Household assets,school enrollment,and parental aspirations for children's education in rural China: Does gender matter?

Using rural household data from the China Household Income Project (CHIP) 2002, this article provides an analysis of different effects of household assets independent of family income on children's school enrollment and parental aspirations for education, examining both outcomes by children's gender. The study first compared the responsiveness of boys' and girls' enrollment with the improvement of household assets, measured as liquid assets and net worth, relative to family income. The multivariate regression analysis further detected the effects of household assets on both boys' and girls' school enrollment and parental aspirations for their future education. Statistical results show that, compared with family income, household assets matter more for girls' schooling than for boys'. In addition, household net worth was found to be significantly associated with parental aspirations for children's education regardless of gender. This study, albeit exploratory, sheds light on child welfare and education policies in rural China.     

A Note on the Frequency Polygon Based on the Weighted Sums of Binned Data

We revisit the generalized midpoint frequency polygons of Scott (1985), and the edge frequency polygons of Jones et al. (1998 Jones, M.C., Samiuddin, M., Al-Harbey, A.H., Maatouk, T. A.H. (1998). The edge frequency polygon. Biometrika 85:235–239.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Dong and Zheng (2001 Dong, J.P., Zheng, C. (2001). Generalized edge frequency polygon for density estimation. Statist. Probab. Lett. 55:137–145.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Their estimators are linear interpolants of the appropriate values above the bin centers or edges, those values being weighted averages of the heights of r, r ∈ N, neighboring histogram bins. We propose a simple kernel evaluation method to generate weights for binned values. The proposed kernel method can provide near-optimal weights in the sense of minimizing asymptotic mean integrated square error. In addition, we prove that the discrete uniform weights minimize the variance of the generalized frequency polygon under some mild conditions. Analogous results are obtained for the generalized frequency polygon based on linearly prebinned data. Finally, we use two examples and a simulation study to compare the generalized midpoint and edge frequency polygons.     

A Note on the Factorization of a Matrix Inverse

The decomposition of a matrix as a product of a lower triangular with ones on the diagonal and an upper triangular matrix is useful for solving systems of linear equations. For a given non singular matrix, this type of decomposition is unique and algorithms exist to obtain the two factors. However, in certain problems the factorization of the inverse matrix may be of interest. This note presents an algorithm for factoring the inverse matrix using simple operations of elements from the original matrix. As examples, we give factorizations for several well-known and widely used correlation matrices. The usefulness and practicality of these factorizations are provided in an application of statistical modeling using unbiased estimating equations.     

人文提升与审美建构——改革开放以来我国文艺的优化策略及相关分析

基于文艺美学和文化社会学的理论视角观照改革开放以来我国的文艺生态,一方面,人文性优化策略使得文艺生态环境已呈现出多元化、多层次的格局;另一方面,价值和审美取向上的趋利性失衡,导致文艺的分化扩张渐趋于无序状态。文艺生态系统和谐与矛盾共存,繁荣表象下潜藏着生态危机的隐忧。进一步优化文艺生态,需要多种社会资源的参与,立足于人文提升与审美建构,致力文艺的外部制度建设和内在机理的谐调完善。     

保障教育公平和促进广州市义务教育的均衡发展

本文认为非户籍务工人员子女能否接受义务教育是一件关乎教育公平乃至社会和谐的大事,文章列举了在穗非户籍务工人员子女接受义务教育的现状和困难,剖析了问题的原因,并且提出了4点务实的建议。     

落后山区镇域旅游业发展对策研究——以秀山县官庄镇为例

如何依托自身优势克服资源劣势,大力促进现代旅游业的快速发展,是当前我国落后山区镇域经济发展面临的一个重要课题.本文以地处武陵山区的秀山县官庄镇为例,通过对该镇旅游业发展面临的有利因素和制约因素的分析,提出了该镇旅游业发展的具体对策和思路,对我国其它落后山区镇域旅游业的发展具有较好的参考意义和价值.     

基督教与川康民族地区的农业改良——边疆服务运动中的农业生计事工考察

边疆服务运动是基督教为实践其提倡已久的"社会福音"而展开的改造中国西部民族地区社会状况的实践,推进这一运动的机构是边疆服务部.试图改善边民物质生活的农业生计服务是边疆服务的主要内容之一.边部在川西和西康的彝羌藏地区的农业生计服务工作,为当地培养了一批生计干部,为边胞提供了进修机会,还更新了边民的农耕观念,大大改变了边胞对政府的敌对观念,产生了较大的社会反响,对推进该地区的农业生产发展做出过有益的贡献.     

中泰文化非语言交际的礼仪差异

中泰文化在非言语交际行为方面存在着大量的差异,文章以中泰交流中常遇到的非语言交际礼仪规范为例,对比了中泰文化交流中在交际礼俗范畴不可忽视的差异。     

用生命的最后八年搭建学科高地——一代宗师吴泽霖先生在中南民族大学的学术活动述论

本文以1982—1990年期间,吴泽霖在中南民族大学的民族学学术活动为研究对象,探讨了一代宗师在其生命的最后八年中,对民族学学科所作的卓越贡献。     

Weighted product index and its two-independent-sample comparison based on weighted sensitivity and specificity

Background: On the basis of statistical methods about index S (S = SEN × SPE), we develop a new weighted ways (weighted product index S_w) of combining sensitivity and specificity with user-defined weights. Methods: The new weighted product index S_w is defined as S_w = (SEN) (Youden 1950)^2w × (SPE) (Youden 1950) ^2(1?w) Results: For the large sample, the test statistics Z of two-independent-sample weighted product indices can either be a monotonous increasing/decreasing function or a no-monotonous function of weight w. Type I error of this statistics can be guaranteed close to the nominal level of 5%, which is more conservative than the weighted Youden index from simulation.