Does Weighting Capture What’s Important? Revisiting Subjective Importance Weighting with a Quality of Life Measure

The present study evaluated subjective importance weighting using data collected with the Injection Drug User Quality of Life Scale (IDUQOL). Weighted and unweighted IDUQOL scores from 241 adults were correlated with convergent, discriminant, and criterion measures. Regression analysis was used to examine the contribution of importance ratings to scores on a global measure of life satisfaction and the corrected weighted IDUQOL total scores. Overall, the results showed that weighted scores did not perform better than unweighted scores in measuring quality of life. However, the mean satisfaction ratings for important domains correlated significantly higher with convergent measures than did the mean satisfaction ratings for unimportant domains. This finding suggests further attention needs to be paid to the meaning and measurement of subjective importance and how it may be incorporated more effectively into measures of quality of life.     

公共卫生危机预警管理能力评估指标权重分析

公共卫生预警评估体系是政府预警能力提升的有效工具和指导框架。在评估体系设计中,评估指标的选取遵循全面、敏感、及时、准确的原则。通过层次分析法的定性判断定量化计算,能够对各指标的相对权重进行赋值,从而为评估的开展提供较为客观科学的判断依据。     

商业银行信用风险评价指标的熵权选择方法

基于信息熵思想,按照熵权的大小筛选信用风险评价指标,定义了评价指标的效率指数,用评价结果的区分度反映评价指标的有效性。算例表明,在初始指标组中,将熵权极小的指标剔除后,简化了计算,提高了评价指标的有效性。     

A Lack-of-Fit Test for Heteroscedastic Regression Models via Cosine-Series Smoothers

In this paper, a test is derived to assess the validity of heteroscedastic nonlinear regression models by a non‐parametric cosine regression method. For order selection, the paper proposes a data‐driven method that uses the parametric null model optimal order. This method yields a test that is asymptotically normally distributed under the null hypothesis and is consistent against any fixed alternative. Simulation studies that test the lack of fit of a generalized linear model are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed test with that of an existing non‐parametric kernel test. A dataset of esterase levels is used to demonstrate the proposed method in practice.     

Scaling up a community-led health promotion initiative: Lessons learned and promising practices from the Healthy Weights for Children Project

The increase in overweight and obesity among children has emerged as an important public health issue. This trend has highlighted the need for accessible and novel approaches to support healthy weights for children and their families to prevent childhood obesity. The purpose of this article is to describe the iterative development and scale-up of a community-led, national-level project to promote healthy weights among Canadian children and families who may be experiencing vulnerabilities. In this project, the Healthy Together program was designed to engage families in an interactive program to support healthy lifestyles. The program also provides a platform for creating supportive environments for healthful lifestyles through practice and policy change. Based on a process evaluation, we describe the iterative development of Healthy Together from Phase 1 through 3 to shed light on processes shaping implementation and scale-up of the program. Lessons learned during each phase were used to refine the program and further expansion. Indicators of successful scale-up include the Healthy Together program’s cross-jurisdictional reach and promising evaluation results in real-world conditions. The practice-based program scaling approach provides practical guidance for planning and implementing similar health promotion programs in diverse communities.     

A Note on the Frequency Polygon Based on the Weighted Sums of Binned Data

We revisit the generalized midpoint frequency polygons of Scott (1985), and the edge frequency polygons of Jones et al. (1998 Jones, M.C., Samiuddin, M., Al-Harbey, A.H., Maatouk, T. A.H. (1998). The edge frequency polygon. Biometrika 85:235–239.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Dong and Zheng (2001 Dong, J.P., Zheng, C. (2001). Generalized edge frequency polygon for density estimation. Statist. Probab. Lett. 55:137–145.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Their estimators are linear interpolants of the appropriate values above the bin centers or edges, those values being weighted averages of the heights of r, r ∈ N, neighboring histogram bins. We propose a simple kernel evaluation method to generate weights for binned values. The proposed kernel method can provide near-optimal weights in the sense of minimizing asymptotic mean integrated square error. In addition, we prove that the discrete uniform weights minimize the variance of the generalized frequency polygon under some mild conditions. Analogous results are obtained for the generalized frequency polygon based on linearly prebinned data. Finally, we use two examples and a simulation study to compare the generalized midpoint and edge frequency polygons.     

General Multi-Level Modeling with Sampling Weights

ABSTRACT

In this article we study the approximately unbiased multi-level pseudo maximum likelihood (MPML) estimation method for general multi-level modeling with sampling weights. We conduct a simulation study to determine the effect various factors have on the estimation method. The factors we included in this study are scaling method, size of clusters, invariance of selection, informativeness of selection, intraclass correlation, and variability of standardized weights. The scaling method is an indicator of how the weights are normalized on each level. The invariance of the selection is an indicator of whether or not the same selection mechanism is applied across clusters. The informativeness of the selection is an indicator of how biased the selection is. We summarize our findings and recommend a multi-stage procedure based on the MPML method that can be used in practical applications.     

Weighted product index and its two-independent-sample comparison based on weighted sensitivity and specificity

Background: On the basis of statistical methods about index S (S = SEN × SPE), we develop a new weighted ways (weighted product index S_w) of combining sensitivity and specificity with user-defined weights. Methods: The new weighted product index S_w is defined as S_w = (SEN) (Youden 1950)^2w × (SPE) (Youden 1950) ^2(1?w) Results: For the large sample, the test statistics Z of two-independent-sample weighted product indices can either be a monotonous increasing/decreasing function or a no-monotonous function of weight w. Type I error of this statistics can be guaranteed close to the nominal level of 5%, which is more conservative than the weighted Youden index from simulation.     

Estimation and inference of combining quantile and least-square regressions with missing data

In this paper, we consider how to incorporate quantile information to improve estimator efficiency for regression model with missing covariates. We combine the quantile information with least-squares normal equations and construct an unbiased estimating equations (EEs). The lack of smoothness of the objective EEs is overcome by replacing them with smooth approximations. The maximum smoothed empirical likelihood (MSEL) estimators are established based on inverse probability weighted (IPW) smoothed EEs and their asymptotic properties are studied under some regular conditions. Moreover, we develop two novel testing procedures for the underlying model. The finite-sample performance of the proposed methodology is examined by simulation studies. A real example is used to illustrate our methods.     

文明城市测评体系中的自然与社会科学内涵探析

文明城市测评体系是综合社会多方智慧在创建实践中形成的,具有科学性和启示性。首先,基于黄金分割准则得出了测评体系中人文社会科学类约占到45.45%权重,而自然科学类约占54.55%;其中纯人文科学类占16.2%,纯自然科学类占32.4%,交叉指标达51.4%。依据江苏省社会科学类各指标达标率调查结果,找出了与测评体系要求的差距:占权重高的行为观念要素的达标率低,而占权重低的知识、其他等的达标率高。这些分析对指导今后文明城市创建工作有积极的启示意义。