On the Simes inequality and its generalization

The Simes inequality has received considerable attention recently because of its close connection to some important multiple hypothesis testing procedures. We revisit in this article an old result on this inequality to clarify and strengthen it and a recently proposed generalization of it to offer an alternative simpler proof.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/193940307000000167 the IMS Collections (http://www.imstat.org/publications/imscollections.htm) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Chelsea Byers and Ouachita publications honored at ACMA state convention

Chelsea Byers, a senior Ouachita Baptist University mass communications major from Campbell, Texas, recently was awarded Television Producer/Director of the Year at the 2014 Arkansas College Media Association (ACMA) annual convention at Central Baptist College in Conway, Ark. Ouachita student publications received a total of 51 awards at the convention

Predicting the long-term citation impact of recent publications

A fundamental problem in citation analysis is the prediction of the long-term citation impact of recent publications. We propose a model to predict a probability distribution for the future number of citations of a publication. Two predictors are used: The impact factor of the journal in which a publication has appeared and the number of citations a publication has received one year after its appearance. The proposed model is based on quantile regression. We employ the model to predict the future number of citations of a large set of publications in the field of physics. Our analysis shows that both predictors (i.e., impact factor and early citations) contribute to the accurate prediction of long-term citation impact. We also analytically study the behavior of the quantile regression coefficients for high quantiles of the distribution of citations. This is done by linking the quantile regression approach to a quantile estimation technique from extreme value theory. Our work provides insight into the influence of the impact factor and early citations on the long-term citation impact of a publication, and it takes a step toward a methodology that can be used to assess research institutions based on their most recently published work.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Working Paper 09-08 - Trade-based measures of offshoring: an overview for Belgium

Offshoring has since long been a matter of concern in developed countries and has recently received growing attention in the economic literature. The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of definitions of offshoring that have been put forward in recent years, thereby updating the definitions in earlier publications of the Federal Planning Bureau. We also take a closer look at how offshoring can be measured. In the absence of individual firm data, we focus on indirect trade-based measures of offshoring, compare them and present results for Belgium that show an upward trend in offshoring.Offshoring, Trade-based measures, Processing trade, Imported intermediate inputs, Supply and use tables, Shift-and-share analysis

Aly Smith and Ouachita student publications honored by Arkansas College Media Association

Aly Smith, a senior Ouachita Baptist University mass communications and graphic design double major from Sherwood, Ark., recently was awarded Yearbook Editor of the Year at the 2015 Arkansas College Media Association (ACMA) annual convention at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Ark. Ouachita student publications received a total of 32 awards at the convention

Holding out one\u27s hand in the dark: The theme of touching in selected works of Ursula K Leguin

Until very recently, speculative fiction, or science fiction, has been virtually ignored by literary scholars. Science fiction was and still is, to some extent, considered popular fiction, and popular fiction has never received much critical attention. Unfortunately, this generalization excludes good works of popular fiction from study and criticism. Authors who have managed to crossover and received critical consideration are rare. One such “crossover” author is Ursula K. LeGuin but even LeGuin’s Work has been neglected outside of specialty journals such as Science Fiction Studies and Extrapolation. Little criticism of her fine novels and short stories appears in the most prestigious literary publications

The h-index in Australian Astronomy

The Hirsch (2005) h-index is now widely used as a metric to compare individual researchers. To evaluate it in the context of Australian Astronomy, the h-index for every member of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) is found using NASA's Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services (ADS). Percentiles of the h-index distribution are detailed for a variety of categories of ASA members, including students. This enables a list of the top ten Australian researchers by h-index to be produced. These top researchers have h-index values in the range 53<h<77, which is less than that recently reported for the American Astronomical Society Membership. We suggest that membership of extremely large consortia such as SDSS may partially explain the difference. We further suggest that many student ASA members with large h-index values have probably already received their Ph.D.'s and need to upgrade their ASA membership status. To attempt to specify the h-index distribution relative to opportunity, we also detail the percentiles of its distribution by years since Ph.D. award date. This shows a steady increase in h-index with seniority, as can be expected.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australi

Where do statistical models come from? Revisiting the problem of specification

R. A. Fisher founded modern statistical inference in 1922 and identified its fundamental problems to be: specification, estimation and distribution. Since then the problem of statistical model specification has received scant attention in the statistics literature. The paper traces the history of statistical model specification, focusing primarily on pioneers like Fisher, Neyman, and more recently Lehmann and Cox, and attempts a synthesis of their views in the context of the Probabilistic Reduction (PR) approach. As argued by Lehmann [11], a major stumbling block for a general approach to statistical model specification has been the delineation of the appropriate role for substantive subject matter information. The PR approach demarcates the interrelated but complemenatry roles of substantive and statistical information summarized ab initio in the form of a structural and a statistical model, respectively. In an attempt to preserve the integrity of both sources of information, as well as to ensure the reliability of their fusing, a purely probabilistic construal of statistical models is advocated. This probabilistic construal is then used to shed light on a number of issues relating to specification, including the role of preliminary data analysis, structural vs. statistical models, model specification vs. model selection, statistical vs. substantive adequacy and model validation.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/074921706000000419 in the IMS Lecture Notes--Monograph Series (http://www.imstat.org/publications/lecnotes.htm) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Editorial

A year ago, the new editorial team published its first edition of Perspectives in Education (PiE). In the past year, PiE has increased its publication output from a meagre one publication per year to four high quality publications: March, June, September and December. Annually, the March publication is earmarked as a special issue focused on a specific topic. Every issue carries a minimum of 20 articles of good quality covering a broad spectrum of educational topics of relevance. We are also extremely proud that Perspectives in Education is listed on the ICI World of Journals list and has recently been included on the DOAJ while remaining included on the IBSS, Scopus and DHET lists. Because of our listing we are deemed accredited nationally and in many overseas countries and have recently received articles for publication from Russia, Morocco, Poland, USA, Australia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe as well as numerous other countries