Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Information Dissemination by Health Care Professions

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the leading preventable intellectual and developmental disability. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption at any point during pregnancy. Findings of this study indicate that the information disseminated by health care professionals is not always in keeping with this understanding. Physicians and midwives appeared to be the least consistent in advocating to women that they abstain from alcohol consumption while pregnant. We explore ways in which social workers can support the medical profession to provide more consistent messaging of alcohol abstinence during pregnancy to lower the incidence of FASD.     

Cumulants of random sum distributions

Consider a random variable S being the sum of a number N of independent and identically distributed random variables X_j (j = 1, 2, ...) where the number N is itself a non-negative integer-valued random variable independent of the X_j An explicit expression of the r-th cumulant of S is given in terms of the cumulants of N and X_j, Asymptotic properties of the distribution of S are also discussed.     

Construction of the integrated model for practical career support to the professional athletes

Recently, along with the enhancement of the argument for career of athletes, many researchers who major in sports psychology focus mainly on athletic retirement, a coordination of transitions in sport or and outside sport, social support and professional assistance in career transition, in the context of the second career concerning to professional athletes in Japan. However, when it comes to career transition of professional athletes, it is necessary to consider "career" from the whole perspectives of human life. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the career transition of professional athletes by the way of questionnaire and interview survey, which is approached from the view point of industrial/organizational psychology. For this purpose, we implemented the interview survey to professional athletes in 2008. In addition, we carried out the investigation to professional football players (interview survey: 5 players, questionnaire survey: 102 players) in 2009. Consequently, three following findings were led in conclusion. (1)Career intervention to professional athletes should be performed before the turning point of the career (career transition). (2)It is important to assess the career intervention to professional athletes. (3)It is an important stance to watch the processes when professional athletes open up one's career by oneself.     

日本的司法制度改革和市民社会作用——解决纠纷的替代性程序和市民的司法参与

一、引言日本的司法制度改革是20世纪80年代以后,总括《有关司法制度应有状态的讨论》的形式进行的,是一种包括性、综合性的改革。改革的对象范围几乎涉及到司法制度的所有层面:不仅包括司法制度本身的改革,还包括法曹培养系统的改革(法科大学院、新的司法考试制度)和     

Out-of-Sample Forecast Tests Robust to the Choice of Window Size

This article proposes new methodologies for evaluating economic models’ out-of-sample forecasting performance that are robust to the choice of the estimation window size. The methodologies involve evaluating the predictive ability of forecasting models over a wide range of window sizes. The study shows that the tests proposed in the literature may lack the power to detect predictive ability and might be subject to data snooping across different window sizes if used repeatedly. An empirical application shows the usefulness of the methodologies for evaluating exchange rate models’ forecasting ability.     

In-Sample or Out-of-Sample Tests of Predictability: Which One Should We Use?

It is widely known that significant in-sample evidence of predictability does not guarantee significant out-of-sample predictability. This is often interpreted as an indication that in-sample evidence is likely to be spurious and should be discounted. In this paper, we question this interpretation. Our analysis shows that neither data mining nor dynamic misspecification of the model under the null nor unmodelled structural change under the null are plausible explanations of the observed tendency of in-sample tests to reject the no-predictability null more often than out-of-sample tests. We provide an alternative explanation based on the higher power of in-sample tests of predictability in many situations. We conclude that results of in-sample tests of predictability will typically be more credible than results of out-of-sample tests.     

The Relationship of Social Support to African American Caregivers' Help-Seeking for Emotional Problems

This study analyzes whether social support serves as a link to or substitute for formal services among African American female caregivers seeking help with emotional problems. It also analyzes other determinants of help-seeking. It relies on data from the Black Rural and Urban Caregivers Mental Health and Functioning Study and is guided by a modified version of the behavioral model of health services use. Using hierarchical binary logistic regression, analyses reveal that only age, stress, and support from fellow church members are statistically significantly associated with the likelihood of help-seeking. These results support the linking hypothesis, suggesting that the social support received by African American women caregivers in the context of their religious organizations helps to link them to services.