Military Service as a Factor in the Economic Progress of African American Men: A Post-Draft Era Analysis

The earnings of African American males have increased in real terms over the past 50 years, but there still are marked differences in their progress relative to either whites or Asian Americans. This gap has been linked to differences in levels of education and other human capital issues. It has been hypothesized the military service serves as a buffer to adverse labor market characteristics. This paper examines the role of military service on the post-service wages of African American males in the post-draft era.     

Sparse additive models

Summary.  We present a new class of methods for high dimensional non-parametric regression and classification called sparse additive models. Our methods combine ideas from sparse linear modelling and additive non-parametric regression. We derive an algorithm for fitting the models that is practical and effective even when the number of covariates is larger than the sample size. Sparse additive models are essentially a functional version of the grouped lasso of Yuan and Lin. They are also closely related to the COSSO model of Lin and Zhang but decouple smoothing and sparsity, enabling the use of arbitrary non-parametric smoothers. We give an analysis of the theoretical properties of sparse additive models and present empirical results on synthetic and real data, showing that they can be effective in fitting sparse non-parametric models in high dimensional data.     

Emotional Simultaneity and the Construction of Victim Unity

One of the concerns in recent work on the sociology of emotions is the link between emotions and social bonding. A version of this issue has also been discussed in research on disasters, with the focus being on how the crisis leads to the cohesion essential to recovery and rebuilding. This paper provides an analysis of a fire and its aftermath and shows how central emotions are to understanding the social psychology of the event. Most important here is the fact that, when identifying themselves as fire victims, those affected by the disaster assumed that they experienced the same profound emotions at the same time. This emotional simultaneity led fire victims to emphasize their bonds to one another and heighten their boundaries with nonvictims. In turn, this led to their providing social support, comparative experiences, and practical assistance to each other.     

Formative research methods to understand patient and provider responses to heart attack symptoms

Formative research is often required for program planning, and for reducing uncertainty about generalizability of program effects. This article describes and justifies methods of formative research conducted for the REACT study (Rapid Early Action for Coronary Treatment), a multi-center collaborative randomized community trial aimed at reducing patient delay in seeking care for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Formative research cast light on patient and community members’ decision-making process in seeking help for AMI, as well as barriers and facilitators of this process. Investigators at all five REACT Field Centers participated in the formative research. The process consisted of: (1) developing a common theoretical framework for the study intervention; (2) conducting a literature review and qualitative research to identify and address gaps in knowledge; and (3) developing a common protocol for the REACT study that accommodated the diversity of the target communities in terms of services, resources, history, and ethnicity. Analysis employed triangulation, defined as an explicit search for heterogeneous data sources to reduce uncertainty about forces at work and opportunities for intervention across settings and populations. Because the collection and interpretation of data went in stages, staff of several REACT Field Centers had independent input to the overall synthesis, then shared and revised the results. Advantages and limitations of this approach are discussed.     

On a paper by kageyama and mohan

Kageyama Mohan (1984) have presented three methods of constructing new incomplete block designs from balanced incomplete block designs, They raise questions about the designs which come from each of their methods, These questions are answered, Another series of group divisible designs is derived as a special case of their second method.     

Who Lives Near Coke Plants and Oil Refineries? An Exploration of the Environmental Inequity Hypothesis

Facility-specific information on pollution was obtained for 36 coke plants and 46 oil refineries in the United States and matched with information on populations surrounding these 82 facilities. These data were analyzed to determine whether environmental inequities were present, whether they were more economic or racial in nature, and whether the racial composition of nearby communities has changed significantly since plants began operations.The Census tracts near coke plants have a disproportionate share of poor and nonwhite residents. Multivariate analyses suggest that existing inequities are primarily economic in nature. The findings for oil refineries are not strongly supportive of the environmental inequity hypothesis. Rank ordering of facilities by race, poverty, and pollution produces limited (although not consistent) evidence that the more risky facilities tend to be operating in communities with above-median proportions of nonwhite residents (near coke plants) and Hispanic residents (near oil refineries). Over time, the racial makeup of many communities near facilities has changed significantly, particularly in the case of coke plants sited in the early 1900s. Further risk-oriented studies of multiple manufacturing facilities in various industrial sectors of the economy are recommended.The authors are all affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis     

Calculation of age-specific fertility schedules from tabulations of parity in two censuses

The mathematics of stable populations recently has been generalized to cover populations with time-varying fertility and mortality by a modification incorporating the sum of age-varying growth rates in place of the fixed growth rate of a stable population. Equations that characterize nonstable populations apply to any cohort-like phenomenon with a measurable property that cumulates gains or losses through time. In particular, the equations fit the relation between a population's average parity at a given age and age-specific fertility rates previously experienced at lower ages. Techniques devised to derive an intercensal life table from single-year age distributions in two censuses are adapted to estimate accurate intercensal fertility schedules from distributions of parity by age of woman in two censuses. Birth-order specific fertility schedules are also estimated.