灵魂只能独行

“灵魂的行走只有一个目标,就是寻找上帝。灵魂之所以只能独行,是因为每一个人只有自己寻找,才能找到他的上帝。”在孤独与迷茫之中,他们“寻求着灵魂对主流社会的回归之路。他们只是想找到一个出口,他们已经厌倦流浪的孤途,他们想回家”。美国影片《出租车司机》描绘的正是这样一条回归之路以及路尽头的独语者的命运。故事的背景发生在越战结束后的纽约,这是美国上下颇感尴尬迷茫的一个时期。越战的失利使得人们无法彼此信任,社会的隔膜日益加深。在这座以繁华著称的大都市里,孤独和空虚深深地笼罩着每一个个体。电影的主人公特拉维斯,一个…     

Disrupting an imposed racial identity or performing the model minority? The pursuit of postsecondary education by young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario,Canada

ABSTRACT

This article examines how young African immigrant men in Southern Ontario cope with the dominant racial identity at school in an effort to improve their academic performance and access postsecondary education (PSE). Critical race theory in education is employed to explain how the young men distance themselves from stereotypes about Black masculinity by regulating their own behaviour and differentiating themselves from their Caribbean immigrant peers. Sixty-seven young men who had immigrated to Southern Ontario from several African countries over the last 10 years were interviewed individually and in focus groups for the study. The findings suggest that the research participants adopted a model minority status within an educational system that clearly embodies racist and systemically oppressive frameworks.     

Part-Time Work in the EEC Countries: Evolution during the 1980s

Whereas part-time working remains the exponent par excellence of the flexibility of female employment, its relative growth seems to have come to a standstill in both Denmark and the United Kingdom as far as women are concerned, and for men it is now becoming more a matter of young people offsetting studies and work. In France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Ireland and Germany, the increase in female employment between 1983 and 1989 is largely attributable to the growth of part-time employment. The difference with respect to the countries of the South of Europe is striking since the proportion of part-time working there is low, and has not increased significantly since 1983. Its concentration in already very close sectors, its non-optional nature, insecurity and awkward working hours make part-time employment of very little personal value for employees.     

State estimation for nonlinear state-space transmission models of tuberculosis

Given the high prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) and the mortality rate associated with the disease, numerous models, such as the Gammaitoni and Nucci (GN) model, were developed to model the risk of transmission. These models typically rely on a quanta generation rate as a measurement of infectivity. Since the quanta generation rate cannot be measured directly, the unique contribution of this work is to develop state estimators to estimate the quanta generation rate from available measurements. To estimate the quanta generation rate, the GN model is adapted into an augmented single-room GN model and a simplified two-room GN model. Both models are shown to be observable, i.e., it is theoretically possible to estimate the quanta generation rate given available measurements. Kalman filters are used to estimate the quanta generation rate. First, a continuous-time extended Kalman filter is used for both adapted models using a simulation and measurement sampling rate of 60 s. Accurate quanta generate rate estimates are achieved in both cases. A more realistic scenario is also considered with a measurement sampling rate of one day. For these estimates, a hybrid extended Kalman filter (HEKF) is used. Accurate quanta generation rate estimates are achieved for the more realistic scenario. Future work could potentially use the HEKFs, the adapted models, and real-time measurements in a control system feedback loop to reduce the transmission of TB in confined spaces such as hospitals.     

Permanent Disadvantage or Gradual Integration: Explaining the Immigrant–Native Earnings Gap in Sweden

Theoretical explanations suggest that wage differentials between immigrant and native workers are generated either by differences in the acquisition of human capital or by various forms of exclusion of immigrants from fair labour market rewards. We evaluate the labour quality and labour market discrimination hypotheses by using a large sample of Swedish employees in 1995. Our findings show that labour market integration is relatively unproblematic for immigrants from Western countries, whereas immigrants from other countries, especially from Africa, Asia and Latin America, face substantial obstacles to earnings progress when entering the Swedish labour market. For the latter group of countries, extensive controls for general and country‐specific human capital reduce the earnings differentials. However, the remaining gap is of a non‐trivial magnitude. Thus, the labour quality hypothesis accounts for a part of the observed native–immigrant wage gap, but the remaining differentials can be interpreted in terms of labour market discrimination.     

Quantitative risk assessment of rabies being introduced into mainland France through worldwide noncommercial dog and cat movements

France has been rabies-free among nonflying mammals since 2001. Despite this status, the rabies virus has been introduced several times through noncommercial pet movements, posing a threat of infection by this 100%-lethal zoonosis among local animal and human populations. To quantify the risk of rabies being introduced through worldwide noncommercial dog and cat movements, we performed a quantitative risk assessment using stochastic scenario tree modeling. The mean annual probability of at least one rabies introduction incident was 0.35 (median: 0.24, 90% prediction interval (PI) [0.04; 0.98]) and the mean annual number of rabies-infected pets introduced through pet movements was 0.96 (median: 0.27, 90% PI [0.04; 3.88]). These results highlight a nonnegligible, even high risk due to the associated consequences of such events. In alternative scenario testing, preventive anti-rabies vaccination proved to be an effective measure since removing the vaccination requirement led to a > 15-fold increase in risk. The serological testing requirement had less of an effect (approximately two-fold increase when removed) and the posttest waiting period to ensure that antibodies were not linked to an infection had a negligible effect. Any change in pet owner compliance, especially regarding vaccination, could have a major impact on the risk. This study also shows that reinforced border control staff training could be more effective in reducing risk than more frequent checks. These results provide quantitative data for assessing the probability of the rabies virus entering France, and could help policymakers decrease this risk in rabies-free areas.     

试论理工科大学的人文学科发展策略

理工科大学的人文学科缺失既是一种历史缺失 ,又是一种结构性缺失。其发展策略应为 :以超常规的思路组建综合性的人文社会科学研究基地 ,组建综合性的教师培训基地 ,制定激励性的制度和措施 ,引进和聚集高水平的人文学科研究和教学人才等