Calculable Power: A Case Study of IMF Quotas and Voting Rights Reform*

Voting procedure is an important mechanism for public choice in collective bodies such as international organizations. This paper measures and compares IMF member countries’ voting power before the 2008 reform and after the 2010 reform on the basis of datasets on IMF quotas and voting rights distribution provided by IMF. Our study verifies that IMF’s quotas and voting rights reforms do help to reduce the voting power gap among member countries. The 2008 and 2010 reforms produce a greater improvement in emerging members’ voting power under the 70 percent majority rule than the 85 percent rule; the 70 percent majority rule means the United States would lose its absolute veto. Moreover, the paper disproves the underlying assumption that regards a member’s voting power as proportional to its voting rights. Countries with different amounts of voting rights can still have the same voting power.     

The three governances in social innovation

This paper explores the relationship between governance and social innovation in the area of organizations. In order to understand that relationship, we offer a model that links the absorptive capacity of knowledge [Cohen and Levinthal 1990. “Absorptive Capacity: A new Perspective on Learning and Innovation.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (1): 128–152] with open innovation [Chesbrough and Di Minin 2014. “Open Social Innovation.” In New Frontiers in Open Innovation, edited by H. Chesbrough, W. Vanhaverbeke, and J. West, 169–187. Oxford: Oxford University Press]. On the basis of the pilot study Regional Social Innovation Index carried out in the Basque Country (Spain), we empirically explore three types of governance (social, inter-organizational, and sustainable) in social innovation projects propelled by four types of key agents at a regional level: profit and non-profit organizations, universities, and technology centers. The proposed governance Index in Social Innovation contributes to discussions about governance and social innovation at a micro level and, and to the debate about the production of indicators in social innovation.     

The impact of age,BMI and sex hormone on aging males’ symptoms and the international index of erectile function scores

Objective: To analyze the impact of age, BMI and sex hormone on aging males’ symptoms (AMS) and the 5-item version of the international index of erectile function (IIEF-5) scores in middle-aged and elderly Chinese men.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jiashan County. A total of 969 men, aged between 40 and 80 years old, were admitted. Physical examination and the sex hormones were measured, and AMS and IIEF-5 scores were assessed.

Results: The oneway ANOVA analysis indicated older age groups had higher AMS total-scores, somatic and sexual sub-scores, and lower IIEF5 scores (all p?r_pairwise) analyses showed the significant associations between AMS and age or sex hormone (cFT, Bio-T, SHBG, and LH) levels, and similar for IIEF5. However, when age was adjusted, the correlation coefficients (r_partial) weakened, and correlation significance disappeared, except LH (for AMS: r_partial?=?0.096, p?=?.009; for IIEF-5: r_partial?= ?0.140, p?=?.001). Multiple linear regressions confirmed the influence of increased age and LH on the AMS and IIEF5 scores.

Conclusion: CFT, Bio-T and SHBG failed to yield any additional predicting information when age was adjusted. To improve the male reproductive health, future research should pay more attention on aging-related comorbidities and how to improve general wellness.     

Association of the modified frailty index with adverse outcomes after penile prosthesis implantation

Objectives: To investigate frailty as a predictor of surgical outcome in elderly patients undergoing penile prosthesis implantation.

Material and methods: A total of 54 elderly patients, above 60 years of age, underwent penile prosthesis implantation between 2012 and 2014. Their data were collected and retrospectively analyzed. A modified frailty index (mFI) was calculated for each patient based on 11 risk factors from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index. The 1-year adverse outcomes were correlated with mFI, patients’ and procedure’s risk factors.

Results: Mean age was 64.9?±?5.2 years. No mortality was reported in our patients, however, one-year adverse outcomes were encountered in 43 (79.6%) patients. Among all studied variables, the 1-year adverse outcomes was not significantly association with mFI, but with preoperative glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (p?=?0.031) and associated Peyronie’s disease (PD) (p?=?0.000). HbA1c, dyslipidemia, hypertension, PD and duration of the procedure were predictive of infection complications (p?Conclusions: mFI is not a predictive of post-penile prosthesis implantation adverse outcomes in elderly patients with impotence. Degree of diabetic control and association with PD was associated with the 1-year adverse outcomes and infection complications.     

Fast robust feature screening for ultrahigh-dimensional varying coefficient models

In this paper, we propose a new partial correlation, the so-called composite quantile partial correlation, to measure the relationship of two variables given other variables. We further use this correlation to screen variables in ultrahigh-dimensional varying coefficient models. Our proposed method is fast and robust against outliers and can be efficiently employed in both single index variable and multiple index variable varying coefficient models. Numerical results indicate the preference of our proposed method.     

Bayesian elastic net single index quantile regression

Single index model conditional quantile regression is proposed in order to overcome the dimensionality problem in nonparametric quantile regression. In the proposed method, the Bayesian elastic net is suggested for single index quantile regression for estimation and variables selection. The Gaussian process prior is considered for unknown link function and a Gibbs sampler algorithm is adopted for posterior inference. The results of the simulation studies and numerical example indicate that our propose method, BENSIQReg, offers substantial improvements over two existing methods, SIQReg and BSIQReg. The BENSIQReg has consistently show a good convergent property, has the least value of median of mean absolute deviations and smallest standard deviations, compared to the other two methods.     

世界人口发展健康指数构建研究

本研究构建了世界人口发展健康指数,并对包括中国在内的46个国家(地区)的人口发展健康状况进行了排名。人口发展健康指数不仅直观地反映和比较了各国(地区)人口发展健康度现状,还可以对人口发展健康状况进行预警,从而可以作为各个国家(地区)制定人口相关政策的重要参考。     

第三方物流外包服务综合绩效评估模型的构建

本文根据全面性、特殊性、可比性、可操作性原则,参考评价第三方物流企业的一般评价指标的选取原则,选取了包括运力资源利用率、固定资产周转率、订单完成率、配送资源利用率等20个具有代表性的指标,详细地构建了第三方企业物流系统综合评价指标体系,并采用主成分因子分析法对企业物流系统进行了综合评价。     

论经济增长的驱动因素:劳动生产效率与产业结构——以江苏省为例

本文利用LMDI指数分解方法建立了人均增长率测算模型。该模型可以分析产业GDP结构、产业劳动力结构、产业全员劳动生产效率以及劳动力占总人口比重等因素对人均GDP增长率的影响。江苏省人均GDP增长率的实证分析,表明产业全员劳动生产率和产业结构是该省2010年实现人均GDP增长率200%的主要影响因素。     

中国旅游上市公司全要素生产率研究

旅游上市公司是旅游业发展的微观主体,其全要素生产率全面反映了该行业的实际经营效率和发展趋势。本文基于Malmquist指数探讨了20家中国旅游上市公司2004-2009年的全要素生产率。Malmquist指数及其分解结果显示:中国旅游上市公司Malmquist指数年均增长率为-0.4%,其中纯技术效率的增长显著,年均增幅为1.3%;时间跨度层面,中国旅游上市公司的全要素生产率的年度波动性较大。此外,样本中旅游上市公司Malmquist指数与营业收入增长率未能兼顾;2008-2009年度粗放型增长的特征显著。