Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management of Lahar Flow Threat

The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines is considered one of the most violent and destructive volcanic activities in the 20th century. Lahar is the Indonesian term for volcanic ash, and lahar flows resulting from the massive amount of volcanic materials deposited on the mountain's slope posed continued post-eruption threats to the surrounding areas, destroying lives, homes, agricultural products, and infrastructures. Risks of lahar flows were identified immediately after the eruption, with scientific data provided by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other research institutions. However, competing political, economic, and social agendas subordinated the importance of scientific information to policy making. Using systemic risk analysis and management, this article addresses the issues of multiple objectives and the effective integration of scientific techniques into the decision-making process. It provides a modeling framework for identifying, prioritizing, and evaluating policies for managing risk. The major considerations are: (1) applying a holistic approach to risk analysis through hierarchical holographic modeling, (2) applying statistical methods to gain insight into the problem of uncertainty in risk assessment, (3) using multiobjective trade-off analysis to address the issue of multiple decisionmakers and stakeholders in the decision-making process, (4) using the conditional expected value of extreme events to complement and supplement the expected value in quantifying risk, and (5) assessing the impacts of multistage decisions. Numerical examples based on ex post data are formulated to illustrate applications to various problems. The resulting framework from this study can serve as a general baseline model for assessing and managing risks of natural disasters, which the Philippines' lead agency-the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC)-and other related organizations can use for their decision-making processes.     

关于社会福利制度的深层次思考

效率和公平是社会福利的两大准则 ,整个人类历史可以说就是一个不断追求效率和公平的历史 ,而其中针对社会弱势群体进行的收入和服务保障更是一个超社会形态的课题 ,是一个关乎人类社会福利的重要问题。针对中国的实际情况 ,本文中所讨论的社会福利制度被限定在“剩余福利模式”上。在对中外社会福利制度的起源及其理论发展进行考察的基础上 ,作者指出 :社会福利的提供应是制度化的政府职责 ,它的实施不仅能有效地保护社会弱势群体 ,还有利于全社会秩序的稳定和经济增长目标的实现 ;在中国目前财政收入相对不足的情况下 ,政府应充分利用社会资源、调动社会力量、推进立法、加紧培育行业组织和非赢利社会组织 ,以达到完善社会福利制度、有效保护社会弱势群体之目的。     

On the Effect of Probability Distributions of Input Variables in Public Health Risk Assessment

A central part of probabilistic public health risk assessment is the selection of probability distributions for the uncertain input variables. In this paper, we apply the first-order reliability method (FORM)^(1–3) as a probabilistic tool to assess the effect of probability distributions of the input random variables on the probability that risk exceeds a threshold level (termed the probability of failure) and on the relevant probabilistic sensitivities. The analysis was applied to a case study given by Thompson et al. ⁽⁴⁾ on cancer risk caused by the ingestion of benzene contaminated soil. Normal, lognormal, and uniform distributions were used in the analysis. The results show that the selection of a probability distribution function for the uncertain variables in this case study had a moderate impact on the probability that values would fall above a given threshold risk when the threshold risk is at the 50th percentile of the original distribution given by Thompson et al. ⁽⁴⁾ The impact was much greater when the threshold risk level was at the 95th percentile. The impact on uncertainty sensitivity, however, showed a reversed trend, where the impact was more appreciable for the 50th percentile of the original distribution of risk given by Thompson et al. ⁴ than for the 95th percentile. Nevertheless, the choice of distribution shape did not alter the order of probabilistic sensitivity of the basic uncertain variables.     

Two phase parametric and probabilistic NPV calculations, with possible deferral of disposal of UK nuclear waste as an example

This paper illustrates the value of several particular features of a first phase parametric approach to discounted cash flow (DCF) decision analysis when significant uncertainty is involved. It also illustrates the value of second phase probabilistic approaches to selected parameters for five quite different example reasons. The most controversial example reason concerns the discount rate. The particular example used to illustrate both phases may stimulate general interest because of the important issues involved, but it is argued that the two phase approach as a whole has a wide range of applications for decisions large and small.     

