Sampling from compositional and directional distributions

This paper describes a method for sampling from a non-standard distribution which is important in both population genetics and directional statistics. Current approaches rely on complicated procedures which do not work well, if at all, in high dimensions and usual parameter set-ups. We use a Gibbs sampler which seems necessary in practical situations of high dimensions.     

创新行为如何影响政府绩效:以领导干部任前公示为例的研究探索

在以往关注不同类型创新行为对组织绩效影响的研究中,组织氛围与沟通、人力资源与管理和行政成本是三类较为常见的影响因素,但三者尚未综合形成统一的框架。本研究选取了领导干部任前公示这一以人力资源管理为内容的创新行为,构建了三因素影响组织绩效的过程假设。通过分析问卷调查数据,发现三因素之间存在显著的相关性,且若按照组织边界划分绩效内容,三因素均与组织的内部成长建设绩效显著相关,而同组织外部绩效水平相关程度较弱。依此认为,创新行为影响绩效是一个由人、财、物三因素互动,并依据创新本身特点内容有所侧重的过程。     

Is the SOGS an Accurate Measure of Pathological Gambling Among Children, Adolescents and Adults?

The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) is widely used to assess the prevalence of pathological gambling. For a variety of reasons, this instrument may not provide an accurate rate of the prevalence of pathological gambling. In this paper, one source of error in data provided by the SOGS is investigated. It is argued that individuals may not fully understand the meaning of some items, and that clarification of the meaning of misunderstood items may in some cases lead to a changed score on the scale. The present study evaluates respondents' understanding of the SOGS items. The results from three studies are reported, each using a different sample: grade school children, adolescents and adults. It was hypothesised that (1) participants would not understand some items of the SOGS, (2) problem gamblers and probable pathological gamblers would be more inclined to interpret items incorrectly than would non-problem gamblers and, (3) consistent with the first two hypotheses, clarification of items would decrease the number of participants identified as problem gamblers or probable pathological gamblers. The data obtained supported hypotheses 1 and 3. Furthermore, hypothesis 2 was supported for grade school children, but not for adolescents or adults. These results are consistent with recent literature on endorsement and acquiescence phenomena, and have implications for prevalence studies of probable pathological gambling.     

ECONOMIC REGULATION IN MERCANTILE EENGLAND: HECKSCHER REVISITED

The gradual evolution to free enterprise in England, which became quite pronounced about the time of Adam Smith, is explained in this paper in terms of institutional changes in the rent-seeking society of mercantile England. In this explanation the role of ideas and influential writers is seen as subsidiary to the role of real economic and institutional forces in producing historical outcomes. Moreover, a major feature of our rent-seeking interpretation is that the poor design and competition for control of the mercantile regulatory process unintentionally helped bring about the institutional changes which made rent seeking and economic regulation by the central government less feasible.
"a part of that force which always intends evil 4und always creates good"— Goethe, Faust.