Learning by Objectives for Adaptive Shop-Floor Scheduling*

Effective production scheduling requires consideration of the dynamics and unpredictability of the manufacturing environment. An automated learning scheme, utilizing genetic search, is proposed for adaptive control in typical decentralized factory-floor decision making. A high-level knowledge representation for modeling production environments is developed, with facilities for genetic learning within this scheme. A multiagent framework is used, with individual agents being responsible for the dispatch decision making at different workstations. Learning is with respect to stated objectives, and given the diversity of scheduling goals, the efficacy of the designed learning scheme is judged through its response under different objectives. The behavior of the genetic learning scheme is analyzed and simulation studies help compare how learning under different objectives impacts certain aggregate measures of system performance.     

Public support for Haitian earthquake victims: Role of attributions and emotions

This research examines the public's support for Haiti relief efforts after the earthquake in 2010 based on Weiner's (1995) attribution model. The causes of the destruction in Haiti were explained differently in two types of attribution messages: the controllable attribution message (faulty construction despite earthquake warnings) and the uncontrollable attributions message (the depth of the earthquake's epicenter and its proximity to Port-au-Prince, the capital). Compared with the controllable attribution message, the uncontrollable attribution message increased the public's willingness to support the victims of the Haiti earthquake, directly through personal donations and indirectly through corporate donations. Emotions such as sympathy and pity also predicted support, although emotions did not mediate the relationship between attributions and support.     

Error Bands for Impulse Responses

We show how correctly to extend known methods for generating error bands in reduced form VAR's to overidentified models. We argue that the conventional pointwise bands common in the literature should be supplemented with measures of shape uncertainty, and we show how to generate such measures. We focus on bands that characterize the shape of the likelihood. Such bands are not classical confidence regions. We explain that classical confidence regions mix information about parameter location with information about model fit, and hence can be misleading as summaries of the implications of the data for the location of parameters. Because classical confidence regions also present conceptual and computational problems in multivariate time series models, we suggest that likelihood-based bands, rather than approximate confidence bands based on asymptotic theory, be standard in reporting results for this type of model.     

What to Learn from Near Misses: An Inductive Learning Approach to Credit Risk Assessment

This paper presents a new dimension of inductive learning for credit risk analysis based on the specific impact of Type I and Type II credit errors on the accuracy of the learning process. A Dynamic Updating Process is proposed to refine the credit granting decision over time and therefore improve the accuracy of the learning process. The new dimension is tested on credit files of small Belgian businesses. Results indicate an improvement of the learning process in terms of predictive accuracy, stability, and conceptual validity of the final decision tree.     

第一代独生子女婚后居住模式——基于江苏省的经验研究

二十世纪七、八十年代出生的第一代独生子女正处在婚育阶段,与此同时,他们的父母也在逐渐步人老年。文章利用2007年江苏生育调查数据,从代际关系角度考察了第一代独生子女的婚后居住模式及影响因素,结果表明：子代需要亲代帮助照料年幼孙代的需求、亲代需要子代提供照料的需求显著提高了独生子女婚后与父母同住的可能性,代际交换关系显著影响了居住模式;与非独生子女家庭相比,独生子女家庭更可能与夫妻一方或双方父母同住;城市独生子女比农村独生子女更可能婚后与父母同住：独生子女的性别属性对居住模式有显著影响,独生子与自己父母同住的比例明显大于独生女同她们的父母同住的比例。     

农村老年人生活满意度实证分析——以苏北5市1008个样本为例

提高农村老年人生活满意度有助于促进社会和谐发展。采用二元Logistic模型对影响农村老年人生活满意度的因素进行计量分析,研究发现:居住方式、子女是否孝顺、受教育程度、职业、是否定期检查身体及身体状况等变量对农村老年人生活满意度影响显著。据此,分别从家庭、个人、政府等方面对提高农村老年人生活满意度提出相应对策。     

子代情感支持选择对农村老年妇女主观幸福感的影响——基于安徽省的问卷调查分析

根据2011年“安徽省老年妇女养老问题农村地区调查”数据,应用Logistic回归方法,对农村地区老年妇女在情感支持方面不同子代角色的选择对其主观幸福感的影响进行了分析研究.研究结果显示:在情感支持方面选择儿媳和女儿的农村老年妇女主观幸福感发生比较高,选择儿子和女婿的则对其主观幸福感有负面影响.     

城乡老年人生活需求满足状况及其对生活满意度的影响——以贵阳市1518份问卷调查为例

利用2010年8月对贵阳市1 518份60岁及以上老年人的调查数据,分析了老年人在经济支持、医疗保健、生活照料、精神慰藉、社会交往和居住安排6个方面生活需求的满足状况,并将它们作为老年人生活满意度的影响因素纳入多元回归分析模型,分析结果发现:经济支持的满足程度是影响老年人生活满意度的最强变量,居住安排没有影响,其他4个方面的影响强度依次是:生活照料、医疗保健、社会交往、精神慰藉。从城乡来看,经济支持的满足程度是影响城镇老年人生活满意度的最强变量,但影响农村老年人生活满意度最强的变量则是生活照料。     

社区老人—儿童共养模式可行性分析

本文主要探讨了老人—儿童共养这一新型社区养老模式。在探索了中国老年问题现状以及目前社区养老的总体情况后,笔者结合存在的问题和资源,提出了这一特殊的社区养老模式,并从必要性、具体操作和可行性分别进行了考量。藉此逐步拓宽社区养老服务的内容和形式,发挥出社工的专业作用,促进养老事业的发展。