Cultural capital or relative risk aversion? Two mechanisms for educational inequality compared1

In this paper we empirically examined two explanatory mechanisms for educational inequality: cultural reproduction and relative risk aversion, using survey data taken from secondary school pupils in Amsterdam. Cultural reproduction theory seeks to explain class variations in schooling by cultural differences between social classes. Relative risk aversion theory argues that educational inequalities can be understood by between-class variation in the necessity of pursuing education at branching points in order to avoid downward mobility. We showed that class variations in early demonstrated ability are for a substantial part cultural: cultural capital - measured by parental involvement in highbrow culture - affected school performance at the primary and secondary level. However, relative risk aversion - operationalized by being concerned with downward mobility - strongly affects schooling ambitions, whereas cultural capital had no effect. Thus, we conclude that 'primary effects' of social origin on schooling outcomes are manifested through cultural capital and not through relative risk aversion (in addition to other potential sources of class variations such as genetics). Relative risk aversion, and not cultural capital, affects schooling ambitions, which is relevant for our understanding of secondary effects.     

Robust signed-rank estimation and variable selection for semi-parametric additive partial linear models

A fully nonparametric model may not perform well or when the researcher wants to use a parametric model but the functional form with respect to a subset of the regressors or the density of the errors is not known. This becomes even more challenging when the data contain gross outliers or unusual observations. However, in practice the true covariates are not known in advance, nor is the smoothness of the functional form. A robust model selection approach through which we can choose the relevant covariates components and estimate the smoothing function may represent an appealing tool to the solution. A weighted signed-rank estimation and variable selection under the adaptive lasso for semi-parametric partial additive models is considered in this paper. B-spline is used to estimate the unknown additive nonparametric function. It is shown that despite using B-spline to estimate the unknown additive nonparametric function, the proposed estimator has an oracle property. The robustness of the weighted signed-rank approach for data with heavy-tail, contaminated errors, and data containing high-leverage points are validated via finite sample simulations. A practical application to an economic study is provided using an updated Canadian household gasoline consumption data.     

Variable selection in elliptical linear mixed model

Variable selection in elliptical Linear Mixed Models (LMMs) with a shrinkage penalty function (SPF) is the main scope of this study. SPFs are applied for parameter estimation and variable selection simultaneously. The smoothly clipped absolute deviation penalty (SCAD) is one of the SPFs and it is adapted into the elliptical LMM in this study. The proposed idea is highly applicable to a variety of models which are set up with different distributions such as normal, student-t, Pearson VII, power exponential and so on. Simulation studies and real data example with one of the elliptical distributions show that if the variable selection is also a concern, it is worthwhile to carry on the variable selection and the parameter estimation simultaneously in the elliptical LMM.     

传统藏戏的审美张力分析

传统藏戏将教化性和审美性融合统一,形成了具有无限延展的审美空间,被藏民族一代代接受和传承。传统藏戏的多种元素彼此之间相互对抗、冲突和矛盾,形成具有张力的审美空间和强大的审美冲击力,使接受者产生共鸣,在艺术的审美中获得精神的洗礼。在传统藏戏中,主客体巨大反差产生崇高美,体现出藏民不屈的超越精神,以及克服和战胜恐惧后的心灵慰藉和平静;传统藏戏采用佛教逻辑叙述故事,集中体现藏民的人生姿态和精神信仰以及对于真善美的认知和追求,凸显世俗的人性美;藏戏以美的艺术形式和程序化的艺术表演再现普通大众的味与情,形成独具特色的审美情感和审美趣味,最终达到宗教教化的目的;藏戏中戏师的理性讲述与演员的感性表演形成对照,让受众游走于理性与感性之间,对于人物与情节有了更加深刻的感性认知和理性反思;藏戏重复与回环的情节设置使故事情节发展更曲折,人物形象更丰满,主题思想更鲜明,形成了复调之美。     

