐informed in some areas and ill‐informed in others. A government which wishes to pursue a progressive direction in redistribution, increasing taxation of the better‐off, or expanding provision for those on low incomes, faces real difficulties because many people hold inaccurate beliefs about policy impact and the policy context in these areas. However, NHS costs are more accurately perceived across the population, and the proposed expansion is likely to create less controversy. Current high‐profile policies appear to follow the contours of public knowledge reasonably accurately, but further policy development will require positive efforts to lead debates and improve public knowledge.
Education in the Context of Conflict and Instability: The Palestinian Case
Authors: Alzaroo Salah , Hunt Gillian Lewando 
Published: March 2003

AbstractThis paper draws on the results of a study carried out in the West Bank, in 1999, to explore the role of education as a coping strategy among the children of Palestinian refugees, and to examine how the state of being refugees affects perceptions of the value and importance of education. The paper first reviews the background to the development of a formal education system in Palestine and considers the different approaches to education in different political contexts, with ensuing particular reference to the West Bank. The findings of the regional study are then reported, with special reference to the various functions of education as a coping strategy—remedial, incentive‐mobilizing and identity‐building. Education, for those who have lost their property and whose identity is under threat, emerges as a key channel for maintaining consciousness of collective rights.
Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties: an introduction and overview
Authors: Lawson Hazel , Marvin Claire , Pratt Angela 
Published: March 2003

Non‐statutory guidelines for Planning, teaching and assessing the curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties have recently been published by QCA/DfEE (2001). The materials consist of 15 booklets which incorporate general guidelines on developing the school curriculum for pupils with learning difficulties, support material for developing skills across the curriculum, and support material for each National Curriculum subject, personal, social and health education (PSHE), and religious education (RE).This article, written by the research and development officers (RDOs) involved in the project, outlines the process of developing these guidelines and discusses some of the issues arising during the project. It focuses particularly on the development of the subject materials, using the subject of geography to illustrate points.
The Binomial and Hypergeometric Probability Distributions in Jury Selection
Authors: Sommerfeld Jude T. 
Published: March 2003

SummaryThis article considers the composition of juries, asking whether this is representative of the general populations from which the juries were drawn. The binomial and hypergeometric distributions are used for probability calculations. Several example applications of both of these distributions are given, addressing racial, sex and age distributions in various cases.
An International Resource for Learning and Teaching
Authors: Connor Doreen , Davies Neville 
Published: March 2003

SummaryThis article compares the national curriculum data‐handling specifications of the UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand and shows how data from the CensusAtSchool project can be used to enhance the data‐handling capabilities of pupils in those countries. These data can also provide enhanced opportunities for the integration of ICT into core curriculum activities. Some ideas to enable teachers of statistics to create classroom teaching material with an international flavour are also provided.
Scenarios, Uncertainty and Conditional Forecasts of the World Population
Authors: Alho Juha M. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
Current official population forecasts differ little from those that Whelpton made 50 years ago either in the cohort–component methodology used or in the arguments used to motivate the assumptions. However, Whelpton produced some of the most erroneous forecasts of this century. This suggests that current forecasters should ensure that they give users an assessment of the uncertainty of their forecasts. We show how simple statistical methods can be combined with expert judgment to arrive at an overall predictive distribution for the future population. We apply the methods to a world population forecast that was made in 1994. Accepting that point forecast, we find that the probability is only about 2% that the world population in the year 2030 will be less than the low scenario of 8317 million. The probability that the world population will exceed the high scenario of 10 736 million is about 13%. Similarly, the probability is only about 51% that the high–low interval of a recent United Nations (UN) forecast will contain the true population in the year 2025. Even if we consider the UN high–low intervals as conditional on the possible future policies of its member states, they appear to have a relatively small probability of encompassing the future population.
Stochastic Models of Geriatric Patient Bed Occupancy Behaviour
Authors: Taylor G. J. , McClean S. I. , Millard P. H. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
This paper considers a census approach to the modelling of the time that geriatric patients spend in hospital and subsequently in the community by using a stochastic compartmental Markov model. A selection process is developed using maximum likelihood estimation to fit the model to daily census data on the duration spent in the hospital or the community. Census data are used as they are easy to collect and therefore maximize the usability of the model. The model is fitted to an extensive 16-year data-set and shown to provide realistic estimates of movements of patients by using only a single day’s census result.
The Cluster That Never Was: Germ Warfare Experiments and Health Authority Reality in Dorset
Authors: Stein C. E. , Bennett S. , Crook S. , Maddison F. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
In 1997 intense media coverage raised public concerns about germ warfare simulation experiments conducted by the Ministry of Defence during the 1960s, which included the release of bacteria over Dorset. Families in East Lulworth, Dorset, have linked this with allegedly high rates of miscarriages, still-births, congenital malformations, learning and other neurodevelopmental disabilities in their village. The response of the Dorset Health Authority (DHA) included the examination of background information from the Ministry of Defence, national data on congenital malformations in Dorset, health information collected by campaigners and a systematic health survey conducted by the DHA among former and current residents of East Lulworth. The investigation did not confirm the presence of a cluster. It is debatable whether the DHA should have proceeded with their survey when none of the other more immediately available results indicated the presence of a cluster.
Estimation of Life Expectancy in the Middle Ages
Authors: Jonker M. A. 
Published: March 2003

