Research utilization: Reaching decision makers

“Is anyone listening?” is the question behind a decade of radio probing of deep space. It is also the question which haunts many researchers of social policy issues. We introduce our subject with a recent example of a clear response to a research “probe” in youth services policy space. It is also an unusually successful case of researchers “reaching” policy makers.     

Nonverbal communication: Toward syntax,by way of semantics

The identification of syntactical rules that govern nonverbal communication in humans and the determination of its semantic rules has often been viewed by researchers as two separate issues. In the present paper we depart from this traditional approach by studying the relationship among various nonverbal channels through their meaning. We propose that the functions which relate behavior to meaning are undulatory, and each is characterized by a different number of bending points. Supportive results of preliminary empirical testing are reported. Implications for cross-cultural research, development and psychopathology are discussed.The authors thank Sandra Tunis for her suggestions and Clara Mayo for her comments, as well as anonymous reviewers of this journal.     

Contraceptive sterilization in the U. S.: 1965 and 1970

There was an impressive increase between 1965 and 1970 in the prevalence of contraceptive sterilization, an increase that accelerated in the later years of the period and was shared in by virtually all subgroups considered. Among couples in 1970 for whom sterilization had been an option (recognizing that it is a terminal method), about one of every five had chosen this method of contraception. About half of all sterilizations were vasectomies, though vasectomies have outnumbered tubal ligations in recent years. Differentials in prevalence and in increases during 1965–1970 are reported for a number of life-cycle and social variables. In addition, a profile of the contraceptive sterile is presented for recent sterilizations. Significant proportions are relatively young and of low parity at the time of sterilization. In the context of the continued diffusion of the pill and IUD and increases in legal abortion, the net demographic effect of increasing sterilization is regarded as low, though sterilization is an important component of an effective fertility control regime.     

The consequences of being clever

The consequences of being clever     

The changing character of stepfamilies: implications of cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing

Divorce, nonmarital childbearing, and cohabitation are reshaping family experience in the United States. Because of these changes, our traditional definitions of families decreasingly capture the social units of interest. We have noted how a significant proportion of officially defined single-parent families actually are two-parent unmarried families. The present paper expands on this perspective with respect to stepfamilies. We must broaden our definition of stepfamilies to include cohabitations involving a child of only one partner, and must recognize the large role of nonmarital childbearing in the creation of stepfamilies. We find that cohabitation and nonmarital childbearing have been important aspects of stepfamily experience for at least two decades, and that this is increasingly so. To define stepfamilies only in terms of marriage clearly underestimates both the level and the trend in stepfamily experience: when cohabitation is taken into account, about two-fifths of all women and 30% of all children are likely to spend some time in a stepfamily.     

在科学研究和生物制药学系统中实现可追踪的气体流量监测与控制

科学和制药进展方面越来越多的研究都依赖于对细胞生长和复杂生化反应的了解和控制。在以上过程中实现气体精确和可追踪的监测和控制很有必要。对诸如二氧化碳、氮气、空气等气体的测定与控制已经可以通过一个简单的可变截面流量计成功实现。但可变截面流量计在精确度、可追踪性和最大允许压力等方面仍然具有明显的局限性。本文所介绍的热式质量流量计和控制系统为流量测定和控制提供了更高的准确度和直接的可追溯性,且此准确度和追溯性几乎不受压力和温度变化的影响。     

No-betting Pareto under ambiguity

It has been argued that Pareto-improving trade is not as compelling under uncertainty as it is under certainty. The former may involve agents with different beliefs, who might wish to execute trades that are no more than betting. In response, the concept of no-betting Pareto dominance was introduced, requiring that putative Pareto improvements must be rationalizable by some common probabilities, even though the participants’ beliefs may differ. In this paper, we argue that this definition might be too narrow for use when agents are not Bayesian. Agents who face ambiguity might wish to trade in ways that can be justified by common ambiguity, though not necessarily by common probabilities. We accordingly extend the notion of no-betting Pareto dominance to characterize trades than are “no-betting Pareto” ranked according to the maxmin expected utility model.

     

DISAGGREGATION IN MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS: SURVEY OF PROBLEMS AND RESEARCH

This paper addresses a class of problems, referred to as “disaggregation problems,” which lie between planning at the top level and the more detailed decisions of inventory control and scheduling at the bottom level. Most real-world problems are sufficiently complex to warrant a sequential or top-down approach to problem solving. However, researchers have paid scant attention to disaggregation until very recently. The resulting lack of an interfacing mechanism diminishes the utility of solution procedures for aggregate planning, inventory control, and scheduling. In order to draw attention to this gap, a taxonomy of disaggregation problems is developed for both manufacturing and service organizations. The purpose is to identify and classify problems, describe representative research, and identify unresolved issues.