A local linear estimation of conditional hazard function in censored data

A local linear estimator of the conditional hazard function in censored data is proposed. The estimator suggested in this paper is motivated by the ideas of Fan, Yao, and Tong (1996) and Kim, Bae, Choi, and Park (2005). The asymptotic distribution of the proposed estimator is derived, and some numerical results are also provided.     

Bayesian Estimation of the Two-Parameter Gamma Distribution

In this article, we present and discuss an original price index being a special case of a general formula for price indices. We show that the discussed formula satisfies most postulates coming from the axiomatic price index theory. We compare this index to other known and popular price indices in a simulation study.     

“Racist Propaganda”: discursive Negotiations on YouTube of Perceived Anti-White Racism in South Korea

This article analyzes YouTube comments about a Munhwa Broadcasting Company report that White “expatriates” in South Korea called xenophobic and racist. The research is important because there is a paucity of scholarship on White discourse outside the West and because there is limited work on YouTube as a space to articulate and negotiate discourses about racism. This is despite the increasingly complex flows of people and discourse around the globe. In this article, I argue that YouTube acted as a site of ideological negotiation in which Orientalist discourses were advanced under the cover of color-blind racism. Many of the YouTube comments framed Korea as xenophobic and racist, and even for self-identified White commenters sympathetic to the report, they did not challenge the construction of Korea as racist or the normative belief in postracism.     

Enchanted companionship of Korean Catholic youth amid compressed individualization

Korean youth are confronted with “existential vulnerability” in an uncertain labor market. “Compressed individualization” reflects a high-risk society in Korea's socio-economic context and acts as the social backdrop for the “privatization of religion.” Despite de-religionization or the unchurching climate, what are the peculiar features of Korean Catholic youth who are actively participating in a church group? The authors selected five Catholic youth groups and conducted in-depth interviews with 18 of their members. Highly religious young Catholics demonstrate coping with existential insecurity amid compressed individualization via “enchanted companionship” experienced through prayer, sharing, or service. Despite differences in communal culture between groups, the peculiar features of their enchanted companionship include holistic healing, reciprocal transcendence, and solidarity. Amid the youth's struggles to find their way toward the fullness of life, these communities offer them a “free and gratuitous haven” distinct from secular ties in the utilitarian and disenchanted world. They can also voluntarily discover the significance of life through their activities, reflections, and missions. In sum, this study explains how religiosity is formed through a socio-existential vulnerability in youth's lived religion at a micro-level analysis, and signifies enchanted companionship as a key mechanism counteracting the waves of the secular world.