Using Automated Emergency Notification Systems to Inform the Public: A Field Experiment

Research and experience have shown that it can be difficult to get citizens to pay attention to risk messages and preparedness information in the absence of an actual emergency. As the use computerized systems that alert the public to hazards by automatically ringing their home phones increases, we thought it important to ask if tests of these "call down" systems can also be used to convey preemergency information. We worked with a local government to add instructions on how to shelter-in-place to the message on a routine test of a call down system. We then surveyed a test group and a control group before and after the test call and a second control group on after the call. The results indicate that the test call raised awareness of the emergency notification system without generating undue concern about the possibility of a chemical accident. Those who received the test call demonstrated significant improvements in their knowledge of how to shelter-in-place while no such improvement was observed in those who did not get the call. While the nature of the sample used in this study limits generalizability, we feel this outcome is positive enough to warrant further exploration of this method of disseminating risk information and preparedness instructions.     

IDPT──一个可互操作的数据库平台

构造可互操作的数据库平台，是目前在计算机网络环境下实现异种数据库互操作性的一种有效途径。数据库互操作性必须提供对远程数据库资源的透明访问，并隐藏异种数据库系统间的差异。按照这样的原则，提出一种基于客户／服务器体系结构来实现可互操作数据库平台的方案。该方案首次将ＯＤＰ的交易技术引入到数据库互操作性的实现中，较好地解决了透明性和可扩展性的问题。文中将主要介绍ＩＤＰＴ的体系结构、交易器的功能、上下文空间及服务代理。     

逆半群上的同余扩张（续）

称半群S的子半群T上的同余pr可以扩张到半群S，如果存在S上的同余ps得到ps｜T=pr,本文在文[1]刻划了半格上的同余在其逆半群上扩张的特征之后，刻划了半路E的同余格与T的完全逆子半群格之间的关系。     

大城市外来农民黑帮化现象的社会学分析——对珠江三角洲S区中湖北帮的个案研究

在社会转型时期,由于公安系统在管理外来农民的权限上缺乏监督机制以及各种政治制度等原因,致使农民工在大城市的利益无法得到保障,而黑帮正好可以提供给外来农民工尤其是从事地下产业的外来农民一种秩序和保障,并带来更大的经济收入.因此我们说外来农民黑帮化是国家正统秩序撤出的结果,黑帮秩序正好填补了政府正统秩序撤出后的空缺,是一种秩序替代模式.     

Latinos and School Vouchers: Testing the “Minority Support” Hypothesis*

Objectives. Voucher proponents, as well as some researchers, argue that minorities and individuals of relatively low socioeconomic status (SES) particularly favor school vouchers. Little work has specifically explored Latino attitudes, with the focus typically on African‐American opinions. This article will therefore examine whether Latinos hold unique attitudes toward vouchers. Methods. Ordinal probit regression analysis of a recent national survey of Latinos, African Americans, and Anglos (non‐Latino whites). Results. In the aggregate, Latinos and African Americans are more likely than Anglos to support vouchers. The Latino population variable is statistically insignificant, however, while the African‐American measure is significant and positive. When the aggregate Latino variable is disaggregated into four major Latino national‐origin groups, Puerto Ricans are shown to hold uniquely favorable opinions about vouchers. In addition, there are no opinion differences by income and education. Conclusions. When Catholicism is taken into account, the voucher opinions of Latinos and Anglos are generally indistinct. This suggests that aggregate Latino support for vouchers may drop if Catholic affiliation further declines.     

浅论社会主义和谐社会的构建

构建社会主义和谐社会,是我们党对执政规律和社会发展规律的深刻认识。构建社会主义和谐社会,必须充分发展市场经济;必须以思想道德建设为其精神支撑;要不断激发创造活力,为人的全面发展创造条件;同时必须保障社会、经济、人口、资源、环境等诸多方面的协调发展。     

Language Games and Natural Reactions

Ludwig Wittgenstein imagines a variety of eccentric social practices—like a tribe trained "to give no expression of feeling of any kind". But he also speaks of "the common behavior of mankind" that is rooted in "natural/primitive reactions". This emphasis on the uniformities of human behavior raises questions about the plausibility of some of his imagined language games. Indeed, it suggests the claim of evolutionary psychologists that there are biologically based human universals that shape social practices. But in contrast to E.O. Wilson's belief that "genes hold culture on a leash", Wittgenstein sees culture as a mediator—rather than a conduit—of "natural reactions". This suggests that social science can incorporate the claims of evolutionary psychology without scanting the centrality of culture in action and allows that nature can be overwhelmed by culture.     

Religion as a Meaning System: Policy Implications for the New Millennium

The development of social policy related to religion has received increasing focus in recent years, yet psychology continues to play a relatively minor role in this important domain. In the current article, religion's positive and negative influences as a meaning system on individual, community, and societal well-being are delineated. The challenges facing psychology in contributing to public policy development in the religious arena are examined, challenges that stem from profound differences in the meaning systems of religion, government, and psychology. These challenges notwithstanding, a number of different pathways in the domains of applied research, community practice, and policy development are delineated through which psychology can help to maximize positive, and minimize negative, outcomes in the religion and social policy arena.     

Beyond attachment theory and therapy: Towards sensitive and evidence-based interventions with foster and adoptive families in distress

Elements of attachment theory have been embraced by practitioners endeavouring to assist foster and adopted children and their parents. Attachment theory articulates the potential risks of experiencing multiple caregivers; emphasizes the importance of close social relationships to development; and recognizes that substitute parents may not always have close relationships with children who have experienced adversities before joining them. Attachment theory offers concerned parents what they believe to be a scientific explanation about their lack of the close, satisfying parent–child relationship they desire. Yet the scientific base of attachment theory is limited both in terms of its ability to predict future behaviours, and especially with regard to its use as the underpinning theory for therapeutic intervention with children experiencing conduct problems. There is a critical need to review the role of attachment theory in child and family services and to consider its place among other explanations for children's disturbing behaviour. An important step towards pursuing alternative approaches is for researchers and practitioners to understand the reasons the attachment paradigm appeals to so many adoptive and foster parents, given the apparent widespread prevalence of attachment‐based interventions. Such understanding might assist in the development of adoption‐sensitive uses of appropriate evidence‐based treatment approaches.     

Habitat equivalency in urban estuaries: An analytical hierarchy process for planning ecological restoration

Ecosystem restoration is critically important in urbanized landscapes because habitat degradation is severe and ubiquitous in such areas. Because successful restoration requires specification of desired environmental endpoints, a generally applicable method for valuing and comparing possible restoration endpoints is needed. One method available for comparative valuation is the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP allows a suite of alternatives to be valued on a rank scale based on simple, tractable, paired comparisons among all alternatives. Given a sound technical foundation for the paired comparisons, the method yields an objective set of rank values. By incorporating the relative values of various restoration alternatives in a restoration scaling evaluation such as a Habitat Equivalency Analysis (HEA), restoration programs can be designed effectively both qualitatively (in terms of the kinds of resources or habitats desired) and quantitatively (in terms of the amounts or areas of each). In this study, we develop and apply AHP in the context of a specimen HEA for US Mid-Atlantic coast estuaries. By ranking various habitat types as potential restoration targets based on their value for a suite of key natural resources, a series of restoration ratios is produced, relating relative habitat areas of each type needed to offset specific impairment levels. These ratios provide a basic tool for restoration planning in urbanized estuaries, as these comprise nearly entirely built environments with little or no natural habitat. Under these conditions, restoration planners must specify desired states of the ecosystem, and the restoration ratios allow various permutations of presumed post-restoration environments to be valued and compared.