A class of weighted dependence measures for bivariate failure time data

This paper considers a class of summary measures of the dependence between a pair of failure time variables over a finite follow-up region. The class consists of measures that are weighted averages of local dependence measures, and includes the cross-ratio-measure and finite region version of Kendall's τ; recently proposed by the authors. Two new special cases are identified that can avoid the need to estimate the bivariate survivor function and that admit explicit variance estimators. Nonparametric estimators of such dependence measures are proposed and are shown to be consistent and asymptotically normal with variances that can be consistently estimated. Properties of selected estimators are evaluated in a simulation study, and the method is illustrated through an analysis of Australian Twin Study data.     

高校创新创业课程教育效果影响因素分析 ——基于受众学生的视角

以高校创新创业课程教育效果为研究对象,构建高校创新创业课程教育效果的评价指标体系,并通过调查问卷和因子分析方法对高校创新创业课程教育效果的主要影响因素进行实证分析.实证结果表明:高校创新创业教育效果的影响因素可以分为三个因子,即创新创业教育受众内因因子、创新创业教育支撑因子和创新创业氛围因子.三个因子对创新创业教育效果...     

Boris Raux,olfactory narcissism,and environmental risk

This article develops the concept of “olfactory narcissism” through an analysis of Boris Raux’s multi-media artworks. Approaching narcissism through the sense of smell, Raux frames the self in insistently material, trans-corporeal terms. His olfactory projects thus explore questions about the porous self and the ethical and environmental stakes of “deodorization” and olfactory self-fashioning. The paper explores how olfactory aesthetics can contribute to a deeper understanding of modernity’s atmospheric practices as well as their implications for subject formation, social relations, and environmental health.     

Joint analysis of longitudinal data and competing terminal events in the presence of dependent observation times with application to chronic kidney disease

In many prospective clinical and biomedical studies, longitudinal biomarkers are repeatedly measured as health indicators to evaluate disease progression when patients are followed up over a period of time. Patient visiting times can be referred to as informative observation times if they are assumed to carry information in addition to that of the longitudinal biomarker measures alone. Irregular visiting times may reflect compliance with physician instruction, disease progression and symptom severity. When the follow-up time may be stopped by competing terminal events, it is possible that patient observation times may correlate with the competing terminal events themselves, thus making the observation times difficult to assess. To explicitly account for the impact of competing terminal events and dependent observation times on the longitudinal data analysis in the context of such complex data, we propose a joint model using latent random effects to describe the association among them. A likelihood-based approach is derived for statistical inference. Extensive simulation studies reveal that the proposed approach performs well for practical situations, and an analysis of patients with chronic kidney disease in a cohort study is presented to illustrate the proposed method.     

中国古代的尚志思想及其现实价值

尚志思想是我国古代优秀传统文化的精髓之一。中国古代崇尚的志包括志向、志气、意志等含义。尚志,就是对人的志向、志气、意志的崇尚和提倡,要求人要有志向、有志气、有意志。这也是中国古代尚志思想的基本意蕴。在新的历史条件下,中国古代的尚志思想对于教育和引导人们特别是青少年树立远大理想,激发恢弘志气,磨砺坚强意志,发扬艰苦奋斗精神,实现人生志向和社会理想,具有重要的现实价值。     

The efficiency of government spending on health: Evidence from Europe and Central Asia

This paper uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate health expenditures to demonstrate how productivity has changed over time for 46 selected countries in Europe and Central Asia. Our results show that countries could have increased output by 1.2% given the existing level of inputs. The patterns of efficiency change for the observed countries are further analyzed using the Malmquist productivity index (MPI). Decreased productivity growth is related to technical change. Finally, we regress efficiency scores on a set of environmental variables using a Tobit model. The positive influence of hospital beds and primary schooling on efficiency scores demonstrates that countries with better medical environments and a greater number of educational years may enjoy increased efficiency. In addition, there exists a regional effect between Europe and Central Asia.     

三种语境下的犯罪概念

犯罪概念的含义在不同的语言环境中会有变化.无论在犯罪学语境,刑法学语境抑或刑诉法语境中,犯罪概念均为该学科的基石性范畴.其理应具有相对稳定的相对明确的基本语义,如果这三个学科之间连犯罪这样的基石范畴的语义边界都不能清晰地加以厘定,这势必会影响到犯罪学、刑法学及刑诉法学的发展.在刑法学语境中罪刑法定原则决定了犯罪的边界,任何一个行为,无论在本质上其具有多大的社会危害,只要没有被立法规定为犯罪,只要不符合刑法中规定的某个罪名的成立要件,此行为就不能称之为刑法上的犯罪.在犯罪学语境中犯罪概念的边界是弹性的,不确定的,此边界是社会危害性划定的.犯罪学与刑法学的犯罪形成外延交叉,在刑诉法学语境中,犯罪概念的语义场是由无罪推定原则确定的,犯罪概念只有在定罪程序完全走完才能成立.     

Pseudo-full likelihood estimation for prospective survival analysis with a general semiparametric shared frailty model: Asymptotic theory

In this work we present a simple estimation procedure for a general frailty model for analysis of prospective correlated failure times. Earlier work showed this method to perform well in a simulation study. Here we provide rigorous large-sample theory for the proposed estimators of both the regression coefficient vector and the dependence parameter, including consistent variance estimators.