Family planning in choiseul province,Solomon Islands

The results presented are from a rural prevalence survey on family planning in Choiseul Province, Solomon Islands. Married women aged 15–49 years with at least one living child and married men whose wife met the same criteria, provided data on knowledge, attitudes and practices of contraceptive use. Fifty one per cent of the female sample were using some form of contraception, 26 per cent reversible and 25 per cent non-reversible methods. Sixty-five per cent of men claimed that they or their spouse were using a method of family planning. Tubal ligation was the most common currently used method (25 per cent in the female survey). Desired family size was four for both males and females. Knowledge and approval of family planning was high, with 83 per cent of females and 81 per cent of males knowing of at least one method. Problems in accessing information and services for family planning include cultural and logistical constraints. Religious affiliation was the major variable affecting knowledge, use and approval of contraceptive methods. Nearly a quarter of the sample lived further than two hours travel time from the nearest health clinic supplying contraceptive methods. These clinics often have only an intermittent availability of supplies. A strong interest in family planning was demonstrated by both respondents and service providers.     

A Bayesian examination of information and uncertainty in contingent valuation

A theoretical framework is presented to explain how agents respond to information under uncertainty in contingent valuation surveys. Agents are provided with information signals and referendum prices as part of the elicitation process. Agents use Bayesian updating to revise prior distributions. An information prompt is presented to reduce hypothetical bias. However, we show the interaction between anchoring and the information prompt creates a systematic bias in willingness to pay. We test our hypotheses in an experimental setting where agents are asked to make a hypothetical, voluntary contribution to a public good. Experimental results are consistent with the model.

Body art,deviance, and American college students

This research examines the relationship between body art (tattoos and piercings) and deviance. With the increasing mainstream presence of visible tattoos and piercings among entertainers, athletes, and even in corporate boardrooms, we wonder the extent to which long-time enthusiasts and collectors regard the phenomenon as encroachment. We use sub-cultural identity theory to propose that individuals with increasing evidence of body art procurement will also report higher levels of deviant behavior in order to maintain and/or increase social distance from the mainstream. We tested this proposition by surveying 1753 American college students, asking them to report their level of body art acquisition and their history of deviance. Results indicate that respondents with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or piercings located in their nipples or genitals, were substantively and significantly more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other illegal drugs, and a history of being arrested for a crime. Less pronounced, but still significant in many cases, was an increased propensity for those with higher incidence of body art to cheat on college work, binge drink, and report having had multiple sex partners in the course of their lifetime.     

中国文论的传统性与现代性

中国文论的“传统性”指它在长期的发展演化过程中形成的一系列特征,“现代性”则指它所隐含的现代文论因子及其与西方文论的关系,二者之间的关系涉及古代文论研究的基本观念和方法问题,有必要从理论上加以反思和清理。一种普遍的误解是以为西方文论都是大部头的体系性著作,对“西方”的理解也过于狭隘。“中西比较”这样的研究方式几乎是不成立的,因为它将原本庞大、复杂的文化发展过程大大简化、割裂,抽取出一些所谓的特征来进行比较;如果一定要比较,至少要在中、西、南亚3个传统之间进行。历史在变化,不可能“回到”古代文论,只能不断地学习它、使用它。学术研究的要义是把问题搞清楚,不能把纯粹的学术问题转化为社会问题或文化问题。     

Assessing Social Isolation: Pilot Testing Different Methods

Social isolation is a significant public health problem among many older adults; however, most of the empirical knowledge about isolation derives from community-based samples. There has been less attention given to isolation in senior housing communities. The objectives of this pilot study were to test two methods to identify socially isolated residents in low-income senior housing and compare findings about the extent of isolation from these two methods. The first method, self-report by residents, included 47 out of 135 residents who completed in-person interviews. To determine self-report isolation, residents completed the Lubben Social Network Scale 6 (LSNS-6). The second method involved a staff member who reported the extent of isolation on all 135 residents via an online survey. Results indicated that 26% of residents who were interviewed were deemed socially isolated by the LSNS-6. Staff members rated 12% of residents as having some or a lot of isolation. In comparing the two methods, staff members rated 2% of interviewed residents as having a lot of isolation. The combination of self-report and staff report could be more informative than just self-report alone, particularly when participation rates are low. However, researchers should be aware of the potential discrepancy between these two methods.     

On the umvu estimators after using a normalizing transformation

The conditional distribution given complete sufficient statistics is used along with the Rao-Blackwell theorem to obtain uniformly minimum variance unbiased (UMVU) estimators after a transformation to normality has been applied to data. The estimators considered are for the mean, the variance and the cumulative distribution of the original non-normal data. Previous procedures to obtain UMVU estimators have used Laplace transforms, Taylor expansions and the jackknife. An integration method developed in this paper requires only integrability of the normalizing transformation function. This method is easy to employ and it is always possible to obtain a numerical result.     

The Coming of Game Theory

This is a brief historical note on game theory. We cover its historical roots (prior to its formal definition in 1944), and look at its development until the late 1960's.