Multiple event times in the presence of informative censoring: modeling and analysis by copulas

Motivated by a breast cancer research program, this paper is concerned with the joint survivor function of multiple event times when their observations are subject to informative censoring caused by a terminating event. We formulate the correlation of the multiple event times together with the time to the terminating event by an Archimedean copula to account for the informative censoring. Adapting the widely used two-stage procedure under a copula model, we propose an easy-to-implement pseudo-likelihood based procedure for estimating the model parameters. The approach yields a new estimator for the marginal distribution of a single event time with semicompeting-risks data. We conduct both asymptotics and simulation studies to examine the proposed approach in consistency, efficiency, and robustness. Data from the breast cancer program are employed to illustrate this research.

     

Constructing Trustworthy Historical Narratives: Criteria,Principles and Techniques

Organizational scholars increasingly recognize the value of employing historical research. Yet the fields of history and organization studies struggle to reconcile. In this paper, the authors contend that a closer connection between these two fields is possible if organizational historians bring their role in the construction of historical narratives to the fore and open up their research decisions for discussion. They provide guidelines to support this endeavor, drawing on four criteria that are prevalent within interpretive organization studies for developing the trustworthiness of research: credibility; confirmability; dependability; and transferability. In contrast to the traditional use of trustworthiness criteria to evaluate the quality of research, the authors advance the criteria to encourage historians to generate more transparent narratives. Such transparency allows others to comprehend and comment on the construction of narratives, thereby building trust and understanding. Each criterion is converted into a set of guiding principles to enhance the trustworthiness of historical research, pairing each principle with a practical technique gleaned from a range of disciplines within the social sciences to provide practical guidance.     

理智与情感:为历史“正名”的方法——从刘保昌长篇小说《楚武王》谈起

历史书写中的“最炫流行风”在今天的文化市场上大行其道——用拆解、谐谑、碎片化、戏拟等方式拉平历史的深度,以“傲慢与偏见”来充抵叙述历史的自信,也经由这种时尚化的叙述使历史以“轻松一刻”的形式实现消费欲望的满足.刘保昌的《楚武王》则疏离“流行前线”,以史料为据,正本清源,守正而出新,为历史“正名”,以彰显历史意识、历史理性的写作姿态,以坚持文学之理想力量的叙事激情,以有文化承担的叙事态度显示出对当代历史小说叙事品格与尊严的坚守.     

A modified common factor model for modelling mortality jointly for both sexes

Journal of Population Research - There is an increasing attention on the joint modelling of multiple populations. Populations are related in several ways, such as neighbouring countries, females...     

1950年代:“本质—特征论”文学定义的形成及影响

1950年代形成了"本质—特征论"的文学定义,即先界定文学的意识形态本质,再界定文学是用形象的方式来反映社会生活、体现意识形态的特征。这一定义的思维方式是先界定事物的普遍性,再界定事物的特殊性,突出事物的普遍性关联,轻视事物的独特性质的揭示,使得文学研究本应着重研究文学的特殊性成为空话,不利于认识文学自身的规律。1980年代的文学审美论试图突破这种定义方式,但1990年代以来,反本质主义的文学语境论再次回到从事物的关联性定义事物的思维老路,文学自身本质问题受到质疑,弱化了文学与审美关联的重要性与必要性。     

Partial Identification of Economic Mobility: With an Application to the United States

Abstract

The economic mobility of individuals and households is of fundamental interest. While many measures of economic mobility exist, reliance on transition matrices remains pervasive due to simplicity and ease of interpretation. However, estimation of transition matrices is complicated by the well-acknowledged problem of measurement error in self-reported and even administrative data. Existing methods of addressing measurement error are complex, rely on numerous strong assumptions, and often require data from more than two periods. In this article, we investigate what can be learned about economic mobility as measured via transition matrices while formally accounting for measurement error in a reasonably transparent manner. To do so, we develop a nonparametric partial identification approach to bound transition probabilities under various assumptions on the measurement error and mobility processes. This approach is applied to panel data from the United States to explore short-run mobility before and after the Great Recession.     

