The changing values of children and preferences regarding family size in south Africa

This study extends the ongoing studies on values of children and intergenerational relations into an African context with the following key questions: To what extent can the structure of values of children (VOC) identified in previous studies be found in South Africa and what are women's preferences regarding the size of small, large, and ideal families? The sample consisted of three cohorts of Black South African women from the Limpopo Province. Factor analyses showed that the dimensions of VOC found in South Africa are a conglomeration of different values. Identified dimensions were Social/Emotional and Traditional/Utilitarian with respect to reasons for wanting children. Regarding reasons for not wanting children, Child as Source of Constraints and Constraints to Have a Child were identified. Intergenerational comparisons showed variations in the importance of value of children dimensions and in preferences regarding family size. Values of children of younger mothers were related to the number of children these women had and to their preferences regarding family size. The findings are discussed within the changing socio-political context of South Africa.

Reference Values and Factors Associated With Renal Resistive Index in a Family-Based Population Study

Increased renal resistive index (RRI) has been recently associated with target organ damage and cardiovascular or renal outcomes in patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus. However, reference values in the general population and information on familial aggregation are largely lacking. We determined the distribution of RRI, associated factors, and heritability in a population-based study. Families of European ancestry were randomly selected in 3 Swiss cities. Anthropometric parameters and cardiovascular risk factors were assessed. A renal Doppler ultrasound was performed, and RRI was measured in 3 segmental arteries of both kidneys. We used multilevel linear regression analysis to explore the factors associated with RRI, adjusting for center and family relationships. Sex-specific reference values for RRI were generated according to age. Heritability was estimated by variance components using the ASSOC program (SAGE software). Four hundred women (mean age±SD, 44.9±16.7 years) and 326 men (42.1±16.8 years) with normal renal ultrasound had mean RRI of 0.64±0.05 and 0.62±0.05, respectively (P<0.001). In multivariable analyses, RRI was positively associated with female sex, age, systolic blood pressure, and body mass index. We observed an inverse correlation with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. Age had a nonlinear association with RRI. We found no independent association of RRI with diabetes mellitus, hypertension treatment, smoking, cholesterol levels, or estimated glomerular filtration rate. The adjusted heritability estimate was 42±8% (P<0.001). In a population-based sample with normal renal ultrasound, RRI normal values depend on sex, age, blood pressure, heart rate, and body mass index. The significant heritability of RRI suggests that genes influence this phenotype.

Micro-family-owned business : transitory survival mechanism or long term wealth creator?

