The influence of rural-urban migration on migrants' fertility in Korea,Mexico and Cameroon

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the relationship between rural-urban migration and fertility in Korea, Mexico, and Cameroon. Using an autoregressive model, the results show a significant rural-urban migration adaptation effect in Korea and Mexico, a reduction of 2.57 and 1.45 children during the entire childbearing period, respectively, when compared to a rural stayer, even after the effect of selection has been controlled. Rural-urban migration has a very small impact on fertility in Cameroon. The unexpected result for Cameroon is due to the fact that the fertility-increasing effect of urban residency on the improved supply conditions of births, such as reduced infertility, offsets the fertility-depressing effect of urban residency on the demand for births. As a result of the adaptation to urban fertility norms, the number of country-wide births was reduced significantly in Mexico and Korea over the time periods studied.     

Moderniser la confiance L'assurance-qualité comme décontextualisation de la sous-traitance industrielle*

Quality assurance is an institution typical of the global economy in the context of advanced modernity. It decontextualizes economic behaviour in time and space (Luhmann, Giddens). An empirical study of the relations between Alcan Canada Ltd. and five subcontracting firms operating in the Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean area of Quebec shows that the abstract and extralocal standards of quality assurance transform the subcontractors social processes of selection and performance evaluation. The participation of quality assurance experts in the inter-firm relationships lessens the reliance on traditional relationships of trust, in favour of a new trust in abstract systems and expertise. L'assurance-qualité est une institution typique de la globalisation de l'économie dans le contexte de la modernité avancée. Elle décontex-tualise les comportements économiques dans le temps et dans l'espace (Luhmann, Giddens). Une étude empirique des relations d'Alcan Canada limitée avec cinq entreprises de la région du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean (Québec) montre que les standards abstraits et extralocaux de l'assurance-qualité changent le processus social de sélection et d'évaluation du rendement des sous-traitants. L'intervention des experts de l'assurance-qualité dans les relations interfirmes diminue l'importance des rapports de confiance traditionnels au profit d'une nouvelle confiance-systeme.     

The Political Sociology of Counter-Revolution: The Case of Brazil

Books reviewed in this articles:
Politics in Brazil 1930–1964: An Experiment in Democracy. By T homas E. S kidmore .
Brazilian Planning: Development Politics and Administration. By R obert T. D aland .
Le Brésil. Special issue of Les Temps Modernes.     

What sex abusers say about their treatment: results from a qualitative study on pedophiles in treatment at a Canadian penitentiary clinic

This exploratory study used qualitative methodology to examine what pedophiles think about treatment, as well as their daily experience of a treatment program. To this end, twenty-three offenders receiving treatment from the La Macaza federal penitentiary clinic were interviewed using non-directive semi-structured interviews. Comparative analysis was used to analyze the resulting material. The following themes are discussed based on the results of this analysis: (a) the participants' past experience of therapy; (b) motivations for choosing the La Macaza clinic for treatment; (c) the structure of the program; (d) the group dynamics; (e) the therapists; and (f) the hardships and difficulties of treatment. Results suggest that the therapists and the program may have a function of containment or holding. Although part of the therapeutic process involves a focus on identifying and reducing cognitive distortions, results also warn therapists against misusing this concept by applying it to legitimately different opinions. Findings are discussed in terms of possible program improvements. The authors conclude that greater attention must be given to process research.     

原子簇的合成方法、性质表征与结构

利用给电子有机和无机配位体的交换反应和金属卤化物与羰基金属阴离子的复分解反应,合成异核原子簇具有反应条件温和易于控制,收率较高的特点。本文描述Fe_3(CO)_9(C_2H_2)_3等11个原子簇的合成方法,配位状态与簇核的结构。     

Risk Prevention and Policy-Making in Automatic Systems

Accidents with automatic production systems are reported to be on the order of one in a hundred or thousand robot-years, while fatal accidents are found to occur one or two orders of magnitude less frequently. Traditions in occupational safety tend to seek for safety targets in terms of zero severe accidents for automatic systems. Decision-making requires a risk assessment balancing potential risk reduction measures and costs within the cultural environment of a production company. This paper presents a simplified procedure which acts as a decision tool. The procedure is based on a risk concept approaching prevention both in a deterministic and in a probabilistic manner. Eight accident scenarios are shown to represent the potential accident processes involving robot interactions with people. Seven prevention policies are shown to cover the accident scenarios in principle. An additional probabilistic approach may indicate which extra safety measures can be taken against what risk reduction and additional costs. The risk evaluation process aims at achieving a quantitative acceptable risk level. For that purpose, three risk evaluation methods are discussed with respect to reaching broad consensus on the safety targets.     

Still Going: Recent Debates on the Goldschmidt Hypothesis1

Abstract The literature on the Goldschmidt (1978a) hypothesis has passed through distinct stages. This article is a commentary on the present status of the literature and particularly on a recent article by Barnes and Blevins (1992). Our arguments draw in large part from our previous work. Researchers in the 1970s and early 1980s were concerned mainly with replicating Goldschmidt's work. However, these studies had a number of methodological and conceptual limitations that limited closure on the debate. A new generation of research from the mid-1980s onward was premised upon addressing the limitations, including the need to incorporate indicators of nonfarm economic structure, to take spatial or geographic features into account, and to adequately conceptualize farm structure. Barnes and Blevins (1992) disregard these inroads, evident in that their article repeats earlier arguments, offers solutions to problems addressed a decade earlier, and is vulnerable to its own methodological problems. To move inquiry forward, new directions for studies concerned with the broader issues raised by Goldschmidt are suggested.