The dilemma of essentiality in homosexual theory

A close examination of the literature on homosexuality reveals a long history of definitional crises in which the central consideration has been the maintenance of a belief in homosexuality as a state of being. This paper asks what, if anything, can be considered essential to the homosexual category. To answer this question, various approaches to homosexuality in the literature have been examined: as a general state of being (the person), as a state of desire (sexual orientation), as a form of behavior (sexual acts), and, more recently, as a personal identification (sexual identity). In addition, the interrelationships of these categorizations are explored.     

Ecological Bias: Use of Maximum-Entropy Approximations

The focus of geographical studies in epidemiology has recently moved towards looking for effects of exposures based on data taken at local levels of aggregation (i.e. small areas). This paper investigates how regression coefficients measuring covariate effects at the point level are modified under aggregation. Changing the level of aggregation can lead to completely different conclusions about exposure–effect relationships, a phenomenon often referred to as ecological bias. With partial knowledge of the within‐area distribution of the exposure variable, the notion of maximum entropy can be used to approximate that part of the distribution that is unknown. From the approximation, an expression for the ecological bias is obtained; simulations and an example show that the maximum‐entropy approximation is often better than other commonly used approximations.     

The relationship between training availability and social workers' ability to treat problem drinkers

An explanatory cross sectional investigation was employed to assess how well master's level social work (MSW) programs in the State of New York prepare students for practice with problem drinkers. Five hundred and fifty questionnaires were mailed to members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). A non-probability sample, consisting of 41 male and 48 female respondents (n = 89), was obtained. Fewer than 3% of the sample reported the completion of an alcohol related course as a degree requirement. Field placement completion was totally overlooked as a degree requirement. Findings imply that clients with alcohol problems are at risk of going untreated due to the lack of training social workers receive while completing their MSW programs and their subsequent inability to diagnose problem drinkers.     

THE ELUSIVE QUEST FOR ‘THOSE MOST IN NEED’

It seems plausible to argue that scarce resources such as social security payments should be targeted to those most in need, and that income should play a large role in defining need. Even though some aspects of targeting, such as whether to have tapered means tests or not, are obviously political in nature, it may appear that at least the identification of ‘those most in need’ in terms of income is largely a technical exercise. The argument of this article is that even the measurement of income is only partly a technical exercise.¹ It is also a highly problematic and political one that will always lead to understandable resentment on the part of the ‘nearly poor’, that is, those who are excluded by policy decisions regarding components of the scale by which income is assessed. We illustrate this with an example of a hypothetical family payment where those who are classified as ‘poor’ and ‘nearly poor’ on one income-scale are classified otherwise on a plausible alternative scale. It does not follow that targeting of payments on the basis of income should be abandoned. But it does suggest that all targeting should be recognised for the blunt political instrument that it is, and that its status as a precise technical tool for achieving greater efficiency be regarded with less confidence than is currently fashionable.     

Public duty and private prejudice: sexualities equalities and local government

Rather than critiquing social institutions and practices that have historically excluded lesbians and gay men, as did earlier social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, since the 1990s the politics of sexuality has increasingly been about demanding equal rights of citizenship. These citizenship demands have, at least to a degree, been answered via a raft of recent legislation in the UK including the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004, and by associated changes in policy making and practice that emphasize ‘Equality and Diversity’. In this article we consider how the implementation of sexualities equalities policies is related to processes of privatization and individualization. This is illustrated by using sexualities equalities work in local government as a case study to indicate how processes of change and resistance are aided by these processes. The article draws on findings from a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities initiatives in local government in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which examined the views of those who now have a public duty to implement recent legislative and policy shifts and are obliged to develop equalities initiatives concerning ‘sexual orientation' and ‘gender reassignment’.     

Acting Surprised: Comparing Perceptions of Different Dynamic Deliberate Expressions

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior - People are accurate at classifying emotions from facial expressions but much poorer at determining if such expressions are spontaneously felt or deliberately posed....     

Geographic Flexibility in Academia: A Cautionary Note

Having the flexibility to pursue an international career is increasingly common in many professions. Based on two qualitative studies of international academics, this paper focuses on academia. Commencing with a discussion about the different dimensions of flexibility in academia it focuses specifically on geographic flexibility, understood as the ability to pursue a career across international boundaries. Drawing on conceptions of an international community of scholars operating in a science context and specific national and institutional contexts the paper explores the experiences of international academics. It also considers the 'modes of engagement' they use to navigate the demands of those contexts. The findings suggest that while academia as a profession may be characterized by geographic flexibility a certain tension exists between academia and the national and institutional contexts within which academics must operate. It is noted that it is internationally mobile academics who are currently paying the price of those tensions and offers a cautionary note to those who are contemplating such a career move. It also suggests that academics can adopt certain 'modes of engagement' in order to maintain, transform or subvert those institutional challenges.     

We did it together: a participatory action research study on poverty and disability

This article presents the perspective of both non-disabled and developmentally disabled people working together in a research project on poverty and disability. Our study used a participatory action research approach that challenges the norm of exclusion in the research process. Control of the research agenda has been inclusive and shared to varying degrees in accordance with the needs and desires of the members of an advisory committee of developmentally disabled people living with low income. We reflect on our process of working together according to four principles of participatory action research with disabled people. We discuss our successes and challenges enacting these principles in the hopes that future researchers can build upon our experience to be more inclusive of developmentally disabled people in their work.     

Mixture models in measurement error problems, with reference to epidemiological studies

Summary. The paper focuses on a Bayesian treatment of measurement error problems and on the question of the specification of the prior distribution of the unknown covariates. It presents a flexible semiparametric model for this distribution based on a mixture of normal distributions with an unknown number of components. Implementation of this prior model as part of a full Bayesian analysis of measurement error problems is described in classical set-ups that are encountered in epidemiological studies: logistic regression between unknown covariates and outcome, with a normal or log-normal error model and a validation group. The feasibility of this combined model is tested and its performance is demonstrated in a simulation study that includes an assessment of the influence of misspecification of the prior distribution of the unknown covariates and a comparison with the semiparametric maximum likelihood method of Roeder, Carroll and Lindsay. Finally, the methodology is illustrated on a data set on coronary heart disease and cholesterol levels in blood.