Census Forms Research Articles

СОВРЕМЕННОЕ СОСТОЯНИЕ РЕСУРСОВ ОХОТНИЧЬЕ-ПРОМЫСЛОВЫХ МЛЕКОПИТАЮЩИХ ШЕЛКОВСКОГО РАЙОНА ЧЕЧЕНСКОЙ РЕСПУБЛИКИ И ПУТИ ИХ ОПТИМИЗАЦИИ

Aim. The goal of the research is that: to identify the taxonomic composition of game species and make full list of species to assess the current state of populations and resources to carry out eco-faunistic analysis of the distribution of game mammals habiting Shelkovskiy district of Chechnya. Methods. We used mapping techniques, various methods of census forms and scientific processing of the collected material, systematic and bioecological analysis. Results. As a result, we have identified 5 ecological complexes and characterized them by distribution on the identified and described natural habitats. We have made an inventory of species, identified conditions of rare species and determined their status. Biometric data has been obtained for a number of species; their biological and ecological features have been described. We also identified the species composition of game mammals and their spatial distribution of habitats. The differentiation of species in ecological groups has been carried out. Data has been obtained on the number of nine major types for the period of 2012-2013, and their characteristics. We have made an estimation of ecological and economic potential of resources of game mammals of the study area. Conclusions . Based on the analysis of the results we can make a judgment about the level of biodiversity of species of game mammals of the studied area, the current state of their number and possible use for commercial, sports and recreational purposes. We propose specific measures such as the use of existing biological resources i.e. species of mammals, as well as the creation of new protected areas as a form of preserving and increasing the number of mammals in the area. The research results can be useful for monitoring and creating specially protected natural reservations, protection of endangered species. The findings have implications for the organization of hunting economy to increase the number of game animals.

Under the Red Roof: One Hundred Years at Northern State Hospital

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Communications and UpdatesFull AccessUnder the Red Roof: One Hundred Years at Northern State HospitalTaylor Black, M.D.Taylor BlackSearch for more papers by this author, M.D.Published Online:1 Dec 2014https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.14010038AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail by Mary J. McGoffin. Mary McGoffin, 2011, 156 pp., $10.80 (paper).Northern State Hospital in northwestern Washington State was commissioned by the legislature in the first years of the 20th century. Centrally planned by John Charles Olmsted—son of the famed architect Frederick Law Olmsted—the design embodies a balance between the power inherent in civil commitment and the hope that a hospital would become a community of meaningful lives beyond the tragic and disabling circumstances of those who sought asylum or were compelled to live there. Under the Red Roof was written and published by an interested citizen in the county, who is involved in planning community health services. On its face, it appears to be a coffee-table history, filled with retired staff’s personal anecdotes, archival hospital census forms, and newspaper excerpts of the time. But the book’s accounts from patients and staff members raise issues about how state hospitals, at their best, provided a recovery environment for their patients not always available to today’s ill population.One anecdote that captures the spirit of both the institution and its time:The doctor said, “Hello Jim, What are you doing here?” Jim said, “They have me hogtied here all day on this bench and I want to get out and go to work. Any man would go stark mad to have to sit here tied all day.” To our surprise, he gave Jim an axe the next day, promoted him to straw boss of the crew and sent him to clear the entrance of the grounds from the gate to the county road. (p. 33)Patients like Jim, about half the population over the years, worked on the farm growing produce and raising livestock, clearing and maintaining land, preparing meals in the kitchens, sewing clothing in shops, and serving domestically in the wards and staff facilities. A minority were too disabled to work, and an even smaller few confined to locked units for safety.As medication and state reforms in the 1960s began to winnow the population at Northern State, the book chronicles in a more rigorous manner the efforts in Skagit County to create a community mental health system and in parallel to adapt the remaining hospital facility to a recovery model. One can feel the author’s anguish in these pages, knowing the inevitability of closure that will come, while talking with retired nurses about the development of a recovery model and the revelation of patients who recover from major mental illness within a therapeutic community that finally has a range of robust treatments. Some staff noted the unfortunate contrast with other state hospitals, in which the culture of institutionalization did not accommodate recovery and discharge.The eventual closure of Northern State in 1973 was a political decision driven by tight budgets and a focus on forensic populations in the other state hospitals. The occasion was marked by a busload of elderly, institutionalized, chronically mentally ill people delivered to the streets of Seattle with only their original belongings and hospital-issued clothing. What became of them may be in a sense unknowable once they were divorced of a community able to care for them.The daughter of a staff member in the 1950s, who spent her childhood on the hospital grounds, eloquently recalls the best manifestations of the asylum: “When I think back on Northern State Hospital, the place offered sick people a protected environment; the jobs gave them a sense of purpose; the community gave them roots” (p. 74). One of the staff psychiatrists of that era, an immigrant from Europe after World War II who himself sought the asylum of safety and steady employment, opines on the larger questions the asylum poses: “Society will continue to ask what is the most rational, economic, and humane way to treat mentally ill patients. It is a challenge without end” (p. 90). Indeed.Dr. Black is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington, Seattle.The author reports no financial relationships with commercial interests. FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited byNone Volume 171Issue 12 December 01, 2014Pages 1342-1342 Metrics PDF download History Accepted 1 June 2014 Published online 1 December 2014 Published in print 1 December 2014

