Nullified equal loss property and equal division values

We provide characterizations of the equal division values and their convex mixtures, using a new axiom on a fixed player set based on player nullification which requires that if a player becomes null, then any two other players are equally affected. Two economic applications are also introduced concerning bargaining under risk and common-pool resource appropriation.     

Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Options in Canada

This article examines the role of public opinion in Canada'sattempt to lessen its dependence on the United States and seekcloser ties with European and Asian countries. Employing nationalsurvey data collected over a three-year period, the authorsargue that widespread public support for new directions in foreignpolicy has not developed in Canada in spite of the climate ofincreasing nationalism and the shift in government policy. Attitudestoward the problem of foreign investment, domestic economicissues, trade agreements, and Canadian participation in internationalpeacekeeping forces are also reported.     

Do Infants Recognize Engagement in Social Interactions? The Case of Face‐to‐Face Conversation

This study explores 12‐month‐olds' understanding of face‐to‐face conversation, a key contextual structure associated with engagement in a social interaction. Using a violation‐of‐expectations paradigm, we habituated infants to a “face‐to‐face” conversation, and in a test phase compared their looking times between “back‐to‐back” (conceptually novel) and “face‐to‐face” (conceptually familiar) conversations, while simultaneously manipulating perceptual familiarity in a 2 × 2 factorial design. We also analyzed dynamic changes in pupil dilation, which are considered a reliable measure of cognitive load that may index processing of social interactions. Infants looked relatively longer at perceptual changes (new speaker positions) but not at conceptual change (back‐to‐back conversation), suggesting that face‐to‐face conversation may not elicit particular expectations, and so may not carry any particular conceptual significance. Moreover, on the first test trial, larger pupil dilation was observed for familiar conditions, suggesting that familiarity with perceptual features could enhance processing of conversations. Thus, this study undermines assertions regarding infants' conceptual understanding of the social signals underlying engagement. Infants may rather recognize such signals through their perceptual familiarity and associated positive feelings. This may then increase their engagement when observing and participating in others' collaborative activities, in turn allowing for the development of knowledge regarding others' intentions.     

Régionalisation des transports collectifs : la fabrication d’une réforme « consensuelle »

Public transit is now a major power exercised by regions in France. The regionalization of public transportation, which started in the early 1980s, is analyzed in relation to a new pattern of major players, namely: the central government, local authorities and the French national railway system (SNCF). This pattern has emerged as a compromise, has gradually been worked out between two rationales: the one advocating a revival of local rail services; and the other, the preservation of funding by the state and the SNCF. Arising out of a work of mediation and out of strategies for enlisting reformers (mainly among politicians and from the SNCF) into a coalition, this compromise has bought about an ambiguous consensus among elected officials from left- and right-wing parties, executives from the SNCF, elected regional officials and representatives of railway workers who do not all share a priori either the same interests or the same conception of the general interest.     

“Let Us Continue Free as the Air”: Truthfully Reconciling Social Work Education to Indigenous Lands

ABSTRACT

Social work is being challenged to situate its theories and practice within the lands it finds itself on in North America. This article considers the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls for change from the perspective of how social workers are educated in relation to land, from Indigenous views on its colonial conversions to the land’s role in healing. The discussion is grounded in a course I teach on Reconciliation and Indigenous-Social Work Relations on the Haudenosaunee lands of the Grand River in Ontario. Social work students consider their vocation in relation to a truth-telling process that is a first step for reconciling with Indigenous nations and land. The article concludes with general implications for social work educators.     

THE INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION OF PRODUCTIVITY AND DEMAND SHOCKS IN THE US ECONOMY

This paper analyzes the cross‐country effects of productivity and demand disturbances in the United States identified with sign restrictions based on standard theory. Productivity gains in US manufacturing increase US consumption and investment vis‐à‐vis foreign countries, resulting in a trade deficit and higher international prices of US goods, despite the rise in their supply. Financial adjustment works via a higher global value of US equities, real dollar appreciation, and an expansion of US gross foreign liabilities as well as assets. Positive demand shocks to US manufacturing also increase investment and cause a real dollar appreciation, but have limited effects on the trade balance and net foreign assets. Our findings emphasize the importance for macroeconomic interdependence of endogenous fluctuations in aggregate demand across countries in response to business cycle shocks.     

Physiologically-Based Pharmacokinetic Modeling of a Mixture of Toluene and Xylene in Humans

A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model for a mixture of toluene (TOL) and xylene (XYL), developed and validated in the rat, was used to predict the uptake and disposition kinetics of TOL/XYL mixture in humans. This was accomplished by substituting the rat physiological parameters and the blood:air partition coefficient with those of humans, scaling the maximal velocity for hepatic metabolism on the basis of body weight^0.75, and keeping all other model parameters species-invariant. The human TOL/XYL mixture PBPK model, developed based on the quantitative biochemical mechanism of interaction elucidated in the rat (i.e., competitive metabolic inhibition), simulated adequately the kinetics of TOL and XYL during combined exposures in humans. The simulations with this PBPK model indicate that an eight hour co-exposure to concentrations that remain within the current threshold limit values of TOL (50 ppm) and XYL (100 ppm) would not result in significant pharmacokinetic interferences, thus implying that data on biological monitoring of worker exposure to these solvents would be unaffected during co-exposures.