Work Productivity as a Function of the Percentage of Monetary Incentives to Base Pay

In many individual monetary incentive systems workers receive an hourly base pay and can earn incentives when productivity exceeds a specified standard. The total amount that can be earned in incentives is often expressed as a percentage of base pay. This study examined the effects of different percentages of incentive pay to base pay on work productivity. Seventy-five college students were randomly assigned to one of five incentivebase pay conditions: 0% (no incentives), l0%, 30%. 60% or 100%. Subjects participated in 15 forty-five minute sessions during which they assem: bled parts made from bolts, nuts and washers. Subjects received a base pay amount for assembling a minimum of 50 quality parts per session and a per piece incentive for parts over 50. If subjects assernbled 120 quality parts, the production maximum, the total amount they could earn in incentives equaled 0%, l0%, 30%, 60% or 100% of their base pay. Results indicated that the productivity of subjects in the l0%, 30%, 60% and 100% groups was significantly greater than that of subjects in the 0% incentive group; however, the productivity of subjects in the l0%, 30%, 60% and 100% incentive groups did not differ.     

Peer and Selection Effects on Youth Smoking in California

Previous research has found that youth smoking choices are strongly influenced by peer smoking. However, these studies often fail to account for simultaneity and nonrandom peer selection. This article describes an equilibrium model of peer effects that incorporates both of these features, and estimates its parameters using data on California teenagers. Identification is aided by using the influence of observable variables on group selection as a proxy for the influence of unobservables. I find that the effect of peer smoking on the decision to smoke is much weaker than found in previous studies.     

康德哲学与现代性论争

康德的批判哲学是当今现代性论争的焦点之一。现代性重建派只强调康德哲学中的知性立法的一面 ,而忽视了理性的规范作用。后现代主义则与之相反。其实 ,双方都歪曲了康德有关知性立法和理性规范的论述的本意。康德是要指出知性立法和理性规范是相互制衡的 ,也即互相渗透和互为解放力量的。因而 ,现代性危机的原因不在于现代社会的工具理性化 ,这只是表面现象 ,而在于知性立法和理性规范之间互相制衡的机制遭到了破坏     

Intergenerational Interaction Through Reminiscence Processes

Abstract

Introduction: The interest in intergenerational programmes is increasing. However, there is a need for evaluation and the development of a theoretical framework to explain the mechanism of changes in attitudes of participants which is the purpose of this paper.

Method: From July to December 2002 an intergenerational intervention was conducted with 111 students and 32 elders, who shared their life stories during class time. A Focus group technique was used to evaluate the programme and a theoretical framework was developed to explain the mechanism of changes in attitudes of adolescents towards elders and the attitudes of elders towards adolescents.

Results: The results showed that stereotypes and prejudice exist, from young people towards elders and from elders towards young ones. The theoretical framework developed showed why and how participants changed their views towards each other in an intergenerational programme using reminiscence processes as a means of interaction.

Conclusion: Although the study had some limitations, it was valuable in showing that older people had some negative images of adolescents. It also showed why and how participants changed their view towards each other.     

Puzzling pieces: a sensory design learning tool

ABSTRACT

This article gives an account of an activity that is part of a collection of instructional materials for learning about sensory aspects of design for products, environments, and services. It describes the participants’ experiences and reflections in a workshop at DeSForM, the 10th Conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement. The article highlights the participants’ engagement with one of the exploratory activities, Puzzling Pieces, that was in the process of being developed. The unique ways in which the attendees translated theoretical multi-sensory design perspectives into activities for heightening multi-sensory awareness and consciousness of sensory interactions suggest that this activity may be a useful tool for finetuning the sensory design process.     

Markov Random Fields with Higher-order Interactions

Discrete-state Markov random fields on regular arrays have played a significant role in spatial statistics and image analysis. For example, they are used to represent objects against background in computer vision and pixel-based classification of a region into different crop types in remote sensing. Convenience has generally favoured formulations that involve only pairwise interactions. Such models are in themselves unrealistic and, although they often perform surprisingly well in tasks such as the restoration of degraded images, they are unsatisfactory for many other purposes. In this paper, we consider particular forms of Markov random fields that involve higher-order interactions and therefore are better able to represent the large-scale properties of typical spatial scenes. Interpretations of the parameters are given and realizations from a variety of models are produced via Markov chain Monte Carlo. Potential applications are illustrated in two examples. The first concerns Bayesian image analysis and confirms that pairwise-interaction priors may perform very poorly for image functionals such as number of objects, even when restoration apparently works well. The second example describes a model for a geological dataset and obtains maximum-likelihood parameter estimates using Markov chain Monte Carlo. Despite the complexity of the formulation, realizations of the estimated model suggest that the representation is quite realistic.     