Do the ‘Asian’ categories in the British censuses adequately capture the Indian sub-continent diaspora population?

Categories that capture the Indian sub-continent-origin population – ‘Indian’, ‘Pakistani’, ‘Bangladeshi’ – have been included on all the British census forms (1991, 2001, 2011) that have asked about ethnicity. Additionally, a free-text ‘Any other Asian background’ option was added in 2001 and repeated in 2011. These ethnicities are regarded as amongst the more stable in the British censuses, with greater reliability than those for the black groups. However, analysis of longitudinal data sets raises concerns about the quality of the data for the UK-born Indian origin population. Moreover, some of the groups concealed in residual census categories – such as Sri Lankans – have grown significantly. Other communities, such as ‘Kashmiris’, have unsuccessfully sought inclusion in the 2011 Census. While such concerns should not inhibit the use of the Indian sub-continent census data, monitoring of the utility and validity of these categories is required to ensure that they continue to meet data users' needs.

Human races

Human races

Evaluating the Measurement Error of Interviewer Observed Paradata

As survey researchers have begun exploiting paradata—for example, for the correction of nonresponse bias—the quality of these data has come into question. Inaccurate information is likely to affect the resulting statistics and conclusions drawn from such data. This paper focuses on one type of paradata, observations made by interviewers during the data-collection process, and assesses the quality of these observations by examining their measurement error properties. The analysis uses the UK Census Nonresponse Link Study, which links interviewers’ observations collected on six major UK surveys with Census data. Comparing five interviewer observations with self-reports from the Census, the accuracy of the observations for both respondents and nonrespondents to the surveys is evaluated. A multilevel modeling approach is used to explore under which conditions the interviewers’ observations match the reports on the Census forms, accounting for the clustering of sample members within interviewers and areas. The analysis finds that the overall percent agreement between the observations and the Census is generally high, ranging from 87 to 98 percent. The type of housing structure and the final result code are significantly associated with measurement error. For four of the five observations, there is evidence that the interviewer significantly influences the level of measurement error, even after controlling for household, interviewer, and area characteristics. The results presented here will inform future analyses assessing the quality of interviewers’ observations.

