Effects of gall volume on survival and fecundity of gall-making aphidsAdelges japonicus (Homoptera: Adelgidae)

Summary The number of larvae reaching maturity within the gall ofAdelges japonicus was positively related to gall volume, and the relationship between the number of mature larvae and gall volume did not change with different densities of colonized larvae. The population changes in the bud galls ofA. japonicus were surveyed by collecting the galls, which did not suffer predation or parasitism within the galls, from young artificial plantations ofPicea jezoensis over two years. In the year when the density of colonized larvae was high, they suffered a 42% mortality within the galls, whereas mortality was nearly zero in the low density year. The numbers of larvae per gall were positively correlated with gall volume. The regression lines of the number of colonized larvae on gall volume did not differ significantly in the regression coefficients between the two years, whereas the intercept was significantly higher in the year when the density of colonized larvae was higher. However, different within-gall mortality nullified this difference, and the regression lines of the number of mature larvae on gall volume had no significant difference both in the regression coefficients and the intercepts. This suggests that the number of mature larvae per gall was limited by available resources within the gall which were positively related to gall volume. In 25% of the galls in which mature larvae inhabited, the space within the galls were completely filled by the larvae, indicating that space was one of the limiting resources. Gall volume also affected the number of adults that emerged from the gall and the potential number of their progeny.     

Qualified privilege: A defense for the public relations function

Technology continues to challenge the public relations practitioner to find ways to inform key constituents. The new technology has given rise to the “new journalism” that includes a declining traditional media and exploding internet media filled with websites and bloggers. The question posed by this research asks: Does the public relations practitioner inherit the same protection offered by “qualified privilege” that is most often associated with the traditional “press” or “reporter?” The research lays a foundation with an examination of defamation and the defense of qualified privilege. The research concludes that if information gathered by the public relations practitioner meets the “intent” and “content” tests, the information qualifies as news. Passing the “news” test, the defense of “qualified privilege” also attaches to the public relations practitioner.     

Household strategies in the face of resource scarcity in coastal Ghana: are they associated with development priorities?

In many developing regions, women and young girls spend several hours daily in the collection of natural resources. Still the link between these household resource strategies and stakeholder perceptions of development priorities remains unexplored. This project examines this association with survey data representative of the adult population from Ghana’s Coastal Region. Although natural resource scarcity and the sustainability of resource use represent key development challenges, there are others (e.g., energy, sanitation, employment, and educational opportunities). As such, even in the face of natural resource scarcity, individuals may place greater importance on other dimensions of development, especially if household resource strategies are perceived as relatively efficient. The analytical focus here is on water and the results suggest that gender roles shape household water collection strategies, while also shaping these strategies’ perceived opportunity costs. Specifically, Ghanian adults more often see drinking water provision as their primary development need when water sources are distant and/or when male household members collect water (particularly male heads). In the end, I argue that social science inquiry benefits by contextualizing social dynamics within environmental context, particularly within cultural settings in which human subsistence is intimately tied to the state of the natural environment.     

完善我国公司治理结构的路径探析

公司治理结构在当代的发展趋势之一是利益相关者共同参与公司治理。我国公司股权集中、内部人控制严重、外部监督机制失灵的治理现状,决定了完善我国公司治理结构的有效路径应是构建利益相关者共同参与的公司治理结构,即将非股东的其他利益相关者引入公司治理,直接参与公司的经营、控制与监督。     

当代印度南部婆罗门状况的个案分析——以奈保尔《印度:百万叛变的今天》为例

当代印度社会正发生着极大的变动,社会各阶层都在极力维护固有地位和宗教传统的稳定,并极力在这种变动中争取着自身社会利益的最大化。其中,南印度婆罗门种姓在逐步丧失传统的各项特权和优势地位的同时,也在努力适应、应对当代社会的新变化和新挑战。英国作家V.S.奈保尔的《印度:百万叛变的今天》一书提供了较为翔实、客观的口述史资料。以书中生活在孟买、班加罗尔、马德拉斯、加尔各达等南印度城市中的当代婆罗门阶层作为个案,可探究出其面对传统社会生活中的各个层面发生变动时的态度与应对及个体内在的深层原因,并在一定程度上考察社会变动与文化传统之间的互动关系。     

多样性·批评性·学术性－评《文艺湘军百家文库·文艺评论方阵》

《文艺湘军百家文库·文艺评论方阵》及先此出版的《当代湖南文艺评论家选集》丛书,集中汇聚了湖南文学批评50年的主要成果,展示了老中青三代批评家的探寻的风姿。其主要特点突出地表现在异彩纷呈的多样性、真诚鲜明的批评性、科学严谨的学术性等方面。     

