Estimatingdendroctonus frontalis (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) daily infestation dynamics

Mathematical procedures are given to estimate infestation totals and daily life stage arrivals, departures, and mortality ofDendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann for an infested tree in the field. These estimates are based on minimal sample data and are designed to utilize all available information. Daily arrival estimates for larvae, pupae, and callow adults are obtained by indirect analysis without direct observation of these stages. The procedures are applied to 147 infested trees, and the results are transformed to a common time basis to obtain daily expectations by life stage for an “average” tree. These expectations suggest optimal times for field sampling or relative times of sampling when optimal times are missed. Expected daily arrival distributions by life stage for a single egg and a single attacking adult are given. Procedures are given for utilizing collateral information to obtain an infestation total and daily arrival estimates for a boundary life stage. The results of this study are applicable to anyD. frontalis field study, and the procedures given are applicable to any bark inhabiting insect having similar habits.     

Measurement of non-randomness in spatial distributions

Summary The measurement of departure from randomness in spatial distributions has widespread application in ecological work. Several “indices of non-randomness” are compared with regard to their dependence on sample number, sample size and density. Criteria for the best choice of index for specific situations are discussed. A new coefficientC _x is proposed for use with positively contagious distributions and tests of significance are given. WhenC _x and another index (S ²/m−1) are used for positive and negative contagion respectively, values ranging from −1 through 0 (random) to +1 are obtained, regardless of sample number, sample size or density.     

Impact of lek mating on the sterile insect technique: A modeling study

Summary Modelling studies are presented which describe the effect of lek mating on the control of a wild population by sterile male release. The mixed leks are assumed to follow a Poisson-binomial distribution and the system includes three parts: territory defense, matings inside a lek and matings outside a lek. The effects of parameters on the hatchability are discussed. Among the parameters, sterile type effect (W _s ), female choice (f _s ) and mating competitiveness (C _m ) are the most important. The application to determining the effects of sterile male release and on the proportion of sterile males required for eradication are also discussed.     

Do smart parents raise smart children? The intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities

Complementing prior research on income and educational mobility, we examine the intergenerational transmission of cognitive abilities. We find that individuals’ cognitive skills are positively related to their parents’ abilities, despite controlling for educational attainment and family background. Differentiating between mothers’ and fathers’ IQ transmission, we find different effects on the cognition of sons and daughters. Cognitive skills that are based on past learning are more strongly transmitted between generations than skills that are related to innate abilities. Our findings are not compatible with a pure genetic model but rather point to the importance of parental investments for children’s cognitive outcomes.     

Working mothers and sons’ preferences regarding female labor supply: direct evidence from stated preferences

We investigate the argument that men who are raised by working mothers develop a preference that is favorable toward working women and, consequently, are more likely to have working wives. We test this hypothesis using the Japanese General Social Surveys 2000–2003. We directly examine the responses to the opinion survey’s questions regarding appropriate gender roles. The estimation results indicate that men raised by full-time working mothers are less likely to support traditional gender roles. Those men are also less likely to believe in the negative impact of a mother’s working on her children’s development.      

The relationality of maternity care: A diffractive analysis of maternity care experiences

ProblemPervasive polemics of differing approaches to and values of maternity care limit possibilities of nuanced and productive understandings of how maternity care is experienced.AimTo explore how maternity care identities (midwife, obstetrician, childbearing woman) are shaped by binarised conceptualisations of childbirth.MethodsThe diffractive analysis of data gathered in collective biography research groups.Findings and discussionMaternity care identities are not complete, pre-established entities, but rather are, ‘in the making’, remade in every maternity care encounter.ConclusionMaternity care identities are defined by their encounters with other maternity care identities, and therefore, each maternity care identity plays a role in which experiences of maternity care come into being.     

Maternity waiting homes in times of crisis: Can current models meet women’s needs?

