Item reliability based on a paucity of item failures

When item reliability is high, lot acceptance sampling is likely to uncover no defective units. Nevertheless, the reliability lower confidence limits are often disappointing. The use of a Bayesian procedure with certain beta priors produces tighter confidence limits. The case where one observed defective is permitted in accepting a lot is also examined. Numerical results for both cases are presented. In addition, the impact of item misclassification is addressed.     

Educating the adult minority professional: a case study of the national rural fellows program

The authors describe the critical issues that emerged during the first years of the National Rural Fellows Program at its academic base, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, and how these issues were subsequently addressed.The Program is designed to provide intensive training leading to a Master's degree for adult minority professionals from rural backgrounds throughout the United States. As a case study, the paper has implications for other departments considering innovations of this sort. It particularly describes the pedagogical and socio-cultural issues regarding the education of adult minority professionals, the potential for new faculty perspectives to be gained from such interaction, and the challenge to traditional regional planning curricula for rural planning across the United States.     

THE RATIONALE OF GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM THEORY

This paper is concerned with the methodological issues raised by the attempt to use or apply the results of general equilibrium theory. This concern arises out of a critical discussion of Professor F. H. Hahn's view that general equilibrium theory is far from being a self-contained exercise, and is all the more decisive in its application for being carried out at such a high level of abstraction. It is argued that Hahn's rationale for general equilibrium theorising is unsatisfactory, and alternative lines are suggested along which such a rationale could be constructed.     

Three paradigms of childhood

Le conflit social contemporain au sujet des relations parents-enfants, et spécialement en ce qui concerne la sexualité de l'enfant, est analysé ici à l'aide de trois paradigmes théoriques sur la construction sociale de l'enfance: a/ les enfants en tant que propriété, une définition sociale trouvant son origine dans la société pré-industrielle; b/ la protection des enfants, légitimée par l'industrialisation; et c/ l'enfant en tant que personne, une conception défendue par de récents mouvements de libération. Des exemples pour chaque paradigme sont tirés de sources canadiennes contemporaines. L'intensité actuelle de la révolution paradigmatiqué est expliquée sous l'image d'un noeud de tabous étreignant la construction sociale de la sexualité aussi bien que du pouvoir.
Contemporary social conflict over parent-child relationships, especially concerning child sexuality, is analysed using three theoretical paradigms of social construction of childhood: a/ children as property, a social definition originating in pre-industrial society; b/ protection of children, legitimated by industrialism; and c/ the child as person, advocated by recent liberation movements. Examples of each paradigm are drawn from contemporary Canadian sources. The current intensity of 'paradigmatic revolution' is explained in terms of a nexus of taboos surrounding social construction of both sexuality and power.     

Pregnancy,work and women's well-being: A review

Abstract

Pregnancy is potentially a stressful period for working women for ergonomic, psychological and organizational reasons, yet the well-being of women is seldom the focus of research on working during pregnancy. This paper reviews the literature on women's experience of being pregnant at work. It concludes that, while working conditions are usually not well suited to pregnant women, the majority of women encounter only minor difficulties and regard working in a positive way. However, for a minority of women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women who are most at risk from work-related stress at other times. The literature suggests that working during pregnancy has still to be accepted and accommodated by employers and colleagues.     

Two Post-Qualifying Courses in Social Work: the views of the course members and their employers

Correspondence to Alan Rushton, Course Tutor, Southwark Social Services, Fieldwork and Community Services, The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ. Summary Social workers who had completed two practice oriented post-qualifyingprogrammes were sent questionnaires asking them to evaluatetheir courses and to report on their subsequent careers. A selectedsub-sample was then interviewed and their current line managerscompleted questionnaires on their views of the training. Findingsare presented on their evaluation of both academic and practiceaspects of the programme. Levels of satisfaction were foundto be linked with the characteristics of course members. Somedifficulties were experienced in applying the new learning onre-entry to full-time work.     

THE INFLUENCE OF RISK VARIABLE DEFINITION ON VALUE-OF-LIFE ESTIMATES

Empirical "value-of-life" estimates derived from labor market wage-risk premiums have varied widely. This paper examines the influence of risk variable definition on these estimates. Value-of-life estimates are derived for one sample from a set of several risk measures. The analysis reveals that the risk variable definition can markedly affect the value-of-life estimate. Further, the paradoxical pattern of "high" estimates from industry risk data and "low" estimates from occupation data is shown to be attributable to different risk definition, not differences in the characterization of risk faced by a given sample of works. Finally, by associating consistently low estimates with one particular risk variable this study suggests much more uniformity in the value-of-life estimates than previously believed.