Kenneth G. Manton

Bio: Kenneth G. Manton is an academic researcher from Duke University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Life expectancy. The author has an hindex of 67, co-authored 285 publications receiving 18399 citations. Previous affiliations of Kenneth G. Manton include World Health Organization & University of Washington.

The impact of heterogeneity in individual frailty on the dynamics of mortality.

Abstract: Life table methods are developed for populations whose members differ in their endowment for longevity. Unlike standard methods, which ignore such heterogeneity, these methods use different calculations to construct cohort, period, and individual life tables. The results imply that standard methods overestimate current life expectancy and potential gains in life expectancy from health and safety interventions, while underestimating rates of individual aging, past progress in reducing mortality, and mortality differentials between pairs of populations. Calculations based on Swedish mortality data suggest that these errors may be important, especially in old age.

Biodemographic Trajectories of Longevity

Abstract: Old-age survival has increased substantially since 1950 Death rates decelerate with age for insects, worms, and yeast, as well as humans This evidence of extended postreproductive survival is puzzling Three biodemographic insights—concerning the correlation of death rates across age, individual differences in survival chances, and induced alterations in age patterns of fertility and mortality—offer clues and suggest research on the failure of complicated systems, on new demographic equations for evolutionary theory, and on fertility-longevity interactions Nongenetic changes account for increases in human life-spans to date Explication of these causes and the genetic license for extended survival, as well as discovery of genes and other survival attributes affecting longevity, will lead to even longer lives

Changing Concepts of Morbidity and Mortality in the Elderly Population

Abstract: A review of current theories concerning human mortality is first presented and their consistency with current evidence on mortality is considered. The author then presents some alternative perspectives on human mortality and longevity and discusses short- and long-term implications of various models of mortality. The need for systematic mortality research with a multidisciplinary perspective in order to understand current mortality conditions and to anticipate future mortality trends is stressed. The main geographic focus of the study is on the United States and the need to obtain information to plan for a rapidly aging population is emphasized.

Chronic disability trends in elderly United States populations: 1982–1994

Abstract: Statistically significant declines in chronic disability prevalence rates were observed in the elderly United States population between the 1982 and 1989 National Long Term Care Surveys (NLTCS). The 1994 NLTCS was used to investigate whether disability rate declines continued to 1994. The 1982, 1984, 1989, and 1994 NLTCS employ the same sample design and instrumentation so that trends in disability can be estimated with minimal sampling and measurement bias. Age (5-year categories from 65 to >95)-specific rates were calculated for the 1982 NLTCS and applied to United States Census Bureau estimates of the 1994 population to calculate chronic disability prevalence rates adjusted for aging in the United States population aged >65. The 1982 age standardized rates were compared with 1994 NLTCS estimates. The prevalence of disability estimated for 1994 (21.3%) was 3.6% lower than the 1982 age standardized rate (24.9%)—a highly significant reduction (t = −8.5; P ≪ 0.0001). Of the 3.6 percentage point decline in prevalence, 1.7% occurred in the 5 years between 1989 and 1994—compared with the 1.9% decline in the 7 years between 1982 and 1989. Both declines are significant. Because of the shorter time period, the per year decline in disability prevalence from 1989 to 1994 was greater than that from 1982 to 1989. Given the higher acute and long-term care service needs of the disabled elderly population, Medicare, Medicaid, and private health expenditures may be dramatically lower than if declines had not occurred.

Changes in the prevalence of chronic disability in the United States black and nonblack population above age 65 from 1982 to 1999

Abstract: Survey evidence through the early 1990s generally suggests a reduction in disability in the elderly population of the United States. Because the evidence is not fully consistent, several authors have speculated about whether disability declines will continue. This paper reports results from the 1999 National Long-Term Care Survey on disability trends from 1982 through 1999. It is found that disability continued to decline in the 1994 to 1999 period, and that the decline was greater in the 1990s than in the 1980s. The disability decline from 1982 to 1989 was 0.26% per year, from 1989 to 1994 it was 0.38% per year, and from 1994 to 1999 it was 0.56% per year. In addition, disability declined by a greater percentage for blacks than for nonblacks over the 1989 to 1999 period.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Image Denoising by Sparse 3-D Transform-Domain Collaborative Filtering

Abstract: We propose a novel image denoising strategy based on an enhanced sparse representation in transform domain. The enhancement of the sparsity is achieved by grouping similar 2D image fragments (e.g., blocks) into 3D data arrays which we call "groups." Collaborative Altering is a special procedure developed to deal with these 3D groups. We realize it using the three successive steps: 3D transformation of a group, shrinkage of the transform spectrum, and inverse 3D transformation. The result is a 3D estimate that consists of the jointly filtered grouped image blocks. By attenuating the noise, the collaborative filtering reveals even the finest details shared by grouped blocks and, at the same time, it preserves the essential unique features of each individual block. The filtered blocks are then returned to their original positions. Because these blocks are overlapping, for each pixel, we obtain many different estimates which need to be combined. Aggregation is a particular averaging procedure which is exploited to take advantage of this redundancy. A significant improvement is obtained by a specially developed collaborative Wiener filtering. An algorithm based on this novel denoising strategy and its efficient implementation are presented in full detail; an extension to color-image denoising is also developed. The experimental results demonstrate that this computationally scalable algorithm achieves state-of-the-art denoising performance in terms of both peak signal-to-noise ratio and subjective visual quality.

Approximate inference in generalized linear mixed models

Abstract: Statistical approaches to overdispersion, correlated errors, shrinkage estimation, and smoothing of regression relationships may be encompassed within the framework of the generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Given an unobserved vector of random effects, observations are assumed to be conditionally independent with means that depend on the linear predictor through a specified link function and conditional variances that are specified by a variance function, known prior weights and a scale factor. The random effects are assumed to be normally distributed with mean zero and dispersion matrix depending on unknown variance components. For problems involving time series, spatial aggregation and smoothing, the dispersion may be specified in terms of a rank deficient inverse covariance matrix. Approximation of the marginal quasi-likelihood using Laplace's method leads eventually to estimating equations based on penalized quasilikelihood or PQL for the mean parameters and pseudo-likelihood for the variances. Im...

Social Dominance: An Intergroup Theory of Social Hierarchy and Oppression

Abstract: Part I. From There to Here - Theoretical Background: 1. From visiousness to viciousness: theories of intergroup relations 2. Social dominance theory as a new synthesis Part II. Oppression and its Psycho-Ideological Elements: 3. The psychology of group dominance: social dominance orientation 4. Let's both agree that you're really stupid: the power of consensual ideology Part III. The Circle of Oppression - The Myriad Expressions of Institutional Discrimination: 5. You stay in your part of town and I'll stay in mine: discrimination in the housing and retail markets 6. They're just too lazy to work: discrimination in the labor market 7. They're just mentally and physically unfit: discrimination in education and health care 8. The more of 'them' in prison, the better: institutional terror, social control and the dynamics of the criminal justice system Part IV. Oppression as a Cooperative Game: 9. Social hierarchy and asymmetrical group behavior: social hierarchy and group difference in behavior 10. Sex and power: the intersecting political psychologies of patriarchy and empty-set hierarchy 11. Epilogue.