This study was exploratory in nature, with the purpose of examining the relationships between working Baby Boomers’ knowledge of retirement health benefits and health costs and actions they have taken to prepare for retirement. An online survey was completed by 209 Baby Boomers who are employed by three city governments in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The research showed that health benefits knowledge does not predict retirement preparation but that Baby Boomers who demonstrate higher levels of knowledge-seeking behavior are more likely to undertake retirement preparation, specifically by purchasing an annuity. Among public sector working Baby Boomers, retirement preparation activities are found to be minimal. Age was found to predict knowledge-seeking behavior, in that older vs. younger Baby Boomers are more likely to engage in knowledge-seeking behavior related to retirement preparation. Current knowledge about health benefits does not predict retirement preparation.

As the world's most populous country, with more than 16 million births every year, China has emerged as a large importer of baby formula. China's relaxation of the one-child policy, which was announced in 2015, is expected to increase the number of births significantly and therefore increase the demand for Chinese and imported baby formula. While information on parent preferences for baby formula is very important for understanding and predicting China's import demand for baby formula and other products used to produce baby formula, like milk powder, there are very limited empirical studies on Chinese parent preferences for baby formula in the literature due to data limitation and other reasons. This research collects primary data from China through a parent survey, uses the data to analyze parent preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for selected baby formula attributes, and derives implications for U.S. dairy product exports. Specifically, with detailed data from a total of 433 respondents, this study first examines parent purchase behavior of baby formula through descriptive analysis, then assesses parent preferences and WTP for selected baby formula attributes through the estimation of a random utility model, and finally derives implications for U.S. exports of milk powder, whey, and other dairy products. The descriptive analysis suggests that education level and income play an important role in parent purchase behavior of baby formula. The estimation results of the random utility model differed according to whether the survey was administered online or as a hardcopy. The results from the online survey indicate that imported, organic, and more reputable brands of baby formula are more attractive to respondents than domestic, non-organic, and less reputable brands. While respondents who completed the hardcopy survey also indicated a preference for organic baby formula from a reputable brand, they preferred domestic baby formula to imported formula. Further analysis of the WTP from the online survey for baby formula showed that parents have a strong preference and are willing to pay significantly more for baby formulas produced in Australia and the U.S. as compared to that produced in China. They are willing to pay more for organic baby formula and baby formula with an excellent reputation. The WTP results from the hardcopy survey indicate that parents are willing to pay more for domestic baby formula. They are also willing to pay more for organic baby formula and baby formula with an excellent reputation. China's emerging demand for imported baby formula, milk powder, and whey may bring more opportunities for the U.S. dairy industry, but U.S. dairy products are also facing increasing competition from similar products from other nations in the Chinese market. More studies are needed to identify the comparative advantages of U.S. baby formula and other dairy products in the Chinese market and to develop effective trade policies for enhancing U.S. exports to China.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis contains descriptions of works I have made over the last two years. These descriptions have been applied to support themes of melancholia, restraint, and indeterminacy, which serve as prevalent strains connecting recent work. A few stories are also shared in the way pieces come about through thinking and making.

A pesquisa tem por objeto a formação corporal do profissional de educação que trabalha com a primeira fase de vida do ser humano, mais precisamente o período compreendido entre o nascimento e os três anos de idade, por se reconhecer a importância do período de \"chegada à vida\" na constituição do psiquismo. O objetivo geral foi verificar como tem sido feita a formação de pedagogos na linguagem expressiva corporal voltada ao trabalho pedagógico com os bebês, analisando as possibilidades, os desafios e as necessidades dessa formação. Como procedimento metodológico foi criado um curso de extensão na Faculdade de Educação da USP, do qual participaram sessenta e seis pedagogas que trabalham em Centros de Educação Infantil localizados nos municípios de São Paulo, Barueri, Cotia, Embu e Francisco Morato, e no qual foram utilizados os conhecimentos do campo da Pedagogia do Teatro como mediadores de formação. Os resultados denunciam que a ausência