REGIONAL INEQUITY AND SOVIET CONCERN FOR RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDUSTRALIZATION
Regional inequity has been an important national issue in most industrial societies. Measures to reduce inequity usually include the location of more industries in rural and small-town areas. The USSR has always possessed a strong ideologically based concern for regional inequity, but it was not until the 1960's that the matter was given serious attention. The last three five-year plans have called for more industry in small towns and rural villages. Life in these areas is to be made more attractive, labor resources more fully utilized, local economies improved, and the out- migration of people reduced. However, there are obvious barriers to industrialization in rural and small-town areas, and as in most industrial nations, the reduction of regional inequity is a slow and difficult process.
The Problems of Small Cities and the Policy of Stimulating Small-City Growth
AbstractThe policy of activating small-city growth through industrialization has focused largely on further development of such cities since it was first formulated in the 1960s. The author suggests that not all small cities possess the requisites for further growth and that it is a mistake to view them entirely as a transitional form of settlement. According to this view, small cities have a role to play as rural service centers. The problem is viewed not so much the industrialization and further growth of small cities, but an improvement of living levels designed to reduce the present gap between the standards of living in large and small urban centers. Further research on small-city problems is urged, proceeding from past emphasis on industrialization prospects to broader analysis of socio-demographic needs and the steps required to preserve small cities as an integral element of unified systems of settlement.
Within and Inter-Institutional Differences Between Death Certifiers on Autopsy Conclusions
This study seeks to establish whether medico-legal practitioners differ in their autopsy conclusions within and across medico-legal institutions. Data include 459 violent deaths (homicides, suicides, and accidents) autopsy reports written by more than 20 death certifiers from four medico-legal institutions in two countries (France and the United States). Multinomial models show that compared with accidental deaths, weapon use and decedents’ characteristics both influence a homicide verdict, but not a suicide one. In addition, French practitioners are more likely than Americans to reach a conclusion of homicide or suicide compared with accident, and homicides are more likely to be certified by male practitioners.