What do we know about adult mortality and data quality in Peru? Mortality coverage levels and trends from recent decades

Accurate knowledge of adult mortality levels and trends in the developing world is hampered by its widespread lack of complete vital registration systems. Although knowledge of infant and child mortality was once affect by the same problem, survey-based techniques have been more successful in estimating child and infant than adult mortality. The main objective of this paper is to estimate mortality rates for the population aged 5 and above, in Peru by sex. The study evaluates the degree of coverage, and corrects the level of mortality, when necessary, using different methodologies. The literature does not indicate the best method to investigate mortality data problems. Thus, the implementation of alternative methods will improve the understanding of the mortality levels and trends in Peru in recent decades.Peru, adult mortality, demographic methods

Domain wall theory and non-stationarity in driven flow with exclusion

We study the dynamical evolution toward steady state of the stochastic non-equilibrium model known as totally asymmetric simple exclusion process, in both uniform and non-uniform (staggered) one-dimensional systems with open boundaries. Domain-wall theory and numerical simulations are used and, where pertinent, their results are compared to existing mean-field predictions and exact solutions where available. For uniform chains we find that the inclusion of fluctuations inherent to the domain-wall formulation plays a crucial role in providing good agreement with simulations, which is severely lacking in the corresponding mean-field predictions. For alternating-bond chains the domain-wall predictions for the features of the phase diagram in the parameter space of injection and ejection rates turn out to be realized only in an incipient and quantitatively approximate way. Nevertheless, significant quantitative agreement can be found between several additional domain-wall theory predictions and numerics.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures (published version

Correlation--function distributions at the Nishimori point of two-dimensional Ising spin glasses

The multicritical behavior at the Nishimori point of two-dimensional Ising spin glasses is investigated by using numerical transfer-matrix methods to calculate probability distributions $P(C)$ and associated moments of spin-spin correlation functions $C$ on strips. The angular dependence of the shape of correlation function distributions $P(C)$ provides a stringent test of how well they obey predictions of conformal invariance; and an even symmetry of $(1-C) P(C)$ reflects the consequences of the Ising spin-glass gauge (Nishimori) symmetry. We show that conformal invariance is obeyed in its strictest form, and the associated scaling of the moments of the distribution is examined, in order to assess the validity of a recent conjecture on the exact localization of the Nishimori point. Power law divergences of $P(C)$ are observed near C=1 and C=0, in partial accord with a simple scaling scheme which preserves the gauge symmetry.Comment: Final version to be published in Phys Rev