A simpler quality of e-life indicator: does the Internet have a positive impact on the quality of life in Taiwan

This research aims to restructure a Simpler Quality of e-Life Indicators (SEQOL) and use this simpler structure to understand whether the usage of computer and Internet will make impacts on quality of life in Taiwan. By using telephone interviews, 3,563 valid respondents, aged 15 and above with Taiwan nationality, were interviewed. After performing exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability and validity assessment, a simpler factor structure of the SEQOL was formed. The new structure contains 24 items categorized into seven domains: Socioeconomic status, Selfesteem, Social competence, Life freedom, Community support, Psychological pressure and physical health. This research also found that gender divide on most domains did not exist. Those who are aged between 35 and 54 exhibit the highest satisfaction. Residents with university degree have the highest satisfaction on their quality of life and the residents of northern Taiwan have the lowest satisfaction. People who having computer at home show higher satisfaction on quality of life in dimensions of overall, Socioeconomic Status, Social Competence, Psychological Pressure, and Physical Health. On overall quality of life, there is no significant difference between Internet user and non user. But, People who having access to Internet show higher satisfaction on quality of life in dimensions of Socioeconomic Status, Social Competence, Psychological Pressure, and Physical Health, oppositely, have lower satisfaction on quality of life in dimensions of Life Freedom and Community Support.     

Comparison of four common data collection techniques to elicit preferences

We compare four common data collection techniques to elicit preferences: the rating of items, the ranking of items, the partitioning of a given amount of points among items, and a reduced form of the technique for comparing items in pairs. University students were randomly assigned a questionnaire employing one of the four techniques. All questionnaires incorporated the same collection of items. The data collected with the four techniques were converted into analogous preference matrices, and analyzed with the Bradley–Terry model. The techniques were evaluated with respect to the fit to the model, the precision and reliability of the item estimates, and the consistency among the produced item sequences. The rating, ranking and budget partitioning techniques performed similarly, whereas the reduced pair comparisons technique performed a little worse. The item sequence produced by the rating technique was very close to the sequence obtained averaging over the three other techniques.     

A stochastic frontier model with correction for sample selection

Heckman’s (Ann Econ Soc Meas 4(5), 475–492, 1976; Econometrica 47, 153–161, 1979) sample selection model has been employed in three decades of applications of linear regression studies. This paper builds on this framework to obtain a sample selection correction for the stochastic frontier model. We first show a surprisingly simple way to estimate the familiar normal-half normal stochastic frontier model using maximum simulated likelihood. We then extend the technique to a stochastic frontier model with sample selection. In an application that seems superficially obvious, the method is used to revisit the World Health Organization data (WHO in The World Health Report, WHO, Geneva 2000; Tandon et al. in Measuring the overall health system performance for 191 countries, World Health Organization, 2000) where the sample partitioning is based on OECD membership. The original study pooled all 191 countries. The OECD members appear to be discretely different from the rest of the sample. We examine the difference in a sample selection framework.     

Target Costing Performance Based on Alternative Participation and Evaluation Methods: A Laboratory Experiment

This paper deals with the motivational impacts of alternative participation and performance-evaluation methods on the cost- reduction performance of product designers in the product development process. Alternative participation methods for establishing the target cost consist of the participative and the nonparticipative approaches. Also, the alternative performance-evaluation methods include evaluations based on only the controllable item measure and on both controllable and uncontrollable items measures. To test the hypothesis which are proposed with respect to the above impacts, a laboratory experiment was conducted on 120 subjects. When participation and performance evaluation factors are considered separately, the cost-reduction performance of product designers is improved if they can participate in the target-setting process and are evaluated by their controllable item information. In investigating their joint influence, it is found that the combination of the participative method and controllable item and nonparticipative and uncontrollable item information have improved cost-reduction performance. Among all the independent variables, controllable item information is the most dominant variable as it has the strongest influence on cost reduction. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Operations related groups (ORGs): A clustering procedure for production/inventory systems

