cgam: An R Package for the Constrained Generalized Additive Model

The cgam package contains routines to fit the generalized additive model where the components may be modeled with shape and smoothness assumptions. The main routine is cgam and nineteen symbolic routines are provided to indicate the relationship between the response and each predictor, which satisfies constraints such as monotonicity, convexity, their combinations, tree, and umbrella orderings. The user may specify constrained splines to fit the components for continuous predictors, and various types of orderings for the ordinal predictors. In addition, the user may specify parametrically modeled covariates. The set over which the likelihood is maximized is a polyhedral convex cone, and a least-squares solution is obtained by projecting the data vector onto the cone. For generalized models, the fit is obtained through iteratively re-weighted cone projections. The cone information criterion is provided and may be used to compare fits for combinations of variables and shapes. In addition, the routine wps implements monotone regression in two dimensions using warped-plane splines, without an additivity assumption. The graphical routine plotpersp will plot an estimated mean surface for a selected pair of predictors, given an object of either cgam or wps. This package is now available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network at http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=cgam

Interpreting, Representing and Integrating Scientific Knowledge from Interdisciplinary Projects

We describe a coherent, eclectic approach to interpreting, representing, and integrating knowledge from different scientific disciplines or communities of practice. The approach, called ECLECTIC, draws from a complementary blend of ethnological methods, the hermeneutic analysis of domains, and ecology. Our description focuses on the conceptual bases of this approach, its value, and uses, particularly in handling the methodological considerations in the overlapping phases of interpretation, representation, and integration. We give examples from our use of the approach and describe how it handles difficult methodological issues: (1) knowing what questions to initially ask of members of science communities, (2) identifying their states of knowledge, (3) determining the analyst’s role, (4) determining how the knowledge may be self elicited by the members themselves, (5) verifying that the interpretation and representation of the knowledge is meaningful to the members, and (6) integrating differing representations from the communities

Discrimination In The Workplace: Real Or Imagined?

This two (2) part case study presents a chronological and a narrative record of Claudia Boyle, a 48 year old woman, who has accepted an information technology position at Food for Freedom Incorporated (FFF)—a Nongovernmental Organization (NGO).  Full of zeal and enthusiasm, Claudia keeps up with the possibilities of career succession under Gretta Lengling, a new manager in the human resources department.  By all accounts, Gretta was a “zealous achiever” and she and Claudia established a comfortable friendship at work.  However, the once warm relationship quickly cooled when Claudia got sick and despite her friendship with Gretta, was passed over for a promotion when on a short-term disability leave. Faced with Gretta’s justifications for hiring Derke Zykstra—a younger male—Claudia wonders if she has become a causality of both age and disability based discrimination.  Advised by Gretta that she had displayed disruptive behavior, Claudia wonders if a “bad job” trumps no job at all

Inference using shape-restricted regression splines

Regression splines are smooth, flexible, and parsimonious nonparametric function estimators. They are known to be sensitive to knot number and placement, but if assumptions such as monotonicity or convexity may be imposed on the regression function, the shape-restricted regression splines are robust to knot choices. Monotone regression splines were introduced by Ramsay [Statist. Sci. 3 (1998) 425--461], but were limited to quadratic and lower order. In this paper an algorithm for the cubic monotone case is proposed, and the method is extended to convex constraints and variants such as increasing-concave. The restricted versions have smaller squared error loss than the unrestricted splines, although they have the same convergence rates. The relatively small degrees of freedom of the model and the insensitivity of the fits to the knot choices allow for practical inference methods; the computational efficiency allows for back-fitting of additive models. Tests of constant versus increasing and linear versus convex regression function, when implemented with shape-restricted regression splines, have higher power than the standard version using ordinary shape-restricted regression.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AOAS167 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Political attitudes of the young electorate in the 2016 presidential election and parental influences on political identity formation.

