Generational Differences in Work Values,Perceived Job Rewards,and Job Satisfaction of Chinese Female Migrant Workers: Implications for Social Policy and Social Services

This cross-sectional survey study is a pioneering attempt to investigate the generational differences in the work values, perceived job rewards, and job satisfaction of Chinese female migrant workers. The study targeted two toy factories in the Guangdong Province of China and recruited a total of 1,307 female workers as participants. Among them were 577 female migrant workers who comprised the target group for this research. The authors hypothesized that the younger generation of female migrant workers would have higher levels of cognitive work values (such as self-enhancement and career development) but lower levels of perceived job rewards and job satisfaction than those of the older generation. The results indicate that there are no generational differences in work values among the three birth cohorts of Chinese female migrant workers. The older generation felt more satisfied with the job rewards that they received, and their sense of job satisfaction was higher than that of the younger generation. Furthermore, the findings showed a substantial positive influence of perceived social job rewards (such as support from co-workers and supervisors) on job satisfaction among the younger generation. The current findings suggest that in China, generational differences in work are affected by both the generation factor and the rural–urban stratification factor. The authors hope that the study will provide a knowledge base for understanding the perceptions of Chinese female migrant workers toward work and for exploring the ways in which new policies and social services can be developed in order to address their needs.     

Statistical analysis of Weibull distributed lifetime data under Type II progressive censoring with binomial removals

This paper considers the analysis of Weibull distributed lifetime data observed under Type II progressive censoring with random removals, where the number of units removed at each failure time follows a binomial distribution. Maximum likelihood estimators of the parameters and their asymptotic variances are derived. The expected time required to complete the life test under this censoring scheme is investigated.     

Quality of Life in Older Adults: Benefits from Caring Services in Hong Kong

Many older adults are in need of care. Therefore, older people would generally benefit from the use of caring services, notably including home care, residential care, nursing, and medical services. The contributory factors underlying caring services tend to be a caring perspective that aspires to sustain older peoples social relationships and real-life involvement. To gauge the benefits from various social and health services, the present study relies on a large-scale survey of 3000 older adults in Hong Kong, using quality of life as a criterion. Results showed that an older adult who had used (ordinary or enhanced) home care services for a longer time turned out to have appreciably more improvement in quality of life. Besides, those who joined an interest group more frequently were higher in quality of life, including the health domain. On the other hand, frequent use of medical and meal-to-home services were signals that reflected problems detrimental to the older users quality of life. Despite this, the quality of clinics or hospitals, as perceived by the older adult, was the most beneficial. As such, caring services that foster older adults interests, cater to their health care needs, and embody quality can have principal contribution to their users quality of life.     

On tests for sex preferences

This paper presents a critical evaluation of three widely used tests for sex preferences: sex ratio, parity progression ratio and ordinary least squares regression of birth interval. We show that under some appropriate conditions, the sex ratio is a valid test for sex preferences. The methods of parity progression ratio and OLS regression of birth interval fail to deal with right censoring and time varying covariates, which reduce the power of the tests. We suggest the use of hazard estimation to test for sex preferences. We demonstrate the differences among the tests by analyzing the retrospective fertility histories of the Chinese and the Malays in Malaysia. We find that unlike the two conventional methods, the hazard estimation gives clear and strong evidence of sex preferences among the Chinese in Malaysia.I am indebted to Gary Becker, James Heckman and Thomas Mroz for their many valuable comments and encouragement. I have also benefited from the discussions with V. Joseph Hotz, Mark Rosenzweig, Lester Telser and Robert Willis. Research support from the Bradley Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. Computational facilities are supported by NICHD Grant HD-19226 and NSF Grant SES-84-11242 to the Economics Research Center/NORC.     

区域·结构·秩序——历史学与人类学的对话

2006年4月17日,一场由刘平教授发起及其与包弼德教授共同主持的历史学与人类学的跨学科对话在哈佛燕京图书馆会议室举行。该对话围绕着当代中国历史学的发展、历史人类学的由来、中国历史人类学状况以及台湾的人类学研究等主题展开。而关于"什么是历史人类学"的问题,更是汇聚了来自多方的不同声音。这样的交流和交锋,对于中国当前以及今后的历史人类学研究,有着可以预期的启示作用。     

Simultaneous prediction intervals for multiple comparisons with a standard

k normal populations having common variance are used to construct two-sided and one-sided simultaneous prediction intervals for the differences between the future means of independent random sample from each of these populations compared to a standard. These prediction intervals are particularly useful if one has sampled the performance of several products and wishes to simultaneously predict the differences between future sample mean performance of these products and a standard with a predetermined joint probability. Methods on sample size determination are also given. The procedures are illustrated with a numerical example. Received: February 25, 2000; revised version: February 6, 2001     

City Spaces and Human Relations in Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway: From Circulation to Everyday Life

Subways have experienced a tremendous variety of development, securing their positions within cities and producing unique spaces whose characteristics have influenced human relations. This study focuses on the relationships between subways and the cities, spaces, and human relationships that surround them. It explores the connections between subways and the aforementioned elements (city, space, and human relations) to provide insight into how best to pursue improvements. The Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway's fame as a representational subway on a global scale makes it the ideal choice for a case study.     

Changes in the junket business in Macao after gaming liberalization

Before Macao's gaming liberalization, people from Macao and Hong Kong took the active lead as junket operators to entice high-betting gamblers from neighbouring places. With the People's Republic of China as the dominating source of visitors to Macao, there have been some changes in the junket business. The qualitative research interview was adopted due to the under-researched nature of the junket business. This study is based on the institutional theory to analyse human interactions and activities structured in terms of overt or implicit rules involved in the junket business in Macao. A review of the literature and interview findings indicates that the active role played by local people appears to have diminished. As junket activities like patron recruitment and gambling debt collection are primarily conducted in Mainland China, together with the business opportunities from gambling and junket operators' preference for working with ethnically homogeneous groups, the previous active role played by local people is gradually being replaced by the Mainland Chinese. The junket business in Macao has been under the increasing influence of the Mainland Chinese. Based upon this, Macao needs to consider how to better regulate these junket operators.     

Interfering with longevity

Several recent studies have highlighted how RNA interference has advanced aging-related research in Caenorhabditis elegans. Two new genome-wide RNAi-based screens together identified more than 100 new candidate longevity genes. RNAi has also greatly facilitated the functional validation of several large-scale gene expression profiling studies. Furthermore, RNAi is flexible and can be administered at different times throughout life; this feature has been exploited to analyze the temporal requirement of genes in life-span determination.     

Doubly adaptive biased coin designs with delayed responses

In clinical studies, patients are usually accrued sequentially. Response‐adaptive designs are then useful tools for assigning treatments to incoming patients as a function of the treatment responses observed thus far. In this regard, doubly adaptive biased coin designs have advantageous properties under the assumption that their responses can be obtained immediately after testing. However, it is a common occurrence that responses are observed only after a certain period of time. The authors examine the effect of delayed responses on doubly adaptive biased coin designs and derive some of their asymptotic properties. It turns out that these designs are relatively insensitive to delayed responses under widely satisfied conditions. This is illustrated with a simulation study.