BackgroundMaternity waiting homes (MWHs) located close to birthing facilities are a conditional recommendation by the World Health Organisation, based on very low-quality evidence that they contribute to improvements in maternal or perinatal health outcomes. In addition, several studies suggest that more vulnerable women are less likely to use them. Yet significant investments continue to be made in building and running MWHs within conflict-affected and under-resourced health systems.AimsWe critically examine the literature to shed light on the challenges and opportunities provided by MWHs during health emergencies and in conflict situations.Findings and discussionMWHs are difficult to utilise during crises because they require women to be away from home, are often designed as dormitories, can lack security and be over-crowded. Some MWHs have been adapted during situations of political conflict to incorporate birthing and broader reproductive health care, thereby improving the availability of care away from over-burdened health facilities. How MWHs are adapted during times of crisis may provide insights into what systems of care are more appropriate in meeting women’s needs more broadly.ConclusionThe current global pandemic is an important time to reflect on whether MWHs are meeting the needs of a diverse range of women, in times of stability and during emergencies, and engage in genuine dialogue with women about the kinds of maternity care they want. We need to co-create those systems now so that they are more resilient during the inevitable crises we will face in the future.     

The Dying Mother

In a culture where concerted attempts are being made to postpone or circumvent inevitable processes of human life, the poignancy of a mother diagnosed with cancer provides a platform from which to explore broader cultural understandings of mothering. This paper examines four films that contend with the theme of mothering with terminal cancer. Despite being made decades apart and for different audiences, the films share seemingly unchanging representations of mothers. They are portrayed as having a choice between dying as “good” mothers or risking being labeled as unfit mothers. Instead of using cancer as an opportunity to become better selves (as expected of others who are dealing with cancer), dying mothers are expected to find better selves for their children. In the process they must learn the difficult lesson that they are required to both sacrifice all for their children and acknowledge being imperfect as mothers, that is, being replaceable as mothers. Young mothers, in particular, are assumed to be incapable of being good mothers.     

Motherhood and Graduate Education: 1970–2000

This study examines issues related to the fertility of graduate students over time. First, it examines changes in motherhood rates between 1970 and 2000 among women aged 20–49 who are enrolled in graduate school, both by themselves and relative to prevailing trends among women not enrolled in graduate school, and to other college educated women. Overall, women enrolled in graduate school are increasingly likely to be mothers of young children, and are increasingly similar to non-graduate students. Second, it examines the timing of these births, and finds that almost half of births occur while women are enrolled in graduate school. Third, a brief review of current maternity leave policies and childcare options available to graduate students is presented. Results are discussed in terms of institutional changes within academia, changes between cohorts that attended graduate school in these decades, and the policy needs of graduate student mothers.

Probability models for family building: An analytical review

Considerable literature now exists on stochastic models for the reproductive history of a cohort of couples. These models are of varying complexity and the relationships between separate treatments are not always clear. A classification system for such models is proposed, followed by a historical review of models for family building and for logically related processes. Models, differing only in treatment of time as discrete or continuous, are presented in detail for the simple case where the prob ability of conception is constant, and all conceptions lead to live births which are associated with a fixed nonsusceptible period. Analysis of different treatments is facilitated by introducing the notion of the time when a conception is recorded. Emphasis is placed on results for the probability of a recording at a specified time t, the probability of r recordings by time t, and the expected number of recordings in time t. Differences between the discrete and continuous time models are made explicit. It is shown that results for these models can be derived using renewal theory techniques, which are presented. More complex models based on renewal theory and allowing for several pregnancy outcomes or for variability in parameters are briefly described, followed by generalized models which allow parameters to vary with time. Applications of family building models are summarized.     

Black–white differences in social mobility in the past 30 years: A latent-class regression analysis

This article presents an analysis of racial differences in intergenerational occupational mobility using a novel latent-class regression model. The model distinguishes mobility patterns by membership in four latent classes, which are labeled as the “stable middle” class, the “downwardly mobile” (DM) class, the “upwardly mobile” (UM) class, and the “stable working” (SW) class, and this distinction provides new substantive insights into mobility analysis. Compared with whites, blacks are shown to be disadvantaged in two of the three elements of mobility chances that the distinction of these four latent classes identifies: a disadvantage coming from their poor status backgrounds, and a disadvantage coming from a significantly smaller chance of experiencing upward mobility than whites. On the other hand, blacks are not significantly more likely than whites to experience downward mobility. Changes in the black–white differences in mobility chances are also analyzed.     

Cougars or kittens? The representation of celebrity cougars and their toyboys in gossip media

Abstract

Relationships involving a woman who is much older than her male partner have become increasingly visible in popular culture. These women are referred to as “cougars” and their partners as “toyboys.” This type of relationship has the potential to undermine elements of heteronormativity and intersectional gender/age performances, as women who are past their forties are not expected to engage in sexual relationships with (younger) men. The present study discusses the discourse found in Dutch gossip media (n = 138) on the relationships of preselected celebrity “cougars:” Demi Moore, Madonna, Patricia Paay, and Heleen van Royen. A qualitative content analysis reveals that certain aspects of heteronormativity are challenged: these women are depicted as financially and sexually empowered, whereas their partners are seen as interchangeable male suitors who are dependent on the female partner’s (financial/career) achievements. Yet, traditional understandings of intersectional performances (i.e., gender/age) are also found: a wise, caring mother, and a handsome, boyish, adventurous partner. Overall, these women are seen as both maintaining and challenging traditional roles that are typically associated with older women.     

Parenting as A “package deal”: Relationships,fertility, and nonresident father involvement among unmarried parents

Fatherhood has traditionally been viewed as part of a “package deal” in which a father’s relationship with his child is contingent on his relationship with the mother. We evaluate the accuracy of this hypothesis in light of the high rates of multiple-partner fertility among unmarried parents using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a recent longitudinal survey ofnonmarital births in large cities. We examine whether unmarried mothers’ and fathers’ subsequent relationship and parenting transitions are associated with declines in fathers ’ contact with their nonresident biological children. We find that father involvement drops sharply after relationships between unmarried parents end. Mothers’ transitions into new romantic partnerships and new parenting roles are associated with larger declines in involvement than fathers’ transitions. Declines in fathers’ involvement following a mother’s relationship or parenting transition are largest when children are young. We discuss the implications of our results for the well-being ofnonmarital children and the quality of nonmarital relationships faced with high levels of relationship instability and multiple-partner fertiliy.     

Life philosophy and Life style

Two categories of values are distinguished by their psychological functions. Life philosophy values secure a person's sense of personal identity; they are held regardless of what anyone else thinks of his value choice. Life style values secure a person's sense of social identity; they are held precisely because of what others think of his value choice. People sometimes run together their legitimate need for securing each of these value domains. The result of this can be an eruption of either a social or personal identity crisis. People have paid especially too little attention to the idea of social identity crisis.     

Forecasting German mortality using panel data procedures

Reliable forecasts of life expectancies are of importance for the financial stability of social security systems and the life insurance industry. A discrete-time stochastic process and a continuous-time stochastic process are proposed to model the dynamics of German mortality rates from which life expectancies are calculated. More precisely, a panel data model is utilized, which distinguishes between a common time effect and a common age effect. The model is easy to fit, yields interpretable parameters, and allows for a simple analysis of the forecast error. The main applications of the model are the forecast of mortality rates—and the resulting life expectancies—and the pricing of mortality derivatives.

Estimators of a type I geometric distribution from observations on conception times