de formação corporal priva os pedagogos, entre outros aspectos: da compreensão do corpo e do movimento como condição indispensável para a construção de conhecimento e para o trabalho pedagógico com bebês; da compreensão das linguagens expressivas na primeira infância; e, da revisão de valores sobre a corporeidade, a experiência e o bebê como sujeito, colaborando para que as estruturas de controle e opressão do corpo continuem a se fazer presentes na instituição escolar para crianças pequenas. Da análise dos dados provenientes da investigação de campo e do cotejamento destes com a pesquisa bibliográfica, derivaram as categorias aprofundadas: formação corporal do pedagogo; disciplinamento e repressão corporal; percepção sobre os bebês; reflexões sobre formação e valores docentes. / This research aims at developing professionals in the educational field who deal with the first stage of human beings´ lives i.e. the period from birth up to three years old since it is a stage of starting life in the latter´s psychological development. The general objective was to investigate how the pedagogues´ knowledge had been developed regarding the expressive body language in their pedagogical practice in babies by analyzing possibilities, challenges and the necessities concerning such instruction. An extension course was created at Faculdade de Educação at Universidade de São Paulo as a methodological procedure. Sixty six pedagogues who work for public daycare centers in São Paulo, Barueri, Cotia, Embu and Francisco Morato joined this course which used some knowledge from the Theatre Pedagogy as a tool in this instruction. Such results say that lacking body language notions can prevent pedagogues, among other things: from understanding of body and movement as a prerequisite for building knowledge and for pedagogical work with infants; from comprehension of the expressive languages in early childhood, besides reviewing some concepts regarding the body, the experience and the baby as a person to avoid body oppression and control over toddlers at schools. Based on collected data from field investigation (extension course) and on the conciliation of these with the bibliography the following categories were analyzed: pedagogues´ body perception instruction, body discipline and repression, perception of babies, reflections about teachers´ instruction and teachers\' values.

Thesis advisor: Matthew S. Rutledge / In the past several decades, saving for retirement has significantly changed, with the large replacement of Defined Contribution for Defined Benefit plans, as well as the unreliability of Social Security given the aging population. This paper analyzes retirement wealth across three generational cohorts—Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Gen Xers (1965-1980), and Millennials (1981-2000)—in order to compare preparedness and determine whether or not younger cohorts have compensated for the future unreliability of other traditional retirement income sources. The results suggest that levels of retirement wealth do not significantly differ across cohorts at all age profiles. Therefore, younger generational cohorts have not increased the amount of personal saving in order to maintain their pre-retirement standards of living throughout retirement. These results indicate that a change in saving structure and policy may be necessary to ensure that younger cohorts retire out of poverty. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Arts and Sciences Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

Essa dissertação justifica-se na medida em que há um aumento de 7,83% (de 1995 a 2016) de nascimentos gemelares, unido aos riscos biológicos e psíquicos que se encontram, gestações gemelares possuem maior número de complicações perinatais que podem interferir nessas relações iniciais, bem como a escassez de literatura publicada sobre o tema culminando na necessidade de melhor compreender e responder as perguntas referentes ao desenvolvimento gemelar. O objetivo aqui proposto foi investigar e debater como se configura as especificidades na constituição psíquica de gêmeos; procurar explorar a interação/relação entre os gêmeos; assim como investigar e debater a experiência emocional de ser mãe de gêmeos e suas disponibilidades psíquicas para os mesmos. A pesquisa possuiu caráter exploratório, no qual foram realizados encontros com uma mãe e suas filhas bebês gêmeas em uma situação lúdica familiar proporcionada pela pesquisadora com a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas, bem como a observação livre da rotina das mesmas. Esses encontros foram realizados mensalmente, totalizando 15 encontros com a família, as entrevistas foram audiogravadas e posteriormente transcritas. A análise das informações coletas foi realizada a partir da técnica da análise de conteúdo, como referencial teórico para análise a psicanálise winnicottiana. Nas categorias constituídas apresentou-se como resultado: em A força do Legado vimos o não preparo e o susto com a chegada da gemelaridade à família, essencialmente a mãe, pois se identificou certa indisponibilidade psíquica para mais de um bebê ao mesmo tempo, havendo, portanto, apenas espaço para um bebê em seu interior. Na relação com as duas filhas foram observados aspectos inconscientes e duplas mensagens que criavam obstáculos ao exercício