Suchergebnisse

Gender equality has gained substantial political importance in Ukraine, but implementation of the international trend towards 'gender mainstreaming' has had mixed success: the phrase is not yet part of the main political discourse, where older terms still prevail. The very term 'gender' is novel, and attitudes towards women reflect traditional concerns. Much legislation was adopted in the past decade, supposedly to enshrine gender equality; but this has not translated into meaningful social change. Social and economic conditions, including unfamiliarity with emerging global standards, preserve stereotyped thinking and militate against effective action. The issue does not feature strongly in education; women's organizations are weak; the media do not engage effectively with the issue; and ambivalent attitudes limit the impact of foreign sources of information and funding. These factors could all be deployed more effectively in order to bring Ukraine closer to world best practice. In addition, a more context-driven application of the gender mainstreaming model would result in its greater practical impact in the country. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThe goals of this study were to examine the relations between and trajectories of mothers' and children's social positive expressivity (PE). Mothers' and children's PE were observed annually for four years beginning when children were approximately 18 months old (N = 247; 110 girls). Based on correlations, there was evidence of rank‐order stability in children's and mothers' PE. Based on growth curve analyses, mothers' and children's PE followed curvilinear trajectories; thus, mean‐level instability was found. Children's PE during a free‐play interaction with their mothers increased then decreased slightly whereas mothers' affect during the same task decreased then stabilized. Children's PE during a joy‐inducing situation (i.e., bubbles) with an experimenter slightly decreased and then increased. In panel models, there was no evidence of prediction over time across children's and mothers' PE when taking stability into account. These unique trajectories and relations provide insight into the developmental pattern of young children's and their mothers' PE elicited within social contexts.

AbstractThe current study evaluated the relative roles of conceptual knowledge and executive control on the development of categorical flexibility, the ability to switch between simultaneously available but conflicting categorical representations of an object. Experiment 1 assessed conceptual knowledge and executive control together; Experiment 2 differentiated conceptual knowledge from costly executive processes. In Experiment 1, 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds were given a three‐choice (taxonomic, thematic, and nonassociate) match‐to‐sample task and asked to match two associates. In Experiment 2, same‐aged children were assessed on another match‐to‐sample task that reduced executive costs by presenting thematic and taxonomic associates on separate trials. By comparing performance across tasks, age‐related changes resulting from conceptual knowledge and executive control indicated that conceptual knowledge of superordinate relations showed gains between 3 and 4 years, whereas gains in executive control were seen between 4 and 5 years, suggesting a décalage in the development of conceptual and executive processes underlying categorical flexibility.

AbstractTestis size is an important feature of male pubertal development. The genetic and environmental contributions to variation in human testis size have hardly been studied. We estimated the heritability of human testicular size in a group of mono- and dizygotic twins and their non-twin brothers (145 twins and 20 brothers from 95 families). Participants were 18 years old on average and all had reached Tanner development stage 4 or higher. Dizygotic twins and their siblings had a larger mean testis volume than monozygotic twins and their siblings. There was significant familial resemblance, with higher correlations in monozygotic twin pairs (0.59) than in dizygotic twin and sibling pairs (0.34). Heritability was estimated at 59% (95% CI = 37–75%), but a model that excluded genetic influences and attributed all familial resemblance to shared environment, fitted the data only marginally worse. The finding of larger mean testis volume in dizygotic twins may be of interest for future research into the mechanisms underlying dizygotic twinning.

Japan has been faced with rapid population ageing for decades. This has continuously reduced the level of social security pension benefits. Based on this it is often said that corporate pension plans should play a wider role forward in providing retirement benefits. However, we also have to know that there is a limit to what corporate pension plans can do in place of the social security pension schemes. In this paper we extract lessons from the history of social security pension schemes in our country and try to define the roles of corporate pension plans and social security pension schemes. In conclusion we should keep adequacy of social security pension benefits even if the contribution rate becomes a bit higher. Corporate pension plans just enrich people's life in retirement. We have to remember that corporate pension plans were not certain means for reducing the poverty in old age and that for this reason social security pension schemes by social insurance were invented.

Criminological research has shown the relevance of examining offender–victim interaction and related factors to understand crime event outcomes. In sexual offenses against children, an obvious lack of knowledge exists regarding this issue. From a criminological perspective, we seek to improve our understanding of the offender–victim interaction in sexual offenses against children and, in particular, what factors might increase the risk of a more intrusive offense. We argue that modus operandi strategies play a central role in crime event outcomes and examine this hypothesis with data obtained from a semistructured interview conducted with offenders. As expected, modus operandi was found to have a strong effect on crime event outcomes, especially victim participation during sexual episodes. Victim effects also emerged from the analyses. Specifically, a strong interaction effect between age and gender of the victim was found for victim participation, which suggests that as the victim gets older, offenders are more likely to make their victim participate in sexual episodes when abusing a male victim but are less likely to do so when abusing a female victim.

May is an idealist. She's fighting for a better world and has sacrificed more than most. So when the old regime is destroyed, she is rewarded with a job as a prison photographer.But as the enemy pass one by one before her unflinching lens - both strange and familiar faces - can they shake her belief in this world she helped to create? Inspired by the work of the photographer Nhem En, who photographed the inmates of the Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia under the rule of the Khmer Rouge, and by painter Van Nath who painted Pol Pot and was one of the only seven survivors of Tuol Sleng, playwright Sarah Grochala draws on prison records and interviews with both prisoners and Khmer Rouge cadres to create a startling and affecting drama. S-27 won the first Protect The Human Playwriting Competition in 2007, run by iceandfire in conjunction with Amnesty International and Soho Theatre, and was in production at the Finborough Theatre in June 2009.

