The importance of preservation of the ethical principle of equipoise in the design of clinical trials: relative impact of the methodological quality domains on the treatment effect in randomized controlled trials

Previous research has identified methodological problems in the design and conduct of randomized trials that could, if left unaddressed, lead to biased results. In this report we discuss one such problem, inadequate control intervention, and argue that it can be by far the most important design characteristic of randomized trials in overestimating the effect of new treatments. Current guidelines for the design and reporting of randomized trials, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement, do not address the choice of the comparator intervention. We argue that an adequate control intervention can be selected if people designing a trial explicitly take into consideration the ethical principle of equipoise, also known as "the uncertainty principle."     

Dimensions of Family Conflict and Their Influence on Child and Adolescent Adjustment

Using the first (1987-1988) and second (1992-1994) waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines the concurrent and longitudinal influences of interparental conflict and parent-child conflict on child and adolescent adjustment. Analyses focus on 542 intact families, each with a randomly selected focal child aged 5 to 11 at time 1 and aged 10 to 17 at time 2. Results indicate that both parent-child and parent-adolescent conflict are critical predictors of children's and adolescents'socioemotional adjustment. Interparental conflict, by contrast, is less important for adjustment in middle and late childhood as well as in adolescence. The findings extend previous research by suggesting that the salience and threat of interparental conflict subside as children make the transition into adolescence.     

The Disneyization of Society

This article proposes the idea of Disneyization as a complementary notion to McDonaldization. Disneyization is depicted as a process by which the principles of the Disney theme parks dominate more and more sectors of society. It is presented as comprising four aspects: theming, dedifferentiation of consumption, merchandising, and emotional labour. The empirical manifestations of these attributes are outlined. The roots of Disneyization in theories of consumerism and consumer culture are examined and are contrasted with the grounding of McDonaldization in the idea of rationalization. Some of the theoretical implications of the contrasts between Disneyization and McDonaldization are presented.     

Who Lives Near Coke Plants and Oil Refineries? An Exploration of the Environmental Inequity Hypothesis

Facility-specific information on pollution was obtained for 36 coke plants and 46 oil refineries in the United States and matched with information on populations surrounding these 82 facilities. These data were analyzed to determine whether environmental inequities were present, whether they were more economic or racial in nature, and whether the racial composition of nearby communities has changed significantly since plants began operations.The Census tracts near coke plants have a disproportionate share of poor and nonwhite residents. Multivariate analyses suggest that existing inequities are primarily economic in nature. The findings for oil refineries are not strongly supportive of the environmental inequity hypothesis. Rank ordering of facilities by race, poverty, and pollution produces limited (although not consistent) evidence that the more risky facilities tend to be operating in communities with above-median proportions of nonwhite residents (near coke plants) and Hispanic residents (near oil refineries). Over time, the racial makeup of many communities near facilities has changed significantly, particularly in the case of coke plants sited in the early 1900s. Further risk-oriented studies of multiple manufacturing facilities in various industrial sectors of the economy are recommended.The authors are all affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis     

Adventure as Character Work: The Collective Taming of Fear

It is ultimately through experience that character is formulated and made evident. From an ethnographic examination of an adventure program (Ropes Adventure, Inc.) that attempts to mold the identity of adolescents who have been detained for minor felonies and misdemeanors, we examine how personal challenge can be channeled into moral messages. By evoking and then taming fear (adventure), organizations demonstrate the power of personal accomplishment, trust, and cooperation—each socially legitimated moral virtues. We argue that character building efforts may be hampered when organizational aims and actual implementation of structured adventure collide.     

Bootstrapping data with multiple levels of variation

The authors consider general estimators for the mean and variance parameters in the random effect model and in the transformation model for data with multiple levels of variation. They show that these estimators have different distributions under the two models unless all the variables have Gaussian distributions. They investigate the asymptotic properties of bootstrap procedures designed for the two models. They also report simulation results and illustrate the bootstraps using data on red spruce trees.