Prevalence of parents within an adult mental health service: Census results 2008–2011

The objective of this article is to determine the prevalence of parents of children (aged 0-17 years) within a mental health service system and gather contextual data regarding this population. The study uses a census approach. The Census is conducted annually across Central Coast Adult Mental Health Services, NSW, Australia. All five community mental health teams and four acute inpatient units within the service participate, with each team completing Census forms for active clients identified as parents on Census day. The Census form collects data on parents and children including demographic data, parental diagnosis, parental contact and risk factors. Consecutive data shows 25-28% of active clients are parents. Annually, at least 400 children are identified; approximately 60% reside permanently with their parent with a mental illness. The Census is a valuable tool to determine the prevalence of parenthood. Moreover, it collects contextual data on this population. Data show an emerging relationship between parental diagnosis and parental contact. A picture of level of risk across the system has also been highlighted. Results add to the evidence regarding parental mental illness and circumstances of these families. The data clearly articulate a large need for interventions for children of parents with a mental illness (COPMI) within this population, given the high proportion of children who permanently reside with their parent with a mental illness.

Perceived Met and Unmet Health-Care Needs in a Community Population with Multiple Sclerosis

Community-based studies are required to accurately describe the supportive services needed by people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Characteristics that influence (or result from) care-seeking may introduce bias into other types of studies. The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) was a post-census survey conducted by Statistics Canada in association with a 2006 national census. The PALS collected data from a sample of 22,513 respondents having health-related impairments according to their census forms. The survey collected self-reported diagnostic data and obtained ratings for items assessing impairment as well as perceived met and unmet needs for care and support. It identified 245 individuals with MS, leading to an estimated (weighted) population prevalence of 0.2% (200 per 100,000). As expected, those with MS reported more-severe health problems than did those with other types of disability, particularly in the areas of mobility, dexterity, and cognition; they were also more likely to report having multiple caregivers. People with MS also reported more unmet health-care needs than did those with other forms of disability, particularly with respect to meal preparation, housework, shopping, and chores. Despite their more negative health status and greater reliance on caregivers, people with MS reported participation in society comparable to that of people without MS. Thus, people with MS report greater needs than do people with other forms of health-related disability and utilize supportive services more often. However, they also report higher levels of unmet needs. The substantial needs of people with MS are only partially addressed by existing services.

Improving response on the United States economic census through communication, coordination, and outreach

Every 5 years the U.S. Census Bureau conducts an Economic Census covering the non-farm, private economy. The Economic Census is the major source of facts about the structure and functioning of the United States’ economy. It forms the foundation of most statistics about American business and industry and also provides the industry and geographic detail businesses and communities need to assess their performance, promote economic development, and identify business opportunities. Census forms were mailed to five million businesses in late 2007. The forms were due February 12, 2008, and results were to be released starting in early 2009. This ambitious schedule depended on timely and accurate responses from all businesses: millions of small, single-location businesses, and also thousands of very large businesses that account for a substantial share of national output. Obtaining needed information from all of these businesses has become an increasing challenge, for a variety of reasons, including reduced budgets for preparation of Government reports, wariness about the validity of all information requests, and skepticism of the value of statistics being compiled. This particularly affects industries characterized by large numbers of small and relatively new businesses. The Census Bureau conducted a comprehensive communication program to encourage business response to the 2007 Economic Census. This effort involved systematic improvements in and coordination of operations, procedures, and communications, managed relationships with large businesses, and promotional activities directed at industries with relatively low historic response rates. The result was reversal of a fifteen-year downward trend in response rates as well as a dramatic improvement in timeliness

Better Off Forgetting? Essays on Archives, Public Policy and Collective Memory (review)

