Does Society Matter? Life Satisfaction in the Enlarged Europe

Life satisfaction is quite heterogeneously distributed across countries of the enlarged European Union. Previous research has shown how living conditions within individual countries, such as access to material and emotional resources, are important for personal well-being, but it has been less successful in explaining differences between countries. This article investigates whether it matters in which political and economic circumstances people live, as well as whether their particular perception of the quality of their societal environment plays a role. People are well aware that the institutional and cultural settings in which their lives are embedded create opportunities and limitations: within individual countries, perceptions of society influence life satisfaction outcomes irrespective of access to resources. However, their importance for well-being differs across Europe: perceptions of societies are highly decisive in countries that provide only a minimum of social security and in which the reliability of political institutions is poor. In rich and stable countries, the impact is weaker and private social support becomes more important. In addition to these country-specific weights of life satisfaction determinants, life satisfaction variations between countries can be explained to a large extent by taking into consideration the economic performance, the social security level, and the political culture in a country—all in all, general conditions that enable people to live a respectable life.     

在VB5.0中实现和单片机串行通信方法

本文具体介绍了利用ＶＢ５．０的通讯控件ＭＳＣＯＭＭ３２．ＯＣＸ和单片机进行串行通信的方法——查表法发达和接收。     

联合国改革努力的历史发展

联合国改革长期以来是国际社会关注的焦点,为了理解这一进程的未来走向,有必要清醒地认识它所经历的历史发展.联合国改革涉及组织结构、管理程序以及宪制安排三个方面,涵盖国际安全以及经济和社会问题两个主要领域,反映出各国在这些问题上的不同立场和观点.联合国改革努力的不同规划表明,在这些领域取得实质性突破仍然困难重重.     

从无差异到差异——2008年诺贝尔经济学奖得主理论评介

保罗·克鲁格曼因其在国际贸易和经济地理领域所做的开创性贡献获得2008年诺贝尔经济学奖。本文从国际贸易和经济地理两个领域对克鲁格曼的理论贡献进行介绍和评论,梳理其理论产生的背景和发展脉络,并阐释理论体系中的重要概念和经济思想。     

Ambiguous Criteria Weights in AHP: Consequences and Solutions*

Two related streams of criticism of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have not yet been satisfactorily resolved, although both date from the early 1980s. The first relates to ambiguity in the meaning of the relative importance of one criterion as compared to another. The second is concerned with reversals of rank alleged to be possible when new options are introduced in an AHP problem. Both proponents and critics of AHP agree that rank reversals occur, but disagree on the legitimacy of such reversals. This paper shows that there is a necessary correspondence between the manner in which criteria importances are interpreted and computed and the manner in which the weights of the options under each criterion are normalized. In general, if this relationship is ignored, incorrect weights are generated for options under consideration regardless of whether new options are added or deleted. A rank reversal on the addition of an option is merely symptomatic of this fact, and such reversals do not occur when the correspondence condition is met.     

Some Cautions on the Measurement of User Information Satisfaction*

User information satisfaction (UIS) is important because of its potential effects on MIS department goals, quality of user work life, and extent of voluntary usage of systems. Reliable measurement of UIS is important for providing evaluative information for both researchers and practitioners. This study used 92 managers and executives as subjects to compare the test/retest reliability of a widely used, 13-scale UIS instrument together with four summary questions under experimental and control conditions. The summary questions behaved more reliably than the detailed questions for all groups, perhaps because of problems with scale units and origins and with item heterogeneity. This suggests that researchers need more reliable measures of UIS and that practitioners need to exercise caution when collecting and interpreting UIS scores.     

中美中东石油关系解析

作为居世界前两位的石油进口和消费大国,中美都离不开中东石油。中美在中东必然因石油而发生关系,这种关系具有双重性——事实上的竞争与合作关系。在中东石油领域,如果两国展开过度竞争甚至恶性竞争,双方可能走向“零和”或两败俱伤的“负数”结局;如果两国开展对话、合作或实现竞争下的合作,则完全可以在中东石油甚至其他能源领域实现互利双赢。     

Europe’s Role in China’s Transition to Superpower Status

What can Western powers do today to ease an eventual global power shift resulting from the rise of superpowers such as China? This paper suggests that part of the answer lies in the same power-binding institutions that allowed the US to rise post WWII without threatening its allies. Continuity in the rules of the global system during a great power transition would promote stability by reducing uncertainty, as well as the extent to which material power can be used coercively. I argue that current superpowers, the EU among them, have an interest in ensuring an equitable distribution of the gains from cooperation. While distributional issues are usually treated in normative terms, they take on very real, material meaning in the context of a great power transition. With this in mind, I look at three aspects of the current global institutional framework that would benefit from reform: international trade and aid, institutional design, and institutional proliferation. In all three cases, a more equal distribution of the gains from institutions today increases the odds that those institutional arrangements will remain in the future.     

DIVERSIFICATION GAINS FROM INCLUDING REAL ESTATE IN MIXED-ASSET PORTFOLIOS*

Diversification gains in mean-variance efficiency derived from including real estate in financial asset portfolios are examined. Optimal financial and mixed-asset portfolios were generated by selecting from an investment universe including several distinct financial and real estate media. Deficiencies of previous studies were overcome by employing data with improved representativeness and comparability. The efficient mixed-asset portfolios dominated the efficient financial asset portfolios implying that purely financial asset diversification is inefficient. The optimal mixed-asset portfolio prescribed that approximately two-thirds of the investment wealth be allocated to real estate and one-third to the financial media.     

积极语篇分析:和谐的态度韵律研究——以汉语导游讲解词为例

文章从语篇分析的新视角——积极语篇分析入手,以评价理论为框架,试图探寻在导游讲解词中,导游是如何缩短自身以及景点与游客之间的距离,从而达到宣传景点、传播文化的交际目的的。作为一个较新视角的积极语篇分析并没有固定的分析方法和模式,本文融合了语类理论、评价理论和态度韵律理论构建了态度韵律研究的分析模式,并将它运用到导游讲解词的分析中。通过研究本文发现导游讲解词作为一种机构语言确是语类的一种,是分阶段的具有目标朝向性的社会过程,并有其独特的语类结构。主要包括五个阶段:欢迎词、整体介绍、具体讲解、评价和欢送词。态度韵律是一个具有层级性的结构,存在于语篇之中,具有普遍共性,导游讲解篇词中的态度韵律有其特性。态度韵律的运作有着内在机制,态度韵律可分为发散韵、波浪韵和梯度韵三类,这三类结构具有动态平衡的特质,它们共同流动于语篇之中使其成为和谐统一的整体。