An intelligent service matching method for mechanical equipment condition monitoring using the fibre Bragg grating sensor network

Due to the advantages of being able to function under harsh environmental conditions and serving as a distributed condition information source in a networked monitoring system, the fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensor network has attracted considerable attention for equipment online condition monitoring. To provide an overall conditional view of the mechanical equipment operation, a networked service-oriented condition monitoring framework based on FBG sensing is proposed, together with an intelligent matching method for supporting monitoring service management. In the novel framework, three classes of progressive service matching approaches, including service-chain knowledge database service matching, multi-objective constrained service matching and workflow-driven human-interactive service matching, are developed and integrated with an enhanced particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm as well as a workflow-driven mechanism. Moreover, the manufacturing domain ontology, FBG sensor network structure and monitoring object are considered to facilitate the automatic matching of condition monitoring services to overcome the limitations of traditional service processing methods. The experimental results demonstrate that FBG monitoring services can be selected intelligently, and the developed condition monitoring system can be re-built rapidly as new equipment joins the framework. The effectiveness of the service matching method is also verified by implementing a prototype system together with its performance analysis.     

Tuition fees and social segregation: lessons from a natural experiment at the University of Paris 9-Dauphine

Using a natural experiment, a sharp rise in tuition fees in some of the programmes at the University of Paris 9-Dauphine, we study the impact of tuition fees on students’ pathways, and outcomes. We apply an optimal matching method to the national database of students’ registrations (SISE) to define a typology of pathways. We then use a nonordered multinomial logit model to evaluate the impact of the rise in tuition fees on the types of pathways selected by the university. We show that there is a significant impact on these pathways. The increase in tuition fees reduces geographic and social mobility, thereby accentuating the phenomena of social segregation. Furthermore, contrary to what some of the studies assert, the rise does not appear to encourage greater effort: we find no impact on the graduation success rate.     

An empirical investigation of director selection in movie preproduction: A two-sided matching approach

This paper examines how movie producers recruit directors in the preproduction phase as mutual choices in a two-sided matching model. It conceptualizes that movie attributes and filmmaker characteristics determine the matching outcomes (“who directed which movie”) and in turn indirectly affect movie box office. We exploit a dataset of 4,807 feature films from 1990 to 2010 to examine empirically the complementarities between the movie/producer side and the director side in terms of movie budget, filmmaker track records and social relations. A series of simulations suggest that social relations facilitate positive assortative matching. Further simulation analyses are conducted to quantify the financial implications of movie–director mismatches, as well as the indirect effects of production budget and producer characteristics. The simulation results show that: a) the financial implications of having a mismatched director can be substantial; and b) the indirect effect of production budget and producer characteristics affect movie box office in an interactive manner. These findings can help filmmakers to better understand the financial impacts of movie–director choices and make more informed decisions at the early phase of preproduction.     

老年协会参与对老年虐待的影响

本文基于第三期全国妇女社会地位调查老年专项调查数据, 使用倾向值分析和工具变量方法,研究老年协会参与对老年虐待的影响及其作用机制。研究发现老年协会参与能有效抑制老年虐待。从作用机制来看,老年人在家庭私人生活领域之外的社会参与程度越高,参加文娱活动、志愿服务、互帮互惠等社会交往活动越频繁,法律意识越强,遭受家庭成员虐待的风险越小。但是目前广大老年人群特别是非精英的普通弱势老年人参加各类社会组织的积极性和广泛性还不够。对此,政府有关部门应强化城乡基层老年社会组织建设,为广大老年群体尤其是普通老人积极参与创造条件。针对家庭赡养中的虐老问题,老年社会组织应从法律、社会治理等方面开展鉴别、预防和干预工作,提升老年人法律素养,实施家庭支持策略强化延续家庭养老功能,维护弱势老年人合法权益。     

Can Federal Grants Mitigate Social Competition?

