Urbanization and risk preference in the People's Republic of China: A decomposition of the self-selection and assimilation effects

This paper argues that urbanization reshapes individual's risk preference by exerting self-selection and assimilation effects. Taking advantage of the unique hukou system in the People's Republic of China, we initiate a quasi-experiment method to elicit the two effects, employing the 2013-wave dataset of Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). We find strong evidence supporting our two-effect theory and the magnitudes of both effects are sizable and near in scale. The assimilation effect reduces the migrant's risk aversion measurement by 0.606 while the self-selection effect reduces it by 0.715, on average. Overall, urbanization improves migrants' risk appetite, and mediated by this improvement, migrants are more likely to get engaged into the economic activities under uncertainty than their rural peers, as indicated by the evidence we have when applying the two-effect theory to investigate how households decide on risky financial asset investment

Archives of Data Science, Series A. Vol. 1,1: Special Issue: Selected Papers of the 3rd German-Polish Symposium on Data Analysis and Applications

The first volume of Archives of Data Science, Series A is a special issue of a selection of contributions which have been originally presented at the {\em 3rd Bilateral German-Polish Symposium on Data Analysis and Its Applications} (GPSDAA 2013). All selected papers fit into the emerging field of data science consisting of the mathematical sciences (computer science, mathematics, operations research, and statistics) and an application domain (e.g. marketing, biology, economics, engineering)

An evaluation of the shortened high school duration in Germany and its impact on postsecondary education and labor market entry

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Patterns of population structure and growth in East Pakistan

The aspects of population structure refer to the individually carried traits or attributes of a population group, and include such ascribed and non ascribed characteristics as age, sex, marital status, literacy and education, economic activities and related phenomena which are thought to be the principal associates of geodemographic conditions and socio-economic levels of a country. These observations are applied in this study of population of East Pakistan, The study attempts by means of a detailed and exclusive analysis of the available materials to evaluate and elaborate past and present patterns in the different ascribed and non-ascribed characteristics of the population and their growth in socio-economic, cultural and regional contexts, and in quantitative terms. For regional studies, the 17 rural districts and 37 selected urban centres have been taken into consideration in relation to different aspects of population structure. Further, the aspects of population structure are studied individually and regionalized quantitatively by using a multivariate technique, known as Factor Analysis, which incorporates geodemographic and socio-economic variables for the respective residential areas. The results of the quantification present some of the most significant spatial characteristics in this agrarian society with very high density, ethno-cultural and linguistic homogeneity, low urbanization, high and stable fertility, and unbalanced and un-favourable age-sex structures, which have far reaching geodemographic implications in the country. On the other hand, as indicated in the text, the patterns of the population characteristics are closely associated with the framework on which rests the institutional structure of the whole society, and the attitude and outlook of the people who live within it. Many elements of population composition are themselves functions of the form and the mode of operation of existing institutions, i.e. value systems, traditions and norms. The residential variations in this connection only reflect the mode of their institutional differentials. The uniformity in the aspects of population structure within a particular residential or regional unit signifies the institutional exclusiveness or distinctiveness within it, the intra-residential and spatial differences imply the degree of dynamism or change in this exclusiveness - which is more apparent in the urban centres than in the densely populated rural areas. The overall low variability in most elements of population structure, in turn, reflects the slow socio-economic change, and the traditionalism in the geodemographic set-up of East Bengal, Given no significant institutional and attitudinal changes any radical and favorable transformation in the patterns of population structure in the province seems to be rather remote. These aspects of East Pakistan's population are of particular importance in relation to her geodemographic development and planning strategy in relation to the overall socio-economic development of the country

Barriers and facilitators in meal planning strategies for glycemic control in individuals with type 1 diabetes in Beijing, China

Type-1 diabetes (T1D) incidence in China is one of the lowest among the world but is steadily increasing each year. Without proper matching of insulin injections with dietary intake, patients with T1D face challenges with maintaining healthy blood glucose levels. Currently, there is very limited research that has focused on the nutrition aspect of T1D self-management among patients in China. This study aims to further investigate the nutrition aspect of T1D management in China by exploring how nutrition knowledge may be influencing adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting among T1D patients in China. The study also aims to investigate other potential barriers that may influence adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting. Two online nutrition surveys were developed through Qualtrics Survey Software: one survey was targeted towards patients with T1D (n=82) and one survey was targeted towards health care providers (n=11) from Peking University People’s Hospital in Beijing, China. The mean age of patient participants was 26.0 ±7.2 years. Approximately 74.4% of patient participants were female. Majority of patient participants were also underweight/healthy weight (BMI < 23.0), from urban residence, and have at least a college level of education. Overall, patient participants scored higher on nutrition knowledge questions related to nutrition labels (70.6±20.2) versus questions regarding healthy foods and diet (non-label) questions (60.9±17.1). Only 35.4% of patient participants reported counting carbohydrates ‘Every day.’ The study also found the most common major barrier reported by patients was the desire to eat more food than what their doctor recommended. Other common barriers included wanting to read food labels, but not being able to because many of the foods consumed by patients do not have labels and because labels were hard for patients to understand. The sample of providers were all female and included 9 physicians, 1 nurse, and 1 dietitian. Descriptive statistics showed 81.8% of providers believing meal plans were too stringent for patients and 72.7% agreeing that meal plans were not practical because they included foods the patient did not normally consume. Overall, the study found no significant associations between nutrition knowledge and adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting. The study also did not find any significant associations between total number of barriers perceived and adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting. This suggests a more flexible insulin regimen is needed in China to allow for more flexible dietary patterns, as opposed to a fixed insulin regimen that is currently being utilized by majority of T1D patients in China. Cost and accessibility of healthy foods were also not perceived to be significant barriers to meal planning and T1D management by both patients and health care providers. Given the small sample size of this study, more research is needed in the future to test these associations between nutrition knowledge and adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting, as well as total number of barriers perceived and adherence to meal planning and carbohydrate counting.Bachelor of Science in Public Healt