The value of being precise

This study investigates how individuals assess imprecise information. We focus on two essential dimensions of decision under uncertainty, outcomes and probabilities, and their respective precision. We believe the precision of information is highly relevant in the investment setting, as reflected in the well-known “home (familiarity) bias”, and the outcome and probability dimensions, separately or jointly, may affect investors’ knowledge of uncertainty and perceived risk of the investment options, and subsequently affect investors’ choices. To test this conjecture, we conducted three experiments. Our results show that 1) participants demonstrate a pattern of preference for precision and aversion of extreme vagueness and associate vagueness with higher perceived risk and lower investment (experiments one and two); 2) participants prefer vague outcome information to vague probability information (experiment two); 3) familiarity indeed positively affects the precision of estimated values, but this association is stronger for the outcome dimension than for probabilities (experiment three). Our results confirm that precision in information, especially in the outcome dimension has an impact on investors’ resource allocation choices.     

一种求解双目标线性规划的方法及其在上海市土地使用和交通方面的应用

本文介绍了一种求解双目标线性规划(SBLP)的方法.根据上海市土地使用与交通的现状建立了一个拟动态的模型(BOLT),并用该方法加以求解。根据得到的解对上海市土地使用与交通相互作用的情况进行了分析。     

The transition to parenthood in Puerto Rico: Occupational status and the timing of first births

This study examines the relationship between occupational status and fertility timing during a period of rapid development in Puerto Rico. Our fundamental hypothesis is that women with higher status occupations face greater opportunity costs than those with less valued jobs and therefore will be more likely to postpone parenthood until later ages than women without such high costs. We test this hypothesis using event history techniques with data from the 1982 Puerto Rico Fertility and Family Planning Assessment, an island-wide survey of women between the ages of 15 and 49. The analysis examines the effects of occupational status on the timing of first births, and finds strong support for the basic hypothesis, especially regarding the post-ponement of teen births. After the teen years, the effects are less pronounced. Overall, it appears that employment opportunities have played an important role in childbearing decisions in Puerto Rico.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, Denver, Colorado, 30 April–2 May 1992.     

Receipt of Formal and Informal Help with Specific Care Tasks among Older People Living in their Own Home. National Trends over Two Decades

Sweden is seen as a typical example of a social democratic welfare regime, with universal and generous welfare policies. However, in the last decades, there have been substantial reductions in the Swedish provision of care for older people. This study aimed to examine trends in sources of care‐receipt in older people (77+) living in their own home and with a perceived need for help with two specific tasks: house cleaning and/or food shopping. Trends in care‐receipt were examined in relation to gender, living alone, having children and socio‐economic position. Data from the 1992, 2002 and 2011 data collection waves of the national study, Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD), were used. Response rates varied between 86 and 95 per cent, and the sample represents the population well. Trends and differences between groups were explored in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. There was a reduction in formal care‐receipt regarding house cleaning and food shopping over the study period. It was more common for women than men to receive formal care, and more common for men than women to receive informal care. Reductions in formal care have affected older women more than older men. Still, living alone was the most influential factor in care‐receipt, associated with a greater likelihood of formal care‐receipt and a lower likelihood of informal care‐receipt. It can be concluded that public responsibility for care is becoming more narrowly defined in Sweden, and that more responsibility for care is placed on persons in need of care and their families.     

A Tiered Framework for Risk‐Relevant Characterization and Ranking of Chemical Exposures: Applications to the National Children's Study (NCS)

A challenge for large‐scale environmental health investigations such as the National Children's Study (NCS), is characterizing exposures to multiple, co‐occurring chemical agents with varying spatiotemporal concentrations and consequences modulated by biochemical, physiological, behavioral, socioeconomic, and environmental factors. Such investigations can benefit from systematic retrieval, analysis, and integration of diverse extant information on both contaminant patterns and exposure‐relevant factors. This requires development, evaluation, and deployment of informatics methods that support flexible access and analysis of multiattribute data across multiple spatiotemporal scales. A new “Tiered Exposure Ranking” (TiER) framework, developed to support various aspects of risk‐relevant exposure characterization, is described here, with examples demonstrating its application to the NCS. TiER utilizes advances in informatics computational methods, extant database content and availability, and integrative environmental/exposure/biological modeling to support both “discovery‐driven” and “hypothesis‐driven” analyses. “Tier 1” applications focus on “exposomic” pattern recognition for extracting information from multidimensional data sets, whereas second and higher tier applications utilize mechanistic models to develop risk‐relevant exposure metrics for populations and individuals. In this article, “tier 1” applications of TiER explore identification of potentially causative associations among risk factors, for prioritizing further studies, by considering publicly available demographic/socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental data in relation to two health endpoints (preterm birth and low birth weight). A “tier 2” application develops estimates of pollutant mixture inhalation exposure indices for NCS counties, formulated to support risk characterization for these endpoints. Applications of TiER demonstrate the feasibility of developing risk‐relevant exposure characterizations for pollutants using extant environmental and demographic/socioeconomic data.     

