Another look at Huber's estimator: A new minimax estimator in regression with stochastically bounded noise

Huber's estimator has had a long lasting impact, particularly on robust statistics. It is well known that under certain conditions, Huber's estimator is asymptotically minimax. A moderate generalization in rederiving Huber's estimator shows that Huber's estimator is not the only choice. We develop an alternative asymptotic minimax estimator and name it regression with stochastically bounded noise (RSBN). Simulations demonstrate that RSBN is slightly better in performance, although it is unclear how to justify such an improvement theoretically. We propose two numerical solutions: an iterative numerical solution, which is extremely easy to implement and is based on the proximal point method; and a solution by applying state-of-the-art nonlinear optimization software packages, e.g., SNOPT. Contribution: the generalization of the variational approach is interesting and should be useful in deriving other asymptotic minimax estimators in other problems.     

中国证券业总产出和增加值测算研究

 金融机构总产出和增加值的测算是一项基础性的研究工作。与传统测算方法不同,本文借鉴经济合作和发展组织（OECD）提出的使用者成本法,把证券业视为生产性服务活动,并结合我国的实际情况,从服务的角度初步提出了我国证券业总产出和增加值的测算框架。并提出了未来研究改进的方向。     

Cumulative correspondence analysis of ordered categorical data from industrial experiments

Most studies of quality improvement deal with ordered categorical data from industrial experiments. Accounting for the ordering of such data plays an important role in effectively determining the optimal factor level of combination. This paper utilizes the correspondence analysis to develop a procedure to improve the ordered categorical response in a multifactor state system based on Taguchi's statistic. Users may find the proposed procedure in this paper to be attractive because we suggest a simple and also popular statistical tool for graphically identifying the really important factors and determining the levels to improve process quality. A case study for optimizing the polysilicon deposition process in a very large-scale integrated circuit is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed procedure.     

The additive hazards model with high-dimensional regressors

This paper considers estimation and prediction in the Aalen additive hazards model in the case where the covariate vector is high-dimensional such as gene expression measurements. Some form of dimension reduction of the covariate space is needed to obtain useful statistical analyses. We study the partial least squares regression method. It turns out that it is naturally adapted to this setting via the so-called Krylov sequence. The resulting PLS estimator is shown to be consistent provided that the number of terms included is taken to be equal to the number of relevant components in the regression model. A standard PLS algorithm can also be constructed, but it turns out that the resulting predictor can only be related to the original covariates via time-dependent coefficients. The methods are applied to a breast cancer data set with gene expression recordings and to the well known primary biliary cirrhosis clinical data.     

基于学生的自学能力与社会需求的教育创新探讨

我国教育一直采取教师讲解灌输的方式,学生复制性接受学习,职业素质和工作能力不强,与就业生活和社会进步要求存在差距。充分考虑学生自学能力与社会需求,转变传统教育认识与树立新的职业教育观。进行研究与实践性教学,培养造就企事业等社会需要的高标准从业人才。     

Is ethnic prejudice declining in Britain? Change in social distance attitudes among ethnic majority and minority Britons

Most literature on racial prejudice deals with the racial attitudes of the ethnic majority and ethnic minorities separately. This paper breaks this tradition. We examine the social distance attitudes of white and non‐white British residents to test if these attitudes follow the same trends over time, whether they are driven by the same social processes and whether they are inter‐related. We have three main findings. Firstly, social distance from other ethnic groups has declined over time for both white and ethnic minority Britons. For the white majority there are both period and cohort elements to this decline. Secondly, we see some evidence that social distance between the majority and minority groups is reciprocal. Specifically, minorities who experience rejection by the white British feel a greater sense of distance from them. Thirdly, we find that all groups share the perception of the same ethnic hierarchy. We see evidence of particularly widespread hostility towards Muslim Britons from all ethnic groups suggesting that Muslims are singled out for negative attention from many British residents of all other backgrounds, including a large number who do not express hostility to other groups.     

Are all jobs created equal? A cross-national analysis of women's employment and child malnutrition in developing countries

Using multi-level models, the analysis examines female employment and child stunting across 49 developing countries. At the country level, female labor force participation is not associated with malnutrition after controlling for economic development. At the individual level, a binary measure of employment is not significantly associated with malnutrition. However, a more nuanced measure of seven occupational categories shows that certain types of employment improve malnutrition. Professional, clerical, sales, and domestic jobs are associated with reduced stunting. These effects are only partially mediated by wealth, perhaps suggesting that some jobs may bring benefits to the household beyond the sheer acquisition of tangible resources. Agricultural jobs are associated with increased malnutrition. Manual labor and service work do not have an effect on malnutrition, compared to unemployment. Thus, women's employment is not necessarily a mechanism for empowerment and wellbeing. Not all jobs are created equal, and many of them do not confer the benefits that are typically associated with working outside the home.     

Beyond Petliura: the Ukrainian national movement and the 1919 pogroms

On the basis of largely unused archival materials in Kyiv, this article re-examines the responsibility of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UNR) for the pogroms of 1919. It consciously puts aside the question of Symon Petliura’s personal guilt, preferring to concentrate on the broader responsibility of members of the Ukrainian national movement for propagating antisemitic stereotypes and engaging in anti-Jewish violence. This approach reveals a widely held belief among members of the UNR that they were fighting a Jewish Bolshevik enemy. This led to pogroms but also probably prevented the UNR from punishing its soldiers who had perpetrated them. Despite the declarations by UNR figures condemning pogroms and the creation of an organ to investigate them, there were apparently very few, if any, convictions, at least in 1919, the year of the worst pogroms.     

Women’s Movements in Portugal and Spain: Democratic Processes and Policy Outcomes

Portugal and Spain underwent dramatic transformations between 1974 and the early 1980s, transitioning from dictatorships to democracies. In this article I explore why Portugal was faster than Spain in adopting key gender-rights policies (e.g., divorce, equal pay, state feminism) during the period in question. Bridging insights from the democratization, social movement, and women’s studies literatures, I argue that Portugal’s accelerated policy path on women’s rights can be explained by three complex factors: (1) the nature of the revolutionary transition, which structured options for women’s movements and for institutional actors; (2) the configuration of movement-party alliances; and (3) supranational pressures to reorganize the state-civil society relationship. The study contributes to the engendering of democratization processes in Iberia by paying close attention to the interconnected agency of women’s movements with other political actors at a time of regime transformation.     

Sexuality in Older Adults (65+)—An Overview of the Literature,Part 1: Sexual Function and its Difficulties

Objectives: The aim of the current article was to provide an overview of literature on sexual function and sexual difficulties in older adults. Method: The authors conducted a narrative review of papers published in English between January 2005 and July 2015 based on an extensive search in PsycINFO. Results: The review showed that although common biological changes may adversely affect sexual function in old age, sexual experience seems to also be affected by psychological and interpersonal factors. Conclusions: Greater life expectancy and better medical care will result in older individuals with chronic diseases living longer. The need for help to cope with changes in sexual health is likely to increase in older adults, as sexuality may be negatively affected through several pathways.