SummaryIn the Middle Ages data on landholders were recorded. We use a selection of these data for estimating the life expectancy of adult males from the higher ranks of English society. The data consist of the age at which the landholder inherited land, a sequence of ages at which he was known to be alive and possibly the age at death. We explain that the date of death is left truncated and right censored at an unknown censoring time. We propose a model to fit (a selection of) the data, we give estimators of the unknown parameters in the model and we present estimates of adult life expectancy.
Weighted Mean Survival Test Statistics: A Class of Distance Tests for Censored Survival Data
Authors: Shen Yu , Fleming Thomas R. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
A class of test statistics is introduced which is sensitive against the alternative of stochastic ordering in the two-sample censored data problem. The test statistics for evaluating a cumulative weighted difference in survival distributions are developed while taking into account the imbalances in base-line covariates between two groups. This procedure can be used to test the null hypothesis of no treatment effect, especially when base-line hazards cross and prognostic covariates need to be adjusted. The statistics are semiparametric, not rank based, and can be written as integrated weighted differences in estimated survival functions, where these survival estimates are adjusted for covariate imbalances. The asymptotic distribution theory of the tests is developed, yielding test procedures that are shown to be consistent under a fixed alternative. The choice of weight function is discussed and relies on stability and interpretability considerations. An example taken from a clinical trial for acquired immune deficiency syndrome is presented.
Updating Schemes, Correlation Structure, Blocking and Parameterization for the Gibbs Sampler
Authors: Roberts G. O. , Sahu S. K. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
In this paper many convergence issues concerning the implementation of the Gibbs sampler are investigated. Exact computable rates of convergence for Gaussian target distributions are obtained. Different random and non-random updating strategies and blocking combinations are compared using the rates. The effect of dimensionality and correlation structure on the convergence rates are studied. Some examples are considered to demonstrate the results. For a Gaussian image analysis problem several updating strategies are described and compared. For problems in Bayesian linear models several possible parameterizations are analysed in terms of their convergence rates characterizing the optimal choice.
Estimation of the Distribution Function of a Standardized Statistic
Authors: Lee Stephen M. S. , Young G. Alastair 
Published: March 2003

Summary
For estimating the distribution of a standardized statistic, the bootstrap estimate is known to be local asymptotic minimax. Various computational techniques have been developed to improve on the simulation efficiency of uniform resampling, the standard Monte Carlo approach to approximating the bootstrap estimate. Two new approaches are proposed which give accurate yet simple approximations to the bootstrap estimate. The second of the approaches even improves the convergence rate of the simulation error. A simulation study examines the performance of these two approaches in comparison with other modified bootstrap estimates.
Optimal Bayesian Randomization
Authors: Berry Scott M. , Kadane Joseph B. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
Randomization is a puzzle for Bayesians. The intuitive need for randomization is clear, but there is a standard result that Bayesians need not randomize. In this paper we propose a model in which randomization is a strictly optimal procedure. The most important aspect of our model is that there are several parties who make different decisions and observe different data. The result also sheds light on the ethical considerations involving randomization in a clinical trial.
Bayesian Versus Frequentist Measures of Error in Small Area Estimation
Authors: Singh A. C. , Stukel D. M. , Pfeffermann D. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
This paper compares analytically and empirically the frequentist and Bayesian measures of error in small area estimation. The model postulated is the nested error regression model which allows for random small area effects to represent the joint effect of small area characteristics that are not accounted for by the fixed regressor variables. When the variance components are known, then, under a uniform prior for the regression coefficients and normality of the error terms, the frequentist and the Bayesian approaches yield the same predictors and prediction mean-squared errors (MSEs) (defined accordingly). When the variance components are unknown, it is common practice to replace the unknown variances by sample estimates in the expressions for the optimal predictors, so that the resulting empirical predictors remain the same under the two approaches. The use of this paradigm requires, however, modifications to the expressions of the prediction MSE to account for the extra variability induced by the need to estimate the variance components. The main focus of this paper is to review and compare the modifications to prediction MSEs proposed in the literature under the two approaches, with special emphasis on the orders of the bias of the resulting approximations to the true MSEs. Some new approximations based on Monte Carlo simulation are also proposed and compared with the existing methods. The advantage of these approximations is their simplicity and generality. Finite sample frequentist properties of the various methods are explored by a simulation study. The main conclusions of this study are that the use of second-order bias corrections generally yields better results in terms of the bias of the MSE approximations and the coverage properties of confidence intervals for the small area means. The Bayesian methods are found to have good frequentist properties, but they can be inferior to the frequentist methods. The second-order approximations under both approaches have, however, larger variances than the corresponding first-order approximations which in most cases result in higher MSEs of the MSE approximations.
Bayesian Image Analysis With Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Coloured Continuum Triangulation Models
Authors: Nicholls Geoff K. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
It is now possible to carry out Bayesian image segmentation from a continuum parametric model with an unknown number of regions. However, few suitable parametric models exist. We set out to model processes which have realizations that are naturally described by coloured planar triangulations. Triangulations are already used, to represent image structure in machine vision, and in finite element analysis, for domain decomposition. However, no normalizable parametric model, with realizations that are coloured triangulations, has been specified to date. We show how this must be done, and in particular we prove that a normalizable measure on the space of triangulations in the interior of a fixed simple polygon derives from a Poisson point process of vertices. We show how such models may be analysed by using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and we present two case-studies, including convergence analysis.
Testing Heteroscedasticity In Nonparametric Regression
Authors: Dette Holger , Munk Axel 
Published: March 2003

Summary
The importance of being able to detect heteroscedasticity in regression is widely recognized because efficient inference for the regression function requires that heteroscedasticity is taken into account. In this paper a simple consistent test for heteroscedasticity is proposed in a nonparametric regression set-up. The test is based on an estimator for the best L 2-approximation of the variance function by a constant. Under mild assumptions asymptotic normality of the corresponding test statistic is established even under arbitrary fixed alternatives. Confidence intervals are obtained for a corresponding measure of heteroscedasticity. The finite sample performance and robustness of these procedures are investigated in a simulation study and Box-type corrections are suggested for small sample sizes.
On Efficient Point Prediction Systems
Authors: Skouras Kostas , Dawid A. Philip 
Published: March 2003

Summary
Assume that a forecaster observes a sequence of random variables and issues predictions according to a point prediction systems, i.e. a rule which, at every time t, issues a point prediction for the next observation at time t+1. We introduce the concept of efficiency of a point prediction system, for the case that the joint distribution of the sequence of observations is known to belong to a parametric family, and performance is assessed by the long run sum of squared prediction errors. Independence is not a requirement. Under weak conditions, the class of efficient point prediction systems is non-empty, and any two efficient point prediction systems will, in a certain strong sense, make asymptotically identical predictions for the infinite future. We discuss the efficiency of point prediction systems based on Bayesian predictive means, and on plugging in parameter estimates. The results are applied to probability forecasting and stochastic regression.
Bayesian Inference for Semiparametric Regression Using a Fourier Representation
Authors: Lenk Peter J. 
Published: March 2003

Summary
This paper presents the Bayesian analysis of a semiparametric regression model that consists of parametric and nonparametric components. The nonparametric component is represented with a Fourier series where the Fourier coefficients are assumed a priori to have zero means and to decay to 0 in probability at either algebraic or geometric rates. The rate of decay controls the smoothness of the response function. The posterior analysis automatically selects the amount of smoothing that is coherent with the model and data. Posterior probabilities of the parametric and semiparametric models provide a method for testing the parametric model against a non-specific alternative. The Bayes estimator’s mean integrated squared error compares favourably with the theoretically optimal estimator for kernel regression.