Compter : l’invention de la statistique des fonctionnaires en France (1890-1930)

Civil servant statistics in France were invented on the margins of the state during the period from 1890 to 1930. This invention came out of activist and/or professional rationales that were desynchronized with the drafting or application of polices for reducing the number of government employees. There were three successive phases. At the dawn of the xx^th century, civil servants were counted in order to inveigh against “functionarism” and “depopulation”. During the decade before World War I, counting them was a matter of improving the expertise of statisticians. Between the two World Wars, sharp cuts were made in personnel, while civil service statistics were held in abeyance. By focusing on how civil servant statistics have been produced and used, the approach proposed herein sheds new light on a persistent but paradoxical discourse in France that ignores how many civil servants there are while claiming that there are too many.     

Perceptions of Benzodiazepine Dependence Among Women Age 65 and Older

A phenomenological study explored whether older women who are chronic benzodiazepine users identified themselves as dependent, how dependence was perceived, and how meanings and understandings shaped experiences of benzodiazepine use. Self-reported benzodiazepine dependence was associated with being unable to reduce use or a desire to discontinue use and reliance on benzodiazepines to remain comfortable and able to handle daily life. Themes included: (a) benzodiazepine dependence is similar to dependence to diabetes or blood pressure medications; (b) dependence is distinctive from addiction/abuse; (c) addiction/abuse is perceived as worse than dependence; and (d) concerns of addiction/abuse result in low-dose benzodiazepine use.     

完善农村社会保障体系 化解农村老人生活困境——吉林省农村老龄人口社会保障问题的调查与思考

吉林省农村老龄人口人数多，增长快，是吉林省农村面临的重大问题。本文通过调查分析了农村老人社会保障存在的问题，并提出对策。     

Subset selection of the t best populations

Selection of the “best” t out of k populations has been considered in the indifferece zone formulation by Bachhofer (1954) and in the subset selection formulation by Carroll, Gupta and Huang (1975). The latter approach is used here to obtain conservative solutions for the goals of selecting (i) all the “good” or (ii) only “good” populations, where “good” means having a location parameter among the largest t. For the case of normal distributions, with common unknown variance, tables are produced for implementing these procedures. Also, for this case, simulation results suggest that the procedure may not be too conservative.     

Negating Identity: A Feminist Analysis of the Social Invisibility of Older Lesbians

SUMMARY

Older lesbians are invisible both within and outside of the lesbian community. Using a postmodern and lesbian feminist approach, in this article we identify a paradox in our society which defines lesbians in terms of their sexuality while older women are generally viewed as asexual. We suggest that this paradox contributes to the invisibility of older lesbians. Our focus is on the interactive nature of the relationship between personal and public constructions of lesbianism in the lives of older women. Finally, we discuss the potential impact of invisibility on self-identity, and using a feminist gerontological framework suggest implications for the empowerment of older lesbians.     

Stakeholders’ Perspective on Ecological Modeling in Environmental Risk Assessment of Pesticides: Challenges and Opportunities

The article closely examines the role of mechanistic effect models (e.g., population models) in the European environmental risk assessment (ERA) of pesticides. We studied perspectives of three stakeholder groups on population modeling in ERA of pesticides. Forty‐three in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders from regulatory authorities, industry, and academia all over Europe. The key informant approach was employed in recruiting our participants. They were first identified as key stakeholders in the field and then sampled by means of a purposive sampling, where each stakeholder identified as important by others was interviewed and asked to suggest another potential participant for our study. Our results show that participants, although having different institutional backgrounds often presented similar perspectives and concerns about modeling. Analysis of repeating ideas and keywords revealed that all stakeholders had very high and often contradicting expectations from models. Still, all three groups expected effect models to become integrated in future ERA of pesticides. Main hopes associated with effect models were to reduce the amount of expensive and complex testing and field monitoring, both at the product development stage, and as an aid to develop mitigation measures. Our analysis suggests that, although the needs of stakeholders often overlapped, subtle differences and lack of trust hinder the process of introducing mechanistic effect models into ERA.     

