Semiparametric analysis of case series data

Summary.  The case series model for estimating the association between an age-dependent exposure and an outcome event requires information only on cases and implicitly adjusts for all age-independent multiplicative confounders, while allowing for an age-dependent base-line incidence. In the paper the model is presented in greater generality than hitherto, including more general discussion of its derivation, underlying assumptions, applicability, limitations and efficiency. A semiparametric version of the model is developed, in which the age-specific relative incidence is left unspecified. Modelling covariate effects and testing assumptions are discussed. The small sample performance of this model is studied in simulations. The methods are illustrated with several examples from epidemiology.     

Developing practice tools for social workers in end-of-life care

This article describes the National Association of Social Workers' (NASW) strategies for providing social workers with important practice and policy information about palliative and end-of-life care. With funding from a Soros Foundation's Project on Death in America grant, NASW developed practice standards, a Web-based continuing education course, and drafted a new policy statement to guide social workers in end-of-life care practice. The article provides an in-depth view of the development and scope of these resources for professional social workers.     

A sequential scheme to estimate the optimal age replacement policy

Consider a system which is subject to failure and must be replaced when this occurs. If it costs less to replace the system in advance before failure, it may be advantageous to use an age replacement policy. However, the optimal age to replace the system is unknown if the underlying failure distribution is unknown. This paper develops a scheme to update the current estimate of the optimal age replacement policy in an on-line fashion and simultaneously controlling costs by reducing system failures.     

Estimating Distributions with Increasing Failure Rate in an Imperfect Repair Model

A failed system is repaired minimally if after failure, it is restored to the working condition of an identical system of the same age. We extend the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator(MLE) of a systems lifetime distribution function to test units that are known to have an increasing failure rate. Such items comprise a significant portion of working components in industry. The order-restricted MLE is shown to be consistent. Similar results hold for the Brown-Proschan imperfect repair model, which dictates that a failed component is repaired perfectly with some unknown probability, and is otherwise repaired minimally. The estimators derived are motivated and illustrated by failure data in the nuclear industry. Failure times for groups of emergency diesel generators and motor-driven pumps are analyzed using the order-restricted methods. The order-restricted estimators are consistent and show distinct differences from the ordinary MLEs. Simulation results suggest significant improvement in reliability estimation is available in many cases when component failure data exhibit the IFR property.     

Out-migration from and return migration to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: evidence from the consumer credit panel

Population and Environment - In this research brief, we contribute to a much-needed, initial, and growing inventory of data on Puerto Rican migration after Hurricane Maria. Using data from the...     

Social justice for safeguarded adults deprived of their liberty in the United Kingdom?

In March 2014 the UK Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal in two seminal co-joined cases (P v Cheshire West and Chester Council, P & Q v Surrey County Council [2014] UKSC 19). The implications of this co-joined judgement signify a wake-up call to all those involved in safeguarding adults at risk. It will dictate the proper test for determining what constitutes a deprivation of liberty, when an individual assessed as lacking mental capacity is required to reside at a particular place for the purpose of receiving care and treatment. This judgement provides essential and necessary protections for many thousands of adults, subject to high levels of restrictive practice, supervision and control.     

Resolvable Designs With Unequal Block Sizes

Resolvable block designs for v varieties in blocks of size k require v to be a multiple of k so that all blocks are of the same size. If a factorization of v is not possible then a resolvable design with blocks of unequal size is necessary. Patterson & Williams (1976) suggested the use of designs derived from α -designs and conjectured that such designs are likely to be very efficient in the class of resolvable designs with block sizes k and k – 1. This paper examines these derived designs and compares them with designs generated directly using an interchange algorithm. It concludes that the derived designs should be used when v is large, but that for small v they can be relatively inefficient.     

The body as existential midpoint—the aging and dying body of nursing home residents

The human body has been the object of extensive attention in the social sciences, recently receiving increasing interest from social gerontology as well. However, the issue of old bodies and particularly the body in the fourth age of life remains relatively under-researched. The need to give emphasis to the subjective experiences of the oldest old during their final phase of life has been pointed out. This article is based on data obtained from ethnographic fieldwork carried out on a nursing home ward, and explores and analyses how the residents talk about and regard their own aging and dying bodies. The focus is on the link between the disintegrating body, aging and death in an institution-based care context. It was found that the body is the central entity through which the residents experience daily life, through pain, through the caring process, through diminished physical and cognitive functions, and as such constitutes the existential nucleus of their being. The article includes a discussion on how these experiences also elucidate the way in which the body is a mediator for issues seldom acknowledged such as existential needs.