COMBAT EXPOSURE,CIGARETTE CONSUMPTION,AND SUBSTANCE USE

This study estimates the relationship between combat exposure and several risky health behaviors: cigarette consumption, binge drinking, and drug use. We find that the U.S. active duty military personnel deployed to combat zones with enemy firefight are more likely to subsequently smoke cigarettes, consume alcohol, and use illicit drugs than their counterparts deployed to noncombat operations. Our results suggest that the mental health effects of combat can explain up to two‐thirds of the estimated association between combat exposure and risky health behaviors. (JEL H56, I12)     

《劳动合同法》对企业成本影响的测算方法与实证研究——金融危机下的应急措施

<劳动合同法>实施以来,在国内学术界和实业界引起了轩然大波.2008年以来,一些企业的倒闭、搬迁,更将这部立意颇好的法律推到了风口浪尖.针对实施<劳动合同法>对企业成本影响的问题,采用分层目录抽样方法,抽取了珠三角、粤东、粤西、粤北地区13个具有代表性的城市,不同类型、不同行业共650户企业进行调研,运用成本测算直接法和间接法,对广东调研企业成本进行统计测算.测算结果显示,广东实施<劳动合同法>对企业人均人工成本的影响区间为2.54%～4.90%,用调研事实澄清了社会上流传的10%～70%的谬误.还从政府、企业和员工角度分别提出在实施<劳动合同法>过程中应对金融危机的对策,为各级政府和企业决策提供依据.     

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...     

瑞典顾客满意度晴雨表

瑞典是世界上第一个在全国范围内测量顾客满意度的国家,建立了瑞典顾客满意度晴雨表(SCSB).SCSB基于瑞典30多个行业100多个企业的顾客年度调查数据对于整个国家经济产出的质量状况进行测量.根据SCSB 在瑞典前3年的发展状况,针对SCSB对瑞典国内各行业的影响结果进行分析,进而得出推论--顾客满意度在供给相同需求各异的行业偏低;在需求和供给相匹配的行业偏高;在高度依赖重复购买的行业偏高;而在垄断行业偏低.     

Toward Improved Communication about Wildland Fire: Mental Models Research to Identify Information Needs for Natural Resource Management

The management of natural- and human-induced wildland fires is an intricate process that must balance two considerations: that of fire as a necessary natural disturbance and that of the risks that fire poses. Reconciling tradeoffs between these risks and benefits is contingent upon informed, directed, and two-way communication between wildland fire managers and stakeholders. In an effort to aid with the design of such a communication effort, this study used mental models research to determine the unique wildland fire information and decision-making needs of stakeholders living at the wildland-urban interface of a fire-prone area. While the analysis revealed many similarities in how stakeholders conceptualized the risks and benefits of wildland fire, many misconceptions and important gaps in understanding on the part of both expert and nonexpert respondents were identified.     

Batch-Processing Scheduling with Setup Times

The problem is to minimize the total weighted completion time on a single batch-processing machine with setup times. The machine can process a batch of at most B jobs at one time, and the processing time of a batch is given by the longest processing time among the jobs in the batch. The setup time of a batch is given by the largest setup time among the jobs in the batch. This batch-processing problem reduces to the ordinary uni-processor scheduling problem when B = 1. In this paper we focus on the extreme case of B = +, i.e. a batch can contain any number of jobs. We present in this paper a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for the problem with a performance guarantee of 2. We further show that a special case of the problem can be solved in polynomial time.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-maxian problem on block graphs

This paper deals with the p-maxian problem on block graphs with unit edge length. It is shown that the two points with maximum distance provide an optimal solution for the 2-maxian problem of block graphs except for K ₃. It can easily be extended to the p-maxian problem of block graphs. So we solve the p-maxian problem on block graphs in linear time.     

Beyond a Simple Case of Black and White: Searching for the White Male Effect in the African-American Community

Prior research focusing on risk perceptions has led to the observation that well‐educated and politically conservative white males tend to systematically perceive lower levels of risk from a wide range of hazards when compared to other members of society (e.g., white women, nonwhite women and men). While this “white male effect (WME)” is quite striking given that many policymakers fall into this group, a byproduct of this finding is that it deflects attention from the heterogeneity, in terms of people's concerns about risks, that exists in African‐American and other minority communities. The research reported here set out to explore this heterogeneity by asking a simple question: Can a phenomenon similar to the WME be found in the African‐American community? It can, and its implications for research and practice in risk management are discussed.