On the estimation of a sensitive quantitative mean using blank cards

In this article, we introduce for the first time, the blank card methods for estimation of finite population mean of a sensitive variable. Two generic randomization devices are suggested, and for each device we identify the choices of special models. We introduce additive, multiplicative, and combination of both additive and multiplicative scrambling models that require use of a non sensitive variable. We derive the basic statistical properties of each model. It is interesting to note that various existing estimators can be viewed as the special cases of those presented here. The statistical efficiency of proposed techniques is compared with Greenberg et al. (1971 Greenberg, B.G., Kuebler Jr, R.R., Abernathy, J.R., Horvitz, D.G. (1971). Application of the randomized response technique in obtaining quantitative data. J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 66(334):243–250.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and modified Perri (2008 Perri, P.F. (2008). Modified randomized devices for Simmons’ model. Model Assisted Stat. Appl. 3(3):233–239. [Google Scholar]) model. The proposed devices can easily be adjusted to achieve the required efficiency level by making suitable choices of different design parameters.     

Wang Ming-hui and Blacklist Production: the Third World/Asia turn of Taiwan’s new music production

ABSTRACT

The paper discusses the music group ‘Blacklist Production’ (also known as Blacklist Studio) that was established in the late 1980s when the Martial Law was lifted in Taiwan, and the group’s original works of music. It investigates the music composition and thinking process of Wang Ming-hui, the founder of Blacklist Production, and analyses two albums produced by the music studio, Songs of Madness (1989) and Lullaby (1996), as a way of reconsidering and reflecting the feeling process and limitations of the nativist ideology from 1989 to 1996 that took shape in Taiwan’s society. In addition, the paper also explores Wang’s musical practices through which he has tried to answer the question of ‘how to express thoughts with music’. Through the historical analysis of musical works and interviews with Wang Ming-hui, the paper suggests that ‘Taiwan’s New Music Production’ brought up and practiced by Wang and Blacklist Production is embedded with the possibility for Taiwan’s culture and imagination of modernity to ‘turn’ the referent point to the Third World/Asia.     

From salons to the native reserve: reformulating the “native question” through pictorial photography in 1950s South Africa

The article provides a critical reflection on the practice of photographic salon exhibitions in the 1950s. In South Africa and abroad, there was a resurgence of photographic societies from the early 1950s that encouraged amateur photographers to create images based on a distinct visual grammar, thereby offering them not only an opportunity to display their work but to compete amongst each other. Subsequently, salon exhibitions produced work that would be judged on its pictorial rather than strict representational value thereby depoliticising the exhibition space. On the other hand, this article seeks to place this practice in the realm of racial segregation under apartheid by considering the deployment of the “black subject” in the native rural reserve in Joseph Denfield’s (1911–1967) work. Through a study of his ethnographic photographs which were exhibited internationally in this period as pictorial work, as well as his intellectualisation of his practice as native photography, it argues that the space of the salon allowed him to pose the “native question” pictorially, that is, provided a discourse through which the “native” could be “known” and ordered.     

Governance and Economic Transformation in Taiwan: The Role of Politics

This article analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the developmental‐state approach as compared with a broader and more flexible developmental‐governance approach – in relation to economic transformation in a single case country, Taiwan. It argues that both approaches have strong and weak points, and comes down in favour of the view that it is only through a ‘thick’ study of political forces, processes and circumstances that the reasoning behind developmental policies and institutions can be understood and the processes of economic transformation explained.     

海峡西岸经济区各市经济发展水平评价

通过构建海峡西岸经济区区域经济发展水平评价指标体系,运用因子分析法对海峡西岸经济区20个市经济发展水平进行综合评价及排序,根据综合得分进行样本聚类分析,对区域20个市进行类型划分,并分析了类别特征,提出了提高经济发展水平的对策建议。     

清代移民与台湾食盐贸易制度化

清廷统一台湾后,随着移民的涌入,政府对台湾控制不断加强。清廷以政权的力量在台湾制造了食盐商品的特定市场,使食盐贸易由原先的物物交换转化为专卖形式。政府力图通过食盐专卖收取饷银,解决军饷及财政支出。台湾食盐贸易的制度化,其实是台湾内地化进程的重要表现,政府通过这一过程将台湾纳入有效的管理体系中。     

课堂提问与大学生思辨能力培养

研究采用问卷和访谈形式调查职前英语教师是否有在课堂提问中培养学生思辨能力的意识。调查结果显示:职前教师的提问以理解课文为主要目的;绝大多数问题是不鼓励学生思考的低度认知问题,不利于培养学生的思辨能力。职前教师课堂提问存在着理论与实践的矛盾。他们认为在英语课堂上培养学生思辨能力的最大障碍是考试制度。     

国有企业经营者选拔中的难题及解决思路

民营企业的创业过程与企业家形成过程是统一的,而国有企业往往是先有企业后有经营者的。从理论和实践上看,国有企业经营者选拔中存在诸多难题,它体现在风险承担的不对称、信息缺陷严重、选拔标准在实践中扭曲、经营者身份的准官员化、能力信号显示与专用性知识投资之间的突出矛盾上。如果不能很好地解决这些问题,任何意义上的国有企业改革都不可能取得实效。为此,要通过对国企准确定位,区分不同类型的经营者,政府主动"淡出"选拔过程与相机干预相结合,发挥机构投资者的作用及发展完善的经理市场来加以优化。     

对高校学生欠费问题的思考

针对目前高校学生欠费现象,分析了在高校中,学生学费、宿费在办学经费中的比重及学生欠费问题给高校办学带来的不利影响。指出制度不健全、家庭贫困、就业因素、观望心理等因素是目前高校学生欠费的主要原因。同时提出了解决高校学生欠费问题的对策是:建立健全一体化的收费管理体制;解决国家助学贷款问题;严格执行学生收费管理制度;加强对学生的诚信教育。     

Structural Pluralism and Life Expectancy in Less-Developed Countries: The Role of Women's Status

This study replicates a previous finding forthe U.S. counties that showed a strongassociation, net of controls between``structural pluralism' and lower mortality. ``Structural pluralism' refers to a community'scapacity for political competition, and is acore element of ``democracy.' Pluralism hasthis effect because it facilitates theacquisition of appropriate medical facilitiesand because it tends to optimize the biologicalfunctioning of the residents. Working from amajor component of pluralism, minorityparticipation, this hypothesis is tested byshowing that women's status in less developedcountries improves life expectancy net ofcontrols. A path analysis demonstrates thatthe structural dimensions work through healthorganization as an intervening variable, andthe future testing of biological optimizationis outlined. Location in Africa south of theSahara is a partially unexplained controlvariable that has a powerful negative impact. Interpreting women's status as a component ofpluralism explains why it predicts increasedlife expectancy for all citizens, not justwomen. It is a global dimension that affectsall the members of a community.