A modified Conway–Maxwell–Poisson type binomial distribution and its applications

This article proposes a generalized binomial distribution, which is derived from the finite capacity queueing system with state-dependent service and arrival rates. This distribution is also generated from the conditional Conway–Maxwell–Poisson (CMP) distribution given a sum of two CMP variables. In this article, we consider the properties of the probability mass function, indices of dispersion, skewness and kurtosis, and give applications of the proposed distribution. The estimation method and simulation study are also considered.     

Medical students' exposure to formaldehyde in a gross anatomy dissection laboratory.

The authors studied 150 first-year medical students exposed to formaldehyde during the dissection of cadavers in a gross anatomy laboratory. As a reference group, they used 189 third- and fourth-year medical students matched for sex, ethnic group, and age. Environmental and personal samples were collected to determine the exposure to formaldehyde among the first-year students. The mean concentration of formaldehyde in parts per million (ppm) in the area was 0.50 ppm (range = 0.40-0.60 ppm) and the personal sample was 0.74 ppm (range = 0.41-1.20 ppm). No significant differences were noted in the pre- and post-exposure mean FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 second) and FVC (forced vital capacity) among the 22 randomly selected exposed male and female subjects. Significant differences, however, were observed in the exposed group for symptoms of decreased ability to smell, eye irritation, throat irritation, and dry mouth in comparison with the reference group. These symptoms were also significantly related to the time and place of occurrence. Medical schools should take more concrete measures to reduce students' exposure to formaldehyde. Meanwhile, although it is not now the practice in most medical schools, students should have ready access to goggles and respirators when working in dissection laboratories.     

Estimation of frequencies of sinusoids in the presence of noise

A method is proposed and developed for estimating the frequencies of K sinusoids given the sum of these sinusoids in Gaussian noise. Attention is focused on the properties of these estimators when the observation time is short, the separation between frequencies is small, and the signal-to-noise ratio is high. The estimators are shown to be approximately unbiased and approximately normally distributed. The covariance matrix is also calculated. Relatively simple bounds on the variance of the estimators are found.     

The Dickensian Occupational Structure

Twelve of the novels of Charles Dickens provide a sample of 349 characters whose occupational achievement and mobility are investigated. The mobility patterns indicate more inheritance than in the United States. This cannot be accounted for by education, material inheritance, or morality (being a good or bad person). A model of quasi-perfect mobility, taking all diagonal frequencies as given, more closely represents the patterns. Determinants of achievement considered are social origins, number of siblings, education, marital status, morality. The characters from large families do better occupationally than those from small. Education functions primarily to redistribute success. The married are superior to the unmarried, with marriage functioning not as a selective mechanism, but exerting causal impact of its own. The evil are rewarded in this life. The basic path model of the stratification system of Dickens is similar to that of the United States.     

Women's perceptions of power and control in sexual abuse counseling

Fifty women who were sexually abused as children were interviewed regarding their perceptions of helpful and hindering counseling behaviors. The critical incident technique was the methodology used. One major category that emerged from the data was Approach to Power and Control. This category comprised eight subcategories: (1) flexibility with agenda; (2) willingness to offer choices; (3) response to criticism; (4) response to client as an equal or with honor; (5) sexual interest; (6) approach to client's suggestions; (7) expectations regarding forgiveness; and (8) consultation with alter identities. Implications for counseling practice, research, and counselor education are discussed.     

The Prevalence of Stalking Among College Students: The Disparity Between Researcher- and Self-identified Victimization

Abstract

Objective: Researchers examined the prevalence of self-identified and researcher-identified stalking victimization among college students. Participants and Methods: A representative sample of 1,573 (70.1% female; 29.9% male) student respondents completed an online stalking questionnaire. Results: Overall, 12% self-identified as having been stalked. Additionally, 42.5% (45.4% female; 35.7% male) of students reported experiencing at least 1 behavioral indicator of stalking victimization; however, only 24.7% of those self-identified as being stalked (25.6% female; 22.0% male). Conclusions: Stalking is a serious problem in the college community. A concern that needs to be addressed is the disparity between the number of those who met the behavioral criteria for stalking victimization, but who did not self-identify as a victim. The consequences of stalking victimization are highlighted. Recommendations for addressing this issue on campus are detailed in a plan that may help improve the retention, progression, and graduation rates for stalking victims.     

Altruism Within the Family: A Comparison of Father and Mother Using Life Happiness and Life Satisfaction

Studies on intra-household allocation of resources show that exogenous increase in mothers’ income has larger effect on children’s outcomes than the same increase in fathers’ income, suggesting gender differences may exist in parents’ altruism towards their children. Using self-reported life happiness and life satisfaction, we investigate the differences by gender in mutual altruism between father and child as well as mother and child dyads in Singapore. We found that mutual altruism exists between mother and child, but not between father and child. These findings are robust to the measure of self-reported well-being. Further, we find that gender difference in altruism of fathers and mothers is not driven by the difference in the extent of future old age support desired by fathers and mothers from their children.     

Eliciting Stance and Mitigating Therapist Authority in Open Dialogue Meetings

Open Dialogue is a collaborative systemic approach to working with families in crisis. A core feature is the creation of dialogue through the elicitation of a multiplicity of voices. Using conversation analysis, we studied 14 hr of Open Dialogue sessions. We found that therapists recurrently produced utterances containing “I’m wondering.” These utterances topicalized particular issues and invited stance positions from other participants while also allowing the therapist to mitigate their deontic authority and present potentially disaligning stances. Therapists thus exercised authority in eliciting stances, but provided recipients with multiple avenues for responding. These findings illustrate that therapist authority is not necessarily antithetical to dialogue and, in well‐crafted forms, may even be necessary for the creation of polyphony through the elicitation of multiple stances.     

Preface

The appearance of this issue will mark almost two years since its inception by the late Editor, Professor Don B. Owen. Professor Malay Ghosh suggested a special issue on Pitman's Measure of Closeness (PMC) to Professor Owen in autumn of 1989. After a thorough review process the issue was finalized in June 1991. It is with remorse that we publish this special issue in memory of Professor Owen.

The completion of the issue coincided with a special conference, “Pitman's Measure of Cfoseness: Celebrating a Decade of Renaissance,” held on June 15, 1991 at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The papers in this special issue, except those of Professor Kubokawa and Drs. Bertuzzi and Gandolfi, were presented and discussed. The conference participants included C.R. Rao (Pennsylvania State University), Colin Blyth (Queen's University), and H.T. David (Iowa State University). Further, P.K. Sen (University of North Carolina) and Malay Ghosh (University of Florida) gave keynote addresses that respectively set the themes for the morning and afternoon sessions.

The conference banquet held in the Regent's Room at the University of Texas at San Antonio, featured stimulating addresses by C.R. Rao and Colin Blyth on some of the major controversies of PMC such as intransitiveness and Berkson's conjecture. We are grateful to the University of Texas at San Antonio for making this conference a reality. In particular, we thank Professor Shair Ahmad, Director of the Division of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics at UTSA for funding travel expenses not only for the invited speakers but also for many of the younger researchers. We also acknowledge University President Samuel Kirkpatrick who made the KIVA room available for the technical sessions and the Regent's Room for the Banquet. We also acknowledge the financial support of Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. as a cosponsor of the conference.