Radicalisation: old and new a comparative analysis of the Red Brigades and the Islamic State

This study aims to broaden and refine our knowledge on radicalisation by applying a different lens derived from communication sciences, it also aims to minimise the bias resulting from the several studies focusing on one movement—the Islamic State. The research utilises a qualitative thematic analysis triangulated with a quantitative content analysis to compare 30 documents: 15 belonged to an old radical movement—the Red Brigades and 15 to a new radical movement—the Islamic State, to explore possible strategic communication patterns used by both organizations to establish their legitimacy among their target audiences. The findings revealed a similar division in the construction of the documents of both movements under four main themes, high and equivalent proportions in the representations of ‘violence’, and an extensive concentration of ideological terms in the Islamic State documents compared to a large focus on organizational aspects in the Red Brigades documents. The principal and wide gap existing between both movements is related to the organisational tactics. Likely to be one of the main distinctions contributed by modernisation in the world today.     

Structural equation modeling with ordinal variables: a large sample case study

In the behavioral sciences, response variables are often non-continuous, ordinal variables. Conventional structural equation models (SEMs) have been generalized to accommodate ordinal responses. In this study, three different estimation methods on real data were performed with ordinal variables. Empirical results obtained from the different estimation methods on given real large sample educational data were investigated and compared to recent simulation results. As a result, even very large sample is available, model estimations and fits for ordinal data are affected from inconvenient estimation methods thus it is concluded that asymptotically distribution free estimation method specialized for ordinal variables is more convenient way to model ordinal variables.     

Teaching an old dog a new trick: Reserve price and unverifiable quality in repeated procurement

This paper shows that, in a repeated competitive procurement, a buyer can use the reserve price in a low-price auction as a “public”—hence nondiscriminatory—incentive device to elicit unverifiable quality. We study a model with many firms and one buyer, who is imperfectly informed on the firms' costs. When firms are ex ante identical, the provision of quality is sustained by a sufficiently high reserve price to reward firms for the quality provision and by the threat of setting a low reserve price forever, if quality is not delivered. The buyer can elicit the desired level of unverifiable quality provided her baseline valuation of the project is not too high and the net benefit from unverifiable quality is not too low. These results are robust to firms' heterogeneity in their time preferences when the punishment for a deviation is finite but sufficiently long.     

雷军 老将新兵

与国际巨头角力,这是雷军在金山的时候没能够完全实现的目标,他希望这个愿望能够在优视动景公司实现     

Collective bargaining in 1989: old problems, new issues

Some problems which plagued negotiators throughout the decade continue into the next, and are joined by additional issues such as rising cost of health insurance, family care, and health and safety concerns.     

Comparison on new and old assets devaluating preparation

Assets devaluating rules are decreed as independent rules for the first time. And this will influence much on enterprises for the new rules are more adjusted in many aspects. Through comparing with the old assets rules, the paper has analyzed the characteristics of the new assets devaluating rules. Compared with the old rules, the more different characteristics are that in the new rules, assets devaluating confirmation is defined, tangible amount calculation is prescribed in detail, the conception of ＂Assets Group＂ is raised for the first time, and the processing method of creditworthiness is set. The most important thing is that the new rules provide that once the assets devaluating preparation is confirmed, it will not be withdraw. At the same times, from comparing the confirmation of devaluating assets, tangible amount and dealing with devaluating loss, assets devaluating influence of the new rules and the old on enterprises＇ profit and loss is analyzed and an instance is used in the analysis.     

A new measure of association between random variables

We propose a new measure of association between two continuous random variables X and Y based on the covariance between X and the log-odds rate associated to Y. The proposed index of correlation lies in the range [\(-1\), 1]. We show that the extremes of the range, i.e., \(-1\) and 1, are attainable by the Fr\(\acute{\mathrm{e}}\)chet bivariate minimal and maximal distributions, respectively. It is also shown that if X and Y have bivariate normal distribution, the resulting measure of correlation equals the Pearson correlation coefficient \(\rho \). Some interpretations and relationships to other variability measures are presented. Among others, it is shown that for non-negative random variables the proposed association measure can be represented in terms of the mean residual and mean inactivity functions. Some illustrative examples are also provided.     

Scales of measurements: An introduction and a selected bibliography

Stevens' (1946) distinctions among nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio measurements have had a marked influence on researchers of social, psychological and statistical sciences. This paper reviews those distinctions and includes some comments concerning the applicability of different statistical techniques to each scale. A detailed bibliography is also provided.On study leave from Department of Statistics, University of Karachi, Karachi-32, Pakistan.     

On relative dispersion: A new solution for some old problems

Quality & Quantity -     

Econometric tests of alternative scale variables in money demand in open economies: International evidence from selected OECD countries

The choice of the scale variable in the money demand function is important because of its striking implications on the magnitude and direction of the domestic monetary and fiscal policy effects and effectiveness of international policy coordination. In this study several tests are applied to the money demand functions of Japan, Germany, Canada, France, and Italy in an open economy context to determine the appropriate scale variable for each country. Both narrow and broad definitions of money are used. Income, disposable income, consumption, private spending, and domestic absorption are investigated as contenders for the scale variable. The findings indicate that the scale variable is country-specific, rather than universal, and it is sensitive to the definition of money.     

电子商务物流新旧模式之比较

电子商务的出现是全球信息网络化的结果，现代物流则是实现电子商务的保证。通过对现有的电子商务物流配送机制存在的问题的分析及运用交易成本理论对新模式与两种旧模式进行成本比较说明，新型的电子商务物流模式具有极大的发展潜力。     

The regulation of health and safety in Britain: from old Labour to new Labour

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA 1974), passed twenty‐five years ago, has been hailed as a significant advance for organised labour and a model for modern work‐place regulation. This article argues that, contrary to conventional interpretations, the making of the Act was dominated by business interests. We suggest that the Act’s emphasis on self‐regulation and goal‐setting made it vulnerable to deregu‐latory initiatives, which are unlikely to be reversed by new Labour in the foreseeable future.     

On randomization, modeling and experimental design; a new example in an old discussion

Fisher and "Student" quarreled in the early days of statistics about the design of experiments, meant to measure the difference in yield between to breeds of corn. This discussion comes down to randomization versus model building. More than half a century has passed since, but the different views remain. In this paper the discussion is put in terms of artificial randomization and natural randomization, the latter being what remains after appropriate modeling. Also the Bayesian position is discussed. An example in terms of the old corn-breeding discussion is given, showing that a simple robust model may lead to inference and experimental design that outperforms the inference from randomized experiments by far. Finally similar possibilities are suggested in statistical auditing.     

柳井正：轻易实现的目标不是一个好目标

想要把优衣库打造成世界第一品牌,柳井正深知实现这个目标的难度,但他必须给自己定个高点的目标,因为能轻易实现的目标,不会是个好目标     

居民新旧身份证号码自动转换的实现

文章详细介绍了居民新旧身份证号码之间的转换原理和方法,并给出一个在Power Builder和Oracle环境下的应用案例。     

Proposing new variables for the identification of strategic groups in franchising

The identification of strategic groups in the Spanish franchising area is the main aim of this study. The authors have added some new strategic variables (not used before) to the study and have classified franchisors between sectors and distribution strategy. The results reveal the existence of four perfectly differentiated strategic groups (types of franchisors). One of the major implications of this study is that the variables that build a strategic group vary depending on the respective sector the network operates in and its distribution strategy. This fact indicates that including sector and distribution strategy is absolutely necessary to achieve good classifications of franchisor types.