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Following the fertility decline over the past twenty-five years, sex ratios at birth have increased in Taiwan, reflecting the influence of various kinds of human interventions in the sex of the foetus. In this paper, the authors first discuss the fertility trends and the reasons why the sex ratio at birth is skewed. Then, they describe the trends of the sex ratio at birth in Taiwan as a whole and its patterns in various regions since 1990. They subsequently use micro-level data to explore the effects of demographic and social changes and the consequences of the unbalanced sex ratio at birth in families with respect to the values and attitudes toward raising children and parental investment in child health. Finally, they probe implications for possible policy interventions to enhance the well-being of children. Au fur et à mesure de la baisse de la fécondité qui s’est opérée à Taiwan au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années, le rapport de masculinité des naissances a augmenté rapidement à Taiwan, témoignant d’interventions humaines sur le sexe de l’enfant à naître. Dans cette étude, les auteurs présentent tout d’abord les tendances récentes de la fécondité, de même que les facteurs affectant la rapport de masculinité des naissances. Puis ils décrivent les tendances du rapport de masculinité des naissances au niveau national et régional depuis 1990.A partir de données micro, ils explorent ensuite les conséquences des changements démographiques et sociaux et celles du déséquilibre du rapport de masculinité des naissances sur les ménages, eu égard aux valeurs régissant les comportements des parents en matière d’éducation et de santé des enfants. Enfin, les auteurs énoncent les implications que pourraient avoir certaines décisions politiques sur le bien-être des enfants.

Underwater contact explosion involves lots of complex issues such as high speed, strong compression, large deformation and density ratio, multi-phase flow, etc., which makes the numerical simulation extremely difficult. In this paper, a modified SPH approach based on volume approximation is applied and the entire process of shock wave propagation and structure destruction is successfully simulated. Results show that the modified method remains effective at interfaces with high density ratio, with no distortion of physical quantities. Therefore, the method has advantages of solving problems involving high speed, strong compression and high density ratio. In addition, shock wave propagation characteristics and a steel failure mode are found with simulation, which can be valuable reference for structural design of naval architecture and engineering of underwater explosion.

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The global warming has become worse with the industry developing and environment destroyed. Because of problems on highly land developed, natural environment changed, and other artificial heat infl...

Subsequent to the demographic transition, Asian countries have been experiencing deep-rooted changes in family structures. In this context, the question of gender relations within the family, and more generally within society, is crucial, in view of the increase in discriminatory practices toward women, beginning at foetal conception and continuing through all stages of life. Asia is the “black continent” for women. Estimates place the deficit in the number of women in the world at between 60 and 100 million, the vast majority of which is found on this continent. This book focuses on the intensity of female discrimination, from a demographic perspective, in the earliest stages of life, and more specifically around birth, in China, India, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan. These societies share cultural characteristics that are not favourable to women: patriarchal systems, patrilineal families, socialization processes encouraging the submission of wives to their husband's family, etc. In these societies, a son is needed to perpetuate the family line and ensure social and biological reproduction of the family. These are among the reasons why they share a strong son preference, which is in some cases accentuated by economic constraints. A son is generally the only person to support his parents in old age, and as a rule help with work in the fields. Moreover, girls and women still occupy a marginal position in society, whereas a male heir offers countless advantages. La transition démographique suscite, en Asie, de profondes transformations dans les structures familiales. Dans ce contexte, la question des rapports sociaux des sexes au sein de la famille, et plus généralement au sein de la société, est cruciale, dans la mesure où elle entraîne l’augmentation des discriminations à l’égard des femmes dès la conception et à tous les âges de la vie. L’Asie est le “continent noir” pour les femmes. Ce livre traite, par une approche démographique, des discriminations des femmes aux jeunes âges de la vie, et en particulier autour de la naissance, en Chine, en Inde, au Pakistan, en République de Corée et à Taiwan. Ces sociétés d’Asie partagent des caractéristiques culturelles qui ne sont pas favorables aux femmes ; un fils est désiré pour perpétuer la lignée et assurer la reproduction biologique et sociale de la famille. Des contraintes économiques peuvent aussi expliquer la préférence pour les garçons.

In recent years, the debate concerning the independent effect of socio-economic development and family planning programs in reducing fertility rates in developing countries has generated many studies in the social science literature. The goal of this thesis is to advance our knowledge about the development and family planning program arguments for developing countries. A multi-level theoretical model and a statistical estimation procedure were specially developed to aid in the analysis of this problem. A data set from a large-scale survey by Wolfgang L. Grichting, The Value System in Taiwan, was secured from the survey Research center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. ln Analysis of covariance Model (ANCOV) was first applied to the data set. Results from the analysis show that within a residential area, individual differentials, socio-economic development, and family planning efforts demonstrate no significant relationship to actual family size. Furthermore, it is also demonstrated that area socioeconomic development and family planning efforts have a small independent effect on both desired family size and attitude toward family planning. It appears it is the vectors of background and intermediate variables that are exerting a strong independent effect on these two endogenous variables. Since macro-indicators are implicitly combined in the ANCOV model, a complete specification of the analytic model includes both within individual differentials and area socio-economic development and family planning effort indicators. The variables are re-estimated for the data set with the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) procedure. Results from the regression model and decomposition procedure were consistent with the findings from the ANCOV statistical model. However, with regard to the attitude toward family planning equation, there is a strong independent effect of IOD acceptance rate on the endogenous variable. The present finding is consistent with other independent studies. The findings suggest that knowledge and use of contraceptives are highly associated with a favorable attitude toward family planning programs. The analysis of covariance model (ANCOV) and multiple regression models are based on the whole sample. A simultaneous effect fertility model is developed from the regression analysis and estimated for male and female respondents in the second stage of analysis. However, it is found that male respondents are characterized with modern attributes and their fertility decisions are different from female respondents. It is postulated that in the early stages of socio-economic development, males benefit more from this transformation. This results from the fact they receive more education and participate in the modern sector of employment. On the other hand, it takes females longer to acquire the modern characteristics associated with education and higher participation in the modern employment sectors and then translate characteristics and value orientations into actual behavior. Results from the present study tend to agree with family planning advocates who maintain that a family planning program is a facilitating factor for reducing fertility rates in developing countries over short periods of time. The rate of adopting family planning programs by male and female respondents should be estimated to respecify demographic transition models in future research. It is also recommended that population policies designed to intervene and change fertility levels in developing societies must take into consideration the structural residuals of traditional orientations as well as the provision of contraceptives for individuals. Master of Science