A Sociodemographic Risk Index

In this paper, we conceptualize and develop an index of sociodemographic risk that we hypothesize will be an improvement over the standard poverty measure as a measure of risk for children’s development. The poverty line is widely used in government statistics and in research but is also widely acknowledged to have multiple shortcomings. Using recent data from the National Survey of America’s Families, we develop and examine a Sociodemographic Risk Index for two potential purposes: (a) to serve as a summary indicator of children’s environments that affect their well-being, and (b) to serve as a variable that can be used to identify at-risk subgroups of children whose well-being should be examined separately in indicator reports. Based on substantial research on children’s development, we chose five variables for the index: family income, family structure, parent education, family size, and home ownership. An additive sociodemographic risk index using these variables is strongly associated with multiple measures of child well-being in both bivariate and multivariate analyses. Hence, it serves as a good marker of risk for children and therefore as an indicator that could be monitored over time, across groups, and across places, as well as a variable that could be used to identify subgroups of at-risk children whose well-being should be monitored. However, analyses do not indicate that it performs better at identifying at-risk children than the current poverty measure. Therefore, we recommend the Sociodemographic Risk Index primarily as an additional summary indicator to be monitored, rather than as a replacement for the poverty measure.     

Certifiable Pre‐Play Communication: Full Disclosure

This article asks when communication with certifiable information leads to complete information revelation. We consider Bayesian games augmented by a pre‐play communication phase in which announcements are made publicly. We first characterize the augmented games in which there exists a fully revealing sequential equilibrium with extremal beliefs (i.e., any deviation is attributed to a single type of the deviator). Next, we define a class of games for which existence of a fully revealing equilibrium is equivalent to a richness property of the evidence structure. This characterization enables us to provide different sets of sufficient conditions for full information disclosure that encompass and extend all known results in the literature, and are easily applicable. We use these conditions to obtain new insights in games with strategic complementarities, voting with deliberation, and persuasion games with multidimensional types.     

Welfare and the unemployment crisis: Sweden in the 1990s

In the 1990s Sweden went through a deep economic recession accompanied by a massive increase in unemployment and a rapidly growing budget deficit. The crisis had large repercussions for the welfare of many citizens and it generated cutbacks in virtually all social policy programmes. This halted a welfare-state expansion that had been going on for decades. It also caused great concern about the state of welfare of the nation. In 1999 the Swedish Government appointed a 'Welfare Commission', a team of academic researchers who were assigned the task of drawing up a balance sheet for the development of welfare in the 1990s. The Commission delivered its final report in October 2001. This article is a condensed account of one of the more central issues for the Commission; namely, how the unemployment crisis affected already socially and economically vulnerable groups. Looking at the development over the entire decade, three groups stand out as particularly disadvantaged in terms of individual welfare resources: young adults, immigrants and single mothers. The downturn for these groups was especially accentuated in terms of employment and income. Young people and immigrants trying to get into the labour market during the crisis years faced the problems of newcomers to the systems of social protection. The poor economic development for single mothers could essentially be attributed to the shortage of work in general and of full-time work in particular that followed from the unemployment crisis. As a consequence, the importance of selective benefits increased and the relative size of all public transfers – despite rationing measures – stayed fairly unchanged. The results highlight the great influence of macroeconomic conditions and policy making for the welfare of vulnerable groups in society.     

