Widowhood-related mortality in Scania,Sweden during the 19th century

In this article, mortality risks are empirically examined in connection with spousal bereavement in four parishes in Scania, southern Sweden, during the 19th century using duration analysis. The data are longitudinal and the inhabitants have been followed literally from the cradle to the grave. To simultaneously catch transitory (shock) and persistent (long-term) effects of widowhood on mortality of the surviving spouse, the Cox semiparametric proportional hazards model has been applied with time spent in widowhood as a time-dependent multiple factor. Widowers in general were found to face higher relative mortality risks than widows and the effect of bereavement decreased through time. The estimated relative risks for males were dependent on socioeconomic status and widowers classified as landless faced high relative risks. Quantitatively, the magnitude of our estimates was large in comparison with similar studies made on contemporary data.     

Is breast best? Evaluating breastfeeding patterns and causes of infant death in a Dutch province in the period 1875–1900

In the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, infants experienced extremely high mortality risks towards the final decades of the nineteenth century. It has been stated that infant survival in the past highly depended upon the fact whether a child was breastfed or not. In this article we will reflect on this perceived importance of infant diet in order to explain the high mortality risks of Brabant infants in the period 1875–1900. Using local aggregated cause of death data, a change in breastfeeding practices can indeed be detected. Between 1875/79 and 1895/99 there was an increase in the relative and absolute number of infants deaths as a result of diarrhoea and other digestive disorders indicating deficient hygiene and that fewer infants were breastfed frequently. By discussing differences between urban and rural settings, and between Catholic and Protestant regions, we will shed more light on possible mechanisms for this change in breastfeeding practices.     

Is breast best? Evaluating breastfeeding patterns and causes of infant death in a Dutch province in the period 1875–1900

In the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, infants experienced extremely high mortality risks towards the final decades of the nineteenth century. It has been stated that infant survival in the past highly depended upon the fact whether a child was breastfed or not. In this article we will reflect on this perceived importance of infant diet in order to explain the high mortality risks of Brabant infants in the period 1875–1900. Using local aggregated cause of death data, a change in breastfeeding practices can indeed be detected. Between 1875/79 and 1895/99 there was an increase in the relative and absolute number of infants deaths as a result of diarrhoea and other digestive disorders indicating deficient hygiene and that fewer infants were breastfed frequently. By discussing differences between urban and rural settings, and between Catholic and Protestant regions, we will shed more light on possible mechanisms for this change in breastfeeding practices.     

Does racism affect health? Evidence from the United States and the United Kingdom

Blacks have worse overall health than whites in both the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the relative difference in health between the two groups within each cultural context differs between each context. In this article, we attempt to glean insights into these health disparities. We do so by first examining what is currently known about differences in morbidity and mortality for blacks and whites in the United States and the United Kingdom. We then turn to medical examination data by race and country of birth in an attempt to further untangle the complex interplay of socioeconomic status (SES), race, and racism as determinants of health in the United States and the United Kingdom. We find that (1) longer exposure of blacks to the recipient country is a risk for mortality in the United States but not in the United Kingdom; (2) adjustment for SES matters a good deal for mortality in the United States, but less so in the United Kingdom; (3) morbidity indicators do not paint a clear picture of black disadvantage relative to whites in either context; and (4) were one to consider medical examination data alone, differences between the two groups exist only in the United States. Taken together, we conclude that it is possible that the "less racist" United Kingdom provides a healthier environment for blacks than the United States. However, there remain many mysteries that escape simple explanation. Our findings raise more questions than they answer, and the health risks and health status of blacks in the United States are much more complex than previously thought.     

Privacy principles,risks and harms

The protection of privacy is predicated on the individual's right to privacy and stipulates a number of principles that are primarily focused on information privacy or data protection and, as such, are insufficient to apply to other types of privacy and to the protection of other entities beyond the individual. This article identifies additional privacy principles that would apply to other types of privacy and would enhance the consideration of risks or harms to the individual, to groups and to society as a whole if they are violated. They also relate to the way privacy impact assessment (PIA) may be conducted. There are important reasons for generating consideration of and debate about these principles. First, they help to recalibrate a focus in Europe on data protection to the relative neglect of other types of privacy. Second, it is of critical importance at a time when PIA (renamed ‘data protection impact assessment’, or DPIA) may become mandatory under the European Commission's proposed Data Protection Regulation. Such assessment is an important instrument for identifying and mitigating privacy risks, but should address all types of privacy. Third, one can construct an indicative table identifying harms or risks to these additional privacy principles, which can serve as an important tool or instrument for a broader PIA to address other types of privacy.     

