Housing hardship and energy insecurity among native-born and immigrant low-income families with children in the United States

The costs for rent and utilities account for the largest share of living expenses, yet these two critical dimensions of material hardship have seldom been examined concurrently in population-based studies. This paper employs multivariate statistical analysis using American Community Survey data to demonstrate the relative risk ratio of low-income renter-occupied households with children experiencing ‘rent burden', ‘energy insecurity', or a ‘double burden’ as opposed to no burden. Findings suggest that low-income households are more likely to experience these economic hardships in general but that specific groups are disproportionately burdened in different ways. For instance, whereas immigrants are more likely to experience rental burden, they are less likely to experience energy insecurity and are also spared from the double burden. In contrast, native-born African Americans are more likely than all other groups to experience the double burden. These results may be driven by the housing stock available to certain groups due to racial residential segregation, decisions regarding the quality of housing low-income householders are able to afford, as well as home-country values, such as modest living and energy conservation practices, among immigrant families. This paper also points to important policy gaps in safety net benefits related to housing and energy targeting low-income households.     

Democracy and human development: recent legislation in India

Human Development (HD) requires that development must accompany fundamental human concerns that make life worth living. It is surprising that despite being a democracy, India performs poorly on HD. In this backdrop, four pieces of legislation of different orientations have been passed since 1998–99: ‘Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana’, the ‘Right to Information’, the ‘National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ and the ‘Right to Education’. Where successful, they have empowered the beneficiaries. Though not expressed as such, nor exclusively directed to this end, these pieces of legislation are bound together with democracy's demand for HD: they are influenced externally by various aspects of globalisation; internally, development is continuously interrogated by democracy, competitive politics and social activism.     

中国决策情境下的多源流模型及其优化研究

作为当今公共政策研究领域最炙手可热的理论模型之一,约翰·金登的多源流分析理论业已得到国内外学者的广泛应用与认可。在对该模型的相关内容进行简单铺陈后,通过辨析国内外不同的政策主体参与逻辑,进一步厘清了我国公共决策的独有特征。研究重点是在整合提炼西方既有修正思路的基础上,沿袭模型的模糊性假设,结合我国具体实践案例,对多源流模型进行优化与补充。研究表明,中国决策情境下的多源流模型优化主要有提高源流间的融合性、政治源流的核心化、焦点事件的独立化以及特殊情况下的临时决策等四种路径,四种优化与补充路径的有机结合将为进一步提升模型适用性提供帮助。     

Assumption-aware tools and agency; an interrogation of the primary artifacts of the program evaluation and design profession in working with complex evaluands and complex contexts

Like artisans in a professional guild, we evaluators create tools to suit our ever evolving practice. The tools we use as evaluators are the primary artifacts of our profession, reflect our practice and embody an amalgamation of paradigms and assumptions. With the increasing shifts in evaluation purposes from judging program worth to understanding how programs work, the evaluator’s role is changing to that of facilitating stakeholders in a learning process. This involves clarifying purposes and choices, as well as unearthing critical assumptions. In such a role, evaluators become major tool-users and begin to innovate with small refinements or produce completely new tools to fit a specific challenge or context.We interrogate the form and function of 12 tools used by evaluators when working with complex evaluands and complex contexts. The form is described in terms of traditional qualitative techniques and particular characteristics of the elements, use and presentation of each tool. Then the function of each tool is analyzed with respect to articulating assumptions and affecting the agency of evaluators and stakeholders in complex contexts.     

克吕尼运动的性质及其与格列高利改革的关系

本文旨在考察克吕尼运动的性质及其与格列高利改革的关系。作为中世纪欧洲集权尝试的开端,克吕尼运动和格列高利改革分别指向集权的两个基本面,即道德方面和政治方面。克吕尼运动在本质上是一场道德革新运动,其成功关键在于将集权作为道德革新的基本手段。格列高利改革将克吕尼的经验拓展至政治领域,一反遁世离俗的本尼迪克式理想,要求按照基督教原则改造现实世界,从而奠定了12、13世纪政教斗争的基本逻辑。一方面,克吕尼运动为格列高利改革提供了思想条件和技术手段;另一方面,克吕尼运动始终将自己约束在道德革新领域。究其原因,它的理想本质上是本尼迪克式的。     

试析影响词汇访问速度的关键因素

一些高频词汇在学习者大脑词库中常被存储在底层,如何把这些需要熟练使用的词汇尽可能多地转移到词库表层,以达到词汇访问的自动化,是值得探索和研究的问题。本文从词汇访问频率、词汇意义变化和语境三方面分析影响词汇访问速度的原因,并提出外语学习过程中提高词汇访问速度的建议。     

宗教极端主义研究概要

宗教极端主义严重影响当今社会发展。本文正本清源 ,探讨了宗教极端主义的定义、本质、危害等问题 ,并对如何消解宗教极端主义提出了建议。     

神圣世俗社会--兼谈马林诺夫斯基的巫术科学宗教与神话观

宗教问题是一个热门话题,但对宗教的产生及其与巫术等等的关系研究尚处于起步阶段.笔者通过对马林诺夫斯基的<巫术科学宗教与神话>的学习,结合著名学者的观点,拟对以往宗教学说中关于自然与超自然的论述及其仪式、功能,在社会发展中的作用及其与巫术间的区别,作一肤浅的探索.     

论藏族的丧葬风俗

为什么全民信仰藏传佛教的藏民族,其丧葬的主要类型不是佛教所推崇的火葬而是天葬?为什么最高级的葬法是塔葬而不是最流行的天葬?为什么土葬的兴衰史与苯教的兴衰史相一致?文章从藏族的地理环境、宗教文化与民族史方面进行了论述,提出了藏民族葬俗双因素决定理论:地理环境与宗教交互作用决定了藏民族葬俗,地理环境在很大程度上抵消了宗教的决定性影响,特别是苯教所推崇的土葬和佛教所推崇的火葬的影响;而宗教又削弱了地理环境对葬俗的限制和束缚。