Improvements in Life Expectancy: 1960–1995 an Exploratory Analysis

Human history observed significant changes in life expectancy over the last three and half decades (1960–1995). This study attempts to explore the determinant factors behind improvements in life expectancy in most of the countries in the Post World War II period. In this context the study estimates a double logarithmic convergence type model where the dependent variable is relative change of life over the period and the explanatory variables are initial per capita real gross domestic product, initial per capita calorie intake as percentage of requirement, adult literacy rate at the initial point of time, and initial physician per thousand of population. The study estimates different variants of the basic model. Female population has been treated separately. All estimates have been offered for three broad income groups low, middle and high. An attempt is also made to take into account the effects of some public health measures such as access to safe drinking water and access to sanitation.     

Global Software Development: Commitment,Trust and Cultural Sensitivity in Strategic Partnerships

Much research has studied off-shore outsourcing from a Western client perspective. This article tries to shed light on what an Indian vendor perceives as important to manage large and complex strategic partnerships in IT outsourcing, and in particular how mutually profitable, long-term relationships with European clients are created and maintained, both at company and project levels. We investigate this issue through qualitative interviews with various vendor representatives in offshore and on-site teams in a top tier multinational company of Indian origin.In the analysis of interview accounts of close collaboration processes in two large and complex projects, where off-shoring of software development is moved to a strategic level, we found that the vendor was able to establish a strategic partnership through long-term engagement with the field of banking and insurance as well as through conscious relationship management with the clients. Three major themes describe important aspects of the strategic partnerships: 1) senior management commitment and employee identification with the projects, 2) mutual trust and transparency, and 3) cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. The article draws attention to the important collaborative work done by people who are able to span boundaries in the complex organizational set-up of global IT development projects.     

State-Level 2010 Census Coverage Rates for Young Children

The Census Bureau’s demographic analysis (DA) shows that the net undercount rate for children aged 0–4 was 4.6 percent in the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census while adults (age 18 and older) had a net overcount rate of 0.7 percent. For the population aged 0–4, DA estimates are seen as more accurate than the U.S. Decennial Census because the estimates for this young population rely heavily on highly accurate birth certificate data. Given the relatively high net undercount rate for young children, it would be useful to examine census coverage rates for this population in subnational geographic units. In this study, the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census counts of children aged 0–4 are compared to the corresponding figures from the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2010 Population Estimates in each state. Differences between the 2010 U.S. Decennial Census count and the Vintage 2010 Population Estimates for the population aged 0–4 range from an estimated net undercount of 10.2 percent in Arizona to an estimated net overcount of 2.1 percent in North Dakota. Larger states tended to have higher net undercounts than smaller states. The ten largest states account for about 70 percent of the national net undercount of the population aged 0–4. Of all the factors examined here, the relative size of the Blacks Alone or in Combination plus Hispanics population is most highly correlated with the estimated net undercount of the population aged 0–4. Other measures that were highly correlated with net undercount rates for the population aged 0–4 were linguistic isolation, percent of adults without a high school degree, and the unemployment rate. In general, characteristics of people are more highly correlated with the net undercount rates of young children than the characteristics of housing units.     

A birth and death process with logistic mean population

An example of density dependent-birth and death process whose mean satisfies the logistic equation as proposed by Gompertz is given. Explicit expressions for the probability generating function and non-trivialstationarydistribution are obtained.     

What do battered women want? Victims' opinions on prosecution

Prosecutors have increasingly adopted mandatory prosecution in domestic violence criminal cases. There is little empirical evidence, however, that the policy is a good match for victims' needs. Interviews with 94 battered women, whose cases were randomly selected from prosecutors' files, focused on their opinions of prosecuting. A logistic regression explores the factors that predict whether victims favor or oppose prosecution. Open-ended responses are coded into themes using the goals of sentencing literature as a framework. Previous published works are also tentatively grouped into the same themes to look for trends in the field. The most frequent reason why victims oppose prosecution is that the crime is too minor to justify a penalty.     

Semiparametric estimation for the dispersion parameter in the analysis of over- or underdispersed count data

This paper investigates several semiparametric estimators of the dispersion parameter in the analysis of over- or underdispersed count data when there is no likelihood available. In the context of estimating the dispersion parameter, we consider the double-extended quasi-likelihood (DEQL), the pseudo-likelihood and the optimal quadratic estimating (OQE) equations method and compare them with the maximum likelihood method, the method of moments and the extended quasi-likelihood through simulation study. The simulation study shows that the estimator based on the DEQL has superior bias and efficiency property for moderate and large sample size, and for small sample size the estimator based on the OQE equations outperforms the other estimators. Three real-life data sets arising in biostatistical practices are analyzed, and the findings from these analyses are quite similar to what are found from the simulation study.     

The Effects of Modern Treaties and Opt-In Legislation on Household Incomes in Aboriginal Communities

This paper investigates the influence of country risks, including economic, financial, and political risks, on income inequality for a broad sample of 110 countries. Our empirical results reveal that higher economic and political risks generally lead to higher inequality. Lower income country appears to have higher income inequality. Furthermore, with the consideration of the non-monotonic effect of country risk, the improvement of income distribution is only sustainable dynamically after a certain threshold level of country risk has been brought down. Policymakers should improve the level of country stability by exploring the benefits of country risk reduction in order to improve income distribution.     

Subjective distress from trauma in older clients with severe mental illness

There is little research on older persons with severe mental illness (SMI) who have experienced trauma. We conducted an exploratory study with 174 community mental health clients with SMI who were 50 years of age or older (range 50–87; mean age 58) to examine the relationship between subjective distress related to six common traumas and post-traumatic stress symptoms while controlling for gender and other key psychiatric symptoms. With regression analysis, we found that of the six common traumas, only distress from unexpected loss of a loved one was significant. That factor accounted for the most variance in post-traumatic stress symptoms than all other factors in the model including gender, psychiatric symptoms of SMI, and other trauma. Gender and symptoms of psychosis were also significant in the model. Unexpected losses, particularly in older persons with SMI, can cause considerable emotional distress and could be related to post-traumatic stress symptoms. Practitioners should be vigilant in regularly screening older people with SMI for recent loss of loved ones and be prepared to address their distress with grief/bereavement counseling.