The glacial history of northeast Siberia is poorly understood compared with other high-latitude regions. Using 10Be and 26Al exposure dating together with remote sensing, we have investigated the glacial history of a remote, formerly glaciated valley in the Tas-Kystabyt Range of the Chersky Mountains in central northeast Siberia. Based on measurements from moraine boulders and bedrock samples, we find evidence for deglaciation of the valley 45.6 ± 3.4 ka ago, that is during the peak of Marine Isotope Stage 3. Satellite imagery of the range reveals at least two generations of moraines in other nearby valleys, indicating that multiple stages of glaciation took place across the Tas-Kystabyt Range. Based on calculated equilibrium-line altitudes, we speculate that the outer set of moraines is linked to the 45.6 ± 3.4 ka deglaciation event identified by our dating, while the inner generation of moraines is associated with a younger glaciation event, possibly the last glacial maximum (LGM). Thus, our results reaffirm current impressions that the maximum ice extent during the last glacial cycle was reached before the global LGM in northeast Siberia.

The Rasch model is an item analysis model with logistic item characteristic curves of equal slope, i.e. with constant item discriminating powers. The proposed goodness of fit test is based on a comparison between difficulties estimated from different scoregroups and over-all estimates.

Based on the within scoregroup estimates and the over-all estimates of item difficulties a conditional likelihood ratio is formed. It is shown that—2 times the logarithm of this ratio is x2-distributed when the Rasch model is true.

The power of the proposed goodness of fit test is discussed for alternative models with logistic item characteristic curves, but unequal discriminating items from a scholastic aptitude test.

We consider the problem of comparing m latent population distributions when the observed values are scores on a test battery with binary items. The latent densities are assumed to be normal densities, and we consider a test for equality of the means as well as a test equality of the variances. In addition, we consider a longitudinal model, where the test battery has been applied to the same individuals at different points in time. This model allows for correlations between the latent variable at different time points, and methods are discussed for estimating the correlation coefficient.

Residuals for check of model fit in the polytomous Rasch model are examined. Comparisons are made between using counts for all response pattern and using item totals for score groups for the construction of the residuals. Comparisons are also, for the residuals based on score group totals, made between using as basis the item totals, or using the estimated item parameters. The developed methods are illustrated by two examples, one from a psychiatric rating scale, one from a Danish Welfare Study.

A model for longitudinal latent structure analysis is proposed. We assume that test scores for a given mental or attitudinal test are observed for the same individuals at two different points in time. The purpose of the analysis is to fit a model that combines the values of the latent variable at the two time points in a two-dimensional latent density. The correlation coefficient between the two values of the latent variable can then be estimated. The theory and methods are illustrated by a Danish dataset concerning psychic vulnerability.

For questionnaires with two answer categories, it has been proven in complete generality that if a minimal sufficient statistic exists for the individual parameter and if it is the same statistic for all values of the item parameters, then the raw score (or the number of correct answers) is the minimal sufficient statistic. It follows that the model must by of the Rasch type with logistic item characteristic curves and equal item-discriminating powers.

This paper extends these results to multiple choice questionnaires. It is shown that the minimal sufficient statistic for the individual parameter is a function of the so-called score vector. It is also shown that the so-called equidistant scoring is the only scoring of a questionnaire that allows for a real valued sufficient statistic that is independent of the item parameters, if a certain ordering property for the sufficient statistic holds.

A model of Bradley-Terry type for paired comparisons is considered. In addition to the usual parameters, the model allows for individual parameters and corresponding parameters for the choice-alternatives. The model is applied to a set of data from a Danish investigation of the attitude of blue collar workers towards alternative social gains. The proposed model is finally compared to a model recently suggested by Schönemann and Wang.

The magnitude and azimuth of horizontal ice flow at Camp Century, Greenland have been measured several times since 1963. Here, we provide a further two independent measurements over the 2017–21 period. Our consensus estimate of horizontal ice flow from four independent satellite-positioning solutions is 3.65 ± 0.13 m a−1 at an azimuth of 236 ± 2°. A portion of the small, but significant, differences in ice velocity and azimuth reported between studies likely results from spatial gradients in ice flow. This highlights the importance of restricting inter-study comparisons of ice flow estimates to measurements surveyed within a horizontal distance of one ice thickness from each other. We suggest that ice flow at Camp Century is stable on seasonal to multi-decadal timescales. The airborne and satellite laser altimetry record indicates an ice thickening trend of 1.1 ± 0.3 cm a−1 since 1994. This thickening trend is qualitatively consistent with previously inferred ongoing millennial-scale ice thickening at Camp Century. The ice flow divide immediately north of Camp Century may now be migrating southward, although the reasons for this divide migration are poorly understood. The Camp Century flowlines presently terminate in the vicinity of Innaqqissorsuup Oqquani Sermeq (Gade Gletsjer) on the Melville Bay coast.

