生命周期不同阶段的幽默理解与加工机制

以往学者们大多将幽默作为一种语言现象进行研究,几乎没人关注幽默的神经心理加工过程。现代脑成像技术给学者们提供了一种更为客观的方式,有助于揭开幽默大脑加工的神秘面纱。尽管幽默的认知神经心理机制的研究已经能够帮助人们建立起对人类幽默理解的系统认识,但目前还有很多可扩展的方向：首先,目前的绝大多数研究都以成年人为研究对象,研究的外部效度存在问题,仅有个别研究着眼于儿童和老年人的幽默理解认知机制,应该开展针对其他年龄段的研究,从人类生命周期的角度整合不同年龄段的幽默理解神经心理加工机制发展变化的特点。其次,应着重结合汉语的特点和我国社会发展的特点进行研究,形成中国特色的汉语幽默认知加工理论。     

Standardisierungspotentiale lebenszyklusbasierter Modelle des strategischen Kostenmanagements

Tremendous increases in indirect costs can be found in many industries. Consequently, life cycle cost analysis models are getting more important in strategic cost management. However, existing models differ significantly from each other as they have been developed mainly for specific applications. In order to enable a common use of those models, a standardization of these models is required. We examine the potentials of standardizing models for life cycle cost analysis. In a first step, requirements regarding a standard model are derived from literature. As a second step, existing approaches found in literature are compared to the afore derived demands and it is analyzed to what extent they match the standardization requirements. Based on this comparison, we identify and discuss avenues for further research.     

LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AND REDISTRIBUTION

This paper investigates the effect of linguistic diversity on redistribution in a broad cross‐section of countries. We use the notion of “linguistic distances” and show that the commonly used fractionalization index, which ignores linguistic distances, yields insignificant results. However, once distances between languages are accounted for, linguistic diversity has both a statistically and economically significant effect on redistribution. With an average level of redistribution of 9.5% of GDP in our data set, an increase byone standard deviation in the degree of diversity lowers redistribution by approximately one percentage point. We also demonstrate that other measures, such as polarization and peripheral heterogeneity, provide similar results when linguistic distances are incorporated. (JEL: D6, D74, H5, Z10)     

A Method for Computing the Fraction of Attributable Risk Related to Climate Damages

The recent decision of the U.S. Supreme Court on the regulation of CO₂ emissions from new motor vehicles^{( 1 )} shows the need for a robust methodology to evaluate the fraction of attributable risk from such emissions. The methodology must enable decisionmakers to reach practically relevant conclusions on the basis of expert assessments the decisionmakers see as an expression of research in progress, rather than as knowledge consolidated beyond any reasonable doubt.^{( 2,3,4 )} This article presents such a methodology and demonstrates its use for the Alpine heat wave of 2003. In a Bayesian setting, different expert assessments on temperature trends and volatility can be formalized as probability distributions, with initial weights (priors) attached to them. By Bayesian learning, these weights can be adjusted in the light of data. The fraction of heat wave risk attributable to anthropogenic climate change can then be computed from the posterior distribution. We show that very different priors consistently lead to the result that anthropogenic climate change has contributed more than 90% to the probability of the Alpine summer heat wave in 2003. The present method can be extended to a wide range of applications where conclusions must be drawn from divergent assessments under uncertainty.     

'Germany's River,but not Germany's Border'-The Rhine as a National Myth in Early 19th Century German Literature

This article demonstrates that American national identity is symbolic, subjective and ambiguous to the extent that it encapsulates senses of both similarity and difference. Citing evidence from life-history interviews with American military veterans from different ethnic groups, the article shows how some Americans can identify with being racially excluded and still share in a sense of national belonging. It is argued here that this feature is and has always been embedded in the processes of American national identification. In making this argument, this article rejects Ramsey Cook's notion that achieving a sense of similarity between universal and particular interests within a national community is hallmark of postnationalism.     

Population aging and endogenous economic growth

We investigate the consequences of population aging for long-run economic growth perspectives. Our framework incorporates endogenous growth models and semi-endogenous growth models as special cases. We show that (1) increases in longevity have a positive impact on per capita output growth, (2) decreases in fertility have a negative impact on per capita output growth, (3) the positive longevity effect dominates the negative fertility effect in case of the endogenous growth framework, and (4) population aging fosters long-run growth in the endogenous growth framework, while its effect depends on the relative change between fertility and mortality in the semi-endogenous growth framework.     

Towards a European migration policy

The stagnating West European population combined with the prosperous economic development of the European Community (EC) generate strong economic incentives for immigration. The drastic political changes in Eastern Europe have caused additional migration pressures. There are a variety of problems with the economic and political integration of migrants, however. The paper argues that immigration can compensate for demographic losses due to the decline and ageing of the European labor force. Economic theory further predicts welfare gains from free factor movements, which should be reaped as long as social costs and adjustment costs are not prohibitive. An active European migration policy is recommended to achieve this aim.This article is a completely revised version of CEPR Discussion Paper No. 641, presented by the second author at the CEPR Workshop The economies of migration on 23 November 1991 in London, UK, and at a hearing of the European Parliament on 25 May 1992 in Bruxelles, Belgium.     

Estimation of energy expenditure using accelerometers and activity-based energy models��validation of a new device

Over the last few years, the estimation of energy expenditure with accelerometers has become more and more accurate due to improvements in sensor technology. Significant enhancement could be reached by model-based estimation regarding different activity types. The kmsMove-sensor (movisens GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany) is a device that is used to compute human energy expenditure using motion-dependent calculation models. It is outfitted with an accelerometer to measure body acceleration during certain movements and activities. To validate its accuracy, the sensor was compared to indirect calorimetry as criterion measure. For this experiment, nine subjects (all males, age 46.4 ± 10.9 years, 28–64 years) were equipped with the kmsMove-sensor as well as a portable indirect calorimeter and their energy consumption was measured over a time period of 100 min. Additionally, the energy consumption of seven out of the above-mentioned nine subjects was measured over an average of 7 h. The measurements took place in a rehabilitation clinic, where the subjects completed their regular daily rehabilitation activities. An analysis of the data revealed ICCs between the kmsMove-sensor and indirect calorimetry for the time period of 100 min of 0.82 (0.38–0.96; p = 0.003) and for an averaged measuring time of 7 h of 0.81 (0.22–0.97; p = 0.01). Furthermore, a Bland–Altman analysis for the time period of 100 min led to a difference of the means of 4.3 kcal (limits of agreement: −94.3 and 102.9 kcal) and for the time period of an average of 7 h to −14.0 kcal (limits of agreement: −320.0 and 292.0 kcal). These findings indicate that the kmsMove-sensor is an appropriate measuring device with relatively good accuracy to assess human energy expenditure in rehabilitation patients. However, this study has some limiting aspects (small sample size, artificial setting) which could influence validity.     

Expertentum und eskalierendes Commitment

The present study examines the role of expertise for the escalation of commitment. Subjects were 56 apprentices of the financial services sector and 46 subjects working as first-aid persons. Subjects were confronted with scenarios stemming from both areas of work and they had to decide about the allocation of further financial resources after a failing investment. Commitment was measured through the amount of additional investments. The independent variable ?expertise“ was manipulated by the combination of sample and job-context: Those, who had to decide about further investments in the condition with the scenario stemming from their own area of work, were considered to be experts whereas those who were confronted with the scenario of the unfamiliar work-setting were rated as novices. Results show that escalating commitment was significantly higher for novices than for experts.