Ecological and socio-economic impacts of the red import fire ant,Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), on urban agricultural ecosystems

Urban Ecosystems - The agricultural impacts of the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren 1972, have been well studied in North America, but have received less emphasis in Asia where the...     

重庆工业普查中经济指标的关系

本文借助于重庆的实例 ,系统研究了工业普查中主要工业经济指标的的相互关系及存在的问题。     

古代尺牍文献的流传脉络 ——兼论《中州启札》从日用到专集的性质演变

尺牍最初以公文的形式存在,早期主要流存在具有"记言"档案性质的《尚书》中,后出现在具有"属辞比事"性质的《左传》《史记· 列传》等私家撰述中,且私书有所增加.汉魏以来文体变革,类目体系不断完善,加之尺牍应用化与寒庶文人的社会需要,尺牍文献入集条件已然成熟.唐宋以来,尺牍文献在走向专集化、著述化的同时,亦借助日用类书的发展实现了日用化、大众化,反映了唐宋社会变革的面貌.从尺牍文献的流传脉络来考察《中州启札》在著录书目中从子部类书、杂文再到集部总集类的演变,可以发现其经历了从日用到专集的性质转化.这种转化折射出元及明前期儒学边缘化、儒士下沉的现实,亦反映出明中叶以来儒学复兴的历程,以及国家意识形态强化之特征.     

SCALE MIXTURES DISTRIBUTIONS IN STATISTICAL MODELLING

This paper presents two types of symmetric scale mixture probability distributions which include the normal, Student t, Pearson Type VII, variance gamma, exponential power, uniform power and generalized t (GT) distributions. Expressing a symmetric distribution into a scale mixture form enables efficient Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms in the implementation of complicated statistical models. Moreover, the mixing parameters, a by-product of the scale mixture representation, can be used to identify possible outliers. This paper also proposes a uniform scale mixture representation for the GT density, and demonstrates how this density representation alleviates the computational burden of the Gibbs sampler.     

Linear estimation of the location and scale parameters based on selected order statistics

This paper gives a review of the best linear estimates of the location and/or scale parameters based on a few order statistics selected from a complete or censored sample. Small sample and large sample cases are considered and compared. Some examples of the practical applications of the estimates are outlined.     

The Effect of Economic Standing,Individual Preferences,and Co-ethnic Resources on Immigrant Residential Clustering 1

Our study examines how immigrants cluster in co-ethnic neighborhoods. We systematically explore the effects of three factors on the co-ethnic clustering of immigrants: economic resources, co-ethnic preferences, and the use of co-ethnic information sources. The study is based on a unique data set that provides rarely available rich information on housing search collected in Toronto in 2006. Focusing on Asian Indians and Chinese immigrants, the results clearly suggest that of all preferences, only co-ethnic preference is related to co-ethnic clustering of the two groups when income and use of co-ethnic resources are taken into consideration, and that levels of co-ethnic clustering are not related to the economic resources of immigrants. The findings also reveal that some effects are distinctive to specific groups. Although immigrants use various co-ethnic resources to obtain housing information, only the use of co-ethnic real estate agents is significant, and that only for the clustering of Chinese, not for Asian Indians.     

From passive assistance to capacity building: assessing the Child Development Fund in Hong Kong

Poverty was not a major issue in Hong Kong before the 1990s. After the Asian financial crisis, the government admitted that poverty was growing and demanded attention. While passive assistance was maintained, increasing emphasis was placed on capacity building to promote self-reliance. The Child Development Fund was introduced to combat intergenerational poverty by developing children's capacity and assets, especially through mentorship. On the basis of published data and interviews with social workers, the project should be considered a success, but it was not without problems. The contribution of social workers to the project was significant but received little government recognition.     

University Binge Drinking Patterns and Changes in Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Chinese Undergraduates in a Hong Kong University

Abstract

Objective: To examine patterns of binge drinking and changes in drinking patterns among Chinese university students. Participants and Methods: Responses to an anonymous questionnaire were compared between a random sample of 411 second year Chinese undergraduate students in 2006 and 2,630 first year students from the previous year. Students reporting any symptoms of alcohol abuse were classified as alcohol abusers whereas those reporting repeated inability to curtail use were categorized as alcohol dependent. Results: After 1 year of university, greatly increased rates of past-month drinking of different degrees were found in both genders. Binge drinking among second year undergraduates was significantly correlated with male gender, living in a student residence hall, smoking, drinking to relieve stress, and having friends who frequently drank. Conclusions: Alcohol misuse is a health hazard to Chinese students in a university environment. Proactive policies aimed at preventing harmful alcohol use should be considered by university authorities.     

Adolescents’ Views on Families as Metaphors in Hong Kong: Implications for Pre‐counselling Assessment

This interpretative study aims to offer metaphors that describe family meanings from the adolescent’s perspective by encouraging them to give a metaphor with their own explanation on a self‐administering essay form. This study has three objectives: to explore the family meanings as a metaphor from the Hong Kong adolescent’s perspective; to reveal any common and unique features of these metaphors; and to search for the possibilities of collecting metaphors from adolescents as a pre‐counselling assessment tool. The 12 participants for this study were referred to me for family counselling because of poor self‐esteem, loss of life goals or ineffective relationships with their parents. Based on the 12 metaphors, the following five themes can be discerned: (i) gender role in a family, (ii) Chinese culture in a family, (iii) heat in a family, (iv) security in a family and (v) the family as honey and a loan company. Based on the above five themes, there are some common metaphors (e.g. a warm place, honey, a shelter, a boat shelter, a chick and a hen, a volcano, a fire, an oven and a loan company), trans‐cultural and unique metaphors (e.g. a wet market and ‘Kung Fu’ experts), and those that are culturally specified. Both strengths and limitations of collecting and analysing metaphors were discussed.