高含水期油藏层间压力结构差异量化方法研究

由于长期注水开发和层间非均质性影响，高含水期油藏各小层层间压力结构差异严重，掌握差异状况是合理调整的重要依据。针对现场分层测压资料少，单层压力资料获取困难的情况，应用渗流力学原理建立了高含水期地层层间压力结构差异量化数学模型，模型的关键参数可以通过生产数据计算获得。枣园油田的实例验证表明，高含水油藏层间压力存在明显差异，该方法能够确定各小层的压力差异状况。量化计算结果和实测资料相接近，有利于认清开发矛盾，为合理调整提供技术依据。     

Cross‐Sectional Psychological and Demographic Associations of Zika Knowledge and Conspiracy Beliefs Before and After Local Zika Transmission

Perceptions of infectious diseases are important predictors of whether people engage in disease‐specific preventive behaviors. Having accurate beliefs about a given infectious disease has been found to be a necessary condition for engaging in appropriate preventive behaviors during an infectious disease outbreak, while endorsing conspiracy beliefs can inhibit preventive behaviors. Despite their seemingly opposing natures, knowledge and conspiracy beliefs may share some of the same psychological motivations, including a relationship with perceived risk and self‐efficacy (i.e., control). The 2015–2016 Zika epidemic provided an opportunity to explore this. The current research provides some exploratory tests of this topic derived from two studies with similar measures, but different primary outcomes: one study that included knowledge of Zika as a key outcome and one that included conspiracy beliefs about Zika as a key outcome. Both studies involved cross‐sectional data collections that occurred during the same two periods of the Zika outbreak: one data collection prior to the first cases of local Zika transmission in the United States (March–May 2016) and one just after the first cases of local transmission (July–August). Using ordinal logistic and linear regression analyses of data from two time points in both studies, the authors show an increase in relationship strength between greater perceived risk and self‐efficacy with both increased knowledge and increased conspiracy beliefs after local Zika transmission in the United States. Although these results highlight that similar psychological motivations may lead to Zika knowledge and conspiracy beliefs, there was a divergence in demographic association.     

Towards Uniformly Efficient Trend Estimation Under Weak/Strong Correlation and Non‐stationary Volatility

In this paper, we consider the deterministic trend model where the error process is allowed to be weakly or strongly correlated and subject to non‐stationary volatility. Extant estimators of the trend coefficient are analysed. We find that under heteroskedasticity, the Cochrane–Orcutt‐type estimator (with some initial condition) could be less efficient than Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) when the process is highly persistent, whereas it is asymptotically equivalent to OLS when the process is less persistent. An efficient non‐parametrically weighted Cochrane–Orcutt‐type estimator is then proposed. The efficiency is uniform over weak or strong serial correlation and non‐stationary volatility of unknown form. The feasible estimator relies on non‐parametric estimation of the volatility function, and the asymptotic theory is provided. We use the data‐dependent smoothing bandwidth that can automatically adjust for the strength of non‐stationarity in volatilities. The implementation does not require pretesting persistence of the process or specification of non‐stationary volatility. Finite‐sample evaluation via simulations and an empirical application demonstrates the good performance of proposed estimators.     

川东北地区须家河组二段储层差异性分析

随着勘探程度的深入，为了扩大四川盆地天然气勘探领域、寻找新的勘探接替区，四川盆地的勘探区域由盆内逐渐向盆缘延伸。在这种背景下，川东北地区须家河组二段相继取得新的勘探成果，但在勘探开发过程中逐渐暴露了诸如区块之间气井产能差异大，储层的碎屑组分、结构及厚度、物性、孔隙结构差异明显等问题，制约了勘探开发的步伐。针对上述问题，根据岩芯观察描述、分析化验资料及测井解释成果，从沉积、成岩方面入手，对比剖析了川东北龙岗和营山地区须二段储层特征的差异性及其成因，认为远离物源区和高能水体的反复淘洗是造成储层差异性的首要因素，强烈的压实作用和多期石英加大对储层差异性起关键作用，自生绿泥石衬边胶结和长石选择性溶蚀最终决定了储层差异性。从而解释了气藏勘探开发中遇到的诸多问题，对有效指导该区的下一步勘探开发工作具有重要意义。