Summary of the Workshop on Issues in Risk Assessment: Quantitative Methods for Developmental Toxicology

This report summarizes the proceedings of a conference on quantitative methods for assessing the risks of developmental toxicants. The conference was planned by a subcommittee of the National Research Council's Committee on Risk Assessment Methodology ⁴ in conjunction with staff from several federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, and Health and Welfare Canada. Issues discussed at the workshop included computerized techniques for hazard identification, use of human and animal data for defining risks in a clinical setting, relationships between end points in developmental toxicity testing, reference dose calculations for developmental toxicology, analysis of quantitative dose-response data, mechanisms of developmental toxicity, physiologically based pharmacokinetic models, and structure-activity relationships. Although a formal consensus was not sought, many participants favored the evolution of quantitative techniques for developmental toxicology risk assessment, including the replacement of lowest observed adverse effect levels (LOAELs) and no observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs) with the benchmark dose methodology.     

Who Gets What From Government? Distributional Consequences of Child‐Care Assistance Policies

Given the fragmented structure of child‐care assistance in the United States, it has been difficult to obtain accurate estimates of which families are assisted, through which mechanisms, and at what level. Making use of survey data from New York City, we analyze the distribution of several forms of public child‐care assistance. Results suggest that about 40% of all families with young children receive some form of child‐care assistance. Considering all forms of assistance, the distribution of child‐care help is targeted in both expected and some unexpected ways. Implications of these results are discussed in the context of U.S. child‐care policies governing access and benefit levels.     

Defining the linear portion of a sigmoid‐shaped curve: bend points

Formulae are provided that define the ‘bend points’, the beginning and end of the essentially linear dose–response region, for the four‐parameter logistic model. The formulae are expressed in both response and dose units. The derivation of the formulae is shown in order to illustrate the general nature of the methodology. Examples are given that describe how the formulae may be used while planning and conducting bioassays. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

全球化语境中的对话文化学的建立

文化是永远朝向自我认同而存在的人的现实生活。由全球化凸现出来的文化冲突反映了人面对异质性存在而产生的自我认同危机。中国传统文化与西方文化的差异不仅表现在内容上,而且表现在它们在当今人类文化格局中所处地位的不同上,即西方文化处于权力话语地位,而中国传统文化却岌岌可危。文化对话不仅是人类共建一种异中求“和”的世界文化新格局的正确途径,而且是中国文化健康发展的正确途径。在当代,建立对话的文化学已刻不容缓。建立对话的文化学不仅是一种普遍的对话范式在文化理论中的确立,而且要求我们在文化实践和社会实践中展开对权力话语的批判。     

科学执政、民主执政中的依法执政基本途径

依法执政或依法行政,作为执政方式最为直接、最为具体的基本实践环节或途径,在相当范围内反映着科学执政、民主执政的实现程度。这取决于《行政许可法》不打折扣地坚决实施,政府的依法执政职能方式从重管制向重服务转变;职能范围从“全能”向“有限”回归;职能性质由“专断”走向真正“民主”;职能习惯从主观随意转向严格的法治。     

Making the Best of a Bad Job? Female Part‐Timers’ Orientations and Attitudes to Work

This article uses data from 50 qualitative interviews with female part‐time workers in low‐level jobs in Britain to illustrate their attitudes, orientations and aspirations towards paid work. The research reports two main findings. Firstly, even female part‐time workers at the bottom end of the occupational structure are not a homogeneous group of workers. Secondly, they are not all highly satisfied with their jobs. The article argues that many women (especially those in working‐class households) still do not have a genuine choice between ‘family work’ and ‘market work’. It concludes by presenting a theoretical model of orientations to work.     

On the preservation of copula structure under truncation

The author characterizes the copula associated with the bivariate survival model of Clayton (1978) as the only absolutely continuous copula that is preserved under bivariate truncation.     

基于层次分析法与模糊评价的学科水平评估

在学科建设中,学科水平评估可以采用专家咨询的方法,分别从学术队伍、科学研究、教学与人才培养和工作条件四个方面设计学科水平评估指标体系,运用层次分析法确定指标权重系数,针对评估指标的模糊性,建立学科水平评估模糊综合评价模型,并通过实例分析和计算,证明该学科水平评估体系合理、有效、可行。     

关系化用工:农业规模经营的社会基础

农业规模经营是中国乡村振兴进程中的关键议题。农业规模经营在快速发展的同时也呈现出用工效益的差异,从而使一些规模农业经营主体陷入困境。采用嵌入性视角探讨农业规模经营中用工模式嵌入社会关系的逻辑及其影响。研究发现,农业规模经营陷入困境的主要原因在于市场化用工无法有效解决农业规模经营中的劳动监督问题。而将市场规则嵌入关系规则的关系化用工使得雇佣双方产生了利他倾向,进而在很大程度上调动了工人内在的劳动积极性,从而使农业规模经营主体摆脱经营失败困境。关系化用工的实现依赖于农业规模经营主体在用工选择、生产管理和日常生活中充分发挥社会关系的积极作用,但社会关系范围和程度都是有限度的。因此,农业规模经营的健康发展不仅需要处理好经济关系,而且需要处理好社会关系。     

Uniform asymptotic linearity of a process based on a signed rank statistic

Consider the process with, cf. (1.2) on page 265 in B1, X₁, …, X_N a sample from a distribution F and, for i = 1, …, N, R${}_{\text{|x}{}_{\text{1}}\text{, - q}{}_{\text{1}}\text{ø|}}$ , the rank of |X₁ - q₁ø| among |X₁ - q₁ø|, …, |X_N - q_Nø|. It is shown that, under certain regularity conditions on F and on the constants p_i and q_i, T^ø_N(t) is asymptotically approximately a linear function of ø uniformly in t and in ø for |ø| ≤ C. The special case where the p_i and the q_i, are independent of i is considered.