Presents the 1997 U.S. Periodical Price Index sponsored by the Library Materials Price Index Committee of the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association. Finds that the average price increased 9.9%, .9% below 1996's rate. Includes seven tables, a chart, and a summary sheet. (PEN)

META-RAND, a Statistical Analysis System macro that generates random values used for calculating correlations in a meta analysis, is described. Output consists of uncorrected and corrected mean and variances of "r" and several measures of the degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity in the data. (SLD)

Fully and partially ranked data arise in a variety of contexts. From a Bayesian perspective, attention has focused on distance-based models; in particular, the Mallows model and extensions thereof. In this paper, a class of prior distributions, the "Binary Tree," is developed on the symmetric group. The attractive features of the class are: it…

This paper reports on studies of the deterministic and stochastic behaviours of a predator-prey system with prey-dependent response function. The first part of the paper deals with the deterministic analysis of uniform boundedness, permanence, stability and bifurcation. In the second part the reproductive and mortality factors of the prey and…

This article describes a simple way to explain the limitations of statistics to scientists and students to avoid the publication of misleading conclusions. Biologists examine their results extremely critically and carefully choose the appropriate analytic methods depending on their scientific objectives. However, no such close attention is usually…

Longitudinal data analyses can be usefully supplemented by the plotting of individual growth curves. Unfortunately, such graphics can be challenging and tedious to produce. This article presents and demonstrates a SAS macro designed to automate this task. The OLStraj macro graphically depicts ordinary least squares (OLS)-estimated individual…

Expanding the availability of long-term care (LTC) services and making them more responsive to consumer preferences is an important goal, particularly for elderly people living in rural areas who tend to be older and have greater functional limitations but less access to the range of LTC options available in metropolitan areas. One option that…

The maximum and minimum of a sample from a probability distribution are extremely important random variables in many areas of psychological theory, methodology, and statistics. For instance, the behavior of the mean of the maximum or minimum processing time, as a function of the number of component random processing times ("n"), has been studied…

Quite often in data reduction, it is more meaningful and economical to select a subset of variables instead of reducing the dimensionality of the variable space with principal components analysis. The authors present a neglected method for variable selection called the BI-method (R. P. Bhargava & T. Ishizuka, 1981). It is a direct, simple method…

Environmental ethics examines the relationship between human beings and nature from the moral perspective. It is also a kind of ethics arising from a concern with an earth which is on the verge of losing balance. Environmental ethics originated at the end of the 1940s. Since the 1970s, great progress has been made in environmental ethics. This…

The number of Hispanic students in the nation's public schools nearly doubled from 1990 to 2006, accounting for 60% of the total growth in public school enrollments over that period. Strong growth in Hispanic enrollment is expected to continue for decades, according to population projection by the U.S. Census Bureau. Using data from the 2006…

This article describes an action research at an alternative high school which explores drop-out prevention strategies with first-year students. Student retention is extremely challenging for alternative schools. Because their mission is to provide a second chance to students who could not succeed in a regular setting, those schools regularly must…

Engineering has played an important role in Scotland's industrial history. Over the years, the skills requirements of industry have changed as the technology has progressed and the industrial base of the country has developed. Over the past decade, there have been substantial changes in the employment opportunities for people with engineering…

This article examines the sociocognitive processes contributing to intention to use contraception and willingness to engage in unsafe sex, using extended versions of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the Prototype/Willingness model (Gibbons & Gerrard, 1995, 1997). Data were obtained from a questionnaire delivered to all the pupils in…

This article provides a brief review of recent developments and problems in adult training of the employed and unemployed in Bulgaria. It is presented in three parts: information on legislation and the institutions; information on current problems with vocational training of the employed and unemployed; and some future measures for improving…