Designing and integrating composite networks for monitoring multivariate gaussian pollution fields

Networks of ambient monitoring stations are used to monitor environmental pollution fields such as those for acid rain and air pollution. Such stations provide regular measurements of pollutant concentrations. The networks are established for a variety of purposes at various times so often several stations measuring different subsets of pollutant concentrations can be found in compact geographical regions. The problem of statistically combining these disparate information sources into a single 'network' then arises. Capitalizing on the efficiencies so achieved can then lead to the secondary problem of extending this network. The subject of this paper is a set of 31 air pollution monitoring stations in southern Ontario. Each of these regularly measures a particular subset of ionic sulphate, sulphite, nitrite and ozone. However, this subset varies from station to station. For example only two stations measure all four. Some measure just one. We describe a Bayesian framework for integrating the measurements of these stations to yield a spatial predictive distribution for unmonitored sites and unmeasured concentrations at existing stations. Furthermore we show how this network can be extended by using an entropy maximization criterion. The methods assume that the multivariate response field being measured has a joint Gaussian distribution conditional on its mean and covariance function. A conjugate prior is used for these parameters, some of its hyperparameters being fitted empirically.     

Efficient Bayesian inference in generalized inverse gamma processes for stochastic volatility

This paper develops a novel and efficient algorithm for Bayesian inference in inverse Gamma stochastic volatility models. It is shown that by conditioning on auxiliary variables, it is possible to sample all the volatilities jointly directly from their posterior conditional density, using simple and easy to draw from distributions. Furthermore, this paper develops a generalized inverse gamma process with more flexible tails in the distribution of volatilities, which still allows for simple and efficient calculations. Using several macroeconomic and financial datasets, it is shown that the inverse gamma and generalized inverse gamma processes can greatly outperform the commonly used log normal volatility processes with Student’s t errors or jumps in the mean equation.     

A Study of Clinical Change in Individual Career Counseling

This study examined the clinical significance of career counseling effects. Participants were 111 university students (83% women) who participated in individual career counseling sessions at their university. All participants completed the French version of the Outcome Questionnaire–30.2 (OQ‐30.2; Lambert, Finch, Okiishi, & Burlingame, 2005) immediately before the 1st session (pretest) and at the beginning of the last session (posttest). The OQ‐30.2 assesses 3 client life domains: subjective discomfort, problems in interpersonal relationships, and problems in social role satisfaction. Using Jacobson and Truax’s (1991) statistical approach to assessing clinical change, the authors compared clients’ pretest OQ‐30.2 scores with their posttest scores. Among clients with a “dysfunctional” score (n = 59) at the study’s inception, 34% recovered and 14% improved, whereas 41% of clients with functional scores (n = 52) at the study’s inception improved. The results suggest that individual career counseling can make a difference in the lives of many clients; they also highlight the importance of further outcome research that accounts for possible variability in clients’ responses to career counseling.     

书院教育的复兴与儒家人格培养

中国高等教育的根本矛盾是求道与学艺的矛盾。近代以来,我国高等教育对西、苏模式的模仿主义以及越来越转向学艺本位的教育理念,导致对大学生的人格培养的轻视与路径匮乏,这都一直为国人所诟病。如何寻求突破发展的瓶颈,建立真正意义上21世纪的中国大学和本土化的高等教育模式,已经成为了当代中国高等教育的重要命题。书院作为悠久历史的中国传统文化教育组织,是中国传统高等教育的代表之一,也是儒家人格培养的重要机制,在港澳台和上海等多地正在悄然复兴。立足当代,如何继承传统和与时俱进,就必须要审视书院教育的办学制度与治学方法,这也才是中国高等教育的出路所在。     

The Nuns of Lepers: Compassion,Discipline and Surrogate Parenthood in a Former Leper Colony of Vietnam

This paper focuses on a Christian model of leprosy care overseen by Catholic nuns in Quy Hòa, a leprosarium in South Central Vietnam, from 1929—when the leper colony was established—until 1975, when the American-backed Southern regime collapsed and all of Quy Hòa’s foreign nuns were forced to leave. Drawing on recollections of elderly residents of the former leprosy colony, it describes the close and loving attention that the nuns offered to inmates, an attentiveness that was informed by the nuns’ ethic of Christian sacrifice. The nuns at Quy Hòa successfully built a quasi parent–child relationship with leprosy-afflicted inmates. Their striking devotion to the ‘lepers’ resembles substitute motherhood. However, these recollections of that era also shed critical light on an approach to leprosy care that was premised on hierarchy, strictly enforced segregation from the wider community and pronounced paternalism towards all those who came under the nuns’ rule of care.     

