Efficient circular neighbour designs for spatial interference model

We consider circular block designs for field-trials when there are two-sided spatial interference between neighbouring plots of the same blocks. The parameter of interest is total effects that is the sum of direct effect of treatment and neighbour effects, which correspond to the use of a single treatment in the whole field. We determine universally optimal approximate designs. When the number of blocks may be large, we propose efficient exact designs generated by a single sequence of treatment. We also give efficiency factors of the usual binary block neighbour balanced designs which can be used when the number of blocks is small.     

Measles: Current Status and Outbreak Control on Campus

Abstract

This study is part of a nationwide research project dealing with all suicides in Finland. It includes all suicides among university students during the 1-year period from April 1, 1987, to March 31, 1988. Ten students (6 men and 4 women) committed suicide during the period studied. The observed suicide rates per 100,000 students per year were 13.8 (95% CI = 5.1–30.1) for men and 9.0 (95% CI = 2.4–22.8) for women. The difference between the observed and expected suicide rate for men (13.8 v 47.7, standard mortality rate [SMR] = 29) was statistically significant. For women (9.0 v 8.3, SMR = 108), the difference was not statistically significant. Most of the suicides had experienced serious difficulties since early childhood, including narcissistic problems, difficulties in human relations, severe depressive periods, previous suicidal behavior, and alcohol problems; they had also had earlier psychiatric treatment.     

Recognising the face of the other: Difference,identity and community

Social work's role in creating social solidarity requires an engagement with identity politics through careful negotiation of the boundary between the private and the public spheres and hence ensuring a balance between personal freedom to define one's specific identity and the public entitlement to belong to a political community as citizens. Current political and cultural trends, reflected also in social policies, impact severely on that boundary maintenance task inasmuch as privatisation encroaches on formerly public domains while simultaneously details of private concerns receive public attention through their commercialisation by the new media. It is suggested that social work's political role be asserted more explicitly in terms of the application of the Global Agenda which needs to penetrate to the level of person‐to‐person interaction.     

Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research

This paper provides a review of fertility research in advanced societies, societies in which birth control is the default option. The central aim is to provide a comprehensive review that summarizes how contemporary research has explained ongoing and expected fertility changes across time and space (i.e., cross- and within-country heterogeneity). A secondary aim is to provide an analytical synthesis of the core determinants of fertility, grouping them within the analytical level in which they operate. Determinants are positioned at the individual and/or couple level (micro-level), social relationships and social networks (meso-level); and, by cultural and institutional settings (macro-level). The focus is both on the quantum and on the tempo of fertility, with a particular focus on the postponement of childbearing. The review incorporates both theoretical and empirical contributions, with attention placed on empirically tested research and whether results support or falsify existing theoretical expectations. Attention is also devoted to causality and endogeneity issues. The paper concludes with an outline of the current challenges and opportunities for future research.     

The Use of Current Events Magazines

History is often viewed unfavorably by students. In this article the author asserts that students’ disfavor of history may originate from the narrow pedagogical flavor of the history class. The purpose of this article is to describe the three traditions of history education, with their accompanying strengths and weaknesses. Three sample lessons on immigration in United States History are provided to illustrate how these three traditions of history education may actually harmoniously coexist within a history curricula as a means to meet the learning needs of students.     

A short‐form scale to measure sexual discord in dyadic relationships

This paper presents a new short‐form scale for use by clinical workers and researchers in measuring the degree or magnitude of a problem in the sexual component of a dyadic relationship, as seen by the respondent. The scale was designed for use in repeated administrations at periodic intervals in order that therapists might continually monitor and evaluate their clients' response to treatment. Internal consistency and test‐retest reliability were found to be in excess of .90, and the scale has a discriminant validity coefficient of .76.     

Comparative Relationship Stability of Lesbian Mother and Heterosexual Mother Families: A Review of Evidence

It has been concluded from a review of the literature involving only one study that lesbian parents were more likely to have unstable relationships. Other scholars have struggled with considerable controversy over how much was or was not known about the stability of lesbian parent relationships as well as whether such relationships were more or less stable than heterosexual parent relationships. Arguments have been made on all sides of the issues. A careful review of the literature suggests that more is known about the stability of lesbian parent relationships than previously suspected and that, on average, such relationships tend to be less stable than those of married heterosexual parents. Less is understood about the factors that may influence relationship stability for gay or lesbian parents, creating a critical need for additional research, especially with different demographic subgroups of lesbian and gay parents.