Analytical results for IGFR and DRPFR distributions,with actuarial applications

An increasing generalized failure rate of a lifetime X defines an ageing concept, denoted by IGFR. Another notion, denoted by DRPFR, is defined by the decreasingness of the reversed proportional failure rate. In this article, we provide characterizations for both IGFR and DRPFR absolutely continuous lifetimes, based on monotonicity of quotients of probabilistic functionals and a result by Nanda and Shaked (2001 Nanda, A.K., Shaked, M. (2001). The hazard rate and the reversed hazard rate orders, with applications to order statistics. Ann. Inst. Stat. Math. 53:853–864.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We derive the necessary conditions for the IGFR notion, based on stochastic orderings of truncated distributions, and we prove that the product of DRPFR lifetimes is also DRPFR; that the IGFR property is preserved by composition with certain risk aversion utility functions; and that the order statistics and the records (and the subsequent order statistic (record)) are IGFR under suitable assumptions, with similar results for DRPFR lifetimes. Also, we provide sufficient conditions for the hazard rate ordering of products and random products of IGFR lifetimes, and similar results for the reversed hazard rate order and DRPFR lifetimes, with a complementary result for the mean residual life order of random products of two families of IGFR lifetimes, we derive the upper and lower bounds for the cumulative distribution function of the product of IGFR lifetimes, and we provide the lower bounds for the risk function of an IGFR lifetime based on the distribution moments, and these bounds are extended for the product of IGFR lifetimes. We discuss extensively the applications of the results in insurance portfolios.     

Privatising Foster Care: The UK Experience within an International Context

Foster placements for children in care in the UK are being increasingly provided by non‐governmental organizations. However, although local authorities are purchasing almost one third of their required placements from these external agencies, the UK has not yet followed the examples of other English speaking countries. In parts of the USA and Australia all fostering and other child welfare services have been wholly outsourced or transferred from the public to private and non‐profit organizations. A number of these initiatives have been independently evaluated and some of their findings resonate with what seems to be happening in the UK. This article explores these but also other factors which appear to distinguish the policy and practice of foster care in the UK from those of the USA and Australia. Using theory related to the privatization of welfare and relevant domestic and international research, the article examines the development of external commissioning of foster care in Britain. In the light of changing law, ideology and policy, the article concludes by speculating on how the future of fostering and wider child welfare provision in the UK may look, at a time of political change and economic austerity.     

Implementing legislative strengthening programmes: Who is in control?

Over the last few decades, international development (also known as Official Development Assistance (ODA)) has been under attack for its lack of effectiveness. Critiques reflect two conceptual challenges, the nature of expert knowledge and the centrality of local ownership of development initiatives, bounded by the practical constraint of how politically controlled resources from bilateral and international donors will be used. This article examines five implementation strategies, including their strengths and weaknesses, keyed to the level of control asserted by the donor agency. We illustrate our argument through a review of legislative strengthening projects, most of which were funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) in the case of one of the models.     

The role of networks in early internationalizing firms: A systematic review and future research agenda

Despite considerable research, the international entrepreneurship (IE) literature lacks systematic knowledge of how early internationalizers use networks to overcome their resource deficits in different phases of internationalization. Further, a systematic guide for future research to expand the current knowledge of early internationalizers' network dynamics throughout their internationalization process is missing to date. To fill these voids, the present paper conducts a systematic review of sixty-one journal articles on the role of networks in the cross-border expansion of early internationalizing companies. We contribute to existing research by taking stock of the current state of knowledge regarding the role of networks in early internationalizing firms in different faces of internationalization. We also use the findings obtained from our review as a platform to systematically identify opportunities for future research regarding early internationalizers’ network dynamics throughout the internationalization process.     

Selected singular-generalized-hyperbolic distributions with applications to order statistics and reliability

In this paper, the truncated version of the selected multivariate generalized-hyperbolic distributions is introduced. Considering special truncations, the joint distribution of the consecutive order statistics from the multivariate generalized-hyperbolic (GH) distribution is derived. It is shown that this joint distribution can be expressed as mixtures of the truncated selected-GH distributions. All of these truncated distributions are expressed as the selected singular-GH distributions. These results are used to obtain some expressions for the reliability measures such as mean residual life time, mean inactivity time and regression mean residual life for k-out-of-n systems.     

A Note on Fisher Information and Imperfect Ranked-Set Sampling

We show by example that the Fisher information in an imperfect ranked-set sample may be higher than the Fisher information in a perfect ranked-set sample. This corrects certain misconceptions in the literature. The example also provides an additional counterexample to a common claim about the relationship between imperfect rankings and perfect rankings.     

Teachers' Representations on Adoptive Families and Educational Practices: New Challenges in Teachers' Preparation

In Italy, as in Europe, the number of internationally adopted school-aged children is increasing. The school is the first place where they can meet their new context, enabling good achievement of the whole integration and adoption processes. The research uses a qualitative method to explore the representations and the strategies that guide the educational work of 268 teachers of eight primary schools in relation to the adoptive family. ATLAS.ti 7.0 software was used. The results show an ambivalent representation of the adoptive family, which is reflected in the contents and strategy used by teachers to address issues of adoption.     

Who wins from an FTA induced revival of world trade?

The last decade has been characterized by a slowdown in globalization, referred to by some as "slowbalisation" and “deglobalization”. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced this impression. To overcome the deadlock in the Doha round negotiations at WTO the major players in world trade are negotiating or have already implemented several free trade agreements (FTAs) as a second-best solution. We analyze within a common framework nine mega FTAs, some of them are already in effect, others will be enacted soon. Overall, not the big players in world trade, the EU and the United States win by a simultaneous implementation of the nine FTAs. Japan would be the winner because it participates in four combinations (overlaps) of FTAs: EU-Japan, USA-Japan, CPTPP and RCEP. The United States hardly gain from further globalization. Similarly, the EU27 cannot profit much from further globalization.     

走向世界的汉语所面临的若干战略问题思考

汉语国际传播在全球的快速发展过程中呈现出的一系列问题,需要我们对其做出宏观的我战略思考。对外汉语教学研究,应在以往语言内部研究的基础上走向语言外部,进行社会语言学研究,从战略高度,重新审视当下快速发展的汉语国际传播事业。