Two-Sample Statistics for Testing the Equality of Survival Functions Against Improper Semi-parametric Accelerated Failure Time Alternatives: An Application to the Analysis of a Breast Cancer Clinical Trial

This paper presents two-sample statistics suited for testing equality of survival functions against improper semi-parametric accelerated failure time alternatives. These tests are designed for comparing either the short- or the long-term effect of a prognostic factor, or both. These statistics are obtained as partial likelihood score statistics from a time-dependent Cox model. As a consequence, the proposed tests can be very easily implemented using widely available software. A breast cancer clinical trial is presented as an example to demonstrate the utility of the proposed tests.     

Extending an order to the power set: The Leximax Criterion

This work analyzes the issue of ranking the levels of well-being enjoyed by an agent when dealing with her opportunity set in a freedom of choice context. We try to propose a natural extension of a preference relation over a (possibly) infinite set X to its power set, compatible with the finite Leximax criterion. This research has been supported by Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología, SEC2000-0838 (Ballester), and Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior e Investigación Científica, PB98-0551 (De Miguel).     

在当代问题中重温马克思的哲学革命

马克思学说的当代性取决于它是否切入了我们的时代问题所在的核心 ,并对此核心有它自己的深刻洞见。对这一点进行辨析 ,要求我们重温马克思的哲学革命。“哲学革命”有两种可能的性质 ,一是用某种新的体系构造排除了既往哲学争辩的基本难题 (如康德 ) ,从而为哲学理论的继续发展赢得新的天地 ;一是从根本上反省哲学本身的传统 ,以此重新规定思想的任务 ,以回答人类在其历史进程中所遭遇的根本挑战。本文通过对马克思的异化概念、实践概念和“历史科学”概念的扼要讨论 ,指认马克思的哲学革命属于后一种性质 ,并兼而论及马克思学说对当代中国文化和哲学思想之出路的启示意义。     

试谈新世纪高校的地位与历史使命

"三个代表"重要思想为新世纪高等学校的发展指明了方向.提高学生综合素质,提高科研水平,实践"代表中国先进生产力发展要求";发展社会主义文化事业加强思想道德建设,实践"代表中国先进文化前进的方向";挖掘办学潜力,深化改革,实践"代表中国最广大人民的根本利益"."三个代表"重要思想在高等学校的各项工作之中都具有指导意义.     

Projected polynomial autoregression for prediction of stationary time series

Polynomial autoregressions are usually considered to be unrealistic models for time series. However, this paper shows that they can successfully be used when the purpose of the time series study is to provide forecasts. A projection scheme inspired from projection pursuit regression and feedforward artificial neural networks is used in order to avoid an explosion of the number of parameters when considering a large number of lags. The estimation of the parameters of the projected polynomial autoregressions is a non-linear least-squares problem. A consistency result is proved. A simulation study shows that the naive use of the common final prediction error criterion is inappropriate to identify the best projected polynomial autoregression. An explanation of this phenomenon is given and a correction to the criterion is proposed. An important feature of the polynomial predictors introduced in this paper is their simple implementation, which allows for automatic use. This is illustrated with real data for the three-month US Treasury Bill.     

Constructing the New Economy: A Discursive Perspective

The rise and fall of the 'New Economy' at the turn of the millennium, most visibly evidenced by the stellar rise and subsequent collapse of the Nasdaq composite index of technology stocks, represents one of the most significant business phenomena in recent times. This paper examines the 'New Economy' phenomenon as a culturally embedded discourse through an analysis of 133 print advertisements collected from the UK edition of the Financial Times between February and December 2000. It investigates the social construction of the concept 'New Economy' in a rapidly changing business environment. The contribution of the paper lies in the empirical study of discursive phenomena in late capitalist societies. From a discursive perspective, the 'New Economy' can be seen as a signifier that points to itself, whose form is its very content. The paper suggests the 'New Economy' must be understood in terms of its ability to accommodate multiple meanings, and it is this very ability which is profoundly ideological, in that it allows essentially socio-historical obsessions and anxieties (e.g. about novelty and change) to appear as seemingly 'natural' or logical behaviour.     

Sexually transmitted diseases and migration

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are communicable diseases transferred mainly through sexual contact. With more than 20 pathogens known to be spread by sexual contact, STDs are the most common notifiable infectious diseases in most countries. Despite some fluctuation in their incidence, STDs continue to occur at unacceptably high levels. For most notifiable STDs, the highest rates of incidence are found in 20-24 years olds, followed by people aged 25-29 and 15-19. Among sexually active teenagers, the highest incidence of STD infection is among the youngest teens. For most STDs, the overall morbidity rate is higher for men than for women. STD control programs need to be designed and implemented with the understanding that migration has always been linked with STD. Sexual preference, marital status, socioeconomic status, place of residence, prostitution, migration, principal STDs, populations at risk, and prevention and control measures are discussed. Strategies to prevent STD transmission must remain flexible in order to adapt to prevailing conditions, with adequate clinical services being central in controlling STDs.     

Untangling the commonalities and differences between domestic cross-regional experience and international experience in shaping speed of internationalization

Prior studies have paid attention to the influence of domestic experience on internationalization, for which domestic experience primarily refers to the accumulation of internationalization knowledge from industrial peers or partners at home. We argue that the commonalities and differences between international experience and domestic cross-regional experience have not been fully incorporated in previous frameworks in the literature. Thus, in untangling the commonalities, we purposively differentiate domestic experience into two dimensions, i.e., repetition-based experience and diversity-based experience, to investigate the contingent role of making domestic cross-regional investments in shaping the relationship between international experience and the speed of internationalization. We expect that these two dimensions of domestic experience will moderate the relationship between international experience and the speed of internationalization in a different way. More specifically, repetition-based experience has a negative moderating effect while diversity-based experience has a positive moderating effect. Further, considering the differences between international investments and domestic investments, we expect that the joint impacts of international experience and domestic cross-regional experience on internationalization speed are contingent on whether firms have sufficient resources to support multiple learning or whether institutions between the home country and foreign country is similar enough for cross-context application. We expect that financial slack and institutional distance between prior foreign entries' country and the home country play significant three-way moderating roles in setting boundaries for the relationship between domestic experience and international experience. Based on the analysis of 302 Chinese publicly listed firms from 2001 to 2014, the dynamic panel data regression results support our hypotheses. Overall, our simultaneous consideration of commonalities and differences between domestic investments and international investments sheds light on how MNCs learn from both international and domestic investments to speed up their foreign expansions.     

传统文化影响下的组织价值观测量

我国的组织价值观不同于其他国家,中国传统文化对组织价值观有十分重要的影响.本研究旨在发现中国文化背景下,组织价值观的结构(COV).通过探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析,结果显示出中国传统文化影响下的组织价值观为八维度结构,COV问卷的信度和效度也得到了证实.最后,指出了研究局限性和进一步探讨的建议.