In order to study distributions of fecundability, Potter and Parker fitted a Pearson Type I geometric distribution (with parametersa andb) to data from the Princeton Fertility Study. They, and subsequently other authors, estimateda andb from the observed moments of the month of first conception. A critical analysis of this method has shown that moment estimators ofa andb are moderately reliable only within a specified range of values ofa. Outside this range, either the estimators are extremely inefficient or their variances are not defined at all. Caution should therefore be taken in adopting this procedure. Furthermore, no moment estimate is defined whena is less than 2. It seems preferable to derive maximum likelihood estimates which have certain optimal properties and are defined for all permissible (i.e. positive) values ofa andb. For large samples, we here present: the covariance matrix (where defined) of the moment estimators, methods of obtaining maximum likelihood estimates and their covariance matrix, and the variances of estimates of specified moments of the fecundability of the sample. Results were obtained for three sets of data; in all cases, the maximum likelihood estimates fit the data better than do the moment estimates. Despite a substantial improvement, however, the fit is still poor for the two sets of data from the Princeton Fertility Study. Possible explanations are: a) that the departures from the assumption of constant fecundability for each couple are sufficient to produce the poor fit, b) that the data are inaccurate, or c) that the method of defining the sample of women from whom the data were obtained resulted in an over-representation of short conception times. The relative importance of these factors is difficult to establish.     

The health expectancies of older Australians

Health expectancies of the states ‘Disability-free’ and ‘Disabled’ are estimated for Australian females and males aged 60 and over, both by cohort from 1980 and current for survey years 1981, 1988, 1993 and 1998. Modifications of recently developed logistic regression techniques are used rather than the standard 1971 method due to Sullivan. Results from the three later surveys are broadly similar and differ in important respects from those of the 1981 survey. Based on the last three surveys our estimates support the view that, depending on age, two-thirds or more of the increase in female life expectancy over the decade 1988–1998 is spent in the Disabled state. The situation is worse for elderly men, for whom all of the increased years of expected life are estimated to be spent in the Disabled state. The findings do not support rectangularization of the survival curve or Disability-free survival curve.     

A Psychometric Review of Measures Assessing Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities

ABSTRACT

Discrimination against sexual minorities is widespread and has deleterious consequences on victims’ psychological and physical wellbeing. However, a review of the psychometric properties of instruments measuring lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) discrimination has not been conducted. The results of this review, which involved evaluating 162 articles, reveal that most have suboptimal psychometric properties. Specifically, myriad scales possess questionable content validity as (1) items are not created in collaboration with sexual minorities; (2) measures possess a small number of items and, thus, may not sufficiently represent the domain of interest; and (3) scales are “adapted” from measures designed to examine race- and gender-based discrimination. Additional limitations include (1) summed scores are computed, often in the absence of scale score reliability metrics; (2) summed scores operate from the questionable assumption that diverse forms of discrimination are necessarily interrelated; (3) the dimensionality of instruments presumed to consist of subscales is seldom tested; (4) tests of criterion-related validity are routinely omitted; and (5) formal tests of measures’ construct validity are seldom provided, necessitating that one infer validity based on the results obtained. The absence of “gold standard” measures, the attendant difficulty in formulating a coherent picture of this body of research, and suggestions for psychometric improvements are noted.     

Effects of group size on the availability of marriage partners

Formulae are derived for the extent to which the size of the group from which marriage partners are chosen affects the availability of marriage partners, under monogamy and endogamy, when group membership and appropriate sex are the only criteria for eligibility, and when males and females are equally likely to become group members. The expected proportion of group members unable to find eligible partners under these conditions decreases monotonically as group size increases, approaching a limit of zero as the group size becomes large, but becomes substantial for small groups. These results give minimal estimates of the effects of group size: the introduction of additional constraints-incest taboos, requirements that couples have similar age or social status, etc.-could only increase the proportion unable to find acceptable partners. Possible extensions to more complex marriage models are discussed.     

Women and Retirement Planning: Towards the “Feminization of Poverty” in an Aging Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

Hong Kong's population is aging but retirement research is largely missing from the research agenda in Hong Kong. This study, based on a telephone survey of 1,078 respondents, examines middle-aged adult's retirement planning activities in Hong Kong. The findings show men are more likely to be involved in financial planning, while women are more likely to take part in some forms of health, living arrangement and psychological planning for retirement. Further, there are age, education and income differences in the various forms of retirement planning activities within genders. Women are living longer; because of their lack of financial retirement planning, they are prime candidates for poverty. The discussion concludes with policy implications related to assisting midlife individuals, in particular women, in planning for retirement.