da função parental e do desenvolvimento do bebê; em Aspectos do Ambiente mensagens paradoxais se sobressaltaram nas tentativas da mãe de diferenciar as filhas, ora separando-as, ora unindo-as. Foram identificados conflitos e falhas de identificação com a figura materna e dificuldades de subjetivar as crianças, trazendo uma constante agitação do ambiente que atendia as necessidades ao mesmo tempo em que falhava, frustrando, levando à exaustão e confusões. É possível afirmar que mesmo que esta mãe se apresenta de forma diferente para as duas filhas, recebendo uma das filhas de forma mais disponível, ainda assim foi Suficientemente Boa para ambas; em Mundo Psíquico em Desenvolvimento ambas apresentaram os comportamentos descritos como situação gêmea. Quanto ao Amadurecimento Emocional, ambas percorreram os caminhos propostos por Winnicott passando pela fase de dependência absoluta, na qual foi possível identificar uma mãe em sintonia afetiva no seu estado de preocupação materna primária, que possibilitou as gêmeas vivenciarem a fantasia da onipotência. E caminharam em direção à dependência relativa na qual já reconhecem o ambiente como externo a elas, para integrar essa mãe que antes era dividia entre presente a acolhedora e ausente e frustradora. Chamou a atenção o fato delas com um ano e quatro meses não identificarem seus próprios nomes, bem como um apego e dependência entre elas. Ampliou-se a compreensão da necessidade de acolhimento às famílias gemelares e suporte para o processo de constituição psíquica dos gêmeos / This dissertation is justified by the fact that there is an expansion of 7.83% (from 1995 to 2016) in twin births, adjoined with the biological and psychic risks that are found - twin pregnancies have a greater number of perinatal complications that may interfere in these initial relationships - as well as the scarcity of published literature on the subject culminating in the necessity to better understand and answer the twin developmental questions. The purpose in this study is to investigate and debate how the specificities in the psychic twin constitution; seek to explore the interaction and relation between twins; as study and discuss the emotional experience of being a twin´s mother and her psychic disponibilities for the babies. The research had an exploratory character, which meetings with the mother and their twin babies were realized, in a ludic familiar situation, supported and executed by the researcher with the semi structured interviews, as well the observation of their free routine. These meetings were realized monthly by 15 months and the interviews were audiotaped and later transcribed. The parsing of the collected information was realized from the content analysis technique, as the theoretical referential for the winnicottian psychoanalysis. In the constituted categories it was presented as a result: In the Legacy\'s force was observed non-preparation and the shock with the arrival of the twins to the family, essentially in the mother, because some psychic unavailability for more than one baby at the same time was perceived. In the relation with the two daughters unconscious aspects and double messages were observed, which created obstacles to the exercise of the parental function and the development of the baby; in Environmental Aspects paradoxical messages were startled in the attempts of the mother to differentiate the daughters, at times separating them, sometimes joining them. Conflicts and failures of identification with the maternal figure and difficulties of subjectivizing children were identified, bringing a constant agitation of the environment that met the needs while failing, frustrating, conducting to exhaustion and confusions. It is possible to assert that even if this mother presented herself differently for the two daughters, receiving one of the daughters in a more available form, she was still Good Enough for both; in Developing Psychic World both presented the behaviors described as \"twin situation\". As for Emotional Maturity, both traced the paths proposed by Winnicott through the phase of absolute dependence, in which it was possible to identify a mother in affective tuning in her state of primary maternal preoccupation, which enabled the twins to experience the fantasy of omnipotence. And they walked towards relative dependence in which they already recognize the environment as external to them, to integrate that mother who was before divided between the welcoming and absent and thwarting. The fact that at 1 year and 4 months they did not identify their own names attracted attention, as well as an attachment and dependence between them. The understanding of the need to host twin families was broadened, as the support for the process of psychic constitution of the twins

