Migration intentions of rural youth in the Westhoek, Flanders, Belgium and the Veenkoloniën, The Netherlands

‘Should I stay or should I leave my home region?’ is one of the key life course questions that many young people must address as they grow to maturity. Social mobility increasingly presupposes geographical mobility, especially in rural areas. The consequences of the selective out-migration of socially mobile young people (‘brain drain’) are seen as a threat to the economic development and reputation of rural areas. The out-migration of young rural people is often related to participation in higher education and entrance into the labour market. This paper focuses on the migration intentions of pupils in secondary education in two peripheral rural areas: The Westhoek in Flanders, Belgium and the Veenkoloniën in the Netherlands. It analyses, by means of logistic regression analysis, the migration intentions of 611 pupils in the Westhoek and 294 pupils in the Veenkoloniën in relation to their social background, migration history, perceptions of employment opportunities and the way they identify with their home region. In both regions, perceived employment opportunities and local attachment appear to be the most important factors explaining migration intentions. In the Veenkoloniën, in contrast with the Westhoek, migration history, educational level and representations of the region are also important factors determining the migration intentions of young people. These results can be explained by differences in the structure, culture and landscape of the two regions.     

‘La creatividad como exponente de las contradicciones sociales y culturales contemporáneas. Aproximación a su concepto desde la Teoría Sociologíca’

RESUMEN

A partir de las aportaciones de H. Joas y A. Reckwitz, este artículo trata de perfilar una sociogénesis del concepto de creatividad, asociándola más al contexto general social y cultural -el proceso de civilización moderna- en el que brota que a la acción creativa. Se trata, en concreto, de describir y analizar las contribuciones de la Sociología sobre la creatividad en relación con el proceso de civilización moderna y con las ambivalencias que éste presenta de manera inherente. Particularmente, las que contraponen lo individual con lo colectivo, el espacio con el tiempo y el orden con la crisis.

Al respecto, el artículo llega a dos conclusiones finales: la primera, que la creatividad se muestra como ambigua y contradictoria, es decir, que ha heredado las ambivalencias de la Modernidad; y, la segunda, que la creatividad sufre las turbulencias y las indeterminaciones propias de la etapa de transición y de crisis en la que vivimos. Así, la creatividad constituye un exponente más de las contradicciones de la sociedad moderna en la que se desarrolla, funciona fundamentalmente como una construcción social y cultural. Es decir, que está colaborando más en la edificación de lo que somos y menos de lo que nos gustaría ser.     

Sufficient m-out-of-n (m/n) bootstrap

Traditional resampling methods for estimating sampling distributions sometimes fail, and alternative approaches are then needed. For example, if the classical central limit theorem does not hold and the naïve bootstrap fails, the m/n bootstrap, based on smaller-sized resamples, may be used as an alternative. An alternative to the naïve bootstrap, the sufficient bootstrap, which uses only the distinct observations in a bootstrap sample, is another recently proposed bootstrap approach that has been suggested to reduce the computational burden associated with bootstrapping. It works as long as naïve bootstrap does. However, if the naïve bootstrap fails, so will the sufficient bootstrap. In this paper, we propose combining the sufficient bootstrap with the m/n bootstrap in order to both regain consistent estimation of sampling distributions and to reduce the computational burden of the bootstrap. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotic normality of the proposed method, and propose new values for the resample size m. We compare the proposed method with the naïve bootstrap, the sufficient bootstrap, and the m/n bootstrap by simulation.     

Adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test tables for ratio of percentiles

The ordinary Wilcoxon signed rank test table provides confidence intervals for the median of one population. Adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test tables which can provide confidence intervals for the median and the 10th percentile of one population are created in this paper. Base-(n + 1) number system and theorems about property of symmetry of the adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic are derived for programming. Theorem 1 states that the adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic are symmetric around n(n + 1)/4. Theorem 2 states that the adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test statistic with the same number of negative ranks m are symmetric around m(n+1)/2. 87.5% and 85% confidence intervals of the median are given in the table for n = 12, 13,…, 29 to create approximated 95% confidence intervals of the ratio of medians for two independent populations. 95% and 92.5% confidence intervals of the 10th percentile are given in the table for n = 26, 27, 28, 29 to create approximated 95% confidence regions of the ratio of the 10th percentiles for two independent populations. Finally two large datasets from wood industry will be partitioned to verify the correctness of adjusted Wilcoxon signed rank test tables for small samples.     