The limits of privacy in automated profiling and data mining

Automated profiling of groups and individuals is a common practice in our information society. The increasing possibilities of data mining significantly enhance the abilities to carry out such profiling. Depending on its application, profiling and data mining may cause particular risks such as discrimination, de-individualisation and information asymmetries. In this article we provide an overview of the risks associated with data mining and the strategies that have been proposed over the years to mitigate these risks. From there we shall examine whether current safeguards that are mainly based on privacy and data protection law (such as data minimisation and data exclusion) are sufficient. Based on these findings we shall suggest alternative policy options and regulatory instruments for dealing with the risks of data mining, integrating ideas from the field of computer science and that of law and ethics.     

空难概括死亡赔偿金性质及相关问题

空难事故中的概括性死亡赔偿金包括了被扶养人生活费、精神损害赔偿与单纯的 (狭义的)死亡赔偿等内容,应主要和优先用于被扶养人生活费之满足。在有剩余时依次作 为精神损害赔偿金与单纯死亡赔偿金,后者可作为遗产继承。     

Perceived arrest risk,psychic rewards,and offense specialization: A partial test of rational choice theory†

In prior tests of Beckerian rational choice theory, the notion that individuals are responsive to the (dis)incentives associated with crime has been supported. Much of this research has comprised composite scores of perceived rewards and risks of multiple, often disparate, crime types that are then used to predict “general” offending behavior. Although the results of such prior tests are informative, we believe that this tendency has resulted in two shortcomings. First, a central component of mathematical rational choice theory is overlooked, namely, that responsivity to incentives will be crime specific. That is, offenders should prefer crime types that subjectively offer greater rewards and fewer risks relative to other crimes. Second, individual differences in offending specialization are not addressed, of which Clarke and Cornish (1985) and Shover (1996) argued rational choice theories are well suited to explain. Using a sample of serious offenders, we find that in a given time period, individuals are more likely to engage in crime types they viewed as more intrinsically rewarding and less risky compared with other crimes. Furthermore, individuals displayed greater specialization in violence to the extent they view violence as more rewarding and less risky than property offenses     

The Burglary Boost: A Note on Detecting Contagion Using the Knox Test

Objectives

A large body of literature in quantitative criminology finds that the spatio-temporal clustering of burglary is greater than one would expect from chance alone. This suggests that such crimes may exhibit a “boost” effect, wherein each burglary increases the risk to nearby locations for a short period. In this study, we demonstrate that standard tests for spatio-temporal dependence have difficulty distinguishing between clustering caused by contagion and that caused by changing relative risks. Therefore, any estimates of the boost effect drawn from these tests alone will be upwardly biased.

Methods

We construct an agent-based model to generate simulated burglary data, and explore whether the Knox test can reliably distinguish between contagion (one burglary increases the likelihood of another burglary nearby) and changes in risk (one area gets safer while another gets more dangerous). Incorporating insights from this exercise, we analyze a decade of data on burglary events from Washington, DC.

Results

We find that (1) absent contagion, exogenous changes in relative risk can be sufficient to produce statistically significant Knox ratios, (2) if risk is changing over time, estimated Knox ratios are sensitive to one’s choice of time window, and (3) Knox ratios estimated from Washington, DC burglary data are sensitive to one’s choice of time window, suggesting that long-run changes in relative risk are, in part, driving empirical estimates of burglary’s boost effect.

Conclusions

Researchers testing for contagion in empirical time series should take precautions to distinguish true contagion from exogenous changes in relative risks. Adjusting the time window of analysis is a useful robustness check, and future studies should be supplemented with new approaches like agent-based modeling or spatial econometric methods.

