欧洲与亚洲的金融危机

自1997年以来,犹如亚洲地区和其他地区大多数经济观察家那样,许多欧洲人对亚太地区突然爆发的金融危机感到颇为震惊。这场危机始于泰国和印度尼西亚,最后波及到韩国。随后转向国际货币基金组织及其他国际金融机构的危机,不言而喻,是日积月累的债务问题。在亚洲金融危机爆发之前,亚太地区的许多国家都是欧洲联盟重要的贸易伙伴。应当说,欧盟统一市场的发展有助于加速国际贸易的一体化进程。1990年,欧洲联盟61%的贸易额是在其成员国内部实现的,然而与此同时,亚太国家作为欧盟国家的外部贸易伙伴,其与欧盟的经贸关系呈现出缓慢和稳步发展的态势…     

澳大利亚的中国研究

体制结构与研究结构澳大利亚的中国研究是沿袭牛津及剑桥大学的汉学模式发展起来的 ,重点在于掌握和使用高水平的文本阅读技巧 ,并将其作为文学、哲学和历史这些传统人文学科研究的基础。悉尼大学在1 91 8年启动了第一个大学中文计划 ,它也是迄今在澳大利亚惟一一所始终强调古汉语研究的大学。2 0世纪 6 0～ 70年代 ,在一些新建大学中 ,随着中国研究成为亚洲研究院系中的一部分 ,研究重点也逐渐向现代和当代转移。 80年代和 90年代 ,中国研究计划不断增加 ,教授中文的大学从1 988年的 1 3所增加到 1 996年的 3 0所。尽管中国研究的课程计划…     

21世纪的医德

道德的标准随时间的流逝而变化。然而对医生来讲,他的职责就是要挽救人的生命,并且该使命不应受到任何个人的欲望或得失的影响,也不应向任何外力屈服。战后对纳粹暴行的揭露,尤其是有医生参与的暴行震惊了世人,也震动了整个医学界。为此,联合国在1948年的《世界人权宣言》中指出,医生必须献身人道主义事业,不能利用医学知识作出任何不人道的行为。随着文明的进步,人类已认识到人权、尊严和平等的重要性。承认人的权利和尊严不可侵犯就必然使医生改变家长式的作风,而将病人看作合作伙伴。不幸的是,在印度,病人少有机会能积极参与对自己的治疗…     

俄罗斯经济衰退期间贫困线概念的变化

在俄罗斯经济转轨期间,与之相伴的是大多数俄罗斯人实际收入的急剧下降。与此同时,俄罗斯经济遭受了一系列沉重的打击,其后果是相当严重的:与1987年相比,1997年的国内生产总值几乎是10年前的1/3。此外,俄罗斯还遭受到迅捷和持久的通货膨胀的袭击:从1993年3月至1996年9月,俄罗斯的物价上涨了46倍。1997年,公开的失业现象随处可见,受其影响的劳动力人数大约占俄罗斯劳动力总数的10%。对于大多数俄罗斯人来说,与从前相比,其实际工资和各种补贴几乎减少了一半,解决工资拖欠也遥遥无期。然而,一些政治权贵却能够迅速聚敛起巨额财富。因此,自俄罗…     

AFDC/TANF Exits and Re-entries for Families Raising Children with Educational Disabilities

Having a child with a disability is considered a barrier to self-sufficiency among welfare recipients. This study examines the impact of children's educational disability on single-mother families' welfare exits and re-entries for a cohort of children in a metropolitan region in Missouri, who were born between 1982 and 1994, and received AFDC/TANF at least once from 1990 through 2008 (N=4,928). A semiparametric proportional hazards model for recurrent events is used to analyze the relationship between a child's educational disability and family welfare exit and re-entry. Results show that families with children with disabilities (the disability group) are less likely to exit and more likely to re-enter the welfare system than families with children without disabilities (the nondisability group). After the 1996 welfare reform, the welfare exit rate increases more for the disability group than for the nondisability group, while the welfare re-entry rate decreases less for the disability group than for the nondisability group.     

