The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

Cognitive and interpersonal abilities related to the primary activities of R&D managers

This study attempted to identify the primary activities performed by R&D managers at different supervisory levels, and the cognitive and interpersonal ability requirements that underlie these activities. A task inventory containing 244 managerial tasks was completed by 117 R&D managers in nine organizations. The 48 tasks which managers rated as having spent the most time were factor analyzed, resulting in the identification of three primary activities: project management, personnel supervision, and strategic planning. Furthermore, these activities varied with supervisory level, with R&D managers performing a wider range of these activities with the progression from first-line to upper-level management.Thirty R&D managers later rated the degree to which 19 cognitive and interpersonal abilities were required for performing these primary activities. Strategic planning was rated as requiring significantly higher levels of oral expression, logical reasoning, originality, fluency of ideas, oral defense, and resistance to premature judgement than was required for the other two primary activities. Personnel supervision required a higher level of social sensitivity than was required for the other two activities. Project management required high levels of information ordering, oral fact- finding ability, problem sensitivity, and oral and written comprehension. Implications of the findings for understanding R&D managerial performance and personnel staffing functions are discussed.     

江泽民关于选拔和培养优秀中青年干部的辩证思想

江泽民同志于 2 0 0 0年 6月在全国党校工作会议上的讲话 ,充满了实事求是的精神和深刻的辩证思维风格 ,体现了鲜明的时代特色。他对新时期干部德才基本要求所作出的新的规定 ,是对马克思主义人才理论的极大丰富。他提出的“重发现同时重培养”的原则、“使用、培养同一论”以及“德才具体说”、“辩证的台阶、资历观”等 ,是对传统的人才理论的突破和对马克思主义人才学说的丰富和发展     

Issues in applying recent CPMP ‘Points to Consider’ and FDA guidance documents with biostatistical implications

The International Conference on Harmonisation guideline ‘Statistical Principles for Clinical Trials’ was adopted by the Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products (CPMP) in March 1998, and consequently is operational in Europe. Since then more detailed guidance on selected topics has been issued by the CPMP in the form of ‘Points to Consider’ documents. The intent of these was to give guidance particularly to non‐statistical reviewers within regulatory authorities, although of course they also provide a good source of information for pharmaceutical industry statisticians. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration has recently issued a draft guideline on data monitoring committees. In November 2002 a one‐day discussion forum was held in London by Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry (PSI). The aim of the meeting was to discuss how statisticians were responding to some of the issues covered in these new guidelines, and to document consensus views where they existed. The forum was attended by industry, academic and regulatory statisticians. This paper outlines the questions raised, resulting discussions and consensus views reached. It is clear from the guidelines and discussions at the workshop that the statistical analysis strategy must be planned during the design phase of a clinical trial and carefully documented. Once the study is complete the analysis strategy should be thoughtfully executed and the findings reported. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

论中国证券市场监管低效的制度性因素

分析了作为政府强制性的制度安排,中国证券市场在发展过程中产生的市场不规范问题,认为证券市场监管制度的低效运行是问题产生的主要原因。而监管困境的背后则是制度的缺陷,主要表现为两个方面:一是监管当局政策目标与监管目标的冲突;二是以个人和企业信用为核心的信用管理体系的缺失。     

Inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream employment: is it really all about the money? A case study of four large companies in Norway and Sweden

This study investigates how large companies respond to public policy measures to ensure the inclusion of persons with disabilities in mainstream employment based on a case study of four companies in Norway and Sweden. The qualitative interviews, which were conducted with company managers, government representatives in Norway, and non-governmental organisations in Sweden, revealed three overarching themes: (1) ‘legitimacy’, (2) ‘financial interests’ and (3) ‘non-financial support’. The results indicate a more proactive response from the Swedish companies, especially regarding persons with intellectual and learning difficulties. The Norwegian companies reveal a high commitment to their own employees. These findings cannot be explained solely using neo-institutional theory, which holds that organisations demonstrate ‘conformity with powerful institutional myths to strengthen support and secure survival'. The results indicate that inclusive targeted corporate policies and programmes, advisory support, and the agency and value choices of the management might matter more.     

