Religious Nongovernmental Organizations: An Exploratory Analysis

This paper represents the first systematic attempt at an analysis of religious nongovernmental organizations (RNGOs). Largely ignored as an organizational field, RNGOs constitute a new breed of religious actors shaping global policy–an organizational hybrid of religious beliefs and social activism at local, national, and international levels. This paper proposes a definition of RNGOs, traces the emergence of RNGOs from an historical perspective, and situates them in their current religious and sociopolitical contexts. Drawing on interviews and documentary data from a sample of 263 United Nations-affiliated RNGOs, the author proposes an analytical framework to examine the religious, organizational, strategic, and service dimensions of these organizations. Religious nongovernmental organizations' unique contributions to the redefinition of a just society as well as the sociopolitical challenges arising from their religious identity are discussed.     

苏北“三农”问题的现状分析与研究

从江苏省“两个率先”目标的高度,就江苏苏北地区的“三农”问题进行分析,指出能否解决苏北“三农”问题已是影响江苏实现“两个率先”目标的关键,进而提出了解决苏北“三农”问题应从转变观念、提高农民国民待遇、加强农村基础设施建设和加快农村经济结构调整,以及加快苏北城市化建设,促进农村劳动力转移和控制人口增长,开发苏北农村的人力资源着手。     

毛泽东"以民为本"思想新探

“以民为本”思想是毛泽东思想的重要组成部分,是中国共产党新民本观的核心内容;全心全意为人民群众谋福利、人民是国家主人、向人民负责、关心人民群众生活、艰苦奋斗、勤俭节约的思想,是构成毛泽东“以民为本”思想的主要方面。     

First Nations and community economic development: a case study

A training project in a northern Canadian community providedan opportunity to examine participatory planning approachesand the meaning of work in First Nations communities. Focusgroups conducted three years after the unsuccessful interventionof a community economic development (CED) project suggest thatcomplex factors such as lack of support from community leadersand rate of pay for workers determine whether CED is alwaysappropriate in northern, First Nations contexts.     

国际妇女参政运动的新趋势

妇女参政是妇女的基本人权,也是推动人类社会可持续发展和社会改革的重要内容。第四次世界妇女大会以来,在联合国的倡导和支持下,国际妇女参政运动在发展方向和发展政策方面取得积极进展和成功经验,同时提出新的奋斗目标和诉求;其发展趋势和经验教训,对中国妇女参与政治和决策有借鉴意义。     

当代生活与艺术之死:第二、第三和第一世界

当今所谓的艺术,主要是受20世纪七八十年代以来发展并在全球范围内扩散的美国式“艺术”观念所支配,而再也不受德语的“艺术”或法语的“美的艺术”体系所支配。自从现代主义诞生以来,艺术的历史使命的减弱或者消失已经成为事实,但从全球范围而言,“艺术的终结”这一论断仍有些夸大其词。因为在第一世界的艺术死亡之后(这里存在更多的是文化),第二和第三世界的艺术还生长着。艺术从根本上说还不是一个媒介事件和现象,而是一个同我们每个人相关的东西——不管它是不是商品。     

十月革命与中国共产党的初心构建

十月革命是影响世界历史进程的重大事件，中国共产党从来都把自己的事业看作是十月革命的继续。澄清唯心史观和历史虚无主义对十月革命的错误解读，对于补好理想信念的精神之钙具有重要的理论价值和现实意义。学习和借鉴十月革命的宝贵经验、坚持社会主义的前进方向、坚守共产主义的远大理想，共同构成了中国共产党初心的核心意蕴。     

To be or not to be valid in testing the significance of the slope in simple quantitative linear models with autocorrelated errors

In this article, the validity of procedures for testing the significance of the slope in quantitative linear models with one explanatory variable and first-order autoregressive [AR(1)] errors is analyzed in a Monte Carlo study conducted in the time domain. Two cases are considered for the regressor: fixed and trended versus random and AR(1). In addition to the classical t -test using the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimator of the slope and its standard error, we consider seven t -tests with n-2\,\hbox{df} built on the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) estimator or an estimated GLS estimator, three variants of the classical t -test with different variances of the OLS estimator, two asymptotic tests built on the Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimator, the F -test for fixed effects based on the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) estimator in the mixed-model approach, two t -tests with n - 2 df based on first differences (FD) and first-difference ratios (FDR), and four modified t -tests using various corrections of the number of degrees of freedom. The FDR t -test, the REML F -test and the modified t -test using Dutilleul's effective sample size are the most valid among the testing procedures that do not assume the complete knowledge of the covariance matrix of the errors. However, modified t -tests are not applicable and the FDR t -test suffers from a lack of power when the regressor is fixed and trended ( i.e. , FDR is the same as FD in this case when observations are equally spaced), whereas the REML algorithm fails to converge at small sample sizes. The classical t -test is valid when the regressor is fixed and trended and autocorrelation among errors is predominantly negative, and when the regressor is random and AR(1), like the errors, and autocorrelation is moderately negative or positive. We discuss the results graphically, in terms of the circularity condition defined in repeated measures ANOVA and of the effective sample size used in correlation analysis with autocorrelated sample data. An example with environmental data is presented.     

Filmic public relations for a global audience: The United Nations and The Blue Vanguard

The project investigates the use of documentary film as a public relations tool by the United Nations (UN) for worldwide promotion of its first peacekeeping intervention in response to the Suez crisis of 1956. Specifically, it undertakes a historical investigation into the communicative purpose of the 1957 documentary film, The Blue Vanguard, which was made by the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI). Beyond the interest connected with the intervention in the Suez crisis, the film is significant in the history of the UN’s global public relations since it was one of the first films made for the UN by UK film director, Thorold Dickinson, who arrived as Chief of Film at the UN in October 1956.The author argues that Thorold Dickinson used the documentary to make a radical public information proposition to a global audience on behalf of the United Nations. Specifically, the public relations discourse and cinematicity in The Blue Vanguard reminded a global audience that achieving peace required a new level of cultural tolerance and global co-operation, involving codes of judgement beyond the nationalistically-determined registers of the time.     

Inverse gaussian accelerated test models based on cumulative damage

The failure of a system under environmental stress often can be described by an accelerated test model which incorporates the environmental variable L. Here, the failure of such a system at environmental level L is modeled as the first passage of accumulated damage to a critical threshold value. Assuming a discrete additive damage model leads to a Birnbaum–Saunders-type distribution for the failure time which can be closely approximated by an inverse Gaussian-type model. However, if a continuous damage model based on a Gaussian process is assumed, a more general family of inverse Gaussian accelerated test models is obtained. Three sets of failure data are discussed to illustrate the usefulness of this general family.