TEACHING STATISTICS: A TALK ABOUT TIME SERIES

When presenting research results to a mixed audience, it is common for seminar speakers either to address the specialists or the uninitiated (thus alienating the other, uncatered-for group of listeners), or to risk falling between these two stools (and so satisfy no one). We suggest a way that the lecturer's dilemma might often be more optimally resolved; and, in so doing, present material which could provide useful ideas for wider application in enlivening formal class-room instruction in time-series analysis. Finally, we pre-empt some of the predicted response that the content of this paper may trigger from certain experts; and discuss the general lack of emphasis on assumptions in statistical teaching.     

Financing Liabilities Under Superfund

One of the more critical environmental risk areas involves the financing of cleanup costs associated with past improper disposal of hazardous wastes. These costs will run into the tens of billions of dollars. The federal Superfund program and related state programs are the driving forces for cleaning up hazardous waste. Under Superfund, the government collects taxes and coordinates cleanup strategies, and searches for potentially responsible parties (generators, disposers, transporters) to assist in financing the cleanup. To lessen the financial impact, responsible parties are looking to their liability insurers to provide coverage under old general liability insurance policies. Insurance companies contend that Superfund liabilities are not covered under liability policies. The paper examines the various financing methods and liabilities produced by Superfund. Particular emphasis is placed on developments in the courts which are resulting in a significant shift in the financial responsibilities to the insurance industry. Broad estimates of the financial impact of Superfund liabilities are developed. Finally, several public policy issues, which are raised by the topics exmained in this paper, are discussed.     

A FAMILY-OF-ORIGIN SCALE*

While family-of-origin interventions are widely used, the theoretical assumptions upon which these techniques are based are largely without empirical validation. This paper reports on the development of a family-of-origin scale that may be used in such research as well as employed as an adjunct to therapy. The resultant scale attempts to measure self-perceived levels of health in one's family of origin. Presented are data pertaining to the scale's validity, reliability, and normative sample.     

Marital Role Ideals and Perception of Marital Role Behavior in Distressed and Non Distressed Couples

Eighty non-patient couples, 50 couples seeking sex therapy, and 50 couples seeking marital therapy, were asked to report on whom they felt should and who actually does assume responsibility in eight major marital role areas. When the degree of individual “role strain”, that is, the discrepancy between role ideals and role behavior was examined, the marital therapy patients were found to be experiencing the most role strain. Husband-wife discrepancies with respect to who does have the various role assignments were found to be higher in the marital therapy couples. These data are interpreted in terms of their implications for diagnosis and treatment of sexually and maritally distressed couples.     

Characteristics of adolescents who provide neither parental consent nor refusal for participation in school-based survey research

Schools offer a convenient setting for research on adolescents. However, obtaining active written parental consent is difficult. In a 6th-grade smoking study, students were recruited with two consent procedures: active consent (parents must provide written consent for their children to participate) and implied consent (children may participate unless their parents provide written refusal). Of 4,427 invited students, 3,358 (76%) provided active parental consent, 420 (9%) provided active parental refusal, and 649 (15%) provided implied consent (parental nonresponse). The implied consent procedure recruited more boys, African Americans, students with poor grades, and smokers. This dual-consent procedure is useful for collecting some limited data from students who do not provide active consent or refusal.     

On a model for reciprocity failure in photographic materials

The photographic emulsion is not a pure energy detector. For either very high or very low intensities of the incident light, the efficiency of an emulsion in terms of resulting photographic density is not as great as intermediate levels of intensity. Such behaviour is called reciprocity law failure. In this article a simple probabilistic model for reciprocity failure is presented which incorporates both high and low intensity failure. The flexibility of the model inherent in its simplicity allows more sophisticated models to be constructed.     

"Circumcision", culture,and health-care provision in Tower Hamlets,London

Tower Hamlets (London, England) has a sizable Somali community whose members maintain close links with their families in Africa. The London Black Women's Health Action Project (LBWAP) was established in Tower Hamlets, in 1982, to address the health needs of Somali women, especially those related to female circumcision. The major focus in the UK has been on protecting girls from undergoing this practice, with little attention to the needs of women who have already been circumcised. Of 200 Somali women interviewed by LBWAP, 61% had been infibulated in their native country by people with no medical training. Among the long-term health consequences were dysmenorrhea, recurrent urinary problems, urethral damage, and painful intercourse. Although deinfibulation can be obtained, both health care professionals and circumcised women tend to be unaware of this service. LBWAP has proposed a study to assess the expressed health care needs of circumcised Somali women and match these desires with actual health care provision. To raise the consciousness of British health care professionals, parallels between female circumcision and the indiscriminate, unnecessary use of episiotomy are being made.