A machine learning analysis of drought and rural population change on the North American Great Plains since the 1970s

Population and Environment - Machine learning techniques have to date not been widely used in population-environment research, but represent a promising tool for identifying relationships between...     

Ethnic Differences in Leaving Home: Timing and Pathways

The dynamics of leaving home for youth from migrant families in the Netherlands are examined using individual administrative data on the 1977 and 1983 birth cohorts for the period 1999–2004. A competing-risks approach is applied to distinguish leaving home for union formation, to live independently, and to share with others. Migrant youth, and particularly Turkish and Moroccan youth, leave home at a significantly younger age than Dutch youth, given the relevant background variables. This is remarkable, given the older ages at which young people in the origin countries leave the parental home. The result may be seen as evidence of how the potential effects of cultural norms are counter-affected by other factors, such as the facilities of the welfare state and the awkward position of migrant youth between two cultures. Considering the pathways out of home, the analysis largely confirms the expected pattern: Turkish and Moroccan youth leave home more often for union formation and particularly marriage, while this pathway is of minor importance for Dutch youth at early ages.     

Determining the Need for Social Work Practice in a Public Library

Little is known about social work practice via public libraries. Faced with patron needs, libraries seek creative ways to provide social services. One suburban library carried out community engagement using a community-university partnership. Students reviewed literature, surveyed 32 library patrons, and conducted interviews with five staff members. Patrons identified need for services related to children’s success in school as well as resources needed for health care, food resources, and employment services. They also identified concerns with homelessness, mental illness, and unemployment. Implications support the provision of social work practice at this library to address opportunities to maximize quality of life.     

Diversity of vocabulary and homogeneity of literary style

To help settle the debate around the authorship of Tirant lo Blanc, we analyse the evolution of the diversity of the vocabulary used in that book, as measured through eight different diversity indices. The exploratory analysis reveals a clear single shift in diversity, that is estimated through change-point techniques to be in chapter 382, and might indicate the existence of one main author writing about four fifths of the book, and of a second author finishing the last one fifth of the book. Before chapter 382, the language is richer and more diverse than after it.     

Aftershocks of Chile's earthquake for an ongoing, large-scale experimental evaluation

Evaluation designs for social programs are developed assuming minimal or no disruption from external shocks, such as natural disasters. This is because extremely rare shocks may not make it worthwhile to account for them in the design. Among extreme shocks is the 2010 Chile earthquake. Un Buen Comienzo (UBC), an ongoing early childhood program in Chile, was directly affected by the earthquake. This article discusses (a) the factors the UBC team considered for deciding whether to put on hold or continue implementation and data collection for this experimental study; and (b) how the team reached consensus on those decisions. A lesson learned is that the use of an experimental design for UBC insured that the evaluation's internal validity was not compromised by the earthquake's consequences, although cohort comparisons were compromised. Other lessons can be transferred to other contexts where external shocks affect an ongoing experimental or quasi-experimental impact evaluation.     

Resources, Living Arrangements and First Union Formation in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany

This paper addresses the impact of the previous living arrangement (living in the parental home versus living away) on first union formation. We investigate differences between the living arrangements in the impact of individual and parental resources. Analyses are performed for three countries with different welfare regimes: the USA, the Netherlands and West Germany. Many of our findings are in line with the general hypothesis that resources matter less to union formation for those living away from the parents than for those still living in the parental home. Furthermore, the results suggest that resources matter less in Conservative Continental European welfare regimes than in the USA, a Liberal Market welfare regime. Mulder, C.H., Clark, W.A.V. and Wagner, M. 2005. Resources, Living Arrangements and First Union Formation in the United States, the Netherlands and West Germany. European Journal of Population, Mulder, C.H., Clark, W.A.V. et Wagner, M. 2005. Ressources, mode de logement et première entrée en union aux états-Unis, aux Pays-Bas et en Allemagne de l’ouest. Revue européenne de démographie.