Testing noninferiority in three‐armed clinical trials based on likelihood ratio statistics

Clinical noninferiority trials with at least three groups have received much attention recently, perhaps due to the fact that regulatory agencies often require that a placebo group be evaluated along with a new experimental drug and an active control. The authors discuss likelihood ratio tests for binary endpoints and various noninferiority hypotheses. They find that, depending on the particular hypothesis, the test reduces asymptotically either to the intersection‐union test or to a test which follows asymptotically a mixture of generalized chi‐squared distributions. They investigate the performance of this asymptotic test and provide an exact modification. They show that this test considerably outperforms multiple testing methods such as the Bonferroni adjustment with respect to power. They illustrate their methods with a cancer study to compare antiemetic agents. Finally, they discuss the extension of the results to other settings, such as Gaussian endpoints.     

War demography: The impact of the 1808–09 War on the civilian population of Åland,Finland

A pre-industrial population crisis caused by a war is examined using Finnish historical records. During the War of Finland (1808–09) the Swedish military deployed on the Åland Islands helped spread infectious diseases among the civilian population. The result was a short but intense period of high mortality. This article focuses on the short-term demographic impact of this crisis. Changes in age-specific and sex-specific mortality, fertility, and nuptiality are explored. Mortality increase was notable in all age groups, although older and very young people were more severely affected. A catch-up period in fertility followed a significant decrease in the number of births. Nuptiality decreased only slightly during the war, but a marriage boom owing to frequent remarriages ensued. A projection, assuming that the crisis did not occur, indicates that Åland's population losses were never compensated.L'utilisation des actes d'état civil finlandais permet d'étudier une crise liée à la guerre dans une population pré-industrielle. Les militaires suédois, déployés sur les îles Åland pendant la guerre de 1808–1809, ont propagé dans la population civile des maladies contagieuses. Le résultat en a été une courte mais intense période de forte mortalité. Cet article est centré sur l'effet démographique à court terme de cette crise. Il explore les changements dans la mortalité selon l'âge et le sexe, la fécondité et la nuptialité. L'accroissement de la mortalité a été important dans tous les groupes d'âges, bien que les personnes très âgées et celles très jeunes aient été plus sévèrement frappées. Après une chute significative du nombre de naissances on voit apparaître une période de rattrapage de la fécondité. Quant à la nuptialité elle ne diminua que légèrement durant la guerre, qui fut suivie d'un fort accroissement des mariages dû à de nombreux remariages. Enfin une projection de la population, qui élimine l'effet de la crise, montre que les pertes d'Åland ne furent jamais compensées à l'avenir.     

Effects of Policy Changes on Thai Migration to Iceland

In this study, I use ethnographic, survey and Icelandic government data to examine the nexus of recent migration policy changes in Iceland and the increased use of marriage as a migration strategy. In the early 1980s, Thai women began coming to Iceland to either marry Icelandic men or “try out” a potential relationship with an Icelander before marriage. During that time, Iceland approved work permits for foreigners regardless of country of origin, allowing many Thais to immigrate independent of marriage. By 2006, however, Iceland's membership in the European Economic Area was making it almost impossible for Thais and other non‐European migrants to secure a work permit. There has been an increase in marriage‐based migrations among non‐European migrants to Iceland compared to all other types of legal migration since 2006. Iceland's policy changes may have stemmed the flow of non‐European labourers, but may also have opened the door to increased fraudulent marriages and abuse of foreign women by Icelandic husbands. These policy changes have only occurred in the past 5–7 years, and it remains for future research to investigate adjustments made by both Icelanders and Thais in response to the newest laws.     

‘Do you really want me to tell ya!’ critical learning in engaging young people in contact with the justice system as peer educators with social work students

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines and evaluates an active and experiential learning project, which gave young people involved with the justice system, a voice as peer educators engaging with social work students outside of the traditional educational institution. The project had two key interconnecting elements. Firstly, by engaging a hidden population of young people in a realistic and meaningful way, it enabled them to share their experiences, and allowed students to understand the complexity of what it means to be socially excluded. Secondly, through this active participation process the young people began to see education as a desirable goal.

The project took place over three months and included 10 social work students and 13 young people involved with the justice system. Creative use of multimedia facilitated production of a learning resource to capture the young people’s lived experiences with statutory social work and justice systems. Young people were fundamentally challenged in their beliefs about themselves being involved in education to achieve a qualification. Students were challenged in their creativity and versatility responding to the task, when collaborating with ‘hard to reach’ young people. They were furthermore challenged in terms of their attitudes and assumptions in relation to offending and social justice.     

Should failure to protect laws include physical and emotional sibling violence?

Physical and emotional sibling violence is a problematic occurrence for many children, adults, and families, yet this form of violence rarely falls within the purview of state laws and policies. Failure to protect laws offer one avenue through which sibling violence can be addressed by holding parents and caregivers accountable for harm that occurs to a child in their custody. This article provides background information on physical and emotional sibling violence as well as a general overview of failure to protect laws in the context of intimate partner violence with particular consideration of these laws in addressing sibling violence. In addition, the role social work practitioners can play in intervening and addressing sibling violence through psychoeducation leading to policy (i.e., failure to act laws) is presented.     

Social workers' attitudes towards the unemployed in the Nordic countries

Kallio J, Blomberg H, Kroll C. Social workers' attitudes towards the unemployed in the Nordic countries In recent decades, municipal social workers have become the implementers of new types of social policy measures aimed at activating the unemployed. These policies put a greater emphasis on the individual's own responsibility for being unemployed. Little is known, however, about how social workers view the unemployed – one factor that might influence how policies are in fact implemented. Therefore, our purpose was to analyse Nordic social workers' attitudes towards the unemployed and their determinants: Do social workers' attitudes correspond with a more individualistic view on unemployment? We utilised the data from surveys of professional social workers in four Nordic countries. Our analyses showed that individualistic attitudes towards the unemployed appeared to be rather rare among Nordic social workers. However, attitudinal differences were found between and within countries.     

争议之地：无家可归者与亚特兰大市中心公园

在此项研究中,我们调查了公园利益相关方超过20年控制无家可归者在市中心公园活动规模的举措,以及无家可归拥护者对付这些举措的一系列回应。我们发现,伍德拉夫公园的用途和价值伴随一天的不同时间、一周的不同日子和不同季节而变化。此外,公园利益相关方虽会随时间而变更,但当局使用的策略不一定必然会朝着某个始终如一的方向发展,或者按一种常规模式变化。最终,虽然无家可归的拥护者比起过去已很少看到,但他们仍然保护了公园内的无家可归者。案例研究认为,一个公园应该是一个基础空间,即作为共有地向所有人开放;也应该是一个典范空间,在这里,没有人会被看作是入侵者。