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In this chapter we demonstrate the construction of inverse test confidence intervals for the turning-points in estimated nonlinear relationships by the use of the marginal or first derivative function. First, we outline the inverse test confidence interval approach. Then we examine the relationship between the traditional confidence intervals based on the Wald test for the turning-points for a cubic, a quartic, and fractional polynomials estimated via regression analysis and the inverse test intervals. We show that the confidence interval plots of the marginal function can be used to estimate confidence intervals for the turning-points that are equivalent to the inverse test. We also provide a method for the interpretation of the confidence intervals for the second derivative function to draw inferences for the characteristics of the turning-point.

This method is applied to the examination of the turning-points found when estimating a quartic and a fractional polynomial from data used for the estimation of an Environmental Kuznets Curve. The Stata do files used to generate these examples are listed in Appendix A along with the data.

The collection of chapters in this 30th volume of Advances in Econometrics provides a well-deserved tribute to Thomas B. Fomby and R. Carter Hill, who have served as editors of the Advances in Econometrics series for 25 and 21 years, respectively. Volume 30 contains a more varied collection of chapters than previous volumes, in essence mirroring the wide variety of econometric topics covered by the series over 30 years. Volume 30 starts with a chapter discussing the history of this series over the last 30 years. The next five chapters can be broadly categorized as focusing on model specification and testing. Following this section are three contributions that examine instrumental variables models in quite different settings. The next four chapters focus on applied macroeconomics topics. The final chapter offers a practical guide to conducting Monte Carlo simulations.

Purpose – The authors examine framing and narrativization in news coverage of health threats to assess variations in news discourse for known, emerging and novel health risks. Methodology/Approach – Using the analytical categories of known, emerging, and novel risks the authors discuss media analyses of anti-vaccination, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and Covid-19. Findings – Known risks are framed within a biomedical discourse in which scientific evidence underpins public health guidelines, and following these directives prevent risk exposure while non-compliance is characterized as immoral and risky. News coverage of emerging risks highlights public health guidelines but fails to convey their importance as the risks seem too distant or abstract. Media coverage of novel risks is characterized by the ubiquity of uncertainty, which emerges as a “master frame” under which all incidents and events are subsumed. Stories about novel risks highlight the fluid and changing nature of scientific knowledge, which has the unintended effect of fueling uncertainty as studies and experts contradict each other. Originality/Value – This chapter introduces a new analytical framework for examining how media stories represent public health risks, along with previously unpublished analysis of media coverage about AMR and Covid-19. This chapter provides insight about the nature of risk discourses involving media, public health officials, activists, and citizens.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

The outcome of product development, i.e. the product design, together with the packaging solution, has a great impact on the logistics performance of supply chains. Despite this, packaging has traditionally been given a very modest role in the product development literature as well as in the logistics literature. The aim of this paper is to show how logistics performance and product design can be affected, and improved, by the packaging organization within a company.

A single case study has been conducted at IKEA, including on‐site interviews and review of internal documents. Along with the case study, a literature study has been conducted within the areas of product development, packaging and logistics.

The IKEA case suggests that the packaging function should have a strong link to both the logistics function and the product development function within a product‐developing company to be able to improve the logistics performance.

As the evidence is collected through a single case study, the results are not to be seen as generalizable but should be regarded as a first step to future research within the interface of product development, packaging and logistics.

Packaging and logistics are usually considered late in the product development process with the result that possible logistics solutions are constrained. Through considering “the whole package” – i.e. the product, the packaging and the supply chain characteristics – at an early stage in the product development process, savings can be made.

This paper includes the aspects of product development, logistics and packaging, an interface with very limited research contributions.

Suicide prevention is a priority issue in HM Prison Service of England and Wales. Past training in this area has concentrated on the completion of paperwork over direct interactions with suicidal people. HM Prison Service commissioned STORM, a training scheme focusing on interviewing skills and the identification of risk factors, successfully used in community health settings, piloted it in five prisons and retained it as part of its compulsory training for prison assessors of suicide risk. Although from spring 2007 STORM will no longer be compulsory, its impact has been shown in plans for future development of training.

Children from disadvantaged families often already show developmental deficits at the time of school entry. The goal of Schritt:weise, a preventive, easy-access early education program for children ages one to five is to avoid such deficits through a combination of home visits by semi-professionals as well as center-based group activities. The program has been translated and adapted from the Dutch program Opstapje and is now being implemented in different regions in Switzerland. To offer the program more readily in rural areas, four adapted models were developed. This paper aims to provide a mixed-method, combined process and outcome evaluation of these newly developed models.

For this combined process and outcome evaluation, standardized testing for child development outcomes and interviews with different stakeholders were conducted.

The evaluation found that implementation of all four models was feasible and children developed along the norm in all four of the models. This finding was confirmed one year after program completion.

Building an evidence-base to better understand success of early intervention programs is key to effectively supporting children from disadvantaged families in their development.

This early education program using home-visitation with semi-professionals is feasible and successful in reaching children from disadvantaged families.

It is possible to support children from disadvantaged families through the program Schritt:weise and prevent developmental deficits at school entry.

The finding that children developed along the norm in all four models means that the key program goal was achieved and that the specific implementation model can be chosen based on the specifics of the implementation context.