     

POVERTY,INFANT MORTALITY,AND HOMICIDE RATES IN CROSS-NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: ASSESSMENTS OF CRITERION AND CONSTRUCT VALIDITY*

This article assesses the extent to which the infant mortality rate might be treated as a “proxy” for poverty in research on cross-national variation in homicide rates. We have assembled a pooled, cross-sectional time-series data set for 16 advanced nations from the 1993–2000 period that includes standard measures of infant mortality and homicide and contains information on the following commonly used “income-based” poverty measures: a measure intended to reflect “absolute” deprivation and a measure intended to reflect “relative” deprivation. With these data, we assess the criterion validity of the infant mortality rate with reference to the two income-based poverty measures. Also, we estimate the effects of the various indicators of disadvantage on homicide rates in regression models, thereby assessing construct validity. The results reveal that the infant mortality rate is correlated more strongly with “relative poverty” than with “absolute poverty,” although much unexplained variance remains. In the regression models shown here, the measure of infant mortality and the relative poverty measure yield significant positive effects on homicide rates, whereas the absolute poverty measure does not exhibit any significant effects. The results of our analyses suggest that it would be premature to dismiss relative deprivation in cross-national research on homicide, and that disadvantage is conceptualized and measured best as a multidimensional construct.     

The family law detection of overall risk screen (FL-DOORS): Utility as a repeated measure for assessing change in family violence risk over time

Conflicted parental separation is associated with risks to safety and wellbeing for all family members. The Family Law DOORS (FL-DOORS; Detection of Overall Risk Screen) is a standardized screening framework to assist identification, evaluation, and response to family safety risks. The FL-DOORS has previously been validated in two large Australian samples (N = 6089) and found fit-for-purpose as an indicator of family violence and wellbeing risks in separated families. Now, using pilot data from a community mediation context, we examine its utility as a repeated measure for detecting change in safety and wellbeing over time. A pilot cohort of 67 parents engaged in a mediation service for parenting and/or property disputes completed the FL-DOORS at intake (T1) and approximately 8 weeks later (T2). We assessed T1-T2 change scores and correlations in change between variables and used MANOVA to determine if clusters of related scales discriminated change across time. Findings support the psychometric capacity of the FL-DOORS for use as a repeated measure in risk monitoring. We also note possible effects of this early screening process for reducing risk prior to engagement in mediation input. We discuss implementation utility for family law services to monitor change in risk type and magnitude over time.     

The faces of death: regional differentiation in cause-specific mortality in the past

In mortality research, much attention has been paid to the strong geographical differentials in mortality levels and in modern mortality decline, as the analysis of this geographical differentiation might hold the key to explaining the determinants of mortality change. The use of historical cause-specific mortality data has proved a challenging, although very insightful, means to this end. The four contributions to this special issue focus on cause-specific mortality in the past, both to reassess older data using new insights and to challenge existing insights by using new data and methods. These papers, of which earlier versions were presented during the thirty-eighth Social Science History Association (SSHA) Meeting in Chicago, 21–24 November 2013, explore mortality at different stages of the life course, ranging from early infancy to old age. Moreover, each paper revolves around a different group of causes of death. Although the papers are in many ways rather different, together they demonstrate how different data, theoretical frameworks and methodologies can push the boundaries of research into the trends and determinants of historical mortality patterns.     

Differentials in overall and cause-specific mortality among infants born in and out of wedlock,Stockholm 1878–1925

This study investigates differentials in the decline of cause-specific infant mortality by marital status of the mother in Stockholm (1878–1925) and factors contributing to the explanation of these differentials using computerized records of individual entries from the Roteman Archives. Included in the analysis were 120,094 children less than 1 year of age who lived in Södermalm during this period. Cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for three time periods. Cox's regression analysis was used to study the relationship between overall and cause-specific risk of infant death and of being born in and out of wedlock in relation to a set of variables. Infant mortality rates and mortality risks were higher among children born out of rather than in wedlock. The most pronounced differentials in cause-specific mortality rates between these groups of children were seen in cases of diarrhea. The socioeconomic status of the household head and number of children in the household were statistically significant with infant mortality, but explain only part of the excess mortality risk of children born out of wedlock. In Stockholm at the turn of the 19th century being born out of wedlock was strongly associated with poor health outcomes, particularly in diarrheal diseases, pneumonia/bronchitis, and immaturity/congenital causes.     

