Rural-Urban Differences in Obesity1

Abstract Obesity is an important social and health issue in contemporary society. Differences in relative weight, overweight, and extreme overweight were examined in rural, middle-sized, and urban areas in a national sample of 11,578 adults in the NHANES II survey. Rural-urban residence and weight were examined in bivariate relationships and in multiple regression analyses controlling for demographic and physical variables. Overall bivariate analyses revealed that some groups in rural areas had higher weights than their more urban counterparts. However, regression analyses showed that many bivariate rural-urban differences disappeared when demographics were controlled, although rural white women and men were still more likely to be overweight relative to their more urban counterparts. These findings suggest that the demographic composition of rural and urban populations explains most, but not all rural-urban variations in weight.     

关于“林业生态工程学”教学的思考

该文分析了目前北京林业大学“林业生态工程学”教学中存在的问题,主要是课程内容较多,又受到其他因素的影响,在有限的教学时数内很难提高教学质量。同时教学实践环节比较薄弱,不能满足社会对学生工作能力的期待。对此,作者在教学内容、教学手段、课堂互动、个性化作业、综合能力培训等方面进行了一些探索,取得了较好的效果。该文提出了进一步教学改革的思路是“以课程设计为主线,围绕设计教授课程”,并沿着“理论—综述—专项规划设计—综合规划设计—评价报告”的路线进行教学。     

Women are Victims,Men Make Choices: The Invisibility of Men and Boys in the Global Sex Trade

The invisibility of men and boys in scholarly discussions of the global sex trade was analyzed through a sample of 166 recent articles published in social science journals. Most failed to acknowledge the existence of male sex workers at all. When male sex workers were discussed, they were assigned considerably more agency than female sex workers, the chief danger ascribed to them was HIV rather than violence, and the question of their sexual orientation was always addressed, whereas female sex workers were always assumed heterosexual. The results are discussed in the context of world system theory, Orientalism, and heteronormativity.     

Rate of strong uniform convergence of k-NN density estimates

Let f_n(x) be the univariate k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) density estimate proposed by Loftsgaarden and Quesenberry (1965). By using similar techniques as in Bahadur's representation of sample quantiles (1966), and by the recent results on the oscillation of empirical processes by Stute (1982), we derive the rate of strong uniform convergence of f_n(x) on some suitably chosen interval J_δ. Some comparison with the kernel estimates is given, as well as the choice of the bandwidth sequence relative to the sample size.     

PAUSES: EXPLORATIONS IN SOCIAL RHYTHM

Despite the ubiquity of pauses in the personal and social fabric of everyday life, sociological analysis of this phenomenon has been limited in both scope and concern. In this article it is argued that pausing should not be relegated to the status of a residual category nor should pauses merely be conceptualized as breaks in action or periods of inactivity. Rather, it is suggested that pauses are an essential element of the social rhythm that demonstrates degrees of personal and community well-being and vitality. As well, pausing may be an important, perhaps even necessary, part of the process of commitment and self-esteem. A typology of pauses is offered and the implications of pausing in establishing the rhythm of human behavior are discussed.     

Category Distinguishability and Observer Agreement

It is common in the medical, biological, and social sciences for the categories into which an object is classified not to have a fully objective definition. Theoretically speaking the categories are therefore not completely distinguishable. The practical extent of their distinguishability can be measured when two expert observers classify the same sample of objects. It is shown, under reasonable assumptions, that the matrix of joint classification probabilities is quasi-symmetric, and that the symmetric matrix component is non-negative definite. The degree of distinguishability between two categories is defined and is used to give a measure of overall category distinguishability. It is argued that the kappa measure of observer agreement is unsatisfactory as a measure of overall category distinguishability.