Remembering the lizard: reconstructing sexuality in the rooms of narcotics anonymous

The crack epidemic was devastating to poor American communities in part because of the destruction wrought by the system of exchanging sex for drugs, which was a key feature of the crack-use culture. Sex-for-drugs exchanges were often conducted under unsafe circumstances and were linked to the spread of AIDS and other STDs, as well as unplanned pregnancies. The existence of this alternative system of sexual relationships threatened the economic viability of established commercial sex work and undermined the status and power of women. Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings helped men and women recover from crack addiction through a well-described 12-step process. Described as the rooms, these time- and space-specific encounters helped people become sober in the context of neighborhoods that were centers of the drug trade. Because of the key role of sex in the crack culture, transformation of sexual relationships was essential to establishing and maintaining sobriety. The manner in which the rooms of NA influence the sexuality and lifeworld of addicted people is explored using Barker's theory of ecological psychology.     

eHealth recruitment challenges

Little is known about effective eHealth recruitment methods. This paper presents recruitment challenges associated with enrolling African-American girls aged 8–10 years in an eHealth obesity prevention program, their effect on the recruitment plan, and potential implications for eHealth research.Although the initial recruitment strategy was literature-informed, it failed to enroll the desired number of girls within a reasonable time period. Therefore, the recruitment strategy was reformulated to incorporate principles of social marketing and traditional marketing techniques. The resulting plan included both targeted, highly specific strategies (e.g., selected churches), and more broad-based approaches (e.g., media exposure, mass mailings, radio advertisements).The revised plan enabled recruitment goals to be attained. Media appeared to be particularly effective at reaching the intended audience. Future research should identify the most effective recruitment strategies for reaching potential eHealth audiences.     

Dosage-response analysis for a semi-quantal response derived from an aqueous biological assay

This paper is concerned with the interpretation of semi-quantal or graded responses in biological assay. On the basis of a model by which the various response categories represent contiguous intervals on an underlying quantitative scale reflecting time to death, a method of analysis for semi-quantal data is put forward. The results are illustrated by an aqueous assay designed to assess the toxicity of an effluent. It is confirmed that the proposed method of analysis leads to more precise estimates of the dosage-response relation than the alternative quantal response analysis of each response threshold.     

A bivariate normal example where the locally most powerful and distantly most powerful test statistics are beaten everywhere from a median p-value standpoint

In the bivariate normal, n=2 case, when testing H₀:μ_x=μ_y=0,σ² _x=σ² _y=1, ρ=0 vs. H₁:μ_x=μ_y=0,σ² _x=σ² _y=1, 0<ρ<1, it is shown that the median p-values given by the locally most powerful test and the distantly most powerful test are both beaten everywhere by the median of a third test.