Reviewed by: Better Off Forgetting? Essays on Archives, Public Policy and Collective Memory T. Stephen Henderson Better Off Forgetting? Essays on Archives, Public Policy and Collective Memory edited by Cheryl Avery and Mona Holmlund. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010, 240 pp. Paper $24.95, Cloth $55.00. The topics covered in this book probably strike most people, even many academics, as dull and unimportant, yet some of the liveliest public debates in Canada in recent years revolve around records management and public access to government documents. Scandals over party kickbacks from government advertising and the alleged willful blindness of diplomats and military commanders to detainee abuse by Afghan security forces helped trigger federal elections; aboriginal land claims and treaty rights rely to a great extent on the interpretation of archival sources and have the potential to reorder economic and social relationships; and thousands of genealogists and academics joined forces to fight for access to century-old census forms. Archival issues are not as far removed from the public conscience as one might imagine. Cheryl Avery and Mona Holmlund present us with 11 essays on funding, privacy/access, digital media, accountability, and records management that suggest a field not at all rooted in “old dusty paper.” Indeed, the striking thing about this collection is the absence of “traditional” archival roles. None of the contributors gives much attention to questions of acquisition or description of materials, for example. This probably is a reflection of the new demands made of archivists, but one hopes that someone is still writing useful finding aids. The collection begins, understandably, with two chapters on the chronic underfunding of government archives. Marion Beyea explores the recent history of Ottawa’s modest support for national and provincial archives ($2.8 million in 1986 and declining steadily in real terms). Shelley Sweeney examines archives’ share of public “Heritage” dollars, which also flow to libraries and museums. Sweeney and Beyea view the archives’ relationship with libraries and museums as adversarial yet it is governments, not other “cultural institutions,” that are the villains of the budget story. Terry Eastwood argues that the job of keeping governments honest ought to fall, at least in part, to archivists. He approvingly cites a scholar who suggests that archivists need “investigative powers and a records audit role” (p. 152), though this may be the place of auditors and commissions of inquiry. Similarly, Tom Nesmith envisions archivists selecting and analyzing records and presenting their findings to policy-makers and the public. Surely these tasks are better performed by professional historians and public historians? Moreover, archives can present just a fraction of their holdings in sexy, decontextualized installations, either online or on site. Tom Adami and Martha Hunt’s chapter, based on their work preserving the evidence collected for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, should be read by archivists dealing with Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and other such inquiries. Adami and Hunt caution against amalgamating evidence, for example, as incriminating testimony for one case might be exculpatory for another (pp. 209–10). Former journalist Robert Steiner closes the volume with a well-written but ultimately naïve piece, in which he argues that “greatness [in journalism or politics] is a matter to which the archivist—with her instincts for the qualities of an authentic source—is uniquely attuned” (p. 216). Steiner does not say what archivists should do with the merely average sources in their collections. The issues of privacy, access, and the moving target of things digital are explored with greater success. Joann Munn Gafuik provides a useful discussion of access-to-information legislation and reminds us of bureaucrats’ ability to adapt to the new rules. Some, such the notorious Chuck Guité, may generate fewer sensitive documents, while others may articulate previously unspoken assumptions to justify policy decisions. Doug Surtees discusses privacy theory at length as it relates to generating records among those with mental and physical [End Page 578] incapacities, but the relevance for archives—even in their records management role—is difficult to locate. The strongest chapter is archivist Terry Cook and historian Bill Waiser’s engaging account of “the census wars,” the decade-long battle over nominal (name...

Mismatched racial identities, colourism, and health in Toronto and Vancouver

Using original telephone survey data collected from adult residents of Toronto ( n = 685) and Vancouver ( n = 814) in 2009, I investigate associations between mental and physical health and variously conceived racial identities. An ‘expressed racial identity’ is a self-identification with a racial grouping that a person will readily express to others when asked to fit into official racial classifications presented by Census forms, survey researchers, insurance forms, and the like. Distinguishing between Asian, Black, South Asian, and White expressed racial identities, I find that survey respondents expressing Black identity are the most likely to report high blood pressure or hypertension, a risk that is slightly attenuated by socioeconomic status, and that respondents expressing Asian identity are the most likely to report poorer self-rated mental health and self-rated overall health, risks that are not explained by socioeconomic status. I also find that darker-skinned Black respondents are more likely than lighter-skinned Black respondents to report poor health outcomes, indicating that colourism, processes of discrimination which privilege lighter-skinned people of colour over their darker-skinned counterparts, exists and has implications for well-being in Canada as it does in the United States. Finally, ‘reflected racial identity’ refers to the racial identity that a person believes that others tend to perceive him or her to be. I find that expressed and reflected racial identities differ from one another for large proportions of self-expressed Black and South Asian respondents and relatively few self-expressed White and Asian respondents. I also find that mismatched racial identities correspond with relatively high risks of various poor health outcomes, especially for respondents who consider themselves White but believe that others tend to think they are something else. I conclude by presenting a framework for conceptualizing multifaceted suites of racial identities and relating their various components and inconsistencies between them to health outcomes.

