作为文化感应变化的间断熵——埃克森·瓦尔迪兹石油泄漏事故研究

间断熵在文化领域被定义为一种永久的衰退,是人类文化系统对环境适应灵活性的永久萎缩,它预测并解释了灾后人类系统不能重建的原因。1989年发生于埃克森·瓦尔迪兹的石油泄漏事故是一次技术性灾难,对威廉王子湾地区的商业性捕鱼和建立在生存资料基础上的社区生活模式造成了严重的影响,并在其随后的灾后重建中表现出明显的间断熵过程。究其原因在于：（1）自然资源基础受到严重损坏,影响了原有的生计方式;（2）外来援助的方向性错误或有所保留,致使当地居民的精神创伤加剧;（3）灾后地区政治生态妨碍人类与环境互动传统模式的恢复。威廉王子湾地区作为自然资源社区,代表了一种文化上适合可持续发展的能力,那么他们应该被竭力保护,而不是被排斥或消除。对此,人类学家应该致力于研究如何对抗间断熵,为预防、应对和缓解灾难创造出文化上适宜的新方法。     

Estimation of Distribution Functions Using Data from Different Environments

Suppose that when a unit operatesin a certain environment, its lifetime has distribution G,and when the unit operates in another environment, its lifetimehas a different distribution, say F. Moreover, supposethe unit is operated for a certain period of time in the firstenvironment and is then transferred to the second environment.Thus we observe a censored lifetime in the first environmentand a failure time of a ``used' unit in the second environment.We propose an EM algorithm approach for obtaining a self-consistentestimator of F. Moreover, suppose using observations from both environments.The case where failure times are subject to right censoring isconsidered as well. We also establish the maximum likelihoodestimator of F. Moreover, suppose when the unit is repairable. Applicationand simulation studies are presented to illustrate the methodsderived.     

Dependence Estimation Over a Finite Bivariate Failure Time Region

This articleconcerns nonparametric estimation of association between bivariatefailure times. In the presence of independent right censoring,the support for failure time variates may be restricted and measuresof dependence over a finite failure time region may be of particularinterest. To this end, the reciprocal cross ratio function, weightedby the bivariate failure time density, is proposed as a summarymeasure of dependence over a failure time region. This `relativerisk' estimator is shown to be consistent and asymptoticallynormally distributed, with consistent bootstrap variance estimator.A finite-region version of Kendall's tau, which is suitable forcensored failure time data, is also proposed, and correspondingasymptotic distribution theory is noted. The accuracy of theseasymptotic approximations is studied in simulations and an illustrationis provided.     

祖鲁人的自豪感

许多南非白人对祖鲁人是怀有相当敬意的。作为工人,祖鲁人是很多金矿和工厂的骨干力量。他们的精力和技术是众所周知的。在城市的团体领袖、体育明星和知识分子中,祖鲁人所占的比例很大。每当白人回想起祖鲁部落的往事时,他们既是敬佩,又是惧怕。在与白人发生冲突之前,祖鲁人有着他们自己的国家。他们的国父是残暴的沙卡(Shaka)酋长。他是一个非常残忍、但具有非凡军事才能的统治者。十八世纪末,他掌握了一个小部落,后来征服了周围的部落,     

关于种族关系与民族关系的研究

社会学所追求的主要目标,不是具备精确地预测结局的能力,而是获得对社会状况的理解,这已言之有素了。假定我们知道了包含在一组特定事件中的变化无常的因素,我们就能从中引出结论并且作出若干合乎逻辑的推理来。把“理解”作为目标,这在关于种族关系和民族关系的研究工作中,比在其他任何地方都更为恰当。对于上面提出的这个问题,我们可以这样来认识,即当我们遇到经常演化出种种结局来的一系列复杂因素的时候,我们是可以     

肤色在美国黑人内部的影响日趋减弱

W·E·B·杜波伊斯在谈及20世纪初越来越按照严格的肤色线来划分种族时曾经预言:20世纪的历史在很大程度上是肤色界线的历史。在他写作的时代,美国对黑人的划分实际上存在着两条界线:一条是种族的分界线,用以区分白人以及来自非洲、定居在美国的黑人;另一条是以肤色的深浅形成的美国黑人内部分界线。这两条界线均对黑人的生活有着巨大的影     

“红种人”的最后一战

“卧牛”、“黑狼”、“白云”、“巨足”以及其他既有诗意又引人着迷的绰号,并不是美国西部电影中虚构的英雄人物。这些名字,过去那些在苦难中煎熬并为本民族的事业而献身的人使用过;而今,那些为民族的生存和平等权力而斗争的人,同样也还在使用。简而言之,他们就是居住在北美的印第安人。生活在美国的这些“红种人”,     

Opportunities for woman-initiated HIV prevention methods among female sex workers in southern China

Rapid changes in China over the past two decades have led to significant problems associated with population migration and changing social attitudes, including a growing sex industry and concurrent increases in STIs and HIV. This article reports results of an exploratory study of microbicide acceptability and readiness and current HIV prevention efforts among female sex workers in two rural and one urban town in Hainan and Guangxi Provinces in southern China. The study focused on these women's knowledge and cultural understandings of options for protecting themselves from exposure to STIs and HIV, and the potential viability and acceptability of woman-initiated prevention methods. We report on ethnographic elicitation interviews conducted with women working within informal sex-work establishments (hotels, massage and beauty parlors, roadside restaurants, boarding houses). We discuss implications of these findings for further promotion of woman-initiated prevention methods such as microbicides and female condoms among female sex workers in China.     

Assessing the relevance of higher education courses

The establishment of the European Higher Education Area has involved specifying lists of professional competencies that programs are expected to develop, and with this the need for procedures to measure how every course within a higher education program is aligned with the program's competencies. We propose an instrument for characterizing this alignment, a process that we call assessing the relevance of a course. Using information from the course syllabus (objectives, contents and assessment scheme), our instrument produces indicators for characterizing the syllabus in terms of a competence list and for assessing its coherence. Because assessment involves quality, the results obtained can also be used to revise and improve the course syllabus. We illustrate this process with an example of a methods course from a mathematics teacher education program at a Spanish university.     

Semi-structured interview protocol for constructing logic models

This paper details a semi-structured interview protocol that evaluators can use to develop a logic model of a program's services and outcomes. The protocol presents a series of questions, which evaluators can ask of specific program informants, that are designed to: (1) identify key informants basic background and contextual information, (2) generate logic model elements, (3) model program inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes, (4) build a rational theory, (5) develop a program theory, (6) prioritize logic model elements, and (7) build a graphical or tabular logic model. The paper will also provide an example of how this approach was used to develop a logic model for a youth mentoring program. It is our hope and belief that with this interview protocol, novice evaluators will be able to generate comprehensive logic models like seasoned professional evaluators.