Self-employment and earnings among immigrants in Australia

This article contributes to the small Australian literature on the earnings of immigrants in the self-employment sector. Earnings functions for both the foreign-born and Australian-born are estimated, and the results show that compared with native-born workers, foreign-born workers have higher earnings in the wage/salary sector but lower earnings in the self-employment sector.
Among the foreign-born, the results suggest that self-employed immigrants are less skilled compared with those who are wage/salary employed. Thus, low-skilled immigrants may be forced into self-employment.
There is no evidence of immigrant "catch-up" in the self-employment sector. Among wage/salary workers, however, immigrant wages are characterized by a "catch-up" effect.     

A qualitative exploratory study of substance abuse prevention outcomes in a heterogeneous prevention system

The prevention of abuse of alcohol and other drugs is a concern for parents, policy-makers, educators, and social service professionals. Prevention programs are sponsored by many different types of social and educational agencies using a variety of intervention strategies. This article reports a study of a sample of such programs in the state of Nevada. The overall prevention system in the state espouses a "risk and resiliency" approach to prevention. Focus group methodology was used to study perception of outcomes of these programs from the viewpoints of various program stakeholders (youth participating in the programs, parents of participants and program staff). Analysis of the qualitative data yielded findings about potential outcomes as well as implicit program theories. Implications for future planning efforts as well as further evaluation efforts are discussed.     

Is there evidence to show that fetal alcohol syndrome can be prevented?

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is currently the major cause of mental retardation in the Western world. Since FAS is not a natural phenomenon and is created by mixing alcohol and pregnancy, the solution to decreasing the incidence of all alcohol-related birth defects is therefore entirely preventable. To date, little is known about the effectiveness of prevention programs in reducing the incidence of FAS. Therefore, it is the intention of this article to review the effectiveness of prevention programs in lowering the incidence of FAS. The present review revealed that prevention programs, to date, have been successful in raising awareness of FAS levels across the groups examined. However, this awareness has not been translated into behavioral changes in "high risk" drinkers as consumption levels in this group have decreased only marginally, indicating prevention programs have had minimal or no impact in lowering the incidence of FAS. Urgent steps must now be taken to fully test prevention programs, and find new strategies involving both sexes, to reduce and ultimately eliminate the incidence of FAS.     

Tax-funded unionism: The unemployment connection

Labor unions are widely regarded as private organizations which finance their activities exclusively through revenues collected from members and others who are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In reality, however, U.S. unions receive millions of dollars each year through grants and contracts from federal, state, and local governments for a variety of purposes, including aid to the unemployed; these funds are used (sometimes illegally) to finance union operations, including political activities. This article briefly explores the phenomenon of tax-funded unionism.     

Monte Carlo Methods For Confidence Interval Estimation Using The Bootstrap Technique

An extension of Monte Carlo methods to confidence interval estimation, using the bootstrap technique, is investigated. The approach may have considerable potential for parameters that have estimators with complicated analytic properties but with probability distribution that can be simulated. Potential fields of application include ratio estimation, compound distribution and estimation of probabilities.     

LBI tests for the detection of compound normal distribution in control and treatment populations

Independent samples are drawn from control and treatment populations with normal and compound normal distributions respectively. We derive the locally best invariant (LBI) tests through Wijsman’s representation for the detection of mixture departures from the normal distribution. These tests may be viewed as tests for the equality of control and treatment populations. Further, they are optimally robust for the model considered by Durairajan and Raman (1994).     

Scenarios for the Indian iron and steel industry

Iron and steel is a key industry in the Indian economy. The author looks at the prospects into the next century and the options facing the industry over the next two decades. New capacity will have to be undertaken but it will undoubtedly be difficult to fund this without external assistance and without diverting resources from other areas. Thus it will be necessary to plan for technological innovation to achieve production objectives, and such technology must be developed in India, or imported and adapted to suit indigenous conditions.     

Species richness and altitudinal variation in the aquatic metazoan community in bamboo phytotelmata from north Sulawesi

We compared the aquatic metazoan community structure in bamboo stumps between a lowland (Kosinggolan; 200 m a.s.l.) and a highland site (Moat; 1030–1050 m a.s.l.) in North Sulawesi. The lowland bamboo stumps harbored 38 taxa including 2 predators, and the highland stumps harbored 35 taxa including 2 predators. In total 45 taxa were recorded, including 3 predators. Dominant detritivores were Tipulidae, Scirtidae, Chironomidae, Culicidae and Ceratopogonidae. The sole dominant predators wereToxorhynchites mosquito larvae, which occurred in 67% and 28% of stumps at the lowland and the highland sites, respectively. Although the mean biomass per stump did not differ significantly between the sites, the mean number of species per stump was significantly smaller at the lowland site. In addition, the variation in species composition among stumps was greater at the lowland site than at the highland site. Among dominant taxonomic groups, the number of non-predatory culicid species per stump was smaller at the lowland site where their predator,Toxorhynchites, was more abundant, although both sites had the same number of culicid species. In the presence ofToxorhynchites, the density and biomass of other culicids per stump were reduced significantly. The difference in predator density might affect differences in the local-scale community structure of individual bamboo stumps.     

Can good health be just a fad?

A number of studies have identified health education and promotion as important contributors to health improvement. Still, a number of factors, not the least of which is the dominance of the health care system by a disease orientation, have kept the health promotion movement from making even more significant contributions to the nation's health. The knowledge and technology to make health promotion a key part of the health care system are clearly in place. What is needed is greater involvement in the movement by physicians. Physician managers can play a leading role in bringing physicians into the mainstream of health promotion activities.