Potential impact of COVID-19 on ongoing clinical trials: a simulation study with the neurological Yale Global Tic Severity Scale based on the CANNA-TICS study

The COVID-19 pandemic has manifold impacts on clinical trials. In response, drug regulatory agencies and public health bodies have issued guidance on how to assess potential impacts on ongoing clinical trials and stress the importance of a risk-assessment as a pre-requisite for modifications to the clinical trial conduct. This article presents a simulation study to assess the impact on the power of an ongoing clinical trial without the need to unblind trial data and compromise trial integrity. In the context of the CANNA-TICS trial, investigating the effect of nabiximols on reducing the total tic score of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS-TTS) in patients with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, the impact of the two COVID-19 related intercurrent events handled by a treatment policy strategy is investigated using a multiplicative and additive data generating model. The empirical power is examined for the analysis of the YGTSS-TTS as a continuous and dichotomized endpoint using analysis techniques adjusted and unadjusted for the occurrence of the intercurrent event. In the investigated scenarios, the simulation studies showed that substantial power losses are possible, potentially making sample size increases necessary to retain sufficient power. However, we were also able to identify scenarios with only limited loss of power. By adjusting for the occurrence of the intercurrent event, the power loss could be diminished to different degrees in most scenarios. In summary, the presented risk assessment approach may support decisions on trial modifications like sample size increases, while maintaining trial integrity.     

TRANSPARENCY IN MARKETS FOR EXPERIENCE GOODS: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE

We propose an experimental design to investigate the role of information disclosure in the market for an experience good. The market is served by a duopoly of firms that choose both the quality and the price of their product. Consumers differ in their taste for quality and choose from which firm to buy. We compare four different treatments in which we vary the degree to which consumers are informed about quality. Contrary to theoretical predictions, firms do not differentiate quality under full information. Rather, both tend to offer products of similar, high quality, entailing more intense price competition than predicted by theory. Under no information, we observe a “lemons” outcome where quality is low. At the same time, firms manage to maintain prices substantially above marginal cost. In two intermediate treatments, quality is significantly higher than the no‐information level, and there is evidence that prices become better predictors of quality. Taken together these findings suggest that information disclosure is a more effective tool to raise welfare and consumer surplus than theory would lead one to expect. (JEL L15, C91, D82)     

Changing Business Models and Employee Representation in the Airline Industry: A Comparison of British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa

In recent years, the notion of business models has gained momentum in management research. Scholars have discussed several barriers to changing business models in established firms. However, the national institutions of market economies have not yet been discussed as barriers, even though they can constrain the latitude of action of a firm's management. Based on interviews and a longitudinal content analysis, we analyse the extent to which full service carriers in two countries (British Airways in the UK and Deutsche Lufthansa in Germany) have adopted elements of a low cost model over time. Furthermore, we investigate how this process has been influenced by the differences in each national institutional context. We particularly focus on the role of the rights of employee representatives in changes in business models. Our results show that British Airways has moved its business model more in the direction of low cost carriers than Deutsche Lufthansa, although the business model of the former airline still differs significantly from that of a typical low cost carrier. We identify national institutions that potentially strengthen the position of employee representatives as a factor that can influence, and also act as a barrier to, business model change.     

Effects of aging on Type II muscle fibers: a systematic review of the literature

The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature for scientific articles in selected databases to determine the effects of aging on Type II muscle fibers in human skeletal muscles. They found that aging of Type II muscle fibers is primarily associated with a loss of fibers and a decrease in fiber size. Morphological changes with increasing age particularly included Type II fiber grouping. There is conflicting evidence regarding the change of proportion of Type II fibers. Type II muscle fibers seem to play an important role in the aging process of human skeletal muscles. According to this literature review, loss of fibers, decrease in size, and fiber-type grouping represent major quantitative changes. Because the process of aging involves various complex phenomena such as fiber-type coexpression, however, it seems difficult to assign those changes solely to a specific fiber type.     

The Impact of EU Migration Policies on African Countries: the Case of Mali

This article elaborates on the impact of EU migration policies on African countries, taking Mali as a case study. Building upon fieldwork in the country, it argues that enhanced European involvement (EU and individual member states) has caused Mali to develop a more control-oriented dimension to its migration policy and to strengthen its links with European development actors and the Malian diaspora. While these reverberations of EU policies can be likened to what scholars have established for other African countries, Mali is unusual because of its large exposure to altered regional patterns of migration cooperation. Many of the regional refoulements and deportations end in Mali despite the fact (or, perhaps, because of the fact) that the official Malian state does little to regulate these operations. In the absence of official policy responses, civil society organizations have stepped in to provide returned migrants with basic care and reception.     

Enttraditionalisierung und Traditionalisierung der Arbeitsteilung im Haushalt. Beide Seiten sind wichtig

With this contribution we reply to the constructive feedback of Johannes Kopp. In doing so, we clarify that our paper “How does the division of labor change in the course of marriage” (KZfSS 58 (1), 2006) was the theoretical starting point for further longitudinal analyses of the division of housework. In a second study, though, we already conducted the analyses requested by Kopp.     

Evidence Review on Labour Market and Job Place Retention: Mentoring Pathways Towards Employment

In Europe, there are four main active labour market programs: training, job search assistance, wage subsidies and subsidized public sector employment. Literature indicates that among all four, job search assistance, which includes mentoring, is the active employment policy with the most positive results. This paper, an output of an European funded project work package, is aimed to answer the question ‘What is there that says that mentoring is effective in job place retention?’ In order to answer this question, we conducted a literature review. In terms of content, our literature review’s results could be categorized into 14 main topics: Retention, Employee, Supervisor, Leadership, Education, Health Care, Management &; Marketing, ICT &; IT, Finance, Programme, Benefits, Mentee, Mentor, Less positive about mentoring. In addition to the academic literature review, we conducted a review in four different EU countries: Cyprus, Romania, Hungary and Portugal. Based on these reviews we will discuss the recommendations considering the three types of actors present in an effective mentoring process: mentoring coordinator, mentor and mentee.     

New enhancements and validation of force based posture and discomfort predictions

Many digital human models provide the crucial method to calculate postures in virtual environments. Traditionally these methods refer to experiments and make use of statistical modeling. They provide sufficient results in their specialized domain, but cannot be used in general applications. In addition they do not consider important design aspects as forces and discomfort. Hence a new force based approach has been introduced in order to overcome these shortcomings. Based on biomechanical models of active maximal and passive receding joint torques, a mechanical optimization generates static stable postures and related discomfort ratings. The results were promising, but showed some model deficiencies and were not validated in detail. The present paper continues this work and provides necessary model enhancements. Finally the new prediction models are validated on real experiments. The validation results are presented and discussed regarding to usability aspects and future development work.