Fluctuation of estimates in an EM procedure for categorical data

Estimates from an EM algorithm are somewhat sensitive to the initial values for the estimates, and this sensitivity is likely to increase when the model becomes larger and more complicated. In this paper, we examined how the estimates fluctuate during an EM procedure for a recursive model of categorical variables. It is found that the fluctuation takes place mostly during the initial stage of the procedure and that it can be reduced by applying a Bayes method of estimation. Both real and simulated data are used for illustration.     

One-sided tolerance limits for unbalanced one-way random effects models: a generalized Mee and Owen procedure

This article proposes a new procedure for obtaining one-sided tolerance limits in unbalanced random effects models. The procedure is a generalization of that proposed by Mee and Owen for the balanced situation, and can be easily implemented, because it only needs a non-central-t table. Two simulation studies are carried out to assess the performance of the new procedure and to compare it with one of the other procedures laid out in previous statistical literature. The article findings show that the new procedure is much simpler to compute and performs better than the previous ones, having inferior values of the gamma bias in a wide range of situations, representative of many actual industrial applications, and behaving also reasonably well in more extreme sampling situations. The use of the new limits is illustrated by an application to an actual example from the steel industry.     

The gamma-exponentiated exponential distribution

In this paper, we introduce a new distribution generated by gamma random variables. We show that this distribution includes as a special case the distribution of the lower record value from a sequence of i.i.d. random variables from a population with the exponentiated (generalized) exponential distribution. The properties of this distribution are derived and the estimation of the model parameters is discussed. Some applications to real data sets are finally presented for illustration.     

试论电视剧创作与当代中国核心价值观的构建

电视剧参与建构和传播核心价值观具有必然性,这种核心价值观包含和谐的社会关系、家庭关系以及人与自然的关系,建构和传播的方法是运用"中和原则"和塑造"卡里斯马"型人物。     

转型中的价值冲突及社会主义核心价值认同

目前中国社会正处于时空压缩式的特定转型期,社会结构的深刻变动造就了价值多元化格局,价值多元化的自身困境为价值冲突埋下伏机,价值冲突超过一定界限就会引发各种社会冲突,社会冲突加剧从而威胁社会和谐与稳定。如何辩证地审视价值冲突以及将价值冲突有效转化为价值创新,涉及合理看待多元价值与社会主义核心价值的关系。一方面,价值多元化具有社会进步性;另一方面,价值多元化的极致则是价值多元主义,价值多元主义需要接受社会主义核心价值的节制和规范。特别是在一个价值虚无主义的情境中更要求社会主义核心价值对多元价值的统领,并建构一种核心价值与多元价值的新型关系。     

Social work with children and families in Ghana: negotiating tradition and modernity

Ghanaian social workers practise in a poly‐ethnic nation comprising a multitude of different indigenous cultural practices and a modern urban sector largely divorced from a rural population adhering to customary law. This qualitative study explores how Ghanaian practitioners negotiate the contradictions between child welfare legislation and customary law. Data were gathered from semi‐structured interviews with 36 qualified social workers employed by the Department of Social Welfare and thematically analysed. The study found that legislative provision normalizes nuclear family forms and runs counter to customary law. Social workers are shown to struggle with the ethical dilemmas the law poses without being able to resolve them in a manner consonant with Ghanian workers' code of practice. The study makes recommendations for social changes to policy, practice and training.     

试论运用党的政治优势引导青年学生价值观

青年是社会主义建设事业伟大工程的重要建设者和生力军.青年学生价值观引导是我们党永恒的工作主题之一.探索运用竞的政治优势对青年学生价值观引导的新方法、新途径,需要实施“以社会主义核心价值体系要求为纲领；坚持党的领导、坚持服务青年学生成长；坚持理论教育与实践相结合、理想信念教育与文化熏陶相结合、思想政治教育与心理健康教育相...     

On characterization results based on the number of observations near the k-records

In this paper, using the completeness properties of the sequence of functions {h_n(x)=(?log x)ⁿ, 0<x<1, n≥1}, some characterization results are established. The results are based on the number of observations near the k-records. It is shown that the equality of the moment of the appropriate subsequence of the number of observations near to upper and lower k-records is a characteristic property of symmetric distributions. Since ordinary record values are contained in the k-records, the results hold for usual records as a particular case.     

Using the Fast Fourier Transform to Compute Multiple Comparisons With the Best and Subset Selection Critical Values

Multiple comparison methods are widely implemented in statistical packages and heavily used. To obtain the critical value of a multiple comparison method for a given confidence level, a double integral equation must be solved. Current computer implementations evaluate one double integral for each candidate critical value using Gaussian quadrature. Consequently, iterative refinement of the critical value can slow the response time enough to hamper interactive data analysis. However, for balanced designs, to obtain the critical value for multiple comparisons with the best, subset selection, and one-sided multiple comparison with a control, if one regards the inner integral as a function of the outer integration variable, then this function can be obtained by discrete convolution using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Exploiting the fact that this function need not be re-evaluated during iterative refinement of the critical value, it is shown that the FFT method obtains critical values at least four times as accurate and two to five times as fast as the Gaussian quadrature method.     

论高校教师如何结合专业教学开展社会主义核心价值观教育

本文论述高校教师践行社会主义核心价值观的必要性,并探讨落实社会主义核心价值观教育的具体思路。