Hazard Analysis and Safety Requirements for Small Drone Operations: To What Extent Do Popular Drones Embed Safety?

Currently, published risk analyses for drones refer mainly to commercial systems, use data from civil aviation, and are based on probabilistic approaches without suggesting an inclusive list of hazards and respective requirements. Within this context, this article presents: (1) a set of safety requirements generated from the application of the systems theoretic process analysis (STPA) technique on a generic small drone system; (2) a gap analysis between the set of safety requirements and the ones met by 19 popular drone models; (3) the extent of the differences between those models, their manufacturers, and the countries of origin; and (4) the association of drone prices with the extent they meet the requirements derived by STPA. The application of STPA resulted in 70 safety requirements distributed across the authority, manufacturer, end user, or drone automation levels. A gap analysis showed high dissimilarities regarding the extent to which the 19 drones meet the same safety requirements. Statistical results suggested a positive correlation between drone prices and the extent that the 19 drones studied herein met the safety requirements generated by STPA, and significant differences were identified among the manufacturers. This work complements the existing risk assessment frameworks for small drones, and contributes to the establishment of a commonly endorsed international risk analysis framework. Such a framework will support the development of a holistic and methodologically justified standardization scheme for small drone flights.     

Vagal modulation of 1‐month‐old infants to auditory stimuli is associated with self‐regulatory behavior

During infancy, cardiac vagal modulation has been associated with attentional and social engagement behaviors. While studies have shown that infants display a behavioral repertoire that enables them to interact with others by being able to regulate themselves in order to attend to and to discriminate emotional and social cues, vagal modulation to sensory stimuli and its association with behavioral outcomes at early ages remains to be addressed. In this study, we analyzed the cardiac vagal response of 1‐month‐old infants to two auditory stimuli intensities and whether vagal response was associated with social interactive and self‐regulatory abilities. Therefore, we recorded cardiac and respiratory physiological responses in 28 infants using a Biopac System. Neurobehavioral assessment was performed using the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. We observed increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) amplitude to both auditory stimuli intensities when compared to baseline. No intensity effect was found for the RSA response. Additionally, we observed that higher RSA amplitude to both auditory stimuli was positively correlated with adjusted self‐regulatory behaviors, suggesting a convergence between multiple measures assessing infants' state regulation. Results are discussed in light of 1‐month‐old infants' auditory stimuli processing and its implications for regulatory behaviors and the emergent social‐like behaviors.     

Migration decision-making and migration industry in the Indonesia–Malaysia corridor

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the involvement of migration industry (MI) in the migration system of Indonesia and Malaysia. The two countries share an extensive border and have much in common in culture and history but they are very different in geographical size, population and economic development, the latter being a main cause for labour migration from Indonesia to Malaysia. The changing context of government policies generates new niches for migration services taken up by formal and informal intermediaries, thereby confronting migrants with a varied migration-decision field and thresholds during their migration process. Much of the migration is legal, but a large part of it also takes place outside the control of the national governments. While taking mental processes in migration decision-making as starting point, we analyse how the MI, by way of fostering, facilitating and controlling geographic mobility and localised employment, connects to the production and negotiating of three migration decision thresholds faced by migrants.     

Shadow Insurance

Life insurers use reinsurance to move liabilities from regulated and rated companies that sell policies to shadow reinsurers, which are less regulated and unrated off‐balance‐sheet entities within the same insurance group. U.S. life insurance and annuity liabilities ceded to shadow reinsurers grew from $11 billion in 2002 to $364 billion in 2012. Life insurers using shadow insurance, which capture half of the market share, ceded 25 cents of every dollar insured to shadow reinsurers in 2012, up from 2 cents in 2002. By relaxing capital requirements, shadow insurance could reduce the marginal cost of issuing policies and thereby improve retail market efficiency. However, shadow insurance could also reduce risk‐based capital and increase expected loss for the industry. We model and quantify these effects based on publicly available data and plausible assumptions.