Testing monotonic equilibrium residual entropy of N-State Random Evolution

In this study, we propose an information measure of uncertainty associated with the random equilibrium residual lifetime of a system driven by N-State Random Evolution. A U-statistic test driven by a moment inequality is proposed for testing the hypothesis that the uncertainty of equilibrium remaining life of a system remains unchanged (when system is in the steady state) against the alternative situation when system’s equilibrium residual life has increasing uncertainty over time (i.e., the life distribution has Increasing Equilibrium Residual Entropy property). Some numerical results such as tabulated critical values and empirical power of the proposed test statistic are presented as well.     

Contextual influence on evaluation capacity building in a rapidly changing environment under new governmental policies

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is a context-dependent process. Contextual factors affecting ECB implementation have been explored theoretically and practically, but their influence within a changing environment has seldom been discussed. This study examined essential context-sensitive parameters, particularly those involved in implementing new governmental policies regarding higher education. Taiwan was used as a case study for exploring the effect of contextual change on ECB attributes from the perspectives of training receivers and providers. Surveys and interviews were used for data collection and importance–performance analysis was applied for data analysis. Four prominent features were identified. First, the ECB attributes perceived as important by receivers were performed adequately, whereas those perceived as less important were performed less well. Second, under new policies, training provider designed training covering a wide range of ECB, whereas receivers focused on those can be directly applied in evaluation process. Third, in a small education system such as Taiwan’s, the complexity of peer review is high and ethical issues become important. Fourth, because the evaluation structure has been changed from single- to dual-track, receivers expect more training for institution staff, whereas providers insist on hierarchical training. Aligning ECB supply and needs is paramount for adaptation to new policies.     

制度变迁过程的历史沉淀成本效应分析

在新古典完全竞争市场理论——历史沉淀成本决策无关性的假设前提背景下,从未来不确定性、信息不完全和财务预算约束等角度考察历史沉淀成本对制度变迁过程的影响,为制度变迁过程确立一个新的分析视角,从而弥补了原有研究的不足。在现实经济生活中,市场不完全是常态,有限理性、交易成本、信息不完全和环境不确定性等因素普遍存在,历史沉淀成本很容易发挥作用,从而表明:未来越不确定,信息越不完全,资源越稀缺,导致财务预算越硬,历史沉淀成本效应越大,制度变迁过程越困难;反之越容易。由此可发现,在放松完全竞争市场的假设前提条件下,当事人的决策不可能不受到历史沉淀成本的影响。因此,只有当事人对历史沉淀成本的约束条件作出正确的理性反应,才能使其决策更加贴近真实世界,这对于全面认识制度变迁过程具有重要的理论创新意义和现实指导价值。     

过程性评价的哲学诠释

过程性评价是在教学过程中对学生学习的各类信息加以即时、动态地解释,借以优化学习过程、调整教学策略从而实现教学过程价值增值的活动。教学价值的内在性、生成性决定了过程性评价不但要揭示内在于学习过程中的价值,而且要生成学习过程的新价值。顺应教学活动的过程性特征,过程性评价在解释复杂学习过程的基础上,要即时地揭示当下学习情境与学生未来发展的关系,指引学生面向未来的发展方向。过程性评价在复杂的教学情境中对学生知识建构与转知成智的学习过程进行全面分析,能够起到促进个体生命完满建构的作用。     

唯物史观与《资本论》的创作过程

《资本论》的创作过程是马克思从政治经济学的研究开始,经历了政治经济学研究对象和方法的确定、理论体系的构建,最后明确为写作《资本论》“四卷结构”的过程.马克思对政治经济学研究的过程,是马克思创立唯物史观并论证其科学性的过程.唯物史观的创立及运用,使马克思在对政治经济学理论体系的结构研究中,逐步明确了《资本论》的研究任务,《资本论》“四卷结构”的形成是政治经济学理论体系的结构整体拓展的重要方面.唯物史观的创立及运用,也使马克思在《资本论》的创作中,逐步明确了研究对象,并把对社会生产关系的分析放到了社会矛盾运动的整体中.     

地方政府绩效评估的症结

政府绩效就是为了实现预期的目标,政府制定和执行公共政策,履行职责的过程和结果。政府绩效评估既要针对政府行为过程是否合法、符合程序,又要针对行为结果是否经济、有效。由于目前我国"政治上位的政治行政一体化"体制对绩效评估的制约和排斥,绩效评估没有成为有效的约束、激励政府行为的机制。本文从政策学角度,结合具体案例,分析了当前地方政府绩效评估的主要特征和问题,并提出从体制上和制度上推进政府绩效评估。     

Estimation of geodesic tortuosity and constrictivity in stationary random closed sets

We investigate the problem of estimating geodesic tortuosity and constrictivity as two structural characteristics of stationary random closed sets. They are of central importance for the analysis of effective transport properties in porous or composite materials. Loosely speaking, geodesic tortuosity measures the windedness of paths, whereas the notion of constrictivity captures the appearance of bottlenecks resulting from narrow passages within a given materials phase. We first provide mathematically precise definitions of these quantities and introduce appropriate estimators. Then, we show strong consistency of these estimators for unboundedly growing sampling windows. In order to apply our estimators to real data sets, the extent of edge effects needs to be controlled. This is illustrated using a model for a multiphase material that is incorporated in solid oxide fuel cells.     

A general central limit theorem and a subsampling variance estimator for α‐mixing point processes

We establish a central limit theorem for multivariate summary statistics of nonstationary α‐mixing spatial point processes and a subsampling estimator of the covariance matrix of such statistics. The central limit theorem is crucial for establishing asymptotic properties of estimators in statistics for spatial point processes. The covariance matrix subsampling estimator is flexible and model free. It is needed, for example, to construct confidence intervals and ellipsoids based on asymptotic normality of estimators. We also provide a simulation study investigating an application of our results to estimating functions.