Digital Sources, Access and 'History of a Nation'?

Every ten years a frisson passes through the diasporic world of British family history when the manuscript census forms compiled a hundred years earlier become available to the modern historian. The 1911 manuscript census was released unexpectedly early – and online – in January 2009. Overnight, and with relative ease, family historians could take the next step along the trail of their own micro-history. For other historians too the release of these records was exciting and significant. The 1911 census was the site of a battle in the campaign for women’s suffrage: militant suffrage organizations called for members and supporters to boycott the census. Jill Liddington and Elizabeth Crawford have used the enumerators’ forms to examine the suffragette claims of its success, and to detail the distinction between evasion (going somewhere to avoid being counted) and resistance (refusing to supply information on the census form, perhaps with the words ‘No Vote No Census’). Their essay, ‘Women do not count, nor shall they be counted’, suggests that support for the suffrage boycott was more widespread than political membership implies; at the same time they open up the wider issue of the politically tense relationship among feminists between the campaign for the vote and the promise of welfare reform, which had shaped the 1911 census.

Is a national framework for implementing early psychosis services necessary? Results of a survey of Australian mental health service directors

Expert opinion holds that the rate of implementation of specialist services for first presentation psychosis in Australia is much too slow. We aimed to collect evidence regarding this view from the first national survey of adult public mental health services about their self-reported efforts to implement specialist early psychosis intervention (EPI). Using a purpose-designed Census form for assessing EPI implementation, adult public mental health service directors throughout Australia were asked about EPI-relevant local service activities. Sixty Census forms were returned (response rate = 61%), representing a total catchment population of 12.5 million people. A minority of services reported high levels of EPI implementation, which varied widely between area services and across state and territory jurisdictions. Rural and remote services were overrepresented in the lowest levels of reported EPI implementation. Only one service characteristic, the value of identifiable funding committed specifically to EPI, was predictive of level of reported EPI implementation. The disturbingly high levels of variability in EPI implementation across jurisdictions suggest a pressing need for a set of nationally agreed uniform EPI implementation standards. Additional specific strategies for rural and remote mental health services may be needed for these services to implement EPI.

Front and Back Covers, Volume 25, Number 2. April 2009

Front cover caption, volume 25 issue 2Front coverEthnicity, Race and the Limits of Human IdentityThe front and back covers show artist Sean Weisgerber's interpretation of the theme of this issue, the problem of classifying human identity in a world of fusion and change. Articles address biometric security, the use of the concept of ‘tribe’ in US army counter‐insurgency programmes, and human identity as constituted in and through debate among Afghani refugees recently returned from northern Pakistan to Afghanistan.The difficulty of fitting human diversity into strictly defined categories is most acutely evident in questions asked on census forms. In this issue, Peter Aspinall considers the broad range of terms proposed and debated for the ‘mixed race’ population. Many have complex histories and have been used to subsume individuals of varied and sometimes disparate ethnic and racial origins.Dissatisfaction with the widely used term ‘mixed race’, contested by anthropologists and sociologists among others on the grounds that it references the now discredited concept of ‘race’, has led to the search for an alternative. In 1994 the Royal Anthropological Institute advanced ‘mixed origins’, although such advocacy has gained little momentum.‘Mixed race’ now competes with terms such as ‘mixed heritage’, ‘dual heritage’ and ‘mixed parentage’ amongst data users, and UK government usage also reflects this diversity in terminology. However, research indicates that the term of choice of most respondents in general and student samples of this population is ‘mixed race’. Terms invoking just two groups – such as ‘mixed parentage’, ‘dual heritage’, and ‘biracial’– are preferred by few.While ‘mixed origins’ is likely to have a continuing niche role in professional practice, such as legal usage and assessment of health risks, it is premature to argue that the umbrella term ‘mixed race’ should be replaced by candidates that are not self‐descriptors.Bruno Latour's editorial places such questions in a broader context as he draws attention to a lively debate on the biggest question of all, the essence of nature itself. In the context of an emergent multi‐naturalism, has anthropological theory itself been ‘decolonizing enough’?