Penalty guided genetic search for redundancy optimization in multi-state series-parallel power system

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) for parallel redundancy optimization in series-parallel power systems exhibiting multi-state behavior, optimizing the reliability subject to constraints. The components are binary and chosen from a list of products available in the market, and are being characterized by their feeding capacity, reliability, cost and weight. System reliability is defined as the ability to satisfy consumer demand and is presented as a piecewise cumulative load curve. In GA, to handle infeasible solutions penalty strategies are used. Penalty technique keep a certain amount of infeasible solutions in each generation so as to enforce genetic search towards an optimal solution from sides of, both, feasible and infeasible regions. We here present a dynamic adaptive penalty function which helps the algorithm to search efficiently for optimal/near optimal solution. To evaluate system reliability, a fast procedure, based on universal generating function, is used. An example considering a multi-state series-parallel power system is solved considering both homogeneous and heterogeneous types of redundancy. Also an example considering price discounts is solved. The effectiveness of the penalty function and the proposed algorithm is studied and shown graphically.     

One-dimensional optimal bounded-shape partitions for Schur convex sum objective functions

Consider the problem of partitioning n nonnegative numbers into p parts, where part i can be assigned n_i numbers with n_i lying in a given range. The goal is to maximize a Schur convex function F whose ith argument is the sum of numbers assigned to part i. The shape of a partition is the vector consisting of the sizes of its parts, further, a shape (without referring to a particular partition) is a vector of nonnegative integers (n₁,..., n_p) which sum to n. A partition is called size-consecutive if there is a ranking of the parts which is consistent with their sizes, and all elements in a higher-ranked part exceed all elements in the lower-ranked part. We demonstrate that one can restrict attention to size-consecutive partitions with shapes that are nonmajorized, we study these shapes, bound their numbers and develop algorithms to enumerate them. Our study extends the analysis of a previous paper by Hwang and Rothblum which discussed the above problem assuming the existence of a majorizing shape. This research is partially supported by ROC National Science grant NSC 92-2115-M-009-014.     

基于MCMC稳态模拟的贝叶斯经验费率厘定信用模型

B黨lmann-Straub model is one of the most famous applications of the Bayesian method for the experience rate making.However,by the traditional B黨lmann-Straub model one cannot get the unbiased posterior estimation of the parameters when there is not sufficient prior information for the structural parameters;What's more,the difficult of computing high dimension numeration limits the application of Bayesian method.This paper introduces the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulaton method based on the Gibbs sampling after analyzing the structure of the B黨lmann-Straub model and sets up the Bayesian credibility model for estimating the predictive risk premium.Also by using the results of the numeration analysis,this paper proves that from this model one can get the posterior distributions of the parameters dynamically and the posterior estimation of the censoring parameters in the situation that exists unknown parameters,as well as improve the precision of the numeration,which can be helpful to find the heterogeneity of the premium.     

基于方差分析的资本结构决策模型

本文利用统计学原理与风险决策分析方法,提出了资本结构决策新的方差分析方法和矩阵模型.与原有的基于概率分析的方法比较,本文建立的模型方法克服和舍弃了模糊性和难操作性,有效地权衡了风险与收益,使资本结构决策模型更富可操作性和广泛适用性,能够为企业最优资本结构决策提供一定的决策依据.     

现代信用风险度量模型的实证比较与适用性分析

本文通过实证比较分析发现,现代信用风险度量模型对银行贷款的违约率、贷款损失和损失率的预测结果的差异性较大;但信用监测模型和信用风险附加法所预测的经济资本配置比例不仅符合巴塞尔协议对银行贷款经济资本的要求,也略大于实际应该配置的比例,实证表明了它们对度量我国商业银行贷款组合的信用风险具有较好的适用性.此外,本文也充分验证了借款人信用等级的不同,银行贷款经济资本配置的比例会有显著性的差异.     

上市公司“庄股跳水”预测模型的实证分析

预防"庄股跳水"是投资者在中国股市中生存的必修课,同时也是股市行为研究的难点之一.本文选取2000年到2003年深市遭遇跳水行情的股票及与之相对应的非跳水股票各31只股票为样本,运用t检验、判别分析和主成分分析等多种计量方法和模型对两类股票的各种重要指标进行了详细分析、比较及预测.实证研究发现两类股票的各种重要指标存在重大差异,并且模型能够以较高的准确率预测"庄股跳水".