Principal Topic: Entrepreneurship is key to employment, innovation and growth (Acs & Mueller, 2008), and as such, has been the subject of tremendous research in both the economic and management literatures since Solow (1957), Schumpeter (1934, 1943), and Penrose (1959). The presence of entrepreneurs in the economy is a key factor in the success or failure of countries to grow (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001; Dejardin, 2001). Further studies focus on the conditions of existence of entrepreneurship, influential factors invoked are historical, cultural, social, institutional, or purely economic (North, 1997; Thurik 1996 & 1999). Of particular interest, beyond the reasons behind the existence of entrepreneurship, are entrepreneurial survival and good ''performance'' factors. Using cross-country firm data analysis, La Porta & Schleifer (2008) confirm that informal micro-businesses provide on average half of all economic activity in developing countries. They find that these are utterly unproductive compared to formal firms, and conclude that the informal sector serves as a social security net ''keep[ing] millions of people alive, but disappearing over time'' (abstract). Robison (1986), Hill (1996, 1997) posit that the Indonesian government under Suharto always pointed to the lack of indigenous entrepreneurship , thereby motivating the nationalisation of all industries. Furthermore, the same literature also points to the fact that small businesses were mostly left out of development programmes because they were supposed less productive and having less productivity potential than larger ones. Vial (2008) challenges this view and shows that small firms represent about 70% of firms, 12% of total output, but contribute to 25% of total factor productivity growth on average over the period 1975-94 in the industrial sector (Table 10, p.316). ---------- Methodology/Key Propositions: A review of the empirical literature points at several under-researched questions. Firstly, we assess whether there is, evidence of small family-business entrepreneurship in Indonesia. Secondly, we examine and present the characteristics of these enterprises, along with the size of the sector, and its dynamics. Thirdly, we study whether these enterprises underperform compared to the larger scale industrial sector, as it is suggested in the literature. We reconsider performance measurements for micro-family owned businesses. We suggest that, beside productivity measures, performance could be appraised by both the survival probability of the firm, and by the amount of household assets formation. We compare micro-family-owned and larger industrial firms' survival probabilities after the 1997 crisis, their capital productivity, then compare household assets of families involved in business with those who do not. Finally, we examine human and social capital as moderators of enterprises' performance. In particular, we assess whether a higher level of education and community participation have an effect on the likelihood of running a family business, and whether it has an impact on households' assets level. We use the IFLS database compiled and published by RAND Corporation. The data is a rich community, households, and individuals panel dataset in four waves: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2007. We now focus on the waves 1997 and 2000 in order to investigate entrepreneurship behaviours in turbulent times, i.e. the 1997 Asian crisis. We use aggregate individual data, and focus on households data in order to study micro-family-owned businesses. IFLS data covers roughly 7,600 households in 1997 and over 10,000 households in 2000, with about 95% of 1997 households re-interviewed in 2000. Households were interviewed in 13 of the 27 provinces as defined before 2001. Those 13 provinces were targeted because accounting for 83% of the population. A full description of the data is provided in Frankenberg and Thomas (2000), and Strauss et alii (2004). We deflate all monetary values in Rupiah with the World Development Indicators Consumer Price Index base 100 in 2000. ---------- Results and Implications: We find that in Indonesia, entrepreneurship is widespread and two thirds of households hold one or several family businesses. In rural areas, in 2000, 75% of households run one or several businesses. The proportion of households holding both a farm and a non farm business is higher in rural areas, underlining the reliance of rural households on self-employment, especially after the crisis. Those businesses come in various sizes from very small to larger ones. The median business production value represents less than the annual national minimum wage. Figures show that at least 75% of farm businesses produce less than the annual minimum wage, with non farm businesses being more numerous to produce the minimum wage. However, this is only one part of the story, as production is not the only ''output'' or effect of the business. We show that the survival rate of those businesses ranks between 70 and 82% after the 1997 crisis, which contrasts with the 67% survival rate for the formal industrial sector (Ter Wengel & Rodriguez, 2006). Micro Family Owned Businesses might be relatively small in terms of production, they also provide stability in times of crisis. For those businesses that provide business assets figures, we show that capital productivity is fairly high, with rates that are ten times higher for non farm businesses. Results show that households running a business have larger family assets, and households are better off in urban areas. We run a panel logit model in order to test the effect of human and social capital on the existence of businesses among households. We find that non farm businesses are more likely to appear in households with higher human and social capital situated in urban areas. Farm businesses are more likely to appear in lower human capital and rural contexts, while still being supported by community participation. The estimation of our panel data model confirm that households are more likely to have higher family assets if situated in urban area, the higher the education level, the larger the assets, and running a business increase the likelihood of having larger assets. This is especially true for non farm businesses that have a clearly larger and more significant effect on assets than farm businesses. Finally, social capital in the form of community participation also has a positive effect on assets. Those results confirm the existence of a strong entrepreneurship culture among Indonesian households. Investigating survival rates also shows that those businesses are quite stable, even in the face of a violent crisis such as the 1997 one, and as a result, can provide a safety net. Finally, considering household assets - the returns of business to the household, rather than profit or productivity - the returns of business to itself, shows that households running a business are better off. While we demonstrate that uman and social capital are key to business existence, survival and performance, those results open avenues for further research regarding the factors that could hamper growth of those businesses in terms of output and employment.

Ownership structure and business evaluation practices in family SMEs : evidence from empirical research in Italy

This paper presents early results from a pilot project which aims to investigate the relationship between proprietary structure of small and medium- sized Italian family firms and their owners’ orientation towards a “business evaluation process”. Evidence from many studies point out the importance of family business in a worldwide economic environment: in Italy 93% of the businesses are represented by family firms; 98% of them have less than 50 employees (Italian Association of Family Firms, 2004) so we judged family SMEs as a relevant field of investigation. In this study we assume a broad definition of family business as “a firm whose control (50% of shares or voting rights) is closely held by the members of the same family” (Corbetta,1995). “Business evaluation process” is intended here both as “continuous evaluation process” (which is the expression of a well developed managerial attitude) or as an “immediate valuation” (i.e. in the case of new shareholder’s entrance, share exchange among siblings, etc). We set two hypotheses to be tested in this paper: the first is “quantitative” and aims to verify whether the number of owners (independent variable) in a family firm is positively correlated to the business evaluation process. If a family firm is led by only one subject, it is more likely that personal values, culture and feelings may affect his choices more than “purely economic opportunities”; so there is less concern about monitoring economic performance or about the economic value of the firm. As the shareholders’ number increases, economic aspects in managing the firm grow in importance over the personal values and "value orientation" acquires a central role. The second hypothesis investigates if and to what extent the presence of “non- family members” among the owners affects their orientation to the business evaluation process. The “Cramer’s V” test has been used to test the hypotheses; both were not confirmed from these early results; next steps will lead to make an inferential analysis on a representative sample of the population.

