ECONOMIC ROULETTE

Complementing previous literature on welfare reform and the character of jobs in the low-wage labour market, we illustrate the lack of regularity and security that mark the jobs held by many low-income mothers. To do so, we present a typology of mothers’ work patterns and illustrate their experiences through case examples. Our qualitative analysis of longitudinal pathways-to-work in three cities involved an examination of the experiences of 99 diverse, low-income working mothers with a young child. The work patterns that emerged from this analysis include: continuous duration of a single job; multiple job spells; underemployment; and churning in and out of employment. Findings indicate that a complicated ‘coming together’ of well-paying stable jobs, consistent aid from public systems and stable family networks are necessary for mothers to take even the first steps into stable employment.     

Optimal adaptive sequential designs for crossover bioequivalence studies

In prior works, this group demonstrated the feasibility of valid adaptive sequential designs for crossover bioequivalence studies. In this paper, we extend the prior work to optimize adaptive sequential designs over a range of geometric mean test/reference ratios (GMRs) of 70–143% within each of two ranges of intra‐subject coefficient of variation (10–30% and 30–55%). These designs also introduce a futility decision for stopping the study after the first stage if there is sufficiently low likelihood of meeting bioequivalence criteria if the second stage were completed, as well as an upper limit on total study size. The optimized designs exhibited substantially improved performance characteristics over our previous adaptive sequential designs. Even though the optimized designs avoided undue inflation of type I error and maintained power at 80%, their average sample sizes were similar to or less than those of conventional single stage designs. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Research records and the resolution of misconduct allegations at research universities

Accurate record keeping is an important part of the responsible conduct of research. However, there is very little empirical research on scientific record keeping. No one knows the incidence of serious problems with research records, the types of problems that occur, nor their consequences. In this study, we examined the role of research records in the resolution of misconduct allegations as a useful barometer for the incidence and types of problems that occur with records. We interviewed Research Integrity Officers (RIOs) at 90 major research universities and conducted focus groups with active research faculty. RIOs reported problems with research records in 38% of the 553 investigations they conducted. Severe problems with research records often prevented completion of investigations while problems that are more typical lengthened them by 2 to 3 weeks. Five types of poor record keeping practices accounted for 75 % of the problems with incomplete/inadequate records being the most common (30%). The focus groups concurred with the findings from the interviews with RIOs, stressed the importance of the research group leader in setting and maintaining record practices, and offered additional insights. While university officials and faculty members have suspected for many years that there are serious problems with research record keeping, our study provides empirical evidence for this belief. By documenting some of the problems with record keeping in university-based research, the results of our study provide information that will be useful for policy development at academic institutions.     

Creating more trauma-informed services for children using assessment-focused tools

This article promotes integrating assessment and evidence-based practice in the treatment of traumatized children through a review of two newly developed trauma assessment tools: (1) the Child Welfare Trauma Referral Tool (CWT), and (2) Assessment-Based Treatment for Traumatized Children: A Trauma Assessment Pathway Model (TAP). These tools use pathways and algorithms to increase understanding of individual child trauma victims, and assist professionals working with children to make appropriate referral and treatment decisions within both child welfare and mental health contexts.     

香港对新移民的管理和安置

与复杂的跨国网络与跨界互动相比,公民身份却划分了清晰的边界.香港回归中国主权后,对其公民身份的类别划分带来了极大的挑战.依照香港基本法中对居留权的定义,很大一部分--近一百六十七万人--可以享有这个权利,反映出香港与内地的跨界社会关系有着复杂历史.尽管香港与内地的社会和经济高度统一,但其边界仍然严格限制了人口从内地向香港流动.这种既统一又分离的状况导致了一种复杂的对立,部分地反映在关于居留权的争论.即使那些已经成功移民香港的内地居民也面临着各种挑战,其中最严峻的是怎样在香港这样一个住房价格最高的城市中获得可以负担的住所.因为新移民无法申请公营房屋,但这些房屋却占香港房屋总数的一半.而其私人住房的价格又是世界上最贵的.