A new characterization of the jump rate for piecewise-deterministic Markov processes with discrete transitions

Piecewise-deterministic Markov processes form a general class of non diffusion stochastic models that involve both deterministic trajectories and random jumps at random times. In this paper, we state a new characterization of the jump rate of such a process with discrete transitions. We deduce from this result a non parametric technique for estimating this feature of interest. We state the uniform convergence in probability of the estimator. The methodology is illustrated on a numerical example.     

Understanding Settlement Pathways of African Immigrants in France Through a Capability Approach: Do Pre-migratory Characteristics Matter?

With the increase in asylum-related immigration since 2015, understanding how immigrants settle in a new country is at the centre of social and political debate in European countries. The objective of this study is to determine whether the necessary time to settle for Sub-Saharan Africa immigrants in France depends more on pre-migratory characteristics or on the structural features of the host society. Taking a capability approach, we define settlement as the acquisition of three basic resources: a personal dwelling, a legal permit of a least 1 year and paid work. We use data from the PARCOURS survey, a life-event history survey conducted from 2012 to 2013 that collected 513 life histories of Sub-Saharan African immigrants living in France. Situations regarding housing, legal status and activity were documented year by year since the arrival of the respondent. We use a Kaplan–Meier analysis and chronograms to describe the time needed for settlement, first for each resource (personal dwelling, legal permit and paid work) and then for the combined indicator of settlement. Discrete-time logistic regressions are used to model the determinants of this settlement process. Overall, women and men require 6 and 7 years (medians), respectively, to acquire basic resources in France. This represents a strikingly long period of time in which immigrants lack basic security. The settlement process varies according to gender, but very few sociodemographic factors influence settlement dynamics. Therefore, the length of the settlement process may be due to structural features of the host society.     

Ethical Considerations in Adoption Research: Navigating Confidentiality and Privacy Across the Adoption Kinship Network

Abstract

Adoption research often includes multiple members of the adoption network, each of whom has distinctive perspectives. Participants may include adopted individuals and their siblings as well as adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoption professionals. Due to these multiple informants and the sensitivity of the topics explored in adoption research, researchers encounter several unique ethical concerns when working with populations impacted by adoption. The current article addresses confidentiality and privacy issues that arise when conducting adoption research. Examples from a longitudinal study on openness in adoption are provided to highlight strategies that can be used to address these issues.     

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。     

Are Liberal Studies teachers ready to prepare human rights respecting students? A portrait of teachers’ attitudes towards human rights

As in most countries, human rights education (HRE) in Hong Kong has never been high on the educational agenda. In 2009, a compulsory subject, Liberal Studies (LS), which could be used as a platform for HRE, was introduced. The Hong Kong Institute of Education launched a research and development project which, as one of its objectives, studied LS teachers’ attitudes towards human rights and Rule of Law. This article first provides a brief overview of HRE. Then, the potential of HRE in LS will be discussed, followed by an introduction of the research project. Subsequently, the research design and findings will be presented. The findings reveal that there is a large gap between teachers’ understandings of human rights and international human rights standards. Since LS teachers’ attitudes are crucial for effective HRE, the findings are quite striking. The paper ends with recommendations for further research, policy formulations, and teacher preparation.     

Orthogonal polynomials,repeated measures,and SPSS

We discuss the construction of discrete orthonormal polynomials, using MAPLE procedures. We also study two important applications of these polynomials in statistics: in multiple linear regression and in repeated measures analysis. In particular, it is argued that the tests given by SPSS for linear and other trends in a within-subject factor are inefficient. Examples are given, including two (from psychology and medicine, respectively) which involve repeated measures and SPSS. Extensive tables of discrete orthornormal polynomials are given in the Appendix.     

Is a powerful rival a right partner?

This paper explores why powerless firms are faced with the dilemma of whether or not to collaborate with other powerful firms. Two natures of power, competitive and cooperative natures, are compared to study such an imbalance between firms in market power and social power. Testing the syndicated underwritings in the U.S. from 1998 to 2009, we find that egos of low market power are less likely to partner with alters of high market power. In contrast, egos of low social power are more likely to collaborate with alters of high social power. Moreover, the results show that collaborations with powerful partners are not necessarily beneficial or detrimental for the performance of powerless focal firms; only when the high power partners possess a high network constraint which constrains opportunism and facilitates trust, do collaborations with such partners help the performance of powerless focal firms.