Statistics for weighing benefits and harms in a proposed genetic substudy of a randomized cancer prevention trial

Summary.  When evaluating potential interventions for cancer prevention, it is necessary to compare benefits and harms. With new study designs, new statistical approaches may be needed to facilitate this comparison. A case in point arose in a proposed genetic substudy of a randomized trial of tamoxifen versus placebo in asymptomatic women who were at high risk for breast cancer. Although the randomized trial showed that tamoxifen substantially reduced the risk of breast cancer, the harms from tamoxifen were serious and some were life threaten-ing. In hopes of finding a subset of women with inherited risk genes who derive greater bene-fits from tamoxifen, we proposed a nested case–control study to test some trial subjects for various genes and new statistical methods to extrapolate benefits and harms to the general population. An important design question is whether or not the study should target common low penetrance genes. Our calculations show that useful results are only likely with rare high penetrance genes.     

税收征管效率综合评价指标体系研究

税收征管效率是评价税务机关工作效果的主要指标,而评价指标体系的确定是科学评价税收征管效率的基础和重点。本文分析了税收征管效率的内涵及外延,通过实证建立了税收征管效率的综合评价指标体系。     

商业银行发展中间业务的思考

中间业务以其风险小、收益高的优点受到各国银行的青睐,尤其是在发达国家,已成为发达国家建设银行收入和利润的主要来源。建设银行大力推进和发展中间业务商业银行加快体制改革步伐、增强国际竞争力尤为重要。现针对商业银行发展中间业务的必要性及发展现状和发展前景等方面进行初步探讨。对于国内外先进银行经验加快发展商业银行中间业务的步伐,加快建设银行战略转型、改变业务发展方式,向现代化经营模式的转变。     

A theoretical basis for perturbation methods

In this paper we discuss a new theoretical basis for perturbation methods. In developing this new theoretical basis, we define the ideal measures of data utility and disclosure risk. Maximum data utility is achieved when the statistical characteristics of the perturbed data are the same as that of the original data. Disclosure risk is minimized if providing users with microdata access does not result in any additional information. We show that when the perturbed values of the confidential variables are generated as independent realizations from the distribution of the confidential variables conditioned on the non-confidential variables, they satisfy the data utility and disclosure risk requirements. We also discuss the relationship between the theoretical basis and some commonly used methods for generating perturbed values of confidential numerical variables.     

论消费者的知觉风险及营销对策

消费者产生知觉风险的原因众多。我们可根据消费者收集信息的不同程度和消费者收集信息的性质而采取不同的营销策略来减低消费者的知觉风险,加快消费者的购买决策。     

国际转移定价及其税务规制研究

我国加入WTO后,跨国公司大举进军中国市场,国际转移定价滥用问题日益突出。我国应该采取措施,强化转移定价滥用行为监督管理意识,完善转移定价税制,建立和健全审计制度,改善监管手段,同时加强国际合作,加大对转移定价滥用行为的监管和惩处力度。     

论信用证交易风险

信用证交易被视为国际商业的生命线。它牵涉到复杂的法律关系。受益方如何在交易中做到单证相符,规避欺诈及其它风险,是问题的关键。     

An Existential Approach to Risk Perception

Existential, or existential-phenomenological philosophical approaches to the social psychology of risk perception provide a novel framework for understanding issues that are common to all humanity, such as fear of death, freedom and responsibility, isolation and meaninglessness, as these anxieties are a function of existing, or being-in-the-world. These fundamental anxieties can be related theoretically to the ways people perceive risks within social and cultural milieus, and can also be used practically within case studies, as demonstrated in the three examples presented, which examine perceptions of climate change, food-related risks, and environmental awareness via a mixture of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The discussion focuses on the possible insights that can be gained from taking an existential perspective on risk perception, and relates notions of contemporary technologically-oriented societies to the existential challenges faced by individuals and societies in the contemporary world.     

Scheduling Updates of Probabilistic Risk Assessments: The Arkansas Nuclear One-Unit 1 Experience

This paper presents the results of a study that identified how often a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA)should be updated to accommodate the changes that take place at nuclear power plants. Based on a 7-year analysis of design and procedural changes at one plant, we consider 5 years to be the maximum interval for updating PRAs. This conclusion is preliminary because it is based on the review of changes that occurred at a single plant, and it addresses only PRAs that involve a Level 1 analysis (i.e., a PRA including calculation of core damage frequency only). Nevertheless, this conclusion indicates that maintaining a useful PRA requires periodic updating efforts. However, the need for this periodic update stems only partly from the number of changes that can be expected to take place at nuclear power plants–changes that individually have only a moderate to minor impact on the PRA, but whose combined impact is substantial and necessitates a PRA update. Additionally, a comparison of two generations of PRAs performed about 5 years apart indicates that PRAs must be periodically updated to reflect the evolution of PRA methods. The most desirable updating interval depends on these two technical considerations as well as the cost of updating the PRA. (Cost considerations, however, were beyond the scope of this study.)     

Potential exposures and risks from beryllium-containing products.

Beryllium is the strongest of the lightweight metals. Used primarily in military applications prior to the end of the Cold War, beryllium is finding new applications in many commercial products, including computers, telecommunication equipment, and consumer and automotive electronics. The use of beryllium in nondefense consumer applications is of concern because beryllium is toxic. Inhalation of beryllium dust or vapor causes a chronic lung disease in some individuals at concentrations as low as 0.01 microg/m3 in air. As beryllium enters wider commerce, it is prudent to ask what risks this might present to the general public and to workers downstream of the beryllium materials industry. We address this question by evaluating the potential for beryllium exposure from the manufacturing, use, recycle, and disposal of beryllium-containing products. Combining a market study with a qualitative exposure analysis, we determine which beryllium applications and life cycle phases have the largest exposure potential. Our analysis suggests that use and maintenance of the most common types of beryllium-containing products do not result in any obvious exposures of concern, and that maintenance activities result in greater exposures than product use. Product disposal has potential to present significant individual risks, but uncertainties concerning current and future routes of product disposal make it difficult to be definitive. Overall, additional exposure and dose-response data are needed to evaluate both the health significance of many exposure scenarios, and the adequacy of existing regulations to protect workers and the public. Although public exposures to beryllium and public awareness and concern regarding beryllium risks are currently low, beryllium risks have psychometric qualities that may lead to rapidly heightened public concern.