The social structure of social problems in New York state

A comparative study of the 52 upstate New York counties replicated a previous state level study that did a principal components analysis of social problems and attempted to predict them by aspects of social structure. In the New York counties the percent Democrat predicted various welfare measures. Population density predicted health and crime problems, and affluence. When population density was controlled, affluence related only to crimes of property. Contrasting with the state study, political competitiveness (per cent voting) was related to few variables.     

Why Rights are Never Enough: rights, intellectual disability and understanding

In order to address obvious inequities, rights have been utilised to provide the 'basic' material needs for many groups. Whilst this brings some groups/individuals up to a perceived minimum standard, it unfortunately fails to address the misunderstandings from which the inequities originally stemmed. Via a sociological and philosophical exploration of rights-based strategies relating to intellectual disability, the purpose of this paper is to provide a fuller exploration of the issues surrounding this problem, and to suggest some fruitful alternatives. These alternatives will be concerned specifically with a broadening of rights to facilitate understanding, rather than simple 'protection' from harm and/or the provision of material needs.     

Structural Change in MLB Competitive Balance: The Depression, Team Location, and Integration

No detectable break points in within-season competitive balance (1901–99) occur after 1937 in the National League or after 1962 in the American League, despite expansion, free agency, and the growth of local TV revenue disparity since then. Instead, a continual improvement in competitive balance has occurred since those years. Associated with break points prior to these years, (1) the AL emerged from the depression much more unbalanced than the NL, (2) team movement and league expansion alter balance in well-known ways, and (3) discriminatory preferences were stronger in larger-revenue markets than in smaller-revenue markets in both leagues.     

Towards an Affirmation Model of Disability

In this paper we argue that a new model of disability is emerging within the literature by disabled people and within disability culture, expressed most clearly by the Disability Arts Movement. For the purposes of discussion we call it the affirmative model. It is essentially a non-tragic view of disability and impairment which encompasses positive social identities, both individual and collective, for disabled people grounded in the benefits of lifestyle and life experience of being impaired and disabled. This view has arisen in direct opposition to the dominant personal tragedy model of disability and impairment, and builds on the liberatory imperative of the social model. Critiques of the latter have been consistently expressed as, or interpreted as, re-affirmations of personal tragedy, particularly in relation to impairment. In this analysis the affirmation model addresses the limitations of the social model through the realisation of positive identity encompassing impairment, as well as disability.     

The Reflecting Team Process In Training

The process of evolution of a reflecting team in live supervision sessions is discussed. Theoretical ramifications for systemic training of systemic family therapy are explored and feedback from trainer, trainees and client families about the use of the reflecting team is presented.     

An expert system for statistical consulting

The authors have developed an expert system for the analysis of variance to provide guidance to the data analyst on preparing data, selecting statistical methods and choosing computer programs. This system queries the user on the type of data, sampling method and design considerations. It then suggests an appropriate analysis of variance routine and statistical package. The system provides help in understanding the computer output and with model evaluation. The primary user is a scientist with some knowledge of statistics. This system gives the user easy access to statistical expertise and frees the consultant from some important but routine tasks. It may also be a tool to train users and statistical consultants. A significant benefit of this exercise was an increased understanding of the statistical strategies used by consultants and the complexity of the statistical consulting process between humans. This paper will focus on the problem formulation, acquisition of the knowledge base, the model structure and educational benefits.     

A characterization of nonnegative-definite independence distribution-preserving covariance structures for the maximum squared-radii statistic

The multivariate maximum squared-radii (MMSR) statistic is commonly used to detect multivariate outliers. We characterize the general form of the nonnegative-definite observation covariance structure for which the distribution of the MMSR statistic is the sameas the distribution resulting from the usual independence covariance structure. Thus, we extend the work of Young, Seaman, and Meaux (1992), who have characterized the general form of the positive-definite independence-distribution-preserving (IDP) dependency structure for the MMSR statistic. We also improve upon the results of Younget al (1992) in that we give a more complete and simple proof of the characterization of the general positive-definite IDP covariance structure for the MMSR statistic.