民间信仰的情感维度与村落公共生活的整合——以桂北村落为考察对象

桂北村落以"天地国亲师"为崇拜对象的传统民间信仰把集体仪式嵌入到村庄的日常生活中,不断在人们情绪高昂的时刻唤醒内心深处的亲情,人们在子孙绵延的情感之链中寻找安身立命的基础,祖先与子嗣在阴阳两界之间互相支持,而兄弟与村友成为在同一块土地上延续永恒的同道者。通过以丧礼为代表的情感宣泄机制,人们直觉到村庄共同体的存在,并产生出宗教般的神圣感。这种信仰型塑了全体村民对于村庄的深切认同与情感依恋,使得他们在村庄公共生活中甘心付出,并主动承担责任。     

石油英语学术语篇作者自我身份构建研究

身份构建是石油学术语篇中体现作者在该领域贡献的重要方式。为了解英语学术语篇中作者身份的构建手段及其语用功能,收集了SPE（石油工程师协会）英语论文50篇,采用Wordsmith5．0进行检索,研究国外学者如何在石油学术语篇中建构其作者身份,并以“面子保全”理论分析其语用功能。结果表明,第一人称复数各种形式是最重要的建构手段,在不同语境中实现不同语用功能;第三人称抽象名词在建构中占据重要地位,实现了与人称代词不同的语用功能;介词短语也是建构手段之一,同样体现了作者的主体地位。     

信念、权威与制度选择——基于中国人民公社制度的思考

关于制度选择的决定因素及其选择机理的分析,以往的视角主要集中在技术结构、资源禀赋和文化方面,这种解释的最大缺陷是对人的作用重视不足。该文借助于中国“人民公社制度”选择的逻辑分析,构造了一个内生信念与权威的模型,系统论述了制度选择的机理。文章的观点是,任何一项制度的选择都是为了其特定的功能,制度选择的决定因素是个人信念和权威;个人信念经过主导集团的认可、加工与宣传,最终成为社会信念,以社会信念为基础的制度选择过程是不同利益集团的博弈过程。     

转型时期的信仰缺失及其对个体心理健康的影响

信仰缺失是转型时期影响个体心理健康和社会稳定的重要因素。信仰缺失影响人的心理健康,更形成了一定的人格障碍。究其原因主要是社会转型时期多元文化的冲突与融合,核心是价值观念上的矛盾和迷惘。因此,重建价值观体系,提升科学理性,丰富个体的应付方式,有针对性地开展心理健康教育是行之有效的方法。     

非言语交际与外语教学

非言语交际作为言语交际的重要组成部分,在外语教学中,起着不可忽视的作用。恰当地使用非言语交际行为,能够创建良好的师生关系,提高学生学习兴趣。本文分析了非言语交际行为的重要性及其在外语课堂教学中的表现形式和作用。     

Automating argument construction

Over the past five years the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI has been developing a new technology to address the problem of automated information management within real- world contexts. The result of this work is a body of techniques for automated reasoning from evidence that we call evidential reasoning. The techniques are based upon the mathematics of belief functions developed by Dempster and Shafer and have been successfully applied to a variety of problems including computer vision, multisensor integration, and intelligence analysis.

We have developed both a formal basis and a framework for implementating automated reasoning systems based upon these techniques. Both the formal and practical approach can be divided into four parts: (1) specifying a set of distinct propositional spaces, (2) specifying the interrelationships among these spaces, (3) representing bodies of evidence as belief distributions, and (4) establishing paths of the bodies for evidence to move through these spaces by means of evidential operations, eventually converging on spaces where the target questions can be answered. These steps specify a means for arguing from multiple bodies of evidence toward a particular (probabilistic) conclusion. Argument construction is the process by which such evidential analyses are constructed and is the analogue of constructing proof trees in a logical context.

This technology features the ability to reason from uncertain, incomplete, and occasionally inaccurate information based upon seven evidential operations: fusion, discounting, translation, projection, summarization, interpretation, and gisting. These operation are theoretically sound but have intuitive appeal as well.

