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Summary This study investigated the effects of laboratory-induced stress and beta-adrenergic blockade on acoustic and aerodynamic voice measures. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 12 participants, six males and six females, underwent cold pressor-induced sympathetic activation followed by placebo or treatment with 40mg propranolol. Aerodynamic and acoustic parameters of voice were collected at baseline, during cold pressor and after treatment with propranolol or placebo. Fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, maximum airflow declination rate, voice onset time, speaking rate, and subglottal pressure were measured at baseline, during cold pressor-induced stress, and after treatment with propranolol or placebo. Cardiovascular measures served as indicators of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation by cold pressor and antagonism by propranolol, and were collected during all conditions. Cold pressor appeared to adequately agonize the SNS as indicated by significant increases in resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. Propranolol appeared to adequately antagonize the SNS for the participants. Jitter ratio demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the participants treated with propranolol. Speaking rate demonstrated a small but significant increase in the placebo control group during cold pressor. Gender differences were observed in a few measures. Cold pressor adequately agonized and propranolol adequately antagonized the SNS. No statistically significant differences across subjects were observed in the voice parameters during cold pressor-induced stress before treatment. Jitter ratio increased significantly during propranolol treatment and cold pressor. Speaking rate demonstrated a statistically significant increase during cold pressor in the placebo control group. Gender differences were observed, but were few.

The purpose of this study is to identify whether the senior citizens' perceived service levels differ among the quick service, casual dining, and fine dining restaurant. A total of 429 senior citizens participated in this study. Descriptive analysis, ANOVA, and Scheffe post hoc multiple comparisons were conducted. The information regarding senior citizens' dining behaviors was updated in this study. Overall, the quality levels of restaurants' services were moderately higher than the levels that senior citizens expected. However, senior citizens' perceptions for the service performance and perceived value were essentially different in some aspects among three restaurant sectors.

Objective To determine if there were differences by demographic variables in response rates to Nutrition Screening Initiative (NSI) Checklist statements reported by over 50% of Oklahoma Older Americans Act Nutrition Program (OAANP) congregate meal participants categorized at high nutritional risk based on cumulative NSI Checklist scores. Design This study evaluated Oklahoma State Unit on Aging statewide archival demographic and NSI Checklist data from 8892 OAANP congregate participants. Analysis Data were analyzed using chi-square analyses. Results Eighteen percent of congregate participants were categorized at high nutritional risk. Over 50% of participants categorized at high nutritional risk reported “yes” to having an illness or condition that affected food eaten; eating alone; taking 3 or more medications; and inability to shop, cook, and feed themselves. Significant differences were observed in participant “yes” response rates to these NSI Checklist statements by demographic variables. Participants responded “yes” more to these statements if they were female, of advanced age, and living alone or in rural areas. Conclusions and Implications The results of this study indicate problem areas and population groups for targeting nutrition education programs and services among Oklahoma OAANP congregate meal participants.

A statewide survey of watermelon production was conducted in 1998 and 1999 in Oklahoma. Data from the survey was used to classify production systems and management intensities among watermelon producers. Cluster analysis was used to identify the most closely associated of 24 abiotic and biotic variables affecting productivity. Five clusters were identified each year, or when data were pooled across years. Cluster I combined factors of grower experience, crop rotation, fertilization, and cultivation (mechanical weed control). Cluster II combined factors of cultivar ploidy, black plastic mulch, irrigation frequency, hoeing frequency, row arrangement, pollination, and planting method. Close distances among components implied that these two clusters had the strongest associations; indicating that two primary production systems exist. To measure management intensity of these production systems, a method was developed by: (1) partitioning four economic categories as machinery, labor, supply, and risk f...

Partitioning objects into closely related groups that have different states allows to understand the underlying structure in the data set treated. Different kinds of similarity measure with clustering algorithms are commonly used to find an optimal clustering or closely akin to original clustering. Using shrinkage-based and rank-based correlation coefficients, which are known to be robust, the recovery level of six chosen clustering algorithms is evaluated using Rand’s C values. The recovery levels using weighted likelihood estimate of correlation coefficient are obtained and compared to the results from using those correlation coefficients in applying agglomerative clustering algorithms.

