Dealing with excess of zeros in the statistical analysis of magnetic resonance imaging lesion count in multiple sclerosis

Lesion count observed on brain magnetic resonance imaging scan is a common end point in phase 2 clinical trials evaluating therapeutic treatment in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). This paper compares the performances of Poisson, zero‐inflated poisson (ZIP), negative binomial (NB), and zero‐inflated NB (ZINB) mixed‐effects regression models in fitting lesion count data in a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of fingolimod in comparison with placebo, in MS. The NB and ZINB models prove to be superior to the Poisson and ZIP models. We discuss the advantages and limitations of zero‐inflated models in the context of MS treatment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rationality and Bureaucracy: Maoist Contributions to a Marxist Theory of Bureaucracy*

The assessments of the role of bureaucracy in socialism offered by Weber and Lenin are seriously weakened by their reliance on an inadequately developed category of rationality. A genuinely Marxist theory of bureaucracy presupposes a clarification of the category of rationality, and such is presented in accordance with the communicative model recently formulated by Habermas and Gouldner. Premised on several important features of this model, the Maoist ideal type of bureaucracy provides Marxist social theory with a solid basis for advancing a theory of bureaucracy and, at the same time, seriously challenges the Weberian claim that socialism can be either a modern society or revolutionary society, but not both.     

The priority of justice: a framework approach to ethics in program evaluation

The situations of evaluation are inevitably complex and various, often involving conflicts between ethical principles as well as among aims or stakeholders. To meet this challenge, evaluators and stakeholders need an interpretive framework to clarify the issues at hand and open the way to workable solutions. This paper provides a three-part framework of justice to guide practitioners in this interpretive task.First, evaluation is instituted to serve the public with fidelity to the values, standards, and ideals that characterize it as a profession and as an office deserving the public trust, here called public justice. Second, these requirements evoke and entail the more general demands of fair process, mutual respect, and right action known as procedural justice. Third, the operations of office and just process must serve the public good, meeting the demands of distributive justice that govern the allocation of goods and benefits.This framework takes as a starting point the priority of justice as articulated by John Rawls: “Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is to thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust” (1971, p. 3).     

“Moved on”? An exploratory study of the Cashless Debit Card and Indigenous mobility

What is the relationship between the first two trials of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) and Indigenous mobility? In Ceduna, Vincent conducted ethnographic research into lived experiences of the first CDC trial. In the East Kimberley, Klein conducted 51 structured interviews with people on the card and 37 semi-structured interviews with key informants. Markham used regression analysis of net migration rates at the Statistical Area 2 level to determine whether the CDC trial sites were associated with greater net population loss in 2016 census data than comparable locations. Our exploratory study finds significant local talk of displacement arising from the introduction of the CDC, as well as discussion of short-term trips away from the trial sites being made more difficult. The regression analysis found that the net migration rate was 9.3 per cent points (95% CI: 2.0, 16.5) lower in Ceduna, Wyndham and Kununurra when compared with a group of comparable towns, and 5.2 per cent points (95% CI: 0.9, 9.5) lower when compared with Australia as a whole, meaning that the populations of these towns declined faster than those of comparable towns. Policy effects on mobility should be taken seriously by researchers and policymakers when considering place-based welfare policy.