Estimation of the joint survival function for successive duration times under double-truncation and right-censoring

ABSTRACT

In incident cohort studies, survival data often include subjects who have had an initiate event at recruitment and may potentially experience two successive events (first and second) during the follow-up period. When disease registries or surveillance systems collect data based on incidence occurring within a specific calendar time interval, the initial event is usually subject to double truncation. Furthermore, since the second duration process is observable only if the first event has occurred, double truncation and dependent censoring arise. In this article, under the two sampling biases with an unspecified distribution of truncation variables, we propose a nonparametric estimator of the joint survival function of two successive duration times using the inverse-probability-weighted (IPW) approach. The consistency of the proposed estimator is established. Based on the estimated marginal survival functions, we also propose a two-stage estimation procedure for estimating the parameters of copula model. The bootstrap method is used to construct confidence interval. Numerical studies demonstrate that the proposed estimation approaches perform well with moderate sample sizes.     

对天津滨海新区服务业发展的几点思考

服务业的发展水平是衡量一个城市(地区)产业结构完善程度的重要标志,是城市凝聚力和辐射力的主要体现.滨海新区必须在发展现代制造业的同时,加快发展高层次的现代服务业,坚持以功能拓展促进服务业发展,以产业发展提升城市功能,提高现代服务业对经济增长的贡献率.     

和谐社会构建中的行政发展价值选择

坚持以人为本、科学发展、改革开放、民主法治、正确处理改革发展稳定的关系以及在党的领导下全社会共同建设等原则,是和谐社会构建对行政发展的基本要求,以公正为基础的市场导向选择是构建社会主义和谐社会行政发展的核心价值要求.     

Semiparametric Bayesian analysis for longitudinal mixed effects models with non-normal AR(1) errors

Statistics and Computing - This paper studies Bayesian inference on longitudinal mixed effects models with non-normal AR(1) errors. We model the nonparametric zero-mean noise in the autoregression...     

书院教育的复兴与儒家人格培养

中国高等教育的根本矛盾是求道与学艺的矛盾。近代以来,我国高等教育对西、苏模式的模仿主义以及越来越转向学艺本位的教育理念,导致对大学生的人格培养的轻视与路径匮乏,这都一直为国人所诟病。如何寻求突破发展的瓶颈,建立真正意义上21世纪的中国大学和本土化的高等教育模式,已经成为了当代中国高等教育的重要命题。书院作为悠久历史的中国传统文化教育组织,是中国传统高等教育的代表之一,也是儒家人格培养的重要机制,在港澳台和上海等多地正在悄然复兴。立足当代,如何继承传统和与时俱进,就必须要审视书院教育的办学制度与治学方法,这也才是中国高等教育的出路所在。     

Life satisfaction in China and consumption and income inequalities

This research uses nationally representative data to study how economic resources and inequalities are associated with life satisfaction of Chinese residents. We construct economic resource and inequality measures from expenditure rather than from income, after confirming that expenditure inequality is a better measure in the Chinese context. We find that economic inequalities in general are negatively associated with life satisfaction, and that this association is larger for inequalities in the lower half of the distribution than those in the upper half of the distribution. We further explore the mechanisms under which inequality can be associated with life satisfaction, and find that aspiration is potentially one important channel.     

Web 2.0 and Political Engagement in China

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - This article examines civic and political engagement in contemporary China by three recent cases where activists and...     

The reproductive health indices and sex hormone levels in middle-aged and elderly Chinese men

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the age-related recession trajectory of reproductive health indices in middle-aged and elderly Chinese men.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jiashan County, Zhejiang in 2012. Healthy men between 40 and 80 years of age were considered eligible for the study. Physical examination and the sex hormones were measured. The subjects were assessed based on the 5-item version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) for Erectile Dysfunction (ED), and Aging Males’ Symptoms (AMS) scale for Symptomatic Late-Onset Hypogonadism (SLOH).

Results: TG showed a decrease at age 60 years. Testis volume and TT did not show significant difference among the four age groups; cFT began to decrease at age 50 years and Bio-T decreased faster at age 50 years. SHBG and LH increased faster at age 50 and 70 years, respectively. IIEF5 score decrease faster at age 60 years. AMS scores increased faster at age 70 years. With the increase in age, the symptoms of ED and SLOH became severer.

Conclusion: Different indices on reproductive health of men showed turning points at different ages. At first, androgenic sex hormones decreased faster, and then erectile dysfunction got severer, and the last overall male syndromes declined.     

China and global internet governance: toward an alternative analytical framework

Drawing on historical methods, this study assesses the conventional “cyber-sovereignty” framework, which has been used to capture and interpret China’s stance toward global Internet governance. This framework focuses on political control and tends to reduce China’s policies to the attempts by an authoritarian state to elevate governments and intergovernmental organizations to be the only legitimate governors of global cyberspace. As it traces the evolution of China’s relationship with the global Internet in the past three decades, the study demonstrates that China’s stance is more complex than the prevalent framework allows and that it is both built upon and different from the US-centric, market-oriented Internet governance scheme. This study recognizes the inadequacy of the conventional framework and invokes a theory of critical political economy of communication, thereby offering an alternative model to explicate the complex power dynamics behind China’s changing strategies. The alternative model advanced in this study is based on the understanding of China’s evolving approach as the product of multifaceted interactions among a group of power-holders that include both state agencies and business units on the transnational level.     

论我国朝鲜族加入中华民族大家庭的历史过程

我国朝鲜族加入中华民族大家庭的历史过程,始于清代,经民国、伪满、解放战争时期,直至中华人民共和国成立,最后成为我国公民。在这一过程中,朝鲜族人民与其他民族一道,在开发东北边疆和反帝反封建斗争中,患难与共,结成了深厚的友谊和不可分割的关系。朝鲜族人民不断吸收中华民族的优秀文化,逐步发展成为当之无愧的我国56个民族之一。