On the existence of linear trend free block designs

We present a class of counerexamples for a conjecture on the existence or linear trend free block designs we will also prove a considerably weakened version of this conjecture which will determine all combinations of designs parmetres for which the class of linear trend free block designs is non empty.     

宋代书籍设计、插图及美学特征

宋代雕版书籍之设计一般而言体现出朴实之显著特色。这同雕版技术及雕版书籍最早发明于中国民间及其农业文化具有渊源关系。宋代奠定的这种朴实的书籍形制设计理念,使得书籍得以广泛传播,真正成为一种空间意义上的大众媒介。宋代确立了雕版印刷术普遍采用后中国书籍的基本形制。宋代雕版书籍确立了书籍史上最早的平装典范。宋刻书籍,采用不同字体、不同字号以及特殊的标识符号区分或标示不同的编辑语言,使版面上的编辑语言及其功能十分明确。这种编辑语言及其书籍体例奠定了中国古代雕版书籍版面编辑语言的基本格局,为之后中国雕版书籍一直沿用。宋代书籍插图已比较普遍。插图的普遍应用,使得宋版书籍图文并茂,不仅书籍内容更加完整,意义更加丰富,而且书籍的视觉效果和阅读效果也更加理想,书籍文本知识和意义的传播也由此变得更加生动、直观、多彩。宋版书籍最入目者,正是其风神别具——没有二种书籍书刻之字体完全相同者——正字书体的美。宋代书籍之美,乃在于其书籍内在的宋代文化精神之美。     

都兰县出土的东罗马金币考证

青海自古就是东西方贸易的交通要道,在当时的丝绸国际贸易中占据了重要的地位。2002年都兰县新发现的东罗马金币为此提供了又一重要物证。本文对此金币作一简单考证。     

Strategic Design Responsiveness: An Empirical Analysis of US Retail Store Networks

This study uses a service operations management (SOM) strategy lens to investigate chain store retailers' strategic design responsiveness (SDR)—a term that captures the degree to which retailers dynamically coordinate investments in human and structural capital with the complexity of their service and product offerings. Labor force and physical capital are respectively used as proxies for investments in human capital and structural capital, whereas gross margins are proxies for product/service offering complexity. Consequently, SDR broadly reflects three salient complementary choices of SOM design strategy. We test the effects of “brick and mortar” chain store retailers' SDR on current and future firm performance using publically available panel data collected from Compustat and the University of Michigan American Customer Satisfaction Index databases for the period 1996–2011. We find that retailers that fail to keep pace with investments in both structural and human capital exhibit short‐term financial benefits, but have worse ongoing operational performance. These findings corroborate the importance of managers strategically maintaining the complementarity of design‐related choices for improving and maintaining business performance.     

Information Sharing in a Manufacturer–Supplier Relationship: Suppliers' Incentive and Production Efficiency

While there have been vast discussions on the materialistic benefits of continuous improvement from the Toyota and Honda experiences, the academic literature pays little attention to information sharing. In this study, we construct a dynamic adverse selection model in which the supplier privately observes her production efficiency, and in the contractual duration the manufacturer obtains an informative but imprecise signal regarding this private efficiency. We show that despite the disclosure of proprietary information, information sharing may benefit the supplier; the supplier's voluntary participation is more likely to occur when the shared information is rather imprecise. On the other hand, our analysis also reveals that this information sharing unambiguously gives rise to an upward push of the production quantity, and may sometimes lead to an upward distortion that ultimately hurts the supply chain. We also document the non‐trivial impact of the timing of information sharing on the supplier's incentive to participate.     

基于E-NSBM模型的中国省际资源环境效率动态评价

从资源环境系统的内部结构出发,将资源环境评价体系分为生产系统和环境治理系统,针对该结构建立了扩展强自由处置性下的网络DEA模型——E-NSBM模型,将其与窗口分析法相结合,对2005-2012年中国各省资源环境效率进行了评价。结果表明：我国经济发达地区的生产系统效率普遍较高而环境治理系统效率较低;中、西部地区环境治理系统效率较高,但东部地区环境治理系统效率改进幅度最大;综合效率表现差的省份普遍表现为高的能耗强度、碳排放强度和硫强度。因此,各省应根据各自发展需要来确定资源环境效率的改进途径。     

年轻夫妇“两头走”——乡村家庭权力结构变迁的新现象

近年来,年轻夫妇“两头走”这一新型家庭居住模式逐渐在鄂西农村变得普遍起来。通过实地调查着重分析了这种物理空间意义上的居住模式重塑的微观家庭权力结构,进而探讨家庭成员间的权利义务关系的变迁。不同于传统从父居模式下的以男方父代家庭与年轻夫妇为主、女方父代家庭较为次要的主次型家庭权力结构,两头走的婚居模式形塑的家庭权力结构为男女双方父代家庭与年轻夫妇的三角平等结构。这对我们认识当下的代际关系与养老、年轻人的独立等问题有着现实意义。     

传统中国画的意境美对现代景观设计的启示

立足于传统中国画的意境美研究,通过总结其含蓄、空灵、诗情画意的意境特点,分析其对于古典园林景观设计的借鉴作用,并且进一步基于时代的视角挖掘中国画的意境美,指出还原本真和以景诉情两大重要特点,试图探索新时代下,中国画的意境美对于现代景观设计的启示和借鉴作用。     

Distribution of the two‐sample t‐test statistic following blinded sample size re‐estimation

We consider the blinded sample size re‐estimation based on the simple one‐sample variance estimator at an interim analysis. We characterize the exact distribution of the standard two‐sample t‐test statistic at the final analysis. We describe a simulation algorithm for the evaluation of the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis at given treatment effect. We compare the blinded sample size re‐estimation method with two unblinded methods with respect to the empirical type I error, the empirical power, and the empirical distribution of the standard deviation estimator and final sample size. We characterize the type I error inflation across the range of standardized non‐inferiority margin for non‐inferiority trials, and derive the adjusted significance level to ensure type I error control for given sample size of the internal pilot study. We show that the adjusted significance level increases as the sample size of the internal pilot study increases. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Automatic Test for the Umbrella Alternatives

The paper proposes a new test for detecting the umbrella pattern under a general non‐parametric scheme. The alternative asserts that the umbrella ordering holds while the hypothesis is its complement. The main focus is put on controlling the power function of the test outside the alternative. As a result, the asymptotic error of the first kind of the constructed solution is smaller than or equal to the fixed significance level α on the whole set where the umbrella ordering does not hold. Also, under finite sample sizes, this error is controlled to a satisfactory extent. A simulation study shows, among other things, that the new test improves upon the solution widely recommended in the literature of the subject. A routine, written in R, is attached as the Supporting Information file.