Bereavement, gender, and cyberspace: a content analysis of parents' memorials to their children

The study investigated how two distinct perspectives apply to the role of gender in parents' memorials on The Compassionate Friends (TCF) electronic bulletin board; cyberspace as merely a mirror of societal gendered patterns of bereavement, and cyberspace as a medium or context in which societal gendered patterns of bereavement are neutralized. Data were evaluated to determine to what extent gender differences exist concerning instrumental versus intuitive styles of bereavement. Analytic categories used in assessing gender differences in parental bereavement style included the following: invoking spirituality, directing messages to the deceased, artistic expressions, and special powers accorded to the deceased. With some exceptions, the findings supported the perspective emphasizing the gender neutralizing aspects of cyberspace parental bereavement for the population studied.     

The Impact of Product Lifecycle on Capacity Planning of Closed‐Loop Supply Chains with Remanufacturing

Product recovery operations in reverse supply chains face rapidly changing demand due to the increasing number of product offerings with reduced lifecycles. Therefore, capacity planning becomes a strategic issue of major importance for the profitability of closed‐loop supply chains. This work studies a closed‐loop supply chain with remanufacturing and presents dynamic capacity planning policies developed through the methodology of System Dynamics. The key issue of the paper is how the lifecycles and return patterns of various products affect the optimal policies regarding expansion and contraction of collection and remanufacturing capacities. The model can be used to identify effective policies, to conduct various “what‐if” analyses, and to answer questions about the long‐term profitability of reverse supply chains with remanufacturing. The results of numerical examples with quite different lifecycle and return patterns show how the optimal collection expansion/contraction and remanufacturing contraction policies depend on the lifecycle type and the average usage time of the product, while the remanufacturing capacity expansion policy is not significantly affected by these factors. The results also show that the collection and remanufacturing capacity policies are insensitive to the total product demand. The insensitivity of the optimal policies to total demand is a particularly appealing feature of the proposed model, given the difficulty in obtaining accurate demand forecasts.     

Cancer premiums and latency effects: A risk tradeoff approach for valuing reductions in fatal cancer risks

Many studies estimate individuals’ values for avoiding fatality risks; however, most value-of-statistical-life studies focus on accident-related deaths. Consequently, little is known about preferences for avoiding other fatal risks, such as cancer. Cancer may engender strong feelings of dread, leading to a “cancer premium,” but cancer latency periods may have the opposite effect. Using a national survey, we elicit relative preferences for avoiding fatal cancer and auto-accident risks. We find strong preferences for avoiding cancer risks. With a 5-year latency, they are valued roughly three times greater than immediate accident risks, declining to 50% greater for a 25-year latency.

多元文化社会中的宽容精神

全球化时代的国际政治关系的基础仍然是对人性的全面理解 ,这种理解体现为不同文化传统的存在论融通。当代西方哲学用主体性丰富了客体性 ,因此加强了自我认同感和文化认同感。全球时代增进了人们对多元文化的认识 ,宽容成为基本要求。这不仅是认识论任务 ,同时也是要通过对日常生活的反思达至生存的意识。     

Animation in User Interfaces Designed for Decision Support Systems: The Effects of Image Abstraction,Transition, and Interactivity on Decision Quality*

This paper develops the idea of animation in user interfaces designed for decision support systems (DSS), proposes a framework to investigate the efficacy of animation in these interfaces, and reports on a study that examined the effects of properties of animation specified by the framework. Based on a review of selected background literature, principal properties affecting the efficacy of animation in user interfaces designed for DSS are identified and the effects on decision quality of three of these properties are hypothesized. To evaluate these hypotheses, data was collected in a laboratory experiment involving two different tasks. The results for both tasks indicate that animation in user interfaces designed for DSS should employ parallel as opposed to sequential navigation interactivity techniques. The decision quality of subjects that used a parallel navigation technique was significantly greater than that of those that used a sequential navigation interactivity technique. The results regarding the efficacy of image abstraction and transition effects varied by task. For one task, decision quality was significantly greater for subjects that used realistic as opposed to abstract images, but decision quality did not vary by transition effect. For the other task, decision quality was significantly greater for subjects that used gradual as compared to abrupt transition, but image abstraction had no effect on decision quality.     

Capital Budgeting for Volume Flexible Equipment*

Recent advances in technology have created opportunities for firms to invest in expensive automated equipment designed to improve volume flexibility. Such investments are made on the basis that flexibility benefits the firm by increasing managerial control over output, reducing the risk of demand uncertainty, and improving productivity. The presumption is that these benefits will eventually translate to higher cash flows, appreciation in the firm's market value, and better return to shareholders. Yet, there is no managerially useful analytical framework for measuring this relationship. This study develops a model that uses contingent claims analysis to evaluate the effect of volume flexibility on the firm's value and to determine the optimal degree of automation that maximizes share value. The analysis is done by taking into consideration alternative demand characteristics, cost patterns, and the effectiveness of volume flexibility in increasing managerial control over output, reducing the risk of demand uncertainty, and improving productivity.     

Using Model-Based Clustering to Improve Qualitative Inquiry: Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis,Latent Class Analysis,and Interpretive Transparency

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - A combination of computer-aided qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) and latent class analysis (LCA) can substantially...     

A Note on Return on Foreign Assets and Foreign Presence for UK Multinationals*

Within the context of the international business literature on multinationality and performance we develop new data on the foreign presence and performance of large UK multinational enterprises (MNEs). There are 32 UK MNEs for which we can obtain data on both their degree of multinationality (measured by the ratio of foreign to total (F/T) sales) and their performance. Here, in addition to the traditional overall performance of the firm, shown as return on total assets, we use new data on the return on foreign assets (ROFA). We conduct analytical work to show the positioning of the UK MNEs in the ROFA and F/T sales space and provide regression results showing a linear relationship between multinationality and performance, using the new ROFA metric.     

Posterior Odds with a Generalized Hyper-g-Prior

Averaged orthogonal rotations of Zellner's g-prior yield general, interpretable, closed form Bayes factors for the normal linear model variable selection problem. Coupled with a model space prior that balances the weight between the identifiable and the unidentifiable models, limiting forms for the posterior odds ratios are seen to yield new expressions for high dimensional model choice.     

Empirical Bayes estimates for correlated hierarchical data with overdispersion

An extension of the generalized linear mixed model was constructed to simultaneously accommodate overdispersion and hierarchies present in longitudinal or clustered data. This so‐called combined model includes conjugate random effects at observation level for overdispersion and normal random effects at subject level to handle correlation, respectively. A variety of data types can be handled in this way, using different members of the exponential family. Both maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation for covariate effects and variance components were proposed. The focus of this paper is the development of an estimation procedure for the two sets of random effects. These are necessary when making predictions for future responses or their associated probabilities. Such (empirical) Bayes estimates will also be helpful in model diagnosis, both when checking the fit of the model as well as when investigating outlying observations. The proposed procedure is applied to three datasets of different outcome types. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.