Analyzing the Relationship Between Smoking and Coronary Heart Disease at the Small Area Level: A Bayesian Approach to Spatial Modeling

We model the relationship between coronary heart disease and smoking prevalence and deprivation at the small area level using the Poisson log-linear model with and without random effects. Extra-Poisson variability (overdispersion) is handled through the addition of spatially structured and unstructured random effects in a Bayesian framework. In addition, four different measures of smoking prevalence are assessed because the smoking data are obtained from a survey that resulted in quite large differences in the size of the sample across the census tracts. Two of the methods use Bayes adjustments of standardized smoking ratios (local and global adjustments), and one uses a nonparametric spatial averaging technique. A preferred model is identified based on the deviance information criterion. Both smoking and deprivation are found to be statistically significant risk factors, but the effect of the smoking variable is reduced once the confounding effects of deprivation are taken into account. Maps of the spatial variability in relative risk, and the importance of the underlying covariates and random effects terms, are produced. We also identify areas with excess relative risk.     

Statistical methods for bioarchaeology: applications of age-adjustment and logistic regression to comparisons of skeletal populations with differing age-structures

Previous studies of patterns of osteoarthritis involvement in prehistoric skeletal populations have been used to suggest differences in lifestyle or subsistence patterns. In spite of the intriguing nature of such studies, inadequate controls for the potential confounding effects of age have made results less secure than they appear. While researchers remain unable to control for the inherent limitations imposed by preservation bias, meaningful advancement could be made in the analysis of these data. Here we propose two methods from epidemiology that would allow more robust comparisons between populations with differing age-structures: age-adjustment and logistic regression. We apply these two methods to previously published data from prehistoric populations of the American Great Basin. In doing so, we are able to discern sex differences in risk for osteoarthritis at the shoulder (beta = −1.82, SE = 0.74, OR = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.04–0.69, p = 0.013), elbow (beta = −2.07, SE = 0.82, OR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.03–0.63, p = 0.011), and in the foot (beta = −3.11, SE = 1.57, OR = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.00–0.97, p = 0.048), that were not noted in previous analyses of these data. These findings suggest that greater clarity of results and more precise comparisons of risk may be achieved by using these methods. We conclude that further application of these methods to bioarchaeological studies would potentially improve what can be said about prehistoric health patterns and lifeways.     

COORDINATING EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE NETHERLANDS: A HOLISTIC QUANTITATIVE APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF ICT‐RELATED AND OTHER WORK‐LIFE BALANCE STRATEGIES

Due to women's increased participation in the labour force, more and more family‐households are now juggling paid labour and care‐giving in space and time and do so in many different ways. Much research and policy about how households try to establish a satisfactory work‐life balance singles out particular coping strategies, such as telecommuting or the mobilizing of informal help by relatives or friends. While insightful, foregrounding single strategies may oversimplify the complex reality of everyday life, in which people often skilfully weave together multiple coping strategies. As well, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have further diversified the arsenal of possible coping strategies, but the academic literature has yet to verify whether ICT usage complements or substitutes the adoption of other coping strategies. Adopting a holistic quantitative approach this study assesses which combinations of coping strategies prevail and which role ICTs play in this regard among one‐ and dual‐earner households in the Utrecht–Amersfoort–Hilversum area of the Netherlands. We also examine systematic variations in strategy combination by socio‐demographics, ICT possession, affordability and skills, social network factors, employment and commute factors, spatial factors, lifestyle orientation and other factors. We identify several distinct combinations of strategies and find that ICT‐related strategies are frequently adopted by highly educated employed parents in the Netherlands attempting to achieve a satisfying work‐life balance and tend to complement other types of strategies. Which combinations of strategies have been adopted depends most strongly on the presence of young children, but also on employment factors and characteristics of the environment surrounding the dwelling and main workplace.     

Good International Citizenship: A Third Way for British Foreign Policy

To date, there has not been a sustained attempt to bring the philosophy of the Third Way into foreign policy. In order to fill this gap, the authors turn to the idea of 'good international citizenship' pioneered by the former Australian Foreign Minister, Gareth Evans. It is argued that good international citizenship provides a conceptual rationale for an ethical foreign policy as well as a standard for judging the priority accorded to the goals of security, trade and human rights. Through an examination of a number of cases, the authors conclude that Britain's record as a good international citizen has been uneven and argue—against Labour's critics—that the government has set a new course for Britain's way in the world. More importantly, it has encouraged a public debate about the meaning and priority accorded to the promotion of different values.     

Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1872–1905): A Pioneering Scholar of Modern Nationalism

Abstract. This essay attempts to place the contributions of the sociologist Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1872–1905) within the history of the scholarship of nationalism. Though absent from present scholarly literature on the question, Kelles-Krauz's contribution to the study of nationalism was outstanding. The article advances three arguments: that Kelles-Krauz was among the first to treat modem nationalism as an object of serious study, that his approach was more typical of our day than his, and that his arguments anticipated many of the major positions of today's scholars. In order to defend the first claim, the article briefly considers the contributions of scholars who preceded Kelles-Krauz. In order to defend the second and third claims, the article briefly characterises Kelles-Krauz's sociological method and presents his answers to some of the central questions of today's scholarly literature on nationalism.