Community YouthMapping: female youth voices through empowerment and workforce preparation

Because of poverty, many girls and young women throughout Egypt neglect their education in order to marry early, help in the fields, gain immediate employment, or carry out domestic labor to meet family needs. In Egypt, the Academy for Educational Development's Community YouthMapping (CYM) has been structured to provide a solid foundation for a systemic approach to education reform. CYM focuses on changing communities' perceptions and behavior through its youth and mechanisms to develop transferable skills to those who have traditionally been marginalized during afterschool time.     

Proteins' promise--progress and challenges in ovarian cancer proteomics

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynaecological cancer death. The mortality rate of ovarian cancer could be greatly decreased if there were a screening test which was able to detect the disease at an early stage, resulting in an increased probability of cure. The most promising prospect for the early detection of ovarian cancer comes from the rapidly advancing field of clinical proteomics. An increasing number of reports on the potential clinical application of proteomics research for early detection as well as risk assessment and management of ovarian cancer are being published. Although the research is very promising, major technical challenges are still preventing new discoveries in ovarian cancer proteomics from being translated into clinical practice.     

Camera-Related Behaviors during Video Recorded Medical Interactions

Video recording provides an objective record of the content of medical interactions. However, there is concern that cameras may be reactive measurement devices that alter what normally transpires during interactions. This study addressed potential reactivity of cameras in medical interactions. Interactions between 45 patients and 14 medical oncologists were video recorded and coded for camera-related behaviors. Eleven of 45 patients performed none of the behaviors. Among the other patients, camera-related behaviors were infrequent and, on average, constituted about 0.1% (one-tenth of one percent) of total interaction time. Behaviors occurred most often in very early stages of interactions, and when physicians were absent from the room. Seven physicians showed camera-related behaviors, comprising less than 0.1% of the time they were in the interaction. Results suggest video recording can provide nonreactive means of studying medical interactions.

Quasi-binomial zero-inflated regression model suitable for variables with bounded support

In recent years, a variety of regression models, including zero-inflated and hurdle versions, have been proposed to explain the case of a dependent variable with respect to exogenous covariates. Apart from the classical Poisson, negative binomial and generalised Poisson distributions, many proposals have appeared in the statistical literature, perhaps in response to the new possibilities offered by advanced software that now enables researchers to implement numerous special functions in a relatively simple way. However, we believe that a significant research gap remains, since very little attention has been paid to the quasi-binomial distribution, which was first proposed over fifty years ago. We believe this distribution might constitute a valid alternative to existing regression models, in situations in which the variable has bounded support. Therefore, in this paper we present a zero-inflated regression model based on the quasi-binomial distribution, taking into account the moments and maximum likelihood estimators, and perform a score test to compare the zero-inflated quasi-binomial distribution with the zero-inflated binomial distribution, and the zero-inflated model with the homogeneous model (the model in which covariates are not considered). This analysis is illustrated with two data sets that are well known in the statistical literature and which contain a large number of zeros.     

REENGINEERING CHANNEL REORDERING PROCESSES TO IMPROVE TOTAL SUPPLY-CHAIN PERFORMANCE

This paper discusses the relationship between business process reengineering and channel performance for firms implementing electronic data interchange (EDI) linkages within the U.S. grocery industry. Both quantitative and qualitative data sources are combined to test the hypothesis that channel transformation involving adoption of EDI and redesign of replenishment processes enables performance improvements more than an order of magnitude greater than implementation of EDI alone. This new process, enabled by EDI, provides retailers with 50- 100% higher inventory turns for products on continuous replenishment processes (CRP) relative to retailer performance using traditional ordering processes. Firms adopting EDI without using CRP to reengineer the ordering processes have failed to realize any statistically significant improvements in either inventory levels or warehouse stockouts. This research provides evidence to support the claims of process reengineering that are common in the popular business press, but for which statistically significant empirical evidence is minimal. The findings of the research also demonstrate the potential improvements that firms can realize through extending the business process reengineering concept to include the firms' entire supply chain.     

Resolutions: Working with Families Where Responsibility for Abuse is Denied

Current thinking suggests that little productive work can be undertaken with families where serious physical or sexual abuse of children has occurred in the absence of a clear acceptance of responsibility for that abuse. This means that children are often removed from their families because of the perceived risks, with the disadvantages that being looked after in local authority care often brings. Alternatively, children may be left in the same environment where serious abuse has taken place with little or no work being undertaken with the family. Either approach fails children, especially those who have made clear and believable allegations in the hope of bringing about a process of change and protection. This article describes the work of a pilot project at the Avon NSPCC in Bristol working with families where the alleged abuser disputes responsibility for maltreating the child. Key to this approach is the support of the non-abusing carer and the child/ren while the concerns of the professional agencies are addressed. The work has two main phases. The first looks for structural change in the organization of family life. The second part asks carers to role-play a ‘similar’ hypothetical family where child abuse has been established. This enables difficult issues raised by the abuse to be addressed and provides an opportunity for carers to express thoughts and feelings to their partner regarding abuse without the seriousness of the concerns being lost.