论财务报告的发展趋势

文章分析了财务报告环境发生的重大变化,并从理论与实践的角度论述了财务报告内容、模式和信息披露等几个方面的基本发展趋势.     

Tests for homogeneity of risk differences in stratified design with correlated bilateral data

ABSTRACT

Correlated bilateral data arise from stratified studies involving paired body organs in a subject. When it is desirable to conduct inference on the scale of risk difference, one needs first to assess the assumption of homogeneity in risk differences across strata. For testing homogeneity of risk differences, we herein propose eight methods derived respectively from weighted-least-squares (WLS), the Mantel-Haenszel (MH) estimator, the WLS method in combination with inverse hyperbolic tangent transformation, and the test statistics based on their log-transformation, the modified Score test statistic and Likelihood ratio test statistic. Simulation results showed that four of the tests perform well in general, with the tests based on the WLS method and inverse hyperbolic tangent transformation always performing satisfactorily even under small sample size designs. The methods are illustrated with a dataset.     

Romanian social workers facing the challenges of neo-liberalism

ABSTRACT

With a history of almost 90 years, professional social work in Romania once flourished up until World War II. The Communist Party disbanded the profession in 1968 and it was reinstated after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Within the context of the socio-economic transition from a centralised to a free-market economy, Romanian social policy and social work have evolved from a Marxist/socialist-type ideology, one that advocates for state intervention, to a libertarian/neo-liberal-type ideology, which promotes both state withdrawal from welfare provision and individuals taking responsibility for their own welfare. These two trends continue to co-exist subject to sometimes divergent forces such as international institutions and internal Romanian social pressures. Using a qualitative approach, we explore how Romanian social workers are adapting to the neo-liberal realities and identify three types of perceived challenges: 1. those related to regulation, 2. linked with collaboration in social work activity and 3. those related to the social worker-client relationship. Under neo-liberal pressures, the social worker's role of agent of social change becomes marginalised in daily practice, leaving little power to influence agency policies that negatively impact clients.     

A moment-based empirical likelihood ratio test for exponentiality using the probability integral transformation

ABSTRACT

A simple and efficient goodness-of-fit test for exponentiality is developed by exploiting the characterization of the exponential distribution using the probability integral transformation. We adopted the empirical likelihood methodology in constructing the test statistic. The proposed test statistic has a chi-square limiting distribution. For small to moderate sample sizes Monte-Carlo simulations revealed that our proposed tests are much more superior under increasing failure rate (IFR) and bathtub decreasing-increasing failure rate (BFR) alternatives. Real data examples were used to demonstrate the robustness and applicability of our proposed tests in practice.     

Bias-corrected confidence bands in nonparametric regression

Bias-corrected confidence bands for general nonparametric regression models are considered. We use local polynomial fitting to construct the confidence bands and combine the cross-validation method and the plug-in method to select the bandwidths. Related asymptotic results are obtained. Our simulations show that confidence bands constructed by local polynomial fitting have much better coverage than those constructed by using the Nadaraya–Watson estimator. The results are also applicable to nonparametric autoregressive time series models.     

A Comparison of Methods for Estimating the Benchmark Dose Based on Overdispersed Data from Developmental Toxicity Studies

Developmental anomalies resulting from prenatal toxicity can be manifested in terms of both malformations among surviving offspring and prenatal death. Although these two endpoints have traditionally been analyzed separately in the assessment of risk, multivariate methods of risk characterization have recently been proposed. We examined this and other issues in developmental toxicity risk assessment by evaluating the accuracy and precision of estimates of the effective dose ( ED ₀₅) and the benchmark dose ( BMD ₀₅) using computer simulation. Our results indicated that different variance structures (Dirichlet-trinomial and generalized linear model) used to characterize overdispersion yielded comparable results when fitting joint dose response models based on generalized estimating equations. (The choice of variance structure in separate modeling was also not critical.) However, using the Rao-Scott transformation to eliminate overdispersion tended to produce estimates of the ED ₀₅ with reduced bias and mean squared error. Because joint modeling ensures that the ED ₀₅ for overall toxicity (based on both malformations and prenatal death) is always less than the ED ₀₅ for either malformations or prenatal death, joint modeling is preferred to separate modeling for risk assessment purposes.     

Type of Health Facility and Utilization of Antenatal Care Services Among Ghanaian Women

This study examined if differences exist in the number and timing of antenatal care (ANC) visits for users of public and private health care facilities in Ghana. Also, the study explored if such variations could be attributed to health-provider factors or the selective socioeconomic characteristics of the users. Data were drawn from the recently collected Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and from a representative sample of t 2135 women who attended antenatal care in a health facility 6 months preceding the survey. Random-effects Poisson and logit models were employed for analysis. Results showed statistically significant differences between users of private and public health facilities for number of ANC visits, but not for the timing of such visits. Although some health-provider factors were significantly associated with ANC visits, these factors did not explain why users of private health facilities had significantly higher number of ANC visits than users of public health facilities. Differences in ANC visits for both private and public health facilities were rather explained by the selective socioeconomic characteristics of the users, especially as wealthy and educated women patronized private health care than poorer and uneducated women. The study concludes that Ghanaian women attending private health facilities may not have improved access to antenatal care compared to those attending public health facilities, and adds to the emerging body of literature that questions private health care in sub-Saharan Africa as more effective than public health care.     

The joint paediatric–forensic examination in child abuse

The investigation of alleged child abuse should be multi-professional and coordinated to minimize distress to the child and family. Much attention has focused on the joint interview process, with less prominence being given to the medical component of the initial investigation. No standard practice exists in the United Kingdom regarding the conduct of the medical examination or in the training requirements of the doctors who perform the examination. We present a model of practice which has evolved in Edinburgh and the Lothians, drawing on the combined expertise and experience of paediatricians and police surgeons, which has operated for over 2 years; and propose a formal accreditation process for doctors who wish to specialize in the field of child abuse. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

社会工作质性评估研究的回顾(1990-2003)对中国社会工作的启示

在社会科学的历史中,定量和定性研究的争论持续了差不多半个世纪。随着研究者对实证主义的质疑,质性研究的数目逐渐增加。根据布瑞曼(Bryman,1988)的看法,质性研究有以下特点:(1)透过被访者的眼睛看世界;(2)描述日常生活情境的细节;(3)了解在不同社会范畴的背景中的行为及意义;(4)强调过程;(5)倾向采用文字及结构灵活的研究设计;(6)尽量避免在研究初期确立理论和观念。邓泽和林肯(Denzin & Lincoln,1998)也指出,质性研究有以下元素:(1)采用多元的研究手法;(2)涉及自然和诠译的角度;(3)在自然的情况下作出研究;(4)尝试理解和分析不同现象的…