Census Fieldwork in the UK: The Bedrock for a Decade of Social Analysis

Interviews with fieldworkers from the UK 2001 Census give voice to a unique, grounded view of the operational quality of census-taking. While the overall response to the census has been estimated at 94%, enumerators and their managers explain why differential undercount between social and geographical groups remained a problem. Fieldworkers subjected the census to criticism, from form design and quality checks to address-listing and management. Postal return of census forms caused unexpected difficulties for field staff and expense for the census offices. The subcontracting of various census operations and inflexible operational procedures made it difficult to find and implement timely solutions to problems that arose. A relatively high proportion of missing and inconsistent responses was expected by experienced fieldworkers and put extra burden on the editing and imputation procedures.

Household Enumeration in National Discourse

Enumeration, even the contemporary census, cannot be characterized as neutral and objective data collection; official categories both shape and are shaped by national cultures. This article examines the forms, laws, and procedures of Japanese household registration (koseki) and national censuses in three cases from the modern period (1868 to post-World War II). Each case isolates a particular time period to show how broad political cultures, such as Westernization, the development of state welfare, and democratization, were codified or reflected discursively in enumerative programs. In each case, categories shifted the substantive and practical meanings of individuals in families and of household heads in relation to the state. In the early Meiji period (1868-1912), an aristocratic, head-centric social order was imposed on all classes through household registration. By the late Meiji and through the Taisho (1912-36) and early Showa periods (1936-89), census categories reflected a new household model based on economic and spatial relations. In the reconstruction period following World War II, the household register embodied the dramatic changes to the civil code that established equality of sexes and the nuclear family as the fundamental social unit. By the 1960s, however, census forms reflected a return of national cultural discourse to hierarchical, extended-stem family households.

Urban and rural variations in morbidity and mortality in Northern Ireland

BackgroundFrom a public health perspective and for the appropriate allocation of resources it is important to understand the differences in health between areas. This paper examines the variations in morbidity and mortality between urban and rural areas.MethodsThis is a cohort study looking at morbidity levels of the population of Northern Ireland at the time of the 2001 census, and subsequent mortality over the following four years. Individual characteristics including demographic and socio-economic factors were as recorded on census forms. The urban-rural nature of residence was based on census areas (average population c1900) classified into eight settlement bands, ranging from cities to rural settlements with populations of less than 1000.ResultsThe study shows that neither tenure nor car availability are unbiased measures of deprivation in the urban-rural context. There is no indication that social class is biased. There was an increasing gradient of poorer health from rural to urban areas, where mortality rates were about 22% (95% Confidence Intervals 19%–25%) higher than the most rural areas. Differences in death rates between rural and city areas were evident for most of the major causes of death but were greatest for respiratory disease and lung cancer. Conversely, death rates in the most rural areas were higher in children and adults aged less than 20.ConclusionUrban areas appear less healthy than the more rural areas and the association with respiratory disease and lung cancer suggests that pollution may be a factor. Rural areas however, have higher death rates amongst younger people, something which requires further research. There is also a need for additional indicators of deprivation that have equal meaning in urban and rural areas.

