Girlz II women: Age‐grading,language change and stylistic variation

Informed by abstract models of language change or stability over time, we present a longitudinal study of two African American females, first interviewed as teenagers, and re‐recorded twenty years later. As teenagers, they used morpho‐syntactic features of AAVE voraciously. But as working adults, these women distance themselves from their teenage activities and social networks, and display a considerably reduced vernacular usage that accords with their articulated concern to get ahead. The diachronic interpretation that best characterizes their transformation is age‐grading rather than generational change, since change at the individual level is accompanied by stability at the community level. The picture is complicated by intermediate recordings showing that one of the speakers is a stylistic chameleon, capable since her teenage years of varying copula absence rates depending on addressee, topic, and projected persona. But the age‐grading interpretation of change at the individual level remains valid based on the evidence of her reduced use of habitual be2, and third singular present tense –s absence. The case highlights the importance of paying more attention to stylistic variation and including more than two time points in sociolinguistic studies of change in real and apparent time.     

Documenting Pornography Use in America: A Comparative Analysis of Methodological Approaches

Estimates of pornography use in the United States range widely. We explore the reasons for the variation in such estimates among U.S. adults using data from four different recent nationally representative samples—each of which asked a different type of question about pornography use. We attribute the notable variation in estimates to differences in question wording and answer options, and assert that a survey question asking respondents about their most recent use of pornography minimizes recall bias and is better poised to assess the overall prevalence of pornography in a population than is the more common approach of asking respondents about their historical general-use pattern. When we privileged the most-recent-use approach, survey data from 2014 reveal that 46% of men and 16% of women between the ages of 18 and 39 intentionally viewed pornography in a given week. These numbers are notably higher than most previous population estimates employing different types of questions. The results have ramifications for methods of surveying sensitive self-reported behaviors and for contextualizing scholars’ claims as well as popular conversations about the reach and implications of pornography use in the United States.     

Exposure Assessment: Then, Now, and Quantum Leaps in the Future

Health risk assessments have become so widely accepted in the United States that their conclusions are a major factor in many environmental decisions. Although the risk assessment paradigm is 10 years old, the basic risk assessment process has been used by certain regulatory agencies for nearly 40 years. Each of the four components of the paradigm has undergone significant refinements, particularly during the last 5 years. A recent step in the development of the exposure assessment component can be found in the 1992 EPA Guidelines for Exposure Assessment. Rather than assuming worst-case or hypothetical maximum exposures, these guidelines are designed to lead to an accurate characterization, making use of a number of scientific advances. Many exposure parameters have become better defined, and more sensitive techniques now exist for measuring concentrations of contaminants in the environnment. Statistical procedures for characterizing variability, using Monte Carlo or similar approaches, eliminate the need to select point estimates for all individual exposure parameters. These probabilistic models can more accurately characterize the full range of exposures that may potentially be encountered by a given population at a particular site, reducing the need to select highly conservative values to account for this form of uncertainty in the exposure estimate. Lastly, our awareness of the uncertainties in the exposure assessment as well as our knowledge as to how best to characterize them will almost certainly provide evaluations that will be more credible and, therein, more useful to risk managers. If these refinements are incorporated into future exposure assessments, it is likely that our resources will be devoted to problems that, when resolved, will yield the largest improvement in public health.     

Labor markets and sunday closing laws

This paper puts forth arguments regarding the occurrence of state Sunday closing laws and reports statistical estimates that predict the occurrence of those laws in 1970 and 1984. Along with other socio-economic variables, two labor market activities are found to be significant determinants of Blue laws. Membership in labor unions is found to have a positive declining influence on the laws; female labor market participation is found to have a negative but growing influence.     

Determination of Less-Than-Lifetime Exposures to Point Source Emissions

This paper presents a method of estimating long-term exposures to point source emissions. The method consists of a Monte Carlo exposure model (PSEM or Point Source Exposure Model) that combines data on population mobility and mortality with information on daily activity patterns. The approach behind the model can be applied to a wide variety of exposure scenarios. In this paper, PSEM is used to characterize the range and distribution of lifetime equivalent doses received by inhalation of air contaminated by the emissions of a point source. The output of the model provides quantitative information on the dose, age, and gender of highly exposed individuals. The model is then used in an example risk assessment. Finally, future uses of the model's approach are discussed.     

The office of scientific integrity investigations: The importance of data analysis

Certified Public Accountants serve as independent auditors of financial statements. They perform information‐integrity testing for the economy and society, adding creditability to financial statements prepared by organizations’ management. Investors, creditors, and others rely on these financial statements and the audit report to make business decisions. Auditing work involves gathering evidence (research) and forming an opinion (reporting results) about the “fairness”; of financial statements according to regulatory, legal, and professional rules. As researchers, auditors are subject to a complex network of mechanisms to promote accountability in their work. These mechanisms exist at environmental, professional, and audit‐firm levels. They combine to influence the judgments of individual auditors.