Working with and for the citizens

This article argues that a better management of increasingly complex socio-ecological systems would require to adopt evidence-based policy-making and improve the science–policy interface by means of participatory action research involving scientists, citizens and policy-makers. The connectivity between the production of scientific evidence by experts and the delivery of policies by policy-makers is currently unsatisfactory. There is the need to find more effective knowledge mechanisms between researchers and policy-makers. A new way of connecting scientists and policy-makers is to invite a “third player” to the game, i.e. the citizens and stakeholders who are interested in or affected by policy decisions, to perform pilot experiments of participatory research. Participatory research combines different forms of knowledge. “Objective” knowledge produced by scientific disciplines is needed to describe, explain or understand a phenomenon, but participatory research brings in the contribution of citizens' everyday knowledge, e.g. their intimate familiarity with their environment and social context. The approach is illustrated with the aid of examples provided by a number of EU-funded participatory research projects coordinated by ISIS: RAISE (www.raise-eu.org), MOVE TOGETHER (www.move-together.net) and AWARE (www.aware-eu.net).     

系统功能语言学的知识表示方法研究

系统功能语言学应用于语篇生成系统中需要进行知识表示。通过考察PENMAM,发现其一种主要的表示方法是系统网络。然而,这种方法不能充分表示语言的交际性以及三元功能,在进行计算机实现时也存在一些缺陷。基于此,文章进一步提出改进系统网络表示法的两种基本途径:基于复杂性科学的理论途径和基于人工智能的技术途径。此研究能够促进系统功能语言学与其他学科之间的交叉、融合,从而更好地开展面向自然语言处理用途的语言研究。      

加强反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障的新思路

反对腐败,建设廉洁政治,关系党和国家的生死存亡。一年多来,党中央实施一系列反腐新举措,体现出新一届中央领导集体加强反腐败体制机制创新和制度保障的新思路：在党章制度框架下改革党的纪律检查体制,推动党的纪律检查工作双重领导体制具体化、程序化、制度化;明确党委和纪委在党风廉政建设中的责任定位,落实党风廉政建设责任制;修订和完善选人用人制度,把从严治吏、从严管理干部的要求具体化、细节化,解决选人用人方面的腐败问题;抓好组织管理和组织纪律的执行,严格遵守组织制度,为加强党风廉政建设和反腐败凝聚组织力量;运用法治思维和法治方式推进廉洁政治建设,健全反腐倡廉法规制度体系：健全和完善巡视制度等。     

On the Variances and Convariances of the Duration State Sizes of Semi-Markov Systems

In the present article we study the asymptotic behaviour of the sequence of vectors with components expectations, variances, and covariances of the state sizes of a semi-Markov system. In this respect, we transform the semi-Markov system into a Markov system with a different though equivalent state space and relate the sequence of the transition probabilities of the respective Markov system as functions of the parameters of the semi-Markov system. Also, we study the asymptotic behavior of the sequence of vectors with components variances and covariances of the duration state sizes, of the related Markov system, under perturbation of the transition probability matrices. We use the results in the study of asymptotic behavior under perturbation of the sequence of vectors with components variances and covariances of the semi-Markov system.     

Electronic Resources Workflow: Design,Analysis and Technologies for an Overdue Solution

During the summer of 2013, a joint team involving Duke University Libraries and IBM spent three months configuring IBM Business Process Manager to improve electronic resources workflows in the Libraries’ Technical Services department. The resulting workflow showcases the application's ability to transform the management of online databases. This article will provide an overview of the “before” and “after” database workflow, with a demo of the new system and its integration points with other tools.     

Understanding the epidemiology of foreign body injuries in children using a data-driven Bayesian network

Bayesian networks (BNs) are probabilistic expert systems which have emerged over the last few decades as a powerful data mining technique. Also, BNs have become especially popular in biomedical applications where they have been used for diagnosing diseases and studying complex cellular networks, among many other applications. In this study, we built a BN in a fully automated way in order to analyse data regarding injuries due to the inhalation, ingestion and aspiration of foreign bodies (FBs) in children. Then, a sensitivity analysis was carried out to characterize the uncertainty associated with the model. While other studies focused on characteristics such as shape, consistency and dimensions of the FBs which caused injuries, we propose an integrated environment which makes the relationships among the factors underlying the problem clear. The advantage of this approach is that it gives a picture of the influence of critical factors on the injury severity and allows for the comparison of the effect of different FB characteristics (volume, FB type, shape and consistency) and children's features (age and gender) on the risk of experiencing a hospitalization. The rates it consents to calculate provide a more rational basis for promoting care-givers’ education of the most influential risk factors regarding the adverse outcomes.     

Why good practice of OR is not enough—Ethical challenges for the OR practitioner

This paper develops the idea that following rules of good OR practice is necessary, but not sufficient for ethical OR. Several challenges of introducing ethical aspects into OR are discussed, evidencing difficulties and ambiguities in the relationship to be established between the OR practitioner and his/her clients, decision-makers or stakeholders. It shows that neither analysis nor modelling work nor the choice of analytical tools is entirely ethically neutral; incomparability, incommensurability and incertitude must be dealt with. The purpose of this article is to detail several difficulties or dilemmas an OR practitioner may be confronted with in the course of his or her assignment. In such situations, following rules of good practice may not be sufficient to indicate how to act in a morally good way. This paper aims at stimulating reflection by structuring the debate; it may leave the reader unsettled—unsettlement being a result and even aim of many discussions in moral philosophy.     

Pool‐Point Distribution of Zero‐Inventory Products

We study zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery. The zero‐inventory production and distribution paradigm is supported in a variety of industries in which a product cannot be inventoried because of its short shelf life. The advantages of pool‐point (or hub‐and‐spoke) distribution, explored extensively in the literature, include the efficient use of transportation resources and effective day‐to‐day management of operations. The setting of our analysis is as follows: A production facility (plant) with a finite production rate distributes its single product, which cannot be inventoried, to several pool points. Each pool point may require multiple truckloads to satisfy its customers' demand. A third‐party logistics provider then transports the product to individual customers surrounding each pool point. The production rate can be increased up to a certain limit by incurring additional cost. The delivery of the product is done by identical trucks, each having limited capacity and non‐negligible traveling time between the plant and the pool points. Our objective is to coordinate the production and transportation operations so that the total cost of production and distribution is minimized, while respecting the product lifetime and the delivery capacity constraints. This study attempts to develop intuition into zero‐inventory production‐distribution systems under pool‐point delivery by considering several variants of the above setting. These include multiple trucks, a modifiable production rate, and alternative objectives. Using a combination of theoretical analysis and computational experiments, we gain insights into optimizing the total cost of a production‐delivery plan by understanding the trade‐off between production and transportation.     

职业性语篇的人际功能研究

以系统功能语法中的人际功能和评价理论为视角,剖析职业性语篇中的人际功能实质为说话者与受话者之间接触交流的"礼"性构建。以Hotel Matters中11篇对话为实证研究案例,揭示了职业性语篇实现人际意义的语言手段。研究发现:人称代词与时态的选用体现了互动,情态词的选择是为了说服,模糊限制语用于评价(说服),语篇层面旨在交互。     

儒家法律思想对构建和谐社会的启示

儒家法律思想以"礼治、德治、人治"的主张贯穿于中国法律文化思想的整个过程中,不但影响了中国社会文化生活领域,更深刻地体现于法律制度当中。在推进和完善法制建设的过程中,对儒家法律思想,要认真研习,取其精华,去其糟粕,使之成为我国法制建设中不可或缺的参考和借鉴。