Out of the Closet and into the Classroom: A Survey of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Educators' Classroom Strategies and Experiences in Colleges and Universities

Higher education has made great progress in creating open classroom and organizational environments for diverse populations. However, little research has been published on the experiences of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB) in college and university classrooms. The primary purpose of this study is to identify the strategies used by LGB educators to incorporate LGB issues, concerns, and experiences into college and university classrooms. To provide a context for these efforts, the secondary purpose of this study is to examine educators' experiences as LGBs in the classroom and within higher education in general. Toward these ends, the study presents the results of a survey that examined specific classroom strategies used by LGB educators and administrators and their experiences in the classroom and within departments in college and university settings. The survey revealed that LGBs are actively working to enhance classroom environments through a variety of empowerment strategies; they also encounter positive experiences within the classroom and within academic organizations as a whole.     

Social Capital,Place Meanings,and Perceived Resilience to Climate Change*

This research analyzes individuals' perceived resilience to changing climatic conditions. Specifically, we suggest individual resilience is composed of an awareness of localized risks created because of climate change, a willingness to learn about, and plan for, the potential impacts of altered environmental conditions, and general appraisals of personal adaptive capacities. We hypothesize that resilience is influenced by the characteristics of individuals' social networks and also by their social-psychological dependence on local environments. Using data collected in three resource-associated communities within the southeastern United States, our analysis suggests bonding ties may limit individuals' willingness to seek new information about the potential impacts of climate change. Conversely, the data suggest the use of a diverse array of bridging ties is positively associated with information-seeking behavior. The data also support our hypothesis that individuals' social psychological dependencies on the local environment influences their perceived resilience to changing climatic conditions. By gaining a clearer understanding of how individuals' social networks and social-psychological dependencies affect their perceived ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions, decision makers can focus on policy solutions that increase adaptive capacities and build social resilience.     

A. S. A. Programs

Arranged for the 25th Session of the INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL INSTITUTE     

The management of development— The next decade

In this article the author argues that the last decade of development has proved to be a myth. He suggests that the poor countries have probably been exploited during this period. He believes that ‘aid’ programmes have badly misfired. However he is constructively critical and puts forward guidelines for planning and action. While he acknowledges that the task is huge he believes that we have the potential, given the desire to achieve success.     

A Bayesian approach for improved pavement performance prediction

We present a method for predicting future pavement distresses such as longitudinal cracking. These predicted distress values are used to plan road repairs. Large inherent variability in measured cracking and an extremely small number of observations are the nature of the pavement cracking data, which calls for a parametric Bayesian approach. We model theoretical pavement distress with a sigmoidal equation with coefficients based on prior engineering knowledge. We show that a Bayesian formulation akin to Kalman filtering gives sensible predictions and provides defendable uncertainty statements for predictions. The method is demonstrated on data collected by the Texas Transportation Institute at several sites in Texas. The predictions behave in a reasonable and statistically valid manner.     

Efficiency of Betting Markets and Rationality of Players: Evidence from the French 6/49 Lotto

We analyse the existence of preferred numbers on the French Lotto market and prove that this market is not strongly efficient in the sense of Thaler & Ziemba (1988). The preference for low numbers is investigated by means of stochastic dominance tests. The specific features of the French Lotto game allow us to build a simple estimate of the probability distribution of numbers actually played. The results are compared with the (highly time-consuming) maximum likelihood estimator used by Farrell et al. (2000). It is shown that the two methods give very close results. Our conclusions stress the perspectives of this study in various domains.     

Mother–Infant Person‐ and Object‐Directed Interactions in Latino Immigrant Families: A Comparative Approach

Cultural variation in durations, relations, and contingencies of mother–infant person‐and object‐directed behaviors were examined for 121 nonmigrant Latino mother–infant dyads in South America, Latina immigrants from South America and their infants living in the United States, and European American mother–infant dyads. Nonmigrant Latina mothers and infants engaged in person‐directed behaviors longer than Latino immigrant or European American mothers and infants. Mother and infant person‐directed behaviors were positively related; mother and infant object‐related behaviors were related for some cultural groups but not others. Nearly all mother and infant behaviors were mutually contingent. Mothers were more responsive to infants' behaviors than infants were to mothers. Some cultural differences in responsiveness emerged. Immigrant status has a differentiated role in mother–infant interactions.     

Regulating Under Uncertainty: Newsboy for Exposure Limits

Setting action levels or limits for health protection is complicated by uncertainty in the dose-response relation across a range of hazards and exposures. To address this issue, we consider the classic newsboy problem. The principles used to manage uncertainty for that case are applied to two stylized exposure examples, one for high dose and high dose rate radiation and the other for ammonia. Both incorporate expert judgment on uncertainty quantification in the dose-response relationship. The mathematical technique of probabilistic inversion also plays a key role. We propose a coupled approach, whereby scientists quantify the dose-response uncertainty using techniques such as structured expert judgment with performance weights and probabilistic inversion, and stakeholders quantify associated loss rates.