Multivariate Analysis, Retrieval, and Storage System (MARS). Volume 6: MARS System - A Sample Problem (Gross Weight of Subsonic Transports)

The Mars system is a tool for rapid prediction of aircraft or engine characteristics based on correlation-regression analysis of past designs stored in the data bases. An example of output obtained from the MARS system, which involves derivation of an expression for gross weight of subsonic transport aircraft in terms of nine independent variables is given. The need is illustrated for careful selection of correlation variables and for continual review of the resulting estimation equations. For Vol. 1, see N76-10089

Gender Differences in Faculty Turnover

Over the last 15 to 20 years, colleges and universities have paid increasing attention to attracting and retaining faculty women. The rate of progress of women in academe has nevertheless been painfully slow. For example, statistics on economists collected and published by the American Economic Association (Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession 1994) suggest that in recent years, about 20 percent of Economics assistant professors in graduate Ph.D.-granting departments were women, about 10 percent of associate professors were women, and under 5 percent of full professors were women. The percentage of new assistant professors who are women has lagged behind the percentage of new Ph.D.s who are women by 10 to 15 percentage points. And the percentage of promotions to associate (and full) professor that are accounted for by women has lagged behind the percentage of assistant (and associate) professors who were women and "promotable." One of the explanations (or perhaps excuses) offered for the slow progress of women in academe is that faculty women have higher rates of voluntary turnover than do faculty men. This explanation accords with the general finding that women have higher rates of labor market turnover than do men (Blau and Kahn 1981; Light and Ureta 1992), and may provide a psychic calm both for those frustrated by the slow progress of women in academe and for those who might frustrate that progress. Studies to date of faculty turnover have used grouped (or university-level) data, which usually preclude examination of gender differences in faculty turnover (Ehrenberg, Kasper, and Rees 1991; Rees and Smith 1991). In this paper we offer evidence on faculty turnover using micro data from a single large public university Michigan State University (MSU) during the decade of the 1980s. Our findings suggest strongly that the higher separation rates that are observed for faculty women are accounted for by differences between men and women in appointment status that is, faculty women have higher turnover rates than faculty men because a higher percentage of women than of men hold temporary appointments.faculty, college, gender, turnover, Brown, Woodbury

Seniority, External Labor Markets, and Faculty Pay

We estimate the returns to seniority (the wage-tenure profile) for university faculty, and the degree to which these returns respond to entry-level salaries (or opportunity wages) a relationship unexplored in work to date. Using data on faculty at a Big Ten university (ours), we estimate elasticities of senior-faculty salaries with respect to entry-level salaries, and find that these elasticities decline with seniority. The evidence both provides an explanation of faculty salary compression and suggests the importance of controlling for entry-level salaries in obtaining estimates of the returns to seniority.faculty, wages, college, labor, markets, Brown, Woodbury

Investigation of new radar-data-reduction techniques used to determine drag characteristics of a free-flight vehicle

An investigation was conducted of new techniques used to determine the complete transonic drag characteristics of a series of free-flight drop-test models using principally radar tracking data. The full capabilities of the radar tracking and meteorological measurement systems were utilized. In addition, preflight trajectory design, exact kinematic equations, and visual-analytical filtering procedures were employed. The results of this study were compared with the results obtained from analysis of the onboard, accelerometer and pressure sensor data of the only drop-test model that was instrumented. The accelerometer-pressure drag curve was approximated by the radar-data drag curve. However, a small amplitude oscillation on the latter curve precluded a precise definition of its drag rise

Angle-of-attack analysis of a spinning slender cone with slight aerodynamic and mass asymmetries /reentry F/

Angle of attack analysis of spinning slender reentry cone with slight aerodynamic and mass asymmetrie

Multiple Mentors and Family Involvement in Mentoring At-Risk Youth

This study examined whether higher family involvement plus additional mentoring relationships had a greater positive effect than a one-on-one relationship with a mentor and low family involvement. The study demonstrated, in this sample, that having two mentors does not have a greater impact on academic motivation, social competency, family unity, self-esteem, and deviance than having one mentor. It was also shown, in this sample, that higher family involvement does not have a greater impact on academic motivation, social competency, family unity, self-esteem, and deviance than lower family involvement. Although additional studies are needed to fully understand the impacts of mentoring and family involvement, this study suggests that the multiple components of two mentors and increased family involvement do not have a greater impact on at-risk youth than a traditional mentoring program utilizing only one-on-one mentoring. The information from this study could prove useful in designing comprehensive support programs for families of at-risk children

Refundable Tax Credits for Health Insurance: The Sensitivity of Simulated Impacts to Assumed Behavior

We replicate and extend a simulation model developed by Jonathan Gruber with the goals of illuminating Gruber's modeling of health insurance coverage under a tax credit and examining the sensitivity of the results to changes in the model's key parameters. The replications suggest that a refundable tax credit of $1,000 for a single individual or$2,000 for a family for private health insurance would reduce the number of uninsured individuals by between 17.5 and 28 percent and require new government expenditures of between $16.6 and$44 billion, of which about $7.4 -$9.7 billion would be for coverage of previously uninsured individuals. These wide simulated ranges highlight the uncertainty inherent in modeling the effects of health insurance tax credits and suggest that progress on the issue of tax credits for health insurance will require improved evidence on the likely take-up rate of a credit.health, insurance, Gruber, tax, credit, Woodbury, Emmons, Upjohn

Multivariate Analysis, Retrieval, and Storage System (MARS). Volume 1: MARS System and Analysis Techniques

A method for rapidly examining the probable applicability of weight estimating formulae to a specific aerospace vehicle design is presented. The Multivariate Analysis Retrieval and Storage System (MARS) is comprised of three computer programs which sequentially operate on the weight and geometry characteristics of past aerospace vehicles designs. Weight and geometric characteristics are stored in a set of data bases which are fully computerized. Additional data bases are readily added to the MARS system and/or the existing data bases may be easily expanded to include additional vehicles or vehicle characteristics