Productivity: Lessons from Japan

The purpose of this article is to compare Japanese productivity on an industry basis with the U.S. and European companies, and then to examine the factors and methods that underline the Japanese success to determine what, if any, lessons Western companies can draw from the Japanese approach.     

Making it relevant: how a black male teacher sustained professional relationships through culturally responsive discourse

What we know about the experiences of black teachers is limited, especially considering the vast amount of research conducted on and about black boys and young men. This article describes and analyzes how a black teacher at a suburban high school in the Midwestern United States negotiated professional relationships through culturally relevant discourse. Anthony Bell was the only black male teacher participating in a classroom discourse analysis study group at a diverse suburban high school. Throughout the course of the semester, Anthony’s stated objective for learning discourse analysis was to understand, structure, and facilitate more productive conversations with a struggling student teacher he was mentoring. Yet Anthony also used his discursive inquiry to “trouble the water” in his classroom and in the study group workshops. Participation in the study group provided Anthony with metalinguistic tools to critique his interactions with his students, student teacher, and professional peers. Anthony’s analyses of his own teaching, his student teacher’s work, the study group, and the school index themes in critical and critical race theory in education. As he became a teacher researcher, Anthony reported a greater sense of professional self-efficacy, eventually facilitating a successful workshop at a national teacher conference. Anthony’s case is an exemplar of the unique and critical role of black men who teach, as well as the imperative of practitioner research within the current climate in teacher education.     

Experiences of Stigma and Spirituality of Older Black Men Living with HIV

Abstract

Previous research on HIV stigma and the use of spirituality by people living with HIV/AIDS is scarce. Moreover, the research with older Black men who have sex with men is scant. This study aimed to investigate experiences of HIV stigma and the use of spirituality among older HIV positive Black men who sleep with men. In-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of ten men. Data were analyzed utilizing to the modified van Kaam data analysis method. Three major themes were identified that explores the participants lived experiences with HIV stigma and use of spirituality: experiences of stigma reinforcing the use of spirituality; defining spirituality as a functional concept; and self-empowerment through the use of spirituality. The findings could guide social workers and other helping professionals in developing informed assessments and interventions regarding HIV stigma and the use of spirituality. Future qualitative and quantitative research is needed to achieve generalizable knowledge about the relationship between stigma on the use of spirituality.     

Brand Awareness and Attitudes Towards Political Advertisements in Sport Video Games

Due to the growth of the video game industry, the practice of in-game advertising, and the desirable game player demographics, then U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama placed early voting advertisements in a series of online sport video games during his 2008 presidential campaign. The purpose of this study was to examine the awareness of these political ads and the attitudes towards the ads when compared to advertisements featuring corporate brands. The results suggest there were higher levels of awareness for the political themed advertisements while attitude enhancement was more likely to occur for advertisements which featured corporate brands.     

Unauthorized Immigration to the United States: Annual Estimates and Components of Change,by State, 1990 to 2010

We describe a method for producing annual estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United Sates and components of population change, for each state and DC, for 1990–2010. We quantify a sharp drop in the number of unauthorized immigrants arriving since 2000, and we demonstrate the role of departures from the population (emigration, adjustment to legal status, removal by the Department of Homeland Security [DHS], and deaths) in reducing population growth from one million in 2000 to population losses in 2008 and 2009. The number arriving in the U.S. peaked at more than one million in 1999–2001 and then declined rapidly through 2009. We provide evidence that population growth stopped after 2007 primarily because entries declined and not because emigration increased during the economic crisis. Our estimates of the total unauthorized immigrant population in the U.S. and in the top ten states are comparable to those produced by DHS and the Pew Hispanic Center. However, our data and methods produce estimates with smaller ranges of sampling error.     

Social Insurance and Older Adults in China: Effect of Education and Household Income on Coverage Following the 2009 Health Reform

Abstract

Education and income have been considered two primary determinants to affect individuals’ health outcomes. China initiated a comprehensive health reform in 2009, with the goals to provide equal access yet sufficient healthcare to all residents. However, social disparities continue to persist following this large reform. This research hypothesized that older adults’ years of education and income are determinants of participation in each social insurance scheme following the 2009 health reform. Multilevel logistic regression models were used with a nationally representative sample (n?=?5,274) to investigate the education and income disparities in each social insurance scheme for older adults, with random effects among provinces at the national level. The analyses show that years of education was not associated with enrollment in three social insurances, with the exception of the association between 11?years of formal education or above and the rural coverage. Participants with higher levels of household income had greater odds of having urban social insurances, but had lower odds of having the rural scheme. Further research should continue to investigate the disparities of enrollment of each social insurance. Chinese policy makers should consider these social factors carefully to reach a true universal coverage.     

Cohort Parity Analysis and Fertility Transition Dynamics: Reconstructing Historical Trends in Fertility Control from a Single Census

The Cohort Parity Analysis (CPA) method for the indirect measurement of the extent of marital fertility control makes use of parity distribution data of the kind reported, for specified marriage duration and marriage-age (or current age) groups of women, by a fertility census. Corresponding to every such distribution, CPA yields efficient upper and lower bounds on the proportion of controllers in the specified cohort, as well as bounds for the parity distribution of the controllers. As the women who belong to different marriage cohorts are observed at different durations of marriage in a census, it is possible to infer inter-cohort trends in the extent of fertility control (at some specified marriage duration(s)) if one knows the time pattern of the adoption of control among the members of each cohort. It is shown in this paper that robust estimates of the intracohort diffusion pattern can be obtained from the census cross-section itself, by supplementing the basic assumptions of the CPA framework with a plausible assumption about the behaviour of the ‘representative’ controller in a given cohort. The estimation technique is illustrated by applications to data for married women in urban Eire from the Census of Ireland in 1911, and to native white married women in the U.S. South from the U.S. Census of 1910.     

Comments

Blood volume pulse (BVP) recordings were obtained from a 47‐year‐old hysterectomized woman prior to, during, and following a hot flash (HP). She displayed a relatively smaller BVP 120 seconds prior to the HF, as compared to a marked BVP increase during the HF. The woman's report of subjective “warmth” and observed perspiration 120 seconds prior to the HF appeared to correspond to a period of peripheral vasoconstriction. It was theorized that HF is associated with sympathetically mediated peripheral constriction in anticipation of the HF and may be exacerbated by the person's anticipatory fear that a HF is soon to occur. Learning principles may be relevant for considering both the development and partial relief of intense and frequent HF in hysterectomized women.