Role demands and work-family balance experience in Malaysia : the different moderating effects of collectivism and gender role identity among diverse ethnic groups

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the influence of ethnic cultural values on the relationship of role demands and the work-family balance (WFB) experience. Past studies have found that the demands from work and family roles have a different impact on the work-family experience in people of different ethnicity. Researchers attribute these results to the cultural differences across the groups. However, there has been no empirical support for these assumptions because most past studies did not explicitly measure the cultural dimension in their design. Therefore, although studies have found ethnic differences in work-family experience, as cultural variables were not measured, it cannot be determined whether these differences were due to the differing ethnic groups’ cultural styles. The present thesis is set up to address this limitation in the literature, employing the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups in Malaysia as the study samples. The investigation consisted of pilot interviews and two survey studies. The interviews were carried out to establish the perception of WFB by target participants of a non-western nation. The first survey served to identify whether the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups residing under the same economic and social systems vary in their perceptions of work and family roles. The second survey tests the research model empirically, that is, whether cultural values moderate the relationship between role demands and WFB and if these moderation effects vary across ethnic groups. From the interviews, the results indicated that work-family experience is not a universal experience, but is partly culture-specific. Specifically, in the case of Malaysia, WFB is very much observed from the role obligation perspective. In particular, balance is perceived when work duties and household affairs are both adequately fulfilled. On the other hand, the conceptualisation of WFB in terms of role satisfaction and role interference also emerged in the interviews, suggesting the universality of these constructs across cultures. The findings from Survey One indicated that participants of different ethnicities in this study do not differ greatly in their perceptions regarding their participation in work and family roles. Generally, these participants revealed the less traditional attitudes towards women’s participation in work and family roles. However, variations were observed between the two groups in terms of reasons for working, spouses’ preferences towards their employment, and the extent to which their work role is perceived to impede their normative role performance in the household. Despite these differences, the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups showed more similarities than differences in their perceptions of work and family. The findings from Survey Two, which tested the research model, produced mixed results. On the whole, the results showed that the cultural dimensions examined in this study (i.e. collectivism, work identity and family identity) did influence the relationship between role demands and WFB experience, thus providing empirical evidence for the assumption in the literature that the relationship between role demand and work-family experience is moderated by cultural values. Most importantly, support was found for the proposition that these moderation effects vary between the Malay and Chinese ethnic groups. Moreover, this study also found evidence that Malays and Chinese differ significantly on collectivism and work identity cultural dimensions where Malays are found to be more collectivist than the Chinese, while work identity is stronger in the Chinese than in the Malays. There is no difference in the levels of family identity between the two groups. Of all the three moderators, work identity was deemed the most important because many of the supported hypotheses pertained to the work identity moderating effects. In contrast, family identity does not seem to have much moderating influence on role demand-WFB relationships, while the results for the collectivism moderator are mixed. As such, although not conclusive, it can be deduced that variations in the effects of role demand on work-family experience across ethnicity are a result of the groups’ cultural differences, thereby supporting the assumption in the literature.

Sustainable housing: family experiences with supply chain ethics

Climate change, resource depletion and increasing urbanization are converging global issues that are challenging the way we design, construct and operate buildings. The housing sector is a significant contributor to these global issues through consumption of limited resources, waste generation and disposal (solid, liquid and atmospheric waste) and negative human health impacts (Senick 2006). Although the design and construction of ‘sustainable housing’ would appear to be an obvious and technically feasible solution, there remains multi-faceted issues affecting the delivery of sustainable housing (Holloway and Bunker 2006). Two fundamental issues - what makes a house sustainable, and to what extent regulation should be used to deliver sustainability - have been, and continue to be, debated at multiple levels in society. Despite personal, professional and political views on these issues, three key characteristics of the whole housing supply chain require fundamental change if we are to successfully address sustainability challenges (Birkeland 2008). These include: fragmentation; established methods, practices and processes, and the relationships between players. A more in-depth understanding of the role of ethics (values, beliefs and standards) and potential ethical conflicts within the supply chain will assist in better defining the nature of the fundamental changes required...

