Census adjustment and the distribution of federal spending

In 1989, programs that use population counts to determine the distribution of their funds transferred $236 per capita to state and local governments. If the 1990 census were adjusted to reflect undercounting, about 40% of state and local governments would receive increased grants averaging $56 per miscounted person; other jurisdictions would lose an almost equal amount of grant money. The surprisingly small reallocations arise because 1) total funds allocated by population are essentially fixed; 2) allocations depend on other factors in addition to population; and 3) programs vary as to whether they allocate funds in direct or inverse proportion to population.     

Logistic retainment interval dose exploration design for Phase I clinical trials of cytotoxic agents

Phase I studies of a cytotoxic agent often aim to identify the dose that provides an investigator specified target dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) probability. In practice, an initial cohort receives a dose with a putative low DLT probability, and subsequent dosing follows by consecutively deciding whether to retain the current dose, escalate to the adjacent higher dose, or de-escalate to the adjacent lower dose. This article proposes a Phase I design derived using a Bayesian decision-theoretic approach to this sequential decision-making process. The design consecutively chooses the action that minimizes posterior expected loss where the loss reflects the distance on the log-odds scale between the target and the DLT probability of the dose that would be given to the next cohort under the corresponding action. A logistic model is assumed for the log odds of a DLT at the current dose with a weakly informative t-distribution prior centered at the target. The key design parameters are the pre-specified odds ratios for the DLT probabilities at the adjacent higher and lower doses. Dosing rules may be pre-tabulated, as these only depend on the outcomes at the current dose, which greatly facilitates implementation. The recommended default version of the proposed design improves dose selection relative to many established designs across a variety of scenarios.     

Piketty comes to South Africa

One of the most valuable features of Capital and Ideology is its concern to take history seriously and consider how the emergence of different political and economic regimes relate to discourses about fairness and justice across time. This paper pushes this agenda further by acknowledging that the experience of a few developed nations should not be taken as the template for the generalized study of inequality dynamics across time and space. In this paper, we interrogate Piketty's analysis and policy proposals against specificities that are central to understanding the production and reproduction of inequalities within South Africa. We reflect on the South African case, the structure of inequality and its changes since 1994. We review a battery of policy interventions that have been implemented to address inequality in the last 25 years. We emphasize that the long shadow cast by centuries of colonialism and various forms of apartheid strongly affirm Piketty's emphasis on understanding history. But this is both affirmation and critique given the foundational, imbedded impact that this specific legacy has had on post‐apartheid society and its policies. Piketty is aware that the levels of inequality in South Africa are so high that this is “unknown territory.” We map out some of this territory to reveal how these extreme initial wealth and racial inequities inform the reproduction of inequalities in all dimensions and undermine well intentioned policies. We claim that understanding extractive histories, imbedded wealth inequalities, and complex social and political institutions allows us to understand and confront some of the reasons why even in light of progressive policies, many of which are in line with the proposals from Piketty, government interventions have thus far failed to reduce inequality.     

Illuminating urban street (u)topias

ABSTRACT

A utopian vision of the city is often bright, well-lit, and conversely darkness and night are more often associated with dystopia. This paper uses an ethnographic study of night-time in a busy street space in the middle of a south coast UK city in order to demonstrate the application of ‘utopia as method’, or rather utopia as a mobile method in understanding justice and injustice in urban space. In doing so, we suggest the possibilities of urban mobile space, arguing that ‘utopia as method’ originates in Lefebvre’s (1991) work on the possibilities that arise from the seemingly impossible imaginings of urban transformation. We use what are considered to be distinct approaches to photography: ‘ethnographic’ and ‘expressive’ in demonstrating this. Photography tells a story of the lighting of the space in illuminating the street in particular ways and making visible aspects that otherwise may go unnoticed. We draw from the boundaries, of photography (and therefore light), of method, and of urban space, looking to the ‘territorial edges’ for Lefebvre’s possibilities.     

Working with parents of spinal cord injured adolescents: A family systems perspective

Concepts from family systems theory are used to facilitate understanding of the needs of families coping with the spinal cord injury of an adolescent. Five assumptions derived from systemic principles are discussed as related to assessment and family functioning. Related suggestions are given for assisting parents in dealing with this non-normative stressor and its long-range effects on the adolescent and family.     

教育研究中比较的层次问题

本文认为比较教育传统上以国别和世界地区为分析单位容易导致不平衡和不全面的观点，指出有必要建立更加宽泛的比较教育概念范围，提倡并论证了多层次比较分析作为一种研究形式所具备的综合整理各单一层次分析结果的价值所在。     

Insuring equity in compensatory education student selection

Student selection strategies, because they determine who will receive special services, must be evaluated in terms of equity and validity. Yet those responsible for designing compensatory education student selection in the local school district lack methods that allow them to appraise their selection strategies in terms of equity. This paper describes a decision-theory-based procedure that, if followed, will increase the informational value of data often available from program evaluation data collection and district information systems. The information produced by the decision theory approach bears directly on the basic question of who gets served.     

Women on boards of nonprofits: What difference do they make?

In this article, the authors explore the impact of women on nonprofit boards. From a sociological perspective, they look at the actual proportion of women on boards and, from a more psychological perspective, at the sex of the chief executive officers in order to examine the impact of these variables on board effectiveness, structure, and process. The study results, based on data from a cross section of Canadian nonprofits, indicate that as the percentage of women on a board increases, the dynamics of the board are significantly affected.     

Saying ‘No’ to MX: The Electoral Fallout

According to the Morgan Gallup poll the Hawke government's decision, in February 1985, not to help the United States monitor the testing of its MX missile, led to a massive if largely temporary decline in Labor's popular support, undermining support for the party in the States as well. The political importance of this polling was considerable. But an alternative reading of the evidence suggests that the impact of the decision was neither as great nor as widespread as Morgan and the media made out. The way in which the evidence was handled rather than the evidence itself put the government on the spot. In so far as the decision did undermine confidence in the government it was Labor's division more than its decision that did the damage.