A atenção conjunta é considerada, na literatura específica, como sendo uma habilidade fundamental do bebê para que este possa, a partir dela, estabelecer um conjunto de dimensões básicas no seu desenvolvimento cognitivo, social e afetivo. A atenção conjunta se refere a comportamentos como olhar na direção do olhar do outro, observar a face, a intenção e os interesses do outro, mostrar e compartilhar interativamente objetos com outros. Episódios de atenção conjunta, portanto, podem quase ser denominados de episódios de atenção visual conjunta. Esta capacidade, como dado eminentemente visual, tem sido considerada como crucialmente importante para o desenvolvimento da capacidade interativa do bebê, sendo indispensável para que este se socialize. Entretanto, ao se pensar estes processos em crianças cegas ou com deficiência visual severa, depara-se com a pouca quantidade de informação disponível em dados de pesquisas. Assim, a meta desta pesquisa foi investigar se ocorreu e como ocorreu a construção, o estabelecimento e a manutenção do processo de atenção conjunta em um bebê vidente e um bebê com deficiência visual severa, ambos em interação com os parceiros em seu entorno. Para tal, partiu-se da verificação de quais pistas sensoriais o bebê ou os parceiros circundantes se utilizam nas interações (se pistas visuais, táteis, vestibulares, auditivas, cinestésicas, olfativas ou gustativas) para iniciar, estabelecer e manter a atenção conjunta. Utilizou-se de estudo de casos múltiplos-exploratórios, envolvendo um bebê com deficiência visual severa e sua família vidente, fazendo-se um contraponto com um bebê vidente em uma família também vidente. O contraponto se mostrou importante para dar visibilidade a recursos e aspectos específicos do processo, e também preservar as características dos ambientes em que os bebês e suas famílias se encontram. A perspectiva sócio-interacionista permitiu a compreensão dos processos desenvolvimentais que ocorrem nestas situações. A construção do corpus se deu através de videogravações, posteriormente recortadas de acordo com sua relevância para a verificação da meta proposta, sendo as cenas selecionadas transcritas. Para a análise destes recortes considerou-se a abordagem microgenética, com aporte metodológico da Rede de Significações funcionando como proposta privilegiada e possibilitadora da compreensão da complexidade dos processos. Como resultados, verificou-se que para o bebê vidente, os dados encontrados confirmam o que a literatura específica indica como sendo o percurso típico para a construção da atenção conjunta. Para o bebê com deficiência visual severa, nota-se também, a partir de outras pistas que não as visuais, o estabelecimento e a manutenção do processo de atenção conjunta. Sugerem-se, entretanto, mais pesquisas a respeito destas questões, não só para se buscar mais dados a partir de outros bebês videntes e também com as mesmas características sensoriais diferenciadas da cegueira ou da deficiência visual severa, como também para contribuir com a construção de novos dados teóricos a respeito do tema. / Joint attention is considered, in specific literature, as a fundamental skill of the baby. Through this ability, the baby sets up a group of basic dimensions in his cognitive, social and affective development. Joint attention refers to behaviors like looking in the direction of someone else\'s gaze, observe the face, the intent and the interests of the other, pointing out and sharing objects interactively with other. Joint attention episodes, therefore, can almost be called joint visual attention episodes. This ability, basically as a visual fact, has been considered as crucially important for the development of the interactive capabilities of the baby, becoming essential for his socialization. However, there is few survey data about joint attention in severe visual impairment or blind children. Therefore, this research aims to investigate if occurs and how occurs the construction, establishment and maintenance of joint attention process in a seer baby, and in a severe visual impairment baby, both in interaction with surrounding partners. This work is intended to check what sensorial cues are being used, by the baby or by the surrounding partners, in their interactions (whether visual, tactile, vestibular, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory or gustatory) to initiate, establish and maintain joint attention. It was choosen the methodology Exploratory Multiple Case Study, involving a severe visual impairment baby and its seer family, as a counterpoint to a seer baby and its seer family. This approach offered additional visibility to some specific aspects in joint attention, and, in addition, to preserving surrounding characters in which babies and their families are involved. The Social-Interactionist Perspective allowed the understanding of such developmental processes. Corpus Construction were captured on digital video recordings, subsequently prepared accordingly to the work goal and its relevancy. The selected scenes were transcribed. For the analysis of these clippings was considered a microgenetic approach. The Network of Meanings sustained the comprehension of joint attention processes and offers methodological support. As an outcome for the seer baby, this work endorses what specific literature indicates for the establishment of joint attention in a typical development child. For this baby with severe visual impairment, it was observed establishment and maintenance of joint attention process, from non visual sensory cues. However, it suggests more research on these issues to generate new contribuitions over the theme joint attention, not only to seer babies, but also to severe visual impairment babies. These future works might contribute to build new theoretical data on joint attention, in typical or even atypical sensorial conditions of development.

