Optimistic but Confused: Perceptions about the Mission and Core Values of Social Work in Vietnam by Vietnamese Policy‐makers,Social Work Faculty and Practitioners

In 2010, the Vietnamese government officially recognized social work as a profession. This study explores whether key stakeholders in the development of social work in Vietnam (i.e. policy‐makers, pioneering educators, and practitioners) had reached a shared understanding about the mission and core values of Vietnamese social work by the end of 2015. An exploratory survey was conducted with 65 participants representing key stakeholders of social work in Vietnam. Participants had a shared but rather generic, at times vague, and overly optimistic view of the mission of Vietnamese social work as a “helping profession” that would be able to solve every social problem and present in all areas. There was a strong, unanimous desire for Vietnamese social work to focus on human dignity, social justice, and individuals’ rights, mixed with the preservation of Vietnam's collective, community‐based culture under the central guiding role of the state.     

Information fraction estimation: Strategies for a phase 3 non-inferiority maximum duration design with time to event outcome

There is considerable debate surrounding the choice of methods to estimate information fraction for futility monitoring in a randomized non-inferiority maximum duration trial. This question was motivated by a pediatric oncology study that aimed to establish non-inferiority for two primary outcomes. While non-inferiority was determined for one outcome, the futility monitoring of the other outcome failed to stop the trial early, despite accumulating evidence of inferiority. For a one-sided trial design for which the intervention is inferior to the standard therapy, futility monitoring should provide the opportunity to terminate the trial early. Our research focuses on the Total Control Only (TCO) method, which is defined as a ratio of observed events to total events exclusively within the standard treatment regimen. We investigate its properties in stopping a trial early in favor of inferiority. Simulation results comparing the TCO method with alternative methods, one based on the assumption of an inferior treatment effect (TH0), and the other based on a specified hypothesis of a non-inferior treatment effect (THA), were provided under various pediatric oncology trial design settings. The TCO method is the only method that provides unbiased information fraction estimates regardless of the hypothesis assumptions and exhibits a good power and a comparable type I error rate at each interim analysis compared to other methods. Although none of the methods is uniformly superior on all criteria, the TCO method possesses favorable characteristics, making it a compelling choice for estimating the information fraction when the aim is to reduce cancer treatment-related adverse outcomes.     

Impact of internal migration on the economic well-being of local workers and school dropouts among children in Vietnam

This study examines the impact of migration on local workers and high school dropouts of local students. A conventional approach without addressing the endogeneity issue may lead to biased results. Our endogeneity-corrected estimates show a positive impact of migration on the monthly wages of local workers. A higher share of migrants increases the probability of local workers with employment contracts, social insurance, and holiday pay. Heterogeneity analysis shows that local workers, no matter their educational level, work experience, or occupation sectors, benefit from the inflow of migrants. Finally, migration inflow lowers the probability of high school dropouts among local students. Our findings resulting from rigorous statistical approaches suggest that internal migration produces positive impacts on the economic well-being of local residents, refuting the argument about the adverse effects associated with internal migration.     

Maximizing k-submodular functions under budget constraint: applications and streaming algorithms

Journal of Combinatorial Optimization - Motivated by the practical applications in solving plenty of important combinatorial optimization problems, this paper investigates the Budgeted k-Submodular...     

中国特色解决民族问题正确道路自信的三重来源

中国特色解决民族问题的正确道路可为世界其他多民族国家的民族事务治理提供有益借鉴。道路自信的确立主要源于三个层面。一是道路选择的必然性。中国共产党用马克思主义的超越性视角解决了传统民族事务治理的内在困境，具有理论必然性；中国共产党通过解决中国社会各阶段的主要矛盾，成功扫清了民族问题产生的外在根源，是现实必然的选择。二是道路发展的连续性，体现为以人民为中心的民族政策主线的连续性和以国家复兴为核心的理想信念的连续性，初心和使命的高度一致有效保障了道路基本方向的正确性和稳定性。三是道路实践的有效性。政治层面，有效保障了个体权益，维护了群体权利，保证了国家安全；经济层面，实现了区域经济壮大和个体收入提高的协同增长；文化层面，在促进各民族文化的传承保护的同时，有力推动中华文化的创新延续。     

Associations Between Adolescents' Antisocial Behavior,Conflict Management Styles,and Romantic Relationship Breakup: An Observational Study

Adolescents' antisocial behavior and negative conflict management styles are each associated with adverse romantic relationship outcomes, yet little research exists on their associations. We investigated whether adolescents' antisocial behavior was associated with conflict management styles, and whether it predicted breakup 3 months later. In total, 91 adolescent couples (M_age = 16.43, SD = 0.99; 41.2% Hispanic/Latinx) participated in videotaped conflict discussions coded for negotiation, coercion, and avoidance. Actor–partner interdependence models suggest adolescents' antisocial behavior is associated with decreased use of negotiation (couple pattern) and increased use of coercion (actor pattern). No significant associations were found for avoidance. Neither antisocial behavior nor conflict management styles predicted breakup. Findings are discussed in light of the unique developmental importance of adolescents' romantic relationships.     

CEO Narcissism and Global Performance Variance in Multinational Enterprises: The Roles of Foreign Direct Investment Risk-Taking and Business Group Affiliation

This study examines key mechanisms through which CEO narcissism influences global performance variance in the context of Asian emerging market multinational enterprises. Building on the contextual reinforcement model of narcissism and the cushion hypothesis, we focus on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) risk-taking and business group affiliation (BGA). We test our moderated mediation model on data from 149 South Korean multinational enterprises from 2006 to 2016. The results show that CEO narcissism is positively associated with FDI risk-taking. The effect of CEO narcissism on global performance variance is mediated by FDI risk-taking. Furthermore, BGA moderates the above-mentioned relationships. Our findings offer important contributions to the international business and CEO narcissism literatures.     

The role of experts in forming family policy under an adversarial subsystem in the Czech Republic

This article analyzes the interplay between policymakers and scientists in developing the Family Policy Plan for the Czech Republic in 2017. As former members of the government commission that developed the plan, we base the article on participatory observation. When we joined the commission, a ‘window of opportunity’ had opened as the country for the first time ever had feminist-friendly minister and vice-minister of labour and social affairs. We explain why due to the inter- and intra-party dynamics, the parental leave reform to introduce ‘daddy months’ failed. We argue an adversarial subsystem existed in that the three coalition partners disagreed on the reform. According to Ingold and Gschwend (2014), under such circumstances, scientists play a strategic role, especially if there is unity among them. However, although there was basic unity among the scientists in the commission, the coalition partners at the governing level were able to block or water down the reform proposal under the study.