Many production/inventory systems contain thousands of stock keeping units (SKUs). In general, it is not computationally (or conceptually) feasible to consider every one of these items individually in the development of control polices and strategies. Our objective here is to develop a methodology for defining groups to support strategic planning for the operations function. Accordingly, such groups should take into consideration all product characteristics which have a significant impact on the particular operations management problem of interest. These characteristics can include many of the attributes which are used in other functional groupings and will most certainly go beyond the cost and volume attributes used in ABC analysis.The ORG methodology is based on statistical clustering and can utilize a full range of operationally significant item attributes. It considers both statistical measures of discrimination and the operational consequences associated with implementing policies derived on the basis of group membership. The main departure of this analysis from earlier work is: 1) the approach can handle any combination of item attribute information that is important for strategy purposes, 2) management's interest in defining groups on the basis of operational factors can be accommodated, 3) statistical discrimination is considered directly, 4) group definition reflects the performance of management policies which are based (in part) on group membership, and 5) the method can be applied successfully to systems with a large number of SKUs.The specific application which motivated development of the ORG methodology was an analysis of distribution strategy for the service parts division of a major automobile manufacturer. The manufacturer was interested in developing optimal inventory stocking policies, which took into account the complexities of its multiechelon distribution network, supplier relationships and customer service targets for each market segment. This manufacturer stocked over 300,000 part numbers in an extensive network with approximately 50 distribution centers and thousands of dealer locations (i.e., 1.5 million SKU/ location combinations). The results of this application indicated that the advantage of using operationally relevant data for grouping and for defining generic, group-based policies for controlling inventory can be substantial. The ORG methodology can be of value to operations managers in industries with a large number of diverse items.     

An Exploration of Questionnaire Sorting and Fuzzy Sorting

Questionnaire sorting is a concept for sorting mentioned by Coxon [(1999) SORTING DATA. Collection and Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage] and Harloff and Coxon [(2005), How to Sort. A Short Guide on Sorting Investigations. www.methodofsorting.com]. The use of questionnaire sorting is detailed herein. A paper questionnaire variant and a HTML form variant are introduced. Their equivalence among each other and with traditional sorting of paper cards is tested for two sets of items. These sets consist of 20 colors and 25 web-site content items. Results from paper questionnaires and HTML forms do not differ significantly. Contradictory results were obtained on the equivalence of paper card sorting and questionnaire sorting, depending on the item sets. Another variant allowing for placement of items in several clusters simultaneously has been termed fuzzy sorting (Harloff and Coxon, 2005, How to Sort. A Short Guide on Sorting Investigations. www.methodofsorting.com). Its first detailed application is given here for both paper card sorting and questionnaire sorting. The difference between results from fuzzy sorting and partition sorting experiments was tested using paired t-tests. The type I error is below 0.01. In contrast to current practice it is therefore advisable to use instructions and a mathematical model for sorting fitting to the methods of subsequent statistical analysis and to the designed domain. Results from two fuzzy sorting experiments are analyzed by fuzzy cluster analysis and network analysis, respectively. Fuzzy sorting and fuzzy cluster analysis provide much more detailed information than the common partition sorting and hierarchical cluster analysis. Network analysis gives valuable information about facet structure. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi: ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorised users.     

基于二维关联边条件随机场的Web信息抽取

针对Web信息抽取领域中存在的"项无序"问题,提出了一种基于二维关联边条件随机场模型的Web信息抽取方法。将Web文档解析为一个词性序列,映射待抽取的信息项的状态,映射待抽取的信息项为二维关联边条件随机场中的序列参数,使用归纳算法构造二维关联边条件随机场模型。实验结果证明该方法可以获得更好的抽取性能。     

Pareto-improving income redistribution: expanding consumer access to the vaccines market

Economic theory has proved that income redistribution in imperfectly competitive markets can increase social welfare and lead to Pareto-improving situations. This paper shows that, under certain assumptions, self-financing tax subsidy schemes can have Pareto-improving effects also in a competitive framework. This result is achieved by exploiting external economies of scale, resulting in a decrease in price along with an increase in output. The case of the vaccines industry and World Health Organization initiatives are examined to illustrate the theoretical analysis.     