O enfoque desta investigação psicanalítica foi o de estudar a importância da mãe como ambiente primário facilitador ou perturbador da continuidade de ser do bebê e teve como fundamentação teórica os conceitos do pediatra e psicanalista britânico D.W.Winnicott. O método utilizado foi o Método de Observação da Relação Mãe-Bebê na Família criado pela psicanalista britânica Esther Bick. Dentro da abordagem winnicottiana são de grande importância todos aqueles (profissionais da saúde e familiares) que compõem o ambiente de apoio, necessário para que a mãe, a partir dos últimos meses de gestação até o final do primeiro mês de vida do seu bebê, mergulhe num estado designado pelo autor como preocupação materna primária. Isso contribui para que se estabeleça entre ela e seu filho uma comunicação empática, envolvendo identificação de necessidades seguida de cuidados com habilidade e afetuosidade. Um bom começo compõe a base para o processo de amadurecimento saudável. O caso deste estudo, realizado em catorze meses através de observações semanais em ambiente domiciliar da família, permitiu o acompanhamento da maternagem da mãe em luto por ter perdido sua mãe, de forma inesperada, vítima de pneumonia, seis dias antes do parto. A morte da avó materna encerrou a possibilidade concreta de convivência dela entre os familiares, bem como significou a perda de holding (apoio) da gestante desde o momento do parto ao exercício da maternagem durante os primeiros meses. O ambiente primário foi afetado e os efeitos do luto materno serão demonstrados ao longo desta dissertação / The focus of this psychoanalytic investigation was to examine the importance of the mother as the primary facilitating or disturbing environment for the continuity of the babys being as based on the theoretical concepts of the British pediatrician and psychoanalyst D.W.Winnicott. The \"Method of Observation of the Mother-Baby Relationship in the Family\", created by the British psychoanalyst Esther Bick was used. According to Winnicott, all those health professionals and family members that make up the supportive environment needed by the mother from the last months of pregnancy to the end of the first month of the baby\'s life are of great importance when plunged into a state designated as \"primary maternal preoccupation\". This helps to establish an empathic communication between the mother and her child involving identification of needs followed by skill and care with warmth. A good beginning for the baby provides the basis for a healthy maturation process. This investigation was conducted over fourteen months by weekly observations in the family home which permitted monitoring the mothering by the mother while grieving due to the unexpected death of her mother as a victim of pneumonia six days before delivery. The loss of the maternal grandmother ended the concrete possibility of her participation in the family and entailed the loss of holding for the mother prior to birth and in the practice of mothering during the first months. The primary environment was affected and the effects of this maternal grief will be described throughout this dissertation

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a biologically-based and behaviorally-defined spectrum of conditions which impact development. These conditions affect and are diagnosed based on features in three psychological and behavioral domains: social interaction, communication, and repetitive behaviors. Developing better ways to identify early signs of autism, whether through behavioral or other types of measures, is important because it will allow children to gain access to interventions and treatments earlier, which has demonstrated positive outcomes. Over the past 10 years, the prevalence of reported autism cases has increased. As a result, much research has focused on the etiology and phenotype of autism. Investigations seeking early signs of autism have generally studied vulnerable populations, particularly infants with an older sibling diagnosed with autism. Aside from observable behavioral differences, biological abnormalities, often within the gastrointestinal and immune systems as well as endocrine, autonomic and other systems, have been observed in a significant number of children diagnosed with autism. These features raise the possibility that cellular and tissue change in body and brain may be altering brain function such that behaviors emerge later and downstream of these cellular and tissue problems. However, research on the pathophysiology underlying these medical features, and particularly regarding how they develop in infancy, has received almost no attention. Such investigation would require measuring pathophysiological and medical features alongside current standard measures of behavioral and phenotypical presentations of autism. This thesis describes a study, funded by the Department of Defense Autism Research Program and carried out at the Massachusetts General Hospital Lurie Center, that proposed to look for early markers of autism in the pathophysiological domains in high risk infants and place them into developmental context by correlating these observations (some of which might potentially become early markers) with well-established neurocognitive measures. The goal of the study is to find biomarkers of clinical importance that reflect the pathophysiologial development of autism which might substantially precede behavioral changes that are currently used as a standard of diagnosis, but are not developmentally apparent or reliably measurable until well into the second or third year of life. While the overall scope of the study encompassed a range of systemic and nervous system measures as well as neurocognitive assessments, the focus of this thesis is mainly on a subset of the behavioral and neurocognitive measures collected through the study, specifically the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale (ADOS), Autism Observational Scale for Infants (AOSI), Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS). Subject development was tracked and assessed through developmental quotients (DQs) and then correlated to measures designed to identify autistic-like features. Results demonstrate that verbal development was the most significant indicator for autism. Additionally, delay in communication preceded problems with socialization. The analysis and information used for this thesis will contribute to the infrastructure utilized by the investigators for assessing further behavioral data. In addition, this behavioral data and the metrics generated in these analyses will be analyzed in relation to physiological data (e.g. brain, autonomic, metabolic, immune, and microbiome data). Tracking early biomedical development, especially alongside the current standard of observing behavioral development, has the potential of offering more comprehensive understanding of the brain-behavior-body relationship in children diagnosed with ASD, which can hopefully contribute to a non-invasive, more accurate, and earlier method of diagnosis and to the development of more treatment options.