September 15, 1987

LEAD: After tumbling last year to their lowest levels since the Great Depression, the prices of industrial commodities such as silver, lead, cotton and rubber have been rising steadily this year, spawning new hope in the many countries that depend on sales of raw materials.

LEAD: In a musing on mortality brought about in part by his recent stroke, Mayor Koch said in a television interview that he had begun preparations for his funeral and had even composed an epitaph:

LEAD: Ron Wastowski, county air pollution inspector, took notes while his Deep Nose on Tremley Point Road described a new suspicious stink. ''I haven't called in quite awhile, and we've had a few smells,'' said Deep Nose, a retired laborer. ''To me, it's a waste solvent smell, a mixture of smells all combined into one - I think it's the sewage plant.

LEAD: PSYCHOLOGISTS, admittedly chagrined and a little embarrassed, are belatedly focusing on shame, a prevalent and powerful emotion that somehow escaped rigorous scientific examination until now.

LEAD: U.N. Chief Meets Iraqis