Perceptions of preparedness to assist elders with end-of-life care preferences

Using a systematic sample of Florida licensed clinical social workers (N = 272), this study found that respondents perceived themselves capable of assisting elders with end-of-life care decisions and considered themselves moderately knowledgeable of resources available to elder clients. Respondents indicated slightly positive attitudes for work with elders and elders with Alzheimer's disease, and most respondents believed that elders should have the right of physician-assisted suicide. Using multivariate analysis, four predictor variables were identified that account for 61.3% of the adjusted variance of the dependent variable of preparedness to assist elders with end-of-life care preferences. These predictor variables were (a) knowledge of resources available to elders, (b) desirability of working with elders, (c) desirability of working with elders with Alzheimer's disease, and (d) attitude toward assisted suicide.     

What Do You Mean My Child Is in Custody? A Qualitative Study of Parental Response to the Detention of Their Child

This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews with 11 parents whose children had been taken into custody. The initial reactions and responses of the parents to the detention of their children were examined, as well as these parents' thoughts and feelings about theprocess and their involvement in the juvenile justice system. The following major themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) feeling frustrated and confused, (b) a perception of the system as being fair, (c) the juvenile system assuming a parental role, and (d) the influence of detention on family dynamics. Findings highlight the personal experiences of the parents as they attempted to navigate the juvenile justice system.     

Horizontal plane sound source localization and auditory enhancement

Accurate sound source localization has advantages for the performance of work by humans. The ability to accurately localize sound sources contributes to perception, decision making and task performance. Two studies were conducted to investigate the prevalence of accurate sound source localization and the enhancement that spatially separated sound source locations can have on speech perception. The first study was conducted to characterize the ability to detect the location of horizontal plane sound sources. A sample of 117 participants with the hearing capacity within the normal limits participated in the study. The results indicated that sound sources located towards the front of the participant were identified more frequently than those sound sources located towards the rear positions. Based on the results found in the first study, a second study was conducted to assess performance within a listening task. Three different spatial configurations were used to assess if similar trends in performance translated to sound sources through headphones. Fifteen research participants performed a Coordinated Response Measure (CRM) task requiring the identification of a speech phrase and its associated information for a diotic configuration and two different spatial sound source configurations. Performance measured for the diotic configuration was significantly (p(0.05) less than for the two spatial configurations. The current studies indicate distinct advantages of utilizing localized sound sources to present auditory signal and speech to listeners.     

ISOLATED IN A TECHNOLOGICALLY CONNECTED WORLD?: Changes in the Core Professional Ties of Female Researchers in Ghana,Kenya, and Kerala,India

Using panel data gathered across two waves (2001 and 2005) from researchers in Ghana, Kenya, and Kerala, India, we examine three questions: (1) To what extent do gender differences exist in the core professional networks of scientists in low‐income areas? (2) How do gender differences shift over time? (3) Does use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) mediate the relationship between gender and core network composition? Our results indicate that over a period marked by dramatic increases in access to and use of various ICTs, the composition and size of female researchers core professional ties have either not changed significantly or have changed in an unexpected direction. Indeed, the size of women's ties are retracting over time rather than expanding.     

Bayesian analysis of screening data: Application to AIDS in blood donors

The rapid increase in the number of AIDS cases during the 1980s and the spread of the disease from the high-risk groups into the general population has created widespread concern. In particular, assessing the accuracy of the screening tests used to detect antibodies to the HIV (AIDS) virus in donated blood and determining the prevalance of the disease in the population are fundamental statistical problems. Because the prevalence of AIDS varies widely by geographic region and data on the number of infected blood donors are published regularly, Bayesian methods, which utilize prior results and update them as new data become available, are quite useful. In this paper we develop a Bayesian procedure for estimating the prevalence of a rare disease, the sensitivity and specificity of the screening tests, and the predictive value of a positive or negative screening test. We apply the procedure to data on blood donors in the United States and in Canada. Our results augment those described in Gastwirth (1987) using classical methods. Indeed, we show that the inclusion of sound prior knowledge into the statistical analysis does not yield sufficiently precise estimates of the predictive value of a positive test. Hence confirmatory testing is needed to obtain reliable estimates. The emphasis of the Bayesian predictive paradigm on prediction intervals for future data yields a valuable insight. We demonstrate that using them might have detected a decline in the specificity of the most frequently used screening test earlier than it apparently was.     

Predictive models for annual fundraising and major gift fundraising

For most nonprofit organizations, the selection process for determining the best individual prospects for capital campaigns or annual fund drives are ad hoc and intuitive. Our research provides two statistical models developed from the alumni database at Northwestern University for both major gifts and annual fund prospects. One model predicts which individuals will give $100,000 or more over three years, the other, $1,000 or more. Our work provides a means of more efficiently selecting fundraising prospects. In our analysis, we combine geo-demographic data with the internal data typically found in alumni databases. A metric is presented to test the viability of the models when compared to single-criterion models. We show that past giving is the strongest single factor in predicting future giving. However, full models provide superior overall results.