Genetic response to combined family selection for improved mean harvest weight in giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in Vietnam

We estimated genetic changes in body and carcass weight traits in a giant freshwater prawn (GFP) (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) population selected for increased body weight at harvest in Vietnam. The data set consisted of 18,387 individual body and 1730 carcass weight records, as well as full pedigree information collected over four generations. Average selection response (per generation) in body weight at harvest (transformed to square root) estimated as the difference between the Selection line and the Control group was 7.4% calculated from least squares mean (LSMs), 7.0% from estimated breeding values (EBVs) and 4.4% calculated from EBVs between two consecutive generations. Favorable correlated selection responses (estimated from LSMs) were found for other body traits including: total length, cephalothorax length, abdominal length, cephalothorax width, and abdominal width (12.1%, 14.5%, 10.4%, 15.5% and 13.3% over three selection generations, respectively). Data in the second generation of selection showed positive correlated responses for carcass weight traits including: abdominal weight, exoskeleton-off weight, and telson-off weight of 8.8%, 8.6% and 8.8%, respectively. We conclude that body weight at harvest responded well to the application of combined (between and within) family selection and correlated responses in carcass weight traits were favorable.

End-of-life care in the intensive care unit : a systematic review of qualitative studies investigating the experiences and perceptions of the patient's family

Review question/objective The review objective is to synthesise the best available evidence on experiences and perceptions of family members of intensive care unit patients on the adequacy of end-of-life care, where life-support modalities have been withheld or withdrawn. Inclusion criteria Types of participants This review will consider studies that report on the experiences and perceptions of patients’ families on EOLC in the ICU, where life-support modalities have been withheld or withdrawn. The family is defined as “those who are closest to the patient... the family may include the biological family, family by acquisition, and the family of choice and friends”. Phenomena of interest The phenomena of interest for this review are the patients’ families experiences, perceptions or views on the adequacy of EOLC delivered in the ICU, where life-support modalities were withheld or withdrawn. These experiences may refer to the following views on domains of care considered important at the end-of-life in the ICU, which have been described already in the existing literature: timely, consistent, and compassionate communication, clinician availability, clinical decision making based on patients’ preferences, goals and values, physical care implemented to maintain patient comfort, holistic interdisciplinary care and bereavement care for families of patients who died.

Cryptanalysis of the LAKE hash family

We analyse the security of the cryptographic hash function LAKE-256 proposed at FSE 2008 by Aumasson, Meier and Phan. By exploiting non-injectivity of some of the building primitives of LAKE, we show three different collision and near-collision attacks on the compression function. The first attack uses differences in the chaining values and the block counter and finds collisions with complexity 233. The second attack utilizes differences in the chaining values and salt and yields collisions with complexity 242. The final attack uses differences only in the chaining values to yield near-collisions with complexity 299. All our attacks are independent of the number of rounds in the compression function. We illustrate the first two attacks by showing examples of collisions and near-collisions.

Transforming beyond self: fluidity of parent identity in family decision-making

When a household welcomes a new infant a transformation occurs whereby household routines, values and decisions change. This research explores how decision-making is influenced by fluctuating identity subjectivities. We explore longitudinally, using a family identity framework, how the transitioning between self, couple and family self-identities influences the decisions made regarding social issues, in this case infant feeding. Results indicate that decision-making during a period of transformation is not straightforward, relying on a multiplicity of identities that are constantly renegotiated and dependent on other influences. Decisions made conform to the identity-construct-of-the-moment, but are fluid and subject to change, such that pinpointing causal pathways is inappropriate. Implications for influencing the consumption of social behaviors for consumer researchers are one size does not fit all and require an in-depth understanding of the fluidity of decision-making. Consequently, social marketing strategies need to be tailored to constructed identities and flexible across time to remain influential.

Family, feudalism and selfishness: Looking at Indonesian leadership through a wisdom lens

Using Social Practice Wisdom (SPW) as a conceptual lens, we shed new light on destructive, selfish leadership and its negative effects. Our study highlights the negative effects on followers of leaders' selfishness, as well as lack of empathy and inauthenticity. Our work also sheds light on new cross-cultural leadership challenges in emerging economies like Indonesia. Analysis reveals deep tensions between Indonesian leaders' tendency to position themselves in self-serving discourses of feudalism and family, and what young, western educated Indonesian professionals now expect of leaders. Selfish leadership discourse and lack of leader wisdom jeopardize Indonesia's economic development. We argue that wise dialogical communication enhances wise leadership.