Institutional voids,international learning effort and internationalization of emerging market new ventures

Much of the existing scholarly works portray institutional voids (IVs) in emerging economies as impeding forces against the development of new ventures. However, little attention has been paid to how such voids generate positive outcomes in emerging market new ventures. Drawing on the institutional theory, we propose IVs as crucial enablers of new venture internationalization. In addition, we investigate both how and when IVs enhance the degree to which new ventures internationalize by examining international learning effort (ILE) as a mediator and two domestic market environmental factors (i.e., environmental dynamism and competitive intensity) as important contingencies. We test our moderated mediation model using primary data gathered from 211 new ventures from Ghana. We found that ILE mediates the relationship between IVs and new venture internationalization and that both environmental dynamism and competitive intensity moderate the indirect relationship between home-country IVs and new venture internationalization. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study.     

蒙古——突厥史诗英雄与骏马同时诞生母题的比较研究

蒙古—突厥史诗中的英雄及其骏马有着不同寻常的关系。蒙古—突厥史诗中英雄及其骏马同时诞生母题与英雄的骏马将自己的主人拖出地面的再生母题之间的结构关系。蒙古—突厥史诗中英雄被敌人抛入地下之后英雄的骏马用尾巴把主人从地下拖出地面的母题与英雄的骏马先于英雄的诞生而出生的特异诞生母题之间在结构上存在着一种置换关系。两者都是英雄的诞生仪式。     

基层政府的政策变通逻辑 ——以H县“不再生育合同”为个案

本文通过H县“不再生育合同”的个案分析基层政府在社会治理中的政策变通逻辑。政策变通不是对政策目标的背离,而是为了政策具有可行性。政策变通是社会治理中政策制定上的普遍主义和政策执行上的特殊主义相结合的体现。基层政府政策变通的初始逻辑是为了实现国家的政策目标,政策变通范围的扩散逻辑是为了尊重政策对象的习惯,基层政府不断扩大政策变通适用对象范围是出于自利动机以筹集工作经费,除了以上三种逻辑外,政策变通延续还有一个重要逻辑,即基层政府面临对象要求兑现知情选择法定权利的压力。这些多元复合逻辑驱动的政策变通不仅没有偏离政策目标,反而使取得良好的政策预期效果。     

乡愁的两种表达式——余光中《乡愁》与洛夫《边界望乡》比较

余光中《乡愁》和洛夫《边界望乡》为台湾乡愁诗歌的“双壁”。两位诗人都有着颠沛流离的人生经历,又不约而同走过由“西化”向传统回归的诗歌创作之路,时空阻隔所产生的乡愁为《乡愁》和《边界望乡》共同表现的内容。余光中《乡愁》在一静态的情境中创造完成,所表现出的乡愁情感具有普适性、共通性;诗作结构整齐,节奏静缓,意象朴素明朗,语言体现了一种纯净之美。坚持创造性为诗歌生命,洛夫近乡情怯而作《边界望乡》,抒发的是极具诗人个体性的乡愁体验;诗行参差,结构跌宕,节奏激越,意象新奇,诗歌语言散发出魔性的色彩。     

论青年女性流动人口初育间隔与人口控制——来自厦门流动人口家庭问卷调查的启示

青年女性流动人口实际生育行为的控制对于人口规模与结构的控制,起着至关重要的作用。而生育时间的选择作为影响流动人口生育实践的一个重要因素,体现在对各孩次生育间隔的控制上。本文在描述分析的基础上,应用Cox比例风险模型,主要对厦门市青年女性流动人口初育间隔的影响因素进行估计和检验,并在总结分析的基础上对流动人口控制问题提出几点对策思考。