So near and yet so far - socio-spatial factors affecting service accessibility

ABSTRACT

Conventionally, social service planners conduct statistical analyses on service data for future planning. However, the limitations are their neglect of the spatial characteristics of these social data and their effects. All human activities have social and spatial dimensions. Social service provision is no exception. In this study, the authors suggest a socio-spatial framework in term of understanding service accessibility. A questionnaire survey was conducted and 491 participants, users and non-users, were interviewed. The results show that both spatial and social capital factors affect service accessibility. The study can help better service planning in densely-populated Asian metropolis like Hong Kong.     

Long‐Term Effects of Fathers' Depressed Mood on Youth Internalizing Symptoms in Early Adulthood

While an accumulating body of research has documented increased risk of psychopathology among children of depressed fathers, most studies have used cross‐sectional design, and little is known about offspring outcomes beyond childhood. Using prospective data from a community sample (N = 395), we found that paternal depressive symptoms when children were in early adolescence (age 13) predicted offspring depressive and anxiety symptoms at age 21, controlling for baseline youth symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, and other known correlates of internalizing problems in early adulthood. Associations were not moderated by maternal depressive symptoms or child gender. These results suggest that the unique and long‐term effects of paternal depression on children's risk of mood disorders may persist into adulthood.     

Translation Formulae for Non-repeatable Events

China's one-per-hundred population survey, conducted in mid-1987, provides the first nation-level data with which to study recent fertility change in China. Using a recently developed extension of the ‘own-children’ method of fertility estimation, period parity progression ratios are computed from the survey data. Comparison with similar statistics computed from the 1982 one-per-thousand fertility survey provides a rigorous check on the quality of the results. The level of fertility so measured rose by 13 per cent between 1985 and 1987, compared with an increase of eight per cent in conventional total fertility ratios. Nearly 90 per cent of the increase was due to rising levels of progression from first to second birth. There can be little doubt that this, in turn, was due to a relaxation in the one-child family policy. Overall levels of progression to births of higher orders have been declining since 1982, but the evidence suggests that this is so only because of stringent government efforts to control births of third and higher orders.     

Neighborhoods in Development: Human Development Index and Self-organizing Maps

The Human Development Index (HDI) has been instrumental in broadening the discussion of economic development beyond money-metric progress, in particular, by ranking a country against other countries in terms of the well being of their citizens. We propose self-organizing maps to explore similarities among countries using the components of the HDI rather than rankings. The similarities approach using the HDI components reveals information which is not available from ranking or bilateral comparisons. By illustrating clusters of countries, which we call “neighborhoods in development”, self-organizing maps draw out the potential for mutual policy learning among countries and shift the focus to discovering what kind of policies might have led countries change their position in the rankings.     

The Greedier the Better: An Efficient Algorithm for Approximating Maximum Independent Set

The classical greedy heuristic for approximating maximum independent set is simple and efficient. It achieves a performance ratio of ( + 2)/3, where is the maximum node degree of the input graph. All known algorithms for the problem with better performance ratios are much more complicated and inefficient. In this paper, we propose a natural extension of the greedy heuristic. It is as simple and as efficient as the classical greedy heuristic. By a careful analysis on the structure of the intermediate graphs manipulated by our heuristic, we prove that the performance ratio is improved to ( + 3)/3.25.     

Flow Shop Scheduling Problems Under Machine–Dependent Precedence Constraints

The paper considers the flow shop scheduling problems to minimize the makespan, provided that an individual precedence relation is specified on each machine. A fairly complete complexity classification of problems with two and three machines is obtained.     

The Analysis of Methadone Clinic Data Using Marginal and Conditional Logistic Models with Mixture or Random Effects

The paper develops methods for the statistical analysis of outcomes of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). Subjects for this study were a cohort of patients entering MMT in Sydney in 1986. Urine drug tests on these subjects were performed weekly during MMT, and were reported as either positive or negative for morphine, the marker of recent heroin use. To allow correlation between the repeated binary measurements, a marginal logistic model was fitted using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) approach and the alternating logistic regression approach. Conditional logistic models are also considered. Results of separate fitting to each patient and score tests suggest that there is substantial between-patient variation in response to MMT. To account for the population heterogeneity and to facilitate subject-specific inference, the conditional logistic model is extended by introducing random intercepts. The two, three and four group mixture models are also investigated. The model of best fit is a three group mixture model, in which about a quarter of the subjects have a poor response to MMT, with continued heroin use independent of daily dose of methadone; about a quarter of the subjects have a very good response, with little or no heroin use, again independent of dose; and about half the subjects responded in a dose-dependent fashion, with reduced heroin use while receiving higher doses of methadone. These findings are consistent with clinical experience. There is also an association between reduced drug use and increased duration in treatment. The mixture model is recommended since it is quite tractable in terms of estimation and model selection as well as being supported by clinical experience.     

D-Optimal Axial Designs for Quadratic and Cubic Additive Mixture Models

The paper discusses D-optimal axial designs for the additive quadratic and cubic mixture models σ_1≤i≤q(β_ix_i + β_iix²_i) and σ_1≤i≤q(β_ix_i + β_iix²_i + β_iiix³_i), where x_i≥ 0, x₁ + . . . + x_q = 1. For the quadratic model, a saturated symmetric axial design is used, in which support points are of the form (x₁, . . . , x_q) = [1 ? (q?1)δ_i, δ_i, . . . , δ_i], where i = 1, 2 and 0 ≤δ₂ <_{δ1 ≤} 1/(q ?1). It is proved that when 3 ≤q≤ 6, the above design is D-optimal if δ₂ = 0 and δ₁ = 1/(q?1), and when q≥ 7 it is D-optimal if δ₂ = 0 and δ₁ = [5q?1 ? (9q²?10q + 1)^1/2]/(4q²). Similar results exist for the cubic model, with support points of the form (x₁, . . . , x_q) = [1 ? (q?1)δ_i, δ_i, . . . , δ_i], where i = 1, 2, 3 and 0 = δ₃ <_δ2 < δ_{1 ≤}1/(q?1). The saturated D-optimal axial design and D-optimal design for the quadratic model are compared in terms of their efficiency and uniformity.     

[A simplification of the iteration method of estimating China's midyear population for 1981].]

An iteration method is used to estimate China's 1981 midyear population, given census data on births and deaths in 1981 and midyear population for 1982. The author mathematically proves the convergence of the iteration method and outlines a simplified method, which is shown to be as accurate as the conventional iteration method.     

Population problems in the areas where the relatives of overseas Chinese reside]

In the areas where relatives of overseas Chinese (huaqiao) reside, the population density is normally high. For example, in Jinjiang county of Fujian Province, where there is such population, the population density is six times that of Fujian Province in general. The main reason for this situation is that the local economy has improved greatly since 1949 and the living standard in the local area has been elevated as a result of improved medical care and a sharply reduced death rate. Financial resources sent back by the overseas Chinese to their relatives at home have also contributed to the local economic development. The traditional belief favoring more children to carry on the family line is still popular among the general public. All these factors have contributed to a rapid population growth, and the problem of over-population is becoming increasingly serious. At the present time, an understanding has to be reached that population control is in the best interest of both the local people and their relatives overseas. In addition to a control of the population growth, the quality of the population should also be improved. Some advantageous conditions in the areas inhabited by the relatives of overseas Chinese are helpful to reach the goal of family planning: (1) More advanced development in business and industry, (2) more schools established with financial support sent in from overseas, and (3) a general higher cultural and educational level of the local people. Because of these conditions, population control should be achieved more easily than in other places.