This paper investigates how guides on Svalbard make sense of their relations to the environment whilst working with mass tourism. The Arctic is heating up more rapidly than any other part of the world, and over the last 30 years the effect of climate change has had a large impact on the environment in the Arctic. The guides as such find themselves living a paradox where their work destroys the nature that they care about and depend on. This paper analyses empirical data collected during four months of fieldwork amongst guides in Svalbard. Throughout the paper, two dimensions are explored: the guides’ relation to and understanding of the environment as well as their ways of caring for it. Building on illustrations of the guides’ preconceptions of the environment, it is shown how the guides in their everyday life are engaged in pro-environmental practices. These practices are embedded in the guides’ reciprocal relationship with the environment, where they negotiate between different trade-offs. The guides thus find a way to navigate the complexity of caring for the environment and working in tourism through their intimate relation to the environment.

The ‘thrifty phenotype’ hypothesis proposed that fetal undernutrition increases risk of diabetes in later life. Undernourished low birthweight Indian babies are paradoxically more adipose compared to well-nourished European babies, and are at higher risk of diabetes in later life. Twin pregnancies are an example of in utero growth restrictive environment due to shared maternal nutrition. There are few studies of body composition in twins. We performed secondary analysis of anthropometric body composition of twins and singletons in Guinea-Bissau, an economically deprived African country.

Anthropometric data were available on 7–34 year-old twins (n = 209, 97 males) and singletons (n = 182, 86 males) in the Guinea-Bissau Twin Registry at the Bandim Health Project. Twins had lower birthweight (2420 vs 3100 g, p < 0.001); and at follow-up, lower height (HAZ mean Z-score difference, −0.21, p = 0.055), weight (WAZ −0.73, p = 0.024) and BMI (BAZ −0.22, p = 0.079) compared to singletons but higher adiposity (skinfolds: +0.33 SD, p = 0.001). Twins also had higher fasting (+0.38 SD, p < 0.001) and 2-hour OGTT glucose concentrations (+0.29 SD, p < 0.05). Linear mixed-effect model accounting for intrapair correlations and interactions confirmed that twins were thinner but fatter across the age range. Data on maternal morbidity and prematurity were not available in this cohort.

African populations are known to have a muscular (less adipose) body composition. Demonstration of a thin-fat phenotype in twins in a low socio-economic African country supports the thesis that it could be a manifestation of early life undernutrition and not exclusive to Indians. This phenotype could increase risk of diabetes and related conditions.

Following the landmark essay of T. H. Marshall, Citizenship and the Social Class (1949), it has conventionally been assumed that the introduction and expansion of social rights in Europe happened as the final stage of a long process of democratization that included the granting of first civil and then political rights. We present a radically different perspective on the relationship between the extension of suffrage (under meaningful competition for government power) and social rights, that is state-financed entitlements that make citizens’ livelihood independent from the labor market in the instance of events such as unemployment or sickness. First, some countries institutionalized a state-financed poor relief system much before mass democratization. In these countries, the primary effect of suffrage extension was to reduce public social spending, not expand it. Second, the way this retrenchment occurred was partly by creating a negative link between social rights, on the one hand, and civil and political rights, on the other. We test our argument with case studies of nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century England, Denmark, Norway, and Prussia, all of which are paradigmatic cases that represent the variation in welfare state types.

Antibiotics are among the most common medications prescribed in nursing homes. The annual prevalence of antibiotic use in residents of nursing homes ranges from 47% to 79%, and more than half of antibiotic courses initiated in nursing-home settings are unnecessary or prescribed inappropriately (wrong drug, dose, or duration). Inappropriate antibiotic use is associated with a variety of negative consequences including Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), adverse drug effects, drug–drug interactions, and antimicrobial resistance. In response to this problem, public health authorities have called for efforts to improve the quality of antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes.