A Push Toward Equality: Processes Among Dual‐Career Newlywed Couples in Collectivist Culture

This study examines gender construction among dual‐career newlywed couples in a collectivist culture. A qualitative analysis of in‐depth interviews with 20 heterosexual Singaporean couples reveals aspects of the collectivist norms (e.g., doing family, we‐consciousness, marrying one's equal) that are favorable toward the development of gender equality. Additionally, as couples respond to the political and social pulls of economic development, they begin to organize their relationship around both careers. Incorporating egalitarian values becomes a pragmatic move carried out through five direct processes: (a) career as central to the relationship, (b) flexible allocation of household duties, (c) open dialogue regarding conflict, (d) equal say in decision making, and (e) internal self‐reflection. Implications for future research are addressed.     

Occupational rehabilitation services provided by a community workers health centre in Hong Kong: a case study

Ergonomics is commonly known as "the scientific study of human work" [14, p. 3] and "the application of scientific information concerning human beings to the design of objects, systems, and environments" (p. 4). The American Occupational Therapy Association defines occupational therapy as "skilled treatment that helps individuals achieve independence in all facets of their lives. It gives people the 'skills for the job of living' necessary for independent and satisfying lives [1]." Both professions share common backgrounds. Occupational therapy has been involved in health care and ergonomics is looking for its place in the health care field.     

The unique effects of environmental strategies in health promotion campaigns: a review

Various strategies are used as tools in health promotion campaigns to increase health-related outcomes among target populations. Evaluations of these campaigns examine effects on changing people's knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors. Most evaluations examine the combined impact of multiple strategies. Less is known about the unique effects of particular strategies. To address this gap, we used highly systematic methods to identify and review scientifically rigorous evaluations of 18 campaigns that examined the unique effects of three sets of intervention strategies (entertainment education, law enforcement, and mass media) on changes in knowledge, attitudes, and practice with regard to various health behaviors. Results showed differences in evaluation processes based on the type of strategy used to promote campaign messages. For instance, evaluations of mass-media based campaigns were more likely to examine changes in knowledge, relative to evaluations of campaigns that used law enforcement strategies. In addition, campaign effects varied by particular strategies. Mass media-based campaigns were more likely to affect knowledge, relative to behaviors. Law enforcement and entertainment education-based campaigns showed positive effects on behaviors. The implications for planning and evaluating health promotion campaigns are described.     

A more generalized stirling distribution of the second kind

A more generalized stirling distribution of the second kind (MGSDSK) is introduced in this paper as the distribution of the sum of the independent but not identically distributed left truncated Poisson variables. Properties of MGSDSK are studied. The recursion relation and decomposition of MGSDSK are obtained. The rth moment is also found and a new recurrence relationship for them are given. A new incomplete exponential function is utilized in the derivations. A MVU estimate of the p, d, f. of MGSDSK is obtained.     

Inference and Decision Making for 21st-Century Drug Development and Approval

ABSTRACT

The cost and time of pharmaceutical drug development continue to grow at rates that many say are unsustainable. These trends have enormous impact on what treatments get to patients, when they get them and how they are used. The statistical framework for supporting decisions in regulated clinical development of new medicines has followed a traditional path of frequentist methodology. Trials using hypothesis tests of “no treatment effect” are done routinely, and the p-value < 0.05 is often the determinant of what constitutes a “successful” trial. Many drugs fail in clinical development, adding to the cost of new medicines, and some evidence points blame at the deficiencies of the frequentist paradigm. An unknown number effective medicines may have been abandoned because trials were declared “unsuccessful” due to a p-value exceeding 0.05. Recently, the Bayesian paradigm has shown utility in the clinical drug development process for its probability-based inference. We argue for a Bayesian approach that employs data from other trials as a “prior” for Phase 3 trials so that synthesized evidence across trials can be utilized to compute probability statements that are valuable for understanding the magnitude of treatment effect. Such a Bayesian paradigm provides a promising framework for improving statistical inference and regulatory decision making.     

Statistical methodology for assessing homology of intronic regions of genes

We consider the problem of statistically evaluating the similarity of DNA intronic regions of genes. Present algorithms are based on matching a sequence of interest with known DNA sequences in a gene bank and are designed primarily to assess homology among exonic regions of genes. Most research focuses on exonic regions because they have a clear biological significance, coding for proteins, and therefore tend to be more conserved in evolution than intronic regions. To investigate whether the intronic features of genes whose expression is highly sensitive to environmental perturbations differ from genes that have a more constant expression, a collection of oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, and nonregulatory genes involved in energy metabolism are compared. An analysis of the features of these genes' intronic regions result in clustering by regulatory group. In addition, Billingsley's test for Markov structure (1961) suggests that 67% of the intronic regions in this collection of genes show evidence of nonrandom structure, indicating the possibility of a biological function for these regions. The result of Billingsley's test for homology is used as input to a clustering algorithm. The biological significance of this methodology lies in the identification of groups based on the intronic regions from genes of unknown function. With the advent of rapid sequencing techniques, there is a great need for statistical techniques to help identify the purpose of poorly understood portions of genes. These methods can be utilized to assess the functional group to which such a gene might possibly belong.     

Impact of Hazardous Substances Regulations on Small Firms in Delaware and New Jersey

Regulations under the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act impose significant requirements on firms handling hazardous chemicals. The nature of the regulations would suggest that small firms, because of limited resources and other structural limitations, would experience more difficulty complying with the regulations than large firms. To understand the difficulties imposed by the regulations on small firms, we interviewed ten small firms in Delaware and New Jersey, states with existing hazardous regulations similar to those being considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and evaluated their responses to state regulations. The impacts of the environmental regulations on the firms and on the risk levels of their businesses are discussed. Propositions for research into small firms compliance are developed. Possible means for reducing the regulatory burden on small firms while enhancing regulatory effectiveness are suggested.