Measuring autonomy freedom

In the measurement of autonomy freedom, the admissible potential preference relations are elicited by means of the concept of ‘reasonableness’. In this paper we argue for an alternative criterion based on information about the decision maker’s ‘awareness’ of his available opportunities. We argue that such an interpretation of autonomy fares better than that based on reasonableness. We then introduce some axioms that capture this intuition and study their logical implications. In the process, a new measure of autonomy freedom is characterized, which generalizes some of the measures so far constructed in the literature.We thank Martin van Hees, Robert Sugden, Prasanta Pattanaik, the participants at workshops at the CPNSS, London School of Economics, and at the University of Caen and an anonymous referee for their suggestions. The support of the CPNSS is gratefully acknowledged. This paper is part of a research project on “The Analysis and Measurement of Freedom” funded by the Ministero dell’Istruzione, Università e Ricerca (Italy). Its financial support is gratefully acknowledged.     

“和谐”视角下的社区建设

构建和谐社会已成为当代中国新的时代主题。社区是社会的细胞、前沿和缩影,和谐社区的构建便成为一种新的社会主题。本文即针对我国当前和谐社区建设中存在的问题,进行了理性思考和探索,以期有助和谐社会的构建。     

Race and Population Change: A Longitudinal Look at Cleveland Neighborhoods

This paper investigates the relationship of racial composition to neighborhood population change from 1910 to 1990 in the Cleveland metropolitan area. To better understand the long-term dynamics of urban neighborhood change, we focus our analysis upon the longitudinal relationship of race, socioeconomic status, and life cycle stage to changes in neighborhood population densities. First, we find that the more established neighborhoods of the African-American community have experienced dramatic declines in population since 1950, a pattern that represents a clear change from the earlier part of the twentieth century. Second, population loss is experienced through a variety of mechanisms, including the demolition of dwellings, the increase in housing vacancy, and the decline of household size. Third, much of this population loss should be interpreted within the context of high economic distress, occurring most frequently in older African-American communities. Over time, economic distress appears to be more important than race in and of itself in leading to the loss of neighborhood populations.     

Television and Violence in the Economy of Memory

The present paper aims to consider the cultural function of television as a technology for the creation of a public memory. The television system records past images, preserves them, and broadcasts various historical programs. A viewer owns the public memory jointly, through watching/consuming programs. However, the process of production and consumption of programs is linked with the exclusion of other historical memories from the public space. After all, the creation of public memories in depth is related to social power. Through the analysis in concrete terms of a series of programs of Project X and the second episode of the Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK; Japan Broadcasting Corporation) series, Special Edition: Judging War, the relationship between the organization of public memories and social power is explored. Project X depicts the challenges of engineers of middle standing who initiated new industrial and technological developments in the 1960s and 1970s. Special Edition: Judging War is based on coverage of the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery. This program was subjected to revision on the eve of its broadcast. What forms of expression were eliminated? These two programs should help us define more clearly what the Japanese media selects for incorporation into the public memory.     

Border Crossings and Diasporic Identities: Media Use and Leisure Practices of an Ethnic Minority

The diaspora of peoples whose origins were in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and who are now living in Western countries (especially the U.S. and UK) provides an interesting example of processes of negotiation of new hybrid cultures and identities, using new technologies, such as the Internet, and older technologies like the video player, cable or satellite television, radio, and telephone. These developments may require a revision of the classic sociological picture of assimilation as a zero sum model of acculturation, in which the acculturation of immigrants and their children involves the gradual replacement of their ethnic culture by that of the culture of the host nation. The electronic media, in the context of policies of multiculturalism, may lead to an accentuation of religio-ethnic differences. Contrary to previous assumptions, middle-class immigrants may be more inclined to resist cultural assimilation than their lower-class counterparts.     

Premarital Cohabitation and Housework: Couples in Cross‐National Perspective

The authors examine the effect of premarital cohabitation on the division of household labor in 22 countries. First, women do more routine housework than men in all countries. Second, married couples that cohabited before marriage have a more equal division of housework. Third, national cohabitation rates have equalizing effects on couples regardless of their own cohabitation experience. However, the influence of cohabitation rates is only observed in countries with higher levels of overall gender equality. The authors conclude that the trend toward increasing cohabitation may be part of a broader social trend toward a more egalitarian division of housework.     

浅谈时政新闻出新意

时政新闻 ,即关于时事、政治方面的新闻报道。其突出特点是 :题材重大 ,参与者层次高 ,场面隆重、盛大、严肃。采、拍、编人员要把握住其特点 ,抓住采访工作的各个环节 ,充分发挥电视媒体的特长 ,即选择好的细节 ,合理地增加长镜头的运用 ,注重同期声的录制 ,时政新闻是可以出好新闻的     

英文段落的推展模式及内部衔接机制初探

从篇章语言学的角度看 ,英文段落依层级的概括性推展 ,并呈典型的直线性发展模式。英文作者主要利用词汇相等链、链式结构和编列结构衔接段中各语句来推展段落 ,从而使段落具有交际功能。英文语篇结构模式对英文习得者来说具有实际指导意义     

A Comparison of Partially Adaptive and Reweighted Least Squares Estimation

The small sample performance of least median of squares, reweighted least squares, least squares, least absolute deviations, and three partially adaptive estimators are compared using Monte Carlo simulations. Two data problems are addressed in the paper: (1) data generated from non-normal error distributions and (2) contaminated data. Breakdown plots are used to investigate the sensitivity of partially adaptive estimators to data contamination relative to RLS. One partially adaptive estimator performs especially well when the errors are skewed, while another partially adaptive estimator and RLS perform particularly well when the errors are extremely leptokur-totic. In comparison with RLS, partially adaptive estimators are only moderately effective in resisting data contamination; however, they outperform least squares and least absolute deviation estimators.     

我国区域刑事法律冲突初探

我国各民族之间的差异、民族区域自治制度及其自治权的存在是我国区域刑事法律冲突产生的基本原因,而通过制定顾全大局、兼顾特别的变通性、补充性刑法规范,可缓解这一冲突;通过加快少数民族地区的发展步伐,逐步消除民族之间的政治、经济、文化上的差距,进而达到彻底消除这一冲突,实现法制统一的良好局面。