Smooth tail-index estimation

The two parametric distribution functions appearing in the extreme-value theory – the generalized extreme-value distribution and the generalized Pareto distribution – have log-concave densities if the extreme-value index γ∈[?1, 0]. Replacing the order statistics in tail-index estimators by their corresponding quantiles from the distribution function that is based on the estimated log-concave density ? f _n leads to novel smooth quantile and tail-index estimators. These new estimators aim at estimating the tail index especially in small samples. Acting as a smoother of the empirical distribution function, the log-concave distribution function estimator reduces estimation variability to a much greater extent than it introduces bias. As a consequence, Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the smoothed version of the estimators are well superior to their non-smoothed counterparts, in terms of mean-squared error.     

Decision‐Making in Paediatric Rehabilitation: Exploring Professionals' and Children's Views on Decision‐Making Involvement

The article explores the distinction that professionals make between difficult and less difficult decisions in paediatric rehabilitation interventions. This distinction is explored by looking at the involvement of two children in decisions regarding paediatric rehabilitation interventions. The article argues for a clinical practice where children's experiences are extensively used to improve practice and to accommodate the child's right to participate in medical decisions concerning their own body and life. The different ways the children and the professional describe their experiences provide an avenue for a discussion on how medical reasoning can curtail children's involvement in decisions.     

跨文化的解码与建构--论美国汉学家史景迁的孔子研究

美国著名汉学家史景迁(Jonathan D. Spence)从文化认知、文化比较的研究视域出发，对孔子进行了跨文化解读与传播。在史景迁“去偶像化”的观照方式下，孔子被解码、建构为具备鲜明个性特质的人文主义者及令人尊重的教育者形象。同时，史景迁致力于厘清西方一般认知中对孔子及其思想的诸多误读，并努力唤起西方受众对孔子当代意义的认同。     

从农村基层民主制度运行成本看当前农民政治冷漠的根本原因

我国农村基层民主近年来在广度和深度上都得到了较大发展。但是,在这种发展的表象背后,却隐藏着农民政治冷漠的客观真象。对此,既有的"复合因果论"具有一定解释力,但也有值得补遗之处。农村基层民主制度运行成本与运行绩效的不对称、农民个体承担的基层民主制度运行成本过高才是导致当前农民政治冷漠的根本原因。     

Measuring Children's Experience of Their Right to Participate in School and Community: A Rights‐Based Approach

This paper discusses the development of a children's rights‐based measure of participation and the findings from its use in a survey of 10‐ to 11‐year‐old children (n = 3773). The measure, which was developed in collaboration with a group of children, had a high reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89). Findings suggest that children's positive experience of their participation rights is higher in school than in community, and higher for girls compared to boys. It is argued that involving children in the ‘measurement’ of their own lives has the potential to generate more authentic data on children's lived experiences.     

北美汉学界的《沧浪诗话》研究述评——以华裔族群为中心

北美汉学界的《沧浪诗话》研究在主体构成上包括华裔族群和本土学者两个群体。华裔族群的代表人物是刘若愚、叶维廉、叶嘉莹、欧阳桢等人，本土学者的代表人物是加拿大的林理彰，美国的宇文所安、费维廉等人。整体上看。华裔族群的研究凸显出如下四个主要特点：一是注重影响研究，包括严羽诗论对前代文论的承传及其对后代文论（文学理论和文学批评）的影响；二是对严羽诗论系统中“以禅喻诗”批评方法及“兴趣”、“妙悟”等概念进行了阐释：三是方法上移西释中和中西对话并用；四是注意吸纳中国和日本“严学”家的研究成果。     

金融资产的动态非线性相关:一个新的模型

基于Kendall’sτ秩相关系数的优越性和定义,本文提出了新的具有明确经济意义的动态条件相关copula模型,将常用的Gaussian、Clayton和Gumbel函数统一根据该演化方程实现动态化,构造出三种Kendall’sτ动态条件相关copula模型,可用于刻画不同的相关模式。这些模型不仅参数少、容易估计,避免了现有动态条件相关copula模型构建方法各异导致的在实证中不利于比较的缺点,而且能够进行多步向前预测,有效地减少了进行样本外预测时的计算量,从而为刻画时变、非线性、非对称性和尾部相关等复杂的动态相关模式提供了新方法。     

Outlier detection in high-dimensional regression model

An outlier is defined as an observation that is significantly different from the others in its dataset. In high-dimensional regression analysis, datasets often contain a portion of outliers. It is important to identify and eliminate the outliers for fitting a model to a dataset. In this paper, a novel outlier detection method is proposed for high-dimensional regression problems. The leave-one-out idea is utilized to construct a novel outlier detection measure based on distance correlation, and then an outlier detection procedure is proposed. The proposed method enjoys several advantages. First, the outlier detection measure can be simply calculated, and the detection procedure works efficiently even for high-dimensional regression data. Moreover, it can deal with a general regression, which does not require specification of a linear regression model. Finally, simulation studies show that the proposed method behaves well for detecting outliers in high-dimensional regression model and performs better than some other competing methods.     

Women's participation in self‐help groups as a pathway to women's empowerment: A case of Nepal

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government of Nepal have made some effort to reduce poverty in Nepal by creating women's affiliation groups, some of which are micro‐credit organizations. Using capabilities as defined by Amartya Sen (Development as freedom, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000), which includes employment opportunities, women's ownership in productive resources such as land and/or homes, educational opportunities, and women's participation in decision‐making in the family, this study evaluated the extent to which women's ethnic group or caste affiliation affected a woman's likelihood of being empowered by participation in these groups. We analyzed a sample of 8,973 women which was taken from the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey. Previous research has demonstrated that participation in gender‐based groups is correlated with higher economic status. This study adds to the literature on women's affiliation groups by investigating the impact of structural factors, such as caste and ethnicity, on women's self‐help group participation (women's groups and credit groups).