Maximum likelihood approach to vote aggregation with variable probabilities

The Condorcet-Kemeny-Young statistical approach to vote aggregation is based on the assumption that voters have the same probability of comparing correctly two alternatives and that this probability is the same for any pair of alternatives. We relax the second part of this assumption by letting the probability of comparing correctly two alternatives be increasing with the distance between two alternatives in the allegedly true ranking. This leads to a rule in which the majority in favor of one alternative against another one is given a larger weight the larger the distance between the two alternatives in the true ranking, i.e., the larger the probability that the voters compare them correctly. This rule is not Condorcet consistent and does not satisfy local independence of irrelevant alternatives. Yet, it is anonymous, neutral, and paretian. It also appears that its performance in selecting the alternative most likely to be the best improves with the rate at which the probability increases.We would like to thank Michel Le Breton for his encouragement to examine this question and for his comments, as well as Philippe De Donder, Jean-Yves Duclos, Stephen Gordon, Cyril Téjédo and an anonymous referee for their comments.     

Awareness Promotion About Excessive Gambling Among Video Lottery Retailers

This paper describes and evaluates “As luck would have it,” an awareness program completed by retailers in Quebec Province. This program, which is presented as a two-hour awareness promotion workshop, aimed to inform retailers about excessive gambling. More specifically, it provided answers to the following questions: (1) What is chance and randomness? (2) Is there a link between misunderstanding the concept of chance and excessive gambling? (3) How does one recognise the symptoms of this disorder? (4) How should retailers intervene if they decide to do so? Results showed that retailers developed a better understanding of problem gambling, could recognise its main symptoms, felt more capable of coping with excessive gamblers, and of choosing the most appropriate moment to do so. In the follow-up phase, retailers who had attended the workshop reported that they approached a problem gambler significantly more often than the retailers who had not attended the workshop, and had discussed how to help problem gamblers significantly more often. The practical implications of these results are briefly discussed.     

Age,religious beliefs,and sexual attitudes

Age effects on sexual attitudes were examined using the Hendrick and Hendrick (1987a) Sexual Attitude Scale. The study was cross-sectional, including people from various age groups, from young adults to older adults. The religious beliefs variable, which covaries substantially both with age and sexual attitudes, was controlled. Three main questions guided the study: (a) Is the four-factor structure (Permissiveness, Instrumentality, Communion, and Sexual Practices) previously identified in a sample of young students able to accurately account for data gathered over a full range of adult ages, (b) are older adults much less permissive and less instrumentalist than young people, and (c) to what extent are believers less permissive and instrumentalist than young people when age is taken into account? Factor analyses showed that at least five correlated factors were needed to account for the data; the fourth factor, Sexual Practices, divided itself into two distinct factors: Pleasure and Responsibility. Older adults and believers were shown to be less permissive than young people and nonbelievers, and this result held regardless of the participants educational level. As regards to instrumentality, however, the pattern of differences was extremely complex.     

论闻一多文艺思想的嬗变

闻一多在其早期受西方济慈等人的影响 ,认为“以美为艺术之核心” ,主张“纯艺术的艺术”并“纳诗于艺术之轨” ,坚持“做”诗并倡导诗歌的“三美”。然而随着那“不是混着好玩”岁月的流逝并亲身体验“生活的严重”后 ,他转而重视诗的社会价值并彻底摒弃了“唯美主义”的价值取向而站在人民的立场上呼唤“时代的鼓手”。文艺观由“艺术为艺术”变为“艺术为人生” ,从誓做“艺术的忠臣”到成为“人民的忠臣” ,我们在其文艺思想的嬗变过程中 ,看到了社会存在对社会意识的决定作用。     

The dynamics of the population sex ratio in India, 1971-96

This paper reconstructs the trend in the population sex ratio in India between 1971 ad 1996 from available information on changes in sex differentials in mortality in the country since the beginning of the century. It is estimated that, although the mortality of females relative to that of males in India has improved since 1968, the population sex ratio increased between 1971 and 1981, stayed constant between 1981 and 1991, and started to decrease only after 1991. This implies that the recorded decrease and increase in the periods 1971-81 and 1981-91 respectively were both spurious and were the results of undercounts of females in 1971 and 1991. Another implication of this finding is that, owing to the lagged effect of past mortality on current trends in the population sex ratio, this ratio is a bad proxy for use in the study of changes in differential mortality by sex.     

Upper Bounds for the SPOT 5 Daily Photograph Scheduling Problem

This paper introduces tight upper bounds for the daily photograph scheduling problem of earth observation satellites. These bounds, which were unavailable until now, allow us to assess the quality of the heuristic solutions obtained previously. These bounds are obtained with a partition-based approach following the divide and pas conquer principle. Dynamic programming and tabu search are conjointly used in this approach. We present also simplex-based linear programming relaxation and a relaxed knapsack approach for the problem.     

Social dynamics of the multicultural classroom

Instruction and learning are socially determined activities, where social forces such as classroom atmosphere, social feelings, cultural sentiments, prejudice and stereotyping, interpersonal relations and expectations, as well as the reflection of social reality in subject matter all have a significant influence on the effectiveness of teaching and learning. The effective "multicultural" teacher has to be concerned about each individual student, and also be sensitive to the group and cultural affiliations of each of his or her students. Intercultural relations in the classroom may be a source of knowledge and mutual enrichment between culturally diverse learners if managed proactively by teachers. Frustration, misapprehensions and intercultural conflict are a more likely outcome if teachers do not deal with diversity in a sensitive manner.     

满铁“附属地”“除队兵”移民述论

20世纪初 ,日、俄为争夺中国东北展开了一场激烈的战争。最终 ,俄国以中国的利益为代价 ,暂时满足了日本的扩张野心 ,将俄国在中国东北南部的一切权益 ,未经中国政府同意 ,私下转让给日本。战后 ,日本在中国东北成立了“南满洲铁道株式会社”(简称满铁 )。满铁在对中国进行政治、经济侵略的同时 ,并在其“附属地”内推行“除队兵”移民侵略计划 ,以期达到壮大日本在中国东北的实力 ,抵御俄国的战略目的。但事与愿违 ,由于满铁决策者们的盲目求成 ,移民者的经营不善和厌恶农耕 ,使得满铁“附属地”的“除队兵”移民仅仅推行了 4年时间就以失败而告终     

Is the Way Young People Drive a Reflection of the Way Their Parents Drive? An Econometric Study of the Relation Between Parental Risk and Their Children's Risk

This article aims to investigate parental influence on high-risk behavior by young people. Although research on the topic of perception of risk demonstrates that it is socially constructed, the role of the family in this construction has rarely been studied. Using a French national survey of more than 1,200 young drivers between the ages of 18 and 25, and their parents, we attempt to understand the transmission of risk within families. Our econometric study shows that parents influence both the practices and representations of their children. When parental norms and values are transmitted, they are by no means accepted in a wholly passive way. Indeed, the parental model is in competition with other models that originate from both inside the family (brothers and sisters) and outside it (instructors). Furthermore, parental influence decreases over time as young people become more experienced drivers and construct their own identity with regard to risk.     

汉英广告翻译的策略与方法

商业广告以促销作为存在的唯一目的。译者在汉语商业广告英译时应当以“功能相似 ,效果相当”为标准 ,根据“强化功能、突出效果、大胆创新”的策略原则 ,使用“删、留、补、掉”四种方法 ,灵活机动地对原文进行大刀阔斧的调整 ,使其符合西方消费者的口味和购买心理 ,以实现最佳的促销效果