The interaction of pillars in multi‐pillar pension systems: A comparison of Canada,Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden

Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden have advanced multi‐pillar pension systems. Using micro‐simulations, this article presents a close examination of the interaction of pillars in these countries. The relative importance and the role of the different pension pillars vary from country to country, and according to age, income, gender and socio‐economic dimensions as well as between generations. A further area of investigation is the mitigation capacity of the four pension systems. On the one hand, adverse labour careers lead to lower life‐time earnings and lower private pension accruals. On the other hand, these effects are mitigated through the design of pillars and their interaction. Mitigation is important to income security and stability in retirement and to post‐retirement income distribution. However, mitigation mechanisms come at the cost of incentives. Moreover, in many countries, the generosity of public benefits is set to decrease – increasing the importance of private pensions. This will shift risk and uncertainty from employers and pension institutions to individuals. Thus, risks and uncertainties related to private pensions will become more important, raising questions about the division of responsibilities between public and private pensions, and about the potential of mitigating such risk through pillar interaction. These concerns are further reinforced by labour market changes. Although a pension system free of distortions is inconceivable, this article seeks to contribute to addressing how mitigation should be designed, and how mitigation and risk sharing should be balanced against incentives, challenges which are as much political as technical.     

On some effects of variability in the westss epidemic model

The Weiss carrier-borne epidemic model is extended to incorporate random initial susceptible and carrier population sizes and general independent distributions for the infectious periods of the carriers. The qualitative effects of these variability factors on the spread of the disease are examined using different partial orderings for distribution functions.     

中加合作农业生态学“双语+精品”课程建设的探索与实践

在国际教育合作背景下,福建农林大学引进的农业生态学(Agroecology)课程与福建省甚至全国高校双语课程相比具有独特的优势。本文回顾了中加合作《农业生态学》双语课程的引进和适应过程,以及其作为福建省"精品课程"的教学体系、风格、方式及其建设成效;最后作者提出从促进国际交流、加强教材建设和教学成果的推广应用等3方面努力把该课程建成国家级"双语示范课程"。     

Allport's Legacy and the Situational Press of Stereotypes

This article focuses on two aspects of Allport's (1954) investigation of the psychology of being a target of prejudice. Whereas most researchers in this area view Allport as an expectancy theorist, we revisit another aspect of Allport's theory: the situational threat posed by negative stereotypes. First, we examine this issue, as it applies to the academic underachievement of negatively stereotyped groups, by contrasting the situational threat posed by stereotypes with traditional and current expectancy-oriented conceptions. Second, we show that stereotypes do not appear to affect self-expectations; instead, they appear to foster a climate of mistrust that results in depressed performance. Finally, we discuss how interventions that ameliorate the climate of mistrust, such as the presence of educators who are competent minority group members, tend to raise levels of performance.     

INTEGRATING THE COMPUTER INTO A BUSINESS SCHOOL CURRICULUM*

The results of a study of computer utilization in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford are presented. The benefits and costs of a dedicated time-sharing system acquired by the Business School to supplement the central campus computer facility are discussed. The study showed that the time-sharing system produced many benefits, including improved service and a lower per student cost for computing. The implications of the Stanford experience for other schools are discussed.     

What fuels the fire: Job- or task-specific motivation (or both)? On the hierarchical and multidimensional nature of teacher motivation in relation to job burnout

Drawing on a hierarchical (job and task level) and multidimensional conceptualisation of work motivation (intrinsic, identified, introjected, and external regulations), this study examines relationships between motivational regulations and burnout. Participants were 806 French-Canadian teachers working in public elementary and high schools. Results reveal different associations between burnout and the regulations that drive teachers to engage in their overall job or in specific tasks: autonomous regulations (intrinsic and identified) are negatively associated with burnout but more negatively at the job than task level, whereas controlled regulations (introjected and external) are positively associated with burnout but more positively at the task than job level. This study provides valuable insights into how teachers’ motivations towards both the job and tasks can foster or prevent burnout symptoms. Implications for theory and research on burnout and work motivation are discussed.     

Family Therapy for the Trainee in Family Therapy*

The growth and self understanding of the therapist as a person are considered by most training centres to be a significant part of the training process. This article reports on a pilot project which provided marital and family therapy for trainees in a two-year program. Therapy was established on a contract basis and included individual, conjoint, family intergenerational and small group. Interns and family members responded favorably to the program. Supervisors found the experience enabled trainees to maintain an experiential consistency with a general systems model utilized as the core theory of the training program.     

Efficacy of a group therapy for sexually abused adolescent girls

The effects of a group therapy program for teenage girls reporting child sexual abuse were evaluated by means of a pretest/ post-test design with a control group. The psycho-educational intervention consisted of an average of 20 weekly two-hour meetings. Results of the repeated analyses of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant improvement in youth participating in the therapy when compared with the control group on measures of post-traumatic stress, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, coping strategies, relationship with the mother, and sense of empowerment. The findings suggest that the group therapy offered by the Centre d'Intervention en Abus Sexuels pour la Famille (CIASF) was effective in reducing symptoms for sexually abused teenagers.     

奥卡姆心灵语言理论中的直觉行为语义学

在奥卡姆的认知理论中,对个体事物的直接经验把握如何与概念性的思想相关联是一个重要问题。就直觉是心灵的真实性质而言,它也是一种心灵表征;同时,由于直觉可以作为心灵命题的主词或谓词,并且可以在此心灵命题中指代某物,因此,对奥卡姆而言,这一表征就是一种指号。根据奥卡姆关于意谓的一般理论,范畴指号被认为首先意谓它们所真实关联之物,除了这种首要意谓,“暗含”词项同时具有次意谓,因为它们间接指称某些事物。直觉行为要么作为一个心灵命题的主词或谓词单独发生,要么附属于一个概念而形成复合心灵表达式,这个复合心灵表达式同样能够作为心灵命题的主词或谓词。在这两种情况下,直觉行为都是通过纯粹的非概念方式来指派其单称指称物。奥卡姆这种特殊的基础主义的显著特征在于,这些直觉认知被看作是指号,并且可以在心灵命题中发生。