Updating the Debate on Intergenerational Fairness in Pension Reform

This article examines the arguments involved in claims about the fairness or unfairness of government policies that would require current working generations to bear the full impact of their lower fertility on the costs of retirement pensions. The analysis is set in the context of a wider review of debate on the role of the idea of generational fairness in assessing options for reform under conditions of population ageing. The article considers three questions: whether generational fairness poses a serious problem for pay‐as‐you‐go pension schemes; whether it is reasonable to assess the generational fairness of pension policy in isolation from other kinds of generational transfer; and whether there is a good case for redistribution from future generations in favour of the baby boom generation.     

高科技企业的品牌竞争力

以往高科技企业多强调研究发展、创新与制造技术的卓越 ,然而在顾客至上的时代里 ,对高科技企业而言 ,要取得竞争优势 ,也必须通过品牌形象以及卓越的服务质量的建立 ,来提高企业的名声及商誉。企业要成功地建立一个品牌形象 ,就必须经过四个重要的阶段。企业形象的塑造 ,由内外部因素决定。同时 ,卓越的服务质量也是高科技企业获得竞争力的重要因素。     

Stochastic Bounds with a Low Rank Decomposition

We investigate how we can bound a discrete time Markov chain (DTMC) by a stochastic matrix with a low rank decomposition. In the first part of the article, we show the links with previous results for matrices with a decomposition of size 1 or 2. Then we show how the complexity of the analysis for steady-state and transient distributions can be simplified when we take into account the decomposition. Finally, we show how we can obtain a monotone stochastic upper bound with a low rank decomposition.     

Quantifying uncertainty in the biospheric carbon flux for England and Wales

Summary.  A crucial issue in the current global warming debate is the effect of vegetation and soils on carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations in the atmosphere. Vegetation can extract CO₂ through photosynthesis, but respiration, decay of soil organic matter and disturbance effects such as fire return it to the atmosphere. The balance of these processes is the net carbon flux. To estimate the biospheric carbon flux for England and Wales, we address the statistical problem of inference for the sum of multiple outputs from a complex deterministic computer code whose input parameters are uncertain. The code is a process model which simulates the carbon dynamics of vegetation and soils, including the amount of carbon that is stored as a result of photosynthesis and the amount that is returned to the atmosphere through respiration. The aggregation of outputs corresponding to multiple sites and types of vegetation in a region gives an estimate of the total carbon flux for that region over a period of time. Expert prior opinions are elicited for marginal uncertainty about the relevant input parameters and for correlations of inputs between sites. A Gaussian process model is used to build emulators of the multiple code outputs and Bayesian uncertainty analysis is then used to propagate uncertainty in the input parameters through to uncertainty on the aggregated output. Numerical results are presented for England and Wales in the year 2000. It is estimated that vegetation and soils in England and Wales constituted a net sink of 7.55 Mt C (1 Mt C = 10¹² g of carbon) in 2000, with standard deviation 0.56 Mt C resulting from the sources of uncertainty that are considered.     

在丛生的意象群落中呈现诗魂--读段光安的诗

段光安是对诗的创作规律有深切领悟的一位中年诗人,把强大的生命之火注入到丛生的意象之中,使意象成为诗人主观情思的对应物,这是段光安诗性思维的明显特征。丰富的生活积累,勤奋的艺术追求,对诗歌把握世界的方式的独特见解,感受着诗歌这一崇高的生命形式的呼唤,使他的眼前展开一道通向诗歌天国的云梯。     

Corporate collective action and the market cycle of the cloth industry in Nieuwkerke,Flanders, 1300–1600

This article addresses the connections between corporate collective action and economic development in the pre-industrial Low Countries. It focuses on a micro-historic case study: the textile industry of the village of Nieuwkerke in the county of Flanders. This rural cloth centre witnessed an exceptional industrial expansion between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Following the recent proposition by Bas van Bavel that market economies follow a fixed pattern of development, the chronology of the evolution of Nieuwkerke’s cloth industry can be discussed in terms of three phases. This article argues that the first phase of development (1358–c.1500) was characterized by limited success because of pressure from the city of Ypres. The second phase (c.1500–c.1550) was marked by an industrial boom, predicated upon successful corporate collective action intertwined with the perception of social equality among the village’s cloth entrepreneurs. The third and final phase (from c.1550) was one of stagnation and decline, caused by the breaking down of the collective and concomitant social polarization. The case study thereby closely conforms to van Bavel’s theory about market cycles. Yet, the correlation between economic decline and social polarization should in this case be understood in terms of changing perceptions of inequality, rather than increasingly unequal opportunities.     

The Effects of the Facial Expression of Beneficiaries in Charity Appeals and Psychological Involvement on Donation Intentions

To increase the effectiveness of fundraising campaigns, many human‐need charities include pictures of beneficiaries in their ads. However, it is unclear when and why the facial expression of these beneficiaries (sad versus happy) may influence the effectiveness of charity ads. To answer these questions, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the facial expression on donation intentions, while considering the moderating role of psychological involvement with charities. It found that psychological involvement with charities moderated the impact of the facial expression on donation intentions in that seeing a picture of a sad versus happy person increased intentions to give among participants with lower levels of psychological involvement, whereas the reverse was true for highly involved participants. The moderating effect of psychological involvement was fully explained by the perceived efficacy of one's donation. The findings not only contribute to our understanding of the effect of the facial expression of people pictured in charity appeals on donation behavior, but also suggest that nonprofits should tailor their ads to target potential donors with various levels of psychological involvement with charities.     

英国的“低碳转型计划”及其政策启示

作为低碳经济的先行者,近来英国正式颁布了低碳转型计划。该计划对电力部门、家庭与社区、工作场所和就业、交通系统、农业等领域的碳排放都给出了详细的应对措施,将减排目标具体量化,并在此基础上提出了明确的时间表。与此同时,计划还突出强调政府在低碳转型中的定位和作用。该计划对我国发展低碳经济具有重要启示。     

多模态语篇中的视觉识读策略

后印刷时代,多种符号资源被用来构建意义,视觉图像和设计成分日益成为人们表征意义和传递信息的重要手段。传统的文本识读策略已无法满足读者解读多模态语篇的需要。运用适当的视觉识读策略,熟悉特定社会文化语境中各种符号资源的意义潜势,是识读多模态语篇的必需。基于多模态语篇、多元识读及符号学相关理论,提出一个分析、解读多模态语篇的视觉识读策略框架,以拓展读者的视觉识读技能,增强其构建和识读多模态语篇的能力。     

论杨绛小说中的男性形象

作为在“五四”新文化浸染下成长起来的女性作家,杨绛从小说创作开始就努力摆脱男权意识的影响,用其独立的眼光来审视社会。她的小说在塑造了一批女性经典形象的同时,也描绘了一批特色鲜明的男性形象。这些男性角色主要是知识分子,他们品格虽有高低之分,但爱情都充满失落无奈,事业上少有成就,且性格存在着或多或少的缺点和弱点。杨绛通过这些形象的塑造,消解了男性霸权,冷静地呈现了知识分子群体的工作和生活,委婉地反映出人生的局限和社会的荒诞。解读杨绛小说中男性形象的丰富内涵,是欣赏杨绛作品艺术、探索知识分子内心、解读社会现象的有效途径和独特视角。