The National Social Distance Study: Ten Years Later

The Bogardus social distance scale, which measures the level of acceptance that Americans feel toward members of the most common ethnic and racial groups in the United States, was administered six times nationally between 1920 and 2001. Replicating the most recent study with its revised list of ethnic and racial groups, the authors of this study analyzed a stratified random sample of 3,166 college students, making it the largest national social distance study ever conducted. The findings indicate an increase since 2001 in the mean level of social distance toward all ethnic groups, as well as in the spread between the groups with the highest and lowest levels of social distance. Further, a consistency between studies in group preferences reaffirms the relevance of the similarity‐attraction bond in accepting those who are racially and culturally different. Mean comparisons and analysis of variance tests also showed that gender, birthplace of respondents and/or their parents, race, and year in college are all significant indicators of the level of social distance toward groups.     

Work–life Balance: Is it Now a Problem for Management?

In Western Australia (WA) there is substantial interest by public sector management in work–life balance (WLB) as a strategy to address labour supply problems. This article considers whether the positioning of WLB as a problem for management provides the opportunity for change resulting in an improved quality of working life in the public sector. We report on the implementation of WLB policies in four WA public sector agencies and conclude that managers are ‘managing’ WLB in a limited way, and largely in an individualized manner, at a level that does not disrupt the usual way of organizing work and employment. For many managers, employees' requests to access WLB policies are perceived as being in conflict with operational goals. The findings highlight the inadequacy of much of the WLB discourse that obscures the tension between, on the one hand, the imperative for managers to implement WLB more effectively and, on the other, organizational practices and the broader social, political and economic context in which management and the organization are located.     

CONDITIONING VS. STANDARDIZATION FOR CONTRASTS ON ERRORS ATTRACTED TO STABLE LAWS

In multiple regression and other settings one encounters the problem of estimating sampling distributions for contrast operations applied to i.i.d. errors. Permutation bootstrap applied to least squares residuals has been proven to consistently estimate conditionalsampling distributions of contrasts, conditional upon order statistics of errors, even for long-tailed error distributions. How does this compare with the unconditional sampling distribution of the contrast when standardizing by the sample s.d. of the errors (or the residuals)? For errors belonging to the domain of attraction of a normal we present a limit theorem proving that these distributions are far closer to one another than they are to the limiting standard normal distribution. For errors attracted to α-stable laws with α ≤ 2 we construct random variables possessing these conditional and unconditional sampling distributions and develop a Poisson representation for their a.s. limit correlation ρ_α. We prove that ρ₂= 1, ρ_α→ 1 for α → 0 + or 2 ?, and ρ_α< 1 a.s. for α < 2.     

Domains of attraction of asymptotic distributions of extreme generalized order statistics

Abstract

In extreme value theory for ordinary order statistics, there are many results that characterize the domains of attraction of the three extreme value distributions. In this article, we consider a subclass of generalized order statistics for which also three types of limit distributions occur. We characterize the domains of attraction of these limit distributions by means of necessary and/or sufficient conditions for an underlying distribution function to belong to the respective domain of attraction. Moreover, we compare the domains of attraction of the limit distributions for extreme generalized order statistics with the domains of attraction of the extreme value distributions.     

论思想道德建设在文化软实力建设中的重要地位

文化软实力建设是社会综合国力建设的重要组成部分;而思想道德建设又在文化软实力建设中占有十分重要的地位。文化软实力具体表现为＂文化吸引力＂、＂文化亲和力＂和＂文化规约力＂。这＂三力＂在道德文化中不仅完全具备,而且十分典型。为此,我们应当高度重视道德建设,既要从总体上促进全社会道德水平的提高,更要高度重视个体道德修养,努力把《公民道德建设实施纲要》对公民提出的道德要求落到实处。     

综合型旅游区循环经济实践模式初探——以西双版纳傣族园为例

综合型旅游区旅游资源类型多样,旅游功能较完善,并涉及多项产业,是旅游循环经济发展的典型载体.综合型旅游区循环经济的发展应坚持减量化、再利用、再循环、再替代、再整合、再思考等基本原则,把旅游环境保护、旅游资源培育、旅游产品创新、旅游链条延伸、旅游形象提升、旅游效益增加有机结合起来,以生态修复、文化传承为前提,以节能降耗、清洁生产为基础,以耦合共生、代谢循环为重点,建设旅游循环经济园区,推进旅游区的可持续发展.     

基于生态设计的旅游景区环境成本控制探讨——以张家界宝峰湖景区开发为例

在自然资源和环境资源不受损害的条件下,协调经济、社会和环境这三方面的发展,是现代旅游企业实施可持续发展的重要目标。生态设计特别将环境因素纳入产品设计之中,以此在采购、生产、使用、回收再利用的全生命周期内考虑产品对环境的影响,通过设计的改进实现环境友好,资源节约。文章以旅游企业对张家界宝峰湖景区开发为例,在产品生态设计理论基础上,探讨环境成本控制的必要性和环境成本控制存在的问题以及产品的生态设计与环境成本控制相结合的方法,以期达到提高企业环境效益的目的。     

Estimation of extreme quantiles from heavy and light tailed distributions

In Gardes et al. (2011), a new family of distributions is introduced, depending on two parameters τ$\tau$ and θ$\theta$, which encompasses Pareto-type distributions as well as Weibull tail-distributions. Estimators for θ$\theta$ and extreme quantiles are also proposed, but they both depend on the unknown parameter τ$\tau$, making them useless in practical situations. In this paper, we propose an estimator of τ$\tau$ which is independent of θ$\theta$. Plugging our estimator of τ$\tau$ in the two previous ones allows us to estimate extreme quantiles from Pareto-type and Weibull tail-distributions in an unified way. The asymptotic distributions of our three new estimators are established and their efficiency is illustrated on a small simulation study and on a real data set.     

High Levels of Same-Sex Experiences in the Netherlands: Prevalences of Same-Sex Experiences in Historical and International Perspective

Some authors suggest that the public stance toward homosexuality can influence the prevalence of same-sex experiences (e.g., Butler, 2005 Butler, A. C. 2005. Gender differences in the prevalence of same-sex partnering: 1988–2002. Social Forces,, 84(1): 421–449. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Since the Dutch stance toward homosexuality has become more positive during the last decades, it was hypothesized that the current Dutch prevalences of same-sex experiences are higher than in other times and countries. This hypothesis was investigated using the data of a recent Dutch population study, and comparing these results to those from previous and international studies. The current Dutch figures were indeed higher than recent figures from other countries. Among women, the recent figures were also higher than those found in previous Dutch studies. The prevalence of same-sex experiences among Dutch males stayed the same. These results and the methodological aspects of the study are discussed.