Comparing developmental outcomes for children in care with those for other children in Canada

This study assessed the test–retest reliability and convergent validity of single items from the Assessment and Action Record (AAR), from Looking After Children (Ward, 1995). It also compared developmental outcomes of 43 children cared for by a Canadian child welfare agency and those of an approximate comparison group of 1,600 children from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (Statistics Canada, 1995). High and low reliability and validity were found for different AAR items. The children in care had worse outcomes than the comparison children on indicators of educational success and negative behaviour, but not on measures of identity, social and family relationships, or prosocial behaviour.     

A Significant Shift: A Pentadic Analysis of the Two Rhetorics of the Post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church Regarding Homosexuality

This paper argues that, since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), there has been a significant shift in the rhetorical stance of the Roman Catholic Church toward homosexuality in which the pre-council rhetoric, which condemned both act (i.e., homosexual behavior) and actor (i.e., the homosexual) has been replaced by two distinctly different rhetorics: a moral rhetoric, which continues the Church's long-standing condemnation of homosexual acts as sins, and a pastoral rhetoric, which argues that homosexuals should be ministered to and embraced. A Burkean pentadic analysis is used to define how the two rhetorics differ from each other and from the earlier rhetoric. The three major influences (i.e., Scripture, Tradition, and Catholic theology/philosophy) that have shaped, and continue to shape, the Church's position regarding homosexuality are described. Some of the socio-political implications of this shift are emphasized.     

Circuit optimization via sequential computer experiments: design of an output buffer

In electrical engineering, circuit designs are now often optimized via circuit simulation computer models. Typically, many response variables characterize the circuit's performance. Each response is a function of many input variables, including factors that can be set in the engineering design and noise factors representing manufacturing conditions. We describe a modelling approach which is appropriate for the simulator's deterministic input–output relationships. Non-linearities and interactions are identified without explicit assumptions about the functional form. These models lead to predictors to guide the reduction of the ranges of the designable factors in a sequence of experiments. Ultimately, the predictors are used to optimize the engineering design. We also show how a visualization of the fitted relationships facilitates an understanding of the engineering trade-offs between responses. The example used to demonstrate these methods, the design of a buffer circuit, has multiple targets for the responses, representing different trade-offs between the key performance measures.     

Population growth and the changing ecosystem in Mindanao

Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines. Once considered the greenest spot on earth, it has since been highly exploited. This paper discusses the changing ecosystem of the island as a result of rapid population growth since the early 1900s. Not much is known about Mindanao before 1900. From 1913, however, population grew on Mindanao as the American colonial government established agricultural colonies to open up the south for trade and development. Colonial settlement together with migration and natural population increase led to environmental resource degradation and the displacement of indigenous communities such as the Moros and Lumads. Legal and illegal logging and rampant kaingin agriculture have also stressed the environment. The opening of the Mindanao frontier, Philippine development, the Great Migration, incursion of the Mindanao upland, deforestation, the displacement of indigenous communities, and the possible maintenance and rehabilitation of the ecosystem are discussed.     

Rethinking assimilation theory for a new era of immigration

"We argue that assimilation theory has not lost its utility for the study of contemporary immigration to the United States. In making our case, we review critically the canonical account of assimilation provided by Milton Gordon and others; we refer to Shibutani and Kwan's theory of ethnic stratification to suggest some directions to take in reformulating assimilation theory. We also examine some of the arguments frequently made to distinguish between the earlier mass immigration of Europeans and the immigration of the contemporary era and find them to be inconclusive. Finally, we sift through some of the evidence about the socioeconomic and residential assimilation of recent immigrant groups. Though the record is clearly mixed, we find evidence consistent with the view that assimilation is taking place, albeit unevenly."     

"How much do you spend gambling?" ambiguities in survey questionnaire items

The validity of a survey's findings is dependent upon the clarity and lack of ambiguity contained in each individual item yet minimal attention has been directed to this issue in most prevalence studies. Researchers have shown a tendency to accept the uncritical assumption that respondents interpret seemingly simple and straightforward items such as 'how much do you spend gambling?' in a consistent manner. No attempt is made to confirm the uniformity of responses by clarifying the mathematical formulae used by respondents to derive their answers. The purpose of this paper was to examine the consistency shown by a sample of 181 medical undergraduate subjects in estimating the level of gambling expenditure in a series of five case vignettes describing various scenarios of wins and losses during a session of gambling. Results revealed a wide variation in calculated figures depending upon whether or not subjects interpreted the item to mean net expenditure or turnover. Only two thirds or less of subjects calculated the figure to be the difference between the initial amount risked and the residual at the conclusion of the session. It is suggested that more attention be paid in prevalence and clinical studies to providing subjects with clear instructions on how to calculate expenditure estimates.     

Long-term marriages: A critical review

Research guidelines are proposed for the study of long-term marriages based on a critical review of existing studies. Current problems in the collection and analysis of the data include the lack of agreement about the minimum length of a long-term relationship, the failure to make couple comparisons, or to follow samples longitudinally. In addition, the response rate is uniformly low and the variables studied are not consistent. Future research should gather data about couples, not just individuals, and should utilize standardized measures. It is important to begin to build a comprehensive and comparable data base of long-term marital relationships.     

Geographical mobility of manpower in the USSR

"The Soviet Union is experiencing a substantial reduction in the growth of its working-age population, accompanied by a shift in the distributional pattern of population growth, with the largest increases occurring in regions where geographical mobility is low. After describing the types and scales of manpower migration in the USSR, the [authors discuss] the means used to encourage workers to move to the sparsely populated developing regions and away from large cities. This is achieved primarily through incentives, with wage differentials decreasing in importance compared with incentives bearing on the quality of life; restrictive measures have a purely corrective function."