Informal kin caregivers raising children left behind in rural China: Experiences' feelings' and support

The well‐being of children in informal kinship care and their caregivers is a growing concern globally. This study explored the lived experiences of 23 kin caregivers raising children left behind in rural Northeast China while their migrant parents worked and lived in cities. The findings show that the expected authority and responsibility caregivers carry sometimes conflict with their social role of being children's grandparents. Caregivers' feelings about and understandings of these roles are shaped through their social interactions in local communities. In view of their situation and caregivers' self‐conscious attitudes towards utilizing local resources' future formal service provision and social support should take caregivers' viewpoints into account. These views are embedded in and shaped by their rural living context and relationships with community members who influence caregivers' perceptions and child rearing practices.     

展望一种可持续的后现代生态文明

遏制贪婪和其它欲望是个体幸福的关键,同时也是一笔共同财富。西方资本主义一直以贪婪和欲望作为经济发展的动力,这是直接导致过度消费、债务和不可持续性的根源。中国在这件事情上会更加聪明,去努力建设一个可持续的后现代生态文明,拥抱自由和有创造力的自由市场体系,同时拒绝西方破坏性的贪婪和欲望。     

Mistreatment of Older People in the United Kingdom: Findings from the First National Prevalence Study

There have been few national studies of the prevalence of elder mistreatment (abuse and neglect) in private households. This article provides an overview of the UK National Prevalence Study of Elder Mistreatment that took place in 2006. It addressed 2,111 respondents in four countries who answered a face-to-face survey questionnaire. The achieved sample was weighted to be representative of the UK older population. Of respondents, 2.6% reported mistreatment by family members, close friends, or care workers. The predominant type of reported mistreatment was neglect (1.1%) followed by financial abuse (0.6%), with 0.4% of respondents reporting psychological abuse, 0.4% physical abuse, and 0.2% sexual abuse. Women were significantly more likely to have experienced mistreatment than men, but there were gender differences according to type of abuse and perpetrator characteristics. Divergent patterns were found for neglect, financial, and interpersonal abuse. Further analysis of the data indicated that the likelihood of mistreatment varied with socioeconomic position and health status.     

Language,structure and agency: What can realist social theory offer to sociolinguistics?

The sociolinguistic enterprise raises fundamental questions about the nature of the relationships between social phenomena (such as social class or gender) and linguistic variation, while within social theory a persistent concern is the nature of the relationship between structure and agency. Sociolinguistics can draw on social theory for analysis of the relationship between speaker and system, the role of language in the creation, maintenance and change of social institutions, and the role of human agency in sociolinguistic phenomena. This article summarises the key tenets of a sociological realism, based on the recent work of Margaret Archer (in particular her exploration of analytical dualism) and of Derek Layder (specifically his theory of ‘social domains’). It relates these ideas to sociolinguistics, arguing that language can be seen to have a different significance, depending on which domain is the focus of the researcher's interest. The article considers the distinctiveness of this approach, contrasting it with structuralist and social constructionist accounts and with structuration. It concludes by identifying some methodological implications, suggesting that sociological realism offers a productive theoretical framework for sociolinguistics in dealing with questions of language, structure and agency.     

THE VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY: JONES INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY™, LTD

Jones International University provides a leading example of a virtual university. This brief overview focuses on innovative features of this university, ranging from its geographically distributed staff and students to its cyber-graduation ceremony.     

A Systematic Uncertainty Analysis of an Evaluative Fate and Exposure Model

Multimedia fate and exposure models are widely used to regulate the release of toxic chemicals, to set cleanup standards for contaminated sites, and to evaluate emissions in life-cycle assessment. CalTOX, one of these models, is used to calculate the potential dose, an outcome that is combined with the toxicity of the chemical to determine the Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), used to aggregate and compare emissions. The comprehensive assessment of the uncertainty in the potential dose calculation in this article serves to provide the information necessary to evaluate the reliability of decisions based on the HTP A framework for uncertainty analysis in multimedia risk assessment is proposed and evaluated with four types of uncertainty. Parameter uncertainty is assessed through Monte Carlo analysis. The variability in landscape parameters is assessed through a comparison of potential dose calculations for different regions in the United States. Decision rule uncertainty is explored through a comparison of the HTP values under open and closed system boundaries. Model uncertainty is evaluated through two case studies, one using alternative formulations for calculating the plant concentration and the other testing the steady state assumption for wet deposition. This investigation shows that steady state conditions for the removal of chemicals from the atmosphere are not appropriate and result in an underestimate of the potential dose for 25% of the 336 chemicals evaluated.     

作为空间理论家的葛兰西

对分析性的范畴加以空间化和历史化,是安东尼奥.葛兰西实践哲学的基本特征。这些理论运作深深地交织在他的“绝对历史主义”之中。对葛兰西哲学中空间性的强调,不仅有助于我们发现其著作中的诸多地理学主题,而且有助于纠正过分强调其历史主义维度的偏颇。葛兰西对空间隐喻的使用和他对南方问题的讨论,表明应当从空间—时间的视角去阐释他的许多关键性概念,而不仅仅是从社会的、物质的视角去阐释。葛兰西的空间、场所和等级等概念与他对语言、天主教会的意义、知识分子的作用、世界主义、阶级和阶级斗争、美国主义和福特主义、意大利国家的性质、国家权力的社会基础、雅各宾派、消极革命和领导权等问题的分析密切相关。葛兰西对空间、场所和等级的兴趣不仅仅是学术的,也跟他对革命形势的分析不无瓜葛。