An elastic-net penalized expectile regression with applications

To perform variable selection in expectile regression, we introduce the elastic-net penalty into expectile regression and propose an elastic-net penalized expectile regression (ER-EN) model. We then adopt the semismooth Newton coordinate descent (SNCD) algorithm to solve the proposed ER-EN model in high-dimensional settings. The advantages of ER-EN model are illustrated via extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The numerical results show that the ER-EN model outperforms the elastic-net penalized least squares regression (LSR-EN), the elastic-net penalized Huber regression (HR-EN), the elastic-net penalized quantile regression (QR-EN) and conventional expectile regression (ER) in terms of variable selection and predictive ability, especially for asymmetric distributions. We also apply the ER-EN model to two real-world applications: relative location of CT slices on the axial axis and metabolism of tacrolimus (Tac) drug. Empirical results also demonstrate the superiority of the ER-EN model.     

Outlier detection and robust variable selection via the penalized weighted LAD-LASSO method

This paper studies the outlier detection and robust variable selection problem in the linear regression model. The penalized weighted least absolute deviation (PWLAD) regression estimation method and the adaptive least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) are combined to simultaneously achieve outlier detection, and robust variable selection. An iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the proposed optimization problem. Monte Carlo studies are evaluated the finite-sample performance of the proposed methods. The results indicate that the finite sample performance of the proposed methods performs better than that of the existing methods when there are leverage points or outliers in the response variable or explanatory variables. Finally, we apply the proposed methodology to analyze two real datasets.     

南京国民政府公务员考选制度的近代化意义

南京国民政府公务员考选制度是中国历史上第一个准现代化的人事考试制度,考选人才方面既吸收了古代考试的公平精神又采纳了西方文官考试的先进理念,具备了近代化的特征。从人才的选拔看具备了公平性,但体制的缺陷使其任用的成效不尽人意,阻碍了它近代化的进程。     

关于做好电视成就报道的思考

文章着重探讨了电视成就报道的创新方法,在理念上提出以个性化的受众为中心、结合电视传播特点、贴近工作实际;具体方法上则提出以四个方面为突破口,即:通过个人化的视角,贴近生活;用理性思维诠释热点;用情节化的叙述,加深人们的理解;调动多种电视表现手段,增强视觉冲击力.     

Subsampling-extrapolation bandwidth selection in bivariate kernel density estimation

This paper focuses on bivariate kernel density estimation that bridges the gap between univariate and multivariate applications. We propose a subsampling-extrapolation bandwidth matrix selector that improves the reliability of the conventional cross-validation method. The proposed procedure combines a U-statistic expression of the mean integrated squared error and asymptotic theory, and can be used in both cases of diagonal bandwidth matrix and unconstrained bandwidth matrix. In the subsampling stage, one takes advantage of the reduced variability of estimating the bandwidth matrix at a smaller subsample size m (m < n); in the extrapolation stage, a simple linear extrapolation is used to remove the incurred bias. Simulation studies reveal that the proposed method reduces the variability of the cross-validation method by about 50% and achieves an expected integrated squared error that is up to 30% smaller than that of the benchmark cross-validation. It shows comparable or improved performance compared to other competitors across six distributions in terms of the expected integrated squared error. We prove that the components of the selected bivariate bandwidth matrix have an asymptotic multivariate normal distribution, and also present the relative rate of convergence of the proposed bandwidth selector.     

Model selection in high-dimensional noisy data: a simulation study

In many practical applications, high-dimensional regression analyses have to take into account measurement error in the covariates. It is thus necessary to extend regularization methods, that can handle the situation where the number of covariates p largely exceed the sample size n, to the case in which covariates are also mismeasured. A variety of methods are available in this context, but many of them rely on knowledge about the measurement error and the structure of its covariance matrix. In this paper, we set the goal to compare some of these methods, focusing on situations relevant for practical applications. In particular, we will evaluate these methods in setups in which the measurement error distribution and dependence structure are not known and have to be estimated from data. Our focus is on variable selection, and the evaluation is based on extensive simulations.