Social Insurance Literacy of Dutch Workers Receiving Disability Benefits and its Associations with Socio-Economic Characteristics

Purpose This study explores the concept social insurance literacy (SIL) and corresponding questionnaire (SILQ) among workers receiving disability benefits and the comprehensibility of the social security institute (SSI), and examines associations with socio-economic characteristics. Methods 1753 panel members of the Dutch SSI were approached to complete the SILQ-NL37. This measure was based on the original SILQ. The SILQ-NL37 contains domains for obtaining, understanding and acting upon information for both individual SIL and system comprehensibility. A higher score means better SIL or comprehensibility. Data on age, gender, education, living situation, Dutch skills and time receiving disability benefits were also collected. With k-means clustering, groups with adequate and limited SIL were created. Associations with socio-economic characteristics were examined with independent t-tests and linear regression analyses for both the total scores and within domain scores. Cronbach α and Spearman rho’s indicated measurement properties were good to acceptable for the SILQ-NL37. Results Thirty-five percent of the 567 participants were in the group with limited SIL. Higher individual SILQ-NL37 scores were associated with having a partner (p = 0.018) and northeastern living region (p = 0.031). Higher scores for obtaining (p = 0.041) and understanding (p = 0.049) information were associated with female sex, and for acting on information with younger age (p = 0.020). People with limited Dutch skills (p = 0.063) and a partner (p = 0.085) rated system comprehensibility higher. Conclusions According to the SILQ-NL37 scores, about 35% of the panel members have limited ability to obtain, understand and act upon social insurance systems information. Limited SIL is associated with several socio-economic factors. Future researches should study the concept in a more representative sample, and in different countries and social insurance contexts.

Low support for nudging among Swedes in a population-representative sample

Recent surveys in China, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, Australia, Italy, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, the USA, Japan, Hungary, and Denmark indicate that citizens generally are positive toward state nudging. However, less is known about differences in the support for nudging across socio-demographics and political party preferences, a research gap recently identified in the literature. This article investigates the relationship between the support for nudging and trust in public institutions through a population-representative survey in Sweden. It also analyzes differences in the support for nudging across political party preferences in two ideological dimensions: the economic left-right and cultural GAL-TAN spectra. Data were collected in December 2017 through a custom web survey, using Reisch and Sunstein's (2016) questionnaire. The respondents (N = 1032) were representative of the adult population with regard to gender, age, education, job sector, household income, living region, and political party preference. Sweden was found to belong to the cautiously pronudge nations (along with Japan, Hungary, and Denmark), contrary to hypotheses in previous research. Differences in the support for nudging were found along the economic left-right and GAL-TAN spectra. Individual nudges’ variation in support, polarization, and politicization are analyzed and discussed.

Housing and Adult Health: Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS)

Housing is one of the social determinants of health and the most basic survival needs of human beings. Many studies have preliminarily confirmed that housing factors can influence residents’ health. The aims of this study were: to evaluate the housing factors associated with self-rated health and mental health among Chinese residents; to explore the regional heterogeneity of the impact of housing on health; and to assess the effects of housing on health among different age groups. Data was derived from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS). Housing factors were analyzed along six dimensions: housing property, living space, number of living people, number of houses, living region and housing price. Self-rated health and mental health were used to measure health outcomes. Multivariate ordered logistic regression was performed to assess the relationship between housing and health. The living space, living region and housing price was significantly associated with self-rated health. The number of living people living region and housing price were related to mental health. The influence of housing factors on health were more pronounced among residents living in eastern and central area and among the middle-aged group (41–65). Present findings support the notion that housing factors were related to health outcomes. Future studies may focus on the impact of interventions that target on these factors, and the impact of housing on health among special groups such as migrant population and low-and-middle income families.

Determinants of Corruption Perception in a Transition Country: Case of Albania

In many aspects, Albania as a transition country has several weaknesses when compared to its neighbor countries. Even though the collapse of the communist regime was reached at almost the same time with other Balkan countries, Albania still remains outside the European Union and has to face an immature government and problematic progress in several areas. Corruption is one of the most problematic issues in Albania. This research paper is based on the data collected by IDRA Research & Consulting and in the course of empirical analysis. It studies the relation between corruption and the microeconomic factors, categorized as demographic and socio-economic factors. In other words, this study aims to examine why some individuals are more willing to accept corruption than other. Based on prominent previous studies in this field, which were discussed to a relatively limited degree, this paper aims to build an empirical model for Albania that helps to explain why some individuals are more tolerant with regard to corruption. As previous studies have shown, such factors as gender, the area of living, region, experience or wrong conception are expected to be listed among the indicators that determine perception of corruption. This study takes into account the findings of literature review when setting up the regression. The results argue that factors such as the area of living, political orientation, the level of trust in institutions, personal experience with corruption, and the right conception of corruption are important factors determining the level of corruption perception.

Individual rationality and differences in Taiwanese spa hotel choice

This study explored a systematic framework to understand the dynamic relationships of individual rationality in spa hotel choice. Taking a relational perspective, we examined the process of net value perception linking the antecedents (i.e. quality, price and risk) and consequence (i.e. willingness to buy (WTB)), along with the moderating effects of demographic variables on the links. A survey was conducted at spa hotels in four major spa regions of Taiwan. The findings indicated that the immediate situational factors of quality and price contribute to the net value perception, which in turn leads to the WTB. Oppositely, the long-term factor of risk does not have either direct or indirect effect when making such an infrequent decision. The contrarily moderating effects of demographic variables (e.g. gender, living region and consumptive frequency) on the decision paths present managers with directions to offer proper packages to reach their target customers.

