Educational gaps in medical care and health behavior: Evidence from US Natality data

The US Natality files provide information on medical procedures and health related behavior during pregnancy and childbirth. The data set represents nearly the universe of mothers who give birth in the US, providing the most complete coverage possible of medical care and health behavior among a specific patient population. We document gaps in outcomes by education of the mother and the changes in these educational gaps during 1989-2002.     

School quality, child wellbeing and parents’ satisfaction

Child wellbeing at school and enjoyment of the learning environment are important economic outcomes, in particular because a growing body of research shows they are strongly linked to later educational attainments and labour market success. However, the standard working assumption in the economics of education is that parents choose schools on the basis of test-score performance, and concerns about child happiness are largely ignored. In this paper, we address this omission and investigate to what extent parents’ and children's views of their school are linked to test-score based performance, and to what extent parents’ judgements of school quality are linked to their child's happiness. To do so, we use information on stated attitudes from the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) matched to administrative records on pupil achievements in England. Our results suggest that test-score based measures of school quality tend to dominate parental satisfaction with the learning environment. However, school quality along this dimension is not strongly associated with pupil happiness and wellbeing at school.     

Which children benefit from non-parental care?

This paper investigates the relationship between non-parental care and toddlers’ behavioral outcomes using data from Australia. In particular, we explore heterogeneity in the relationship using the unique data on quality attributes: carer/child ratio, share of qualified staff, and expert ratings. The results suggest that full-time non-parental care, particularly center care, is negatively associated with toddlers’ behavioral outcomes. The negative association is however mitigated when centers have a larger number of carers per child. The negative association between non-parental care and behavioral outcomes also appears to be larger for children with better-educated parents.     

Immigration and student achievement: Evidence from Switzerland

This paper investigates empirically whether immigrant students in Switzerland perform poorly compared to their native counterparts and provides some explanations. Using a national sample of the 2000 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) database, we first analyze the impact of immigrant status on pupils’ achievement. We find a negative and significant impact of immigrant status on test scores in reading, mathematics and science literacy, even after controlling for a set of characteristics. We then decompose the observed reading score gap between Swiss and immigrant students to identify whether gaps in endowments explain test score differences along the distribution. Lower endowments explain most of the achievement gap in reading between Swiss and second-generation immigrants. However, lower returns explain around one quarter of the achievement gap between Swiss and first-generation immigrants for the weakest pupils.     

R.H.托尼教育改革活动初探

作为20世纪上半叶英国著名的教育改革家,R.H.托尼对当时英国的教育改革做出了巨大的贡献:一方面,通过为工人教育委员会创办研究班和一战后对该协会的领导,他在改善英国工人阶级命运的事业中进行了有益的探索;另一方面,他还扮演了工党和政府教育政策制定人的角色,帮助它们起草了许多意义重大的报告和法案,为全民教育在英国的实现打下了坚实的基础。     

过热液体R134a中活塞效应的数值模拟

针对一维密闭腔体中过热液体R134a的传热过程建立数学模型,并进行数值模拟研究。对计算区域左边界进行阶跃温差为1 K的等温加热,通过求解可压缩流体控制方程组,成功捕捉到流体内部存在的活塞效应,计算出其当量热导率,并分析过热程度对活塞效应的影响规律。结果表明：过热液体R134a中活塞效应当量热导率显著高于工质自身热导率,利用活塞效应可传递更高的热流密度,并实现更高的传热速率。     

中国体育旅游研究20年:述评与展望

以文献述评为基础,首先简要回顾了20年来中国体育旅游研究历程;从体育旅游概念界定、体育旅游类型分类、体育旅游专项规划和体育旅游发展对策四个方面对20年来国内体育旅游的研究成果进行了分析述评和研究.提出了:1)体育旅游概念界定的本质属性关键看体育,旅游仅是其一般属性;2)体育旅游概念在“体育”属性上的清晰界定,将为体育旅游的科学研究提供一个全新的理论框架体系;3)体育旅游不仅属于旅游业,更是体育产业的重要组成部分;4)体育旅游资源类型按照国家标准分为康体型、观光型和赛事型三种类型;5)体育旅游的研究范畴应从“体育旅游资源”向“体育游憩资源”深化拓展;6)体育旅游规划应向体育旅游“专项游憩规划”和“中高端业态规划”方向深化;7)体育旅游发展对策需从产业融合的经济视角挖掘其深层次发展的瓶颈与障碍等观点与建议.最后从旅游业和体育产业的国家政策以及部门“十二五”规划对体育旅游的大力发展措施上,展望了中国体育旅游未来的研究前景、研究内容框架体系和旅游院校相应的调整与变革.     

试论20世纪上半期学术界“中国化”思潮

学术界中国化思潮是20世纪上半期中国学术界、思想理论界一股产生过重要影响的学术文化思潮,它涉及哲学、教育学、社会学、史学、心理学等人文社会科学领域,形成了中西文化融合创新的学术发展思路,具有民族性、时代性、实践性等基本特征。这一思潮对近代中国的学术文化发展、对于今天建设具有中国特色和中国气派的人文和哲学社会科学学派、对于中国共产党马克思主义中国化命题的深入研究具有重要的意义。     

高校用户数字信息获取行为优化探究

从馆藏数字资源的在线使用情况、用户使用比例及高层次用户群获取数字信息的渠道3个层面,对高校不同层次用户群数字信息获取行为及其与二八法则、长尾法则的契合点进行分析的结果表明:图书馆在引导用户优化数字信息获取行为时应重视20%学科专家的信息影响力,以此带动80%用户信息素养的整体提高;应引导用户有效利用长尾尾部的数字信息获取渠道;应组织、揭示数字信息,引导用户需求向长尾尾部移动。     

利用D2R实现关系数据库与关联数据的语义模式映射

关系型数据库和关联数据的概念模型都基于现实世界的实体、属性及其关系而构建,具备建立映射和实现转换的可能性。两者语义模式映射的重点是关联关系的构建与表达。开源软件D2R的映射语言,通过核心要素ClassMap、PropertyBridge及其属性,支持关系数据库的SQL实现,支持将关系数据库不同实体之间、同一实体内部及与外部数据的关联关系构建为RDF链接。