Population growth among different nationalities in the USSR

The authors examine ethnic differences in population trends in the USSR using data from official sources, including the censuses from 1959 to 1989. They look at differentials in fertility, general mortality, and infant mortality and their causes. They also note that, out of the 18 major nationalities, 5 have reproduction rates below replacement level: Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Lithuanians, and Jews. Data are included on population size, growth rates, and fertility rates by ethnic group.     

Women in the USSR

This is a selection of statistical data on women from the 1989 Soviet census. The data include total female population by republic; rural and urban female population; women's age distribution, income, labor force participation, educational status, and life expectancy; marriage and divorce; birth weight of children born to unmarried women; induced abortion; maternal mortality; and infant mortality.     

Women in the USSR

This is a selection of statistical data on women in the USSR; it covers the period 1970-1989. Tabular data are provided on the number of women by Union republic; the number of women and men by age group and rural or urban area; women's educational levels, sources of income, and occupations; family size for the whole country and for rural and urban areas; women's marital status by age; marriages and divorces; divorce by women's education, age, and number of children; birth rate by Union republic and by nationality; abortion and childbirth for selected years and by Union republic; maternal deaths by Union republic; infant deaths; and female life expectancy.     

Random projections for Bayesian regression

This article deals with random projections applied as a data reduction technique for Bayesian regression analysis. We show sufficient conditions under which the entire d-dimensional distribution is approximately preserved under random projections by reducing the number of data points from n to \(k\in O({\text {poly}}(d/\varepsilon ))\) in the case \(n\gg d\). Under mild assumptions, we prove that evaluating a Gaussian likelihood function based on the projected data instead of the original data yields a \((1+O(\varepsilon ))\)-approximation in terms of the \(\ell _2\) Wasserstein distance. Our main result shows that the posterior distribution of Bayesian linear regression is approximated up to a small error depending on only an \(\varepsilon \)-fraction of its defining parameters. This holds when using arbitrary Gaussian priors or the degenerate case of uniform distributions over \(\mathbb {R}^d\) for \(\beta \). Our empirical evaluations involve different simulated settings of Bayesian linear regression. Our experiments underline that the proposed method is able to recover the regression model up to small error while considerably reducing the total running time.     

The population of the USSR

Official population data for the USSR for 1986 and 1987 are presented. Tables are included on age and sex distribution; rural and urban population; birth, death, and natural increase rates, 1970-1986; fertility and mortality by sex, 1970-1986; birth order; age-specific birth rates by rural and urban area and Union republic; age-specific death rates, 1970-1986; infant mortality, 1970-1986; life expectancy, 1926-1986; life tables; marriage and age at marriage; and divorce.     

The population policy of the USSR

Developments in population policy in the USSR are outlined in this editorial. Mention is made of achievements in lowering mortality, particularly in the 1950s and 1970s. Recently adopted pro-natalist measures are described, and the results are stated to ba a rise in the birth rate in 1983 that was sustained in 1984 and 1985. Attention is also given to policies designed to encourage labor migration in response to labor shortages in some regions.     

Women and children in the USSR

Selected official data concerning women and children in the USSR are presented. Data are included on percentage of women in the urban and rural population by republic, women in the labor force, female educational status and occupations, marital status, mothers with children, life expectancy, health care, birth rate, infant mortality, child care, and education.     

Women and children in the USSR

Selected official data for 1986 and 1987 concerning women and children in the USSR are presented. The data include number of women by Union republic for selected years, 1939-1987; age distribution; elected and appointed officials; labor force participation; educational status; and occupations.     

Statistical materials: the family in the USSR

Statistical data are presented on the family in the USSR. Data from the 1979 census are included on number of families and their distribution by size; distribution of families by size and type, social class, and nationality; number of families including members of different nationalities, 1959-1979; number of marriages and divorces, 1960-1981; changes in age at marriage, 1960-1981; and distribution of births by age of mother, 1969-1970, 1974-1975, and 1980-1981.     

Family size and composition in the USSR

Trends in family size and composition in the USSR over the past 30 years are analyzed, based on data from censuses conducted since 1959. Trends are examined according to territory and urban or rural area. Aspects considered include changes in the number of families, family size, incidence of divorce, single-parent families, and ethnic composition.     

