Understanding care for the poor in rural Russia

The issues surrounding care and care-provision have been key themes in social scientific research, yet the intersections between care and poverty, particularly in rural contexts, have not been sufficiently explored. This paper addresses this gap by studying care for the poor in rural Russia. It argues that isolated, disengaged and decontextualised caring interventions often ignore situated possibilities and traditions of care and overlook what matters to poor people. To overcome this problem, the paper uses 20 and 22 dwelling approach to prioritise a relational framework that focuses on care as concern, solicitude and possibilities for supportive action in the context of rural Russia. Using examples from fieldwork in two Russian villages, the paper stresses the constitutive role of non-representable practices of care which provide the ontological basis for recognising and understanding the worldviews and coping practices of the poor. It concludes with conceptual observations about alternative approaches to care, relations to others and responsibility for the rural poor.     

Elder Abuse and Neglect vs. Parricide: A Letter From Russia

In Russia, elder abuse is rarely discussed in the professional literature and the media. However, it is posited that parricide can be considered a form of elder abuse in Russia, as the line between elder abuse and parricide can be vague. Instances of parricide can appear trivial, hardly realized as such by victims and the social environment. Borderline cases can include involving older people in binge drinking, denying them help, and manipulating them to commit suicide. The perpetrators are often nonpsychotic, although sometimes exhibiting abnormal personality traits. Anger toward the victim can be absent on the part of the perpetrator, with their actions often driven by economic desires. A concluding point is that for better prevention of parricide and, therefore, elder abuse, it should not be considered only an unusual horrific crime committed by the mentally ill.     

论政党关系和谐的基本功能

政党关系和谐不仅是社会和谐的重要内容,也是社会和谐的重要保障.这种和谐政党关系有助于解决贫富差距过大问题,实现科学发展;有助于扩展有效政治参与渠道,维护政治稳定;有助于化解社会利益矛盾冲突,达到社会整合;有助于发挥民主党派监督作用,遏制腐败现象.     

基于核心竞争力理念的高校差异化战略定位及路径选择

当前,高校普遍存在定位趋同所引发的盲目扩张、资源使用浪费、过度竞争等问题.造成这种战略趋同现象的路径有两种,即"升级路径"和"大而全路径".从以层级为基本维度的高校战略定位思维方式,转换为基于体现"组织生命力"原则的核心竞争力理念的战略思维导向,形成蕴涵于高校内质中,同时也是其自身所拥有的,又是竞争对手所不具备或很难复制的,能支撑高校过去、现在和未来竞争优势,并使其长时间内在竞争环境中能取得主动的核心能力.在确定差异化战略定位后,应选择国际化策略、特色策略、联盟策略三种战术路径来实施.     

Ways of Improving the Utilization of Manpower

The particular features of the current stage of socialist construction — the new scale and rate of production, the high level of socialist socialization stemming from the development of the scientific-technical revolution, expanded reproduction based on the intensification of all branches of the national economy — all this objectively and urgently requires significant improvement in the system of manpower utilization.     

"国际法"法律属性的理论争辩

“国际法”究竟是不是法?“否定法”、“弱法论”、“无用论”、“法律论”等不同流派持有不同的主张。本文对上述理论进行了深入而科学的剖析,论证了国际法是真正的“法”的命题。     

Marital status behaviour of women in the former Soviet Republics

This paper uses the most recent data and life table analysis to describe the marital behaviour of women in the republics of the former USSR. For the first time a multistate life table analysis was used to describe the marital careers of women from all the 15 republics. In the near future, such a comparative analysis will no longer be possible due to the unavailability of statistical data, especially in some of the Asian states. The analysis shows that despite 70 years of influence by Soviet ideology and lifestyle, the institution of marriage was little subject to rapid change, and retained its traditions for each culture and its ethnic features. Marriage was a universal institution in the former USSR. The majority of the women in all of the former republics entered marriage at least once. The mean age at first marriage varies from 20.5 in Moldavia to 22.8 in Azerbaijan. The proportion of marriages that end in divorce differs from 16% in Georgia to 41% in Latvia. On average more than 30% of divorced women remarry in Latvia and Ukraine and less than 5% in Georgia.     

Detecting anomalies in fibre systems using 3-dimensional image data

Statistics and Computing - We consider the problem of detecting anomalies in the directional distribution of fibre materials observed in 3D images. We divide the image into a set of scanning...     

Nonparametric estimation for compound Poisson process via variational analysis on measures

The paper develops new methods of nonparametric estimation of a compound Poisson process. Our key estimator for the compounding (jump) measure is based on series decomposition of functionals of a measure and relies on the steepest descent technique. Our simulation studies for various examples of such measures demonstrate flexibility of our methods. They are particularly suited for discrete jump distributions, not necessarily concentrated on a grid nor on the positive or negative semi-axis. Our estimators also applicable for continuous jump distributions with an additional smoothing step.     

An Expert-Based Framework for Probabilistic National Population Projections: The Example of Austria

The traditional way of dealing with uncertainty in population projections through high and low variants is unsatisfactory because it remains unclear what range of uncertainty these alternative paths are assumed to cover. But probabilistic approaches have not yet found their way into official population projections. This paper proposes an expert-based probabilistic approach that seems to meet important criteria for successful application to national and international projections: 1) it provides significant advantages to current practice, 2) it presents an evolution of current practice rather than a discontinuity, 3) it is scientifically sound, and 4) it is applicable to all countries.In a recent Nature article (Lutz et al., 1997) this method was applied to 13 world regions. This paper discusses the applicability to national projections by directly taking the alternative assumptions defined by the Austrian Statistical Office. Sensitivity analyses that resolve some methodological questions about the approach are also presented.