Do resources of network members help in help seeking? Social capital and health information search

Does social capital as resources of network members affect health information search? Analyzing data from the 2004 General Social Survey in the United States, this study measures two social capital indicators (average education of network members and proportion of network members with a high school degree or higher) using the name generator. Most results are consistent using those two indicators. Both indicators are positively associated with frequency of health information seeking and seekers’ frequency of use of two sources (friends or relatives and the Internet). Also average education of network members is positively associated with seekers’ diversity of used sources and frequency of consultation with medical professionals. But neither indicator is associated with seekers’ frequency of use of other four sources (health-related magazines or newsletters, general magazines, daily newspapers, and radio or television programs). The findings demonstrate the theoretical utility of social capital in the social dynamics of medical help-seeking.     

Communicating Conservation Status: How Different Statistical Assessment Criteria Affect Perceptions of Extinction Risk

Although alternative forms of statistical and verbal information are routinely used to convey species’ extinction risk to policymakers and the public, little is known about their effects on audience information processing and risk perceptions. To address this gap in literature, we report on an experiment that was designed to explore how perceptions of extinction risk differ as a function of five different assessment benchmarks (Criteria A–E) used by scientists to classify species within IUCN Red List risk levels (e.g., Critically Endangered, Vulnerable), as well as the role of key individual differences in these effects (e.g., rational and experiential thinking styles, environmental concern). Despite their normative equivalence within the IUCN classification system, results revealed divergent effects of specific assessment criteria: on average, describing extinction risk in terms of proportional population decline over time (Criterion A) and number of remaining individuals (Criterion D) evoked the highest level of perceived risk, whereas the single‐event probability of a species becoming extinct (Criterion E) engendered the least perceived risk. Furthermore, participants scoring high in rationality (analytic thinking) were less prone to exhibit these biases compared to those low in rationality. Our findings suggest that despite their equivalence in the eyes of scientific experts, IUCN criteria are indeed capable of engendering different levels of risk perception among lay audiences, effects that carry direct and important implications for those tasked with communicating about conservation status to diverse publics.     

信贷歧视、青年创业群体与互保信贷模式

通过构建一个基于互保制度不存在情况下的银行信贷选择的理论模型,揭露银行对于青年创业者的信贷偏向.进而建立一个基于随机组合情况下的互保信贷模型,发现随机组合的互保机制反而不如普通信贷模式.运用此理论模型重点分析欺诈不存在和存在的互保信贷机制,得出如下的结论:创业者欺诈意愿不存在的情况下,银行给优质小组和混合小组的借贷成本应该让他们项目的经济利润近似于零,违约连带还款额接近投资项目的总收益.创业者欺诈意愿存在的情况下,在具有完善的合作约束和激励约束的前提下,银行应该对任一创业群体互保小组一视同仁,给予相同的贷款利率.同时,一旦小组成员违约,银行对承担责任的创业者抽贷行为不应该出于惩罚目的.     

Bayesian estimation of rare sensitive attribute

Randomized response models have been used to estimate a population proportion of a sensitive attribute. A randomized device is typically employed to protect respondent's privacy in a survey. In addition, an unrelated question is asked to improve the statistical efficiency. In this article, we propose Bayesian estimation of rare sensitive attribute using randomized response technique, which includes a rare unrelated attribute. Two cases are considered, the proportion of a rare unrelated attribute is known and unknown. A simulation study is conducted to assess the performance of the models using mean absolute error and coverage probability. The results show that the performance depends on the parameters and is robust to priors.     

Precise large deviations for the difference of two sums of END random variables with heavy tails

Assume that there are two types of insurance contracts in an insurance company, and the ith related claims are denoted by {X_ij, j ? 1}, i = 1, 2. In this article, the asymptotic behaviors of precise large deviations for non random difference ∑^n₁(t)_{j = 1}X_1j ? ∑^n₂(t)_{j = 1}X_2j and random difference ∑^N₁(t)_{j = 1}X_1j ? ∑^N₂(t)_{j = 1}X_2j are investigated, and under several assumptions, some corresponding asymptotic formulas are obtained.     

技术与制度交互视角下建筑企业绿色转型驱动的内生机理研究

基于技术与制度交互理论,利用扎根理论识别出15项影响建筑企业绿色转型的内生性因素,采用ISM-MICMAC方法探索影响因素间的作用机理。结果表明,技术与制度相互影响、协同促进建筑企业绿色转型内生驱动力的形成。市场调研、项目管理、财务能力是推动绿色转型的直接因素,也是内生性驱动因素。     

汉语双字词常模特征跨词性对比研究

汉语中不同词性词有不同常模特征规律。名词的具体性、意象性、语义透明度最高，但笔画数最少；动词的词频最高、习得年龄最晚,但感官经验度最低；形容词的熟悉性、主观词频和情感经验度最高，但具体性最低。同时，具体性、意象性和感官经验度之间的相互关联只存在于名词和形容词中。13个常模特征可以归为频率、语义、视觉复杂性和词义数四个公共因子，但各因子所主要代表的变量情况在不同词性词之间有相似，亦有不同。另外，动词和形容词之间的相似性高于它们分别与名词之间的相似性程度，习得年龄、情感经验度、意象性和主观词义数最能把名词与另外两种词性区分开来。     

A New Feature Selection Method for Text Categorization of Customer Reviews

With the rapid development of e-commerce, online consumer review plays an increasingly important role in consumers’ purchase decisions. Most research papers use the quantitative measures of consumer reviews for statistical analysis. Here we focus on analyzing the texts of customer reviews with text mining tools. We propose a new feature selection method called maximizing the difference. Various classification methods such as boosting, random forest and SVM are used to test the performance of the new method along with different evaluation criteria. Both simulation and empirical results show that it improves the effectiveness of the classifier over the existing methods.     

三次党内集中学习教育活动的回顾与思考(英文)

21世纪以来,中国共产党相继开展了农村三个代表重要思想学习教育活动,以实践三个代表重要思想为主要内容的保持党员先进性教育活动和深入学习实践科学发展观活动。通过这三次活动,广大党员、干部受到深刻的马克思主义教育,进一步增强了对三个代表重要思想的认识。这三次活动对于在新的历史起点上推进党的建设的伟大工程,具有十分重要的启示意义。     

Contents of heavy metals in arable soils and birth defect risks in Shanxi, China: a small area level geographic study

The burgeoning demands of China’s urbanization and industrial development put pressure on the resources of the entire country and have direct and indirect effects on the health of individuals, at times in areas far removed from cities themselves. Current evidence suggests that heavy metal pollution in soil, a common by-product of coal mining and other industrial activities, may be linked to risk of birth defects. We examine this hypothesis using small area level data including soil samples and detailed birth records from 2002 to 2004 from 97 villages in Shanxi province, a heavy coal-mining region. We find that soils containing arsenic, lead, and nickel are significantly correlated with the incidence of birth defects. In particular, we find a strong positive dose-dependent association of birth defects with lead, a moderate positive effect with arsenic, and a dose-dependent negative association with nickel. These results are consistent with the postulated link between arsenic and lead and human birth defects, but raise questions about the effects of nickel in this context. China’s rapid urbanization underscores the need for closer attention to the relationship between the health and the environment.