Economics of the firm and economic growth: a hybrid theoretical framework of analysis

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to achieve a critical discussion around the conceptualization of the firm and its role in the dynamic process of economic growth. By reviewing the theoretical matrix of the economics of the firm we go beyond the mainstream economics of the firm proposing a hybrid approach combining evolutionary and population ecology, which is likely to constitute a fruitful path for the conceptualization of the firm in the process of economic growth. Specifically, the analysis confronts the distinct theoretical perspectives around some imperative and controversial issues such as the nature of knowledge and learning and the cognitive capacities of economic agents within the firm. We argue that the economic understanding of growth and development of human societies will strongly benefit from a conceptualization of the firm capable of capturing the spirit of the Knightian firm. Overcoming the shortcomings of the mainstream growth models, which conceive firms as a black box, the proposed hybrid approach recalls the true nature of the firm as an organization. Issues related to the organizational arrangements that sustain the feasibility of productive activities and to the incentive contracts are also taken into account. Although acknowledging some recent important contributions within mainstream economic growth theory to adopt more realistic concepts of the firm, we believe that evolutionary and organizational population perspectives include crucial pointers in developing further research aimed at the construction of economic growth models based on a micro-economic perspective that is closer to the reality of firms.     

An Exposure Assessment of Methyl Mercury via Fish Consumption for the Japanese Population

The objective of this article was to propose an exposure assessment model to describe the relationship between fish consumption and body methyl mercury (MeHg) levels in the Japanese population. Individual MeHg intake was estimated by the summation of species-specific fish consumption multiplied by species-specific fish MeHg levels. The distribution of fish consumed by individuals and the MeHg level in each fish species were assigned based on published data from Japanese government institutions. The probability of MeHg intake for a population was accomplished through a Monte Carlo simulation by the random sampling of fish consumption and species-specific MeHg levels. Internal body MeHg levels in blood and hair were estimated using a one-compartment model. Overall, the mean value of MeHg intake for the Japanese population was estimated to be 6.76 μg/day or 0.14 μg/kg body weight per day (bw/day), while the mean value for the hair mercury level was 2.02 μg/g. Compared with the survey data that tabulated hair mercury levels in a cross-section of the Japanese population, the simulation results matched the hair mercury survey data very well for women, but somewhat underestimated for men and all of the population. This exposure assessment model is a useful attempt at further risk assessment with respect to a risk-benefit analysis.     

Assessing Impact of Service-Learning Project on Older,Isolated Adults in Rural America

ABSTRACT

With help from a grant from the Corporation for National Service, service learning was infused into four classes of a graduate gerontology course, Aging Well. Thirty-one students were paired with 31 older adults for a period of up to twenty hours. The impact on the emotional and social wellness of the older adults was assessed through student journals, electronic e-mail reflection, and the administration of a survey to older adults. A quantitative assessment of the older adults was attempted using the Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Analysis indicated that the service provided to the older adult had a positive impact on their emotional and social wellness.     

Relevance of Risk Predictions Derived from a Chronic Species Sensitivity Distribution with Cadmium to Aquatic Populations and Ecosystems

Criteria to protect aquatic life are intended to protect diverse ecosystems, but in practice are usually developed from compilations of single‐species toxicity tests using standard test organisms that were tested in laboratory environments. Species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) developed from these compilations are extrapolated to set aquatic ecosystem criteria. The protectiveness of the approach was critically reviewed with a chronic SSD for cadmium comprising 27 species within 21 genera. Within the data set, one genus had lower cadmium effects concentrations than the SSD fifth percentile‐based criterion, so in theory this genus, the amphipod Hyalella, could be lost or at least allowed some level of harm by this criteria approach. However, population matrix modeling projected only slightly increased extinction risks for a temperate Hyalella population under scenarios similar to the SSD fifth percentile criterion. The criterion value was further compared to cadmium effects concentrations in ecosystem experiments and field studies. Generally, few adverse effects were inferred from ecosystem experiments at concentrations less than the SSD fifth percentile criterion. Exceptions were behavioral impairments in simplified food web studies. No adverse effects were apparent in field studies under conditions that seldom exceeded the criterion. At concentrations greater than the SSD fifth percentile, the magnitudes of adverse effects in the field studies were roughly proportional to the laboratory‐based fraction of species with adverse effects in the SSD. Overall, the modeling and field validation comparisons of the chronic criterion values generally supported the relevance and protectiveness of the SSD fifth percentile approach with cadmium.