SummaryThis article considers the methods used to estimate the number of abortions before the 1967 Abortion Act came into operation. It suggests that the registration of legal abortions has enabled a new method to be used to calculate the number of illegal operations. The article concludes that the major effect of the Act was to transfer abortions from the illegal to the legal sector and, using the new method of calculation, estimates a total number of abortions immediately before the Act of just over 100,000 a year.
This paper focuses upon a hybrid `performance hypothesis' positing that an established party will change its ideological identity in reaction to a successful new party only when the established party itself experiences poor election results which it can attribute to the new party. That hypothesis is addressed with original, longitudinal data on manifesto positions of the far-right Norwegian and Danish Progress parties, their Conservative neighbor-parties and (for control purposes) the Labour parties. Analyses support the authors' conclusion that both new parties have had a significant impact on their respective party systems according to the intentions and strategies of their founders.
We propose a normative theory of the number of representatives based on a model of a representative democracy. We derive a formula giving the number of representatives as proportional to the square root of total population. Simple tests of the formula on a sample of a 100 countries yield good results. We then discuss the appropriateness of the number of representatives in some countries. It seems that the United States has too few representatives, while France and Italy have too many. The excess number of representatives matters: it is positively correlated with indicators of red tape and barriers to entrepreneurship. Adapted from the source document.
Much recent anthropology reflects on how scales are contested and contingent products of heterogeneous social interactions, not the 'ontological givens' (sensu Carr and Lempert) described in earlier scholarship. This article examines the importance of number in the formation of scales of measurement. It does so regarding a pastoral Mongolian scale of livestock-counting based on the number ten thousand, or tüm[en]: a qualitative-cum-quantitative term suggesting plenty and abundance. Drawing on literature on the anthropology of number, and bringing it into dialogue with studies of scale and ideology, this article argues that number is not just a means for calibrating pre-existing scales. Instead, as something endowed with particular qualities and conceptual stability, number can be mobilized to produce ideologically charged scales of measurement.
Abstract: Number agreement systems often present traces of older elements common to different languages of the same family; thus, their emergence is difficult to reconstruct. One possible origin of such systems is the grammaticalization of plural words into bound morphemes, which, as a result of a long process, develop into agreement markers and may become obligatory. Various investigations have provided evidence for this hypothesis. However, the complete process of change from a system with no number as grammatical category into a number agreement system in a single language has not been documented. This paper analyses documents covering different stages of the development of the Nheengatu language from Tupinambá in order to observe how the number agreement system emerged in modern Nheengatu. By doing so, this paper supports the idea that grammaticalization may have occurred rapidly in intense contact situations.
This paper studies rent-seeking contests where the contestants do not know the number of actively competing contestants. Two models are compared. In the first, all players are risk neutral; in the second, all have constant absolute risk aversion. If the expected fraction of active contestants is low, an increase in the number of potential contestants increases individual rent-seeking efforts. This effect is in contrast to the complete information case where individual rent-seeking efforts decrease in the number of contestants. The effect is more likely under risk neutrality, but also possible under risk aversion. Equilibrium rent seeking efforts are lower under risk aversion if & only if the expected fraction of active contestants is low. Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.
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With corrupt crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried as its most prominent representative, the Effective Altruism movement is not particularly popularly these days. And some other people associated with the Effective Altruism movement have bizarre and unappealing ideas. More generally, the association of the idea with the Silicon Valley technobro culture we've been discussing here has put […]
Abstract This essay poses the question of how many rulers are envisaged in Plato's Statesman. After pointing out that this is a crucial question for issues concerning non-ideal as well as ideal approaches to political rule, the essay focuses on three relevant aspects of rule in the Statesman: the notion of kingly rule, the limitations posed by human nature, and the importance of self-rule. It is shown how each of these dimensions of Plato's discussion demonstrates the complexity of the question. Particular attention is then given to features inherent to political rule: the need for subordinate functions and a distribution of offices, seen in light of the ends of political rule as helping citizens obtain their potential. It is argued that while the Statesman does not lead to any certain conclusion concerning the number of rulers, and some of its considerations conflict with each other, the text as a whole allows for a fairly broad basis of political rule.
In: Wiadomości statystyczne / Glówny Urza̜d Statystyczny, Polskie Towarzystwo Statystyczne: czasopismo Głównego Urze̜du Statystycznego i Polskiego Towarzystwa = The Polish statistician, Band 64, Heft 7, S. 5-31
The sampling in statistical surveys and numerical calculations as well as simulation testing of probabilistic models in virtually all fields of knowledge require a com-puter endowed with pseudorandom numbers generators. The main goal of the study is to compare the normal random number generators using various criteria. The properties of 12 random number generators for a normal distribution were investigated. Then, the family of generators was extended by two so-called application generators and a new approach for checking the quality of generators was adopted. A ready-made tool pre-pared in C++ and in Visual Basic for Application (VBA) for conducting self-contained research using generators was presented. All Monte Carlo simulations were carried out in C++, while the calculations were performed in the VBA editor using the Microsoft Excel 2016 spreadsheet. The analysis of the obtained results shows that the generators with best properties are: MP Monty Python, R, Biegun and Ziggurat. The worst generators, are: BM Box-Muller, Wallace, Iloraz and Excel.
• Health Commissioner William C. Woodward announced a more optimistic outlook on the epidemic situation, attributing the success to public health and hospital officials• There is currently a shortage of doctors, nurses, orderlies and hospital assistants• 140 deaths were reported yesterday, a decrease of three from the previous period• In order to cope with the shortage of medical help, Woodward has asked that all cases that do not demand hospitalization be kept at home• Woodward said that a large number of cases do not require trained nurses and an intelligent relative can care for the stricken under the care of a doctor• There is now ample hospital space available for patience• Woodward expects the virulence of the epidemic to subside as time passes• Many of the deaths resulting from the disease are caused by septicemia, and are not true pneumonia• State Epidemiologist Bernard W. Corey issued a report that there are 75,000 cases of influenza in the State, exclusive of those in military and naval camps• State Health Commissioner Eugene R. Kelley issued a telegram to U.S. Surgeon General Blue reporting the situation in the State and requesting additional medical assistance for the State• Kelley particularly emphasized the shortage of and need for nurses in Mass.• Woodward reported deaths from influenza and pneumonia for weeks ending Sept 14, 21, 28 at 46, 256 and 775, respectively• Deaths for the same weeks for influenza totaled 19, 172 and 610 compared to none for the corresponding weeks last year ; Newspaper article ; 1, 4
In: Iran and the Caucasus: research papers from the Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies = Iran i kavkaz : trudy Kavkazskogo e͏̈tìsentra iranistiki, Band 19, Heft 3, S. 279-282
The main body of the Iranian Turkophone mass generally consists of two parts: proper Turkic groups (the Turkmens par excellence) and the Turkic-speaking ethnic Iranians, predominantly the Azaris, inhabiting the north-west provinces of Iran roughly covering historical Aturpatākān. The number of the latter, usually depicted as a huge multimillion conglomeration, has remained one of the most speculative issues of the field. The article analyses the statistical data concerning namely this segment of the Iranian citizenry.
We propose a normative theory of the number of representatives based on a model of a representative democracy. We derive a formula giving the number of representatives as proportional to the square root of total population. Simple tests of the formula on a sample of a 100 countries yield good results. We then discuss the appropriateness of the number of representatives in some countries. It seems that the United States has too few representatives, while France and Italy have too many. The excess number of representatives matters: it is positively correlated with indicators of red tape and barriers to entrepreneurship.