Modelling consumers' use of products

Patterns of consumers' use of products are of interest to manufacturers. This paper is concerned with modelling diary data on the use of one product, shampoo, recorded to the nearest hour by over 500 men during 1 week. A binary response multilevel model is developed, building on similar models for consumer purchase data. The model allows for a dependence on the number of days since last use. The results of fitting various versions of this model are discussed. A problem is that the number of days since last use is missing for all times up to the first use. An approximate EM approach is considered to deal with this problem.     

David: The first hour in the assessment and treatment of an adolescent

This paper presents an initial hour of therapy with 17 1/2 year old David, illustrating his distinctive experience, endowments, vulnerabilities and resiliencies. This first encounter permits a glimpse into typical adolescent conflicts and issues, how newer theoretical perspectives guide clinical thinking and technique, and the ways in which sociocultural forces intertwine with personal experience.in private practice.     

An algebraic and Bayesian technology for object recognition

This paper presents a new robust, low computational cost technology for recognizing free-form objects in three-dimensional (3D) range data, or, in two dimensional (2D) curve data in the image plane. Objects are represented by implicit polynomials (i.e. 3D algebraic surfaces or 2D algebraic curves) of degree greater than two, and are recognized by computing and matching vectors of their algebraic invariants (which are functions of their coefficients that are invariant to translations, rotations and general linear transformations). Such polynomials of the fourth degree can represent objects considerably more complicated than quadrics and super-quadrics, and can realize object recognition at significantly lower computational cost. Unfortunately, the coefficients of high degree implicit polynomials are highly sensitive to small changes in the data to which the polynomials are fit, thus often making recognition based on these polynomial coefficients or their invariants unreliable. We take two approaches to the problem: one involves restricting the polynomials to those which represent bounded curves and surfaces, and the other approach is to use Bayesian recognizers. The Bayesian recognizers are amazingly stable and reliable, even when the polynomials have unbounded zero sets and very large coefficient variability. The Bayesian recognizers are a unique interplay of algebraic functions and statistical methods. In this paper, we present these recognizers and show that they work effectively, even when data are missing along a large portion of an object boundary due, for example, to partial occlusion.     

The Origins of the National Children's Bureau

SUMMARY. The gestation of the National Children's Bureau, originally the National Bureau for Cooperation in Child Care, is examined. Conference papers of 1954 give a flavour of the social concerns over children and their special needs when preparatory work on forming a Bureau was supported by the National Council of Social Service. It took a decade to reach formal inauguration and the concerns of 30 years ago are illustrated, confirming a commitment to knowledge based on information, research, and multi-disciplinary dissemination.     

Migration from Jamaica in the 1970s: political protest or economic pull?

This article discusses the high rates of out-migration from Jamaica in the late 1970s. The principal receiving countries of Jamaican migrants since World War II have been in the UK, the US, and Canada. Average yearly out-migration from Jamaica between 1964 and 1984 stands at 20,736. Since the 1950s 1) the actual number of migrants from Jamaica to the UK has decreased considerably with the introduction of prohibitive legislation in 1962, 2) the "slack" has been taken by the US and Canada, and 3) migration to the US dipped slightly in the early to mid 1970s, yet increases during those years of Jamaicans migrating to Canada adequately compensated for any loss of an outlet to the US. The "brain drain" forms a chronic feature of the Jamaican economy--a permanent sapping process of much needed labor--not simply an occasional event capable of being explained primarily by the political position of a particular politician. The increases in the migration rates of professional, technical, administrative, and managerial workers, and skilled craftsmen in 1977 and 1978 did not herald a new event; high rates of migration for these categories of workers have existed for several years. The volume and the composition of the actual Jamaican migrant population are decided in the main by legislation in other parts of the world. Although Jamaica's population problem has been eased over the years by as much as 50% of the country's natural increase being removed by migration, many of those who left were of the type whose skills might have contributed to the national economy--and in ways that might have created employment for others. The economic pull of loss of skilled labor is a permanent feature; legislative pull is the key.     

Establishing the nadir of the body mass index-mortality relationship: a case study

The relationship between body weight and mortality is examined using U.S. data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Follow-up Study concerning 13,242 individuals, the emphasis being on identifying the body mass index associated with the lowest levels of mortality. Factors such as smoking status, sex, race, and age are taken into consideration. The results suggest that only the interaction between race and body mass index is significant.     

The Effects of Suicide on the Private Practitioner: A Professional and Personal Perspective

A patient's suicide has a profound effect on the therapist and psychotherapy with a chronically suicidal patient is particularly troubling. Guilt over one's failure to recognize the warning signs, fear of one's incompetence or irresponsibility, shame that one has failed, and fear of being blamed by the patient's loved ones and by colleagues are feelings that frequently surface and that can result in isolating a practitioner from the very sources of peer support that are necessary in order to resolve the trauma. This article explores the effects of suicide on the private practitioner. It discusses how burnout and vicarious traumatization impact upon the therapist who treats the chronically suicidal patient. Two clinical examples illustrate the impact of working with imminent suicide and the aftermath of a patient's death from a personal perspective. Recommendations are made to help private practitioners maintain equilibrium when working with these overwhelming case situations.