Performative family: homosexuality,marriage and intergenerational dynamics in China

Using in‐depth interview data on nominal marriages – legal marriages between a gay man and a lesbian to give the appearance of heterosexuality – this paper develops the concept of performative family to explain the processes through which parents and their adult children negotiate and resolve disagreements in relation to marriage decisions in post‐socialist China. We identify three mechanisms – network pressure, a revised discourse of filial piety and resource leverage – through which parents influence their gay offspring's decision to turn to nominal marriage. We also delineate six strategies, namely minimizing network participation, changing expectations, making partial concessions, drawing the line, delaying decisions and ending the marriage, by which gay people in nominal marriages attempt to meet parental expectations while simultaneously retaining a degree of autonomy. Through these interactions, we argue that Chinese parents and their gay adult children implicitly and explicitly collaborate to perform family, emphasizing the importance of formally meeting society's expectations about marriage rather than substantively yielding to its demands. We also argue that the performative family is a pragmatic response to the tension between the persistent centrality of family and marriage and the rising tide of individualism in post‐socialist China. We believe that our findings highlight the specific predicament of homosexual people. They also shed light on the more general dynamics of intergenerational negotiation because there is evidence that the mechanisms used by parents to exert influence may well be similar between gay and non‐gay people.     

基于文化营销视角的城市古镇文化旅游品牌塑造研究——以广州沙湾古镇为例

随着我国旅游业的高速发展,旅游业竞争热点正从旅游资源开发向旅游产品开发以及旅游目的地品牌塑造这两个更高层次演变。城市古镇文化旅游日益成为一个旅游消费热点,针对这种趋势,本文以广州市番禺区沙湾古镇为例,从文化营销的视角,探讨了古镇文化旅游品牌塑造的理论与方法,分析了把地方文化资源转化为旅游目的地品牌核心价值的路径与方法,为城镇文化旅游开发提供决策依据。     

《易经》哲学思想的混沌性刍议

关于《易经》(《周易》本文部分)哲学思想的性质究竟是唯物的还是唯心的问题,历来有不同的看法。本文认为,《易经》的哲学思想是呈混沌状态的,其性质就是混沌性。这种混沌性表现为唯心主义和唯物主义并存、唯物主义和唯心主义成分的互相渗透。认识《易经》哲学思想的混沌性,决不是搞折中调和,这种混沌实际上代表了人类早期认识的特征,是反映论在人类认识初始阶段的客观表现。     

罗大春在台史事及有关问题试探

罗大春是晚清贵州著名的将领之一,他虽出身贫寒,但因勇猛善战而得到清廷赏识,并升迁至从一品的福建、湖南陆路提督等职.综观其一生,最大的亮点莫过于同治光绪两朝之交,奉命赴台开展的"开山抚番"活动,为开发台湾和抵御外来侵略作出重要贡献.赴台成为其人生的重大转折点,对其后半生影响巨大.     

美查时期《申报》的经营之道--媒介经营管理研究之一

《申报》是中国新闻史上的第一家商业性报纸,英国人美查在其创办初期及17年经营管理中为达到谋利的目的,在办报过程中重视刊发言论,注意社会新闻的采写与报道,刊载文艺作品;奉行聘用华人主笔、主持编务和经营管理的人才观;采取以客户为中心,灵活调整广告价格和树立报纸自身形象的广告策略;采用减低成本、降低售价,设立分销处、雇用报童卖报和扩充篇幅、免费赠送的发行方式以及集出版图书、杂志、通俗报纸,经销发行画报,开办其他企业为一体的多元化经营方式来经营《申报》。美查的这些经营之道取得了巨大成功,赢利是原资本的187．5倍,《申报》也成为当时中国规模最大、销数最多的新闻纸。