Optimal Information Processing and Bayes's Theorem

In this article statistical inference is viewed as information processing involving input information and output information. After introducing information measures for the input and output information, an information criterion functional is formulated and optimized to obtain an optimal information processing rule (IPR). For the particular information measures and criterion functional adopted, it is shown that Bayes's theorem is the optimal IPR. This optimal IPR is shown to be 100% efficient in the sense that its use leads to the output information being exactly equal to the given input information. Also, the analysis links Bayes's theorem to maximum-entropy considerations.     

Environmental Barriers and Housing Accessibility Problems Over a One-Year Period in Later Life in Three European Countries

Abstract

The objective of this study was to describe environmental barriers and investigate the nature of accessibility problems in housing among single-living, very old people (N = 1,150) in urban regions in three European countries (Sweden, Germany, Latvia), in a one-year perspective. A specific feature of this study is the explicit conceptual differentiation between environmental barriers and accessibility problems, underlying the presentation of the following results: Environmental barriers were very common, and in all three national samples the 20 most prevalent environmental barriers were found in 77–98% of all dwellings investigated. The magnitudes of accessibility problems were similar among the three samples and did not change over one year, while differences were indicated in the types of environmental barriers generating accessibility problems.     

Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Exposure-Response Relationships in Epidemiologic Studies

Demonstration of a dose-response relationship for environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is an important indication of causality. Central to the analysis and interpretation of dose-response relations as described in epidemiological studies is the relationship between dose and exposure. It must be recognized that in studies of ETS we have only surrogate measures of dose, and these surrogate measures (based on exposure) are imperfect. The question-based measures of ETS exposure generally have not been standardized, may have limited validity and reliability, and cannot comprehensively describe total ETS exposure, exposure to individual ETS components, nor doses of biologically relevant agents at target sites. Nevertheless, useful data have been yielded in epidemiologic studies linking ETS exposure to increased respiratory infection and symptoms, reduced lung growth in children, and increased lung cancer in nonsmoking adults. The more consistent exposure-response data for studies on acute health in children may reflect the greater difficulty in measuring exposure in studies of chronic health in adults.     

On the asymptotic power and relative efficiency of the frequency X2 test

The asymptotic (Pitman) power of the X² test is investigated for particular classes of alternatives. A simple rule is introduced to identify ‘orthogonal alternatives’, for which the noncentrality parameter can be computed in a very simple way. In the sequel, restricted alternatives are considered and the ARE of the unrestricted test w.r.t. the restricted one is shown to depend only on the numbers of degrees of freedom. The concluding section discusses ‘undetectable alternatives’, i.e. alternatives for which the noncentrality vanishes.     

浅谈消息导语的写作

新闻导语是"消息"这一新闻体裁特有的概念,是消息的开头部分,一般由最新鲜、最主要的事实或依托新闻事实的精辟议论组成。新闻导语是全篇消息最重要的部分,写导语是写好消息的关键,也是难点。因此有经验的记者无不在导语上绞尽脑汁,刻意求新,达到既表达出最精华的事实,又能吸引读者看下去的目的。     

Toyota in the 21st century in Asian countries: Information exchange system and best mix

This article explains the general nature of the business style of Toyota management strategy, its specific performance, and its development in China. It is quite difficult to find specific revolutionary policies and unusual strategies for the success of the Toyota Motor Corporation.     

环境法的修改与历史转型

我国可以新制定一部环境基本法或修改现行的<环境保护法>,使其成为名副其实的环境基本法,以实现环境法的历史转型.环境基本法的修改坚持国家生态安全与公民生态环境生存权相结合、环境保护与经济建设相结合、污染防治与生态保护建设相结合、国家干预与公众参与相结合、行政主导与市场机制相结合、国内环境法与国际环境法相结合等原则.环境基本法的基本框架应包括总则、政府环境保护管理的组织体制与决策机制、环境法基本制度、环境法律责任和环境损害救济、附则等部分.     

信息技术“生产率悖论”分析

信息与资本、土地一样,是一种重要的资源.信息技术是利用信息资源、发挥信息资源价值的技术和手段.然而,长期以来人们都为信息技术投资究竞有没有效益、效益有多大、究竞该如何测算其效益等这些问题所困惑.本文分析了信息技术"生产率悖论"产生的原因,并力图对这些问题给予解释和回答.     

Evaluating the impact of utility company billing plans on residential energy consumption

Many utility companies offer their customers the choice of participation in an average payment plan, which enables them to pay a fixed sum for their utility bill each month (with final settlement at the end of the billing year), instead of the conventional “pay as you go” billing procedure. Because customers on average payment plans are protected from paying large bills during peak energy-use seasons and because the information about monthly energy use and its cost is perhaps less salient to them, it was hypothesized that customers on the average payment plan would use more electricity than customers not on the plan. Using a nonequivalent control group design, the electricity consumption of a selection of customers of two utility companies (Ns = 475 and 74) was examined. The results showed that there was no evidence to support the hypothesis. Since the logic of hypothesis testing does not permit the ready acceptance of the null hypothesis, several procedural, methodological, and statistical points were made to buttress the conclusion that the average payment plans had no effect on electricity consumption.     

Working artefacts: ethnomethods of the prototype

This paper follows recent science studies in theorizing information technologies as socio-material configurations, aligned into more and less durable forms. The study of how new technologies emerge shifts, on this view, from a focus on invention to an interest in ongoing practices of assembly, demonstration, and performance. This view is developed in relation to the case of the 'prototype', an exploratory technology designed to effect alignment between the multiple interests and working practices of technology research and development, and sites of technologies-in-use. In so far as it is successful, the prototype works as an exemplary artefact that is at once intelligibly familiar to the actors involved, and recognizably new.