Contents of heavy metals in arable soils and birth defect risks in Shanxi, China: a small area level geographic study

The burgeoning demands of China’s urbanization and industrial development put pressure on the resources of the entire country and have direct and indirect effects on the health of individuals, at times in areas far removed from cities themselves. Current evidence suggests that heavy metal pollution in soil, a common by-product of coal mining and other industrial activities, may be linked to risk of birth defects. We examine this hypothesis using small area level data including soil samples and detailed birth records from 2002 to 2004 from 97 villages in Shanxi province, a heavy coal-mining region. We find that soils containing arsenic, lead, and nickel are significantly correlated with the incidence of birth defects. In particular, we find a strong positive dose-dependent association of birth defects with lead, a moderate positive effect with arsenic, and a dose-dependent negative association with nickel. These results are consistent with the postulated link between arsenic and lead and human birth defects, but raise questions about the effects of nickel in this context. China’s rapid urbanization underscores the need for closer attention to the relationship between the health and the environment.     

苗村观察：村落研究中的调查者与当地人之间的交换——兼论人类学田野调查对少数民族社区的影响

田野调查是人类学研究者最主要的活动方式,尽管研究者在从事田野工作时坚持一种“主位”策略对他文化进行观察,但是任何田野调查都是调查者所代表的社会文化与被调查者的社会文化之间的一种接触和互动,进入田野的方式明显带有社会文化的影响,所以研究者的行为势必会影响研究客体,在某种程度上促成了他文化的变迁。本文以鄂西南的一个苗族村庄为个案,通过对进村调查者与村民之间交往活动的分析,来考察人类学田野调查对民族社区的影响问题,从而为反思中国人类学田野调查提供一些经验性启示。     

《道德经》文本研究视阈下大学生道德情怀教育

改革开放以来,大学生道德教育成果显著,但道德教育活动依旧有巨大的提升空间。近年来,伴随着经济高速发展,各种社会负面信息一次次冲击大学生道德心理,大学生道德教育也变得有些吃力,因此,大学生道德教育急需回归本真。现如今是讲求情怀的年代,大学生道德情怀教育理应走进高校,结合《道德经》经典名著,讲习道德情怀含义、描述道德情怀形态、分析道德情怀教育着力点、提出道德情怀教育要求,应该成为改革开放新时期大学生道德教育研究的众多范畴之一。     

Let Me Go: The Influences of Crawling Experience and Temperament on the Development of Anger Expression

Infants’ emerging ability to move independently by crawling is associated with changes in multiple domains, including an increase in expressions of anger in situations that block infants’ goals, but it is unknown whether increased anger is specifically because of experience with being able to move autonomously or simply related to age. To examine the influence of locomotion on developmental change in anger, infants’ (N = 20) anger expressions during an arm restraint procedure were observed longitudinally at a precrawling baseline assessment and 2 and 6 weeks after the onset of crawling. Infant age at each crawling stage was unrelated to the frequency of anger expressed in response to arm restraint. At 6 weeks postcrawling onset, infants whose mothers rated them as temperamentally higher in distress to limitations, compared with those rated lower, showed a greater increase in the frequency of anger expressed during the arm restraint relative to earlier assessments and took longer to reduce the frequency of anger expressed when no longer restrained. Findings suggest that experience with autonomous crawling has an effect on anger expression, independent of age, and that a temperamental tendency to become distressed by limitations may exacerbate the effect of crawling on anger expression.     

PROVIDING GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS: ELECTORAL DELEGATION AND COOPERATION

This study experimentally examines the effect of electoral delegation on providing global public goods shared by several groups. Each group elects one delegate who can freely decide on each group member's contribution to the global public goods. Our results show that people mostly vote for delegates who assign equal contributions for every group member. However, in contrast to standard theoretical predictions for our delegation mechanism, unequal contributions across groups drive cooperation down over time, and it decreases efficiency by almost 50% compared to the selfish benchmark. This pattern is not driven by delegates trying to exploit their fellow group members, as indicated by theory. It is driven by conditional cooperation of delegates across groups. Since one of the potential sources of the resulting inefficiency is the polycentric nature of global public goods provision together with other‐regarding preferences, we use the term P‐inefficiency to describe our finding. (JEL C92, D72, H41)     

Older Drivers Retiring From the Road: An Application of the Selection,Optimization, and Compensation Model

Purpose: This study uses the selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) model to compare older adults who have given up driving, those who still drive, and those who drive less to identify differences in the three groups. Design and Methods: This cross-sectional study of 281 older adults is part of the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community Demonstration Project. Study participants completed interviews that included questions on demographics, health and functioning, mental health, social support, and current levels of engagement in activities including current driving status. Results: Data suggest that driving retirement is a process and that a substantial number of people are in the transitional stage, where they are less functional than those who still drive and more similar to those who have retired from the road. Implications: Given the similarity of those who drive less to those who have given up driving, front-line professionals and policy makers must work together to ease the transition to driving retirement for those without adequate ability to effectively compensate for their inability to continue to drive safely.     

Optimal control strategies for dividend payments and capital injections in compound Markov binomial risk model with penalties for deficits

We consider the compound Markov binomial risk model. The company controls the amount of dividends paid to the shareholders as well as the capital injections in order to maximize the cumulative expected discounted dividends minus the discounted capital injections and the discounted penalties for deficits prior to ruin. We show that the optimal value function is the unique solution of an HJB equation, and the optimal control strategy is a two-barriers strategy given the current state of the Markov chain. We obtain some properties of the optimal strategy and the optimal condition for ruining the company. We offer a high-efficiency algorithm for obtaining the optimal strategy and the optimal value function. In addition, we also discuss the optimal control problem under a restriction of bounded dividend rates. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the algorithm and the impact of the penalties.