Perinatal coaching--a new beginning

A hospital-based perinatal coaching program fosters communication between first-time parents and their infants. Support provided includes learning about babies' individual differences, normal responses, bonding principles, modeling techniques, early childhood development, as well as realistic expectations of new parents.     

双机组合及大脑两半球

人工智能工程的一个重要方面就是制造各种机器人技术系统.由于机器人是在外部环境中操作,因而最宜于采用两部电子计算机进行功能分工.一部从事在外部环境中的操作及信息加工,另一部从事设计机器人的行为.在一定意义上,这种功能分工与最近在关于大脑两个半球的差异及其功能不对称性的研究中所发现的大脑两个半球的功能分工是相当的.大脑的一个半球(一般左半球是优势半球)从事行为的一般逻辑程序的建立.它的专长是逻辑、语法、计算,即今天可在电子计算机上进行模拟的那些功能.另一个半球的功能主要是对外部环境的直接的直观感受,解决完形知觉任务(视觉、空间、     

美日贸易政策谈判中的种族中心主义

各种文化对经济活动所应起的作用有不同的观念,对社会福利的含义也作出不同的界定。在美国,人们认为市场是通过不受限制地追求自利而创造最大限度的社会福利的机制。结果,维持市场本身成了一种目的。美国人认为,自己对市场的理解也为其他所有实行市场经济体系的国家所认同。由于他们认为自己的一套来自市场制度的价值观是自然的,他们得出了这样的结论:其他生活在市场导向经济中的人们也应持有同样的价值观。这种错误设想造成了严重后果。本文考察了这种设想影响美     

古代弓和矢的发展历程

我国历史考古学界对于古代弓矢的专门研究（特别是从“复合工具及武器”角度的探讨）非常不够。学者们的着眼点片面集中在“石”上面,仅关注考古出土的石质器“石矢、石簇（镞）、石箭”而忽视了非石质器的“木矢、竹矢、木弓、竹弓”和木一石复合工具的“矢杆、箭弦”的关键意义。本文从木一石复合工具的观点指出：最早的矢为木制或竹制且无镞。本文考证：殷墟甲骨文已有“弓”与“矢”等字,甲骨文“弓”字象形,有两种不同的写法,主要区别在无弦的弓“单、弹”和有弦之木弓“引、射、弱等”。进一步诠释《周檀·考工记》中的古代制造弓矢的技术,并通过民族学及岩画的调查,探讨弓矢对于游牧民族的重大意义;并探讨先秦时期竹制的兵器竹弓、竹箭杆、竹矢菔、积竹柄、古代的“弋射’’和“弩’’以及史前遍布世界各地的“箭杆矫正器”,从而进一步论证“木一石复合工具”在人类发展史中的重要作用。     

Asian Americans: growth,change, and diversity

The 1980 US census counted 3.5 million Asian Americans, up from 1.4 million in 1970. Asian Americans made up just 1.5% of the total US population of 226.5 million as of April 1, 1980, but this was the 3rd largest racial or ethnic minority after blacks and Hispanics. Asians increased far more during the 1970s (141%) than blacks (17%) or Hispanics (39%). This Bulletin examines the characteristics of Asian Americans, how their numbers have grown, where they live, how different groups vary in age structure, childbearing, health, and longevity. It reports on the kinds of households Asian Americans form and how they fare with regard to education, occupation, and income. Asian Americans are now often perceived as the model minority. As a whole, they are better educated, occupy higher rungs on the occupational ladder, and earn more than the general US population and even white Americans. This Bulletin presents the 1st comprehensive look at many important facts about Asian Americans and how the groups differ. Special tabulations of data collected in the 1980 census are provided. The 1980 census data are the latest available to give a true picture at the national level of Asian Americans and the various groups among them. The Bulletin examines the current numbers of Asian Americans and how this population is defined. The major Asian American groups are Chinese (21%), Filipinos (20%), Japanese (15%), Vietnamese (21%), Koreans (11%), and Asian Indians (10%). Except for the latest-arrived Vietnamese, the fertility of the 6 groups is lower than the white average. The following areas are also discussed: mortality and health; families and households; education; Asian youth; employment; income and poverty; and future prospects.     

