The Acceptability and the Tolerability of Societal Risks: A Capabilities-based Approach

In this paper, we present a Capabilities-based Approach to the acceptability and the tolerability of risks posed by natural and man-made hazards. We argue that judgments about the acceptability and/or tolerability of such risks should be based on an evaluation of the likely societal impact of potential hazards, defined in terms of the expected changes in the capabilities of individuals. Capabilities refer to the functionings, or valuable doings and beings, individuals are able to achieve given available personal, material, and social resources. The likely impact of a hazard on individuals' capabilities should, we argue, be compared against two separate thresholds. The first threshold specifies the minimum level of capabilities attainment that is acceptable in principle for individuals to have in the aftermath of a hazard over any period of time. This threshold captures the level that individuals' capabilities ideally should not fall below. A risk is acceptable if the probability that the attained capabilities will be less than the acceptable level is sufficiently small. In practice, it can be tolerable for some individuals to temporarily fall below the acceptable threshold, provided this situation of lower capabilities attainment is temporary, reversible, and the probability that capabilities will fall below a tolerability threshold is sufficiently small. This second, tolerable threshold delimits an absolute minimum level of capabilities attainment below which no individual in a society should ever fall, regardless of whether that level of capabilities attainment is temporary or reversible. In this paper, we describe and justify this Capabilities-based Approach to the acceptability and tolerability of risks. We argue that the proposed theoretical framework avoids the limitations in current approaches to acceptable risk. The proposed approach focuses the attention of risk analysts directly on what should be our primary concern when judging the acceptability and the tolerability of risks, namely, how risks impact the well-being of individuals in a society. Also, our Capabilities-based Approach offers a transparent, easily communicable way for determining the acceptability and the tolerability of risks.     

Pastoral Counseling of Older Adults: Toward a Short-term Integrative Approach

A rapidly aging population with its mental health care needs presents an enormous challenge in the current mental health field. In light of this, pastoral counselors will have an increasingly important role to play in the care of older adults because of their strategic position in the community and their competence in dealing with religious/spiritual issues particularly salient in old age. This article proposes a short-term integrative approach to enable pastoral counselors to effectively and efficiently meet the mental health care needs of the elderly.

Ⅰ期颈椎前后路联合手术治疗嵌夹脊髓型颈椎病

为了探讨前后路联合手术治疗嵌夹脊髓型颈椎病的疗效,对50例患者行Ⅰ期颈后路单开门-前路减压内固定术。术后随访脊髓功能改善情况,植骨融合率及并发症。结果显示,50例患者经平均6．5月随访,内固定均获牢固融合,脊髓功能明显改善,无明显并发症。提示Ⅰ期颈椎前后路联合手术是治疗嵌夹脊髓型颈椎病的较理想方案。     

Component Models for Fuzzy Data

The fuzzy perspective in statistical analysis is first illustrated with reference to the “Informational Paradigm” allowing us to deal with different types of uncertainties related to the various informational ingredients (data, model, assumptions). The fuzzy empirical data are then introduced, referring to J LR fuzzy variables as observed on I observation units. Each observation is characterized by its center and its left and right spreads (LR₁ fuzzy number) or by its left and right “centers” and its left and right spreads (LR₂ fuzzy number). Two types of component models for LR₁ and LR₂ fuzzy data are proposed. The estimation of the parameters of these models is based on a Least Squares approach, exploiting an appropriately introduced distance measure for fuzzy data. A simulation study is carried out in order to assess the efficacy of the suggested models as compared with traditional Principal Component Analysis on the centers and with existing methods for fuzzy and interval valued data. An application to real fuzzy data is finally performed. We would like to express our gratitude to the Editor, the Associate Editor, and the Referees whose comments and suggestions improved significantly the quality of the paper.     

