Subjective utility with upper and lower probabilities on finite states

This article is concerned with thresholds of discrimination of preference judgments under uncertainty. We establish an axiomatic characterization for a threshold representation, where thresholds are represented by inexact measurement of subjective probabilities, i.e., upper and lower probabilities. Since upper and lower probabilities need not be additive, the representational form adopts the Choquet integration.     

Preventing risk for obesity by promoting self-regulation and decision-making skills: pilot results from the PATHWAYS to health program (PATHWAYS)

The overall aim of the two school-based pilot studies was to evaluate whether an approach to prevention that focused on changing child impulse control, decision making, and social competence can be effective in changing attitudes toward food intake and physical activity as risk factors for obesity. The strategy used was to translate specific components of one evidence-based program for violence prevention (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies: PATHS) into an elementary school curriculum program for obesity prevention. Both studies demonstrated significant changes in positive attitudes toward self-regulation of appetitive behavior. In addition, Study 2 demonstrated positive changes in actual food choices and television viewing patterns. Implications are that comprehensive efforts to prevent youth risk for obesity should include as one component school-based curricula that target self-regulation and decision-making skills.     

Influence in covariance structure analysis: with an application to confirmatory factor analysis

Influence functions are derived for the parameters in covariance structure analysis, where the parameters are estimated by minimizing a discrepancy function between the assumed covariance matrix and the sample covariance matrix. The case of confirmatory factor analysis is studied precisely with a numerical example. Comparing with a general procedure called one-step estimation, the proposed procedure has two advantages:1) computing cost is cheaper, 2) the property that arbitrary influence can be decomposed into a fi-nite number of components discussed by Tanaka and Castano-Tostado(1990) can be used for efficient computing and the characterization of a covariance structure model from the sensitivity perspective. A numerical comparison is made among the confirmatory factor analysis and some procedures of ex-ploratory factor analysis by using the decomposition mentioned above.     

Constructing Co-governance between Government and Civil Society: An Institutional Approach to Collaboration

The aim of this paper is to analyze how civil society organizations (CSOs) collaborate with both developed and developing governments in Asia through institutional processes. It argues that in developed countries, institutional arrangements have a positive impact on collaboration. Favourable administrative governance can create collaboration between governments and CSOs. This paper reports on 3,944 studies of CSOs from 2004 to 2009 in Tokyo, Seoul, Manila, and Dhaka. CSOs in Tokyo have better combined collaborative and institutional processes than those in the other three cities. Governance in Seoul is more polarized than in the other cities, and in both Manila and Dhaka, despite there being a high degree of institutionalized relations between CSOs and the government, their collaboration is low. This research also finds that intermediary institutions between governments and CSOs play a role in co-governance.     

Income Comparison as a Determining Mechanism of Class Identification: A Quantitative and Simulation Study Using Japanese Survey Data

This paper questions whether personal income comparison explains the distributive gap between income and class identification by exploring the following two issues: empirical validity of income comparison as the determinant of class identification, and theoretical validity of income comparison for the distributive gap. For the first issue, we conduct a statistical analysis using data from the Social Stratification and Social Mobility surveys (1975–2005), and the Stratification and Social Psychology-I survey (2010). We find that the criteria for choosing reference groups changed historically from residential proximity to occupational equality. In addition, income comparison with sensitive to lower-income possessors and a distorted perception of income difference significantly affected class identification, except for the year of 1985. The simulation analysis employed to examine the second issue clarified that income comparison with the above-mentioned features yields a less skewed distribution compared to that of class identification. The data also indicates that the empirical conditions of income are satisfied for realization of this result. Thus, we could ascertain empirical and theoretical validity of income comparison as explanation for the distributive gap between income and class identification.     

Quadratic perturbation expansions of certain functions of eigenvalues and eigenvectors and their application to sensitivity analysis in multivariate methods

Tanaka (1988) lias derived the influence functions, which are equivalent to the perturbation expansions up to linear terms, of two functions of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a real symmetric matrix, and applied them to principal component analysis. The present paper deals with the perturbation expansions up to quadratic terms of the same functions and discusses their application to sensitivity analysis in multivariate methods, in particular, principal component analysis and principal factor analysis. Numerical examples are given to show how the approximation improves with the quadratic terms.     

Simple Computation of Maximum Likelihood Estimates in Latent Class Model with Equality and Constant Constraints

A simple computational method for estimation of parameters via a type of EM algorithm is proposed in restricted latent class analysis, where equality and constant constraints are considered. These constraints create difficulty in estimation. In order to simply and stably estimate parameters in restricted latent class analysis, a simple computational method using only first-order differentials is proposed, where the step-halving method is adopted. A simulation study shows that in almost all cases the new method gives parameter sequences monotonously increasing the Q-function in the EM algorithm. Analysis of real data is provided.     

Repeated Reinterpretation of Civil Society: On the Intellectual Context of Niklas Luhmann's Sociological Theory

This article explains the intellectual context of Niklas Luhmann's sociological theory. Although Luhmann's theory is well known for its highly abstract features, this does not mean that the theory results from his references to the latest general systems theory, which has been the primary focus of previous literature. That said, no social theory is produced in a vacuum. Even if a theorist attempts to construct a general sociological theory to explain every social phenomenon, that theory is necessarily influenced by the theorist's prejudices. Therefore, social theory must be contextualized both to estimate its biases and to limit its scope. This study shows that Luhmann's systems theory is constructed through a struggle with the issues of his day. First, it notes that the question of how to conceptualize modern civil society was widely shared by German intellectuals from the late 1950s to the 1970s and that the question created a certain discourse field. Second, Luhmann's theoretical conception is contextualized in that field of discourse, and the central role of both the concept of functional differentiation and the concern with border maintenance in his theory-building is explained in comparison with the work of contemporary intellectuals. To deepen our analysis, this article reconstructs Schmitt's interpretation and criticism of civil liberalism and describes Luhmann's struggle with it. Finally, by analyzing the Gesellschaftswissenschaften of Robert von Mohl, one of the founders of civil liberalism, this article argues that Luhmann's sociology can be characterized as an attempt to rehabilitate civil liberalism.     

Extraordinary effects of fertilization status on the reproduction of an arrhenotokous and sub-social spider mite (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Summary Experimental observations on the arrenotokous reproductive patterns of two spider mite species (Acari: Tetranychidae), the long-seta form ofSchizotetranychus celarius (Banks) andTetranychus urticae Koch, revealed that reproduction of unfertilized females of the former is very differnt from that of the latter. Unfertilized females ofS. celarius, which has a subsocial life, laid a few eggs and then became inactive. In contrast, the fecundity of unfertilizedT. urticae females was only slightly reduced as compared with fertilized females. Mother-son matings may thus sometimes occur in naturalS. celarius populations. A two-year field survey revealed that, in the absence of males, overwintering females ofS. celarius occasionally remain unfertilized until early spring. Furthermore, nest foundation observed in late spring indicated that most of the season's first nests were founded by single females. These two sets of observations strongly suggest that motherson mating takes places in nature, corresponding to the reproductive trait seen in the experiment. Mother-son mating inevitably increases the relatedness between nest members. The estimated father's relatedness to its offspring is extraordinarily high under such condition. The possibility that kin-selection in the long seta-form ofS. celarius led to subsociality, especially paternal care, is suggested. This study was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid No. 61540468 from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Japan.