An analysis of indirect mortality estimation

Abstract In this paper the robustness of Brass's child-survivorship indirect mortality estimation technique is investigated. An analytical method is developed for studying the error or bias caused in indirect mortality estimates by poor data, badly chosen model functions, and specific demographic assumptions that are often violated in practice. The resulting analytical expressions give insight into the rationale of indirect methods, the conditions under which they are robust, and the magnitude of errors that occur when specific assumptions are violated.     

“高口”证书成了“敲门砖”

大三下学期时,我在新东方老师的帮助下取得了英语高级口译证书。回想起来,我不得不承认,这张证书对我求职起到了莫大的帮助。大四上学期开学时,为了积累经验,迎接10月用人单位招聘的高峰期,我把目     

Panel accretion and external validity in adolescent substance use research

This study investigates the relationship of panel accretion to panel attrition and examines its impact on threats to external validity in adolescent substance use research. Panel accretion involves the addition of new participants to a panel design after initial baseline data has been obtained. Accretion occurs in longitudinal studies in which data is routinely gathered on all participants, as is often the case in prevention or epidemiological research on adolescent substance use. Accretion, attrition, and panel findings for three, 2-year panel samples in grades 7 through 9 are examined. The results indicate that accretion and attrition samples have an isomorphic relationship to one another on a range of dependent measures when drawn from the same population. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for adolescent substance use research, the examination of validity threats due to panel bias, and understanding the ecological validity of research findings.     

中国新崛起的西南部市场

中国迅速飙升的消费和经济增长吸引了大量的外国投资商，但在中国如今很难找到一个既不饱和又有可靠商业资源的地方市场。过去4年多来，越来越多的美国公司发现理想的进入点是在中国的西南地区。     

An education intervention for families of people with schizophrenia in China: development and evaluation

In China, nurses and physicians are the main care providers for people with schizophrenia. This care is provided primarily in institutions because community services are in their infancy, and families carry the burden of care. In the absence of published nursing research in the area, this article reports the rigorous development and evaluation of a culturally sensitive patient/family intervention, which was implemented in a large psychiatric hospital in Beijing, China. A random sample of 15 nurses responded to an open-ended questionnaire to explore what they believed people with schizophrenia and their family members should learn. A convenience sample of 51 family members who lived with a person with schizophrenia were also interviewed to explore what they understood and needed to know about schizophrenia. Common learning needs were integrated with the literature and presented as the Comprehensive Patient/Family Education Guide, which was implemented with an experimental group of 42 family members, while a control group of 45 received the usual hospital treatment. The effect of the intervention was evaluated by interviewing a random sample of 19 of the family members. The results revealed some useful information for the future planning and implementation of such programs, and although focused on a Chinese sample, do offer insights for nurses around the world.     

Some general relationships in population dynamics

This paper extends the Lotka system of stable population equations to any population. The authors present this new general system and describe its duality with the recent Preston-Coale system. They derive these results by considering the calculus of change on the surface of population density defined over age and time. They show that analysis of this Lexis surface leads to all the known fundamental relationships of the dynamics of single-region human populations, several interesting new relationships, and a duality between period and cohort life tables.     

Measuring risk and protection in communities using the Communities That Care Youth Survey

The Communities That Care Youth Survey measures risk and protective factors shown in prior studies to predict adolescent problem behaviors such as drug use, delinquency, and violence. This paper describes the development and validation of cut points for the risk and protective factor scales in the Communities That Care Youth Survey that distinguish youths at higher risk for involvement in problem behaviors from those at lower risk. Using these cut points, populations surveyed with this instrument can be described in terms of the proportions of youths experiencing risk and the proportions experiencing protection on each predictor. This facilitates communities' prioritization of specific factors for attention. This paper compares different cut points, and evaluates the discriminant validity of selected cut points. Results indicate that cut points with sufficient sensitivity and selectivity can be established for each of the scales, and that risk and protective factors can be profiled as prevalence rates. Implications of these findings for prevention planning are discussed.     

Measuring risk and protective factors for substance use,delinquency, and other adolescent problem behaviors. The Communities That Care Youth Survey

Risk and protective factors predictive of adolescent problem behaviors such as substance abuse and delinquency are promising targets for preventive intervention. Community planners should assess and target risk and protective factors when designing prevention programs. This study describes the development, reliability, and validity of a self-report survey instrument for adolescents ages 11 to 18 that measures an array of risk and protective factors across multiple ecological domains as well as adolescent problem behaviors. The instrument can be used to assess the epidemiology of risk and protection in youth populations and to prioritize specific risk and protective factors in specific populations as targets for preventive intervention.