Time,Rank, and Social Control*

Members of organizations treat time as something and scarce that may be possessed and traded and that is repeatedly the object of contracts. Observations in hospital Intensive Care Units show both formal patterns of greater time advantage for those of high rank and informal patterns of renegotiation and manipulation of time. Organizations can examine informal time use by members and select and promote those who willingly put in time for the organization. Putting in extra time for others can be used as an indicator of attitudinal conformity, which helps the organization assure behavioral compliance by the higher ranked, who are typically in less observable positions.     

海峡西岸社会主义新农村规划与实施的若干建议

在把握海峡西岸社会主义新农村建设的战略定位、价值选择和几大主要矛盾问题的基础上,从规划定位与规划要处理的几个关系,规划实施过程中的试点、农村产业体系的构建、体制机制的创新与完善等方面提出相关的建议。     

(Not) talking about sex: youth, identity and sexuality

Young people remain inhibited in their exploration of sexuality not only by heterosexual morality and gendered power relations but also by their transitional status, yet the age dimension of youth and sexuality has been relatively neglected in recent research. This paper examines a number of social constraints on young people's opportunities for talk and discussion about sex, with reference to their experiences of sex education and services in sexual health. Based on interviews with 147 young women and young men and a separate survey of 400 clinic users, it emphasises the limited social acceptance of teenage sexuality and the forms of its regulation, which are both normative and relational. Attention to social relations with adults also shows how questions of sexual citizenship are closely connected to wider issues of social equality.     

An Adaptive,Rate‐Optimal Test of a Parametric Mean‐Regression Model Against a Nonparametric Alternative

We develop a new test of a parametric model of a conditional mean function against a nonparametric alternative. The test adapts to the unknown smoothness of the alternative model and is uniformly consistent against alternatives whose distance from the parametric model converges to zero at the fastest possible rate. This rate is slower than n^−1/2. Some existing tests have nontrivial power against restricted classes of alternatives whose distance from the parametric model decreases at the rate n^−1/2. There are, however, sequences of alternatives against which these tests are inconsistent and ours is consistent. As a consequence, there are alternative models for which the finite‐sample power of our test greatly exceeds that of existing tests. This conclusion is illustrated by the results of some Monte Carlo experiments.     

Correction Constants for Present Values of Seasonal Cash Flows

In a recent Decision Sciences article, McMath (1990) developed the correction constants approach for eliminating the end-of-year bias in the present value of streams with subannual cash flows. A limitation of this approach is that it assumes subannual cash flows are level. In many types of businesses, subannual cash flows follow a predictable seasonal pattern and, consequently, a present value estimate based upon a level correction constant is biased. This article derives a general formula for determining correction constants for seasonal cash flow patterns, examines the direction and magnitude of the seasonal bias, and applies seasonal correction constants to a capital budgeting problem.     

Resilience and risk competence in schools: theory/knowledge and international application in project rebound

Despite a 50-year interdisciplinary and longitudinal research legacy--showing that nearly 80% of young people considered most "at risk" thrive by midlife-only recently have practitioners/researchers engaged in the explicit, prospective facilitation of "resilience" in educational settings. Here, theory/knowledge distinguishing and extending risk and resilience from its risk-based social history to resilience's normative occurrence leads to the first known international and prospective application of resilience in school-based drug education, Project REBOUND [resilience-bound]. It will be implemented as a controlled pilot study, first in Germany, then expand to the United States, as well as other parts of Europe. With evaluation occurring throughout, the goal is to enhance the quality of drug decisions among young people, as well as support their overall competence-based learning and development throughout school. With limitations and underlying psychological mechanisms discussed, it is concluded Project REBOUND offers promising potential for supporting positive drug decisions as well as youth learning and development.     

Uncertainty and Variability in Health-Related Damages from Coal-Fired Power Plants in the United States

The health‐related damages associated with emissions from coal‐fired power plants can vary greatly across facilities as a function of plant, site, and population characteristics, but the degree of variability and the contributing factors have not been formally evaluated. In this study, we modeled the monetized damages associated with 407 coal‐fired power plants in the United States, focusing on premature mortality from fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). We applied a reduced‐form chemistry‐transport model accounting for primary PM_2.5 emissions and the influence of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions on secondary particulate formation. Outputs were linked with a concentration‐response function for PM_2.5‐related mortality that incorporated nonlinearities and model uncertainty. We valued mortality with a value of statistical life approach, characterizing and propagating uncertainties in all model elements. At the median of the plant‐specific uncertainty distributions, damages across plants ranged from $30,000 to $500,000 per ton of PM_2.5, $6,000 to $50,000 per ton of SO₂, $500 to $15,000 per ton of NO_x, and $0.02 to $1.57 per kilowatt‐hour of electricity generated. Variability in damages per ton of emissions was almost entirely explained by population exposure per unit emissions (intake fraction), which itself was related to atmospheric conditions and the population size at various distances from the power plant. Variability in damages per kilowatt‐hour was highly correlated with SO₂ emissions, related to fuel and control technology characteristics, but was also correlated with atmospheric conditions and population size at various distances. Our findings emphasize that control strategies that consider variability in damages across facilities would yield more efficient outcomes.