Comparing public attitudes toward providing for the livelihood of the elderly in two aging societies: Germany and Japan

Using an ordered logit model on representative survey data, we study attitudes about who should provide for the livelihood of the elderly in two aging societies—Germany and Japan. We find that in both countries, those with higher income are more inclined toward the private option, whereas age has the opposite effect. Part-time work status negatively (positively) affects the inclination toward a government-based pension system in Japan (Germany). Other significant influences are the pensioner status of the respondents in Japan and specific left-wing party support in the case of Germans.     

Fetal movement frequency and the effect of associated perinatal factors: Multicenter study

Background

Decreased fetal movements are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, including stillbirth. Delayed maternal visits to a health care provider after perceiving decreased fetal movements are frequently observed in stillbirths. Informing pregnant women of the normal range of fetal movement frequency is essential in their earlier visits in order to prevent stillbirth.

Excessively delayed maternal reaction after their perception of decreased fetal movements in stillbirths: Population-based study in Japan

Background

Fetal movement is the most common method to evaluate fetal well-being. Furthermore, maternal perception of decreased fetal movements is associated with perinatal demise. Previously, we showed that perception of decreased fetal movements was the most common reason for mothers visiting the outpatient department among those who had stillbirths in our region. Further investigation of stillbirths with decreased fetal movements is essential to find a possible way of preventing stillbirth.

人虎山月间--中岛敦及其《山月记》解读

中岛敦生平与创作有三个特点 ,其代表作《山月记》与中国唐代传奇小说《人虎传》比较 ,两者有六大不同点 ,主人公李征的形象有一定的含义     

An Assessment of Alternative Measures of Time Use

Although time use has received much attention by social scientists as an index of resource allocation and social relations across groups, only a few studies have carefully assessed the relative strengths and weaknesses of the existing methods of measuring time use: time diary (TD), stylized (S) respondent report, and experiential sampling method (ESM). We note the varying degree of biases that arise in part from the extent of detail in the information collected by the three methods. Using findings from our analysis of the structure of these methods, we hypothesize that there are empirical exceptions to previously reported common findings that TD provides less biased information on time use than does S—namely (a) when labor market workers report their time spent on labor market work, and (b) when the historical trend in time, rather than the absolute level, is studied. Empirical results confirm our prediction and show that, among individuals who work regularly, TD and S estimates of labor market work hours reported by the same persons correspond closely to one another. In addition, when assessing historical trends, TD and S values correspond closely to one another, although TDs yield some inexplicable deviations from the trend even when the sample and the codes are carefully standardized. We also provide notes on a strategy of standardization for diary codes that are distinct across historical or national contexts.     

Gender and the Internet

Objective. This article examines whether there are differences in men's and women's use of the Internet and whether any such gender gaps have changed in recent years. Methods. We use data from several surveys during the period 1997–2001 to show trends in Internet usage and to estimate regression models of Internet usage that control for individuals' socioeconomic characteristics. Results. Women were significantly less likely than men to use the Internet at all in the mid–1990s, but this gender gap in being online disappeared by 2000. However, once online, women remain less frequent and less intense users of the Internet. Conclusions. There is little reason for concern about sex inequalities in Internet access and usage now, but gender differences in frequency and intensity of Internet usage remain.     

Family Types, Direct Money Transfers from Parents, and School Enrollment among Youths

Intrafamily resource transfers have not been studied extensively as a process that may help reduce the well-being disadvantage of stepchildren in parental remarriages relative to biological children in parental first marriages. The process is examined here by analyzing the link between direct parental money transfers and academic outcomes, as measured by enrollment. I develop and test two alternative hypotheses pertaining to a part of this link, which distinctly applies to children of remarried stepfamilies--the component not shared with children in intact families. An adaptive strategy hypothesis posits a well-being enhancing distinct component, operationalized as a positive interaction effect between measures of parental transfers × stepchildren in parental remarriages. A compromised use hypothesis posits a well-being compromising one, implying a negative interaction effect. Two sets of results from analyzing data on 18-21 year olds over multiple years (Nyouth-age=5,736, Nperson=3,615) in the first five waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) support the adaptive strategy hypothesis: a) the interaction effect (income received from parents × being a stepchild in a parental remarriage) has a positive sign; and b) this interaction effect is consistently positive, whether the youth is at risk of attending high school or college, even when the direction of the shared component of the link, as measured by the main effect of income from parents, varies by the level of schooling. The results suggest the presence of a robust well-being enhancing money transfer mechanism supporting children in some remarried stepparent families.     

Family Types,Direct Money Transfers from Parents,and School Enrollment among Youth

Intrafamily resource transfers have not been studied extensively as a process that may help reduce the well-being disadvantage of stepchildren in parental remarriages relative to biological children in parental first marriages. The process is examined here by analyzing the link between direct parental money transfers and academic outcomes, as measured by enrollment. I develop and test two alternative hypotheses pertaining to a part of this link, which distinctly applies to children of remarried stepfamilies—the component not shared with children in intact families. An adaptive strategy hypothesis posits a well-being enhancing distinct component, operationalized as a positive interaction effect between measures of parental transfers × stepchildren in parental remarriages. A compromised use hypothesis posits a well-being compromising one, implying a negative interaction effect. Two sets of results from analyzing data on 18- to 21-year-olds over multiple years (Nyouth-age = 5,736, Nperson = 3,615) in the first five waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 support the adaptive strategy hypothesis: (1) the interaction effect (income received from parents × being a stepchild in a parental remarriage) has a positive sign, and (2) this interaction effect is consistently positive, whether the youth is at risk of attending high school or college, even when the direction of the shared component of the link, as measured by the main effect of income from parents, varies by the level of schooling. The results suggest the presence of a robust well-being enhancing money transfer mechanism supporting children in some remarried stepparent families.     

空海携回日本的《悟空入竺记》及悟空行程

本文主要介绍9世纪初日本入唐僧空海抄本《悟空入竺记》在日本的流传状况,并对唐释悟空入竺及归国经行的某些地点进行了考证。