Threshold Estimation for Stochastic Processes with Small Noise

Consider a process satisfying a stochastic differential equation with unknown drift parameter, and suppose that discrete observations are given. It is known that a simple least squares estimator (LSE) can be consistent but numerically unstable in the sense of large standard deviations under finite samples when the noise process has jumps. We propose a filter to cut large shocks from data and construct the same LSE from data selected by the filter. The proposed estimator can be asymptotically equivalent to the usual LSE, whose asymptotic distribution strongly depends on the noise process. However, in numerical study, it looked asymptotically normal in an example where filter was chosen suitably, and the noise was a Lévy process. We will try to justify this phenomenon mathematically, under certain restricted assumptions.     

Rank and response: A field experiment on peer information and water use behavior

Perception of peer rank, or how we perform relative to our peers, can be a powerful motivator. While research exists on the effect of social information on decision making, there is less work on how ranked comparisons with our peers influence our behavior. This paper outlines a field experiment conducted with 3896 households in Castro Valley, California, which uses household mailers with various forms of social information and peer rank messaging to motivate water conservation. The experiment tests the effect of a visible peer rank on water use, and how the competitive framing of rank information influences behavioral response. The results show that households with relatively low or high water use in the pre-treatment period responded differently to how rank information was framed. I find that a neutrally-framed peer rank caused a small “boomerang effect” (i.e., an increase in average water use) for low water use households, but this effect was eliminated by competitive framing. At the same time, a competitively-framed peer rank demotivated high water use households, increasing their average water use over the full period of the experiment. This result is supported by evidence that the competitive frame on rank information increased water use for households who ranked “last” in the peer group – a detrimental “last place effect” from competitively-framed rankings.     

Feminism and science in Masters of Sex

This article examines the fictional characterization of the real-life sex researchers and scientists William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson in the Showtime television program Masters of Sex (2013–2016). The historical Johnson had a complicated relationship with second-wave feminism: she disdained the movement and was interested primarily in improving heterosexual marriages and the sex lives of married couples. The Johnson character speaks in a language of postfeminism with minimal interest in collective action and broader social change. However, second-wave feminists later used her and Masters’ research in order to support their own beliefs about sexual autonomy and freedom, within and beyond marriage and heterosexuality. The television program demonstrates Johnson’s importance to both phases of her and Masters’ research—in the first phase, when they are based in a hospital and university environment, and in the second, when they establish their own research institute and raise funds directly from the clients that they serve. Johnson exemplifies postfeminist depictions of ambitious women in prestige television, her aim to have a successful career and marriage conflict, and while she is willing to compromise scientific values to serve her own goals, her male colleagues temper that ambition in service of “objective” science.     

Association between long-term erectile dysfunction and biochemical recurrence after permanent seed I125 implant brachytherapy for prostate cancer. A longitudinal study of a single-institution

We aimed to investigate the predictive factor of erectile dysfunction (ED) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients who underwent low-dose permanent I¹²⁵ seed implant brachytherapy and to investigate if ED could represent a patient’s reported outcome measures (PROMs) of efficacy of BT and indirectly associated with biochemical recurrence free survival (BRFS). From 2000 to 2012, 176 consecutive patients with low-risk PCa underwent BT. ED was evaluated with the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5). Cox regression analysis was performed to assess significant predictors of mild-to-severe ED and BRFS after BT, including covariates. The 10-year actuarial rate of ED was 66%. Subjects with severe ED had higher values of D90 (183.0 versus 177.0; p?p?p?p?=?0.20), while D90?≤?180?Gy independently predicted BCR (HR: 4.65; [95%CI: 1.25–17.34]; p?125 implant, but it is not associated with better BRFS.     

罗默与马克思剥削理论的比较分析

罗默是分析马克思主义学派的主要代表人物。他一方面认为马克思的思想至今依然具有强大的生命力,另一方面又彻底否定马克思剥削理论建立的基石——劳动价值论,并提出一种基于非劳动价值论的剥削理论。通过分析罗默剥削理论和马克思剥削理论在剥削存在的判断依据、剥削的源泉和目的、研究方法科学合理性以及剩余价值特殊表现形式四个方面的异同,指出罗默剥削理论既没有认识到剥削的本质,也没有充足理由驳倒马克思的劳动价值论。     

论亨普尔的科学观

亨普尔的科学观是以逻辑经验主义为其基本立场,以数理逻辑为其科学研究的方法,在此基础上对科学的结构与功能、科学的形成过程及其合理性、进步性的根据进行深入探讨,从而达到进一步改进科学,为科学的发展服务的目的。他的科学观指引他对科学的重要问题进行深入系统逻辑严密的研究,其所有作都是围绕对科学问题的研究展开的。他放宽了经验主义认识观的范围,指出在方法论中对科学目标的解释存在一个从语义的本体论到认识论地相对化的转向,逻辑经验主义认识意义标准具有整体论的倾向;在关于科学合理性问题上他试图融合历史的和逻辑经验主义的观点。     

云南与印度经贸关系的发展及其前景

中国与印度有着数千年的经贸交往史。云南与印度从古至今沿着南方丝绸之路源源不断地把滇印民间贸易延续下来。进入21世纪,中印关系不断改善,尤其是经贸关系不断取得突破性进展。云南与印度的合作也频频出现亮点,经贸关系发展前景看好。     

Gender-specific differences in labor market adjustment patterns: Evidence from the United States

Do men and women behave differently while adjusting labor supply over the business cycle? Using data from the United States, we show that women are significantly more likely to adjust along the intensive margin (number of hours), while men adjust more along the extensive margin (employment). Older, single, and divorced/widowed adjust predominantly along the extensive margin.     

汤普森“文化唯物主义”的理论与范式

作为理论的"文化唯物主义"是汤普森在探索马克思主义英国化过程中,基于自己对斯大林主义的批判反思和历史研究实践,形成的一种主要适用于自由资本主义时代的历史唯物主义学说。作为范式的"文化唯物主义"是奠基在"自下而上"的观察视角、"人民历史"观念和超越资本主义的乌托邦议程这三个支撑点上的,它具有两种基本作用:真实的经验整体的倾听和再创造;大众文化的社会功能的分析与评价。     

"第五媒体时代"的政府公共关系刍议

人类已经进入"第五媒体时代".继报纸、广播、电视、互联网之后的第五媒体抑或是手机媒体.具有媒介粘滞、瞬时精准、病毒式营销等无与伦比的传播特性.第五媒体是柄"双刃剑",它在给政府公共关系带来前所未有的挑战的同时,也带来了前所未有的机遇.利用第五媒体开拓政府公共关系的新视野,是一个政治、社会问题,也是一个技术、法律问题.