Cognitive and interpersonal abilities related to the primary activities of R&D managers

This study attempted to identify the primary activities performed by R&D managers at different supervisory levels, and the cognitive and interpersonal ability requirements that underlie these activities. A task inventory containing 244 managerial tasks was completed by 117 R&D managers in nine organizations. The 48 tasks which managers rated as having spent the most time were factor analyzed, resulting in the identification of three primary activities: project management, personnel supervision, and strategic planning. Furthermore, these activities varied with supervisory level, with R&D managers performing a wider range of these activities with the progression from first-line to upper-level management.Thirty R&D managers later rated the degree to which 19 cognitive and interpersonal abilities were required for performing these primary activities. Strategic planning was rated as requiring significantly higher levels of oral expression, logical reasoning, originality, fluency of ideas, oral defense, and resistance to premature judgement than was required for the other two primary activities. Personnel supervision required a higher level of social sensitivity than was required for the other two activities. Project management required high levels of information ordering, oral fact- finding ability, problem sensitivity, and oral and written comprehension. Implications of the findings for understanding R&D managerial performance and personnel staffing functions are discussed.     

Potential exposures and risks from beryllium-containing products.

Beryllium is the strongest of the lightweight metals. Used primarily in military applications prior to the end of the Cold War, beryllium is finding new applications in many commercial products, including computers, telecommunication equipment, and consumer and automotive electronics. The use of beryllium in nondefense consumer applications is of concern because beryllium is toxic. Inhalation of beryllium dust or vapor causes a chronic lung disease in some individuals at concentrations as low as 0.01 microg/m3 in air. As beryllium enters wider commerce, it is prudent to ask what risks this might present to the general public and to workers downstream of the beryllium materials industry. We address this question by evaluating the potential for beryllium exposure from the manufacturing, use, recycle, and disposal of beryllium-containing products. Combining a market study with a qualitative exposure analysis, we determine which beryllium applications and life cycle phases have the largest exposure potential. Our analysis suggests that use and maintenance of the most common types of beryllium-containing products do not result in any obvious exposures of concern, and that maintenance activities result in greater exposures than product use. Product disposal has potential to present significant individual risks, but uncertainties concerning current and future routes of product disposal make it difficult to be definitive. Overall, additional exposure and dose-response data are needed to evaluate both the health significance of many exposure scenarios, and the adequacy of existing regulations to protect workers and the public. Although public exposures to beryllium and public awareness and concern regarding beryllium risks are currently low, beryllium risks have psychometric qualities that may lead to rapidly heightened public concern.     

What to Do at Low Doses: A Bounding Approach for Economic Analysis

To quantify the health benefits of environmental policies, economists generally require estimates of the reduced probability of illness or death. For policies that reduce exposure to carcinogenic substances, these estimates traditionally have been obtained through the linear extrapolation of experimental dose-response data to low-exposure scenarios as described in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment (1986). In response to evolving scientific knowledge, EPA proposed revisions to the guidelines in 1996. Under the proposed revisions, dose-response relationships would not be estimated for carcinogens thought to exhibit nonlinear modes of action. Such a change in cancer-risk assessment methods and outputs will likely have serious consequences for how benefit-cost analyses of policies aimed at reducing cancer risks are conducted. Any tendency for reduced quantification of effects in environmental risk assessments, such as those contemplated in the revisions to EPA's cancer-risk assessment guidelines, impedes the ability of economic analysts to respond to increasing calls for benefit-cost analysis. This article examines the implications for benefit-cost analysis of carcinogenic exposures of the proposed changes to the 1986 Guidelines and proposes an approach for bounding dose-response relationships when no biologically based models are available. In spite of the more limited quantitative information provided in a carcinogen risk assessment under the proposed revisions to the guidelines, we argue that reasonable bounds on dose-response relationships can be estimated for low-level exposures to nonlinear carcinogens. This approach yields estimates of reduced illness for use in a benefit-cost analysis while incorporating evidence of nonlinearities in the dose-response relationship. As an illustration, the bounding approach is applied to the case of chloroform exposure.     

从国际法看巴勒斯坦建国

巴勒斯坦建国问题是巴以冲突中悬而未决的棘手问题，在当前巴以和平进程受挫情况下，它渐渐成为巴以和谈的重要议题，且有可能成为和谈的突破口．本文从国际法角度，结合历史，分析了巴建国问题在法理上具备了哪些条件，缺哪些条件，据此对巴建国前景作个预测．