Determination of sex with a discriminant analysis of new pelvic bone measurements: Part II

The pelves of 100 white skeletons were measured on both sides for the following: (1) length from the superiormost aspect of the pubic symphysis to the nearest rim of the acetabulum (PS-A), (2) length from the highest point of the pubic tubercle to the nearest rim of the acetabulum (PT-A), (3) acetabular diameter (AD), (4) the vertical distance from the anterior aspect of the ischial tuberosity to the farthest rim of the acetabulum (IT-A), and (5) greatest femur head diameter. From these, three indices were derived: AD/PS-A (acetabulum/pubis index), AD/PT-A (acetabular diameter/pubic tubercle-acetabular rim index), and IT-A/PS-A (ischium-acetabulum height/pubic symphysis-acetabular rim index). The left AD/PS-A ratio and left IT-A height proved statistically to be of greatest discriminating value. Using these two variables, a discriminant function was derived which correctly separated 98% of our sample. The acetabulum/pubis ratio alone correctly assigned 95%. With either the discriminant function analysis of two variables or the acetabulum/pubis index as a single predictor, 97% of our sample of known sex was correctly identified if all specimens that fell within a doubtful or overlapping range of values were sorted by femur head diameter.     

ASSESSING AGE AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERCEIVED RISK AND FEAR OF CRIME*

Much of the research on fear of crime indicates that women and older persons are highly afraid of crime. These findings, especially older persons' fear of crime, are widely communicated in the scientific and popular media. This study examines age and gender differences in perceived risk and fear of crime. The data are from telephone interviews of 320 randomly selected residents in a southeastern metropolitan area of the United States. The relationships of age and gender to fear of crime are compared using a National Crime Survey (NCS) measure of fear of crime and 11 alternative indicators of fear of specific offenses. Women reported signifcantly greater perceived risk and fear of crime than men regardless of how fear of crime was measured and older adults reported the greatest fear of crime when the NCS measure was used. but not when the alternative individual measures of fear of crime were used. A LISREL model with latent constructs for fear of personal crime and fear of property crime also indicates that older adults do not have higher levels of fear of crime. In short, the extent of fear in the everyday lives of most older persons has been overestimated in many previous studies because of measurement problems.     

Using factions to estimate preference intensity: Improving upon one person/one vote

In many elections, individuals are given two alternatives and are asked to indicate which of the two they prefer. These votes are then tabulated using one person/one vote and the alternative with the most votes becomes the public choice. Can we improve upon this system? If we change the election system and get more information on voter preference intensities, there are a number of better systems: demand revelation schemes, logrolling, Borda Voting etc. But suppose we can't change the way in which voters cast their ballots; suppose we are only allowed to change the way in which votes are tabulated. Is there a better system? Generally there is one extra bit of information — usually considered incidental — which comes with an individual's vote: his voting address. But voting address tells us something about the interest groups to which the individual may belong. As this paper shows, we can use this information to devise a better way of tabulating votes. This new system generally gives individuals from moderately cohesive voting regions more voting weight than individuals from either mildly cohesive or highly cohesive voting regions.     

Uncertainty of determining cause of death in a medicolegal material without autopsy. An autopsy study

In constrast to other studies, this investigation was made on cases of medicolegal deaths that would not normally be autopsied. 223 females and 322 males, whose deaths were found to be natural before as well as after autopsy, were studied. The cause of death was estimated by external medicolegal examination, and after autopsy.In 79 females and 109 males, i.e. 35% and 34% respectively, estimated cause of death was found to be different after the autopsy. This was mostly because ischaemic heart disease as a cause of death was overestimated at the external medicolegal examination. No constant relationship between differing causes of death and age group could be demonstrated. Underdiagnoses and overdiagnoses tended to outweigh each other. Pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, cor pulmonale and aortic stenosis were clearly underestimated before autopsy. In addition, a variety of diseases that were not even mentioned at the medicolegal examination was found (subarachnoid haemorrhage, uraemia, perforated and bleeding gastric ulcers, tuberculosis).The same unreliability in the estimated cause of death therefore exists among cases not normally autopsied as found in retrospective studies of cases where autopsy is performed under all circumstances at the request of the police.False information will thus be given to the mortality statistics among the approximately 5000 cases of medicolegal deaths not autopsied in Denmark per year, most of these being natural deaths. Besides, contagious and inherited diseases could be overlooked, relatives given false information and the value of scientific studies in causes of death diminished.The conclusion is that autopsy is still essential to ensure continuous control and correction of causes of death.     

Work and growth: A review of research on the impact of work experience on adolescent development

Work has not been extensively studied as a context for adolescent development, even though increased work experience has been widely recommended as a means of improving the transition of adolescents to adulthood. Studies of the impact of work experience on adolescent socialization, defined broadly, suggest that work has beneficial results that persist over time. Developmental theorists and critics of conventional patterns of workplace organization remind us, however, that current knowledge is inadequate to specify optimal types and amounts of work experience for adolescents. Studies of narrower outcomes of work experience — career knowledge and plans, job-related attitudes, behavior, and skills — are less persuasive. An ecological strategy is recommended for future research. Such research should consider the varying effects of different kinds of work experience on different adolescents and should seek those effects in settings other than the workplace and over long periods.Received his Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1975. Main interests are the transition of adolescents to adulthood and the development and evaluation of programs to ease that transition.Main interests are the interaction between families and human development, especially the effects of work.