Censored Kullback-Leibler Information and Goodness-of-Fit Test with Type II Censored Data

The Kulback-Leibler information has been considered for establishing goodness-of-fit test statistics, which have been shown to perform very well (Arizono & Ohta, 1989; Ebrahimi et al., 1992, etc). In this paper, we propose censored Kullback-Leibler information to generalize the discussion of the Kullback-Leibler information to the censored case. Then we establish a goodness-of-fit test statistic based on the censored Kullback-Leibler information with the type 2 censored data, and compare the test statistics with some existing test statistics for the exponential and normal distributions.     

Research-based service-learning: outcomes of a social policy course

Previous research has found service-learning in undergraduate social policy courses to increase students’ knowledge, skills, values, and competence. The present study utilized a sample of 60 graduate-level social work students who participated in a research-based service-learning (RBSL) project that involved collecting and analyzing data about the extent of payday loan use among bankruptcy filers and reporting results to community partners. Quantitative findings revealed significant increases in students’ personal social responsibility. Qualitative findings shed light on growth in personal social responsibility, civic awareness, policy advocacy, and personal values. Suggestions for future studies using RBSL pedagogy to teach social policy are discussed.     

Older Workers: Who are the working poor in the U.S.?

With data from the 2000 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the purpose of this study was to provide a profile of older workers who live poverty, and to compare the demographic, financial, employment, and health attributes of such individuals to similar persons not living in poverty. This study found that 3.5% of employed individuals between the ages of 51 and 61 belonged to the class of working poor. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated that the older working poor were more likely to be non-White, less educated, non-married, and had lower levels of net worth than the working non-poor. They were more likely to be employed part time and were less likely to be covered by employee-sponsored health insurance.     

Adaptive designs for IVPT data with mixed scaled average bioequivalence

In vitro permeation tests (IVPT) offer accurate and cost-effective development pathways for locally acting drugs, such as topical dermatological products. For assessment of bioequivalence, the FDA draft guidance on generic acyclovir 5% cream introduces a new experimental design, namely the single-dose, multiple-replicate per treatment group design, as IVPT pivotal study design. We examine the statistical properties of its hypothesis testing method—namely the mixed scaled average bioequivalence (MSABE). Meanwhile, some adaptive design features in clinical trials can help researchers make a decision earlier with fewer subjects or boost power, saving resources, while controlling the impact on family-wise error rate. Therefore, we incorporate MSABE in an adaptive design combining the group sequential design and sample size re-estimation. Simulation studies are conducted to study the passing rates of the proposed methods—both within and outside the average bioequivalence limits. We further consider modifications to the adaptive designs applied for IVPT BE trials, such as Bonferroni's adjustment and conditional power function. Finally, a case study with real data demonstrates the advantages of such adaptive methods.     

Unfinished modernity or another modernity? The South Korean case

South Korea has experienced “compressed capitalist development” over the last five decades, characterized by unprecedented levels of industrialization and democratization, with other distinctive features. This development experience causes some scholars to view the country as a site for a new modernity, following the Western prototype. Concerning the underlying nature of emerging modernity in South Korea, however, there have been controversial insights: some scholars argue that the country is now experiencing a Western type of modernity, and others refute this, saying that it has not at all been modernized. This paper investigates the dynamics and contradictions of capitalist development in South Korea from a perspective of vertical modernization. It considers the origins, process, and outcomes of modernization mainly in terms of democracy, economic growth, and welfare. We assume that there are “different sites and forms of modernity” in the world, and that South Korea would be a good candidate to examine for non-Western modernity. Yet it is our contention that the country’s modernity has been distorted and unbalanced in the development of society, culture, politics, and economy. Historically, South Korea has progressed through traditional unmodernity, colonial undermodernity, and Western modernity. A clear examination of the country’s development experience reveals to no small degree the complex nature of modernity, in that tradition, modernity, and postmodernity coexist in the present time. We conclude that South Korean modernity is an incomplete project still in progress.     

Korean Social Work Students’ Attitudes Toward Homosexuals

For this article, the Hudson and Ricketts Index of Attitudes toward Homosexuality (IAH) was used to measure levels of homophobia in a convenience sample of 124 students enrolled in social work programs in two major universities in the Republic of South Korea. The results indicated that BSW and MSW Korean students had high levels of homophobia, particularly in comparison to U.S. samples. In-class discussion of homosexuality was found to be significantly associated with lower levels of homophobia. The authors review these and other research findings and discuss implications for social work education in South Korea and the United States.     

Explicit Versus Implicit Family Decision-Making Strategies Among Mexican American Caregiving Adult Children

Changing U.S. demographics make it increasingly vital to investigate experiences of Latinos caring for aging parents, with specific emphasis on how these families, who often value family closeness, make decisions about caregiving. This study investigates relationships among use of implicit versus explicit decision-making strategies, generation since immigration, and orientation toward family. Findings suggest that those with more recent immigration to the United States were more likely than those who immigrated longer ago to describe family decision making about their parents' care as implicit. Those that were classified as using predominately implicit decision making were also found to be not significantly different from those classified as predominantly explicit with regard to their overall support of a collective orientation toward family. There were exceptions to this, however, regarding two specific aspects of orientation toward family: engagement in shared activities with family members and avoiding family conflict by making choices that are consistent with the family values. In both cases those categorized as implicit expressed stronger endorsement of these specific values. These findings suggest that the relationship between family decision-making strategies, generation since immigration, and orientation toward family is more complex than suggested previously in the literature. Implications for future research and practice are offered.