In implementing this formal approach, we have found that evidential arguments can be represented as graphs. To support the construction, modification, and interrogation of evidential arguments, we have developed Gister. Gister provides an interactive, menu-driven, graphical interface that allows these graphical structures to be easily manipulated.

Our goal is to provide effective automated aids to domain experts for argument construction. Gister represents our first attempt at such an aid.     

Challenges of implementing restorative justice for intimate partner violence: An Islamic perspective

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is currently recognized as a critical public health concern and a human rights issue. Not surprisingly, Muslims – a religiously and socio-culturally diverse faith-based populace – are not an exception. To address this complex area of criminal justice and social policy, some scholars advocate implementing restorative justice (RJ) approaches. While RJ approaches have been traditionally used in Islamic cultures for conflict resolutions, to date, few studies have investigated how RJ operates in dealing with IPV in Muslim countries and communities. This article explores how RJ approaches towards IPV operate in some Muslim countries/communities, and offers insights into developing culturally and religiously appropriate ways of implementing RJ in IPV situations among Muslims. Given the prevalence of IPV among Muslims, the question is particularly important and timely. Taking exclusively limited examples of RJ approaches that have been used to mediate IPV cases in Muslim countries and communities, this paper found one significant challenge in the RJ approaches among Muslims: community acceptance of IPV. To reduce IPV in Muslim society, it is necessary to develop treatment models and techniques that meet cultural and religious needs. This paper found that since RJ is not alien to Islamic teachings, RJ approaches can be implemented effectively in dealing with IPV among Muslims by ensuring justice and equity of the abused woman. The findings of this paper will assist policymakers, practitioners, and service providers in providing religiously and culturally appropriate care when addressing IPV issues among Muslims.     

Weighted simulated integrated conditional moment tests for parametric conditional distributions of stationary time series processes

In this article, we propose a weighted simulated integrated conditional moment (WSICM) test of the validity of parametric specifications of conditional distribution models for stationary time series data, by combining the weighted integrated conditional moment (ICM) test of Bierens (1984 Bierens, H. J. (1984). Model specification testing of time series regressions. Journal of Econometrics 26:323–353.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) for time series regression models with the simulated ICM test of Bierens and Wang (2012 Bierens, H. J., Wang, L. (2012). Integrated conditional moment tests for parametric conditional distributions. Econometric Theory 28:328–362.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) of conditional distribution models for cross-section data. To the best of our knowledge, no other consistent test for parametric conditional time series distributions has been proposed yet in the literature, despite consistency claims made by some authors.     

A Bayesian sequential design with binary outcome

Several researchers have proposed solutions to control type I error rate in sequential designs. The use of Bayesian sequential design becomes more common; however, these designs are subject to inflation of the type I error rate. We propose a Bayesian sequential design for binary outcome using an alpha‐spending function to control the overall type I error rate. Algorithms are presented for calculating critical values and power for the proposed designs. We also propose a new stopping rule for futility. Sensitivity analysis is implemented for assessing the effects of varying the parameters of the prior distribution and maximum total sample size on critical values. Alpha‐spending functions are compared using power and actual sample size through simulations. Further simulations show that, when total sample size is fixed, the proposed design has greater power than the traditional Bayesian sequential design, which sets equal stopping bounds at all interim analyses. We also find that the proposed design with the new stopping for futility rule results in greater power and can stop earlier with a smaller actual sample size, compared with the traditional stopping rule for futility when all other conditions are held constant. Finally, we apply the proposed method to a real data set and compare the results with traditional designs.     

Do Mission Statements Matter for Nonprofit Performance?

In this exploratory study, we examine whether organizational mission statement attributes make a difference to the performance of nonprofit performing arts organizations. We use text analysis to measure two semantic attributes—activity and commonality—of mission statements. We examine whether these attributes are associated with improved performance for the instrumental and expressive functions of nonprofit performing arts organizations. Our findings indicate that the mission statement attribute activity is associated with improved performance for both instrumental and expressive functions. Our analysis of nonfindings for the mission statement attribute commonality suggests that there is a need to develop and use content analysis tools tailored to nonprofit contexts.