Ethnic differentials in fertility in the USSR

Ethnic differentials in fertility in the USSR are analyzed using data from official sources. Age-specific and total fertility rates for women of various nationalities are presented by Union republic for selected years from 1945 to 1984.     

Statistical materials: women in the USSR

Data are presented on women in the USSR and Union Republics for selected years, 1939-1981. Information is included on the size of the female population; educational levels; the number of women in the labor force, the judiciary, and in medical or teaching professions; women studying in institutions of higher education in the USSR and in selected other countries; the number of women in scientific research by degree; and state budgetary expenditures for maternal and child services.     

Bounding sample size projections for the area under a ROC curve

Studies of diagnostic tests are often designed with the goal of estimating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) because the AUC is a natural summary of a test's overall diagnostic ability. However, sample size projections dealing with AUCs are very sensitive to assumptions about the variance of the empirical AUC estimator, which depends on two correlation parameters. While these correlation parameters can be estimated from the available data, in practice it is hard to find reliable estimates before the study is conducted. Here we derive achievable bounds on the projected sample size that are free of these two correlation parameters. The lower bound is the smallest sample size that would yield the desired level of precision for some model, while the upper bound is the smallest sample size that would yield the desired level of precision for all models. These bounds are important reference points when designing a single or multi-arm study; they are the absolute minimum and maximum sample size that would ever be required. When the study design includes multiple readers or interpreters of the test, we derive bounds pertaining to the average reader AUC and the ‘pooled’ or overall AUC for the population of readers. These upper bounds for multireader studies are not too conservative when several readers are involved.     

Optimal linear projections for enhancing desired data statistics

Problems involving high-dimensional data, such as pattern recognition, image analysis, and gene clustering, often require a preliminary step of dimension reduction before or during statistical analysis. If one restricts to a linear technique for dimension reduction, the remaining issue is the choice of the projection. This choice can be dictated by desire to maximize certain statistical criteria, including variance, kurtosis, sparseness, and entropy, of the projected data. Motivations for such criteria comes from past empirical studies of statistics of natural and urban images. We present a geometric framework for finding projections that are optimal for obtaining certain desired statistical properties. Our approach is to define an objective function on spaces of orthogonal linear projections—Stiefel and Grassmann manifolds, and to use gradient techniques to optimize that function. This construction uses the geometries of these manifolds to perform the optimization. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate these ideas for natural and facial images.     

Average life expectancy of the population of the USSR

Mortality trends in the USSR from the middle of the nineteenth century to the present day are analyzed, with a focus on changes in life expectancy. The authors note that life expectancy increased up to 1964-1965, declined subsequently, and stabilized during the 1980s. Life expectancy has again started to rise since 1985. More detailed analyses of mortality differentials by sex and age and for the rural and urban populations are included. (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

The nationality structure of the population of the USSR

The ethnic composition of the USSR is described using data from the 1979 census of population. Tables provide information for the country as a whole and for individual republics and autonomous districts on nationality, the number of people who speak Russian fluently, and those who consider Russian their native language.     

Demographic problems of military reform in the USSR

The author discusses future reforms in the procedures for drafting personnel into the Soviet army. The analysis is based primarily on the experiences of armies in Western countries. The author also takes into consideration peculiarities of the political and economic structures in the USSR, as well as the attitude of the Soviet people toward military service. The demographic situation at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century is examined, as is the possibility that a decrease in fertility, worsening life expectancy, and increase in international migration could make the military draft process even more complicated. Data for cohorts born in 1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987 are used as illustrations. The possibility of developing an alternative service is suggested.     

Distance Testing for Selecting the Best Population

Consider testing the null hypothesis that a given population has location parameter greater than or equal to the largest location parameter of k competing populations. This paper generalizes tests proposed by Gupta and Bartholomew by considering tests based on p -distances from the parameter estimate to the null parameter space. It is shown that all tests are equivalent when k →∞ for a class of distributions that includes the normal and the uniform. The paper proposes the use of adaptive quantiles. Under suitable assumptions the resulting tests are asymptotically equivalent to the uniformly most powerful test for the case that the location parameters of all but one of the populations are known. The increase in power obtained by using adaptive tests is confirmed by a simulation study.