Assessment of Distraction From Erotic Stimuli by Nonerotic Interference

Distraction from erotic cues during sexual encounters is a major contributor to sexual difficulties in men and women. Being able to assess distraction in studies of sexual arousal will help clarify underlying contributions to sexual problems. The current study aimed to identify the most accurate assessment of distraction from erotic cues in healthy men (n = 29) and women (n = 38). Participants were assigned to a no distraction, low distraction, or high distraction condition. Distraction was induced using an auditory distraction task presented during the viewing of an erotic video. Attention to erotic cues was assessed using three methods: a written quiz, a visual quiz, and a self-reported distraction measure. Genital and psychological sexual responses were also measured. Self-reported distraction and written quiz scores most accurately represented the level of distraction present, while self-reported distraction also corresponded with a decrease in genital arousal. Findings support the usefulness of self-report measures in conjunction with a brief quiz on the erotic material as the most accurate and sensitive ways to simply measure experimentally-induced distraction. Insight into distraction assessment techniques will enable evaluation of naturally occurring distraction in patients suffering from sexual problems.     

指数函数和对数函数的高精度快速算法

指数、对数函数的数值计算是一种最基本的算术操作,研究其快速算法,对于科学计算、数据处理,尤其是要求运算精度很高的实时控制系统,有着非常重要的意义.通过数值分析,考虑到精度要求较高,计算量和数表的存储空间这三个因素,结合计算和查表的方法给出了一些基本函数的快速算法.另外,还介绍了改进的高精度快速算法并演示了详细的计算过程.得出精度越高,内存越大,相应的操作速度却没有下降。     

大豆生产者补贴政策改革促进农户种植结构调整了吗?——基于全国446个县的准自然实验

以大豆生产者补贴政策改革作为切入点,将政策实施地区和非实施地区视为一次部分省份优化大豆、玉米种植结构的准自然实验,通过构建PSM-DID模型,考察大豆生产者补贴政策改革对农户种植结构调整的影响及其作用机制.结果表明:(1)大豆生产者补贴政策改革对农户种植结构调整具有显著的时间异质性,政策改革初年(2017年)大豆与玉米的面积之比显著提高6.5％,虽然2018年大豆与玉米的相对补贴额度出现大幅度增长,但大豆与玉米的面积之比仅显著提高3.4％;(2)预期相对收益的提升是2017年农户调整种植结构的重要原因,然而,经过对新制度一年的适应后,农户对种植玉米的路径依赖、补贴错位、地租的不合理增长以及大豆、玉米相对价格不理想等问题逐渐凸显,2018年农户重新调整种植决策,补贴的激励作用被迫减弱.基于此,研究结论为统筹大豆、玉米补贴机制可以促进农户种植结构调整提供经验性证据,也为在农业供给侧结构性改革和大豆振兴压力下如何持续改善种植结构提供政策启示.     

Behavioral responses of rural and urban greater white-toothed shrews (Crocidura russula) to sound disturbance

Urban Ecosystems - The development of urban areas imposes challenges that wildlife must adapt to in order to persist in these new habitats. One of the greatest changes brought by urbanization has...     

Inference and Decision Making for 21st-Century Drug Development and Approval

ABSTRACT

The cost and time of pharmaceutical drug development continue to grow at rates that many say are unsustainable. These trends have enormous impact on what treatments get to patients, when they get them and how they are used. The statistical framework for supporting decisions in regulated clinical development of new medicines has followed a traditional path of frequentist methodology. Trials using hypothesis tests of “no treatment effect” are done routinely, and the p-value < 0.05 is often the determinant of what constitutes a “successful” trial. Many drugs fail in clinical development, adding to the cost of new medicines, and some evidence points blame at the deficiencies of the frequentist paradigm. An unknown number effective medicines may have been abandoned because trials were declared “unsuccessful” due to a p-value exceeding 0.05. Recently, the Bayesian paradigm has shown utility in the clinical drug development process for its probability-based inference. We argue for a Bayesian approach that employs data from other trials as a “prior” for Phase 3 trials so that synthesized evidence across trials can be utilized to compute probability statements that are valuable for understanding the magnitude of treatment effect. Such a Bayesian paradigm provides a promising framework for improving statistical inference and regulatory decision making.     

Does a universal non-contributory social pension make sense for rural China?

China’s pension reform during the past three decades has allowed a majority of China’s population to be covered by a pension scheme. Of particular note has been the New Rural Pension Scheme (NRPS), a voluntary programme introduced starting in 2009. One goal of our analysis is to assess that pension scheme, using a variety of sources of information including data drawn from recent (2013 and 2015) nationwide China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Surveys (CHARLS). Our analysis involves an exploration of differences between the generosity and structure of the NRPS and other pension schemes currently in place. We also explore the feasibility of reforming the current “quasi-social pension” component of the NRPS by substituting a universal non-contributory social pension pillar. In connection with our assessment of the NRPS, we note the unusually low benefit levels for rural China.     

A Simulation Study of Some Biasing Parameters for the Ridge Type Estimation of Poisson Regression

This article proposes several estimators for estimating the ridge parameter k based on Poisson ridge regression (RR) model. These estimators have been evaluated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. As performance criteria, we have calculated the mean squared error (MSE), the mean value, and the standard deviation of k. The first criterion is commonly used, while the other two have never been used when analyzing Poisson RR. However, these performance criteria are very informative because, if several estimators have an equal estimated MSE, then those with low average value and standard deviation of k should be preferred. Based on the simulated results, we may recommend some biasing parameters that may be useful for the practitioners in the field of health, social, and physical sciences.