Ethics and Choosing Appropriate Means to an End: Problems with Coal Mine and Nuclear Workplace Safety

A common problem in ethics is that people often desire an end but fail to take the means necessary to achieve it. Employers and employees may desire the safety end mandated by performance standards for pollution control, but they may fail to employ the means, specification standards, necessary to achieve this end. This article argues that current (de jure) performance standards, for lowering employee exposures to ionizing radiation, fail to promote de facto worker welfare, in part because employers and employees do not follow the necessary means (practices known as specification standards) to achieve the end (performance standards) of workplace safety. To support this conclusion, the article argues that (1) safety requires attention to specification, as well as performance, standards; (2) coal-mine specification standards may fail to promote performance standards; (3) nuclear workplace standards may do the same; (4) choosing appropriate means to the end of safety requires attention to the ways uncertainties and variations in exposure may mask violations of standards; and (5) correcting regulatory inattention to differences between de jure and de facto is necessary for achievement of ethical goals for safety.     

当代汉语语体变异与规范及其研究漫谈

汉语语体研究领域存在许多亟待解决的问题。本文认为:当代汉语语体变异是不争的事实,其一是局部语体成分的替换,其二是整个语体体式的迁移。当代汉语语体变异具有二重性。规范语体是语用原则,而创新运用语体更是必须认同的言语行为。     

Hopfield神经网络k－全局稳定性

研究了Ｈｏｐｆｉｅｌｄ神经网络的ｋ－全局稳定性，利用常数变易法和不等式分析技巧，给出了Ｈｏｐｆｉｅｌｄ神经网络的ｋ－全局指数稳定的充分条件。     

Syntactic variation and beyond: Gender and social class variation in the use of discourse‐new markers1

The paper explores the relations between syntactic variation and the large‐scale social dimensions of gender and social class. It argues on the basis of an analysis of the marking of discourse‐new entities in interview speech that syntactic variants may frequently be involved in sociolinguistic variation, but indirectly, as just one of a broad set of choices that includes forms drawn from other components of language besides syntax. The analysis shows that although there is no sociolinguistic variation in the use of the strategies speakers use to mark discourse‐new information, there are significant social class and gender differences in the use of Noun Phrases that are not marked. Whilst acknowledging the risks of generalising on the basis of large‐scale social categories, an interpretation of these differences is suggested in relation to findings from previous research that suggest differences in the interactive style of different gender and social class groups. The paper discusses some implications of the analysis for the fields of language variation and change, and pragmatics.     

"联系的变化":哲学新命题的提出及其意义

事物内部"联系的变化"以及事物之间"联系的变化"存在极为复杂的情况,考察事物"联系的变化",进而认识"综合变化体",发现其中更为丰富的规律,将使人类的认识发生飞跃.而这种飞跃,也正是现代科技和社会的发展所要求于人类思维的.深入考察和讨论"联系的变化"这个历久常新的课题,不仅具有其哲学价值,而且具有学术价值和现实价值.     

Estimating the First- and Second-Order Parameters of a Heavy-Tailed Distribution

This paper suggests censored maximum likelihood estimators for the first‐ and second‐order parameters of a heavy‐tailed distribution by incorporating the second‐order regular variation into the censored likelihood function. This approach is different from the bias‐reduced maximum likelihood method proposed by Feuerverger and Hall in 1999. The paper derives the joint asymptotic limit for the first‐ and second‐order parameters under a weaker assumption. The paper also demonstrates through a simulation study that the suggested estimator for the first‐order parameter is better than the estimator proposed by Feuerverger and Hall although these two estimators have the same asymptotic variances.     

教育政策何以影响高校发展

教育政策既可以成为教育发展的动力,也会成为阻碍教育发展的力量,其关键在于教育政策本身。教育政策要成为教育发展的推动力量,就要考虑政策制定的绩效性、科学化和民主化。根据这些原则,我国高校的收费政策,应该以属地化原则(学生生源地)为依据制定收费标准,以体现政策的科学性;重点高校建设政策,应该以动态化原则取代静态化,以体现政策的民主化;高校资助政策的实施,应该以多样化、层次化为原则,以体现教育政策的绩效性。     

整合与创新:清代广西壮人接受杜诗的变异学研究

文学变异学重在研究跨民族交流中文学文本的变异情况,而杜诗在广西壮人的接受变异上鲜有涉猎,本文以此为案例从跨时空的传播、文化传统的激活以及文学创作的创新等角度来发掘其传播中的双向互动性、对中华文化的共同建构性,从而发现中华民族的历史就是一种多民族间互补互济的共同发展过程。     

Estimation of the mutagenic potency of environmental chemicals using short-term bioassay

The Ames Salmonella test is a widely used bioassay method for assessing the mutagenic potency of a potential carcinogen. The test is quick and reliable, and exploits the correlation that exists between mutagenic potential and carcinogenic potential. The data for this case study came from an international study involving 20 laboratories in nine countries. The laboratories participated in a designed experiment in which substances (complex chemical mixtures of the type encountered in the environment) were evaluated for mutagenicity using the Ames test. A stringent protocol was followed. The study's principal aim was to investigate intra- and inter-laboratory variation in test results. The data consist of counts of revertant Salmonella colonies at each of six dose levels of a substance. The data were obtained for each of five test substances from each participating laboratory. The bioassays were carried out according to a prescribed factorial experimental design. Three sets of analysts participated in this case study. They were asked to model the dose-response relationship for two substances, to develop an index of the strength of the relationship, and to assess intra- and inter-laboratory variation in bioassay results.     

Yearly variation in recruitment and its effect on population dynamics inYoldia notabilis (Mollusca: Bivalvia), analyzed using projection matrix model

Summary Long-term variation in recruitment was estimated by constructing projection matrices for a marine bivalve,Yoldia notabilis, at two stations in Otsuchi Bay, northeastern Japan, and the effects of its variation on population dynamics were examined using a simple matrix model. The matrix model was developed from the Leslie matrix, in which the population growth rate λ was expressed as a function of recruitment rater ₀. The equilibrium recruitment rater _s, or the recruitment rate required to maintain population at constant size (λ=1), was expressed by the reciprocal of the reproductive value of a newly recruited individual. The estimates ofr _s for the field population were lower at the shallower station than at the deeper station, reflecting higher survivorship and fecundity. Past recruitment rate estimated both by the field samplings for 3 years and by the back-calculation from the current age structure for over 10 years showed large yearly variation, ranging between 0 and 58.6×10⁻⁴. The estimates were larger thanr _s, and hence, large enough to increase population size (λ>1) only in approximately one-third of the estimated years. This suggests that the population has been maintained by occasional successful recruitment occurring once every few years.