Allan Abrahamse

A Walking Program for Nursing Home Residents: Effects on Walk Endurance, Physical Activity, Mobility, and Quality of Life

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of a 12‐week walking program on walk endurance capacity, physical activity level, mobility, and quality of life in ambulatory nursing home residents who had been identified as having low physical activity levels and low walk endurance capacities. To determine the effects of 12 versus 22 weeks of walk training on walk endurance capacity, physical activity level, mobility, and quality of life in ambulatory nursing home residents.

Reducing Gun Violence: Results from an Intervention in East Los Angeles

To assess whether an initiative to reduce gun violence that had been successful in Boston could be adapted for use elsewhere, researchers selected an East Los Angeles area for a similar intervention that was to include both law enforcement and social service components. Although the latter component was not widely available when the intervention began, researchers found that the intervention helped reduce violent and gang crime in the targeted districts and that crime also decreased in surrounding communities.

Beyond Stereotypes. Who Becomes a Single Teenage Mother

The effect of low-dose combined oral contraceptives (OCs) on glucose tolerance lipid metabolism and liver functions was investigated in 166 women. 69 women were taking a combination of 1 mg norethisterone + 35 mcg ethinyl estradiol (NET/EE) 65 were taking 150 mcg levonorgestrel + 30 ug ethinyl estradiol (LNG/EE) for 12 cycles and 32 had an IUD inserted (control group). Glucose tolerance seemed to be impaired after 3 months use and those exhibiting diabetic values were excluded from the study. The serum triglycerides and total cholesterol levels were elevated and HDL-cholesterol decreased in both pill groups. The shifts were more pronounced and longer lasting in the NET/EE group. There was a positive correlation between the changes in glucose and lipid metabolism. Contrary to expectations liver enzymes and bilirubin exhibited a decrease during OC use as did total protein and albumin levels. These observations draw attention to the fact that metabolic changes are induced by combined OCs even in the lowest possible dosage. However this does not necessarily mean increased morbidity in healthy women. (authors modified) (summaries in HUN ENG)

Surname analysis for estimating local concentration of Hispanics and Asians

Surname analysis is a potentially useful technique for identifying members of particular racial, ethnic, or language communities within a population. We review the existing state of the art for identifying persons of Hispanic or Asian origin, based on surnames distinctive of each group. We describe the logic of surname analysis, profile several available surname dictionaries, and illustrate their applications in local redistricting. Results of our ongoing validation studies suggest promising future directions for improving accuracy and broadening applications.

The Frequency of Excess Claims for Automobile Personal Injuries

Over the past decade and a half, automobile insurance premiums, particularly for personal injury coverages, have grown rapidly across the country. Stiff increases in insurance premiums are burdensome for everyone1. Forty-nine percent of the respondents to a recent national survey thought the affordability of auto insurance was a problem2. High insurance premiums are especially problematic for low-income populations. One study found that less affluent motorists are now spending over thirty percent of their annual household incomes on automobile insurance3. Moreover, high insurance premiums are an incentive to drive uninsured, thus exacerbating the uninsured motorist problem.

A Policy Analysis of Dutch River Dike Improvements: Trading Off Safety, Cost, and Environmental Impacts

This paper describes a four-month study performed for the Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management that examined the consequences of alternative policies for providing flood protection to the nontidal branches of the Rijn and Maas Rivers in The Netherlands. The paper focuses on estimating the flood damage that would occur under alternative safety standards, estimating the financial costs of alternative dike improvement strategies, and estimating the damage that would be inflicted on the landscape, natural, and cultural values along the rivers under each of these strategies. The primary objective of the study was to identify policies that would provide a high level of safety, would not cost too much, and would preserve as much as possible of the existing landscape, natural, and cultural values along the rivers. Less than six months after the completion of the study, the Dutch Parliament approved a new river dike policy that was based on the studys results.

Applying demographic analysis to store site selection

This case study illustrates how applied demographic analysis can help structure business decisionmaking. We screened every one of several thousand square miles within metropolitan Southern California to identify the 10 best locations for a large supermarket catering to onestop shoppers. Locations were selected based on potential sales volume (irrespective of nearby competitors), future stability of the resident consumer base, and specific demographic factors likely to enhance sales potential among target shoppers (e.g., dual-earner families). The client placed as much importance on how the results were derived as on our recommendations. As a result, our analytic framework for comparing high-potential locations played a central role in structuring the clients thinking. This framework, together with the empirical analysis, illustrate how applied demographers can operationalize business questions about consumer markets and guide a client toward a more systematic way of reaching decisions.

The relationship between police practice, community characteristics, and case attrition∗

More than half of the suspects arrested for felonies in the United States are released. Are police failing to provide enough evidence for prosecution of these suspects? This article summarizes a study of 25 Los Angeles County police departments and concludes that although such a conclusion seems logical, case‐attrition patterns may not be a valid basis for evaluating the quality of police work. For the two categories of crime studied, robbery and burglary, some departments convicted twice the number of their arrestees as others. Community crime rates play a slight role in this and the money and resources departments can devote to each arrest are also factors. Purely demographic differences between communities appear to account for little, if any, variation in case attrition. Although critics clamor for more convictions, the police may not see this as their role. According to the study, none of the respondents knew or cared where they stood in relation to other departments’ attrition rates. In most officer...

IS POPULATION DECENTRALIZATION LENGTHENING COMMUTING DISTANCES

This study questions the conventional wisdom about how commuting distances change when workers migrate from metropolitan to nonmetropolitan areas. It does not appear that decentralization yields a more energy-intensive configuration of residences and job locations: we find no indication that this migration lengthens the aggregate distance that workers commute. Some migrants do commute long distances, but their numbers are offset by many more who end up closer to their jobs. Our findings relate to two contrasting views (“sprawl” and “nucleation”) of how workers are becoming repositioned in relation to their jobs as settlement patterns change; the latter view appears more realistic. We briefly discuss policy implications pertaining to alternative transportation modes for commuting, setting priority travel needs in an energy emergency, and telecommunications as a substitute for commuting.

The Effects of Choice Auto Insurance on Costs and Compensation

In 1999, bills that would establish a choice auto insurance plan in all states were introduced in both the U.S. Senate (S. 837) and the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 1475). These bills would establish an auto insurance plan in every state under which consumers are given a choice between a modified version of their state’s current insurance system (MCS) and an absolute no-fault (ANF) plan.’ This analysis uses data for a representative sample of auto accident victims whose claims were closed in 1997 to estimate the effects of a choice automobile insurance plan that embodies the basic principles of the plans being considered in Congress. However, because of data limitations, we do not consider certain provisions of those plans. These are noted below.