The measurement of diversity: Ethnic and socioeconomic mixing in residential areas

Units of observation such as census tracts continue to be analyzed according to various modal characteristics while the variation or diversity existent in such units is often ignored. The qualitative or nominal-level indicators of diversity are examined which (1) are operative in the polytomous situation, and (2) measure within-unit diversity rather than divergences among units. Six qualitative indicators are explained and compared both theoretically and by example, with the Index of Qualitative Variation suggested as the most appropriate measure of diversity when variables representing a nominal scale are used. Quantitative or interval-level diversity also was examined with six measures analyzed, representing three operational situations. Because of the susceptibilities of five of the quantitative measures to skewness and variable sample sizes, the coefficient of variation was recommended for interval-level variables to evaluate within-unit diversity.     

Solving the Stochastic Growth Model by Parameterizing Expectations

This article describes a method for solving the one-good stochastic growth model by parameterizing the expectations part of the stochastic Euler equation. The conditional expectation is specified as a function of the state of the system, and the parameters of that function are estimated to solve the model. The article includes a discussion of how to find the parameters of the function and determine systematically the complexity of the functional form necessary to solve the model.     

Television in American ideological hopes and fears

The Chicago School of Social Thought was characterized by a hope for a Great Community fashioned through the new media technologies. The communication theorists at Chicago reflected long-standing patterns of the American imagination, assuming a consensual model of society in which technologies would aid in producing abundance. This article examines some of these themes, using the rise of television after World War II as the focus. A new middle class is seen to emerge which viewed television as the agency for creating their new community and an arena for struggling with various status groups to become legitimate.     

Comparative Potency Method for Cancer Risk Assessment: Application to Diesel Particulate Emissions1

An estimation of the human lung cancer “unit risk” from diesel engine particulate emissions has been made using a comparative potency approach. This approach involves evaluating the tumorigenic and mutagenic potencies of the particulates from four diesel and one gasoline engine in relation to other combustion and pyrolysis products (coke oven, roofing tar, and cigarette smoke) that cause lung cancer in humans. The unit cancer risk is predicated on the linear nonthreshold extrapolation model and is the individual lifetime excess lung cancer risk from continuous exposure to 1 μg carcinogen per m³ inhaled air. The human lung cancer unit risks obtained from the epidemiologic data for coke oven workers, roofing tar applicators, and cigarette smokers were, respectively, 9.3 × 10^?4, 3.6 × 10^?4, and 2.2 × 10^?6 per μg particulate organics per m³ air. The comparative potencies of these three materials and the diesel and gasoline engine exhaust particulates (as organic extracts) were evaluated by in vivo tumorigenicity bioassays involving skin initiation and skin carcinogenicity in SENCAR mice and by the in vitro bioassays that proved suitable for this analysis: Ames Salmonella microsome bioassay, L5178Y mouse lymphoma cell mutagenesis bioassay, and sister chromatid exchange bioassay in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The relative potencies of the coke oven, roofing tar, and cigarette smoke emissions, as determined by the mouse skin initiation assay, were within a factor of 2 of those determined using the epidemiologic data. The relative potencies, from the in vitro bioassays as compared to the human data, were similar for coke oven and roofing tar, but for the cigarette smoke condensate the in vitro tests predicted a higher relative potency. The mouse skin initiation bioassay was used to determine the unit lung cancer risk for the most potent of the diesel emissions. Based on comparisons with coke oven, roofing tar, and cigarette smoke, the unit cancer risk averaged 4.4 × 10^?4. The unit lung cancer risks for the other, less potent motor-vehicle emissions were determined from their comparative potencies relative to the most potent diesel using three in vitro bioassays. There was a high correlation between the in vitro and in vivo bioassays in their responses to the engine exhaust particulate extracts. The unit lung cancer risk per μg particulates per m³ for the automotive diesel and gasoline exhaust particulates ranged from 0.20 × 10^?4 to 0.60 × 10^?4; that for the heavy-duty diesel engine was 0.02 × 10^?4. These unit risks provide the basis for a future assessment of human lung cancer risks when combined with human population exposure to automotive emissions.     

Clinical practice guidelines and medical malpractice

As clinical practice guidelines become more and more prevalent, they will define the requisite "standard of care" for medical treatment and impact medical malpractice litigation. They may even replace expert testimony.     

The Impact of Educational Homogamy on Isolated Illiteracy Levels

In this article, we explore the impacts that education expansion and increased levels in educational homogamy have had on couples’ isolated illiteracy rates, defined as the proportion of illiterates in union that are married to an illiterate partner. First, we develop the methodology to decompose isolated illiteracy rates into two main components: one related to level of homogamy among illiterates, and the other related to the educational distribution of the spouses. Second, we use harmonized international census microdata from IPUMS and DHS data for 73 countries and 217 samples to investigate which of the two components is more important in shaping the level of isolated illiteracy. Our results indicate that the expansion of literacy has been more powerful than the increases in the tendency toward homogamy in its impact on isolated illiteracy rates. As the percentage of illiterates decreases over time, an increasingly large proportion of them marry literate individuals, showing that opportunities for intermarriage among illiterates expand despite the strengthening of homogamy.     

Förderung sozialer Ressourcen — eine gemeindepsychologische Perspektive

The subject of ?resources‘ has become a much discussed topic, even a buzzword, in the fields of counselling and psychotherapy in recent years. A problem-oriented approach is called for with equal perspectives which emphasize the positive sides of a person in terms of strengths and empowerment. Community psychology expands on this view of counselling and therapeutic work by focussing on context-related resources and how they balance with the individual potential of a person. Special attention has been placed on social resources which have been formed through the social network. In recent years, there have been a number of tested methods supporting networking. They indicate a suitable, resource-oriented approach complementing clinical psychological counselling.