Doing Justice and Demonstrating Fairness in Small Claims Arbitration

This paper examines the intersection of technical law and common sense reasoning in small claims arbitration, a distinctive and increasingly prevalent kind of legal work. Following (Garfinkel, Ethnomethodology’s program: Working out Durkheim’s aphorism, 2002), the study explores the “reform of technical reason” and what a “just outcome” means by focusing on the arbitration of actual small claims cases and how technical-legal and non-technical/informal resources are brought into alignment to produce dispute resolution. The arbitrator elicits discussions that establish consensual and commonplace formulations of “the case,” formulations that foreshadow its disposition as technical matters of law. The research demonstrates how formal structures of equity, evenhandedness, and decisions without bias have their production in vivo, and how a just and fair course becomes a “just outcome.”

共同方法偏差的统计检验与控制方法

共同方法偏差是心理学研究中一个越来越被关注的课题,但国内心理学界对其的介绍、研究还比较少,导致研究中对共同方法偏差的控制还有所欠缺。共同方法偏差的控制方法分为程序控制和统计控制,该文介绍了共同方法偏差的多种统计控制法,如因素分析法、偏相关法、潜在的误差变量控制法、结构方程模型法等,分析了其各自的优缺点,并提出了如何选择采用这些方法的建议.     

语言理解中的预设加工

预设是指以交际双方的共同背景(共享的知识或信念)为前提的、听话者根据特定语言标记(触发标记)及其限定的对象(计算内容)而推理出的非外显意义。例如,“张明又触发标记发表了论文计算内容”引发了“张明之前发表过论文”的预设推论。理解者依赖触发标记通达交际双方的共同背景,并在计算内容上生成完整的预设;随后,理解者连接生成的预设和共同背景,更新两者之间的关系。触发标记范畴、共同背景与预设的关联度、共同背景类型,以及理解者的参与动机会影响不同阶段的预设加工。未来研究可以从三个角度进一步探讨预设加工的认知基础：(1)采用计算建模的方法,量化交际互动中听话者理解预设的过程(如观点采择);(2)采用脑成像技术,揭示预设加工过程的神经基础;(3)以特殊人群为研究对象,检验和修正预设加工的认知模型。     

Audiences,relevance, and cognitive environments

This paper discusses the fundamental sense in which the components of an argument should be relevant to the intended audience. In particular, the evidence advanced should be relevant to the facts and assumptions that are manifest in the cognitive environment of the audience. A version of Sperber and Wilson's concept of the cognitive environment is applied to argumentative concerns, and from this certain features of audience-relevance are explored: that the relevance of a premise can vary with the audience; that irrelevant premises can be made relevant; that evidence can be relevant by degrees; and that this notion of relevance will assist the argumentation analyst in the identification and assessment of hidden premises.     

Iterative and fixed point common belief

We define infinitary extensions to classical epistemic logic systems, and add also a common belief modality, axiomatized in a finitary, fixed-point manner. In the infinitary K system, common belief turns to be provably equivalent to the conjunction of all the finite levels of mutual belief. In contrast, in the infinitary monotonic system, common belief implies every transfinite level of mutual belief but is never implied by it. We conclude that the fixed- point notion of common belief is more powerful than the iterative notion of common belief.     

Are General Practitioners Willing and Able to Provide Genetic Services for Common Diseases?

Primary care in the United Kingdom has been advocated as an optimal location for the provision of genetic services for common diseases. Little, however, is known about general practitioners' own views toward this suggestion or the possible demand for such services from patients. To assess general practitioners' attitudes to providing genetic services for common diseases, and to estimate the demand from patients for these services, we used a single-page postal questionnaire survey of all 359 general practitioners registered with the Oxfordshire Health Authority; 339 (94%) responded. These physicians reported that a mean 4.1 patients (95% CI, 3.3–4.9) out of every 1,000 consulting them were concerned about their own risk of a common disease associated with a diagnosis in a family member. Half of the general practitioners (95% CI, 45–56%) counseled about genetics in the last year. A majority of general practitioners accept the need to provide genetic services, but far fewer are competent to do so. Although 60% (95% CI, 55–65%) believed they should be involved with genetic screening for common diseases, only 29% (95% CI, 24–34%) felt sufficiently prepared to take family histories and draw pedigrees, and only 15% (95% CI, 11–19%) felt sufficiently prepared to counsel patients about their genetic test results. Given the necessary training and information, 63% (95% CI, 58–68%) and 64% (95% CI, 59–69%) were willing to provide these services. Even with training and information, not all would be willing to provide these services, and lack of time may be a major deterrent. Practice-enabling strategies, such as computerized aids in genetics, may be useful.     

Determining the number of components from the matrix of partial correlations

A common problem for both principal component analysis and image component analysis is determining how many components to retain. A number of solutions have been proposed, none of which is totally satisfactory. An alternative solution which employs a matrix of partial correlations is considered. No components are extracted after the average squared partial correlation reaches a minimum. This approach gives an exact stopping point, has a direct operational interpretation, and can be applied to any type of component analysis. The method is most appropriate when component analysis is employed as an alternative to, or a first-stage solution for, factor analysis.     

On Bayesian estimation in unrestricted factor analysis

It is shown that the common and unique variance estimates produced by Martin & McDonald's Bayesian estimation procedure for the unrestricted common factor model have a predictable sum which is always greater than the maximum likelihood estimate of the total variance. This fact is used to justify a suggested simple alternative method of specifying the Bayesian parameters required by the procedure.     

The sensory‐cognition association in adulthood: Different magnitudes for processing speed,inhibition, episodic memory,and false memory?

One hundred and forty-six participants (age range = 20-80) completed a battery of tests designed to measure visual acuity, processing speed, inhibition, episodic memory and false memory. The relations between visual acuity and general cognitive ability, as well as between visual acuity and the indicators of this construct, were evaluated with structural equation modeling. The measurement model confirmed that the indicators of the individual cognitive abilities could be grouped into a general cognitive functioning factor. However, the relation between episodic and false memory was not completely explained by the shared association with this general factor. Furthermore, visual acuity predicted approximately half of the age-related variance in the general cognition factor. Also, the proportion of age-related variance shared with vision was highest in inhibition and lowest in false memory. The results are discussed in the light of common cause accounts of cognitive aging.     

康德哲学与广松涉"交互主体的共同主观性"理论

广松涉认为,对近代认识论基础的问题式及其构成机制和局限进行反思,首先需要将着眼点放在康德哲学的问题式及其构成机制上。康德哲学的总的问题式就是在以先验逻辑学为基础的逻辑学、认识论和本体论“三位一体”的哲学构架中,探讨人的认识以及纯粹理性的先天综合判断及其能力何以可能。这一问题式潜含着一个意义非常重大的认识论问题——即“主体际共同主观性”问题．需要我们认真地加以研究。