Principal coordinate analysis is a more powerful technique than principal component analysis to ensure identification on groups of objects if some conditions are satisfied. The results of using principal coordinates prior to cluster analysis were investigated. Three different methods of standardization were examined and compared with no standardization using both principal coordinates and principal components. The retrieval abilities of the known agglomerative clustering algorithms were improved by using principal coordinates. The results of applying principal coordinates based on the correlation coefficient instead of Euclidean distance prior to clustering algorithms were less sensitive to changes in noise.

To implement the privacy problem with the Moors (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 66 (1971) 627) model, Mangat et al. (Commun. Statist. Theory Methods 26(3) (1997) 243) and Singh et al. (J. Statist. Plann. Inference 83 (2000) 243) presented several strategies as an alternative to Moors model, but their models may lose a large portion of data information and require a high cost to obtain confidentiality of the respondents. Our proposed model has the advantage of simplicity over the previous models while protecting confidentiality. We extend the proposed model to stratified sampling.

The randomized response technique is an effective survey method designed to elicit sensitive information while ensuring the privacy of the respondents. In this article, we present some new results on the randomization response model in situations wherein one or two response variables are assumed to follow a multinomial distribution. For a single sensitive question, we use the well-known Hopkins randomization device to derive estimates, both under the assumption of truthful and untruthful responses, and present a technique for making pairwise comparisons. When there are two sensitive questions of interest, we derive a Pearson product moment correlation estimator based on the multinomial model assumption. This estimator may be used to quantify the linear relationship between two variables when multinomial response data are observed according to a randomized-response protocol.

Two different formulations on the moments of Rand's C appear incompatible. The mean and variance of Rand's C statistic given by Fowlkes and Mallows (J. Amer Statist. Assoc. 78 (1983) 553) are special cases of the mean and variance of C given by DuBien and Warde (ASA proceedings of the social statistics section (1981) 309).

Clustering algorithms with different similarity measures are commonly used to find an optimal clustering or close to original clustering. The recovery level of using Euclidean distance and distances transformed from correlation coefficients is evaluated and compared using Rand's (1971) C statistic. The C values present how the resultant clustering is close to the original clustering. In simulation study, the recovery level is improved by applying the correlation coefficients between objects. Using the data set from Spellman et al. (1998), the recovery levels with different similarity measures are also presented. In general, the recovery level of true clusters was increased by using the correlation coefficients.

This paper proposes a new stratified randomized response model based on Warner's (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 60 (1965) 63) model that has an optimal allocation and large gain in precision. It also presents a drawback of the Hong et al. (Korean J. Appl. Statist. 7 (1994) 141) model under their proportional sampling assumption. It is shown that the proposed model is more efficient than the Hong et al. (Korean J. Appl. Statist. 7 (1994) 141) stratified randomized response model. Additionally, it is shown that the estimator based on the proposed method is more efficient than the Warner (J. Amer. Statist. Assoc. 60 (1965) 63), the Mangat and Singh (Biometrika 77 (1990) 439) and the Mangat (J. Roy. Statist. SQC. Ser. B 56 (1) (1994) 93) estimators under the conditions presented in both the case of completely truthful reporting and that of not completely truthful reporting by the respondents.

We present a multistage approach for estimating the abundance of stream fishes using geographic information systems (GIS) technology. Stream habitat types (i.e., channel units), classified in terms of their quality (optimal, suitable, or unsuitable) for a fish species, were used to stratify the stream for population sampling. Population abundance estimates and habitat quality were then used with the GIS to predict abundances in areas that were not sampled and to calculate an abundance estimate for the entire stream or stream segment. We present the basic method and illustrate its use with a case study of the leopard darter Percina pantherina from Big Eagle Creek in southeastern Oklahoma. Our method is flexible, accounts for variation in habitat quality and its influence on fish abundance, and incorporates GIS technology as an aid for quantitatively sampling large areas that are logistically difficult to sample.

Summary We report a case of a 6-month-old girl who was referred for evaluation of a congenital melanocytic naevus (CMN) on her right thigh. The lesion was consistent with a medium-sized CMN and was managed conservatively. A halo of depigmentation, which coincided with occlusion of the lesion during a holiday in a sunny climate, was noted soon after her fourth birthday and the CNM regressed completely over a 4-month period. A residual patch of leucoderma still remained at the original CMN site > 2 years after its total involution. The process has been documented with photographs and a skin biopsy during the resolving phase.