In this interview with Olivier Guez, the distinguished British historian Niall Ferguson, whose latest book is on the history of money, analyzes the current financial and economic crisis from a long-term perspective. The fact that he was one of the few experts to sound the alarm a few years ago only heightens the interest of his analysis. This crisis has few parallels with the Great Depression of the 1930s. Nor is it comparable with preceding recessions, given its extent, global nature and origins. This time around, it is not excessive public debt that triggered the crisis, but rather excessive private debt, in particular that of households and banks. It is not clear that the conventional remedies -- in other words, the old Keynesian solutions that are once again being hauled out -- will do the trick this time. But one thing is certain: this purge will force us to change the way we consume, and in fact our entire lifestyle. Adapted from the source document.

Governments all over the world have responded to the offer of violent and sexual-themed video games by inaugurating regulatory bodies. Still, video games with content that is deemed unsuitable for children are played even by young children. With a focus on the situation in Germany the aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, the current state of literature on the importance of age ratings for the regulation of video games is scrutinized. Therefore, the focus is on the German rating system by the Entertainment Software Self Control. This scheme is compared in particular to the American Entertainment Software Rating Board scheme and parallels with the Pan-European Game Information-system are drawn. On the other hand, results from an exploratory survey study on the preferences for video games among German 8 to 12 year olds are presented (N=1703), arguing that the preference for video games that are not suitable for them is a widespread phenomenon in particular among boys.

This paper builds on the surveys undertaken under the FEMAGE project in eight countries (the Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, and Finland) among natives on attitudes about migration and immigrants, interviews in these countries with immigrant women about their migration experiences, and policy deliberations among European stakeholders about policy options for addressing needs for immigrants in ageing societies and needs for their integration in the new home country. In this paper we have chosen to first address five critical questions: ? How native and migrant women see each other? ? How is need for migration viewed? ? How is integration perceived? ? What are the perceptions and experiences of discrimination? ? Emancipation and perceptions of one's own old age, and life satisfaction Then we identify policy implications of our survey findings. Finally, we discuss policy choices and draw conclusions about needs for tailoring of integration policies based on the reflexive approach and involvement of the key policy stakeholders active in European institutions and multipliers such as international NGOs and media.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine 32 mothers' sensitivity to social contingency during face‐to‐face interaction with their two‐ to four‐month‐old infants in a closed circuit TV set‐up. Prosodic qualities and vocal sounds in mother's infant‐directed (ID) speech during sequences of live interaction were compared to sequences where expressive behaviours were decoupled by presenting either the mothers (Replay 2) or the infants (Replay 1) with a replay record of the partners' former behaviour in a Live 1–Replay 1–Live 2–Replay 2–Live 3 design. Overall, the mothers produced significantly higher amount of ID speech during the live sequences. Compared to the Live 1 sequence, there was a significant reduction in mothers' ID speech during both replay sequences. However, the mothers only recovered ID speech after the Replay 2 sequence, not after the Replay 1. These findings suggest that the emotions signalled by the mothers' ID speech is affected by the contingency of the infant responses.

I began to write these lines while listening to a speech by Hugo Chávez at a summit of the Andean Community of Nations in Lima, Peru, some time in 2005. As inspiration for this article, the speech helped crystallize my thinking. Populism in Latin America has a lot to do with discourse, rhetoric, and symbolism, and I came to understand many things about this kind of politics that are not to be found in the literature. I want now to describe the inherent tensions and contradictions of old and new populism in Latin America, especially as they relate to democracy. I will then consider the emergence in recent years of a new social democratic left characterized by an unambiguous commitment to democratic institutions. For there is not one (populist), not two (Marxist and populist), but at least three lefts in Latin America (populist, Marxist, and social democratic). Hugo Chávez may be the most visible and strident Latin American political figure, but he is not the most representative. In fact, he is the exception rather than the rule.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is an attempt to validate the universal impact of e‐learning as distance education methodology and community learning.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines an ontological framework for e‐learning within theoretical referential points, its reach and its systemic and disciplinary approaches. The paper explores the ramifications of e‐learning.FindingsE‐learning offers distance learning through the internet, giving students an interactive educational experience and the opportunity to study through accredited learning providers. Through e‐learning, companies can deliver distance training to their staff, or gain additional revenue through re‐selling of training programmes. Using e‐learning, colleges of distance education can deliver distance learning to students, or offer other educational establishments the opportunity to use their courses.Originality/valueThe paper concludes that e‐learning makes a definitive impact on the young and old alike, creative writers and the community as a whole. E‐learning groups and communities such as the telecentre movement reach towards sustainability and socio‐educational development.

With this issue, AJEC returns to its original format as a journal with, for the time being, two issues per year. When the first issue was published in 1990 by the European Centre for Traditional and Regional Cultures (ECTARC), Europe was a different place. As the director of ECTARC, Franz-Josef Stummann (1990: 7), explained in his introduction to that issue, the 'magical date of 1992', heralding the Single European Market as a significant step towards European integration, had 'a substantial bearing' on the foundation of the journal. Moreover, the Berlin Wall, symbol of the political divide that cut right through Cold War Europe, had crumbled the previous year. German unification was imminent, but very little else seemed predictable. Eighteen years and two Gulf Wars later, not only has the European Union acquired fifteen new member states, ten of them former Communist countries, but we have also been told to perceive a new divide – between a 'new' Europe and an 'old' one.