The relationship between independence, inclusion and well-being: the perspective of older citizens living in Coventry, U.K.

Independence, inclusion and wellbeing are commonly seen in a complementary relationship in policy and research literature. This paper examines the meaning of these terms for older citizens living in Coventry and the implications for policy implementation. The data presented, obtained from a large community survey of citizens of 55 years and over living in Coventry, found that although most survey participants were able to function independently, participate in ordinary community life and enjoyed reasonable physical and mental health, many others experienced a series of significant barriers to inclusion and wellbeing. The paper concludes that there is no automatic convergence between independence, inclusion and wellbeing at the level of the individual citizen and that to address this issue, more socially inclusive rather than individualistic forms of independence may be more appropriate goals for local public agencie

Cross-National Trends in Earnings Instability and Earnings Inequality

Changes in inequality of yearly earnings can arise from changes in the distribution of lifetime earnings (permanent changes) and changes in the stability of earnings (transitory changes). Past research has found increases in both components in the United States over the past several decades. We extend this literature by comparing the United States with Germany and Great Britain. We use data from the Cross-National Equivalent Files (Cornell University) to document trends in cross-sectional and long-run earnings inequality. These data enable us to examine earnings dynamics during the years 1979-1996 for the United States, 1983-1997 for Germany, and 1990-1997 for Great Britain. Despite differences in labor market structure, our descriptive models reveal similar basic patterns of earnings mobility and dynamics in these countries. We then apply a method of moments approach to estimate the parameters of a heterogeneous growth model of permanent and transitory earnings. The results indicate that although there are substantial differences in overall cross-sectional inequality across these countries, the persistent component of earnings inequality was quite similar in each in the 1990searnings mobility, inequality, comparative

Changing Family Behavior and the U.S. Income Distribution

The trend toward increasing family income inequality in the U.S. over the past several decades is well documented. Among possible explanations for this increase are rising inequality in individual earnings, changes in family labor supply decisions, and changes in family structure and living arrangements. We analyze the contribution of the latter two factors to rising family income inequality during the 1980s using conditionally weighted density estimation, a semiparametric decomposition technique recently pioneered and applied to assess the causes of rising earnings inequality (DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux 1996). This technique enables estimation of the impact of the modeled factors on the complete distribution of income. We use data from the March Current Population Surveys for the years 1980 and 1990, which yield family income information for the years 1979 and 1989. The primary effect of both changing family structure and changes in wives' labor force participation was on the midpoint of the family income distribution. The effect of changing family structure on rising inequality was small over this period, primarily because the net change in family structure was small. However, the increase in wives' labor force participation explains about 10 to 25 percent of the increase in family income inequality.

Formulation of consumables management models. Volume 2: Mission planning processor user guide

A user guide for the MPP (Mission Planning Processor) is presented. The MPP is used in the evaluation of particular missions, with appropriate display and storage of related consumables data. Design goals are accomplished by the use of an on-line/demand mode computer terminal Cathode Ray Tube Display. The process is such that the user merely adds specific mission/flight functions to a skeleton flight and/or alters the skeleton. The skeleton flight includes operational aspects from prelaunch through ground support equipment connect after rollout as required to place the STS (Space Transportation System) in a parking orbit, maintain the spacecraft and crew for the stated on-orbit period and return

Inequality and poverty in the United States: the effects of changing family behavior and rising wage dispersion

The trend toward increasing inequality in family income in the United States since the late 1960s is well documented. Among key possible explanations for this increase are rising dispersion in individual earnings, changes in female labor supply decisions, and changes in family composition and living arrangements. We analyze the contribution of these factors to changes in family income inequality and poverty during the years 1969-1998, focusing on labor supply and family structure as behavioral changes but accounting also for changes in the distribution of male earnings. Our analyses rely on conditionally weighted density estimation, a semiparametric decomposition technique recently developed by DiNardo, Fortin, and Lemieux (1996). We also use a relatively novel rank-based distributional exchange to assess the effects of changes in the distribution of male earnings. ; In our empirical work, we first analyze changes between 1969 and 1989, which corresponds roughly to the period of rising inequality that has been the focus of previous work. Our results indicate that rising dispersion of male earnings and the decline of traditional forms of family structure respectively explain up to about three-fourths and about one-half of rising inequality in family income during this period. The impact of changing family structure was most pronounced in the lower half of the distribution. In contrast, the increase in female labor force participation offset rising inequality to some degree, mainly in the upper half of the distribution, although its impact has moved down the distribution over time. In extending the analyses to the 1990s, we find that the rate at which inequality grew slowed after 1989, but the explanatory factors continued to have substantial effects. In each decade, the effects of the explanatory factors on poverty were especially large and followed a pattern similar to that for inequality.Poverty ; Income distribution ; Income

Direct Determinations of the Redshift Behavior of the Pressure, Energy Density, and Equation of State of the Dark Energy and the Acceleration of the Universe

One of the goals of current cosmological studies is the determination of the expansion and acceleration rates of the universe as functions of redshift, and the determination of the properties of the dark energy that can explain these observations. Here the expansion and acceleration rates are determined directly from the data, without the need for the specification of a theory of gravity, and without adopting an a priori parameterization of the form or redshift evolution of the dark energy. We use the latest set of distances to SN standard candles from Riess et al. (2004), supplemented by data on radio galaxy standard ruler sizes, as described by Daly and Djorgovski (2003, 2004). We find that the universe transitions from acceleration to deceleration at a redshift of about 0.4. The standard "concordance model" provides a reasonably good fit to the dimensionless expansion rate as a function of redshift, though it fits the dimensionless acceleration rate as a function of redshift less well. The expansion and acceleration rates are then combined with a theory of gravity to determine the pressure, energy density, and equation of state of the dark energy as functions of redshift. Adopting General Relativity as the correct theory of gravity, the redshift trends for the pressure, energy density, and equation of state of the dark energy out to redshifts of about one are determined, and are found to be generally consistent with the concordance model.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Invited presentation at Coral Gables 200

Thrombotic variables and risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism in women aged 45-64 years - Relationships to hormone replacement therapy

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to increase the relative risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism (VTE) about threefold in several observational studies and one randomised controlled trial. Whether or not this relative risk is higher in women with underlying thrombophilia phenotypes, such as activated protein C (APC) resistance, is unknown. We therefore restudied the participants in a case-control study of the relationship between the use of HRT and the occurrence of idiopathic VTE in women aged 45-64 years. After protocol exclusions, 66 of the cases in the original study and 163 of the controls were studied. Twenty haematological variables relevant to risk of VTE were analysed, including thrombotic states defined from the literature. The relative risk of VTE showed significant associations with APC resistance (OR 4.06; 95% CI 1.62, 10.21); low antithrombin (3.33; 1.15, 9.65) or protein C (2.93; 1.06, 8.14); and high coagulation factor IX (2.34: 1.26, 1.35), or fibrin D-dimer (3.84; 1.99, 7.32). HRT use increased the risk of VTE in women without any of these thrombotic static; (OR 4.09; 95% CI 1.26, 13.30). A similar effect of HRT use on the relative risk of VTE was also found in women with prothrombotic states. Thus for example, the combination of HRT use and APC resistance increased the risk of VTE about 13-fold compared with women of similar age without either APC resistance or HRT use (OR 13.27; 95%, CI 4.30, 40.97). We conclude that the combination of HRT use and thrombophilias (especially if multiple) increases the relative risk of VTE substantially; hence women known to have thrombophilias (especially if multiple) should be counselled about this increased risk prior to prescription of HRT. However. HRT increases the risk of VTE about fourfold even in women without any thrombotic abnormalities: possible causes are discussed