真理的等级论与交互文本论

在各种不同学科的真理之间的关系问题上 ,真理的等级论长期以来是占主导地位的理论。亚里士多德为真理等级论做出了经典论证。近代出现了真理等级论的三种不同模式 ,它们在现代被进一步发展 ,并遇到了难以摆脱的困境。由此出现了消解真理等级论的趋势 ,这在后现代主义哲学中达到了登峰造极的地步。但消解真理的等级论并不意味着否认不同学科真理间的制约关系 ,并不一定要陷入真理的“原子论”。真理不是一种封闭的属性 ,而是一个开放的过程。各个学科之间的真理是相互制约的 ,真理是在文本间碰撞过程中显示出它的力量。     

一种新型的低分子量二元胆甾相液晶材料的光学特性研究

研制出一种新型的小分子二元胆甾相液晶,并对其光学特性进行研究,实验结果表明,该液晶有明显的选择反射现象,加热温度在170℃、180℃、190℃时,其正反射中心波长分别为513nm、493nm和475nm。温度升高液晶的螺距变短,从而引起反射中心波长缩短;入射角变化对反射中心波长也有较大的影响,当入射角增大30°时,加热温度在170℃和190℃的反射中心波长相对于正反射分别缩短42nm和37nm。此外,在距反射峰中心波长20nm处测到940°/mm的巨大旋光率。此种材料可用于显示、手性光学器件及负折射率材料研究等领域。     

Family Policies and Children's School Achievement in Single‐ Versus Two‐Parent Families

We investigate the gap in math and science achievement of third‐ and fourth‐graders who live with a single parent versus those who live with two parents in 11 countries. The United States and New Zealand rank last among the countries we compare in terms of the equality of achievement between children from single‐parent families and those from two‐parent homes. Following a multilevel analysis, we find single parenthood to be less detrimental when family policies equalize resources between single‐ and two‐parent families. In addition, the single‐ and two‐parent achievement gap is greater in countries where single‐parent families are more prevalent. We conclude that national family policies can offset the negative academic outcomes of single parenthood.     

客家移民流动与乡村聚落变迁——对一个华南乡村姓氏的追踪调查

探讨一个村落的形成发展是反映多样的异质性文化的基础,而追溯村落中的姓氏源流及其发展变迁乃是研究族群问题和现代村落形成的切入点。本文以华南的一个单姓客家继嗣群派系的发展为案例来揭示移民流动与乡村聚落变迁的关系,并由此分析现代村落中都市化问题、宗族发展新趋势及其对地方权力带来的影响。     

Thinking outside the box: Strategies used by low‐income single mothers to make ends meet

Recent changes to Australia's welfare system have impacted low‐income single parents who have been moved from a family payment, Parenting Payment Single, to a lower payment directed at individuals looking for work, Newstart Allowance. Research has shown that single‐parent families are particularly vulnerable to the risk of financial deprivation and poverty, and this recent welfare payment change further compounds the often dire financial situation for these families. Twenty‐three in‐depth interviews were conducted with low‐income single mothers who had been recently moved off the Parenting Payment Single and on to Newstart Allowance. As a result of this payment change and the decreased welfare assistance, the women spoke of needing to develop new strategies to compensate for their decreased income. This article focuses on the strategies these families developed and employed, exploring the women's ability to be resourceful in times of welfare changes.     

Recommended Reference Values for Risk Assessment of Oral Exposure to Copper

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database, the authoritative source of U.S. risk assessment toxicity factors, currently lacks an oral reference dose (RfD) for copper. In the absence of such a value, various health-based reference values for copper are available for use in risk assessment. We summarize the scientific bases and differences in assumptions among key reference values for ingested copper to guide selection of appropriate values for risk assessment. A comprehensive review of the scientific literature best supports the oral RfD of 0.04 mg/kg body weight/day derived by EPA from their Drinking Water Action Level. This value is based on acute gastrointestinal effects but is further supported by broader analysis of copper deficiency and toxicity.     

FAAS法对铜矿石中铜的测定

用浓盐酸、浓硝酸溶解试样后,在WFX2B2型原子吸收光谱仪上采用铜的灵敏线249.2nm和次灵敏线327.4nm作为分析线,对铜矿石试样进行了测定,实验证明:在0.2mol/L的盐酸溶液中,以FAAS积分法测定铜元素,其它金属离子杂质不干扰铜元素的测定,与碘量法相对比,方法具有快速、简便、准确的优点。变异系数小于百分之一。