We examined the political attitudes of college-aged students and the political identities of their parents to better understand the role that both parent-child political socialization and the liberal university environment play in political identity formation. We compared students explicit and implicit political attitudes and examined the relationships of these attitudes to the political identities of their parents. We also explored the uniqueness of two candidates, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential election. Our results supported the existing notion of parental influences on political identity formation and revealed that the university environment may not play as large of a role in shifting first and second year university students away from political identities established at home. However, data revealed greater support for the non-traditional candidate in our left-leaning participants, suggesting that factors other than parent influence could be at play in forming the political identities of the youth

Investigating Hydrologic Alteration as a Mechanism of Fish Assemblage Shifts in Urbanizing Streams

Stream biota in urban and suburban settings are thought to be impaired by altered hydrology; however, it is unknown what aspects of the hydrograph alter fish assemblage structure and which fishes are most vulnerable to hydrologic alterations in small streams. We quantified hydrologic variables and fish assemblages in 30 small streams and their subcatchments (area 8-20 km 2) in the Etowah River Catchment (Georgia, USA). We stratified streams and their subcatchments into 3 landcover categories based on imperviousness (20% of subcatchment), and then estimated the degree of hydrologic alteration based on synoptic measurements of baseflow yield. We derived hydrologic variables from stage gauges at each study site for 1 y (January 2003-2004). Increased imperviousness was positively correlated with the frequency of storm events and rates of the rising and falling limb of the hydrograph (i.e, storm flashiness ) during most seasons. Increased duration of low flows associated with imperviousness only occurred during the autumn low-flow period, and this measure corresponded with increased richness of lentic tolerant species. Altered storm flows in summer and autumn were related to decreased richness of endemic, cosmopolitan, and sensitive fish species, and decreased abundance of lentic tolerant species. Species predicted to be sensitive to urbanization, based on specific life-history or habitat requirements, also were related to stormflow variables and % fine bed sediment in riffles. Overall, hydrologic variables explained 22 to 66% of the variation in fish assemblage richness and abundance Linkages between hydrologic alteration and fish assemblages were potentially complicated by contrasting effects of elevated flows on sediment delivery and scour, and mediating effects of high stream gradient on sediment delivery from elevated flows. However, stormwater management practices promoting natural hydrologic regimes are likely to reduce the impacts of catchment imperviousness on stream fish assemblages. ?? 2005 by The North American Benthological Societ

The Iowa Homemaker vol.26, no.2

Alma Mater, J. C. Harris, page 2 Travel With Poise, Mary Ann Hakes, page 3 Report From Athens, Joan Kelleher, page 4 Blanche Pederson Interviews an Aussie Bride, Blanche Pederson, page 5 Coeds are Veterans, Too, Mary Margaret Ryan, page 6 Future Home Economics Classroom, Helen Hochriem, page 7 Vicky Grins at the Sun, Breta Soldat, page 9 What’s New in Home Economics, Marjorie Clampitt, page 10 Wardrobe Worries? Here’s What We Wear, Textiles and Clothing Club, page 12 “I Have a Dozen Bosses”, Genevieve Callahan, page 14 Albino Rats Get in on the Ground Floor, Margaret Waterland, page 17 Alums Prove Chemistry can Pay, June Welch, page 18 Education Begins Egyptian Modernizing, Lois Bronson, page 19 Across Alumnae Desks, Mary Neff, page 21 Keeping Up With Today, Joyce Edgar, page 22 How Does Your Garden Grow?, Irene Meyer, page 23 Alums in the News, Goldie Rouse, page 2

Quiescent Radio Emission from Southern Late-type M Dwarfs and a Spectacular Radio Flare from the M8 Dwarf DENIS 1048-3956

We report the results of a radio monitoring program conducted at the Australia Telescope Compact Array to search for quiescent and flaring emission from seven nearby Southern late-type M and L dwarfs. Two late-type M dwarfs, the M7 V LHS 3003 and the M8 V DENIS 1048-3956, were detected in quiescent emission at 4.80 GHz. The observed emission is consistent with optically thin gyrosynchrotron emission from mildly relativistic (~1-10 keV) electrons with source densities n_e ~ 10 G magnetic fields. DENIS 1048-3956 was also detected in two spectacular, short-lived flares, one at 4.80 GHz (peak f_nu = 6.0+/-0.8 mJy) and one at 8.64 GHz (peak f_nu = 29.6+/-1.0 mJy) approximately 10 minutes later. The high brightness temperature (T_B >~ 10^13 K), short emission period (~4-5 minutes), high circular polarization (~100%), and apparently narrow spectral bandwidth of these events imply a coherent emission process in a region of high electron density (n_e ~ 10^11-10^12 cm^-3) and magnetic field strength (B ~ 1 kG). If the two flare events are related, the apparent frequency drift in the emission suggests that the emitting source either moved into regions of higher electron or magnetic flux density; or was compressed, e.g., by twisting field lines or gas motions. The quiescent fluxes from the radio-emitting M dwarfs violate the Gudel-Benz empirical radio/X-ray relations, confirming a trend previously noted by Berger et al. (abridged)Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap