Developing a Subject-Derived Terminology to Describe Perceptions of Chemicals in Foods

Risk perception may be influenced by a number of factors, such as unfamiliarity, lack of control, perceived consequences, and hazards being seen as catastrophic and having risk for future generations. Risk perception researchers have typically used such investigator-selected characteristics to assess hazards. In the first study reported here, the repertory grid method was used to elicit the terminology that subjects ( n = 30) use to distinguish between 30 different chemicals. The data were submitted to generalized Procrustes analysis. The first principal axis of the resulting consensus plot separated the chemicals ranging from "poisonous or toxic,""harmful or dangerous," and "sounds negative" at one end, to "positive effect on health,""often present in food nowadays," and "sounds positive" at the other end. The second principal axis ranged from "familiar with or knowledge of" and "chemical" to "natural." A second study ( n = 226) was carried out to look at the general validity of the results of the repertory grid interviews using a fixed questionnaire. The data were submitted to principal components analysis and internal preference mapping. The first principal component ranged from "safe" and "healthy" at one end, to "poisonous" and "harmful" at the other end. The chemicals also separated in terms of "familiar,""chemical," and "natural." All three methods of data collection and analysis yield essentially similar results.     

中国小康社会建设40年：历程、经验与展望

"小康"目标是邓小平同志在1979年12月会见来华访问的前日本首相大平正芳时第一次正式提出来的,至今已整整40年。40年的小康社会建设是贯穿中国改革开放全过程的主旋律。本文站在全面建成小康社会收官之年的历史节点,梳理回顾了40年来小康社会建设从目标提出到全面建成的4次历史性飞跃,将小康社会建设的成功经验总结为始终坚持党的集中统一领导、始终坚持以人民为中心的发展思想、始终坚持经济发展在各项事业中的基础性地位、始终坚持循序渐进的目标导向、始终坚持改革开放的根本途径。2020年将开始实施"十四五"规划并进入全面建设社会主义现代化国家的新时期,应继续发扬小康社会建设的成功经验,用"发展"提供现代化建设的不竭动力,用"改革"破除现代化进程的艰难险阻,用"全面"引领现代化道路的前进方向,用"质量"设定现代化水平的更高目标,用"美丽"扮靓现代化中国的国际形象。     

The semantic distinction between "risk" and "danger": a linguistic analysis

The analysis combines frame semantic and corpus linguistic approaches in analyzing the role of agency and decision making in the semantics of the words "risk" and "danger" (both nominal and verbal uses). In frame semantics, the meanings of "risk" and of related words, such as "danger," are analyzed against the background of a specific cognitive-semantic structure (a frame) comprising frame elements such as Protagonist, Bad Outcome, Decision, Possession, and Source. Empirical data derive from the British National Corpus (100 million words). Results indicate both similarities and differences in use. First, both "risk" and "danger" are commonly used to represent situations having potential negative consequences as the result of agency. Second, "risk" and "danger," especially their verbal uses (to risk, to endanger), differ in agent-victim structure, i.e., "risk" is used to express that a person affected by an action is also the agent of the action, while "endanger" is used to express that the one affected is not the agent. Third, "risk," but not "danger," tends to be used to represent rational and goal-directed action. The results therefore to some extent confirm the analysis of "risk" and "danger" suggested by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. As a point of discussion, the present findings arguably have implications for risk communication.     

The Weakest Link: Demonstrating the Inconsistency of "Appropriate Levels of Protection" in Australia-Salmon

In Australia-Salmon, the WTO Appellate Body found Australia to be in violation of the WTO SPS Agreement based on the inconsistency of the "appropriate level of protection" underlying various SPS measures. Article 5.5 of the SPS Agreement prohibits arbitrary or unjustifiable distinctions in "appropriate levels of protection" if such distinctions result in discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade. In Australia-Salmon, Canada challenged Australia's import ban on salmon. Australia permitted the entry of other fish products that were known to host some of the same diseases cited by Australia in justifying its salmon import ban. The distinction in the "appropriate levels of protection" between Australia's regulation of salmon and its treatment of these other fish products was found to be "arbitrary or unjustified" and to have "resulted in a restriction on international trade."Australia-Salmon was the first WTO decision to find an Article 5.5 violation. Canada successfully made a "weakest link" argument to undercut Australia's regulatory justification. The decision rests on the relationship between the risk purportedly justifying the salmon import ban and the risk seemingly ignored in Australia's treatment of other fish products-the regulatory "situations" compared concerned the identical pathogens with the identical potential consequences. As such, Australia-Salmon may be an example of a category of regulatory "chains" that are peculiarly exposed to Article 5.5 challenge. In responding to the Appellate Body's ruling, Australia reduced its limits on salmon and imposed new restrictions on the other fish products. The outcome suggests that a challenge of one SPS measure under Article 5.5 may lead to the imposition of new restrictions on other imported products-an unexpected result for the free trade regime.     

Codes of conduct in Hong Kong organisations

This paper first reviews the literature on the role of codes of conduct for organisations in Hong Kong in their attempts to manage increasingly complex ethical problems and issues. It shows that, although valuable foundations exist upon which to build, research and understanding of the subject is at it's embryonic stage. Social Psychology literature is examined to investigate what lessons those concerned with the study of ethics may learn and the work of Hofstede, as seminal in the area of work-related values, is emphasised in this context.Following Hofstede's proposals for strategies for operationalizing¹ constructs about human values, a content analysis² was conducted on a pilot sample of codes provided by Hong Kong organisations. The results show three clearly identified clusters of organisations with common formats. The first group, described as Foreign Legal, emphasises legal compliance, has criteria for invoking penalties and consists of foreign-owned, large multinational organisations. Companies in the second cluster have codes which, except in the case of a couple of larger organisations, mainly follow the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) standard format. The third cluster, described as the Bank Network, also appear to largely conform to a format: the Hong Kong Banking Association's guidelines.Further analysis conducted here of the Hong Kong codes indicates the important role of emic teleological values³, such as trust and reputation, amongst indigenous organisations, rather than the amorality suggested by an earlier study (Dolecheck and Bethke, 1990). These results support the proposition that Hong Kong ethical perspectives are culture bound⁴, as there appear to be different emphases than revealed in an American study (Stevens, 1994), which identified an emphasis in the US codes upon introverted organisational issues and a failure to espouse deontological values⁵.The conclusion is that designing a research programme on business values in Hong Kong requires reference to studies of values in cross-cultural psychology generally and to Hofstede's work in particular. It also supports the need for indigenous research and models in this field which avoid the ethnocentrism inherent in much Western theory and research.     

Mixed Messages in Risk Communication

The exchange of risk information between risk managers and affected parties is frequently hampered by differences in the understanding or interpretation of many words and phrases. Much of the terminology used by risk practitioners may have different "technical" and "colloquial" meanings, resulting in "mixed messages" in risk communication. Several words and concepts commonly used in risk management that may be resulting in these "mixed messages" are discussed. These include primary underlying concepts, such as the various meanings of the word "risk" itself, as well as the perplexity of the notions of "safety vs. zero risk" and "probability". The potential "mixed messages" of the derived concepts of "significant vs. nonsignificant", "negative vs. positive results", "conservative assumptions", "population vs. individual risk", "relative vs. absolute risk", and "association vs. causation" are shown to range from mild confusion to the completely opposite interpretation of these words and expressions. Suggested strategies for recognizing and mitigating the use of words and phrases which may create unnecessary confusion are presented.     

企业技术联盟与一类“产学研”合作技术创新模式选择研究

面向创新网络,将企业间与"产学研"合作创新模式进行统一考虑,建立了企业技术联盟和一类"产学研"合作技术创新模式选择动态博弈模型。在投入规模、投入比例、产品价格与创新利润等均衡变量的基础上,分析了企业间、企业-高校间资源共享进行合作研发的条件:探讨"产学研-集成创新模式"下技术许可与合资企业2种模式的有效选择问题:研究了由企业联合体模式向"产学研-集成创新模式"进行演化的过程及条件。     

“直面中国管理实践”的根本性问题与作为“系统反思”的元管理研究

"直面中国管理实践"的根本性问题包括:何谓中国、如何认识、怎样直面、西方管理理论能不能"直面中国管理实践"以及是否存在"中国特色的管理理论"。为了回应这些问题,中国管理学术界需要将目前片段式的、有感而发的、单一视角的反思推进到理性的、多视角的、系统化的反思阶段。这些系统的反思可以称之为"元管理研究"。元管理研究的问题可分为管理本体论问题、管理认识论问题和管理方法论问题。虽然元管理研究并不能给这些问题提供现成的答案,但它通过更深入地指出这些问题的来源促使人们不断接近问题的本质。     

Examining the link between social responsibility and decision styles

The paper examines the factors that influence socially responsible decision making by individuals. The study found four social responsibility styles: Playing it Safe, Weather The Storm, Problem to Solve, and Hope it Goes Away. These styles describe individuals on the basis of decision style, propensity for risk, and coping style. The styles explain why people with different values might come to the same decision in the same circumstances.     

Context in the Risk Assessment of Digital Systems

As the use of digital computers for instrumentation and control of safety-critical systems has increased, there has been a growing debate over the issue of whether probabilistic risk assessment techniques can be applied to these systems. This debate has centered on the issue of whether software failures can be modeled probabilistically. This paper describes a context-based approach to software risk assessment that explicitly recognizes the fact that the behavior of software is not probabilistic. The source of the perceived uncertainty in its behavior results from both the input to the software as well as the application and environment in which the software is operating. Failures occur as the result of encountering some context for which the software was not properly designed, as opposed to the software simply failing randomly. The paper elaborates on the concept of error-forcing context as it applies to software. It also illustrates a methodology which utilizes event trees, fault trees, and the Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology (DFM) to identify error-forcing contexts for software in the form of fault tree prime implicants.     

Total System Performance Assessment for Waste Disposal Using a Logic Tree Approach

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has sponsored the development of a model to assess the long-term, overall performance of the candidate spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The model simulates the processes that lead to HLW container corrosion, HLW mobilization from the spent fuel, and transport by groundwater, and contaminated groundwater usage by future hypothetical individuals leading to radiation doses to those individuals. The model must incorporate a multitude of complex, coupled processes across a variety of technical disciplines. Furthermore, because of the very long time frames involved in the modeling effort (10⁴ years), the relative lack of directly applicable data, and many uncertainties and variabilities in those data, a probabilistic approach to model development was necessary. The developers of the model chose a logic tree approach to represent uncertainties in both conceptual models and model parameter values. The developers felt the logic tree approach was the most appropriate. This paper discusses the value and use of logic trees applied to assessing the uncertainties in HLW disposal, the components of the model, and a few of the results of that model. The paper concludes with a comparison of logic trees and Monte Carlo approaches.     

Options in Radioactive Waste Management Revisited: A Proposed Framework for Robust Decision Making

Deregulation, with concurrent pressure on electricity utilities, has fundamentally changed the once-"closed" radioactive waste management system controlled by the so-called "nuclear establishment." Advocacy coalitions may change-who knows in which direction-but policy learning may also take place. This article presents a framework to evaluate the management options for a specified concept of "sustainability." When weighing the different objectives in view of the long-lasting potential danger of radiotoxic substances, the overall goal of a sound waste management system is to demonstrate safety. The first-priority objective of a disposal system, therefore, is its stability so that it can comply with the protection goal, that is, the long-term protection of humans and the environment from ionizing radiation. The complementary objective is flexibility, defined here as intervention potential. Because trade-offs within the "sustainability triangle" of ecology, economy, and society are unavoidable, the concept of "integral robustness"-both technical and societal-is introduced into radioactive waste management. A system is robust if it is not sensitive to significant parameter changes. In the present case, it has to have a conservative, passively stable design with built-in control and intervention mechanisms. With regard to technical implementation, a concept called "monitored long-term geological disposal" is presented. Such an "extended" final disposal concept emphasizes technical robustness, recognizes evaluation demands (for a potential break-off of a project), and enhances process-based transparency. This open approach admittedly sets high challenges with regard to technicalities as well as the institutional setting and the management process. It requires "mutual learning" by and from all stakeholders to achieve a truly sustainable radioactive waste management system.     

建立“世界级企业”：优势、路径与战略选择

针对中国企业提高国际竞争力的问题,运用"世界级企业"的概念和企业国际化战略的相关理论,分析中国企业建立国际竞争优势的战略实践,提出中国发展世界级企业的必要性,阐述了中国企业成为"世界级企业"所具有的国家特有优势和需要建立的企业特有优势,指出了成为"世界级企业"的路径与战略选择。"世界级企业"概念的提出及其对相关问题的阐述,不仅为中国企业构建国际竞争优势提供思路和借鉴,而且也是对中国特色的国际化战略理论的深化和发展。     

Mind Engineering for Value-Based Order

This paper tries to trace the background of the modern business paradigm. A business mind dominating the social mind has been the root cause of unethicality in an order, according to this paper. The solution could come from the liberation of the social mind through a process of mind engineering at the individual level. The paper suggests an active mechanism to inculcate values through a systematic process of mind engineering.     

Leadership styles,Machiavellianism, and needs of Saudi Arabian managers

The findings indicated that the economic environment and the cultural and religious orientations of managers in Saudi Arabia significantly influenced their scores on Machiavellianism and the relationships between their needs and leadership styles. In comparison to the U.S. norms the Saudi Arabian managers were found to be lower on Machiavellianism. Need for achievement was found to be positively related to need for power and structure dimension of leadership. The findings also showed Machiavellianism to be positively related to need for power and negatively related to consideration dimension of leadership. The findings are discussed in the context of a fast-growing economy and a highly religious and a traditional society.     

Scientific Peer Review to Inform Regulatory Decision Making: Leadership Responsibilities and Cautions

The article offers insights on the peer-review process as it relates to scientific and technical reports used to inform regulatory decisions. Used effectively, peer review is a powerful tool for advising organizational leaders whether the scientific foundations of their decisions can be expected to withstand scrutiny as rule-making products move through interagency reviews, public comment and stakeholder processes, congressional oversight, and judicial review. The emphasis is "heads up" rather than "how to." That is, without delving into myriad technical and administrative details, the discussion highlights nine fundamental "leadership responsibilities" that determine the nature and course of peer review.     

Managerial prerogatives,employee expectations,and property rights in job security: Institutionalizing the “new equity”

Changes in the structure and provisions of the employment relationship create substantial challenges for the management community. The employer-manager's traditional prerogatives to terminate at will are being eroded in response to changing socioeconomic values that recognize the emergence of an employee's reasonable expectations of job security. The United States lags far behind the international community in protecting these expectations. The authors survey the erosion of the employment-at-will doctrine, and review the concepts of corporate due process and property rights relating to employment. To ensure the institutionalization of this new equity, the authors call on the management community to take the initiative in crafting progressive legislation that strikes a sensible balance between managerial prerogatives and employee expectations of job security.     

产品服务供应链的“双重收益共享”合作机制

产品与服务融合缓解了"供需错位"矛盾，使得产品服务供应链探索成为"供给侧结构性改革"下供需结构性匹配的重要路径。本文刻画产品服务视角下供应链组织结构的本质特征，构建产品服务供应链合作模型，探讨合作机制下"帕累托改进"区间存在性，揭示合作机制对产品服务供应链效率的作用机理。核心研究发现：供应链多元化组织结构加剧收益分配冲突，并导致服务规模与供应链效率"倒挂"现象，而合作机制下"双重收益共享"合作模型能提升产品服务供应链效率。     

Mixed Levels of Uncertainty in Complex Policy Models

The characterization and treatment of uncertainty poses special challenges when modeling indeterminate or complex coupled systems such as those involved in the interactions between human activity, climate and the ecosystem. Uncertainty about model structure may become as, or more important than, uncertainty about parameter values. When uncertainty grows so large that prediction or optimization no longer makes sense, it may still be possible to use the model as a behavioral test bed to examine the relative robustness of alternative observational and behavioral strategies. When models must be run into portions of their phase space that are not well understood, different submodels may become unreliable at different rates. A common example involves running a time stepped model far into the future. Several strategies can be used to deal with such situations. The probability of model failure can be reported as a function of time. Possible alternative surprises can be assigned probabilities, modeled separately, and combined. Finally, through the use of subjective judgments, one may be able to combine, and over time shift between models, moving from more detailed to progressively simpler order-of-magnitude models, and perhaps ultimately, on to simple bounding analysis.     

聚焦活动与企业价值之关系——从公司治理机制探讨

本研究系探讨企业聚焦活动宣告对股票报酬之影响,采用1993年至2002年间33家台湾上市上柜公司宣告聚焦活动为研究对象,并以事件研究法市场模型为分析工具,同时以复回归方法从公司治理角度去探讨影响累积异常报酬之因素。研究结果发现,企业聚焦之宣告可获得显著且正向累积异常报酬;而董事会规模、上一年多角化程度以及研究发展费用等因素与累积异常报酬呈正相关。然而,大股东持股比率与累积异常报酬呈负相关。