Fast estimation and choice of confidence interval methods for step regression

Environmental and Ecological Statistics - In this paper we propose a new fast grid search algorithm for finding the least square estimators of a step regression model. This algorithm makes it...     

Safety climate dimensions,leader–member exchange,and organizational support as predictors of upward safety communication in a sample of rail industry workers

The freedom employees feel to communicate safety concerns with their supervisors, termed upward safety communication, has been shown to be related to adverse safety events (Hofmann and Morgeson, 1999). Research to date has demonstrated that good supervisor–employee relationships (leader–member exchange), a sense that the organization values an employee (perceived organizational support) and safety climate (including perceived management attitudes toward safety, job demands interfering with safety, and pressure from coworkers to behave safely) all contribute to employees’ comfort in bringing up safety issues with their supervisors. However, little is known about which specific dimensions of safety climate are most predictive of upward safety communication. Using a sample of 548 railway workers, we found that when all factors were considered simultaneously using dominance analysis, the dominant factor predicting upward safety communication was perceived management attitudes toward safety, followed by job demands interfering with safety and then leader–member exchange. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The impact of Local Authorities’ interventions on household waste collection: A case study approach using time series modelling

At a local Government level there have been many interventions and changes made to household waste collection services to meet new regulatory requirements. These changes include separate collection of recyclable and organic materials. This paper has used a time series model to quantify the success of interventions introduced by a LA.The case study was a medium sized UK LA, Charnwood Borough Council (CBC), the research analyses monthly data of quantities of recyclates, garden waste for composting and residual waste for landfill disposal. The time series model was validated with a five year data set and used to measure the impacts of the various changes to identify which intervention was the most successful, while controlling for season and number of working days. The results show the interventions analysed both had abrupt and permanent positive impacts on the yield of recyclable materials, and a corresponding negative impact on the residual waste.The model could be added to the National data base to help LAs to compare interventions and to understand which schemes encourage householder participation and improve recycling performance.     

Analyse der Immissionsstruktur der BTXE-Aromaten und der Ru?parameter in Innenstadtbereichen

Zusammenfassung Ziel und Hintergrund  In einem vier Thüringer St?dte umfassenden, stra?enverkehrsbezogenen, Immissionsmessprogramm wurden Immissionsparameter erfasst und statistisch aufzubereitet, um Zusammenh?nge zwischen dem Verkehrsgeschehen und der Immission zu erkennen und deren lokale Auspr?gung für die betrachteten Standorte zu beschreiben Methoden  Dazu, wurden die aromatischen, Kohlenwasserstoffe Benzol, Toluol Ethylbenzol, o-, m- und p-Xylol, die Ru?parameter Gesamtkohlenstoff, elementarer Kohlenstoff und organischer Kohlenstoff über zehn Monate bestimmt. Die Beprobung erstreckte sich jeweils über 24 Stunden und erfolgte an, Wochentagen und Wochenenden sowie in der kalten und warmen Jahreszeit. Zeitgleich verlief die Ermittlung der Anzahl, Art und Geschwindigkeit der Fahrzeuge an, der Messtelle. Zur Untersuchung der Daten wurden die deskriptive Statistik, die Analyse der Korrelation, die Cluster- und die Hauptkomponentenanalyse eingestzt. Ergebnisse  Für alle Standorte l?sst sich mit Hilfe der Korrelations-und Regressionsanalyse zeigen, dass der Stra?enverkehr unter Berücksichtigung seiner Merkmale die Parameter der Ru?immission und der-struktur beeinflusst. Im Gegensatz dazu ist eine direkte Verkehrsabh?ngigkeit der BTXE-Immission oder-struktur mit diesen Mitteln nicht nachzuweisen. Zwischen den Immissions-konzentrationen der BTXE-Aromaten und der Ru?komponenten lassen sich jedoch Korrelationen mit hoher Signifikanz finden. Die Auspr?gung der Korrelationen differient unter den Standorten. Mit Hilfe der Clusteranalyse lassen sich die Erhebungsgebiete gruppieren, mit der Hauptkomponentenanalyse k?nnen verkehrsabh?ngige und verkehrsunabh?ngige Faktoren extrahiert werden. Schlussfolgerungen, Empfehlungen und Ausblick  Clusteranalyse und Hauptkomponentenanalyse sind geeignet, die ?rtlichen Gegebenheiten zu beschreiben und Standorte untereinander zu vergleichen. Die neu eingeführten Indexparameter der BTXE-Aromaten k?nnen als Indikatoren technischer Ver?nderungen im Bereich der Emissionen aus Fahrzeugen, Haushalten und der Industrie herangezogen werden k?nnen.

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OnlineFirst: 28. April 2003     

Work-safety tension, perceived risk, and worker injuries: a meso-mediational model

IntroductionWork-safety tension arises when workers perceive that working safely is at odds with effectively doing their jobs. We proposed that workers’ perceptions of work-safety tension would be associated with higher levels of perceived risk, which would, in turn, relate to worker injuries on the job.MethodGrocery store workers (n = 600) completed an online survey and organizational worker injury reports were obtained for a two-year period following the survey. Survey results were linked to subsequent worker injuries using hierarchical generalized linear modeling.ResultsWe found support for the proposed meso-mediation model: department work-safety tension predicted subsequent worker injuries, partially through an association with workers’ risk perceptions.ConclusionsSafety researchers and consultants and organizational leaders should look beyond typically-examined safety climate constructs, such as management commitment to safety, and pay particular attention to workers’ perceptions of work-safety tension.     

The scope and severity of white-nose syndrome on hibernating bats in North America

Assessing the scope and severity of threats is necessary for evaluating impacts on populations to inform conservation planning. Quantitative threat assessment often requires monitoring programs that provide reliable data over relevant spatial and temporal scales, yet such programs can be difficult to justify until there is an apparent stressor. Leveraging efforts of wildlife management agencies to record winter counts of hibernating bats, we collated data for 5 species from over 200 sites across 27 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces from 1995 to 2018 to determine the impact of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a deadly disease of hibernating bats. We estimated declines of winter counts of bat colonies at sites where the invasive fungus that causes WNS (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) had been detected to assess the threat impact of WNS. Three species undergoing species status assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Myotis septentrionalis, Myotis lucifugus, and Perimyotis subflavus) declined by more than 90%, which warrants classifying the severity of the WNS threat as extreme based on criteria used by NatureServe. The scope of the WNS threat as defined by NatureServe criteria was large (36% of Myotis lucifugus range) to pervasive (79% of Myotis septentrionalis range) for these species. Declines for 2 other species (Myotis sodalis and Eptesicus fuscus) were less severe but still qualified as moderate to serious based on NatureServe criteria. Data-sharing across jurisdictions provided a comprehensive evaluation of scope and severity of the threat of WNS and indicated regional differences that can inform response efforts at international, national, and state or provincial jurisdictions. We assessed the threat impact of an emerging infectious disease by uniting monitoring efforts across jurisdictional boundaries and demonstrated the importance of coordinated monitoring programs, such as the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), for data-driven conservation assessments and planning.