Genealogy as Theory,Genealogy as Tool: Aspects of Somali ‘Clanship’

Genealogy is both a tool for organizing people on the day to day political level, and an intellectual scheme for understanding human history. This article looks at the conception of genealogy that the Somalis have inherited from their past and examines the ways in which it has been rejected, manipulated and theorized in recent times, especially since the civil war.     

Unobserved Heterogeneity of Frailty in the Analysis of Socioeconomic Differences in Health and Mortality

The concepts of unobserved frailty and selection have been extensively analyzed with respect to phenomena like mortality deceleration at old ages and mortality convergence or cross overs between populations (for example American black and white populations, men and women). Despite the long-time observation of converging mortality risks in differential socioeconomic mortality research, the interest in the connection between frailty, selection, and health and mortality inequalities over a life course approach has increased only recently. This overview of the literature summarizes the main concepts of unobserved frailty and socioeconomic differences in mortality and how frailty and selection relate to these differences at old ages. It then reviews the evidence coming from the existing studies. Although the number of studies is still limited, the body of research on unobserved frailty and socioeconomic inequalities in health and mortality in a life course approach is growing. The results, however, are contradictory, and whether selection plays a major role in shaping the observed socioeconomic mortality patterns at old ages is still controversial.     

Assortative mating on risk attitude

Spousal correlation in risk attitude is estimated using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel over the period 2004–2009. We apply the bivariate panel ordered probit model to the analysis of the simultaneous determination of the male’s and the female’s risk attitude, using the survey question about general willingness to take risk, provided on a 0–10 Likert-scale. The correlations between both the individual-specific effects of the two partners and the two within-individual errors are separately estimated, and found to be +0.285 and +0.310, respectively. We consider the former to be a key parameter, since its positive sign may be interpreted in terms of positive assortative mating on risk attitude: individuals tend to form partnerships with others having a similar risk attitude. We also find evidence that this correlation increases with years of marriage, suggesting either a form of spousal socialization or a selection process in which marriage breakdown is more likely in poorly matched couples.     

Bias in linear model power and sample size due to estimating variance

Planning a study using the General Linear Univariate Model often involves sample size calculation based on a variance estimated in an earlier study. Noncentrality, power, and sample size inherit the randomness. Additional complexity arises if the estimate has been censored. Left censoring occurs when only significant tests lead to a power calculation, while right censoring occurs when only non-significant tests lead to a power calculation. We provide simple expressions for straightforward computation of the distribution function, moments, and quantiles of the censored variance estimate, estimated noncentrality, power, and sample size. We also provide convenient approximations and evaluate their accuracy. The results allow demonstrating that ignoring right censoring falsely widens confidence intervals for noncentrality and power, while ignoring left censoring falsely narrows the confidence intervals. The new results allow assessing and avoiding the potentially substantial bias that censoring may create.     

Considerations for Effective Simulation Study Analysis

This article discusses estimation of several percentiles simultaneously, develops a simple test to compare the sizes of two test statistics, and considers the use of logit models to adjust power curves to have the same null hypothesis level.     

What are the facilitators,inhibitors, and implications of birth positioning? A review of the literature

BackgroundFrom the historical literature it is apparent that birthing in an upright position was once common practice while today it appears that the majority of women within Western cultures give birth in a semi-recumbent position.AimTo undertake a review of the literature reporting the impact of birth positions on maternal and perinatal wellbeing, and the factors that facilitate or inhibit women adopting various birth positions throughout the first and second stages of labour.MethodsA search strategy was designed to identify the relevant literature, and the following databases were searched: CINAHL, CIAP, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, Biomed Central, OVID and Google Scholar. The search was limited to the last 15 years as current literature was sought. Over 40 papers were identified as relevant and included in this literature review.ResultsThe literature reports both the physical and psychological benefits for women when they are able to adopt physiological positions in labour, and birth in an upright position of their choice. Women who utilise upright positions during labour, have a shorter duration of the first and second stage of labour, experience less intervention, and report less severe pain and increased satisfaction with their childbirth experience than women in a semi recumbent or supine/lithotomy position. Increased blood loss during third stage is the only disadvantage identified but this may be due to increased perineal oedema associated with upright positions. There is a lack of research into factors and/or practices within the current health system that facilitate or inhibit women to adopt various positions during labour and birth. Upright birth positioning appears to occur more often within certain models of care, and birth settings, compared to others. The preferences for positions, and the philosophies of health professionals, are also reported to impact upon the position that women adopt during birth.ConclusionUnderstanding the facilitators and inhibitors of physiological birth positioning, the impact of birth settings and how midwives and women perceive physiological birth positions, and how beliefs are translated into practice needs to be researched.     

Everyday discrimination,emotion, and daily interactions during adolescence

The present study examined whether everyday discrimination relates to the frequency of adolescents' positive and negative daily social interactions and whether these associations are driven by anger and positive emotion. Adolescents (N = 334) participated in a three-wave longitudinal study, in which they completed surveys regarding everyday discrimination, anger, and positive emotion, as well as 15 daily reports of conflict and getting along with friends and family. Higher everyday discrimination was related to more daily conflicts and fewer experiences of getting along with other people. Longitudinal models also provided preliminary evidence that everyday discrimination was associated with daily conflicts 4 years later indirectly through anger. Overall, results suggest everyday discrimination relates to adolescents' daily experiences, potentially through differences in emotion.