Differentials in overall and cause-specific mortality among infants born in and out of wedlock,Stockholm 1878–1925

This study investigates differentials in the decline of cause-specific infant mortality by marital status of the mother in Stockholm (1878–1925) and factors contributing to the explanation of these differentials using computerized records of individual entries from the Roteman Archives. Included in the analysis were 120,094 children less than 1 year of age who lived in Södermalm during this period. Cause-specific mortality rates were calculated for three time periods. Cox's regression analysis was used to study the relationship between overall and cause-specific risk of infant death and of being born in and out of wedlock in relation to a set of variables. Infant mortality rates and mortality risks were higher among children born out of rather than in wedlock. The most pronounced differentials in cause-specific mortality rates between these groups of children were seen in cases of diarrhea. The socioeconomic status of the household head and number of children in the household were statistically significant with infant mortality, but explain only part of the excess mortality risk of children born out of wedlock. In Stockholm at the turn of the 19th century being born out of wedlock was strongly associated with poor health outcomes, particularly in diarrheal diseases, pneumonia/bronchitis, and immaturity/congenital causes.     

Lifestyle changes and risks of criminal victimization

Routine activity/lifestyle theories have been used to explain temporal changes in crime rates, the social ecology of crime, and individuals' risks of criminal victimization. Using a panel of 33,773 individuals and 19,005 households at two points in time, the current study extends previous research by examining whether changes in lifestyles are associated with changes in individuals' risks of personal and property victimization. Changes in lifestyles which signal greater target visibility or exposure to motivated offenders (greater daytime and nighttime activity outside the home) and reduced guardianship (decreases in the number of household members) are generally associated with increased risks of both types of victimization. Persons who maintained high levels of nighttime activity outside the household were also more likely to remain victims at both time periods. However, active lifestyle changes (increased precautionary actions) did not have their expected impact on reducing victimization risks, and several other changes over time also were inconsistent with expectations. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of passive and active lifestyle changes on victimization risks and the implications of our findings for developing sociological theories of criminal victimization.An early draft of this paper was presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Society of Criminology, November 11–14, 1987. The data for this study were originally collected by the Bureau of Census for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and were made available by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. Neither the collectors of the data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here.     

Abortion, information & the law: what every doctor needs to know

1. Before commencing any treatment, doctors must inform patients of all material risks of the treatment (Rogers v. Whitaker, 1992). 2. It is not up to the professional judgment of doctors to decide how much information to give to patients (Rogers v. Whitaker, 1992). 3. The same duty to inform applies to abortion ("Ellen's Case," 1998). 4. GPs and counsellors who refer for abortion also have a legal duty to inform women of risks, because everyone who gives specialized or professional advice may be sued for negligence if that advice is given without due care (Evatt's Care, 1969). 5. Doctors have been inadequately informed on the medical risks of abortion, by writers seeking to present abortion as a risk-free procedure. 6. Abortion may increase the risk of cancer. 7. Abortion carries risks of injury and illness. 8. Abortion caries risks of future reproduction. 9. Abortion may have adverse psychological and psychiatric sequelae. In some women, these sequelae are severe and intractable, and may occur irrespective of a woman's personal attitudes towards abortion (Melinda Tankard Reist, Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion, Sydney, Duffy & Snellgrove, 2000). 10. Women still die in Australia from abortion. 11. It has not been proved that pregnancy and delivery are more dangerous than abortion. 12. The risks of mortality and morbidity in carrying a pregnancy to term are often exaggerated, in an effort to make abortion appear safer. 13. Doctors are not required to refer for abortion. On the other hand, doctors do have a duty to inform themselves of the professional competence of any practitioner to whom they refer any patient for any procedure. Doctors who are referring for abortion can avoid legal jeopardy by informing women fully of the risks, and by keeping very comprehensive records of the information they have given. Alternatively, doctors can avoid legal liability by declining to refer for abortion. There are compelling medical reasons for treating abortion as a social, non-therapeutic, potentially harmful procedure with which conscientious doctors would choose not to involve themselves.     