The applicability of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia for patients with sub-acute neck pain: a qualitative study

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively evaluate patients understanding and interpretation of the wording used in test items of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK). The TSK was developed to measure fear of movement in patients suffering from low back pain. The TSK is being increasingly used for other pain conditions. Patients with sub-acute neck pain experience problems while completing this questionnaire. The aim of this study was to elicit these problems. The study was conducted within the framework of a randomised controlled trial. The Three-Step Test Interview (TSTI) was used to collect data on the thoughts or considerations of respondents while completing the TSK. In the analysis, each transcribed interview was divided into three segments. The thoughts and considerations were then analysed and categorised per item. During the TSTI two problems were identified. One concerned the meaning of specific words used, like “dangerous” and “injury”. The other problem was that several implicit assumptions within some items make it difficult for respondents to answer these items. It was concluded that in the development and validation of questionnaires like the TSK, not only quantitative psychometric properties are important, but also qualitative research has an important contribution to enhance applicability.     

企业质量成本管理探讨

质量是企业的生命,利润是企业发展的动力。加强企业质量成本管理是企业控制和降低成本、增长利润的有效途径,是时代发展、企业进步的必然结果。为此,本文就如何加强企业质量成本控制管理进行了探讨。     

Testing Part of a DSGE Model by Indirect Inference

We propose a way of testing a subset of equations of a DSGE model. The test draws on statistical inference for limited information models and the use of indirect inference to test DSGE models. Using the numerical small sample distribution of our test for two subsets of equations of the Smets–Wouters model we show that the test has accurate size and good power in small samples, and better power than using asymptotic distribution theory. In a test of the Smets–Wouters model on US Great Moderation data, we reject the specification of the wage‐price but not the expenditure sector. This points to the wage‐price sector as the source of overall model rejection.     

Competence maps for the information service industry

The primary aim of this paper is to construct competence maps for the information service industry. Starting with a review of the literature related to the information service industry and the competence in this industry, this study defined a pool of competence items and developed a questionnaire for field survey. Based on the data collected from the information service companies in Taiwan, a series of factor analyses with item filtration was carried out. This resulted in a six-factor solution including Cognition, Management I (organizing, leading, and controlling), Management II (planning), Technology Infrastructure, Application Systems, and Clerical Processing as the competence sets. Then the factor-based scales were created to represent the derived competence sets, the pairwise correlations between these scales were calculated, and the competence maps were constructed accordingly. The results obtained may be helpful to the internal (e.g., training/education, deployment, or substitution) and the external (e.g., recruitment) developments of human resource in information service companies.     

CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR TEST INFORMATION AND RELATIVE EFFICIENCY

In latent theory the measurement properties of a mental test can be expressed in the test information function. The relative merits of two tests for the same latent trait can be described by the relative efficiency function, i.e. the ratio of the test information functions. It is argued that these functions have to be estimated if the values of the item difficulties are unknown. Using conditional maximum likelihood estimation as indicated by Andersen (1973), pointwise asymptotic distributions of the test information and relative efficiency function are derived for the case of dichotomously scored Rasch homogeneous items. Formulas for confidence intervals are derived from the asymptotic distributions. An application to a mathematics test is given and extensions to other latent trait models are discussed.     

CPI revision provides more accuracy in the medical care services component.

