Attitude Toward Menopause and the Impact of the Menopausal Event on Adult Women with Diabetes Mellitus

Menopause is an event experienced universally by all women including women with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the menopausal stage on the health and psychological adjustment to illness among women who have diabetes mellitus. The results of this study represent a beginning in the understanding of the impact of the menopausal event on chronically ill adult women.     

Spatio-Temporal Modeling of Residential Sales Data

This article focuses on the location, time, and spatio-temporal components associated with suitably aggregated data to improve prediction of individual asset values. Such effects are introduced in the context of hierarchical models, which we find more natural than attempting to model covariance structure. Indeed, our cross-sectional database, a sample of 7,936 transactions for 49 subdivisions over a 10-year period in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, precludes covariance modeling. A wide range of models arises, each fitted using sampling-based methods because likelihood-based fitting may not be possible. Choosing among an array of nonnested models is carried out using a posterior predictive criterion. In addition, one year of data is held out for model validation. A thorough analysis of the data incorporating all of the aforementioned issues is presented.     

A State Space Approach to Extracting the Signal From Uncertain Data

Most macroeconomic data are uncertain—they are estimates rather than perfect measures of underlying economic variables. One symptom of that uncertainty is the propensity of statistical agencies to revise their estimates in the light of new information or methodological advances. This paper sets out an approach for extracting the signal from uncertain data. It describes a two-step estimation procedure in which the history of past revisions is first used to estimate the parameters of a measurement equation describing the official published estimates. These parameters are then imposed in a maximum likelihood estimation of a state space model for the macroeconomic variable.     

Multicultural Content in Social Work Graduate Programs

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results of a national survey of Deans and Directors of graduate social work programs and of social work faculty responsible for teaching graduate-level multicultural courses. The findings indicate the use of a combined infusion and designated course model is the most prominent in addressing the CSWE diversity curriculum content requirement. Although there is substantive content on traditionally oppressed minority populations, there is an increasing number of groups and topics under the banner of diversity. There is heavy reliance on traditional teaching methods and little consistency in the educational resources used to teach the courses. The demographic composition and perceptions of social work faculty who teach multicultural courses are reported. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Using the Residual White Noise Autoregressive Order Determination Criterion to Identify Unit Roots in Arima Models

We present a simplified form of a univariate identification approach for time series models based on the residual white noise autoregressive order determination criterion and linear estimation methods. We also show how the procedure can be used to identify the degree of differencing necessary to induce stationarity in data. The performance of this approach is also contrasted with Portmanteau tests for detection of white noise residuals and with Dickey-Fuller and Bayesian procedures for detection of unit roots. Simulated and economic data are used to demonstrate the capabilities of the modified approach.     

The Revitalization of Community Practice: Characteristics,Competencies, and Curricula for Community-Based Services

Abstract

A recent move toward community-based services on the part of direct service agencies presents a major opportunity for the revitalization of community practice. Driven by funding from major philanthropic foundations and also by recent changes in federal entitlement legislation, these efforts at system reform are designed to make services for vulnerable populations more effective, accessible, integrated, and comprehensive in the context of the local community. Although this service reorganization requires the type of methods typically found in community practice, direct service workers employed in these agencies usually have not been trained in community work. To begin to address this concern, this article uses a computerized word search to review the community practice and community organization literature. A working definition of “community-based” practice is developed. The extensive literature review yields six characteristics of community-based service delivery: (1) neighborhood-based and family-focused; (2) strengths- and empowerment-oriented; (3) cultural sensitivity and multi-cultural competency; (4) comprehensive services; (5) access to integrated services and supports; and (6) teamwork and leadership skills. The article reviews what scholars have recommended in each of these areas as a way of understanding the characteristics of community-based service delivery and the skills needed by direct practitioners working in community-based programs. The article summarizes innovative curricula and specific courses which demonstrate ways of teaching community skills to direct practice workers. Future work for community practice scholars and educators is recommended.     

Poverty,social disadvantage,and the black/white placement gap

In this paper, we examine whether county-level measures of poverty and social disadvantage are correlated with county-level variation in the black/white foster care placement gap. The black/white placement gap refers to the fact that when the rate of placement into foster care for black children is compared to the rate for white children living in the same area, the black placement rate is almost always higher than the rate for whites. Although differential exposure to poverty is often used to explain why the placement gap is so large, the problem has rarely been studied. Using Poisson event count models, we find that poverty, measured at the county ecological level, is associated with a narrower gap rather than a wider gap. The counterintuitive finding is due to the fact that the relationship between poverty and placement rates depends on race.     

Statistical analysis of the usage of a computer system

This paper is concerned with an empirical investigation of a common and important type of computer system and usage in business applications, viz., querying, updating and modifying a large database. Specifically, it describes the analysis of data collected from such an application and addresses two issues. Firstly, it assesses the applicability of statistical assumptions that underlie certain widely-used queueing theory models for computer systems usage. Secondly, it investigates measures of usage, as well as relationships among them, that may serve as appropriate bases for a pricing scheme for usage of computer systems of the type considered here.     

Lagrance-multiplier tersts for weak exogeneity: a synthesis

This paper unifies two seemingly separate approaches to test weak exogeneity in dynamic regression models with Lagrange-mulptiplier statistics. The first class of tests focuses on the orthogonality between innovations and conditioning variables, and thus is related to the Durbin-Wu-Hausman specification test. The second approach has been developed more recently in the context of context of cointegration and error correction models, ad concentrates on the question whether the conditioning variables display error correction behaviour. It is shown that the vital difference between the two approaches stems from the choice of the parmeters of interest. A new test is derived, which encompasses both its predecessors. The test is applied to an error correction model of the demand for money in Switzerland.     

Alternative approaches to testing non-nested models with autocorrelated disturbances

Since departures from the classical assumptions regarding the disturbances in a linear tegression model arise frequently in empirical application, deveral computationally Straightforward procedutes are presented in this paper for testiog non-nested models when the disturbances of these models follow first- or higher-order autoregressive processes. Anempirical example is used to illustrate how the procedures may be used to test competing Keynesian and New Classical non-nested models of unemployment for the U.S using annual time series data for 1955-85.