‘Rachel's not here’: Constructed dialogue in gossip

Sociolinguistic research has demonstrated that gossip is a co‐constructed phenomenon, which allows participants to establish solidarity and build alignments with each other, while evaluating an absent party. Gossip can also serve important social functions, such as helping to establish and reconfirm group norms and values. The present study provides a detailed analysis of an extended gossip episode that occurred within an institutional context: a study group interaction at a U.S. university. Our analysis shows how, in gossip, constructed dialogue both prompts and legitimizes pejorative evaluations towards an absent third party, and is actually the pivot around which group members negotiate values and norms in the process of arriving at a shared moral stance. Our analysis also demonstrates that alignment in gossip interactions is tenuous and must be continuously renewed.     

Vaginal births after caesarean: What does Google think about it?

AimVaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC) is a relatively safe alternative to repeat caesarean birth in the proper context. This important decision to undergo an elective caesarean versus VBAC is ultimately a decision of the mother. The purpose of our study was to assess the quality of online information in relation to VBAC collected using the most common search engine: Google.MethodsThe 10 most common hit sites for the keywords “VBAC” and “Vaginal birth after caesarean” were evaluated using the search engine Google. The quality of websites was rated based on the Silberg scale for accountability, the modified Abbott's criteria for presentation and the SMOG index for readability. The content of each website was compared to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) guidelines for VBAC.Findings13 out of 20 identified websites met the adequate criteria for accountability, with 85% of the websites indicating authorship. 11 websites were deemed aesthetically agreeable. The target audience, assessed by the readability score, was notably above the non-medical population with an average SMOG index score of 14.75. Only half of the websites contained recommendations, as detailed by the SOGC guidelines.ConclusionAlmost all sites target a higher academic level, making it beyond the comprehension of the general population. Woman friendly web-assessment tools should be provided to enable pregnant women to take an active role in their decision making.     

A New Methodology for Before–After Safety Assessment Using Survival Analysis and Longitudinal Data

The widely used empirical Bayes (EB) and full Bayes (FB) methods for before–after safety assessment are sometimes limited because of the extensive data needs from additional reference sites. To address this issue, this study proposes a novel before–after safety evaluation methodology based on survival analysis and longitudinal data as an alternative to the EB/FB method. A Bayesian survival analysis (SARE) model with a random effect term to address the unobserved heterogeneity across sites is developed. The proposed survival analysis method is validated through a simulation study before its application. Subsequently, the SARE model is developed in a case study to evaluate the safety effectiveness of a recent red‐light‐running photo enforcement program in New Jersey. As demonstrated in the simulation and the case study, the survival analysis can provide valid estimates using only data from treated sites, and thus its results will not be affected by the selection of defective or insufficient reference sites. In addition, the proposed approach can take into account the censored data generated due to the transition from the before period to the after period, which has not been previously explored in the literature. Using individual crashes as units of analysis, survival analysis can incorporate longitudinal covariates such as the traffic volume and weather variation, and thus can explicitly account for the potential temporal heterogeneity.     

与时俱进 应势而变——浅议入世后我国高等职业教育发展的趋势

入世以后,必将对我国高等职业教育提出新的要求。高等职业教育必须顺应时代发展的趋势,与时俱进、应势而变,才能与时代同步。本文遵循以下思路展开:入世以后,对我国高等职业教育的发展趋势作一些前瞻性的探讨,在此基础上提出应对的措施。有利于我国高等职业教育主动地适应新形势发展的要求。     

《文心雕龙·神思》创作要义新绎

刘勰《文心雕龙·神思》篇是一篇专论艺术构思与想象的著名论文。其“神与物游”说,实即形象地阐明了“心物交融”的过程,开启了形象思维理论的先声;而形象思维的结晶便是“意象”,即“人心营造之象”,作者要像“窥意象而运斤”的“独照之匠”那样,迅摄意象,运笔于纸。而意象的酝酿与定型,其必不可少的前提又“贵在虚静”。“虚静”是对创作之前的作者必须保持境静与心静的双重要求。     

第二次世界大战对世界格局产生的影响

第二次世界大战以雅尔塔体系为基础形成了以美苏两大国为首的世界政治格局,对战后世界政治、经济和国际关系产生了深刻影响。随着两极格局的终结,世界又朝着多极化趋势发展。     

新型蓄光性长余辉荧光陶瓷的研制

研究了基础釉的成分、蓄光粉的加入量、釉层厚度和烧成温度制度等因素对蓄光陶瓷发光性能的影响以及各种制品最佳工艺技术路线的确定.     

论京剧的雅化及其鼎盛

文章论述了京剧在 2 0世纪 30年代达到鼎盛阶段的内外部原因。在其内部原因上 ,作者以其研究古代文学史时所提出的“原生态式的把握方式”来观察这一段京剧史 ,从而对这一段京剧史的发展作了新的勾勒 :艺术块团之形成、相互间的争锋、浮沉以及名号形成的种种情况。在其外部原因上 ,论述了京剧是如何从回应“五四”新文化运动的批评以及如何从向话剧的学习中受益的。 30年代新文化界对于当时京剧的雅化是批判的 ,作者则对此取肯定态度。最后还说明了 ,当京剧出国演出时 ,它的许多曾受“五四”新文化运动批判的特点 ,却受到了国外艺术家的肯定 ,中国的京剧艺术家们也更加开拓了视野 :由此勾勒出京剧发展过程中的一个大的回旋     

日据至光复初期台湾博物馆管窥

日据至光复初期台湾的主要博物馆有4个,其中首推台湾总督博物馆,次为台中教育博物馆,台南教育博物馆,嘉义通俗博物馆。台湾总督博物馆,是台湾最早的博物馆,历史可追溯到1899年;1945年台湾光复,改称为台湾省博物馆。此外,当时台湾的部分院校和科研机构,亦设置有博物馆、植物园及小型的陈列馆或标本室。     

New imperfect rankings models for ranked set sampling

Ranked set sampling is a sampling approach that leads to improved statistical inference in situations where the units to be sampled can be ranked relative to each other prior to formal measurement. This ranking may be done either by subjective judgment or according to an auxiliary variable, and it need not be completely accurate. In fact, results in the literature have shown that no matter how poor the quality of the ranking, procedures based on ranked set sampling tend to be at least as efficient as procedures based on simple random sampling. However, efforts to quantify the gains in efficiency for ranked set sampling procedures have been hampered by a shortage of available models for imperfect rankings. In this paper, we introduce a new class of models for imperfect rankings, and we provide a rigorous proof that essentially any reasonable model for imperfect rankings is a limit of models in this class. We then describe a specific, easily applied method for selecting an appropriate imperfect rankings model from the class.