Latin American convergence and divergence towards the mortality profiles of developed countries

It is uncertain whether Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries are approaching a single mortality regime. Over the last three decades, LAC has experienced major public health interventions and the highest number of homicides in the world. However, these interventions and homicide rates are not evenly shared across countries. This study documents trends in life expectancy and lifespan variability for 20 LAC countries, 2000–14. By extending a previous method, we decompose differences in lifespan variability between LAC and a developed world benchmark into cause-specific effects. For both sexes, dispersion of amenable diseases through the age span makes the largest contribution to the gap between LAC and the benchmark. Additionally, for males, the concentration of homicides, accidents, and suicides in mid-life further impedes mortality convergence. Great disparity exists in the region: while some countries are rapidly approaching the developed regime, others remain far behind and suffer a clear disadvantage in population health.     

关于独立董事制度的一个经济逻辑分析

运用体制转轨和渐进改革的宏观视角、使用制度演进和制度创新的分析方法、结合公司治理结构的发展,对独立董事制度的构建背景、意义、发展途径进行一个比较详尽深入的经济逻辑分析,认为在制度潜力发掘—市场规范发展彼此良性互动的作用机制下,独立董事制度将逐渐成熟壮大,最终形成对原有公司治理机构体系的冲击,促使公司治理结构的不断优化和市场的不断成熟规范化变迁。     

中英文特殊诗体的对比--书写形式变异的英文诗与中国的回文结构诗

诗歌一般拥有新鲜的、独特的想象、又常被说是“带有音乐性的思想”,而且语言特别优美和精练。比喻、象征等手段用得多而巧妙。但是在视觉方面,诗人也有所创新。这表现在书写形式变异的英文诗和中国的回文诗。本文通过分析麦克高夫和卡明斯的两首英文诗,以及苏轼等人的回文诗,探讨中外诗人力图通过书写形式的安排,从视觉方面展现诗歌的魅力。     

"十一五"期间西部经济发展的总体思路探析

“十一五”期间,西部经济发展的总体思路拟确立为:搞好“四个兼顾”,着力解决西部经济发展面临的四个突出问题;坚持“三个带动”,不断为西部经济发展提供强劲动力;突出“两个培育”,重点抓好西部经济发展的两个薄弱环节;强化“一个支撑”,努力消除西部经济发展的瓶颈制约。     

情景喜剧《武林外传》中的语域偏离与语篇幽默效果

古装情景喜剧《武林外传》在全国热播，掀起一阵收视高潮，其原因值得探究。本文运用Hauiday的语域理论，试从语域转换、语域混合和语域借用角度来分析该剧的幽默语言特点，探究其产生具大幽默效应的独特魅力。     

具有卖空总量限制的多阶段M—SAD投资组合优化

文章提出具有卖空总量限制、阈值约束和V型交易成本的多阶段均值—半绝对偏差（M-SAD）投资组合优化模型。该模型分别运用均值和半绝对偏衡量资产的收益率和风险。由于交易成本的存在,该模型不满足无后效性的动态优化问题。文章将该模型近似为一般动态规划问题,提出一种新的离散迭代方法,并证明该算法是线性收敛的。最后,文章通过实证研究比较分析卖空总量限制和风险偏好系数取不同值时对投资组合最优策略的影响,验证模型和算法的有效性。     

Institutional Ethnography and Experience as Data

Experience, as concept, is contested among feminists as to its epistemological status, thus its usefulness in knowledge claims. Institutional ethnography (Smith 1987) is a feminist methodology that nonetheless relies fundamentally on people's experience. Not as Truth, nor the object of inquiry, but as thepoint d'appui for sociological inquiry. This article offers a demonstration of institutional enthnography using observational and interview data that show experience as methodologically central to a trustworthy analysis. A moment in the work lives of nursing assistants in a long-term care setting is captured by a participant observer. The analysis produces two lines of argument. One is methodological; it is argued that nursing assistants' experiences are an entry into the social relations of the setting that, when mapped and disclosed, make those experiences understandable in terms of the ruling arrangements permeating both the organization and their own experiences. The other argument is substantive; the inquiry uncovers how a quality improvement' strategy in a long term care hospital in Canada is reorganizing caregivers' values and practices toward a market orientation in which care appears to be compromised. Use of experience as data in this approach holds the analysis accountable to everyday/everynight actualities in a lived world.     

股指期货价格非线性均值回复特性实证研究

用ESTAR 模型对香港恒生指数期货933、9312、943 合约及S&P 500 指数期货933、9312、 943 合约价格进行了实证研究,发现恒生指数期货933、9312 合约实际价格呈现非线性均值回 复,而其他各合约实际价格呈现线性均值回复. 结论:由于股票现货没有卖空机制使套利成本 较大,抑制了套利行为,导致期货合约实际价格呈现非线性. 在股票现货没有卖空机制的市场 条件下,单向套利的机会要比成熟的市场更多.     

The exponential–Weibull lifetime distribution

In this paper, we propose a new three-parameter model called the exponential–Weibull distribution, which includes as special models some widely known lifetime distributions. Some mathematical properties of the proposed distribution are investigated. We derive four explicit expressions for the generalized ordinary moments and a general formula for the incomplete moments based on infinite sums of Meijer's G functions. We also obtain explicit expressions for the generating function and mean deviations. We estimate the model parameters by maximum likelihood and determine the observed information matrix. Some simulations are run to assess the performance of the maximum likelihood estimators. The flexibility of the new distribution is illustrated by means of an application to real data.     

General results for the Kumaraswamy-G distribution

For any continuous baseline G distribution [G.M. Cordeiro and M. de Castro, A new family of generalized distributions, J. Statist. Comput. Simul. 81 (2011), pp. 883–898], proposed a new generalized distribution (denoted here with the prefix ‘Kw-G’ (Kumaraswamy-G)) with two extra positive parameters. They studied some of its mathematical properties and presented special sub-models. We derive a simple representation for the Kw-G density function as a linear combination of exponentiated-G distributions. Some new distributions are proposed as sub-models of this family, for example, the Kw-Chen [Z.A. Chen, A new two-parameter lifetime distribution with bathtub shape or increasing failure rate function, Statist. Probab. Lett. 49 (2000), pp. 155–161], Kw-XTG [M. Xie, Y. Tang, and T.N. Goh, A modified Weibull extension with bathtub failure rate function, Reliab. Eng. System Safety 76 (2002), pp. 279–285] and Kw-Flexible Weibull [M. Bebbington, C.D. Lai, and R. Zitikis, A flexible Weibull extension, Reliab. Eng. System Safety 92 (2007), pp. 719–726]. New properties of the Kw-G distribution are derived which include asymptotes, shapes, moments, moment generating function, mean deviations, Bonferroni and Lorenz curves, reliability, Rényi entropy and Shannon entropy. New properties of the order statistics are investigated. We discuss the estimation of the parameters by maximum likelihood. We provide two applications to real data sets and discuss a bivariate extension of the Kw-G distribution.