Aquatic landscape change,extirpations, and introductions in the Chicago Region

Urban Ecosystems - Prior to European settlement, swamps, marshes, lakes, and streams were the major landscape features of the Chicago region. Much of this has been altered or lost in the past...     

Exploring Similarity and Stability of Differentiation in Relationships: A Dyadic Study of Bowen's Theory

Bowen family systems theory (BFST) identifies differentiation of self as a crucial characteristic that relates to one's individual and relational maturity. Bowen theorizes that an individual's level of differentiation typically remains static over time and that individuals select and pair in relationships with others who have similar levels of differentiation. This study aimed to test the hypotheses of BFST by using components of differentiation of self, emotional reactivity, and emotional cutoff, in dyadic structural equation modeling. Specifically, a longitudinal dyadic confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation longitudinal panel model were two analyses utilized to statistically test the dyadic nonindependence and stability of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff across time. Results indicated mixed support for Bowen's assumptions regarding similarity (nonindependence) and stability. That is, small levels of nonindependence and significant stability paths across time were found. Theoretical implications and considerations for future research are discussed.     

Establishment of risk acceptance criteria using Life Quality Index: Application to the Indian context

The formulation of risk acceptance criteria may be coupled gainfully with a prediction of the of investment required to comply with it, an exercise which can benefit from the application of socioeconomic indicators. The Life Quality Index (LQI) is one such indicator which amalgamates human mortality and wealth creation and places an implicit economic value on reduction of life risk. While there have been a number of studies to demonstrate the application of LQI pertaining to various technological systems, the present work extends it to estimate the sectoral level investment needed to reduce public risks to within the As Low As Reasonably Predictable region for the chemical industry, with specific illustration of the methodology for India. The potential reduction in public individual risk is computed as a function of percentage increase in safety investment expressed as a fraction of the industry's contribution to the nation's GDP. In addition, using a new, more accurate expression, estimates of a related parameter, the implied cost of averting a fatality (ICAF), are obtained for a number of developed economies and India. The ICAF estimates show reasonable agreement with the value of statistical life (VSL), a parameter which is integral to cost-benefit analysis of safety and environmental regulations.     

On the structure of minimal winning coalitions in simple voting games

According to Coleman’s index of collective power, a decision rule that generates a larger number of winning coalitions imparts the collectivity a higher a priori power to act. By the virtue of the monotonicity conditions, a decision rule is totally characterized by the set of minimal winning coalitions. In this paper, we investigate the structure of the families of minimal winning coalitions corresponding to maximal and proper simple voting games (SVG). We show that if the proper and maximal SVG is swap robust and all the minimal winning coalitions are of the same size, then the SVG is a specific (up to an isomorphism) system. We also provide examples of proper SVGs to show that the number of winning coalitions is not monotone with respect to the intuitively appealing system parameters like the number of blockers, number of non-dummies or the size of the minimal blocking set.     

Dictatorship on top-circular domains

We consider domains with a natural property called top-circularity. We show that if such a domain satisfies either the maximal conflict property or the weak conflict property, then it is dictatorial. We obtain the result in Sato (Rev Econ Des 14(3):331–342, 2010) as a corollary. Furthermore, it follows from our results that the union of a single-peaked domain and a single-dipped domain (with respect to a given ordering over the alternatives) is dictatorial.     

North Americans' Attitudes Toward Illegal Drugs

Public opinion polls conducted from 1969 to 2003 found a variety of opinions on the use, possession, and legalization of marijuana. Public opinion about legalizing marijuana use is increasing, but it is also increasing toward harsher penalties for those who possess a small amount of marijuana. Public opinion regarding the legalization of illegal drugs appears to be influenced by the times. The majority of Americans increasingly believe that the country has made some progress in dealing with the problems of illegal drugs, but Americans are also reporting more difficulty within their families related to marijuana. This article examines trends based in public opinion polls on the use of marijuana in the United States and Canada and discusses the social and political history of marijuana and the biophysical effects, medical uses, definitions, and previous research related to marijuana.