扁平世界中的学习型社区:对中国的分析

中国崛起为先进经济体的可能性为其他国家提供了颇为有趣的发展机遇.本文将主要探讨在地域辽阔、人口众多的中国,能否应用知识政策缩小发达地区和欠发达地区之间的种种差异.本文尤为关注发展学习型社区能否填补知识的鸿沟,弥补发展的差距.根据扁平世界理论,世界可以转化为一个公平的游戏场.中国历史悠久,地缘政治复杂,中国的历史教训为发展中国家众多怀抱梦想的社区提供了各种各样的经验教训.基于这一原因,我们将中国加以个案考察.中国发明了印刷术、火药,开启了足球运动(兹不一一列举),却在其巅峰时期建造了长城(本身就是一个工程上的奇迹),与世隔绝,此后日渐衰微,直至欧洲列强的火炮打开了国门,在沿海设立通商口岸,惊醒了中国人.事实上,已有学者论述,是邓小平的改革开放扭转了这一悲惨状态.此种观点未免过于简单,本文不敢苟同.本文认为,旧中国的衰败,并非由于国门的开放或关闭,而是由于缺少知识和衡量知识的标准.     

Combining Multivariate Bioassays: Accurate Inference Using Small Sample Asymptotics

For several independent multivariate bioassays performed at different laboratories or locations, the problem of testing the homogeneity of the relative potencies is addressed, assuming the usual slope‐ratio or parallel line assay model. When the homogeneity hypothesis holds, interval estimation of the common relative potency is also addressed. These problems have been investigated in the literature using likelihood‐based methods, under the assumption of a common covariance matrix across the different studies. This assumption is relaxed in this investigation. Numerical results show that the usual likelihood‐based procedures are inaccurate for both of the above problems, in terms of providing inflated type I error probabilities for the homogeneity test, and providing coverage probabilities below the nominal level for the interval estimation of the common relative potency, unless the sample sizes are large, as expected. Correction based on small sample asymptotics is investigated in this article, and this provides significantly more accurate results in the small sample scenario. The results are also illustrated with examples.     

‘CRASH’ – TOWARDS A CRITICAL PEDAGOGY OF WHITENESS?

Critical whiteness studies has produced significant analysis of the terrors of white supremacist power. However, in relation to cultural-media studies pedagogy, impassioned calls for the denouncement of whiteness raise troublesome concerns and limits for productively addressing students' racialized identities. I maintain that renouncing whiteness in anti-racist teaching does not adequately connect with commonsense and affective experiences of ‘race’ in everyday life for many students. Through a ‘materialist’ analysis of the film Crash (2005), this article opens up the question of the im/possibility of engaging whiteness from an anti-racist stance that neither condemns nor buttresses white identity. Crash, considered from a reading practice that does not simply dwell on textual meaning and interpretation, offers an opportunity to pedagogically engage with the ambivalent representations of ‘race’ which pervade contemporary culture.     

Fostering families' and children's rights to family connections

Recent federal legislation strengthens children's and families' rights to family-centered practice by increasing the responsibility of child welfare agencies to identify and engage extended family members in providing care and support to children placed out of the home. Preliminary results from an experimental study of a federally funded family finding project found greater involvement of family, kin, and informal supports and a higher likelihood of reunification or relative placement compared with standard child welfare services.     

Left home high and dry-reduced migration in response to repeated droughts in Thailand and Vietnam

Population and Environment - We investigate the extent to which droughts impact migration responses of rural households in Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the role of underlying mechanisms such as...     

The immigration issue in Assam and conflicts around it

Assam, the northeastern state of India, has experienced strong anti-outsider sentiment for more than half a century now. What makes the Assam case unique is that it has faced both internal as well as illegal international migration in massive scales giving rise to intense existential fear and apprehension among its smaller indigenous communities. Their lack of the required political authority and the indifferent attitude of the Indian Union government in addressing the issue have only multiplied its magnitude. The article explicates the politico-economic dynamics of the immigration issue in Assam and the social tension and conflicts around it in a historical perspective and suggests that a multi-pronged approach backed by strong political will is imperative to negotiate the challenges of immigration in the state in an effective manner.     

Analyzing the dynamic system model with discrete failure time distribution

The present study deals with the method of estimation of the parameters of k-components load-sharing parallel system model in which each component’s failure time distribution is assumed to be geometric. The maximum likelihood estimates of the load-share parameters with their standard errors are obtained. (1 − γ) 100% joint, Bonferroni simultaneous and two bootstrap confidence intervals for the parameters have been constructed. Further, recognizing the fact that life testing experiments are time consuming, it seems realistic to consider the load-share parameters to be random variable. Therefore, Bayes estimates along with their standard errors of the parameters are obtained by assuming Jeffrey’s invariant and gamma priors for the unknown parameters. Since, Bayes estimators can not be found in closed form expressions, Tierney and Kadane’s approximation method have been used to compute Bayes estimates and standard errors of the parameters. Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique such as Gibbs sampler is also used to obtain Bayes estimates and highest posterior density credible intervals of the load-share parameters. Metropolis–Hastings algorithm is used to generate samples from the posterior distributions of the unknown parameters.     

Application of PBIB designs in CDC Method IV

In this paper we propose the use of some partially balanced incomplete block designs for blocking in complete diallel cross Method IV (Griffing, 1956) to deal with the situation when it is not desirable for all crosses to be accommodated in the block of a traditional randomized block design. A method is also proposed to analyse the MatingEnvironment designs for estimating the general combining ability effect of lines.     

English and discourses of commodification among tourism workers in the Himalayas

In this article, I investigate commodification discourses and ideologies of English from the perspective of Nepali tourism workers. Drawing data from interviews with porters and trekking guides in Nepal, I argue that English is not seen as merely a transactional means to convey meaning; it works in combination with the traditional form of labor and care in the local economy, establishing itself as a powerful tool to establish closer interpersonal relationships, enhance such interpersonal relationships for economic gains and commodify local identities and cultures in the tourism market. The interview and ethnographic details show that language learners are agentive and capable of making sense of their actions by positioning themselves variously in terms of ethnicity, economic class and job category. These workers think that tourists' linguistic and financial resources are the empowering tools that enable them to travel to locations that they want. They also want to empower themselves with English skills and translocal imaginaries to travel and see the world beyond their immediate reach. Repertoires in English are considered as instruments to mediate their imaginaries and the foreign worlds they want to be part of.