Evaluation of curricula in higher education: challenges for evaluators

Evaluation of teaching at universities is traditionally realized in terms of student ratings. Curriculum evaluation is rarely done in a systematic manner. More often, the emphasis is placed on a particular aspect, which is only of little help in terms of modifying education. A very prominent example is that of medical education. Here, evaluations of curricula primarily focus on new curricula by contrasting them to traditional ones. The article at hand deals with a different evaluation approach, in which five phases have to be considered and contrasting results to other teaching formats are not the main focus. In this article, the authors concentrate on the first phase (baseline evaluation) of the systematic evaluation of a medical curriculum. They describe several challenges of such an evaluation approach and illustrate the strategies used to overcome them. In addition, associated relevant empirical findings from this evaluation study are presented.     

The South Oaks Gambling Screen: a review with reference to Australian use

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is a psychometric instrument widely used internationally to assess the presence of pathological gambling. Developed by Lesieur and Blume (1987) in the United States of America (USA) as a self-rated screening instrument, it is based on DSM-III and DSM-III-R criteria. This paper describes the origins and psychometric development of the SOGS and comments critically in relation to its construct validity and cutoff scores. Reference is made to the use of the SOGS in the Australian setting, where historically gambling has been a widely accepted part of the culture, corresponding to one of the highest rates of legalised gambling and gambling expenditure in the world. An alternative approach to the development of an instrument to detect people who have problems in relation to gambling is proposed.     

Maximum force levels in different positions of shoulder and elbow

The number of occupational diseases in Mexico is alarming and clearly it is important to do studies with the purpose of improving the design of workstations. The objective of this research is to determine the maximum force levels in different positions of shoulder and elbow. An experiment was conducted with 16 subjects between 18 and 28 years old: 8 male and 8 female. We considered 16 different positions, working with the right and left arm to perform the tasks of pull and push. The tasks consisted of pushing or pulling a dynamometer for a period of 3 seconds as hard as possible. The results were presented in tables. The tables show the mean, standard deviation and range of force levels in different positions.     

Do conditional cash transfers influence migration? A study using experimental data from the Mexican progresa program

Prior research on Mexican migration has shown that social networks and economic incentives play an important role in determining migration outcomes. We use experimental data from PROGRESA, Mexico's primary poverty-reduction program, to evaluate the effects of conditional cash transfers on migration both domestically and to the United States. Our study complements a growing body of literature aimed at overcoming longstanding hurdles to the establishment of causal validity in empirical studies of migration. Analysis based on the data collected before and after the program's onset shows that conditional transfers reduce U.S. migration but not domestic migration. The data also enable us to explore the role of existing family and community migration networks. The results show that migration networks strongly influence migration, but that the effect of conditional transfers on migration is apparently not mediated by existing migration network structures. Our results suggest that conditional transfers may be helpful in managing rural out-migration, particularly to the United States.     

Two hundred years and counting: the 1990 census

On April 1, 1990, the US will take a national census, marking 200 years of census taking in America. A national census has been taken every 10 years in the US since 1790. Mandated by the US Constitution, the decennial census is the basis for reapportionment of the House of Representatives. California, Texas, and Florida are expected to gain the most Congressional seats following the 1990 Census, reflecting above-average population growth in these states. The census also provides important information about the characteristics of the American people, and a growing number of federal, state and local government programs, private corporations, and community agencies use census data. Each census provides a portrait of America, and over the decades these portraits have revealed much about how our country has changed as we have grown from a young agrarian nation of about 4 million people clustered along the Eastern seaboard to a complex post-industrial society of nearly 250 million spread across the continent and beyond. Techniques for taking the census have steadily improved over the past 2 centuries. The 1990 Census will rely heavily on computerization in all its aspects, including field operations, processing, geography, data tabulations, and products. It is likely to be the most accurate census in our history. The 1990 Census is already the subject of a lawsuit, however, charging that minority groups will be counted less completely than the white population. A series of similar lawsuits followed the 1980 Census, but all were unsuccessful. This Bulletin discusses the Census Bureau's plans for taking the 1990 Census, looks back on 200 years of census taking in America, and details such key aspects of the 1990 Census as the questionnaire, census geography and data dissemination plans, census undercount and the homeless.