Extending pension coverage in Cambodia: The governance and investment challenges of the Social Security Investment Fund

Rapid economic growth, declining fertility and changes in family structures have encouraged the Kingdom of Cambodia to reform its old-age pension system. The Government of Cambodia reached an important milestone in 2019, when the Law on Social Security was promulgated. The Law includes provisions for a compulsory defined benefit pension scheme, establishing a sound framework for extending compulsory pension coverage beyond the public sector to formal private-sector workers. As a future step, the compulsory pension scheme should be extended to informal workers. To accompany the reform, the investment policy for the pension scheme’s reserve funds, including the supervisory regime and investment strategy, will be essential for the modernization of the Cambodian social security system. In this regard, Cambodia has successfully sought policy advice. However, the country should continue to seek further advice, and to act on this. Otherwise, the necessary and increasingly pressing policy ambitions of Cambodia to develop an adequate and sustainable social protection system may not be fully realized.     

Expanding social health protection in Cambodia: An assessment of the current coverage potential and gaps,and social equity considerations

The Royal Government of Cambodia recently launched its National Social Protection Policy framework to strengthen and expand social security and assistance. To inform social health protection policy, we examine socio-economic survey data and administrative coverage data to assess the coverage potential of existing coverage mechanisms and current gaps; and compare equitable contribution rates. Over 53 per cent of the population currently has no social health protection coverage mechanism, and about 16 per cent of the population who do have access to a mechanism are not yet enrolled. Current expansion efforts focus on the formal employee scheme, primarily benefiting individuals from higher income households. In addition, recent coverage expansion to some informal workers leaves significant gaps, particularly among the informal sector. We find out-of-pocket health care expenditure to be an excessive share of income among lower wealth quintile individuals and conclude they are financially vulnerable. Finally, we illustrate that an equitable approach to individual, monthly health care contributions among the lower three quintiles has a severely limited potential for revenue generation, and collection costs could exceed the amount collected. Therefore, we recommend that vulnerable groups should be exempted from contribution payments as social health protection is expanded.     

Employer‐oriented labour market policies in Sweden: Creating jobs and the division of labour in the public sector

In many European countries, greater importance is accorded to labour market policies in which employers are involved in activating unemployed people. Such employer‐oriented policies target employers’ demand for labour and attempt to influence their willingness to hire, train or guide (often disadvantaged) unemployed groups. Using data from a qualitative interview study of an employer‐oriented programme in a medium‐size city in Sweden, the present article aims to develop knowledge about how these policies are used to influence employers to hire unemployed workers and how jobs created in this context differ from regular jobs. The article argues that creating jobs through new arrangements for the division of labour, with the promise of relieving regular staff of unskilled tasks, may influence employers’ willingness to hire the unemployed when used alongside other kinds of policy instruments. However, the article also shows that this new division of labour, with programme participants performing mainly unskilled tasks, has been difficult to realize, as new staff gradually come to perform an increasing number of regular working tasks.     

“We have to take these guys out”: Motivations for Assaulting Incarcerated Child Molesters

We know very little about how incarcerated men justify assaults against at‐risk inmates such as child molesters. For this article, we fill this gap in the literature by examining how men describe these assaults as a way to align their own violent behavior with more conventional mores. We find that formerly incarcerated men justify violence as a way to raise their own social status and promote cultural norms against child abuse. When inmates attack someone convicted of child molestation, they do so to punish him and provide a “service” to their community. Furthermore, they elevate their own social status and distance themselves from these offenders. Theoretically, this work broadens our understanding of verbal justifications for violent action.     

General Outcome Measures for Verbal Operants

A general outcome measure (GOM) can be used to show progress towards a long-term goal. GOMs should sample domains of behavior across ages, be sensitive to change over time, be inexpensive and easy to use, and facilitate decision making. Skinner''s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior may benefit from the development of GOM. To develop GOM, we conducted a review of the literature on mands, tacts, echoics, and intraverbals. The four areas reviewed included (a) an examination of the participant''s response form (i.e., vocal or nonvocal), (b) the type of prompt used, (c) types of materials used, and (d) timing of responses or sessions. Based on the review of the literature, we developed GOM for mands and tacts. This paper attempts to bridge the concept of GOMs with Skinner''s analysis of verbal behavior.     

4—6岁幼儿同伴交往能力量表的编制

本研究在综合国内外有关幼儿同伴交往研究的基础上 ,结合教师对幼儿交往行为描述的开放式问卷 ,编制了适合我国幼儿特点的《4— 6岁幼儿同伴交往能力量表》。经过预测后修订组成正式量表 ,共计 2 4个项目 ,施测于南京市 11所幼儿园的 4— 6岁 5 43名幼儿。因素分析结果验证了本量表 4个因素的存在 ,即 :社交主动性、语言和非语言交往能力、社交障碍、亲社会行为 ,从而验证了最初的结构预想。本研究着重考察了该量表的信度和效度 ,其中总量表与各分量表的同质性信度在 0 .80 31— 0 .92 85之间。对量表内容效度和结构效度检验也取得令人满意的结果。