Multiple event times in the presence of informative censoring: modeling and analysis by copulas

Motivated by a breast cancer research program, this paper is concerned with the joint survivor function of multiple event times when their observations are subject to informative censoring caused by a terminating event. We formulate the correlation of the multiple event times together with the time to the terminating event by an Archimedean copula to account for the informative censoring. Adapting the widely used two-stage procedure under a copula model, we propose an easy-to-implement pseudo-likelihood based procedure for estimating the model parameters. The approach yields a new estimator for the marginal distribution of a single event time with semicompeting-risks data. We conduct both asymptotics and simulation studies to examine the proposed approach in consistency, efficiency, and robustness. Data from the breast cancer program are employed to illustrate this research.

     

On the <Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis>-clique free interval subgraphs polytope: polyhedral analysis and applications

In this paper we study the m-clique free interval subgraphs. We investigate the facial structure of the polytope defined as the convex hull of the incidence vectors associated with these subgraphs. We also present some facet-defining inequalities to strengthen the associated linear relaxation. As an application, the generalized open-shop problem with disjunctive constraints (GOSDC) is considered. Indeed, by a projection on a set of variables, the m-clique free interval subgraphs represent the solution of an integer linear program solving the GOSDC presented in this paper. Moreover, we propose exact and heuristic separation algorithms, which are exploited into a Branch-and-cut algorithm for solving the GOSDC. Finally, we present and discuss some computational results.     

Study on Time Expectancy of Care for Daily Living of Chinese Elderly

According to the data of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS)and applyin g methods of Sullivan and multistate life table,this paper examines the time expectancy of care for daily living of Chinese elderly and its proportion in their elderly life.The results find that there exists a signifi cant gender gap of the expectancy,which the male at 65averagely are expected to have four to five care years while the female at 65averagely are expected to have seven to eight care years.The time expectancy for slight care of daily living is longer than that for sever care.Additionally,there is no significant difference between urban elderly and rural elderly.However,as age increases,the time expectancy for slight care goes down while that for sever care stabilities at a constant at different ages.The time expectancy for different types of care and its proportion in the rest of life are significantly various.The study points out that the establishment and improvement of care insurance system and the elderly care service are very necessary.     

Transparency and Resource Allocation of Grassroots Nonprofits in China

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Organizational transparency has become a prominent concern for the nonprofit sector as it expands globally. Transparency...     

儒家文化命运辨析——全球化时代几种儒家文化归宿理论的实证检验

"儒家文化的命运"关系到每个中国人的安身立命,关系到中华民族和中国的命运,关系到人类和世界格局及其发展趋势。本文以10个样本城市1254个样本的经验数据为根据,澄清了两个诉说纷纭的问题:一,儒家文化的生存状态,它是一成不变地保留下来了,还是已经彻底消亡,抑或是处于一种折中状态?二,近年出现的传统文化复兴现象的性质,它是一个暂时的现象,还是一个长期历史趋势的开端?实证分析表明:一、儒家文化的生存状态,既不是张之洞所言的"一成不变",也不是列文森所言的"彻底消亡"。在经历了一个半世纪的被妖魔化的历史之后,经过损益的儒家文化仍然活着。二、近年来出现的传统文化复兴现象,不是一场误会,而是历史的必然;不是稍纵即逝的泡沫,而是一个长期历史趋势的开端。儒家文化正迎来一个复兴的时代。儒家文化之所以在此时走上复兴之路,一是中国的终极文化具有超越时代的素质,这种素质孕育了其复兴的"可能性";二是中国的工具文化现代化获得了空前成功,这种成功创造了使可能转化为现实的"大势";三是当下的有利的现实的经济、政治、社会和国际条件。     

When Working Hard Is Not Enough for Female and Racial/Ethnic Minority Apprentices in the Highway Trades

Drawing on employment records, qualitative interviews, and a survey, we explore the experiences of apprentices in the highway trades in Oregon. We demonstrate that female and racial/ethnic minority apprentices have lower rates of recruitment and retention and disproportionately face challenges with interpersonal interactions, hiring practices, and supervisory practices. Yet, we find a pervasive narrative that attributes apprentices' success to “hard work,” which contributes to the legitimacy of these inequalities. Consistent with the conceptualization of work organizations as inequality regimes, we argue that the apprenticeship system has policies, practices, and ideologies that are on the surface gender and race/ethnicity neutral, yet lead to the perpetuation of inequalities.     

A new generalized Weibull distribution in income economic inequality curves

Researchers have been developing various extensions and modified forms of the Weibull distribution to enhance its capability for modeling and fitting different data sets. In this note, we investigate the potential usefulness of the new modification to the standard Weibull distribution called odd Weibull distribution in income economic inequality studies. Some mathematical and statistical properties of this model are proposed. We obtain explicit expressions for the first incomplete moment, quantile function, Lorenz and Zenga curves and related inequality indices. In addition to the well-known stochastic order based on Lorenz curve, the stochastic order based on Zenga curve is considered. Since the new generalized Weibull distribution seems to be suitable to model wealth, financial, actuarial and especially income distributions, these findings are fundamental in the understanding of how parameter values are related to inequality. Also, the estimation of parameters by maximum likelihood and moment methods is discussed. Finally, this distribution has been fitted to United States and Austrian income data sets and has been found to fit remarkably well in compare with the other widely used income models.     

On hysteretic vector autoregressive model with applications

This paper proposes a new hysteretic vector autoregressive (HVAR) model in which the regime switching may be delayed when the hysteresis variable lies in a hysteresis zone. We integrate an adapted multivariate Student-t distribution from amending the scale mixtures of normal distributions. This HVAR model allows for a higher degree of flexibility in the degrees of freedom for each time series. We use the proposed model to test for a causal relationship between any two target time series. Using posterior odds ratios, we overcome the limitations of the classical approach to multiple testing. Both simulated and real examples herein help illustrate the suggested methods. We apply the proposed HVAR model to investigate the causal relationship between the quarterly growth rates of gross domestic product of United Kingdom and United States. Moreover, we check the pairwise lagged dependence of daily PM2.5 levels in three districts of Taipei.     

Intergenerational cooperation within the household: a Public Good game with three generations

We analyze cooperation of individuals in a family context, using a Public Good game. In a lab experiment, 165 individuals from 55 three-generation families (youth, parent, and grandparent) play a repeated Public Good game in three different treatments: one in which three members of the same family play each other (family), a second with the youth and two non-family members, while preserving the previous generational structure (inter-generational), and a third in which three randomly-selected players play each other (random). We find that all the age groups cooperate more when playing with relatives, indicating that family ties may have a positive relationship to contributions to the Public Good. We also find that this trend is more evident for the youths and the parents than for the grandparents. Furthermore, young individuals tend to cooperate less than older generations, especially in non-family treatments. Our results serve as evidence of the relationship between family ties and inter-generational cooperative behaviors.