Automating and evaluating reversible jump MCMC proposal distributions

The reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler (Green in Biometrika 82:711–732, 1995) has become an invaluable device for Bayesian practitioners. However, the primary difficulty with the sampler lies with the efficient construction of transitions between competing models of possibly differing dimensionality and interpretation. We propose the use of a marginal density estimator to construct between-model proposal distributions. This provides both a step towards black-box simulation for reversible jump samplers, and a tool to examine the utility of common between-model mapping strategies. We compare the performance of our approach to well established alternatives in both time series and mixture model examples.     

How student teachers (don’t) talk about race: An intersectional analysis

This study explores how student teacher talk about their students illuminates the identities ascribed to these same students. It uses a hybrid intersectional framework based on Disability Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Latino Critical Theory and methodologies (like examining majoritarian stories, counter-storytelling, coded talk, and post-civil rights race talk) to uncover how student teacher talk reveals oppressive discourses of race, disability (and language status). This article focuses on how the medicalization of disability facilitates student teachers not identifying the racialization of disability in school. It demonstrates the need for educational research to employ an intersectionality lens when exploring educational issues related to students’ identities.     

纳西英雄之名的翻译:从民族文学到世界文学

In ethnic minority literature, the translation of names plays an important role in sha-ping ethnic identity. The names of an ethnic group’s folk heroes,in this case the Naxi hero Coqsseileel’ee ( in Naxi pinyin ) , or ( in Interna-tional Phonetic Alphabet ) , are not just sound se-quences, but are also full of implicit meaning that needs to be transferred. Only when this meaning is conveyed can we protect ethnic culture in transla-tion.     

Multidimensional poverty: An alternative measurement approach for the United States?

International poverty research has increasingly underscored the need to use multidimensional approaches to measure poverty. Largely embraced in Europe and elsewhere, this has not had much impact on the way poverty is measured in the United States. In this paper, I use a comprehensive multidimensional framework including economic well-being, capability, and social inclusion to examine poverty in the US. Data from the 2004 General Social Survey support the interconnectedness among these poverty dimensions, indicating that the multidimensional framework utilizing a comprehensive set of information provides a compelling value added to poverty measurement. The suggested demographic characteristics of the various categories of the poor are somewhat similar between this approach and other traditional approaches. But the more comprehensive and accurate measurement outcomes from this approach help policymakers target resources at the specific groups.     

丹托、历史与人类生存的悲剧

历史哲学是当代哲学的灰姑娘,哲学家们从不认为历史哲学家处理的主题关乎任何重大的理论旨趣和紧迫性。在他们眼里,历史哲学关心的问题无非就是哲学家们在别处取得的成果如何能够或者应该怎样运用到历史写作领域中,而且当代历史哲学家在改变其同事所给予的较低评价方面也少有作为。本文将论证丹托在持此种观点的历史哲学家中是一个例外,因为他关于表现的哲学可以帮助我们理解文本是如何与其对象相联系的。(20世纪)语言哲学的主要缺点无疑就是,它从不费心去探究文本的哲学奥秘。历史写作是一座哲学金矿,在这点上我们必须感谢丹托的提醒。     

Testing Evolutionary Hypotheses with Demographic Data

An ecological evolutionary viewpoint offers new perspectives on contemporary demographic problems in general and on population–environment issues in particular. In turn, rich and detailed human demographic data can help solve problems of interest in evolutionary theory. Such data have been analyzed in greatest detail in studies of traditional and historical societies. Evolutionary approaches using historical data go beyond small‐sample anthropological studies to the application of the evolutionary approach to large datasets, and illuminate important similarities between small‐scale traditional societies and large modern populations living in evolutionarily novel environments. This article provides a concise update of the breadth of questions and hypotheses of likely interest to demographers and others that evolutionary theorists address using a variety of traditional and historical datasets. It suggests opportunities for additional collaborative work between evolutionary theorists and historical demographers and highlights topics relevant to modern demography.     

Childhood family structure and young adult behaviors

This paper examines a wide variety of forms, and full histories, of family structure to test existing theories of family influences and identify needs for new theories. The focus is on links between childhood family structure and both completed schooling and risk of a nonmarital birth. Using a 27-year span of panel (PSID) data for U.S. children, we find that: (a) change is stressful, (b) timing during childhood is relevant, (c) adults other than parents are important, and (d) two more recently studied family structures (mother-with-grandparent(s) and mother-with-stepfather) do not fit the molds of existing theories. The findings suggest that new theories should consider allocation of resources and reasons people group into family structures. Received: 11 September 1998/Accepted: 27 March 2000     

Immigration: Not a Solution to Problems of Population Decline and Aging

Population and Environment - This article is a synopsis of a UN study, with emphasis on Italy and the United States. In March, 2000, the United Nations Population Division published a 143-page...