Drinking Matters: Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe

Michael Zell, Industry in the Countryside: Wealden Society in the Sixteenth Century (1994), xiv + 257 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £35.00).

Phyllis Mack, Visionary Women. Ecstatic Prophecy in Seventeenth‐Century England (1993), xv + 465 (University of California Press, Berkeley, $40.00).

Amy Louise Erickson, Women and Property in Early Modern England (1993), xiv + 306 (Routledge, £40.00).

Christopher L. Tomlins, Law, Labor, and Ideology in the Early American Republic (1993), xviii + 406 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £42.50, paperback £14.95).

F. Murray Greenwood, Legacies of Fear: Lawand Politics in Quebec in the Era of the French Revolution (1993), xvi + 359 (Osgoode Society/University of Toronto Press, Toronto, n.p.).

Roger Scola, Feeding the Victorian City. The Food Supply of Manchester, 1770–1870 (1992), xx+ 347 (Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, £35.00).

J. Frankel and S. Zipperstein (eds), Assimilation and Community. The Jews in Nineteenth'Century Europe (1992), xii + 384 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £35.00).

Roger Magraw, A History of the French Working Class, vol. 1, The Age of the Artisan Republic 1815–71, vol. 2, Workers and the Bourgeois Republic 1871–1939 (1992), xi + 301 and vi + 330 (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, £40.00 each).

Rajnarayan Chandavarkar, The Origins of Industrial Capitalism in India: Business Strategies and the Working Classes in Bombay 1900–1940 (1994), xvii + 468 (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, £40.00).

Chris Wrigley (ed.), Challenges of Labour: Central and Western Europe igiy‐igzo (1993), x + 300 (Routledge, £40.00).     

Changes in Objective and Self-Reported Measures of Physical Capacity After an Intervention in Obese Older Women

The aim of this study was to determine if objective and self-reported measures of physical capacity are two equivalent methods to detect changes following an intervention in obese older women. 36 obese women aged between 55 and 75 years participated in a 3-month study with the aim of improving physical capacity by caloric restriction and/or resistance training. Physical capacity was measured objectively with 10 different tests and self-reported with the SF-36 physical functioning score (SF-36 PF score). Then the performance-to-objective tests were computed using quartiles to provide a baseline global physical capacity score. The mean percentage of change of the 10 tests as well as the SF-36 PF score were also calculated after the study. Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray (DXA) absorptiometry. The baseline global physical capacity score and the SF-36 PF score were significantly correlated at baseline (r = 0.43; P < 0.01). Eight out of the 10 objective tests of physical capacity improved after the intervention, while no improvement was observed for the SF-36 PF score. On average, percentage of change in physical capacity was 4.1 ± 5.9% for the SF-36 PF score and 11.1 ± 2.9% for the objective measures. However, no significant correlation was observed between percentage of changes between the two approaches after the intervention (r = 0.32; P = 0.07). Based on these results, the method used to quantify physical capacity after an intervention may have major implications on the outcomes. The methods used should be carefully analyzed in regard to the objective of the study.     

Integrating MRP and finite capacity planning

Traditional production control systems based on the manufacturing resource planning concept do not sufficiently support the planner in solving capacity problems, ignore capacity constraints and assume that lead times are fixed. This leads to problems on the shop floor, that cannot be resolved in the short term. This paper focuses on solving these capacity problems by improving capacity planning at the material requirements planning MRP level through integration of MRP and finite capacity planning. This results in a planning method for simultaneous capacity and material planning. The planning method is based on a new and more accurate primary process model, giving the planning algorithm more flexibility in solving capacity problems. The algorithm is based on advanced scheduling techniques and uses aggregated information, thus combining speed and accuracy. The algorithm is designed to use the available flexibility: alternative routeings, safety stock, and replanning of production orders and requirements. This paper also discusses such related issues as robustness, memory and the role of the human planner.     

Overseas experience of social workers

This paper provides an outline of the various organizations working with or for Aborigines in South Australia and a discussion of questions of co-ordination and co-operation. The analysis will inevitably be subjective. In the first place one man's way of seeing things is a result of his previous experience and environment; secondly, there was no opportunity for an exhaustive investigation of all the groups in this field. Lastly, I am employed by an organization to which I have naturally developed certain loyalties and attitudes. I have, however, attempted to state what I believe and I have not made statements for effect or to score points.     

Attitudes Toward Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual College Students: The Contribution of Pluralistic Ignorance,Dynamic Social Impact,and Contact Theories

Abstract

Social psychology theories may be useful in developing new interventions to reduce prejudice against lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) college students. For this preliminary study, the authors surveyed 109 college dormitory residents to determine their personal comfort with LGB students and their perceptions of other students' comfort with these individuals. They found widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance—the students rated themselves as significantly less anti-gay than either their friends or the typical student. Students' attitudes showed geographic clustering, with the building of residence a significant predictor of students' attitudes. Finally, consistent with the contact hypothesis, the perception that 1 or 2 LGB students lived on the same floor or in the same building was associated with more positive attitudes.     

A note on female ejaculation

We developed a 14‐item Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale (ATSS) to compare the sexual attitudes of early, middle, and late adolescents and their parents. One hundred forty‐one adolescents between the ages of 12 and 20 and their parents completed a questionnaire consisting of the ATSS and demographic information. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for the adolescents was .75, and for the parents it was .84. A principal components analysis revealed four major dimensions of the scale: a large General factor, Legality/Morality, Alternative Modes of Sexual Expression, and Individual Rights. The correlation pattern between the ATSS and subscales of the Sex Knowledge and Attitudes Test, as well as with certain demographic variables, supports the construct validity of the ATSS. This is, therefore, a scale which may be used for research in which the sexual attitudes of adults and adolescents of various ages are to be measured and compared.     

Optimal estimating function for estimation and prediction in semi-parametric models

In a seminal paper, Godambe [1985. The foundations of finite sample estimation in stochastic processes. Biometrika 72, 419–428.] introduced the ‘estimating function’ approach to estimation of parameters in semi-parametric models under a filtering associated with a martingale structure. Later, Godambe [1987. The foundations of finite sample estimation in stochastic processes II. Bernoulli, Vol. 2. V.N.V. Science Press, 49–54.] and Godambe and Thompson [1989. An extension of quasi-likelihood Estimation. J. Statist. Plann. Inference 22, 137–172.] replaced this filtering by a more flexible conditioning. Abraham et al. [1997. On the prediction for some nonlinear time-series models using estimating functions. In: Basawa, I.V., et al. (Eds.), IMS Selected Proceedings of the Symposium on Estimating Functions, Vol. 32. pp. 259–268.] and Thavaneswaran and Heyde [1999. Prediction via estimating functions. J. Statist. Plann. Inference 77, 89–101.] invoked the theory of estimating functions for one-step ahead prediction in time-series models. This paper addresses the problem of simultaneous estimation of parameters and multi-step ahead prediction of a vector of future random variables in semi-parametric models by extending the inimitable approach of 13 and 14. The proposed technique is in conformity with the paradigm of the modern theory of estimating functions leading to finite sample optimality within a chosen class of estimating functions, which in turn are used to get the predictors. Particular applications of the technique give predictors that enjoy optimality properties with respect to other well-known criteria.