Work/Family Reconciliation: Corporate Management, Family Policies, and Gender Equality in the Finnish Context

Work/family reconciliation is a crucial question for both personal well-being and on societal level for productivity and re-production throughout the Western world. This thesis examines work/family reconciliation on societal and organisational level in the Finnish context. The study is based on an initial framework, developing it further and analysing the results with help of it. The methodology of the study is plural, including varying epistemological emphasis and both quantitative and qualitative methods. Policy analysis from two different sectors is followed by a survey answered by 113 HR-managers, and then, based on quantitative analyses, interviews in four chosen case companies. The central findings of the thesis are that there indeed are written corporate level policies for reconciling work and family in companies operating in Finland, in spite of the strong state level involvement in creating a policy context in work/family reconciliation. Also, the existing policies vary in accessibility and use. The most frequently used work/family policies still are the statutory state level policies for family leave, taking place when a baby is born and during his or her first years. Still, there are new policies arising, such as a nurse for an employee’s child who has fallen ill, that are based on company activity only, which shows in both accessibility and use of the policy. Reasons for developing corporate level work/family policies vary among the so-called pro-active and re-active companies. In general, family law has a substantial effect for developing corporate level policies. Also headquarter gender equality strategies as well as employee demands are important. In regression analyses, it was found that corporate image and importance in recruitment are the foremost reasons for companies to develop policies, not for example the amount of female employees in the company. The reasons for policy development can be summarized into normative pressures, coercive pressures and mimetic pressures, in line with findings from institutional theory. This research, however, includes awareness of different stakeholder interests and recognizes that institutional theory needs to be complemented with notions of gender and family, which seem to play a part in perceived work/family conflict and need for further work/family policies both in managers’ personal lives and on the organisational level. A very central finding, demanding more attention, is the by HR managers perceived change in values towards work and commitment towards organisation at the youngest working generation, Generation Y. This combined with the need for key personnel has brought new challenges to companies especially in knowledge business and will presumably lead to further development of flexible practices in organisations. The accessibility to this flexibility seems to, however, be even more dependent on the specific knowledge and skills of the employee. How this generation will change the organisations remains to be seen in further research.

A Combinatorial Family of Near Regular LDPC Codes

An elementary combinatorial Tanner graph construction for a family of near-regular low density parity check (LDPC) codes achieving high girth is presented. These codes are near regular in the sense that the degree of a left/right vertex is allowed to differ by at most one from the average. The construction yields in quadratic time complexity an asymptotic code family with provable lower bounds on the rate and the girth for a given choice of block length and average degree. The construction gives flexibility in the choice of design parameters of the code like rate, girth and average degree. Performance simulations of iterative decoding algorithm for the AWGN channel on codes designed using the method demonstrate that these codes perform better than regular PEG codes and MacKay codes of similar length for all values of Signal to noise ratio.

High Proton Mobility, Solvent Induced Single Crystal to Single Crystal Structural Transformation, and Related Studies on a Family of Compounds Formed from Mn-3 Oxo-Clusters

The reaction between 4,4'-sulfonyldibenzoic acid (H(2)SDBA) and manganese under mild conditions resulted in the isolation of two new three-dimensional compounds, Mn-4(C14H8O6S)(4)(DMA)(2)]center dot 3DMA, I, and Mn-3(C14H8O6S)(3)(DMA)(2)(MeOH)]center dot DMA, IIa. Both structures have Mn-3 trimer oxo cluster units. While the Mn-3 oxoclusters are connected through octahedral manganese forming one-dimensional Mn-O-Mn chains in I, the Mn-3 units are isolated in IIa. The SDBA units connect the Mn-O-Mn chains and the Mn-3 clusters giving rise to the three-dimensional structure. Both compounds have coordinated and free solvent molecules. In IIa, two different solvent molecules are coordinated, of which one solvent can be reversibly exchanged by a variety of other similar solvents via a solvent-mediated single crystal to single crystal (SCSC) transformation. The free lattice DMA solvent molecules in I can be exchanged by water molecules resulting in hydrophilic channels. Proton conductivity studies on I reveals a high proton mobility with conductivity values of similar to 0.87 x 10(-3) Omega(-1) cm(-1) at 34 degrees C and 98% RH, which is comparable to some of the good proton conductivity values observed in inorganic coordination polymers. We have also shown structural transformation of I to IIa through a possible dissolution and recrystallization pathway. In addition, both I and IIa appear to transform to two other manganese compounds H3O]Mn-3(mu(3)-OH)(C14H8O6S)(3)(H2O)](DMF)(5) and H3O](2)Mn-7(mu 3-OH)(4)(C14H8O6S)(6)(H2O)(4)](H2O)(2)(DMF)(8) under suitable reaction conditions. We have partially substituted Co in place of Mn in the Mn-3 trimer clusters forming CoMn2(C14H8O6S)(3)(DMA)(2)(EtOH)]center dot DMA, III, a structure that is closely related to IIa. All the compounds reveal antiferromagnetic behavior. On heating, the cobalt substituted phase (compound III) forms a CoMn2O4 spinel phase with particle sizes in the nanometer range.