Savings–age profiles in the UK

We used UK Family Expenditure Surveys to analyse the relationship between savings and age structure. We address two key problems: the sample selection bias when data refer to households and not individuals, and the treatment of pension income when drawing inferences from individuals' savings–age profiles about the relationship between an economy's savings and age structure. Our principal findings are that household data exaggerate savings rates of young adults and the elderly whilst underestimating those of 45- to 60-year-olds, and individual saving rates follow more closely the ‘hump shape’ of the life-cycle model, although the savings rates of the elderly remain positive for some ages.

End‐of‐Life Inventory Decisions for Consumer Electronics Service Parts

We consider a consumer electronics manufacturer's problem of controlling the inventory of spare parts in the final phase of the service life cycle. The final phase starts when the part production is terminated and continues until the last service contract or warranty period expires. Placing final orders for service parts is considered to be a popular tactic to satisfy demand during this period and to mitigate the effect of part obsolescence at the end of the service life cycle. Previous research focuses on repairing defective products by replacing the defective parts with properly functioning spare ones. However, for consumer electronic products there typically is considerable price erosion while repair costs stay steady over time. As a consequence, there might be a point in time at which the unit price of the product drops below the repair costs. If so, it is more cost effective to adopt an alternative policy to meet service demands toward the end of the final phase, such as offering customers a new product of the similar type or a discount on a next generation product. This study examines the cost trade‐offs of implementing alternative policies for the repair policy and develops an exact expression for the expected total cost function. Using this expression, the optimal final order quantity and switching time from repair to an alternative policy can be determined simultaneously. Numerical analysis of a real world case sheds light on the cost benefits of these policies and also yields insights into the quantitative importance of the various cost parameters.     

论黑格尔自由生活与世界历史进程思想

黑格尔把自由理解为相互承认的自由,其客观化的产物即国家制度和法律.自由在现代国家制度和法律之中得到了完全的普遍实现,而这是历史进程的产物.世界历史进程就是自由生活的实现过程.但在马克思、恩格斯看来,黑格尔对世界历史进程的这一看法有着很大的局限.他们在批评黑格尔的基础上更深入地探讨了世界历史进程与自由生活的实现之间的关系.     

从科学知识视角看《江村经济》的意义

费孝通的《江村经济》是国际人类学界的一部经典著作，也是中国社会学、人类学的奠基之作，影响力一直长盛不衰，其意义经常被学术界研究和关注。关于《江村经济》的意义，目前学术界已经从多个方面进行了研究，如跨过“文野之别”、开创“社会学中国学派”以及社区调查研究方法等，但很少从科学知识的视角研究其意义。从科学知识的视角看，《江村经济》记述的有关中国农民生活的知识是鲜活的、翔实的，应当属于“自然知识”，而不是“规范知识”。《江村经济》提出的解决中国农民贫困、饥饿问题的办法发展现代性的乡土工业，建立在费孝通实地社区调查的基础上，对于社会变迁起着渐进延续、平衡发展的作用。     

本体与超越:生活儒学的本体论问题

在后现代主义语境下,“解构本体论”成为强大的“哲学”思潮;然而,本体论恰恰是“哲学”的核心。本体论的必要性在于:人类关于一切存在者之存在的所有观念必定是一个有序的层级性的整体,它必定有一个塔尖,此即所谓“本体”;否则,人类的观念就不成其为一个有序的系统。因此,生活儒学的态度是:必须解构旧的本体论,然而同时必须建构新的本体论。为此,必须追溯到“前本体”即“前存在者”的存在或生活,即生活论或生活存在论为本体论奠基,本体论再为形下学(知识论、伦理学)奠基。因此,生活儒学建构了普遍性的“变易本体论”,进而建构了指向现代性的“超越本体论”。     

Adolescent network positions and memory performance in adulthood: Evidence from sibling fixed effects models with sociometric network data

Although research has explored social factors influencing memory performance during adolescence, the impact of adolescent social network positions remains largely unknown. This study examines whether adolescent network position is associated with memory performance in adulthood, while also considering potential gender differences. The study used a sibling sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 2462) and employed sibling fixed effects models to account for unobserved family background factors, such as genetics, parental characteristics, family environment, and childhood neighborhood. Four dimensions of adolescent network position—i.e., popularity, sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality—were sociometrically assessed in schools. Memory performance in adulthood was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. The sibling fixed effects estimates indicate that sociality, degree centrality, and closeness centrality are significantly associated with increased memory performance in adulthood, even after controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity as well as a set of individual-level covariates. In contrast, controlling for unobserved family heterogeneity attenuated the association for popularity, making it statistically insignificant. This study also provides evidence of gender differences in the association between social network position and memory performance. The associations for popularity, sociality, and degree centrality are more pronounced among men than women. This study’s findings highlight the importance of adolescent network positions as social determinants in shaping cognitive outcomes over the life course. Interventions that encourage positive peer interactions and reduce social isolation during adolescence may help improve cognitive health in the population.     

辽西地区新石器时代至青铜时代早期装饰品研究

辽西地区史前时期各遗址出土的遗物中有很大一部分为装饰品,作为史前社会生产发展的产物,反映了当时辽西地区先民的生活习俗以及审美意识。本文通过对辽西地区史前时期装饰品的梳理归纳,解读当时先民的精神生活。