Medical Surveillance, Frequent Sets, and Closure Operations

Surveillance of hospital-acquired infections, especially those caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, is an important component of hospital infection control. A computer program for this purpose experienced a combinatorial computational explosion in time and space when processing data describing certain multi-drug resistant organisms. The blowup occurred while the program was generating frequent sets, a common phase in data mining algorithms. We present a modified algorithm for computing frequent sets that more efficiently handles the computational burden. The algorithm's proof of correctness involves the concepts of closure, independent sets, and circuits in a space more general than a matroid. Of central concern in the theory are inferences about a closure operation that can be obtained from limited information about the circuits.     

Quality and quantity: Reconstructing feminist methodology

Many feminist sociologists have rejected quantitative in favor of qualitative methods, a position which might seem justified by feminist critiques of positivism. This paper examines both quantitative and qualitative methods in light of two major themes in radical feminist epistemology, the critique of objectivity and the politics of the research process, and finds both classes of methods vulnerable. We argue that underlying the argument against quantitative methods is a rejection of abstraction and a dichotomization of methodologies, both of which are inconsistent with feminist insights. We call for a reconstruction of methodology that transforms both quantitative and qualitative techniques in ways informed by feminist epistemology and builds research agendas that integrate both approaches. Her main research interests are in the development of social measures of gender and in the study of the impact of gender and class on consciousness. Her research concerns medical knowledge, social organization, and the health and well-being of women.