A ground moving target emergency tracking method for catastrophe rescue

In recent years, great disasters happen now and then. Disaster management test the emergency operation ability of the government and society all over the world. Immediately after the occurrence of a great disaster (e.g., earthquake), a massive nationwide rescue and relief operation need to be kicked off instantly. In order to improve the organizations efficiency of the emergency rescue, the organizers need to take charge of the information of the rescuer teams, including the real time location, the equipment with the team, the technical skills of the rescuers, and so on. One of the key factors for the success of emergency operations is the real time location of the rescuers dynamically. Real time tracking methods are used to track the professional rescuer teams now. But volunteers’ participation play more and more important roles in great disasters. However, real time tracking of the volunteers will cause many problems, e.g., privacy leakage, expensive data consumption, etc. These problems may reduce the enthusiasm of volunteers’ participation for catastrophe rescue. In fact, the great disaster is just small probability event, it is not necessary to track the volunteers (even rescuer teams) every time every day. In order to solve this problem, a ground moving target emergency tracking method for catastrophe rescue is presented in this paper. In this method, the handheld devices using GPS technology to provide the location of the users, e.g., smart phone, is used as the positioning equipment; an emergency tracking information database including the ID of the ground moving target (including the rescuer teams and volunteers), the communication number of the handheld devices with the moving target, and the usually living region, etc., is built in advance by registration; when catastrophe happens, the ground moving targets that living close to the disaster area will be filtered by the usually living region; then the activation short message will be sent to the selected ground moving target through the communication number of the handheld devices. The handheld devices receive and identify the activation short message, and send the current location information to the server. Therefore, the emergency tracking mode is triggered. The real time location of the filtered target can be shown on the organizer’s screen, and the organizer can assign the rescue tasks to the rescuer teams and volunteers based on their real time location. The ground moving target emergency tracking prototype system is implemented using Oracle 11g, Visual Studio 2010 C#, Android, SMS Modem, and Google Maps API.

Risk assessment of patulin intake from apple containing products by young children

Patulin is a mycotoxin for which a provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) of 400 ng/kg bodyweight/ day has been set based on its most sensitive toxic effect, growth retardation. Apple containing products are the major source for patulin exposure, with major intake differences according to age and living region. Young children are most at risk of patulin intoxication, because they consume much higher amounts of apple products than adults. In this study, the patulin intake was calculated for Dutch children of 8 to 48 months and the risks of patulin intoxication were assessed. In addition, the bioaccessibility of patulin from apple containing products was investigated for a more refined risk assessment of patulin. The bioaccessibility of patulin was high, varying between 55 and 100%, and, consequently, no refinement of the risk assessment was possible. Based on the probabilistic intake calculations, children are exposed to levels below the PMTDI. Children aged 13-20 months with a high organic apple product intake have the highest patulin exposure, 342 ng/kg bodyweight/day at the upper confidence interval of the P95. No harmful effects are expected with the current patulin intake in young children. No concentration data are available for baby food (organic and conventional) and, therefore, concentrations were set at half the legal limit for intake calculations. Concentration data are needed for a more refined intake calculation for children younger than one year to estimate the actual risk in these children, because baby food comprises 23% of their diet.

Endo-β-mannanase and β-mannosidase activities in rice grains during and following germination, and the influence of gibberellin and abscisic acid

Grains of indica rice (Oryza sativa cv. Peiza 67) exhibit an increase in endo-β-mannanase activity, mostly after the completion of germination. According to tissue blots, the initial increase occurs in association with the embryo, and possibly the scutellum, although the largest sustained increase in activity is in the peripheral regions of the endosperm. The aleurone layer, being the only living region of the endosperm, is presumably the site of synthesis and secretion of the enzyme into the non-living, starch-laden region. β-Mannosidase activity is low throughout germination and subsequent seedling growth, particularly in the endosperm regions. Its activity profile does not mimic that of endo-β-mannanase. In the intact grain, gibberellin (GA) causes a relatively small increase in endo-β-mannanase activity, while abscisic acid (ABA) causes a large decrease; this inhibition is overcome to a considerable extent when GA is supplied along with ABA. β-Mannosidase activity is little affected by either GA or ABA. Embryoless half-grains imbibed in water exhibit only a small increase in endo-β-mannanase activity with time of imbibition, showing the necessity for a stimulus from the embryo for this to occur. Incubating half-grains in the presence of GA results in a large increase in enzyme activity; ABA reduces the amount of activity compared to the water controls. GA is capable of reversing the inhibitory effect of ABA with respect to endo-β-mannanase activity. As in the intact grains, β-mannosidase activity in the half-grains is unaffected by either GA or ABA. It is concluded that the major site for the production of endo-β-mannanase activity is the aleurone layer, and this event is influenced by the presence of the embryo; in the absence of the latter, the increase in enzyme activity is stimulated by GA. β-Mannosidase activity is low throughout germination and post-germination, it is not influenced by GA and ABA, and thus its activity is not regulated in a coordinated manner with that of endo-β-mannanase.

Reviving Shelved Projects for Internships in Archaeology

Between 1992 and 1994, archaeologists investigated a number of households and workshops on Virginius Island, a former industrial community on the Shenandoah River within Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. For a variety of reasons, the project was derailed in its final stages, and the results of the research were never fully reported. The data and analyses sat more or less in their raw form, quickly becoming artifacts themselves. Several years later I was given the opportunity to complete the record of these investigations as a professional internship, bringing me into contact with a federally-controlled agency for the production of public history, which had in its past obliterated a local history. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (HFNHP) focuses its attention on the story of John Brown and the American Civil War. This period remains the focus of public history at Harpers Ferry, and by simulating this historic setting the park has severed the modern, living region from its history.