伊拉克、黎巴嫩、巴勒斯坦政治结构比较研究

美国于2003年发动的伊拉克战争对中东地区政治制度产生了深刻影响,一些中东国家或政权的政治结构和政治力量对比因此出现了重大变化。其中,尤以伊拉克、黎巴嫩、巴勒斯坦的变化最为显著,它们按照政党制、议会制、选举制的模式各自进行了政治制度变革的尝试,并取得了一定进展,但总体尚不成熟。从西方引进的民主制度无疑改变了这些国家或政权的政治生活,有一定的积极作用,但不是治本良药,中东地区的问题需依靠地区自身来解决。     

女性主义文化批评视阈下的“开罗三部曲”

在近现代埃及文学史上,女性在新的“解放”话语系统中依旧被塑造成“他者”的地位,女性解放神话的出现只是为了掩盖作为主体的女性不在场的事实。本文试图通过对埃及著名作家纳吉布·马哈福兹的代表作“开罗三部曲”中三种女性反抗传统性别角色的分析,指出由男性主控的女性解放话语在女性的新型性别角色的塑造和自我规范中产生的影响。     

长江三角洲区域新一轮经济发展前瞻

中国区域合作的发展正呈现出从“极化发展”向“泛化发展”的新态势,在这一背景下,长三角地区的区域合作也表现出一些新的特点。特别是国家关于《进一步推进长江三角洲地区改革开放和经济社会发展的指导意见》的提出,更为长三角地区的发展提供了新的发展契机和方向。研究《指导意见》,有助于从宏观上把脉长三角地区发展的重点及难点,并为珠三角、京津冀等城市群的发展提供借鉴。     

婚姻状态对老年人死亡概率的影响研究--基于CLHLS队列数据的实证分析

文章基于 CLHLS 队列数据,运用统计分析及经验论证,解析出婚姻状态影响老年人死亡概率的作用机理,即在婚状态以其“保护效应”减小老年人患病的机率,进而减小其死亡概率;相反,不在婚状态的“损害效应”会增加老年人患病的机率,进而增加其死亡的概率。在所得结论基础上,为促进老年健康和应对养老挑战,针对老年人婚姻问题提出了相关政策建议。     

城乡差异、就医惯性与老年人卫生服务利用

现有对城乡老年人卫生服务利用不公平的研究多忽略了长期的城乡差异所导致的隐性的农村老年人就医惯性的存在。本研究在控制了收入、医疗保障和就医可及性等因素的条件下,发现就医惯性的存在;并运用集中指数分解法发现,卫生服务的利用存在不公平,偏向于富人,而就医惯性在两种卫生服务利用中的贡献度分别为12%和5%。这种城乡固定差异造成了农村老年人在身体健康、心理健康和自我照料能力上都显著地低于城市老年人。     

政府支出对医疗服务健康公平影响的比较和启示

医疗服务公平和人民的健康是各国卫生系统向其国家居民提供医疗服务所应实现的两个重要目标。但以英美日为例的发达国家根据世界卫生统计年鉴中的医疗服务公平性排名确有明显差距,因此,高收入和高政府医疗卫生支出与医疗卫生服务公平和健康公平性并没有必然关系。本文通过比较分析美日英国的政府间医疗卫生支出责任划分的结构发现高政府医疗卫生支出比例是提高医疗服务筹资公平性的前提,中央承担社会医疗保险责任是实现医疗服务筹资公平性的保证,政府特别是中央政府出资的长期护理有助于提高国民健康水平,地方政府的参与更有助于提高一国医疗系统机构数量特别是医院的数量。     

Simultaneous decomposition of the variance by sources and subgroups – new insights

There are two types of decompositions: of linear combinations of random variables into contributions of individual variables (sources) and associations between them, and of populations into contributions of their subpopulations. Simultaneous treatment of the two types is called for, which takes into account the correlations between sources within subpopulations and between subpopulation means. The expected values of the subcomponents are derived and their sensitivity to correlations among sources within groups and among source group means is conducted. An example is provided, in which the correlations contribute 20--25% to total variability. This additional information is hidden when decompositions are not simultaneous.     

Jia’s The Chinese Version

Abstract

The Chinese Character Simplification Programme of 1955–1957 that remains a national standard by force of law in the People’s Republic of China, not only degraded the aesthetic properties of the Chinese written character, but also hindered literacy by means of a haphazard formal reduction of the number of strokes, and by eliminating two-thirds of characters from the lexicon of those allowed for publication. In The Chinese Version painting series by Jia (b.1979), the artist arranges Chinese characters according to formal rather than semantic criteria, in order to generate by means of their juxtaposition, abstract or figurative patterns. Each character may retain its individual meaning, but not its function as a sequential syntagm. This strategy invests the characters with a formal aspect to ‘return’ that which was mutilated by the Simplification Programme. As the Simplification Programme’s formal changes ended characters’ role as image-signs, the artist’s choice to present each work as a painting alludes to their lost image capacity while appearing to imitate the outward aspect of printed characters, thereby implicitly turning against itself the pretext of character simplification for the sake of efficiency.     

R-CMap—An open-source software for concept mapping

Planning and evaluating projects often involves input from many stakeholders. Fusing and organizing many different ideas, opinions, and interpretations into a coherent and acceptable plan or project evaluation is challenging. This is especially true when seeking contributions from a large number of participants, especially when not all can participate in group discussions, or when some prefer to contribute their perspectives anonymously. One of the major breakthroughs in the area of evaluation and program planning has been the use of graphical tools to represent the brainstorming process. This provides a quantitative framework for organizing ideas and general concepts into simple-to-interpret graphs. We developed a new, open-source concept mapping software called R-CMap, which is implemented in R. This software provides a graphical user interface to guide users through the analytical process of concept mapping. The R-CMap software allows users to generate a variety of plots, including cluster maps, point rating and cluster rating maps, as well as pattern matching and go-zone plots. Additionally, R-CMap is capable of generating detailed reports that contain useful statistical summaries of the data. The plots and reports can be embedded in Microsoft Office tools such as Word and PowerPoint, where users may manually adjust various plot and table features to achieve the best visual results in their presentations and official reports. The graphical user interface of R-CMap allows users to define cluster names, change the number of clusters, select rating variables for relevant plots, and importantly, select subsets of respondents by demographic criteria. The latter is particularly useful to project managers in order to identify different patterns of preferences by subpopulations. R-CMap is user-friendly, and does not require any programming experience. However, proficient R users can add to its functionality by directly accessing built-in functions in R and sharing new features with the concept mapping community.     

Strange Bedfellows: Anachronisms,Identity Politics,and the Queer Case of Trans*

This article explores trans identities, as articulated within a few historical texts. From early literary depictions of gender difference, to medicalized conceptions of transsexualism, to a proliferation of trans and queer identities represented by an ever-expanding “alphabet soup” of identity labels, our understandings of identities, sexualities, and queer community-building continue to change. I use the notion of “kind-making,” as elaborated on in the work of Ian Hacking, to illustrate that some queer and trans identifications are affiliative, whereas others are contrastive or oppositional in nature, and these structural differences have important implications with respect to understanding identity and sexuality, and also trans inclusion within LGBT communities and activist efforts.