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A first-order corrected test statistic for analyzing frequency data when the data are obtained from a two-stage sampling scheme is presented in this paper. The data are summarized in a cross-classified table in such a way that the cell values are not necessarily a count. Comparisons are made with the Wald statistic, Pearson statistic, other modified Pearson statistics, and a proposed first-order corrected test for comparing vectors of proportion. The proposed test shows that a convenient approximation to the Wald test statistic is to construct a modification of the Pearson tupe statistic based on the pre-adjusted table cell values. Simulated data are used to examine the behavior of the first-order statistic under the two-stage sampling scheme.

Unplanned hospital admission is a measure of quality of care in the setting of day-case surgery. We set out to identify the incidence and causes of unplanned hospital admission in a paediatric day-case unit.A retrospective survey to determine the incidence and causes of unplanned hospital admissions in children undergoing day-case surgery. The survey covered the period from January 1996 until December 1999 inclusive in a university affiliated children's hospital. This hospital is the second largest paediatric referral centre in Ireland with total admissions across all specialities during the study period of 42 738.During the study period 10 772 children underwent day-case surgery, of whom 242 (2.2%) experienced unplanned hospital admission. The reasons for admission were surgical 146 (54%), anaesthetic 44 (16%), social 38 (14%), medical 31 (11%) and unclassified 10 (4%). Pain, surgical complications and/or further management, admission for observation, extensive surgery and oozing were the commonest surgical reasons. Postoperative nausea and vomiting, anaesthetic-related complication and somnolence were the commonest anaesthetic causes responsible for admission. Surgery performed after 15:00 h was an important factor associated with admission for social reasons. Orthopaedic surgery accounted for the largest absolute number of unplanned admissions with 61 (25%), followed by urology with 46 (19%) and general surgery with 46 (19%). However, measured as percentage of caseload, urology had the highest proportion of unplanned hospital admissions.This study demonstrated that the incidence and causes of unplanned hospital admission following day-case surgery in children are similar to those for adults.

Anaesthesia was induced by inhalation in 100 children using nitrous oxide in oxygen supplemented by either halothane or isoflurane, with or without rectal thiopentone premedication. Respiratory problems occurred more frequently in the unpremedicated isoflurane group, resulting in significant reductions in oxygen saturation. Premedication reduced the frequency of these complications, and oxygen saturation was usually maintained.

We report a case of bacterial tracheitis caused by Moraxella Catarrhalis. We are unaware of any previous similar report from this country.

Introduction The mortality and morbidity statistics associated with exomphalos major remain discouraging despite advances in management techniques (1). Congenital lung pathology, in particular pulmonary hypoplasia, and thoracic maldevelopment, have been strongly allied to this condition, accounting for the high incidence of pulmonary insufficiency necessitating prolonged ventilatory support in these infants (2). We discuss the respiratory issues in an infant with a particularly severe form of exomphalos major, and the impact of a comprehensive parental website devoted to the infants' management and progress. Case Report A female infant, born at 38 weeks' gestation, was referred for management of exomphalos major. Due to the extensive nature of the abdominal wall defect, primary surgical closure was impossible and initial management consisted of staged reduction by external compression of the exomphalos. This resulted in escalating cardiovascular and respiratory embarrassment, and was abandoned in favour of conservative treatment, whereby the sac was dressed and allowed to epithelialise. Thereafter the clinical course was characterised by chronic pulmonary insufficiency requiring prolonged ventilatory support. Ventilator dependence did not significantly decrease until lung growth occurred and the sitting position was adopted, enabling weaning from conventional ventilation to genuine BIPAP at 6 months. Currently, after 11 months, we are preparing her for entry into a home ventilation programme. Throughout this period, progress and realistic goals were discussed at multidisciplinary case conferences involving the parents. The interpreted medical management has subsequently been displayed by the parents on an elaborate, up-to-date website, which is part of a larger ‘Mother Of Omphalocele’ network. Although innovative, this highlights the fact that we the medical profession, should be vigilant with regard to potential public exposure of patient management. Whilst the Internet has become an integral part of our own continuing education, this case highlights a new aspect of how it may be used by our patients and their relatives to compare and contrast management policies in various institutions.

