Special Feature, "Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters"

The collection of articles in this Special Feature is part of a larger project on "Forecasting Societies' Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change" (an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council to Wolfgang Lutz). In investigating how global change will affect population vulnerability to climate variability and extremes, the project aims to help develop strategies that enable societies to better cope with the consequences of climate change. In doing so, the basic hypothesis being tested is that societies can develop the most effective long-term defense against the dangers of climate change by strengthening human capacity, primarily through education. Education can directly influence risk perception, skills and knowledge and indirectly reduce poverty, improve health and promote access to information and resources. Hence, when facing natural hazards or climate risks, educated individuals, households and societies are assumed to be more empowered and more adaptive in their response to, preparation for, and recovery from disasters. Indeed the findings from eleven original empirical studies set in diverse geographic, socioeconomic, cultural and hazard contexts provide consistent and robust evidence on the positive impact of formal education on vulnerability reduction. Highly educated individuals and societies are reported to have better preparedness and response to the disasters, suffered lower negative impacts, and are able to recover faster. This suggests that public investment in empowering people and enhancing human capacity through education can have a positive externality in reducing vulnerability and strengthening adaptive capacity amidst the challenges of a changing climate

The impact of breastfeeding patterns on regional differences in infant mortality in Germany, 1910

This paper examines the impact of breastfeeding practices on the large regional differences in infant mortality in Germany around 1910. Breastfeeding is strongly negatively associated with infant mortality and remains so after controlling for public health measures and for demographic, economic, and social factors that also affect infant mortality. But it contributes much less to regional differences in infant mortality than do access to medical care, percentage illegitimate and marital fertility. Breastfeeding is less important than these other factors because it affects fewer causes of death and has a smaller impact on cause-specific infant mortality rates. L'auteur étudie l'impact des pratiques d'allaitement sur les grandes différences régionales de mortalité infantile observées en Allemagne aux alentours de 1910. Il existe une association fortement négative entre l'allaitement et la mortalité infantile, même quand on contrôle les facteurs démographiques, économiques, sociaux et de politique sanitaire, qui, eux aussi, affectent la mortalité infantile. Mais les différences régionales de mortalité infantile s'expliquent nettement moins par l'allaitement que par l'accessibilité des soins médicaux, le taux d'illégitimité des naissances et la fécondité légitime. L'allaitement est un facteur de moindre importance que ceux-ci parce qu'il n'a d'impact que sur un petit nombre de causes de décès, et un faible impact sur les taux de mortalité infantile par cause.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42730/1/10680_2005_Article_BF01796777.pd

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values

World Population & Human Capital in the Twenty-first Century

This book addresses systematically and quantitatively the role of educational attainment in global population trends and models. Seven background chapters summarize past trends in fertility, mortality, migration, and education; examine relevant theories and identify key determining factors; and set the assumptions that are subsequently translated into alternative scenario projections to 2100. These assumptions derive from a global survey of hundreds of experts and five expert meetings on as many continents. Another chapter details their translation into multi-dimensional projections by age, sex, and level of education. The book's final chapters analyse the results, emphasizing alternative trends in human capital, new ways of studying ageing and the quantification of alternative population, and education pathways in the context of global sustainable development. An appendix and associated web link present detailed results for all countries. The book shows that adding education to age and sex substantially alters the way we see the future

World Population & Human Capital in the Twenty-first Century: An Overview

This book addresses systematically and quantitatively the role of educational attainment in global population trends and models. Seven background chapters summarize past trends in fertility, mortality, migration, and education; examine relevant theories and identify key determining factors; and set the assumptions that are subsequently translated into alternative scenario projections to 2100. These assumptions derive from a global survey of hundreds of experts and five expert meetings on as many continents. Another chapter details their translation into multi-dimensional projections by age, sex, and level of education. The book's final chapters analyse the results, emphasizing alternative trends in human capital, new ways of studying ageing and the quantification of alternative population, and education pathways in the context of global sustainable development. An appendix and associated web link present detailed results for all countries. The book shows that adding education to age and sex substantially alters the way we see the future

Private monetary transfers in rural china: Are families altruistic?

Monetary transfers between relatives may be motivated by altruism, or they may represent payments for services rendered. Data from a large 1988 household survey are used to test these hypotheses and to study the size and direction of transfers in rural China. The analysis suggests that altruism alone cannot explain the observed transfers and that exchange may be involved. Most of the money flows appear to be transfers from adult children to elderly parents and remittances from migrants. Child care is likely to be one of the main services that parents render to adult children in exchange for money.

Demography's role in sustainable development

Science3356071918-SCIE