Tests in a Case–control Design Including Relatives

Abstract.  We present a new approach to handle dependencies within the general framework of case–control designs, illustrating our approach by a particular application from the field of genetic epidemiology. The method is derived for parent–offspring trios, which will later be relaxed to more general family structures. For applications in genetic epidemiology we consider tests on equality of allele frequencies among cases and controls utilizing well-known risk measures to test for independence of phenotype and genotype at the observed locus. These test statistics are derived as functions of the entries in the associated contingency table containing the numbers of the alleles under consideration in the case and the control group. We find the joint asymptotic distribution of these entries, which enables us to derive critical values for any test constructed on this basis. A simulation study reveals the finite sample behaviour of our test statistics.     

ICT and geographies of British Arab and Arab American activism

Current literature on migrant transnationalism highlights the role of new information and communication technologies (ICT) in facilitating lives that are situated simultaneously ‘here’ and ‘there’. Yet discussions of transnationalism and ICT obscure many complexities because of the tendency to focus on migrants' connections with ‘homeland’. In this article, we consider more broadly the spatiality of migrant activism and the different ways that ICT enters into it. Drawing on interviews conducted with Arab American and British Arab activists, we ask where is migrant activism geographically situated? How might their use of ICT factor into, or not factor into, activists' activities? In considering our respondents' diverse forms of activism, the multitude of aims and geographical orientations underpinning their activism, and their highly variable use of ICT, this article provides a variegated understanding of migrants' political subjectivities that avoids privileging any single geographical scale or location.     

The New Zealand Family Court: its structure and process

SUMMARY. During the last decade the New Zealand Family Court has been central to the transformation of key aspects of Family Law. It has provided a forum for conciliation, thus enabling the resolution of family conflict without recourse to the formal adjudicative process. Conciliation, coupled with a diminution in the use of adversarial techniques by lawyers., have combined to take the bitterness and recrimination out of family breakdown. The Family Court has therefore succeeded in enhancing the welfare of children. These two articles are based on papers given to the Family Courts Campaign Conference, May 1989     

Structure, Agency and Social Transformation

Revisiting the structure/agency debate, the article puts forward the broad position shared by Giddens'structuration theory and Bhaskar's transformational model. It defends Giddens'concept of structure as'rules and resources'against charges of idealism, arguing that its strength is its focus on the interface of structure and agency. But both Giddens and Bhaskar emphasise social reproduction as an unintended consequence of social action. Taking issue with postmodern pessimism, the article goes on to consider the conditions of possibility, and requisite forms of knowledgeability, for deliberate social transformation.     

'Secret Justice': The Use Made of School Reports in the Juvenile Court

Summary The data collected for this review confirmed the suspected widevariation in practice relating to school reports, with a biastowards their not being shown to parents and defendants. Nogeographic or demographic explanation for the variety of practiceemerged, however the comments of justices' clerks suggest thatin many courts it is their influence together with that of headteachersand juvenile panel members which effectively determines practice.The data also reveals a disturbing incidence of disregard forthe rules as laid down in the Magistrates Courts (Children andYoung Persons) Rules 1970.     

Visitors' Views on Residental Homes

Correspondence should be addressed to Justine Schneider, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Applied Social Studies, University of Durham, 15 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HL, UK. Email: Justine.Schneider{at}durham.ac.uk Summary Relatives and other people who visit residential care homeshave an opportunity to formulate their own views about the qualityof care, often over a considerable period of time. They maybe experienced in providing care themselves, and many have beenthe principal carer before admission of the resident. They canbe decision makers in purchasing care, and their preferenceswill therefore influence the market. Finally, through theirfrequent attendance, they too form part of the environment ofa home. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 228 visitorsto 17 residential care homes throughout England. It shows whothe visitors were, what they did, their likes, dislikes andideas for improvements. It summarizes what aspects were mostimportant to visitors, many of whom were former carers; thishas implications for purchasers and providers of residentialcare. It closes with a methodological discussion about how thevaluable views of visitors may be tapped without encounteringreticence due to guilt or fear of retribution affecting theresident.     

Baghdadi Jews in Hong Kong: converting cultural,social and economic capital among three transregional networks

This article is an analysis of the attempts of Baghdadi Jewish traders in Hong Kong in the second half of the nineteenth century to construct and convert cultural, social and economic capital within and between the transregional networks of the Baghdadi diaspora, the Jewish diaspora and the British colonial elite. The analysis of the multiple and multi‐directional intersections between the cultural, social and economic characteristics of the three networks shows that Baghdadi social capital accounted for significant ruptures and disjunctures between the increasing cosmopolitanization, deterritorialization and hybridization of the Baghdadi traders' cultural identities and the definition of Baghdadi cultural capital. An understanding of the role of Baghdadi social capital in accounting for the construction and convertibility of cultural, social and economic capital among these three transregional networks helps to explain the reproduction of social inequalities under increasing conditions of globalization, that is, under conditions that potentially augmented the number of sources defining cultural capital.