ON THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE SAMPLE MEAN AND TRANSLATION-INVARIANT STATISTICS FOR MATRIX NORMAL DISTRIBUTIONS

We present an explicit characterization of the joint dependency structure of an n×p matrix normal random matrix such that the p-dimensional sample mean vector is independent of all translation invariant statistics.     

UNDERSTANDING MAIL SURVEY RESPONSE BEHAVIOR A META-ANALYSIS

A meta-analysis of prior studies of techniques designed to inducemail survey response rates was conducted. Research encompassing184 effects (study outcomes) in 115 studies (articles) for 17predictors of response rate was examined. The average effectsize across all manipulations was r=.065, indicating an averageincrease of about 6.5 percent in response rates for manipulations.Effect sizes for specific predictors and two potential moderatorsof effects were examined. Results indicated that repeated contactsin the form of preliminary notification and follow-ups, appeals,inclusion of a return envelope, postage, and monetary incentives,were effective in increasing survey response rates. Significanteffect sizes for the predictors ranged from an increase in responseof 2 percent to 31 percent. Implications of the results forthe conduct of mail surveys and future research on mail surveyresponse behavior are discussed.     

独立董事“独立性”探讨

独立董事制度的引进,原本是寄期望于此新体制能够完善我国上市公司的公司治理结构。但由于种种原因,这项新制度并没有起到预期的效果,独立董事的"独立性"作用没有得到应有的发挥。我国的独立董事制度建设应具有权威性,赋予给独立董事的权利与其承担的义务应相当。独立董事职责重大,在实践中如何保证他们职责的有效行使是我们应重点考虑的问题,也是独立董事制度能否真正有效的关键。     

海峡两岸司法协助模式新探

区际司法协助,是中国恢复对香港和澳门行使主权后最迫切需要解决的问题之一。现今在我国区际司法协助实践中已经出现了"安排模式",这种模式初步解决了我国的区际司法协助问题,但还不能说是我国开展区际司法协助的唯一模式。而海峡两岸区际冲突法的独特性和复杂性,使示范立法模式有其运用的空间。     

科学技术在构建和谐社会中的价值

在新的人文观念的视野中,作为"第一生产力"的科学技术,不仅承载着社会和谐发展的经济价值,而且还通过促进人与自然协调发展、促进人与社会协调发展、促进精神文明建设承载着社会和谐发展的生态价值、人文价值和社会价值.准确把握科学技术在构建和谐社会中的价值和功用,对于我国实施科教兴国战略、构建社会主义和谐社会具有重要的现实意义.     

“重道轻器”的价值观对于中医学的影响及启示

中国传统文化的人文性集中表现在"重道轻器"的价值观上,由于受中国传统文化的影响,形成了"重神轻形"的思维取向。"重道轻器"的价值观对中医方法论、中医基础理论、中医教育和传承、中国传统医德等诸多方面产生了巨大影响,同时这种价值观对于现代中医发展也提供了一些启示。     

Gay Affirmative Practice: A Model for Social Work Practice with Gay,Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth

Gay affirmative practice has recently been introduced into the social work literature as a culturally sensitive model for working with gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adults, however, this model has rarely been applied to practice with GLB youth. In this article, the authors review the literature to present the main tenets of gay affirmative practice, outline the challenges that GLB youth face, and delineate the environmental and individual strengths that can be enhanced to promote well-being. The authors then apply the gay affirmative practice model to GLB youth, offering concrete information about the specific knowledge, attitudes, and skills that social workers should acquire to better serve the unique, yet diverse, needs of GLB youth.     

Individualism vs Collectivism in Different Cultures: A cross-cultural study

In this study, individualism vs collectivism, in line with the work of Triandis in 1985, was assessed in two groups of male and female students, in Egypt and Germany. The results confirm the effect that cultural background has on individualist vs collectivist orientations in both of these cultures for male and female students. Men and women scored higher on individualism in Germany than in Egypt, whereas collectivism scores were higher in Egypt than in Germany. These findings are discussed in terms of general recommendations for intercultural interventions that discourage viewing people solely in terms of group membership, and instead as distinct individuals.     

Distal and Proximal Factors in Domestic Violence: A Test of an Integrated Model

We employed 4,095 couples from both waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test a model of couple violence drawn from several theoretical perspectives. The outcome distinguishes among nonviolent couples and those experiencing either physical aggression or intense male violence. According to the model, background characteristics of couples are related to relationship stressors, which affect the risk of violence via their tendency to promote verbal conflict. Considerable support for the model was found. Couples were at higher risk for one or both forms of violence if they were younger at union inception, had been together for less time, were both in their first union, had only one partner who was employed, had a nontraditional woman paired with a traditional man, had at least one partner who abused substances, had more children, had more frequent disagreements, exhibited a more hostile disagreement style, or lived in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood. Moreover, the effects of stressors such as the number of children and couples' employment status disparities appear to be mediated by disagreement frequency and disagreement style.     

"Her" Marriage after the Revolutions

Recent social changes have made husbands' emotional investments and wives' perceptions of equity in the division of housework crucial for women's marital happiness. But wives are also happiest in their marriages when they share a strong normative commitment to lifelong marriage with their husbands and when their husbands take the lead in breadwinning. Thus our research suggests that elements of the new and the old promote marital happiness among contemporary wives.