Differential Item Functioning of a Family Affluence Scale: Validation Study on Data from HBSC 2001/02

Methodology for making cross-national comparisons is an area of increasing interest in social and public health related research. When studying socio-economic differences in health outcomes cross-nationally, there are several methodological issues of concern, especially when data is derived from self-reported questionnaires. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (Currie et al. 1998) is a WHO cross-national study using school samples. HBSC provides comparable data, and thereby a unique opportunity to study associations between social indicators and health outcomes within an international perspective. In 2001/02 data was collected from a total of 162,323 children in 32 countries (Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA.). Studies of social inequalities requires that a comparable measure of socio-economic position (SEP) is in use. HBSC has developed a proxy for social position measuring material wealth, the Family Affluence Scale (FAS). This paper studies FAS and whether it is comparable across population subgroups defined by country, age and gender. Initial analysis revealed that an item measuring perceived family wealth was a valid FAS item. Including this item in the FAS score will improve the reliability of FAS. Graphical log-linear Rasch models (GLLRM) showed that FAS contain differential item functioning (DIF) with respect to country, age, and gender as well as local dependency (LD) between items. During the analysis, test equating techniques where used to adjust for the test bias generated by DIF. We recommend that the equated scores are used whenever FAS is included as a variable. This study suggests that HBSC-FAS should contain five items (additional item: perceived family wealth) when analysing data from HBSC 2001/02, and furthermore that each country should adjust for the DIF or make use of the converted FAS scores provided. If using FAS as a proxy for social position at an international level, it is not advised to compare the absolute levels of FAS, but weigh the scale by ridit transformation.

Technische Ineffizienz als Ergebnis rationalen Entscheidungsverhaltens

In this paper, we discuss several approaches that explain why technical inefficiencies may result from rational decision-making. The reasons behind the rational inefficiencies discussed are (1) individuals using their discretionary space in order to maximise their own instead of their organisation's objective function, (2) input slacks having value in the sense that they can be used to produce outputs that are not yet accounted for by the enterprise's production function, (3) decision makers maximising a profit function that is – due to specific market conditions – non-monotonic with respect to the quantities of inputs and outputs involved in the production process, and (4) a manager choosing a technically inefficient combination of working pace and working time in a service production process in order to maximise his individual utility function. All these approaches demonstrate that, contrary to the assumption in traditional production theory, technical efficiency is not a prerequisite for optimality. Hence, thoughtlessly applying the traditional quantity-based efficiency criterion for the pre-selection of production alternatives may lead to suboptimal results.     

秦皇岛市中小企业发展的思考

秦皇岛市中小企业在国际性金融危机的影响下发展步伐减缓,这既有全球经济复苏迟滞、出口乏力、融资困难及政务环境、服务体系等环境的影响,也有自身存在的竞争力不强、员工素质不高等问题,从发展战略、人才培养、环境优化、融资对策、自主创新等方面提出秦皇岛市发展中小企业所需采取的措施。     

EVA接枝共聚物的合成及其降凝性能评价

结合大庆原油的物性特征,在降凝机理的指导下,以EVA与烷基马来酰亚胺接枝反应,合成了一类新型原油降凝剂。以目标物的降凝幅度为评价指标,优选出合适的合成条件：当EVA与十八烷基马来酰亚胺的物质的量的比为1∶20,引发剂过氧化二苯甲酰的量为2.5%,聚合时间为6h,聚合温度为90℃时,聚合物的降凝效果最好,即目标物加量为100mg/kg时凝点降低15℃。利用红外光谱仪对脂肪族胺、马来酸酐和十八烷基马来酰亚胺进行分析的结果表明：脂肪族胺与马来酸酐反应生成了十八烷基马来酰亚胺。利用核磁共振波谱仪对EVA及其接枝产物进行分析的结果表明：接枝反应确实存在,接枝率可以达到6.7%。     

东晋中期的两大文学集团

东晋中期的政坛中存在着两大势力群,即盘踞荆襄的桓温政治集团与代表司马王室的司马昱政治集团。桓温与司马昱都爱好文学,招纳才士,围绕他们形成了两大文学集团。两大文学集团之间既有对抗,也有交流,深刻地影响了东晋文坛的格局。它们改变了当时文人的生活,促进了各种文学活动的展开,更对玄言诗的发展起到了推波助澜的作用。     

杜绝死刑冤假错案十论

近年来在我国司法实践中,有关死刑的冤假错案频频发生,这一现象引起了众多专家学者的关注和思考。针对目前司法实践中存在的问题,我们必须树立"以人为本"、"生命至上"的理念,在司法工作中切实贯彻落实科学发展观;切实做好入罪的甄别工作,防止以"假事实"掩盖"真事实"而按"假事实"对行为人定罪,严禁以所谓的高科技手段进行所谓的心理测试;坚定地执行"疑罪从无"的原则,赋予犯罪嫌疑人以沉默权;应当不断提高侦查讯问程序的透明度,强化对侦查讯问活动有效的内部监督和有力的外部监督,坚决排除刑讯所取得的嫌疑人供述,减少冤假错案发生的几率;切实推行错案追究和"行政问责"制度,对于酿成错案的有关人员给予严厉制裁,加大对司法腐败的惩治力度。     

指进现象模拟研究的回顾与展望

指进现象广泛存在于油气开采的各种驱替过程中，其关键是水动力学的不稳定性，直接研究的难度大，常采用间接模拟的方法进行研究。回顾了油气开采及相关领域指进现象物理模拟和数学模拟的研究现状；重点介绍了元胞自动机及光滑质点流体动力学方法在指进数值模拟中的应用情况，并针对指进模拟研究中存在的不足，从物理模型性能改进、数学模型的无网格求解、复杂指进现象的元胞自动机模拟三个方面论述了指进现象模拟研究的发展趋势。     

Erfassung von Synergieeffekten von Projekten des Public Social Private Partnership (PSPP)

In this article performance measurements and synergy effects of Public Social Private Partnerships are estimated. After an overview on the literature on different definitions, subject and efficiency of Public Private Partnerships and especially of Public Social Private Partnerships, a methodical approach for measuring performance and synergies is developed. This approach is based on the concept of the Cobb/Douglas production function and it can be interpreted as the standardized Nash solution of cooperative games. The micro theoretical approach is analyzed with regard to its assumptions, implications and consequences and subsequently applied to the PSPP project initiated by the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The empirical analysis is based on a survey among the cooperation partners of the project Anschub.de, in which data on the resources and budgetary contributions of the cooperation partners were collected. By means of the budgetary contributions relative performance measurements and synergy effects respectively can be investigated for the partners.     

浊积岩的成因识别及沉积模式探讨

由于辽河盆地东部凹陷深水浊积岩油藏勘探程度较低，应用粒度判别函数及成因图解两种方法分析该套砂岩的沉积类型。应用粒度分析数据，依据设定的判别函数可以对沉积碎屑岩做出初步的沉积环境鉴别，而成因图解方法分析可以反映碎屑岩沉积过程中能量以及流动性的变化规律，二者结合则能较为准确地判断沉积碎屑岩的沉积环境。应用此方法判定了欧利坨子沙三中段厚层砂砾岩沉积为浊流沉积产物，并在此基础上探讨了该套砂岩的沉积模式。