Inequality and fertility

This article focuses on the relationship between inequality and fertility, with empirical analysis only of direct influences. Whereas much of the literature seems to be based on 0-order correlations, the present study uses multiple regression analysis to test the strength of the evidence for a relationship between inequality and fertility when competing hypotheses are also considered. In addition, this study attempts to clarify some of the issues surrounding the measurement of inequality and to show how these may affect empirical results. It appears from the results presented here that research into the relative status of women as an influence on fertility holds considerable promise. In particular, it is interesting that a measure of the relative status of women (ratio of female school enrollment to male school enrollment) that is highly correlated with absolute educational status of people in the nation in general, and even more highly correlated with absolute educational status of women, emerges as one of 3 important predictors of fertility. The other measure of the relative educational status of women (female school enrollment ratio minus male school enrollment ratio), which has lower correlations with absolute educational status both of women and people in general, does not appear important, although it should be an equally valid indicator of women's status. It also has lower correlations with total fertility rates. 1 focus of further research should be an attempt to disentangle the effects of the relative status of women from absolute status of women and absolute status of people in the nation as a whole. Less promising is the prospect of future work on the relationship between income inequaltiy and fertility. The results are unencouraging with respect to both sampling problems and the actual magnitude of the effect of inequality on fertility. Overall, it appears that the importance of income inequality as an influence on fertility may have been overstated in the past.     

Heroin abuse and a gas chromatographic method for determining illicit heroin samples in Singapore.

The abuse of heroin (diacetylmorphine) in Singapore escalated sharply in 1975 and 1976, as indicated by the 35-fold increase in the number of heroin seizures and the 20-fold increase in the urine samples containing morphine since 1974. A rapid and simple GC method has been described to estimate diacetylmorphine (and caffeine). Monoacetylmorphine and acetylcodeine may be ascertained by an additional step involving acetylation. All gas chromatograms of a large number of samples analyzed consistently had the same pattern, indicating that they possibly had a common origin. This GC "fingerprint," together with the quantitative data, appears to be characteristic of the illicit Asian or Chinese type of heroin found in Singapore. The proportions of the four major ingredients in some twelve typical samples have been tabulated. Statistical data confirming the accuracy and reproducibility of the analytical method have also been presented.