Populations of cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) frequently exhibit extreme fluctuations in abundance, which have been attributed to changes in food quality and its possible effect on survival of juveniles. Weanling cotton rats fed low-protein diets experience altered immune-system function. We evaluated the effects of moderate restriction of dietary protein on splenocyte subpopulations of weanling cotton rats and determined the influences of onset of protein restriction at an earlier age compared with previous studies. Weanling cotton rats (14 days old) were fed three isocaloric diets containing 4, 8, or 16% protein for 24 days. Splenocyte subpopulations were assigned to one of eight categories by dual-staining with a panel of surface markers for T-cells (peanut agglutinin, PNA ; soybean agglutinin, SBA, and Helix pomatia agglutinin, HP) and B-cells (rabbit-anti-rat immunoglobulin-G, BS). Total numbers of all splenocyte subpopulations were lower in rats subjected to moderate (8%) or severe (4%) protein restriction ; B-cells were more sensitive to protein restriction than were T-cells. Prevalence (percent of total splenocytes) of PNA - /BS + splenocytes was reduced, whereas prevalence of PNA + /BS - and SBA - /HP + splenocytes was elevated with decreased protein intake. Multivariate statistical analysis of immune parameters revealed peripheral blood lymphocytes and splenocyte subpopulations as well as hemolytic complement activity and mean corpuscular volume most accurately described the degree of protein restriction and suggested a change in immunocompetence as a result of either moderate or severe protein restriction.

We have studied the incidence of respiratory complications and hypoxic episodes during inhalation induction with isoflurane in 75 healthy unpremedicated children. Problems occurred less frequently when 4% isoflurane in oxygen was used from the outset than with traditional techniques using nitrous oxide and a gradually increasing inspired vapour concentration. The improved results observed with the former method may be secondary to more rapid uptake of vapour so that the second stage of anaesthesia characteristic of anaesthetic ethers is shortened considerably.

A study was conducted to determine if the pecan weevil, Curculio caryae, showed a preference for a particular nut cluster size for feeding and oviposition. Data indicated that selection of nuts for feeding and oviposition appeared to be a random process, without preference toward any particular nut cluster size.

Firms must correctly identify and analyze the nature of their strategic environments, their strategic oppurtunities and problems, and, formulate the precise strategy sets for corporate strategy for accomplishing the chosen organizational objectives and goals. This articles reports on a survey. Chief executives of industrial corporations provided their insights and experience (see Appendix I) and the findings are analyzed for the implications for other practising chief executives. The nature of environment which is strategic to a particular firm has considerable influence upon the firm's choice of strategies. The correct understanding of this influence is critical to the firm's organizational effectiveness. Only after a correct understanding can the chief executive formulate the precise mix of strategies and meld them in the strategy sets of the corporate strategy. The major findings indicate that the levels of difficulty experienced in accomplishing firm's objectives and goals depend upon the perceived nature of complexity, unpredictability and dynamism of the firm's strategic environments. The levels of clarity on strategic issues also depend upon these same attributes of environments. The formulation of strategy sets of corporate strategy are indicative of the ways by which the chief executive and his management team expect the firm to achieve its major objectives and goals by monitoring the strategy sets to keep in tune with the changing realities of the firm's strategic environments. General management, marketing and finance, were the vital group strategies, followed by production and research and development. External relations, personnel and procurement were the least important strategies. Firms operating in simple and stable environments experienced the least difficulty in achieving corporate goals, while firms in dynamic and complex environments experienced the greatest difficulty.

This article delineates the important considerations in any extensive, systematic comparison of clustering methods, and then it presents an empirical investigation of the effect of correlated variables on the “retrieval” ability of a particular class of agglomerative clustering methods. The empirical investigation re- sulted in two major observations; namely, that there are many agglomerative clustering methods, which have never been applied, that are “better” than any of the commonly used agglomerative clus- tering methods, and that correlated variables affect the “retrieval” ability of different agglomerative clustering methods differ- ently.

Standing stocks (kilograms/hectare) of spotted bass Micropterus punctulatus were graphed against eight abiotic variables measured for Kansas streams. The resulting habitat suit-ability curve for each variable allowed fish biomass to be normalized to index values (range, 0.0-1.0) that could be regressed linearly against the abiotic variables. Stepwise multiple-regression techniques isolated different combinations of variables with differing sample techniques that accounted for much of the variability in spotted bass biomass. When regression models derived from Kansas data were applied to an independent data set from northern Oklahoma streams, the correlation between predicted and observed standing stocks was not significant. Assigning suitability index values to the Oklahoma data set from the Kansas habitat suitability curves resulted in a significant model with a different combination of variables that accounted for 87% of the biomass variability. Apparently, regression models must be developed f...