The garcia de la paz

According to the famous economist and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen women have a significant biological advantage over men. Despite this fact women do not always live longer. In today's third world, but also in some areas in Europe at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century we find so-called excess female mortality. In this paper we examine child mortality in The Netherlands in general and gendered patterns of child mortality in particular. The focus is on differential mortality patterns by gender for infants, older children, and young adults up to age 20 in the second half of the 19th century. The analysis takes place at three levels. We start off with an exploration of sex differentials in mortality at the national level, based on the existing literature. We next examine gender differentials in mortality at the level of several Dutch communities, in the region called Twente, focussing on the differences between the city and the countryside. The final part of the analysis focuses on the micro level of the individual and his or her family in the rural community of Lonneker located in the Twente region. In this part of our study we make use of longitudinal individual level data which are analysed with event history methodologies. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that young women and girls in The Netherlands were not always in a position to fully capitalise upon their greater biological advantage and suffered instead considerable excess mortality. Especially in the rural parts of the country girls had lower survival chances. The individual level analysis confirms the importance of sex in explaining child and adolescent mortality. These gendered mortality risks can however not be attributed to social and economic household characteristics. The analysis also shows that, when death came, it literally affected the entire family. This phenomenon, better known under the label ‘death clustering’, may have been an effect of parental incompetence.     

Economic and Sociological Correlates of Suicides: Multilevel Analysis of the Time Series Data in the United Kingdom

For the effects of social integration on suicides, there have been different and even contradictive conclusions. In this study, the selected economic and social risks of suicide for different age groups and genders in the United Kingdom were identified and the effects were estimated by the multilevel time series analyses. To our knowledge, there exist no previous studies that estimated a dynamic model of suicides on the time series data together with multilevel analysis and autoregressive distributed lags. The investigation indicated that unemployment rate, inflation rate, and divorce rate are all significantly and positively related to the national suicide rates in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 2011. Furthermore, the suicide rates of almost all groups above 40 years are significantly associated with the risk factors of unemployment and inflation rate, in comparison with the younger groups.     

Faulty genes or faulty parents? Gender,family and survival in early and late childhood in the Netherlands, 1860–1900

According to the famous economist and Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen women have a significant biological advantage over men. Despite this fact women do not always live longer. In today's third world, but also in some areas in Europe at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century we find so-called excess female mortality. In this paper we examine child mortality in The Netherlands in general and gendered patterns of child mortality in particular. The focus is on differential mortality patterns by gender for infants, older children, and young adults up to age 20 in the second half of the 19th century. The analysis takes place at three levels. We start off with an exploration of sex differentials in mortality at the national level, based on the existing literature. We next examine gender differentials in mortality at the level of several Dutch communities, in the region called Twente, focussing on the differences between the city and the countryside. The final part of the analysis focuses on the micro level of the individual and his or her family in the rural community of Lonneker located in the Twente region. In this part of our study we make use of longitudinal individual level data which are analysed with event history methodologies. Our analysis clearly demonstrates that young women and girls in The Netherlands were not always in a position to fully capitalise upon their greater biological advantage and suffered instead considerable excess mortality. Especially in the rural parts of the country girls had lower survival chances. The individual level analysis confirms the importance of sex in explaining child and adolescent mortality. These gendered mortality risks can however not be attributed to social and economic household characteristics. The analysis also shows that, when death came, it literally affected the entire family. This phenomenon, better known under the label ‘death clustering’, may have been an effect of parental incompetence.     

Bone as a biomarker of acute fluoride toxicity

The use of bone as a biomarker for chronic and acute exposure to fluoride salts has been suggested, but there are no data published about its use to evaluate lethal intoxication. One hundred and sixty rats were divided into eight groups that received a single oral intubation dose from 0 (control) to 90 mg F/kg as NaF. The animals' time of death was recorded and their femurs were removed for fluoride analysis. Acid-soluble fluoride was determined in the whole bone and on the surface (periosteal), using an ion specific electrode. The data showed a statistically significant relationship between fluoride dose and the number of deaths (P<0.0001). A statistically significant relationship was also found between fluoride dose and fluoride concentration ([F]) in either the whole femur (P<0.0017), on the surface (P<0.0001) or for the ratio periosteal [F]/whole [F] (P<0.0001). However, the [F] on the femur surface was more closely correlated with mortality than that in the whole bone, showing statistically significant differences among the lethal doses and control (P<0.05). The data suggest that the ratio [F] periosteal bone/[F] whole bone, is a biomarker for acute fluoride toxicity.