A nonlinear regression model for describing averaged growth curves of mice

A general four parameter growth curve is presented as a model for the growth curve of a group of mice for which averaged weights of the group are available. Several data sets of mice weights obtained from experiments performed at the National Center for Toxicological Research are analyzed. The results are compared with traditional models for growth curves. Both additive and multiplicative error models are analyzed. It is shown that for this data the four parameter model gives a much better fit than traditional growth curve models and should be given serious consideration in model fitting.     

Drinking,Smoking, and Morality: Do ‘Drinkers and Smokers’ Constitute a Stigmatised Stereotype or a Real TB Risk Factor in the Time of HIV/AIDS?

This paper follows up an unexpected finding from a community survey that identified drinking and smoking as the most important tuberculosis (TB) risk factor, far ahead of ones commonly associated with TB such as poverty, overcrowded living conditions, and HIV-positive status. It reports perceptions of drinking and smoking from a three-phased study of the stigma associated with TB, consisting of a qualitative pilot study using focus-group discussions (2006), a larger-scale community survey (2007), and follow-up group discussions (2009). The community attitude survey was conducted with a sample of 1,020 adults living in a low-income township in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study found that the moral and the biomedical understanding of TB risk are intertwined. In the community survey, perceptions of drinking and smoking as TB risk were predicted by fear of contracting TB and being a self-reported born-again Christian. In the follow-up study, heavy drinking and smoking in shebeens (unlicensed township liquor outlets) was associated with a risky lifestyle that can spread both TB and HIV. The paper discusses the similarities and differences in the roles of church and shebeen in providing social support to township dwellers to cope with problems of daily life. It is tentatively concluded that the stereotypical shebeen ‘drinkers and smokers’, alternatively pitied and maligned by moral society, might serve as the scapegoat that deflects pollution from the ‘new’ TB linked to the AIDS epidemic.     

Reducing the Effort to Comprehend Risk Models: Text Labels Are Often Preferred Over Graphical Means

Risk analysis involves people with different roles and competences. The validity of the outcome depends on that they are able to communicate; ideally between themselves, but at least with or via a risk analyst. The CORAS risk modeling language has been developed to facilitate communication between stakeholders involved in the various stages of risk analysis. This article reports the results from an empirical investigation among professionals, where the purpose was to investigate how graphical effects (size, color, shape) and text labels introduced in the CORAS risk modeling language affected the understanding. The results indicate that if graphical effects are used to illustrate important information, they should also be accompanied by informative textual labels.     

A qualitative exploration of how midwives’ and obstetricians’ perception of risk affects care practices for low-risk women and normal birth

Background

Maternity care is facing increasing intervention and iatrogenic morbidity rates. This can be attributed, in part, to higher-risk maternity populations, but also to a risk culture in which birth is increasingly seen as abnormal. Technology and intervention are used to prevent perceived implication in adverse outcomes and litigation.

The Flip Side of Holland Type Congruence: Incongruence and Job Satisfaction

This study examined the relationship between Holland type (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional; Holland, 1959, 1997) congruence and incongruence (i.e., lack of fit between an occupation's 3‐letter Holland code and a person's lowest 3 Holland interest types) and tested whether incongruence predicts unique variance in satisfaction beyond congruence. Results from an employee sample suggest that incongruence and congruence are distinct constructs (in that they correlated r = ‐.32) and that beyond congruence, incongruence did not predict variance in overall or intrinsic job satisfaction. Counselors are urged to assess both congruence and incongruence, but to focus on helping clients to identify best‐fitting occupations when possible, rather than to merely avoid incongruent occupations.     

Fewer and better

Throughout this century an increasing body of knowledge has been accumulating concerning the individual and the society in which he lives. In helping the emotionally disturbed individual to adjust to his environment we have been concerned with his intrapsychic conflicts and his relationships with the key figures in his life. Since the 1940's there has been a new concept evolving which combines the knowledge of the dynamics of an individual's emotional development and growth, communication theories and the work of social scientists concerning social systems.