Tests for homogeneity of risk differences in stratified design with correlated bilateral data

ABSTRACT

Correlated bilateral data arise from stratified studies involving paired body organs in a subject. When it is desirable to conduct inference on the scale of risk difference, one needs first to assess the assumption of homogeneity in risk differences across strata. For testing homogeneity of risk differences, we herein propose eight methods derived respectively from weighted-least-squares (WLS), the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) estimator, the WLS method in combination with inverse hyperbolic tangent transformation, and the test statistics based on their log-transformation, the modified Score test statistic and Likelihood ratio test statistic. Simulation results showed that four of the tests perform well in general, with the tests based on the WLS method and inverse hyperbolic tangent transformation always performing satisfactorily even under small sample size designs. The methods are illustrated with a dataset.     

Digital learning across cultures: an account of activity theory

ABSTRACT

This paper explores a teaching and learning process as it unfolds in an online offshore classroom. The paper reports on teaching and learning narratives distilled from different cultures, namely the cultures of educators and students in the context of digital learning environments. Drawing on activity theory as a conceptual framework to analyse the narrative, we employ self-study as a methodological tool for capturing the dynamism and complexities that unravel in intercultural and technology-enabled teaching activities. The framework explores the relationships, tensions and opportunities of diverse activity elements that constitute the design and delivery of digital pedagogies. In the networked intercultural system, sustaining the position of activity elements and the specific relational circuit that they institutionalise is a key task for understanding digital technologies as an influential tool for effective learning and teaching practices. We argue that seeing the digital platform from the perspective of its role in creating dynamic interrelationships in a complex activity system is one way to move beyond the cultural confines of any particular element in the system.     

The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

“带头学科”学说值得商榷

为了正本清源、消除误解、清除理论迷雾，本文运用文献资料分析方法，细致研究了凯德洛夫提出的“带头学科”学说的历史演变“轨迹”，得出结论认为该学说值得商榷：“带头学科”语义不清，“更替律”似是而非，“周期减半律”不合常理。因此，当今自然科学发展中有无“带头学科”？它是什么？这些都是引起争议的问题。     

以环境哲学为研究视域的文化自觉

以环境哲学为研究视域的文化自觉是站在明确的生态整体主义立场的学科文化自觉。它以哲学为衔接点，把环境与广义的文化联系在一起，努力为环境哲学寻求新的增长点。而弱的非人类中心主义观念作为观念侧翼，更细致地修复破碎染尘之人心。让人类有效地从社会走向自然，又从自然回归社会。审视以环境哲学为研究视域能否实现文化自觉？它必须立足以环境哲学的语境与方式思考文化自觉的可能与必然，并应用环境哲学的方法与逻辑阐释文化自觉的内涵与趋向。环境哲学所固有的自然之翼，是其学科存在的本质特征。但如若停滞于自然界的现象，而无文化元素的参与和交融，环境哲学的困顿将会在现象与抽象之间迷失。而文化元素的加入，又必须在自觉的前提下进行，它一方面是为融合确定边界，另一方面是为渗透找到根据。以对人类与自然界高度负责的精神，文化自觉与环境哲学都有着共同的使命：欣赏人与自然的和谐相处。     

China’s Demographic Future Under the New Two-Child Policy

China implemented the two-child policy in 2016, however, potential impacts of this new policy on its population reality have not been adequately understood. Using population census data and 1% population sampling data during the period of 1982–2015, this study develops a fertility simulation model to explore the effects of the two-child policy on women’s total fertility rate, and employs Cohort Component Method in population projections to examine China’s demographic future with different fertility regimes. The fertility simulation results reveal that the two-child policy will make significantly positive effects on China’s total fertility rate through increasing second births, leading to a sharp but temporary increase in the first 5 years after the implementation of the new policy. In addition, population projections using simulated total fertility rates show that the Chinese population would reach its peak value around the middle 2020s and be faced with the reduction of labor force supply and rapid aging process, featured with remarkable increases in both size and share of the elderly population. The findings suggest that the two-child policy would undoubtedly affect China’s fertility rates and demographic future; however, the effects are mild and temporary.

     

Vocational Experiences and Quality of Life of Migrants: Overview and Future Research

Quality of life is a complicated concept that has attracted broad attention from multiple disciplines. This article introduces a set of studies that employ diverse approaches to explore how work, vocational, and career experiences shape quality of life among migrants, and proposes a future agenda to extend this stream of research. Specifically, operationalizing quality of life in different ways, research showcased in this special issue has demonstrated how international and intranational migrants achieve, maintain, and enhance their well-being in different life domains. Reflecting on the literature and the showcased studies, this article proposes that future research should advance the current inquiry by better categorizing vocational experiences, uniquely operationalizing of quality of life in migration contexts, taking a more culturally sensitive perspective, and broadening methodological approaches.     

论生产与交往的互动作用

生产与交往是人类社会活动相辅相成的两种基本属性,社会历史进步不仅取决于生产,还取决于交往,生产与交往相互作用共同推动社会历史进步,这是马克思主义唯物史观的一个基本原理,也是后发国家跨越发展的历史观基本前提。自觉遵循生产与交往互动规律,积极选择跨越发展方式,对于实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦意义重大。     

On the Emotional Context Theory of the Mass Art Transmission

Concern of emotion and emotional motivation are the basis of language and literature context, and it is also the basis for the social domain of discourse related to the human culture. The traditional Chinese literature and the modern literature are both the carrier and manifestation of the mass emotional context. Besides, emotional context is also the one and only culture route and popularization route of the national revival. Emotional context shoulders the responsibility of literature and the value of critical comments.     

“义理先行”与“事求有据”:宋学与清代汉学之异——以道统说的成立与解构为中心

道统是南宋道学学派的核心命题之一,也是涵括各种错杂话语的叙述综合体。本文从诠释学角度切入,将道统系谱的排定和宋学对汉学的反拨对应起来,将道统成立解读为经典诠释转型的结果。论文通过讨论朱子的经典诠释法,以及阎若璩辨伪《古文尚书》对道统叙述造成的影响等问题,试图显明义理与考据在经学诠释史中地位的升降变迁,以及由此显露出的宋学与清代汉学在学术理念与经学立场上的差异。