Money-metric utilitarianism

We discuss a method of ranking allocations in economic environments which applies when we do not know the names or preferences of individual agents. We require that two allocations can be ranked with the knowledge only of agents present, their aggregate bundles, and community indifference sets—a condition we refer to as aggregate independence. We also postulate a basic Pareto and continuity property, and a property stating that when two disjoint economies and allocations are put together, the ranking in the large economy should be consistent with the rankings in the two smaller economies (reinforcement). We show that a ranking method satisfies these axioms if and only if there is a probability measure over the strictly positive prices for which the rule ranks allocations on the basis of the random-price money-metric utilitarian rule. This is a rule which computes the money-metric utility for each agent at each price, sums these, and then takes an expectation according to the probability measure.     

The Possibility of Mixed-Mode Surveys in Sociological Studies

Abstract:  This paper explores the possibility of the mixed-mode survey in Japan in order to ensure a wider range of respondents, focusing on the specific type of mixture that is designed to make contact with a respondent by more than one mode and in which a respondent can choose an alternative mode convenient for him or her. The dataset mainly used comes from the survey Study on the Social Composition of the Urban Local Community conducted in Shinagawa Ward of Tokyo in 1999. Three other studies are introduced for additional information. As an indicator of the effectiveness of a mixed-mode design, the response rates of four studies are examined and some improvement in the response rates is observed, compared to that of a single-mode design. Another indicator is the representativeness of a sample and it is evaluated using the data of the Shinagawa survey. When the discrepancy between valid respondents and the population on some demographic characteristics is regarded as representation bias, a mixed-mode design is found to reduce the bias. An inherent problem in a mixed-mode design is "mode effect." In order to control for the mode effect in analyses, the inclusion of an additional variable indicating "mode" in the model is recommended. It is further suggested that the interaction effects between the "mode" and the respondents' traits should be checked, on the assumption that the survey mode affects respondents differently. The attempts are made and discussed in this paper using two variables drawn from the Shinagawa survey.     

The compensation of national union presidents: Moderating effects of union size

Over the last forty years numerous reseachers from the fields of economics, finance, and human resources management have proposed and empirically evaluated a number of models in efforts to identify determinants of executive compensation. Recently, similar research efforts have been undertaken to identify compensation determinants for union officers, both at the local and national levels. As an extension of these works, this study found measures of union financial strength, job complexity, performance and tenure in office to be directly related to national union presidents’ compensation. Although union income and relative union member earnings were the strongest determinants of officer compensation for the sample of unions as a whole, analyses of three subgroups of unions based on size revealed very different findings for large as opposed to small and medium-sized unions.     

Linking Decision Theory and Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment: Tradeoffs Between Compliance and Efficacy for Waterborne Disease Interventions

Achieving health gains from the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals of universal coverage for water and sanitation will require interventions that can be widely adopted and maintained. Effectiveness—how an intervention performs based on actual use—as opposed to efficacy will therefore be central to evaluations of new and existing interventions. Incomplete compliance—when people do not always use the intervention and are therefore exposed to contamination—is thought to be responsible for the lower‐than‐expected risk reductions observed from water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions based on their efficacy at removing pathogens. We explicitly incorporated decision theory into a quantitative microbial risk assessment model. Specifically, we assume that the usability of household water treatment (HWT) devices (filters and chlorine) decreases as they become more efficacious due to issues such as taste or flow rates. Simulations were run to examine the tradeoff between device efficacy and usability. For most situations, HWT interventions that trade lower efficacy (i.e., remove less pathogens) for higher compliance (i.e., better usability) contribute substantial reductions in diarrheal disease risk compared to devices meeting current World Health Organization efficacy guidelines. Recommendations that take into account both the behavioral and microbiological properties of treatment devices are likely to be more effective at reducing the burden of diarrheal disease than current standards that only consider efficacy.     

Fetal movement frequency and the effect of associated perinatal factors: Multicenter study

Background

Decreased fetal movements are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, including stillbirth. Delayed maternal visits to a health care provider after perceiving decreased fetal movements are frequently observed in stillbirths. Informing pregnant women of the normal range of fetal movement frequency is essential in their earlier visits in order to prevent stillbirth.

共生教育

现在 ,各国都在以经济现代化为目标 ,尽可能发展和引进现代科学技术及其合理的思想观念 ,实现产业化 ,使国家富强 ,从而形成全球一体化的大交易圈。共生教育 ,就是讲授人们如何在这个大交易圈中生存的教育     

Associating Gene Therapy with the Human Genome Project

As is often the case with cutting-edge biomedical technology, the introduction of gene therapy in Japan provoked discussions of ethics and safety while offering little hope for dramatic recovery. Nevertheless, only 5 years after the first authorized clinical trial in the USA, the first Japanese trial was conducted in 1995. This trial event garnered extensive media coverage but yielded little opposition. To understand the public reaction, a range of sources were examined, including news media and popular scientific magazines. In the case of Japan, public acceptance did not mean enlightened consent; rather, it meant that interactions among researchers, the media, and the populace brought about a new interpretation of the technology.     

Excessively delayed maternal reaction after their perception of decreased fetal movements in stillbirths: Population-based study in Japan

Background

Fetal movement is the most common method to evaluate fetal well-being. Furthermore, maternal perception of decreased fetal movements is associated with perinatal demise. Previously, we showed that perception of decreased fetal movements was the most common reason for mothers visiting the outpatient department among those who had stillbirths in our region. Further investigation of stillbirths with decreased fetal movements is essential to find a possible way of preventing stillbirth.

The effect of exposure to a professor with a visible disability on students' attitudes toward disabilities

An exploratory study was conducted on a small convenience sample of undergraduate social work students. The Modified Issues in Disability Scale was used to collect data on attitudes toward disability. There was no statistically significant difference in the attitudes scores among students who had different levels of contact with persons with disabilities. There was, however, a statistically significant difference between students who had a professor with a disability and those who did not. The former had more positive attitudes toward disability. These findings suggest that schools of social work should recruit more professors with disabilities.