This empirical study has derived data from 295 U.S. chief executive officers for analyzing what they perceived to be the different strategic influence-mixes (or priority-mixes) of organizational fu...

This study has analyzed how 295 chief executive officers formulated their overall corporate strategy. The analyses reveal the insights of the practising chief executive officers about the strategic mixes of functions (marketing, finance, production, etc.) and the strategic configurations of functions which they perceived strategic for the accomplishment of their particular firm's major objectives and goals. The web of interrelationship among primary and supportive functions (i.e. configuration of functions) provides a different approach to the study of overall corporate strategy.

The experience and arts of 295 Chief Executive Officers have been utilized for the study's findings. The analyses suggest that a firm's effective strategic-mix of major organizational functions would depend upon the nature of the particular circumstances which the organization faces. The different organizational settings are formed in the study and the effective strategic-mix of organizational functions have been statistically formulated on the basis of the Chief Executive Officers' judgement of what constitutes the effective strategic-mix of functions for their firm's overall corporate strategy. The relative influences of the General Management function and the functional managements (Marketing, Finance, Production, R & D, etc.) upon the overall corporate strategy have been the inputs for the derivation of the effective strategic-mix of functions. Environment, technology and firm-size have been considered for the formation of the different organizational settings. The study's findings not only provide what the different strategic-mixes for the different organizational settings are but also provide a working analytical framework for comprehensive analyses for the identification of the functions critical to the accomplishment of the overall corporate objectives and goals.

When examining the simple linear regression model, we may know a priori that the slope parameter is constrained to lie in an interval (finite or semi-infinite). In this article, we examine the behavior and properties of the Bayesian posterior mean, median and mode as estimators of the slope parameter, both when σ2 is known and unknown.

This article presents an algebraic analysis of agglomerative clustering method algorithms, which results in a graphic portrayal of these algorithms and a classification scheme for these algorithms based on the degree of distortion perpetrated on the object space by the algorithms in each group. Cet article presente une analyse algebrique des methodes algorithmiques de groupement agglomere qui debouche sur une representation graphique et une methode de classification de ces algorithmes, basee sur le degre de distortion perpetree sur l'espace object par les algorithmes dans chaque groupe.

The preference in the choice of hibernacula of the convergent lady beetle,Hippodamia convergensGuerin-Meneville, was investigated with regard to morphological aspects of 2 introduced range grasses,Panicum coloratum (L.), andEragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Beetles strongly preferred tussocks with a ratio in the range of 1.0–3.0 stems per cm2 for lovegrass. Preference for klein grass tussocks ranging from 110–130 stems/clump was found. No preference was shown for a particular tussock circumference. It was demonstrated that tussocks could successfully be designated as suitable for beetle aggregation.

We compared percent nitrogen of 12 composited fecal samples of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with means of samples that were analyzed individually (n = 191). We hypothesized that composites and means of individual samples would be similar in fecal nitrogen (FN). No significant differences in FN were found between composites and means of individuals (P > 0.70). Comparison of deer populations using composites and individuals yielded similar results (P > 0.10). J. WILDL. MANAGE. 53(1):213-215 Compositing fecal samples is common in studies of wildlife nutrition (Kie and Burton 1984, Leslie and Starkey 1985). Large numbers of samples can be handled in less time when aliquots of individual samples are combined into composites because the number of analyses is reduced. Also, many small mammal species may not produce adequate amounts of fecal material for individual analysis. However, the assumption that composites are similar to means of individual samples has not been tested and some information (e.g., sample variance) is unavailable when composites are used in statistical anal

fall and spring in northeastern Oklahoma. M.S. Thesis, Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater. 32pp. RYDER, R. A. 1963. Migration and population dynamics of American coots in western North America. Proc. Int. Ornithol. Congr. 13:441-453. THOMPSON, D. 1973. Feeding ecology of diving ducks on Keokuk Pool, Mississippi River. J. Wildl. Manage. 37:367-381. WARD, P. 1953. The American coot as a game bird. Trans. North Am. Wildl. Conf. 18:322-329.