This revision, as in the past, enabled the Bureau to update medical care service expenditure weights in the CPI, including a more complete allocation of health insurance premiums. Instead of keeping the portion of premiums that go to benefits under health insurance, the expenditure weight for each benefit category has been added to the appropriate out-of-pocket expense. The unpublished health insurance item represents only the retained earnings portion of premiums paid by households. The specific item categories included in medical care services have also been updated and expanded. A study conducted during the developmental phase of the revision indicated that the Bureau should expand the eligible priced rates for physicians in the CPI to include not only the "self-pay" rate, but also other categories of payment as well. Another study indicated that the direct pricing of health insurance is not feasible because of the difficulty of factoring out from premium changes the effect of utilization levels and modified coverage. In pricing medical care service items, as with other item categories in the CPI, BLS attempts to exclude from price movement the effect of quality changes. However, some quality changes are difficult to assess or are not readily identified, for example, a change in the ratio of nurses to patients, and such changes may be reflected as part of the price change movement in the CPI.     

K-means clustering of item characteristic curves and item information curves via functional principal component analysis

Quality & Quantity - The assessment of students’ performances and learning skills plays a key role in the educational context. Common tools for analyzing test data are item response...     

如何管理汽车新产品开发项目的交付物质量

交付物质量管理是汽车新产品开发项目管理的重要内容,对项目实施成功与否具有重要意义,运用全球整车开发流程(Global Vehicle Development Process,GVDP)、项目质量及状态审议(Program Quality ReadinessReview,PQRR)等工具管理控制项目各主要节点的交付物,可使项目开发各阶段的交付物质量达到最优状态,从而为项目既定目标的如期实现保驾护航。     

Bipolarity and/or duality of social survey measurement scales and the question-order effect

When measuring (complex) attitudes within a social survey, researchers often use balanced lists of positive and negative items. The purpose of the present research is to investigate: (a) whether a specific order of measurement scale items can lead to the bipolar (single-dimensional) concept (attitude) being recognised as a dual (bi-dimensional) concept and vice-versa; and (b) whether item order can affect the consistency (metric characteristics) of a measurement scale. An experiment on a group of social science students was conducted: students were randomly split into three subgroups and three different version of a questionnaire (with three differing item orders) were applied. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (‘CFA’) and a single group CFA for each item order separately were applied. The final conclusion of the experiment is that there is no general rule about how and when respondents form separate (dual) or unidimensional (continuous) representations of measured concepts. Item-order effects are possible, but they are not as important as one would expect. The results of the experiment also suggest that other factors should be taken into account: the content of the measured concept and the cognitive sophistication of the respondents.     

Mokken scale analysis for polychotomous items: theory,a computer program and an empirical application

This paper contains three subjects. First, an extension of Mokken's nonparametric item response models from dichotomous items to items with two or more ordered answer categories is proposed. Second, a computer program to analyze multicategory item scores is presented. This program is called MSP. The analyses by means of MSP are based on the multicategory extension of Mokken's theory. Finally, an application of MSP to empirical multicategory test data is presented in order to illuminate its possibilities.     

An instrument for collecting informed opinions

For collecting informed public opinions a special kind of questionnaire has been developed: the Choice Questionnaire. With this questionnaire, information relating to a decision problem is made available to respondents. This information includes the various options from which a choice has to be made, and the consequences of these options. The Choice Questionnaire also contains a procedure that is designed to assist participants in processing this information and in making a choice based on it. This paper studies the extent to which the Choice Questionnaire is a useful instrument for collecting informed opinions and the effects the instrument has on the decision-making process of the participants. The factors influencing its performance are also considered. This evaluation study has been carried out in a real life context: the choice made by the Dutch population concerning the further application of nuclear power.     

一种新的质量体系评价模式——《国际质量成熟度模型》简介及其结构研究

本文介绍了印度“Qimpro标准组织”制定的《国际质量成熟度模型》1.1版本,分析了国际质量成熟度模型的基本特点、文件结构、模型结构、体系子要素组成等,并将其与ISO9001标准进行了对比分析,为质量管理研究人员探索质量管理体系模式和研究质量管理评价模型提供了新的思路和工具。