A Graphical Representation for Non-Parametric Inference

A method is described for determining the sample size required for a specified precision simultaneous confidence statement about the parameters of a multinomial population. The method is based on a simultaneous confidence interval procedure due to Goodman, and the results are compared with those obtained by separately considering each cell of the multinomial population as a binomial.     

Estimation in multi-path change-point problems

The current literature deals with the change-point problem only in the context of the obser¬vation of a single sequence. In this paper, inference will be based on the observation of TV sequences of random variables, each sequence containing one change-point. This extension allows the effective use of bootstrap and empirical Bayes methods, both of which are not feasible in the single-path context. Two classes of these “multi-path” change-point problems are considered. If the change-point is assumed to occur at the the same position in each sequence, then the terminology “fixed-tau multi-path change-point” will be used. In other cases, one may expect the change-point to occur at random positions in each sequence, according to some distribution, a “random-tau multi-path change-point” problem. Examples and simulations are given.     

Student Participation in Decision-Making in Schools of Social Work

This paper discusses the concept of sociatrogenic dysfunctions—negative consequences resulting from the efforts of the social healer. This concept is applicable to all levels of social work practice —individual, group, organizational, and societal. Instances of sociatrogenic dysfunctions in psychotherapy, corrections, mental hospitals, dropout campaigns, and urban renewal are cited The possible occurrence of sociatrogenic dysfunctions challenges the notion that doing something is always better than doing nothing and emphasizes the necessity of critically evaluating the role of the social worker in change efforts. The implications for social work education and the importance of educating students to evaluate approaches to treatment are discussed.     

Bayesian modeling of temporal properties of infectious disease in a college student population

A Bayesian statistical model is developed for analysis of the time-evolving properties of infectious disease, with a particular focus on viruses. The model employs a latent semi-Markovian state process, and the state-transition statistics are driven by three terms: (i) a general time-evolving trend of the overall population, (ii) a semi-periodic term that accounts for effects caused by the days of the week, and (iii) a regression term that relates the probability of infection to covariates (here, specifically, to the Google Flu Trends data). Computations are performed using Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling. Results are presented using a novel data set: daily self-reported symptom scores from hundreds of Duke University undergraduate students, collected over three academic years. The illnesses associated with these students are (imperfectly) labeled using real-time (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing for several viruses, and gene-expression data were also analyzed. The statistical analysis is performed on the daily, self-reported symptom scores, and the RT PCR and gene-expression data are employed for analysis and interpretation of the model results.     

Occupational Level and the Love of Money

Abstract

As an alternative to the embourgeoisement hypothesis, Goldethorpe, et al., have advanced the notion that the modern working class is privatized in social relations and money-oriented in culture. The present paper addresses itself to this latter point of money-orientedness. Presenting data from a 1973 national survey, the findings support the idea that semi-skilled and unskilled workers place a greater emphasis on money than do other occupational levels. Differences in emphasis on the importance of money are not explained when income is used as a covariate. A part of these differences is explained by education. When both education and income are controlled, differences between occupational levels vanish except for the difference between the semiskilled/unskilled and all other levels. The findings tend to support Form's hypothesis of the ‘internal stratification of the working class” with increasing industrialization.     

Race and Reciprocity: Inter‐household Exchanges in a Multiracial Neighborhood

This study investigates the degree to which African‐American households are socially integrated into a multiracial, middle‐class suburban neighborhood near Dallas, Texas. Although U.S. neighborhoods are becoming increasingly heterogeneous in composition, little is known about black households' participation in social and informational networks within multiracial middle‐class neighborhoods. Drawing on theories of the gift and social capital, we view neighborhoods in terms of complex patterns of inter‐household exchanges of material and symbolic goods. We predict that black‐led households will exchange at a lower rate with their neighbors than will other households and test this prediction using survey data collected from 119 households and from follow‐up interviews with eight black heads of household. Our main finding from the survey is that black households exchanged at a significantly lower rate than did other households, ceteris paribus. The follow‐up interviews found little evidence of black racial homophily in neighboring or of racism within the neighborhood. However, the low rate of black inter‐household exchanges may be partly explained by black head of households' personal experiences of racism outside the neighborhood and by a racially constituted disposition against borrowing from neighbors. We discuss implications of our findings for research on racial integration and segregation.