Early-life mortality clustering in families: A literature review

Research on early-life mortality in contemporary and historical populations has shown that infant and child mortality tend to cluster in a limited number of high-mortality families, a phenomenon known as ‘mortality clustering’. This paper is the first to review the literature on the role of the family in early-life mortality. Contemporary results, methodological and theoretical shortfalls, recent developments, and opportunities for future research are all discussed in this review. Four methodological approaches are distinguished: those based on sibling deaths, mother heterogeneity, thresholds, and excess deaths in populations. It has become clear from research to date that the death of an older child harms the survival chances of younger children in that family, and that fertility behaviour, earlier stillbirths, remarriages, and socio-economic status all explain mortality clustering to some extent.     

落后国家现代化问题的当代反思

马克思主义理论家和西方学者都对落后国家的现代化问题进行过专门的理论研究,形成了两种不同的现代化理论。对这两种理论进行反思,不但能让人们正确理解两种现代化理论的实质,而且能启发人们在全球化背景下和金融危机时期如何把握自身现代化的发展方向。     

Are all jobs created equal? A cross-national analysis of women's employment and child malnutrition in developing countries

Using multi-level models, the analysis examines female employment and child stunting across 49 developing countries. At the country level, female labor force participation is not associated with malnutrition after controlling for economic development. At the individual level, a binary measure of employment is not significantly associated with malnutrition. However, a more nuanced measure of seven occupational categories shows that certain types of employment improve malnutrition. Professional, clerical, sales, and domestic jobs are associated with reduced stunting. These effects are only partially mediated by wealth, perhaps suggesting that some jobs may bring benefits to the household beyond the sheer acquisition of tangible resources. Agricultural jobs are associated with increased malnutrition. Manual labor and service work do not have an effect on malnutrition, compared to unemployment. Thus, women's employment is not necessarily a mechanism for empowerment and wellbeing. Not all jobs are created equal, and many of them do not confer the benefits that are typically associated with working outside the home.     

Patterns and severity of menopausal symptoms among Jordanian women

We examined 359 women aged 45–65 years who visited Jordan University Hospital between February and November 2014. The menopausal symptoms were assessed using a validated Arabic version of the menopause rating scale. The mean age at menopause was 49.4 years. Women aged 50–55 years more frequently exhibited hot flushes and vaginal dryness. Although premenopausal women were 1.5 times more likely to experience irritability, perimenopausal women were more likely to experience hot flushes, physical and mental irritability, sexual problems, vaginal dryness, and joint and muscular discomfort. Hence, health care providers should focus on women at all stages of life.     

Articulations of populism: the Nordic case

Populism as a concept is elusive and has been connected to very different political movements. Generally, populism’s connotations are rather negative and the term is often used pejoratively in the academic field as well. However, Ernesto Laclau has approached populism by arguing that populist reason is a manifestation of political logic in which group identification – formed through various signifiers such as ‘the people’, which are articulated as part of an ‘equivalence chain’ – eventually establishes political agency as a totality. This paper uses Laclau’s articulation theory to analyse the public construction of contemporary populism in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark. The analysis demonstrates that mainstream media frame populism rather negatively, although examples of the term’s positive identification with ‘the people’ are available, especially in the tabloid media. Thus, the positive identification behind the forming of populist movements clashes with the media discourse that prioritizes established journalistic views, practices and sources, making populism a ‘floating signifier’, that is, a concept that has several meanings which are contested in various public discourses. A general pattern in the construction of populism in Northern European multi-party democracies can be discerned, thus identifying the central role of nationalist and nativist identifications in contingent populist articulations. However, the differences between the Nordic countries emphasize a context-driven approach.     

发达国家和地区弱势群体福利照顾模式及其对我国的启示

在界定弱势群体福利照顾模式的基础上,归纳出发达国家和地区弱势群体福利照顾的四大特征:完善的社会保障制度是弱势群体福利供给的基础;社区照顾是弱势群体福利供给的依托;非营利组织是弱势群体福利照顾的主力;自助取向成为弱势群体福利供给的目标。与其相对比,目前我国弱势群体福利照顾体系社会保障制度尚不健全,社区服务和非营利组织参与刚刚起步,自助取向尚不明显,笔者据此提出相关建议。     

对后发优势理论的反思--发展中国家现代化透视

发展中国家在其现代化的探索进程中，既要看到后发优势带来的希望，还要看到后发优势一救都会受到后发劣势的影响，更会受到随时空变化而出现的一些新的因素的制约。要提高对实现现代化的这一目标的难度的充分认识，避免坠入后发优势所设下的陷阱。     

西方经济伦理思想述略

面对现代经济学淡化伦理和中国经济伦理失范的现状 ,对古典经济学、凯恩斯主义、新自由主义学派、新制度经济学派 ,以及诺贝尔经济学奖获得者对经济的伦理关怀进行评述。     

社会协调发展与政府责任——关于发展中国家政府责任的研究和国际经验借鉴

在现代化进程中如何实现经济、政治、社会、文化、生态等领域的协调发展,是每一个发展中国家都必须面对的课题,发展中国家政府在社会协调发展中起着主导作用。政府的主要职能是提供制度安排,政府提高其制度供给的能力是实现社会均衡发展的途径。在这方面,拉美五国在其发展过程中的经验与教训为其他发展中国家提供了借鉴和启示。     

中国电信市场未来发展趋势研究

通过对西方国家具有代表性的美英两国近年来电信市场引入竞争的开放策略进行对比分析,结合我国电信市场的改革历程和独有特性,指出未来中国电信市场将在政府的规范和监督下,合理进行产业布局,迅速提高电信企业的技术创新和差异化竞争能力,不断增强国际竞争力。