A stratified randomized response model for sensitive characteristics using the negative hypergeometric distribution

Taking clue from the pioneer work of Singh and Sedory (2013 Singh, S., Sedory, S.A. (2013). A new randomized response device for sensitive characteristics: an application of the negative hypergeometric distribution. Metron 71:3–8.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), we have suggested a new stratified randomized response (RR) model. The properties of the suggested stratified RR model have been studied under proportional and “Neyman” allocations. The study has been also carried out in the presence of crude prior estimates. Numerical illustrations are also given in support of the present study.     

Gender involvement in manual material handling (mmh) tasks in agriculture and technology intervention to mitigate the resulting musculoskeletal disorders

The lifting and carrying of loads in agriculture on small landholdings are unavoidable. Rural communities often lack access to appropriate technologies which may result in various health hazards. The objective was to study gender participation in agricultural activities involving manual material handling tasks, to assess MSDs experienced in various MMH tasks and to evaluate traditional method and designed technology. The study was conducted on 100 agricultural workers. Data on gender participation in MMH tasks in household, animal husbandry and agriculture and resulting MSDs was gathered. Pre and post assessment of technology intervention was done for NIOSH Lifting Index, QEC, and RPE. The results revealed greater susceptibility of females to musculoskeletal problems in most of the household and animal husbandry tasks. The hand trucks designed were pushing type with power grasp handle. The respondents were advised to carry 5 kg of weight per lift instead of lifting more weight in one lift/minute while filling the hand truck. By decreasing the weight and increasing the number of lifts per minute the respondents were seen falling in green zone indicating significant reduction in NIOSH lifting index. QEC scores concluded that for filling the hand truck 5 kg of weight should be carried to keep the exposure level low.     

Cross‐Cultural Measurement Invariance of Adolescent Self‐Report on the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0

This study evaluated the cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory version 4.0 (PedsQL^?) among adolescents sampled from Bulgaria, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Serbia, and Turkey. The multiple‐indicator multiple‐cause (MIMIC) model was used, which allowed controlling of demographic variables (i.e., age, gender, and socioeconomic status). Significant effects of country on scores within the PedsQL^? domains were observed, with up to 17 items showing differential item functioning (DIF) across the countries. We did not find support for cross‐cultural measurement invariance hypotheses for scores on the PedsQL^? adolescent self‐report in this study. Researchers should use caution in making cross‐cultural quality of life comparisons while using the PedsQL.     

Revitalizing sociology: urban life and mental illness between history and the present

This paper proposes a re‐thinking of the relationship between sociology and the biological sciences. Tracing lines of connection between the history of sociology and the contemporary landscape of biology, the paper argues for a reconfiguration of this relationship beyond popular rhetorics of ‘biologization' or ‘medicalization'. At the heart of the paper is a claim that, today, there are some potent new frames for re‐imagining the traffic between sociological and biological research – even for ‘revitalizing’ the sociological enterprise as such. The paper threads this argument through one empirical case: the relationship between urban life and mental illness. In its first section, it shows how this relationship enlivened both early psychiatric epidemiology, and some forms of the new discipline of sociology; it then traces the historical division of these sciences, as the sociological investment in psychiatric questions waned, and ‘the social' become marginalized within an increasingly ‘biological' psychiatry. In its third section, however, the paper shows how this relationship has lately been revivified, but now by a nuanced epigenetic and neurobiological attention to the links between mental health and urban life. What role can sociology play here? In its final section, the paper shows how this older sociology, with its lively interest in the psychiatric and neurobiological vicissitudes of urban social life, can be our guide in helping to identify intersections between sociological and biological attention. With a new century now underway, the paper concludes by suggesting that the relationship between urban life and mental illness may prove a core testing‐ground for a ‘revitalized' sociology.     

The nature and culture of social work with children and families in long‐term casework: Findings from a qualitative longitudinal study

Social work in the United Kingdom is preoccupied with what social workers cannot do due to having limited time to spend with service users. Yet remarkably little research has examined what social workers actually do, especially in long‐term relationships. This paper draws from an ethnographic study of two social work departments in England that spent 15 months observing practice and organizational life. Our findings show that social work some of the time has a significant amount of involvement with some service users and the dominant view that relationship‐based practice is rarely achieved is in need of some revision. However, families at one research site received a much more substantial, reliable overall service due to the additional input of family support workers and having a stable workforce who had their own desks and were co‐located with managers in small team offices. This generated a much more supportive, reflective culture for social workers and service users than at the second site, a large open plan “hot‐desking” office. Drawing on relational, systemic, and complexity theories, the paper shows how the nature of what social workers do and culture of practice are shaped by the interaction between available services, office designs, and practitioners', managers', and service users' experiences of relating together.     

Let's help caregivers and children in informal kinship care: de facto custodian legislation

Caregivers in informal kinship care encounter numerous difficulties when lacking a legal relationship with the children in their care. The de facto custodian guardianship, a concept that is relatively unknown in social work, provides an additional legal option to caregivers by allowing them to present their caregiving history during custody hearings. This article introduces the significance of the de facto concept and provides detailed information on its components and limitations. Recommendations are forwarded for social education and practice.     

Liberalism,Group Rights,Language and Personal Identity

The notion of minority community group (henceforth group) rights has become firmly entrenched in the constitutional vocabulary in many countries in recent years Yet liberal political theorists continue to define rights in individualistic terms. For some liberals, while it is meaningful to talk about individual rights, it is meaningless to talk about group rights. For communitarians, on the other hand, since individuals are embedded in some shared social context and since some groups do have legal and moral rights and responsibilities, it makes sense to speak of group rights. In some societies, community groups are treated as a unit‐‐potentially as a right‐and‐duty‐bearing unit. The paper attempts to show how some recent liberals attempt to justify group rights by recognising “culture” as a “primary good”, thus basing cultural rights on a foundation consistent with liberal theory. The “cases” selected for discussion attempt to illustrate how liberal societies have wrestled with linguistic group rights within individualistic liberal frameworks.     

Fisher information in weighted distributions

Suppose that a density f_θ (x) belongs to an exponential family, but that inference about θ must be based on data that are obtained from a density that is proportional to W(x)f_θ(x). The authors study the Fisher information about θ in observations obtained from such weighted distributions and give conditions under which this information is greater than under the original density. These conditions involve the hazard- and reversed-hazard-rate functions.     

E-governance and Corruption-developments and Issues in Ethiopia

This paper reports the results of a survey of 400 respondents in Ethiopia about factors generating corruption and the potential of e-Governance to mitigate corruption. It is suggested that e-Governance can help not only in weeding out corruption but also in the establishment of sounder government citizen relationships in Ethiopia. While e-Governance cannot cure all the structural factors that breed corruption in the society, strategic implementation of e-Governance can help improve the critical variable in combating corruption-government citizen relationships. It is argued that while e-Governance initiatives can make important contributions to improving public services they can best do so by helping improve overall relationships between governments and citizens.

Bayesian inference: Weibull Poisson model for censored data using the expectation–maximization algorithm and its application to bladder cancer data

This article focuses on the parameter estimation of experimental items/units from Weibull Poisson Model under progressive type-II censoring with binomial removals (PT-II CBRs). The expectation–maximization algorithm has been used for maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs). The MLEs and Bayes estimators have been obtained under symmetric and asymmetric loss functions. Performance of competitive estimators have been studied through their simulated risks. One sample Bayes prediction and expected experiment time have also been studied. Furthermore, through real bladder cancer data set, suitability of considered model and proposed methodology have been illustrated.