New neighbours in a time of change: local pragmatics and the perception of asylum centres in rural Denmark

Asylum centres in rural areas are an increasingly common mode of managing asylum seekers in Denmark. These centres’ arrival occurs in a context of protracted rural crisis, as demographic and economic changes reshape local communities. Yet research on these processes remains scarce, issues concerning asylum and the rural being seldom conceived together. At the same time, majority population attitudes towards refugees are often depicted through the opposed poles of xenophobia and humanitarianism. Based on ethnographic research, this article examines the meanings and consequences of asylum centres for rural Danish communities. Drawing on anthropological theory on the mutuality of social life we argue that asylum centres become embedded in pre-existing relations within local communities and between them and the centralising Danish welfare state. Local communities sometimes were initially sceptical about asylum centres, but they generally developed a collective, pragmatic approach towards them in contrast to the divided, ideological cast of national debates on asylum. By shifting focus from the national to the local, from the urban to the rural, and from the migrants to the neighbouring communities, a less polarising and more everyday mode of relating to the arrival of asylum seekers becomes visible.     

Exploring Social Aesthetics: Aesthetic Appreciation as a Method for Qualitative Sociology and Social Research

Social aesthetics can be regarded as an important addition to sociology and the social sciences. This article introduces the notion of aesthetic-experiential knowledge into qualitative sociology and social research. It also directs attention to the qualities of social life in their own right, paving the way for approaching the question of a good society in the aesthetic sense. In this article I make a brief exposition of social aesthetics as it has been developed in contemporary Japan. I begin with a discussion of contemporary aesthetics and its implications for social study by focusing on Yuriko Saito's everyday aesthetics. Then I offer reflections on aesthetic appreciation as an act of ajiwau (to taste, experience and appreciate). I show that the incorporation of the methodical act of ajiwau enriches our aesthetic appreciation as a qualitative method for knowing the world in general. Next I move on to the possibility of aesthetically appreciating the social world and offer a definition of social aesthetics as social inquiry through aesthetic appreciation. Based on the act of ajiwau the social, I present an aesthetic-experiential study of a micro-society as a field of human interactions. Finally, I examine the possibilities for promising dialogues between social aesthetics, on the one hand, and qualitative sociology and social research, on the other.     

中国伦理理念的价值生态及其在文明互动中的意义

中国伦理理念是一个辩证发展的有机价值生态。这个生态在文化原理方面由四个价值因子构成,即人伦原理、人德规范、人生智慧、人文力;在文化结构方面形成四对价值关系,即"伦"—"理"、"理"—"道"、"道"—"德"、"德"—"得";在文化功能方面分别解决四大价值问题,即伦理实体、道德自我、应当如何生活、意义世界;在文化运作方面展现为"伦"—"理"—"道"—"德"—"得"的依次演进,由客观人伦关系出发,经过价值抽象,复归于现实的社会生活。文化原理是逻辑生态;文化结构和文化功能是历史生态;文化运作是现实生态。从中国伦理的价值生态中可以引发出诸多对文明复归与文明互动具有资源意义和启发意义的课题,但必须对中国伦理进行生态把握和价值生态的创造性转换。     

廖承志与中日友好事业统一战线的建立

统一战线是中国共产党克敌致胜的成功经验之一,在恢复和发展中日友好关系的实践中,廖承志作为中国政府对日工作最高负责人,成功的运用了这一经验。他大力发展民间外交,使更多的日本人了解中国,造就了民间交往的潮流,为中日邦交正常化奠定了基础。在这种思想指导下,廖承志广交朋友,通过与日本各界的广泛接触,建立了中日友好事业最广泛的统一战线,不断推动着中日友好事业之车向邦交正常化前行。