Problems of abortion in Britain - Aberdeen, a case study

Summary This paper reports on nearly all pregnancies occurring in the City of Aberdeen in the years 1961-74 (births, and therapeutic and spontaneous abortions) and on male and female sterilization and the use of contraception. The collection of these data for a defined community was made possible through the coordinated and comprehensive maternity and contraceptive services. Several important innovations made during the years included the introduction of oral contraception and the inter-uterine device, laparoscopic sterilization and vasectomy. The Abortion Act 1969 came into force and at different times the Local Authority Family Planning Clinic made many changes including the removal of charges and of the need for referral. The pattern of outcome differs for legitimate and illegitimate pregnancies, which are considered separately. Over half of all first pregnancies now occur before marriage and their outcome in women in different occupational groups is discussed. Oral contraception is favoured for postponing or spacing pregnancies, but when it comes to limitation of family size, couples have increasingly requested sterilization. Nevertheless there has been a ten-fold increase in the proportion of pregnancies being terminated. Aberdeen's birth rate is now below replacement level but the real objective 'every pregnancy a wanted pregnancy' is far from being achieved in either married or unmarried women.     

Time preference and capital mobility in an OLG model with land

This paper examines the pattern of capital mobility in a two-country overlapping generations world in which production uses three inputs: capital, labor and land. The steady-state welfare consequences of opening countries to financial capital or labor mobility are then compared. In particular, it is shown that capital mobility does not equalize standards of living across countries. To achieve this goal, one has to rely on labor mobility. Received: 8 January 1996 / Accepted: 6 June 1996     

The history of gay bathhouses. 1984

Public policy regarding bathhouses has been criticized as being based on political expediency rather than on medical or social science. To affect that shortcoming, we include here a brief history of gay bathhouses. The history of the baths is rarely told, but whenever it is told it necessarily reflects the times in which it was written. For that reason, we include a history written in 1984, at the time that much of what was known about AIDS, routes of transmission and the role of the bathhouses was very much in flux. This history not only gives a context for the current discussion, but also allows the reader to see the history from that distant point in time. This paper was first published in December 1984 as an article in Coming Up!, a lesbian and gay community newspaper published monthly in San Francisco (California). It was later edited and reprinted in a book titled Policing Public Sex (1996). The version of the paper presented here is from the original 1984 article (pp. 15-19); several images appeared with the article that are not reproduced here. As with all the reprinted papers in this volume, no editorial changes were made to the paper and only minor typographical errors were corrected.     

Infectious diseases -- new and ancient threats to world health

Infectious and parasitic diseases remain a leading cause of death and disability in developing countries and are re-emerging as a serious health problem in developed countries. Outbreaks of Ebola, dengue hemorrhagic fever, cholera, and bubonic plague have occurred in low-income countries and multidrug-resistant organisms have surfaced throughout the world. Since 1973, over 28 new disease-causing microbes have been identified. This issue of "Population Bulletin" analyzes the impact of factors such as population growth, urbanization, migration, poverty, travel, agricultural practices, climate changes, natural disasters, and medical technology on the resurgence of infectious and parasitic diseases as well as the influence of diseases such as AIDS on population dynamics and socioeconomic development. Most of these diseases could be prevented, cured, or eradicated with known public health measures. National governments can help reduce poverty, step up immunization programs, and lessen the chances of introducing new diseases. Nongovernmental organizations can disseminate preventive knowledge and monitor disease outbreaks. The medical profession can strengthen infection control precautions and institute surveillance of the use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. Since the geographic isolation that used to contain disease outbreaks has been replaced by permeable international borders, the campaign against infectious and parasitic diseases must be global.