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This paper presents a prototype of a low-cost Mixed Reality Interactive Table (MRIT) which is equipped with a Web camera, a projector, animal-appearance robots, gloves with accelerator sensors, and a computer. The motivation of the development of the MRIT is to provide a low-cost learning environment where students can learn effectively when they play an educational software game on the interactive table via embodied interactions. We hope the MRIT can be a good entry point for studying how educational software games incorporated with an interactive table and embodied interactions are able to promote students΄ interest and improve students΄ engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, we study health in the oldest old population. Our study is based on the Grossman model, which suggests that health reflects the stock of health capital. Current inputs into thehealth production function, and contemporary changes of behavior and life style willonly have an incremental effect on the stock of health capital, which is determinedby health history. Our study supports this view. Furthermore, our results suggest that besides aging, there are other important factors contributing to poor healt has measured by the Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living, and mortality, suchas gender, urban residence, and marital status. Socioeconomic status, such as the financial resources and education level of the individual and of his/her spouse playsan insignificant role in the health of the oldest-old. There is an inverse relationship between health and risky behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has clearly shown that educational attainment is positively and substantially associated with survivorship at old ages in China. The overall association is stronger among elderly women than among elderly men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter uses the first wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey to investigate the health status of the oldest-old in China. We found that the different measures of health collected in the survey were only moderately related. That is, there is not a single construct called "health." We found that work history was modestly related to some measures of health. We also found that childhood health and socioeconomic status were correlated with health even at advanced ages. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine this connection in developing countries and at such advanced ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oldest old population of China has grown in size and continues to increase. The growth is due to the combination of very low levels of fertility and longer life expectancy in China. However, there is not enough sociological and demographic literature about oldest old mortality in China. In this chapter we undertake Cox proportional hazard analyses and examine the effects of sociodemograhic factors on the hazard of dying among oldest old Chinese. Data on 7,234 oldest old Chinese who were interviewed in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) were used in the analyses. The results indicate that sociodemographic variables such as age, sex, and marital status are strong predictors of the hazard of dying among the oldest old Chinese after controlling for other health-related variables. In terms of the relative impact among the covariates, the age variable is the most influential factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter assesses the reliability of mortality and self-reported morbidity in the first three waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Results indicate that the observed rates of all-cause mortality reported in the CLHLS are underestimated by 15-20 percent between 1998 and 2000 and by 5-20 percent for ages 80-90 when based on hazard-model estimates; however, no such differences are found between the 2000 and 2002 waves. Our analyses further show that mortality rates over age 90 in the CLHLS are more reliable than those obtained from the census. The quality of self-reported morbidity and its population prevalence is generally quite good compared to other national data sets. However, the analyses suggest that information collected from next-of-kin should be interpreted with caution. We find that cause-specific mortality rates estimated from reports by the next-of-kin are substantially biased and that the prevalence of the decedents' morbidity reported by the next-of-kin is somewhat underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter evaluates age reporting among the oldest-old, especially centenarians, in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) based on comparisons of various indices of elderly age reporting and age distributions of centenarians in Sweden, Japan, England and Wales, Australia, Canada, China, the USA, and Chile. The analyses demonstrate that age reporting among the oldest-old interviewees (Han and six minority groups combined) in the 22 provinces in China where the CLHLS has been conducted is not as good as that in Sweden, Japan, and England and Wales, but is relatively close to that in Australia, more or less the same as that in Canada, better than that in the USA (all race groups combined), and much better than that in Chile. As indicated by the higher density of centenarians, age exaggeration exists in the six ethnic minority groups in the 22 Han-dominated provinces, although we cannot rule out and quantify the potential impacts of past mortality selection and better natural environmental conditions among these minority groups. We find that the age exaggeration of minorities in the CLHLS may not cause substantial biases in demographic and statistical analyses using the CLHLS data, since minorities consist of a rather small portion of the sample (6.8 percent at baseline and 5.5 percent in the grand total sample of the 1998, 2000, and 2002 waves). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter provides a comprehensive review of data quality of the third wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2002 in terms of proxy use, nonresponse rate, sample attrition, and reliability and validity of major health measures. The results show that the data quality of the 2002 wave of the CLHLS is generally good. Some recommendations in use of the dataset are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To provide readers with information on the data source and research opportunities inherent in the CLHLS data sets, we present in this chapter an introduction to the CLHLS. The chapter includes the general goals, the specific objectives of, the organizational framework, study design, sample distribution and contents of the data collected, and finally a comparison with other survey projects focusing on elderly populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-tabulation analysis shows that the majority of the oldest old live with their children. There is significant difference in the distribution of living arrangement by sex, age, and residence type. This study confirms by multivariate logistic regression that the living arrangement of the oldest old is influenced by demographic availability and socioeconomic characteristics. After multivariate controls, age, residence type, previous job, and marital status are still significant predictors of the oldest old living apart from their children. But sex does not produce a significant net explanation for not living with children, unlike the original difference shown in the distribution of living arrangement. Years of schooling are not significant, either, due to little variation in the variable. This study has tested demographic availability in respect to both quantity and sex composition of surviving children. It is found that a threshold phenomenon exists when the number of children impacts living arrangement. Another new finding suggests that the sex composition of children should be paid more attentionwhenwe measure demographic availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging without dementia is a matter of public health as well as a consequence of individual behaviors. These results suggest that increasing educational level, encouraging regular involvement in social and leisure activities, facilitating equal access to health care, and promoting a diet rich in fish and antioxidants such as fruit, vegetables, and tea could contribute to healthy cognitive aging. The impact of specific interventions still has to be evaluated. Further research is needed to identify groups of subjects who could most effectively benefit from such interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]