Family budgets and public money: spending fostering payments

In this second of two papers based on a study of payment issues within foster care, the focus is on expenditure. It is argued that the hybrid public/private nature of fostering gives rise to contradictory pressures for carers, including the status of maintenance payments as both part of family budgets and a form of delegated public expenditure. For example, carers are required in principle both to spend fixed amounts upon foster children and to treat them in like fashion to their own children. In this paper, the issue of ‘like treatment’ is explored, along with the significance of payment for ‘children who foster’ and for relationships between carers and foster children. Also examined are the challenges presented by differences between carers’ material circumstances and those of birth families, especially when reunification is planned. Overall, the paper seeks to show how the handling of expenditure becomes closely entwined with inter‐personal dynamics within foster care.     

White and nonwhite trends in first birth timing: Comparisons using vital registration and current population surveys

The magnitude of racial differences in first birth timing vary greatly depending upon the data sources from which they are estimated. Vital registration data (Heuser 1976; with updates from the National Center for Health Statistics 1974–1990) show that in recent years nonwhites have higher risks of a first birth at virtually all ages compared to whites. As a result very large and historically novel differentials in childlessness are forecast using these data (see Rindfuss et al. 1988; Chen & Morgan 1991; Morgan & Chen 1992). However, retrospective fertility history data collected from the 1980, 1985 and 1990 Current Population Surveys (CPS) suggest much smaller racial differences in completed childlessness and isolate racial differences in probabilities of first births at young ages. Differences also exist between theses two series for whites prior to the mid-1960s but not afterwards. Reasons for these differing estimates are suggested and examined. We conclude that a substantial portion of the differences result from an accumulation of biases in the vital registration estimates that affect primarily estimates of first birth timing. Thus, the CPS data provide a more firm basis for racial comparisons of first birth timing.     

SOJOURN TIMES IN NON-HOMOGENEOUS QBD PROCESSES WITH PROCESSOR SHARING

We study sojourn times of customers in a processor sharing queue with a service rate that varies over time, depending on the number of customers and on the state of a random environment. An explicit expression is derived for the Laplace–Stieltjes transform of the sojourn time conditional on the state upon arrival and the amount of work brought into the system. Particular attention is paid to the conditional mean sojourn time of a customer as a function of his required amount of work, and we establish the existence of an asymptote as the amount of work tends to infinity. The method of random time change is then extended to include the possibility of a varying service rate. By means of this method, we explain the well-established proportionality between the conditional mean sojourn time and required amount of work in processor sharing queues without random environment. Based on numerical experiments, we propose an approximation for the conditional mean sojourn time. Although first presented for exponentially distributed service requirements, the analysis is shown to extend to phase-type services. The service discipline of discriminatory processor sharing is also shown to fall within the framework.     

黔东南性别失衡人口规模的判断与预测

黔东南州作为西部欠发达省份的民族自治地区,出生性别比长期、普遍、高度的失衡已经对经济发展、社会安定造成一定影响。虽然出生性别比失衡问题得到政府和社会的广泛关注和重视,并自2004年起开展了系列治理活动,但出生性别比升高的势头并未因之而有所遏制。本文希望通过对出生性别比失衡人口规模的计算,以及预测失衡导致该州未来男女人口规模和适龄结婚人口规模差异,使人们对失衡状况与未来影响有更清晰的认识,并为进一步治理提供参考素材。     

从"怀乡"到"望乡"--20世纪美国华文文学中故国情怀的变迁

故国回望是20世纪海外华文文学中的常见主题,故国回望不同于乡愁,这是一种独特而复杂的移民情怀。一般来说,美国华文作家怀抱着以下三种不同的回望心态和情感:一、暂居者思乡归国,二、放逐者诀别家园,三、飞散者审视家园。在这一脉络的梳理中,我们可以看到不同的政治文化结构对作家的影响,以及作家自身的文化选择。     

土族人口生育状况及影响因素分析

文章依据人口普查数据，对土族妇女的总和生育率、孩次别生育率、低年龄生育率及人口再生产率进行了考察。认为土族人口的生育水平尽管有较快下降，但仍然存在较为普遍的多育和早育现象。为此，应当从发展民族经济、提高教育程度、改善健康状况及拓宽就业渠道等方面入手，促使土族人口的生育模式趋于优异化。     

The city in the country: Growing alternative food networks in Metropolitan areas

Alternative food networks (AFNs) are commonly defined by attributes such as the spatial proximity between farmers and consumers, the existence of retail venues such as farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) and a commitment to sustainable food production and consumption. Focusing upon processes rather than attributes, this paper identifies two place-based processes that both promote and constrain the emergence and development of AFNs. Urbanization and rural restructuring are critical to the development of AFNs. AFNs are not a “thing” to be described, but rather emerge from political, cultural and historical processes. The interactions of urbanization and rural restructuring produce AFNs that are differentiated and marked by uneven development that does not necessarily support all farmers participating in the network. This indicates both the fragility and the dynamism inherent in AFNs that are tied to metropolitan development and change. Paradoxically, increasing urban demand for seasonal, and organic produce grown ‘close to home’ and the processes of rural restructuring which emphasize small-scale sustainable family farming and its direct food linkages to cities do not necessarily enable all farmers to consistently make a living from season to season. Evidence for these claims comes from an in-depth, qualitative case study reliant upon participant observation, in-depth interviews and draws from a statewide farmer survey and a regional consumer survey in Washington State.     

生育文明及其建设探析

生育文明作为解决人口计生工作新时期新问题的新命题日益受到关注,它代表着人类生育及相关领域的一种先进状态,而达到人类自主、自由、自觉的生育状态是这次生育文明建设的最终目的。为了达到这一目的,必须把握以人为本、统筹推进、载体创新三大原则,从观念文明、行为文明、制度文明、管理文明、服务文明、科技文明六个方面入手,加以突破和架构,用切实可行的评价指标体系为保障,最终实现自主生育文明。     

湖南省出生性别比失衡问题研究——基于和谐社会的视角

湖南省出生人口性别比自20世纪80年代以来持续失衡,这无疑会带来诸如婚姻挤压、道德沦丧、经济减缓、女性地位降低等社会问题,将严重影响和谐社会的构建。因此,如何加强管理监督,营造生育新风,完善利益机制,加强优质服务,制定相关法律法规,以整治出生性别比失衡势在必行。     

从“生育节制”看五四时期的妇女解放

桑格夫人的生育节制主义的传播和新文化运动的洗礼,在五四时期形成了一股以"生育节制"为主的妇女解放潮流。大批的先进知识分子对生育节制给予了很大的热情,在树立正确的生育观对于妇女解放、社会进步和种族改良的积极意义的问题上提出了颇有价值的看法,这些对推动妇女解放,尤其是五四时期的妇女解放上发挥了重要的作用。