SMITH AND BRADSHAW RESPOND

Between 1980 and 1990, the Hispanic population aged 65 years and older in Texas increased by 75% with the change from surname classification to origin classification. With the same change in classification, deaths in the Hispanic population aged 65 years and older increased 43%. In that decade, the “Hispanic paradox” was born. Using US national data in the only way we are aware it could be used, we found a similar discrepancy between populations and deaths in both 1990 and 2000 from origin classifications in the census and death certificates. The discrepancy persisted when California was excluded from the analysis and when the relatively small Cuban- and Puerto Rican–origin populations were excluded. If we are to understand Hispanic mortality in the United States, the data must be national. If the data are national, the analysis of those data cannot rest simply on the assertion that our assumptions are dubious. We are dealing with the questions of who thinks of themselves as Hispanic when they fill in census forms and who funeral providers think is Hispanic when they prepare death certificates. Texas provides direct evidence that the 2 sources are so inconsistent as to be unusable together in Texas. To find that the problem is not national would require far stronger assumptions than we required. To develop workable Hispanic mortality estimates, any estimates from origin questions must be checked for consistency against estimates from surname classifications. That is not a difficult step. It can still be done for the 2000 US population and deaths and should be an essential part of the analysis of the census and vital statistics for 2010. We need not comment here on Hispanic mortality estimates from sample surveys. Until the national mortality data are better handled, we will not have the benchmark we require to appraise them fairly. That is another cost of the muddle beneath the paradox.

Critical analysis of the policy practice of mathematics education in Ghana

Ensuring a smooth mathematics education programme requires the formulation and implementation of appropriate instructional policies. This study is a survey of some practices of the instructional policies and their influence on mathematics education. Completed Basic School Annual Census (CBSAC) forms and unstructured interviews were used to collect data. In the study, 2364 pupils in 33 classes and 140 teachers were involved. The study showed that instructional policies lack the consensus of those who implement them. They also lack support and monitoring. The paper recommends public debate, adequate support and a body for periodic evaluation of instructional policies at all levels. Mathematics Connection Vol. 4 2004: 15-25

Numerator/denominator bias and inequalities in occupational mortality

Comparisons of the changing patterns of inequalities in occupational mortality provide one way to monitor the achievement of equity goals. However, previous comparisons have not corrected for numerator/denominator bias, which is a consequence of the different ways in which occupational details are recorded on death certificates and on census forms. The objective of this study was to measure the impact of this bias on mortality rates and ratios over time. Using data provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, we examined the evidence for bias over the period 1981 -2002, and used imputation methods to adjust for this bias. We compared unadjusted with imputed rates of mortality for manual/non-manual workers. Unadjusted data indicate increasing inequality in the age-adjusted rates of mortality for manual/non-manual workers during 1981 -2002. Imputed data suggest that there have been modest fluctuations in the ratios of mortality for manual/non-manual workers during this time, but with evidence that inequalities have increased only in recent years and are now at historic highs. We found that imputation for missing data leads to changes in estimates of inequalities related to social class in mortality for some years but not for others. Occupational class comparisons should be imputed or otherwise adjusted for missing data on census or death certificates.

Origins of linguistic zonation in the Australian Alps. part 1 – Huygens' principle

The hitherto poorly recorded boundaries of extinct traditional south-east-Australian Aboriginal languages can now be redetermined with greatly improved precision using an entropy-maximizing phonetic-signature calculated from existing data sources, including old word-lists and census forms, that have, until now, largely been considered informationally worthless. Having thus determined traditional Aboriginal language zones to a previously unimaginable degree of geographical precision, it is argued that these boundaries should not be viewed merely as a static ‘snapshot’ but, instead, as the end-product of a knowable dynamic process (Gillieron wave propagation) governed by well-known physical rules (such as Huygens' principle and Snell's Law) and operating over ‘deep’ time-scales more familiar to the archaeologist than the linguist. Although this initial study is limited to south-eastern Australia, the new methodology provides the first real hope of obtaining a detailed understanding of language dispersal throughout the entire continent over the past 60,000 years.