Living the past? Do historical legacies moderate the relationship between national chauvinism/cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants

This study seeks to understand how national chauvinism and cultural patriotism are related to xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants. It does this by examining the extent to which historical legacy, in terms of geopolitical threats and national identity, moderates this relationship. A multilevel analysis across 24 European countries combines measures of national chauvinism, cultural patriotism, and xenophobic attitudes at the individual level with historical data, the geopolitical threat scale, and the national identity longevity index at the country level. Findings demonstrate that, according to these measures, historical legacies of threats and conflicts do not have an interaction effect, but the longevity of national identity moderates the relationship between national chauvinism/cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes. That is, in countries with greater national identity longevity, the positive relations between national chauvinism and xenophobic attitudes are weaker, but the negative relations between cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes are stronger. These findings contribute to the understanding of national identity by suggesting how it is related to a nation’s historical legacy.

Explaining the longevity characteristics in China from a geographical perspective: A multi-scale geographically weighted regression analysis

Longevity is a near-universal human aspiration that can affect moral progress and economic development at the social level. In rapidly developing China, questions about the geographical distribution and environmental factors of longevity phenomenon need to be answered more clearly. This study calculated the longevity index (LI), longevity index for females (LIF) and longevity index for males (LIM) based on the percentage of the long-lived population among the total number of elderly people to investigate regional and gender characteristics at the county level in China. A new multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model and four possible geographical environmental factors were applied to explore environmental effects. The results indicate that the LIs of 2838 counties ranged from 1.3% to 16.3%, and the distribution showed obvious regional and gender differences. In general, the LI was high in the East and low in the West, and the LIF was higher than the LIM in 2614 counties (92.1%). The MGWR model performed well explaining that geographical environmental factors, including topographic features, vegetation conditions, human social activity and air pollution factors have a variable influence on longevity at different spatial scales and in different regions. These findings enrich our understanding of the spatial distribution, gender differences and geographical environmental effects on longevity in China, which provides an important reference for people interested in the variations in the associations between different geographical factors.

Development of a Comprehensive Multi-Factor Method for Comparing Batting Performances in One-Day International Cricket

In cricket, one-day-international (ODI) batsmen have traditionally been compared on the dimensions of batting average (BA) and strike rate (SR). The conventional method of computing BA assumes that runs scored by a batsman follow an exponential or geometric distribution. This results in unreasonably equating batting inconsistency with batting mean. Our study shows that a Weibull distribution model gives a very sensible assessment of a batsman’s inconsistency, independent of his BA. It also provides a superior fit to batting scores of ODI batsmen. We also introduce a measure for ‘quality-runs’ scored by a batsman which takes into account the difficulty level of opposition. Additionally, longevity index and opposition diversity index are defined to make comparisons more holistic. A substantial amount of data engineering effort is made in segregating available data into home, away and neutral matches. The measures proposed in this paper are more comprehensive and granular than those found in the literature. Various combinations of these six criteria are used to rank a select group of great ODI batsmen by assigning objective weights derived from principal component analysis. Finally, multivariate statistical outlier detection procedure produces different lists of outstanding players corresponding to different combinations of criteria. Our proposed methodology may be gainfully used by a team management to select best batsmen in a given situation.

Statistical Estimates of the Number of Progenitors in Russian Regions

The paper explores the phenomenon of grandparen-tal labor as the activity of grandparents in relation to their grandchildren, the content of which is care, assistance to grandchildren, and their development. Methodological principles for estimating the number of actors of grandparental labor are formulated. On the basis of statistical data, the age of entry into the grandparenting is estimated, and the proportion of grandparents actively engaged in grandparental labor in the regions of Russia is calculated. The re-sults show that the involvement of women in grandparental labor is higher than that of men, and there is a positive correlation between these indica-tors; in Russia, there is a high regional differentia-tion of the involvement of grandparents in grandpa-rental labor. Creating conditions for the activation of grandparental labor in the Russian regions would increase the values of the active longevity index and get all the positive effects that arise in society when the involvement of grandparents in the life of their grandchildren increases.

Ageing badly: indicators of old-age structure in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONUntil 2050, Australia and New Zealand will experience continuing increase in the population aged >65 years. Studying differences in indicators of old-age structure between these countries can inform policymakers. AIMTo calculate and analyse indicators of old-age structure for Australia and New Zealand. METHODSFive indicators of old-age structure were calculated: centenarian ratio (number of centenarians per 100,000 people), longevity index (proportion of people aged ≥90 and ≥65 years in the population), longevity level (proportion of 80+/60+ years population), ageing tendency (proportion of people aged ≥60 years in the population) and centenarity index (ratio between the centenarians and the total population ≥90 years). RESULTSAll indicators of old-age structure demonstrated an advantageous ageing structure in Australia compared with New Zealand. In addition, the New Zealand Māori and Australian Aboriginal indicators of old-age structure demonstrated a significant disadvantage to these ethnic groups compared with the general population. DISCUSSIONPublic health policy needs to target ageing in New Zealand as a major goal in advancing the ‘Ageing Well’ policy advocated by the government.

Understanding the Association between Environmental Factors and Longevity in Hechi, China: A Drinking Water and Soil Quality Perspective

The aging population is a big challenge all over the world. However, there are few studies to date investigating the effects of trace element and mineral levels in drinking water and soil (especially in karst areas) on longevity. This study aims to examine temporal and spatial variations in longevity in Hechi (which is recognized as a longevity city) and to investigate relationships between longevity and trace element and mineral levels in drinking water and soils in this city (the karst landscape). Population data were collected from relevant literature and four national population censuses in 1982, 1990, 2000 and 2010. Drinking water and soil samples from Hechi were collected and analyzed. The results demonstrated an obvious clustered distribution for the longevity population in Hechi that has existed stably for decades. The longevity index tended to be significantly positively correlated with H2SiO3, Ca and Fe in drinking water and significantly negatively correlated with Sr in soil, indicating that drinking water characteristics contributed significantly to the observed regional longevity. The karst landscape is responsible for abundant trace elements in underground rivers in Hechi, which are beneficial to human health when consumed as drinking water. Good quality and slightly alkaline drinking water rich in trace elements such as H2SiO3, Ca, Fe, Na, Mg and low in heavy metals such as Pb and Cd might be an important factor contributing to the longevity phenomenon in Hechi.