The European economic integration leads to increasing mobilityof factors, thereby threatening the stability of social transferprograms. This article investigates the possibility to achieveby means of voluntary matching grants both the optimal allocationof factors and the optimal level of redistribution in the presenceof factor mobility. We use a fiscal competition model a la Wildasin(1991) in which states differ in their technologies and preferencesfor redistribution. We first investigate a simple process inwhich the federal authority progressively raises the matchinggrants to the district choosing the lowest transfer and alldistricts respond optimally to the resulting change in transfersall around. This process is shown to increase efficiency ofboth production and redistribution. However, it does not guaranteethat all districts gain, nor that an efficient level of redistributionis attained. Assuming complete information among districts,we derive the willingness of each district to match the contributionof other districts and we show that the aggregate willingnessto pay for matching rates converges to zero when both the efficientlevel of redistribution and the efficient allocation of factorsare achieved. We then describe an adjustment process for thematching rates that will lead districts to the efficient outcomeand guarantee that everyone will gain. (JEL Classification:H23, H70)     

Do German Welfare‐to‐Work Programmes Reduce Welfare Dependency and Increase Employment?

Abstract. During the last decade, many Western economies reformed their welfare systems with the aim of activating welfare recipients by increasing welfare‐to‐work programmes (WTWP) and job‐search enforcement. We evaluate the short‐term effects of three important German WTWP implemented after a major reform in January 2005 (‘Hartz IV’), namely short training, further training with a planned duration of up to three months and public workfare programmes (‘One‐Euro‐Jobs’). Our analysis is based on a combination of a large‐scale survey and administrative data that is rich with respect to individual, household, agency level and regional information. We use this richness of the data to base the econometric evaluation on a selection‐on‐observables approach. We find that short‐term training programmes, on average, increase their participants' employment perspectives. There is also considerable effect heterogeneity across different subgroups of participants that could be exploited to improve the allocation of welfare recipients to the specific programmes and thus increase overall programme effectiveness.     

农村居民消费结构变动的时序分析——以河北省为例

基于中国经济增长模式正在向消费主导型转变,以农村居民的生活消费作为研究重点,选择河北省作为研究区域,通过1993～2008年的时间序列数据对该区域农村居民的消费结构进行统计分析,意图探寻在相对发达的农村地区如何进一步优化农村消费结构,找到扩大农村消费市场的有效途径,从而促进经济的协调发展,为新农村的建设提供政策建议。     

The impact of production offshoring on the skill composition of manufacturing firms: evidence from Italy

In this work we explore how the international outsourcing of production impacts the skill composition of employment within Italian manufacturing firms. In particular, our aim is to assess whether the choice to offshore production activities to cheap‐labour countries implies a bias in the employment of skilled workers relative to unskilled ones.

Using a balanced panel of firms covering the period 1995–2003, we set up a counterfactual analysis in which, by using a difference‐in‐differences propensity score matching estimator, we compare the dynamics of skill demand for treated and control firms while addressing the possible problem of selection bias.

Our results identify a ‘potential’ skill bias effect of production offshoring. In particular, we find that treated firms tend to show an upward shift in the skill ratio with respect to the counterfactual sample, but coefficients are not significantly different from zero. When we look at the elements of the skill ratio separately, we find that the skill bias is driven by a fall in the employment of production workers (blue collars), rather than by the increase in the employment of non‐production workers (white collars), thus providing further evidence on the unskilled labour‐saving nature of international outsourcing.     

企业退出出口市场行为与企业的经营表现——基于倾向评分匹配的经验分析

文章运用倾向评分匹配方法分析了企业退出出口市场行为对其经营表现的影响。研究结果表明,经营表现越差的出口企业退出出口市场的概率越大;企业退出出口市场行为对企业经营表现的影响主要体现在影响就业增长和产出增长方面,而对劳动生产率的影响总体不显著。具体表现为,企业退出出口市场会对其就业增长和产出增长产生持续的显著负向作用,这说明我国国内需求尚不足以使企业退出出口市场后继续保持退出前的就业增长率和产出增长率。因此,在提倡出口转内销的同时需注重提高出口企业在国际市场竞争中的存活率。     

Is self-employment really a bad experience? : The effects of previous self-employment on subsequent wage-employment wages

We use propensity score matching methods to quantify the effects of past self-employment experience on subsequent earnings in dependent employment using data on the population of Danish men observed between 1990 and 1996. Our results generally confirm existing studies in that we find that a spell of self-employment is associated with lower hourly wages compared to workers who were consecutively wage-employed. We also show, however, that this effect disappears—and even becomes positive in some settings—for formerly self-employed who find dependent employment in the same sector as their self-employment sector. Hence, the on average negative effect of self-employment is rather caused by sector switching than by the self-employment experience per se. Moreover, formerly self-employed who either enjoyed a high income or hired at least one worker during their self-employment spell receive wages in subsequent dependent employment that are at least as high as for individuals who have been consecutively wage-employed.