Assessments of Direct Human Exposure—The Approach of EU Risk Assessments Compared to Scenario-Based Risk Assessment

The awareness of potential risks emerging from the use of chemicals in all parts of daily life has increased the need for risk assessments that are able to cover a high number of exposure situations and thereby ensure the safety of workers and consumers. In the European Union (EU), the practice of risk assessments for chemicals is laid down in a Technical Guidance Document; it is designed to consider environmental and human occupational and residential exposure. Almost 70 EU risk assessment reports (RARs) have been finalized for high-production-volume chemicals during the last decade. In the present study, we analyze the assessment of occupational and consumer exposure to trichloroethylene and phthalates presented in six EU RARs. Exposure scenarios in these six RARs were compared to scenarios used in applications of the scenario-based risk assessment approach to the same set of chemicals. We find that scenarios used in the selected EU RARs to represent typical exposure situations in occupational or private use of chemicals and products do not necessarily represent worst-case conditions. This can be due to the use of outdated information on technical equipment and conditions in workplaces or omission of pathways that can cause consumer exposure. Considering the need for exposure and risk assessments under the new chemicals legislation of the EU, we suggest that a transparent process of collecting data on exposure situations and of generating representative exposure scenarios is implemented to improve the accuracy of risk assessments. Also, the data sets used to assess human exposure should be harmonized, summarized in a transparent fashion, and made accessible for all risk assessors and the public.     

Customer-based discrimination against major league baseball players: Additional evidence from All-star ballots

This paper extends the analysis of [Hanssen, A., Andersen, T., 1999. Has discrimination lessened over time? A test using baseball's All-star vote. Economic Inquiry 37, 326–352] using All-star votes from 1990 through 2000 to investigate customer-based discrimination in Major League Baseball (MLB). The previous findings of no evidence of customer-based racial discrimination against minority players are confirmed. However, the evidence suggests that after controlling for player and team characteristics, Blacks and Latinos were actually preferred by MLB All-star voters during the 1990s. Initial evidence suggests that over the sample period the bias for Blacks came from voters in the South and Midwest, the bias for Latinos came from voters in the Midwest and West, while there was residual bias for White players in the South.     

A General Model for Exposure and Uptake from Consumer Products

To assess exposure to and uptake of chemical compounds from consumer products, a general model framework is proposed. The model framework separates exposure into the components contact, potential exposure, and potential uptake rate, and establishes the relation between the three. It adds a contact function and a spatial component to other exposure modeling concepts. Before the model framework can be used, its components need to be specified. A simple diffusional model is built as an example of specifying functions for exposure and uptake. A case study of 1,1,1 trichloroethane in some shoe impregnating product, partly based on the diffusional uptake model, illustrates the inclusion of the contact component. In the latter example, the exposure is calculated for the user and then, by only modifying the contact component, for a nonuser randomly walking in the house.     

Procedural priming effects on spontaneous inference formation

Procedural priming refers to how the frequent or recent use of certain cognitive procedures on one task can lead to a greater propensity to use the same procedures on a subsequent task. In this paper, we demonstrate how procedural priming may be used to assess spontaneous inference formation in situations where the inference involves a relationship or rule. We do so in the context of the advertising cost–product quality rule, i.e., that “higher advertising expense implies higher product quality.” Prior research suggests that underlying the advertising cost–quality rule is a basic human attribution (the effort investment rule) that says, if someone invests a lot of effort in a cause, it implies a true belief in that cause. We prime the effort investment rule in an interpersonal context and show that this affects spontaneous generation of the advertising cost–quality rule in an advertising context.     

《消费者权益保护法》49条与惩罚性损害赔偿制度

《消费者权益保护法》第 49条 ,突破了我国传统大陆法系补偿性损害赔偿制度的规定 ,对保护消费者的合法权益 ,促使经营者遵守竞争规则 ,建立有序的市场经济 ,发挥了积极作用。但惩罚性损害赔偿制度的具体规定 ,仍需立法部门做相关工作。     

发展劳动密集型产业、拓展就业途径的战略思考

本文阐述了发展经济理论 ,分析了中国国情 ,提出发展劳动密集型产业对促进就业、提高劳动者收入、发挥潜在经济增长能力、实现社会稳定具有重要意义 ,是我国经济发展不可逾越的阶段 ,与我国发展中小企业的政策相辅相成。中国应制定混合经济发展战略 ,促进劳动密集型产业健康发展。     

西部少数民族地区承接东部地区产业转移问题研究

本文结合我国西部少数民族地区承接东部地区产业转移的现状,总结出目前我国西部少数民族地区承接产业转移的主要模式,并在此基础上剖析西部少数民族地区承接东部地区产业转移的经济效应,最后提出了若干对策建议。     

李安、王家卫、吴宇森与华语武侠电影的叙事策略转变

由于研究方法的局限,近30年的华语电影研究存在主体性和审美性的不足。因而,华语电影诗学应坚持以审美为中心,从美学、文化和产业跨学科比较研究的角度对华语电影的独特类型、主题模式、文化传统、身份意识、审美传统、产业模式等进行总体的和整体的研究。因为存在迎合西方、片面追求票房和偏重散点运作等方面的问题,华语电影产业进军海外市场并不理想。我们应立足华语社群,重点发掘泛亚电影市场;积极培育产业链;成立“华语电影产业集群”。讨论李安等的武侠电影的成功之处,是一个关乎全球化时代华语电影发展的重要问题。《卧》等影片成功的一个关键在于叙事策略的转变。它们不再满足于刀光剑影生活的奇观化呈现,而是通过叙事主旨的“去江湖化”、叙事方式的个性化和叙事内容的人文化,策动了一场华语武侠电影叙事策略的变革。     

消费者维度的转基因食品标签政策效应分析

通过构造＂自愿加贴标签＂和＂强制加贴标签＂两种政策背景下的消费者行为模型,分析两种标签政策对消费者福利的影响,得出结论：在一个市场经济和法制尚不够完善,厂商机会主义行为比较普遍的环境下,采取强制加贴标签政策能够保障消费者的利益。因此,在我国现有的条件下,应该对转基因食品采取强制加贴标签政策。     

Reference group consumption and the subjective wellbeing of the poor in Peru

This paper studies the relationship between the consumption of the reference group and people’s subjective wellbeing in seven poor Peruvian communities. It presents an empirical analysis of the importance of relative consumption for people’s feelings of adequacy in five consumption domains (food, housing, education, clothes and health care). Against the assumption that relative consumption only matters for the rich and drawing on recent empirical work in Latin America, the study hypothesises that participants are likely to be influenced by the level of consumption of the area where they live when evaluating their situation. The data come from two surveys implemented in 2004 and 2005 in Peru by the Wellbeing in Developing Countries (WeD), ESRC research group at the University of Bath. The results indicate a negative effect of relative consumption on participants’ appraisal of their households’ clothes, housing and children’s education. However, the study also shows that in domains linked to the need for physical health such as health care and food, appraisals are made based on households’ objective situations and that the average consumption in the community does not play a significant role.