Comparison of dichotomized and distributional approaches in rare event clinical trial design: a fixed Bayesian design

This research was motivated by our goal to design an efficient clinical trial to compare two doses of docosahexaenoic acid supplementation for reducing the rate of earliest preterm births (ePTB) and/or preterm births (PTB). Dichotomizing continuous gestational age (GA) data using a classic binomial distribution will result in a loss of information and reduced power. A distributional approach is an improved strategy to retain statistical power from the continuous distribution. However, appropriate distributions that fit the data properly, particularly in the tails, must be chosen, especially when the data are skewed. A recent study proposed a skew-normal method. We propose a three-component normal mixture model and introduce separate treatment effects at different components of GA. We evaluate operating characteristics of mixture model, beta-binomial model, and skew-normal model through simulation. We also apply these three methods to data from two completed clinical trials from the USA and Australia. Finite mixture models are shown to have favorable properties in PTB analysis but minimal benefit for ePTB analysis. Normal models on log-transformed data have the largest bias. Therefore we recommend finite mixture model for PTB study. Either finite mixture model or beta-binomial model is acceptable for ePTB study.     

Deliberate acquisition of competence in physiological breech birth: A grounded theory study

Problem

Research suggests that the skill and experience of the attendant significantly affect the outcomes of vaginal breech births, yet practitioner experience levels are minimal within many contemporary maternity care systems.

Women’s attitudes towards the medicalization of childbirth and their associations with planned and actual modes of birth

Problem

Rates of medical interventions in childbirth have greatly increased in the Western world.

陕西省出生人口性别比定量分析与对策探讨

文章根据陕西省历次人口普查、部分人口抽样调查资料及公安、教育、计生统计报表数据,时全省出生人口性别失衡程度、女婴缺失数量和分因素贡献率等几个问题进行定量分析,并对出生人口性别比综合治理和科学决策提出建议。     

张载对孝悌思想的发展及其启示

孝悌是"仁"的根本和基础。北宋思想家张载对"孝悌"思想作了重要发展:首先,把天地当作父母,把所有的人和万物都当作兄弟和朋友;其次,把孝悌由一种品德提升为一种精神修养。张载对传统孝悌思想的发展具有深刻的启示:提升道德修养和精神境界需要从孝悌开始,同时需要具备感恩和移情能力。     

Pills,Periods, and Postfeminism

Since the English translation of Elsimar Coutinho's Is Menstruation Obsolete? in 1999 and the introduction of cycle-stopping birth control pills in 2003, US women are increasingly advised that menstruation is not necessary for good health. The most widely distributed source of such messages is direct-to-consumer advertisements for birth control pills. The most recent television ads for Seasonique, the leading brand of cycle-stopping contraceptive in the US, minimize the pill's contraceptive function and focus instead on their effectiveness in reducing the frequency of menstruation. A close reading of these commercials reveals them to be an integral part of an emerging postfeminist media culture that attempts to solidify a new, neoliberal subjectivity for women. This subjectivity imposes an idealized, docile, non-menstruating feminine body, ready for full-time participation in the neoliberal economy.     

临水夫人的造神背景与传播特色

临水夫人是福建省第二大民间信仰女神，她堪称与妈祖齐名的闽地内陆女神，其信仰产生具有鲜明的闽地历史背景，造神与传播过程也独有特色。     

论元杂剧中母亲形象的类型化

元杂剧是元代具有代表性的文学样式，剧作家以其奇思妙笔成功地塑造出一大批鲜明生动的人物形象。其中，母亲人物形象类型多样，蕴含丰富，使之成为文学史上引人注目的一个群体。然而元杂剧中母亲形象存在着明显类型化的痕迹，分析其特点并探讨形成类型化特点的成因，客观指出其类型化的塑造方法。     

Differential fertility in Ontario. An application of factorial design to a demographic problem

This paper describes the use of a probability sample to survey differential fertility. 475 women were randomly selected from the 1941 Census of Canada to provide tests of the existence of five differentials: income, present age, age by marriage, schooling and distance from a city. The sample was limited to one province and to two contrasting values of each of the five differentials under study. Significant differences are found for the effective distance as well as for age at marriage and schooling. This is taken as signifying that the diffusion of the small-family pattern has a spatial dimension.