从人际关系看人格--认知-情感系统理论的视角

人格的认知—情感系统理论(cognitive-affective system theory of personality,简称CAPS)被视为是与大五人格理论齐名的一种人格理论。该文拟从个体外部的人际关系层面来阐述该理论,以加深对理论的理解。然后,又从CAPS与其它人际关系理论的契合说明该理论是一种整合性的人格理论。最后,指出了CAPS的优点和局限性,并由此对人格研究的未来发展方向进行了探讨。     

Defining relationships: Comparing Canadians, Chinese and Indians

To examine whether cultural differences exist in defining family, friend, relative, colleague and neighbour, non-student samples were drawn from Canada, China and India. The data generated several unexpected findings. (i) The means of the relationship definitions between the Chinese and Canadians were not significantly different. The means between the Chinese and Indians were significantly different. The means between the Canadians and Indians were significantly different. (ii) Females defined their relationships more interdependently than males in the Indian and Canadian samples but not in the Chinese sample. (iii) Definitions were target specific and the order of closeness differed from group to group. (iv) In the Indian and Chinese samples, participants' age was negatively correlated with closeness in defining friends, indicating that a person's perceived closeness with friends changes over the life span. Results of past research using student samples need to be interpreted with caution.     

言语产生过程中语义、语音激活的ERP研究

使用ERP技术考察了言语产生过程中语音和语义的激活情况。图片上有3种条件的干扰词,分别与目标图片名称形成3种关系:语义相关,语音相同,语义、语音、字形都不相关。结果显示,当被试执行延迟命名任务(实验1)时,与目标图片名称语义相关和控制条件的波形比语音相关的波形更趋于负向。说明在图片命名过程中语音有明显的促进作用。当要求被试对上述图片进行延迟语义判断任务(实验2)时,与目标图片名称语义相关、语音相关及控制条件的波形之间无明显差异。说明在语义提取过程中没有语音的促进作用。综合实验1和实验2,本研究的结果更倾向于支持独立两阶段模型。     

German lexical personality factors: relations with the HEXACO model

We correlated the scales of the HEXACO Personality Inventory (HEXACO‐PI) with adjective scale markers of factors previously obtained in indigenous lexical studies of personality structure in the German language. Self‐ratings obtained from a sample of 323 German participants showed a pattern of strong convergent and weak discriminant correlations, supporting the content‐based interpretation of the German lexical factors in terms of the HEXACO dimensions. Notably, convergent correlations were strong for both the broader and the narrower variants of the Honesty‐Humility factor as observed in German lexical studies. Also, convergent correlations for HEXACO Openness to Experience were, as expected, stronger for German adjectives describing a creative and intellectual orientation than for German adjectives describing intellectual ability. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intrusive images in PTSD and in traumatised and non-traumatised depressed patients: a cross-sectional clinical study

Although intrusive images are a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and also occur in depression, little is known about the differences and similarities of such images in these conditions. Our study focuses on the qualities and triggers of intrusive images and responses to them in three groups--patients with PTSD, and depressed patients with and without trauma (n=65)-to highlight the diagnostic specificity of intrusive images for PTSD and depression. We distinguished intrusive images from verbal intrusive cognitions such as rumination and intrusive (brief) lexical thoughts. Consistent with the literature, the intrusive images of PTSD patients had a more "here-and-now quality" and were perceived more visually compared to those of both depressed groups. The groups showed a good deal of similarity concerning other image qualities. Most importantly, the intrusive images in PTSD and depressed patients with and without trauma were perceived as similarly distressing. Rumination and intrusive (brief) lexical thoughts were two of the five most named triggers of intrusive images. Limitations, such as the lack of a control group, and the clinical implications of these results are discussed, demonstrating the need to help non-PTSD patients with and without trauma to deal with intrusive images.     

熟练维-汉双语者汉语语义的通达机制

采用跨语言非掩蔽启动条件下的词汇判断实验范式,通过变换启动刺激和目标刺激的关系,研究了熟练维-汉双语者两种语言间的语义通达方式。结果发现,无论是维语作为启动刺激,还是汉语作为启动刺激,启动刺激与目标刺激之间无论是翻译关系,还是联想关系,启动刺激对目标刺激的识别都产生了显著的促进作用。并且两种方向的启动量没有显著差异。这些结果表明,对于熟练掌握维、汉两种语言的维吾尔族大学生而言,两种语言无论在词汇表征上,还是在概念表征上都建立了很强的联系,两种语言间词汇通达的不对称性已接近消失,支持了Kroll等人提出的整合的层级模型。