Chaos theory, informational needs, and natural disasters

This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the region's crisis communication and planning.     

Exposing the culture of silence: Inhibiting factors in the prevention,treatment, and mitigation of sexual abuse in the Eastern Caribbean

This article features a study that explored the presence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including childhood sexual abuse and neglect, among women associated with Partnership for Peace (PfP), the first and only culturally adapted domestic violence diversion program for men in the Eastern Caribbean. Within a multiyear evaluative study that assessed the impact of the PfP intervention in reducing domestic violence in Grenada in the West Indies, life-history interviews were collected from a subsample of women (N = 9) associated with men enrolled in the PfP program between 2009 and 2011. We found that the exposure to sexual abuse and neglect during childhood was evident in the histories of the women. Most perpetrators were trusted family or community members who suffered from a common set of behavioral patterns, most prominently alcohol use. Our findings reflect an evidence-based connection, as one causative factor, of a culture of silence that is related to child sexual abuse and its management. The apparent lasting effects of these traumatic childhood exposures reflect cycles of abuse in the life histories collected during the domestic violence evaluation study. Our study identified three key structural deficiencies (insufficient research, ineffective policy, and lack of public-health interventions) and one embedded cultural norm (the culture of silence) that together “inhibit current attempts to address ACEs as a means of curbing domestic violence in the Caribbean.”     

Results of an assessment to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on American Indian reservations in the Western United States

Purpose: This paper reports the results of survey research conducted with tribal producers between 2011 and 2012 on 19 of the largest American Indian reservations in Idaho, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. The purpose of the research was to identify potential barriers to sustainable agriculture on reservation lands. This article reports the results of this research in an effort to promote Extension professionals' understanding of these barriers, which may help to improve outreach programs on American Indian reservations. Understanding the obstacles to sustaining agriculture that American Indian tribes face may inform international agricultural outreach efforts to increase food security targeting indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Design/Methodology/Approach: American Indian agricultural producers comprised the study group. Study objectives included: (1) identify agricultural and natural resource issues of greatest concern to a self-selected sample of tribal agricultural producers on reservation lands; (2) evaluate access to Extension and other US Department of Agriculture outreach and assistance programs; and (3) evaluate the quality of these programs in terms of their relativity to tribal needs.

Findings: Study results indicate that tribal agricultural producers surveyed ranked 29 of 39 agricultural and natural resource issues as a concern. Similarly, they rated access to and quality of outreach programs as fair. Further, tribal producers operating on reservation trust land rated issues more severely than did tribal producers operating on fee simple lands.

Practical Implications: Results of this research will help Extension and other outreach professionals to understand the barriers indigenous and tribal peoples face in sustaining agricultural operations, particularly tribal groups living on federally reserved trust lands, such as American Indians. An increased understanding can inform agricultural policy-makers and outreach professionals in improving programs designed to increase agricultural sustainability, improve food security, enhance economic well-being and improve quality of life of indigenous and tribal peoples worldwide.

Originality/Value: This research provides important information to agricultural policy-makers and Extension professionals striving to sustain agricultural productivity and enhance food security with indigenous and tribal peoples.     

关于BCI-同态的两个定理

本给出并证明了BCI-同态的扩张定理与分解定理。     

现代家庭经济活动的资源约束与新经济人假定

在市场经济条件下，家庭是一个集生产、投产和消费为一体的微观经济主体，家庭的这些经济活动要耗用大量的资源，包括人力资源、物质资源和时间资源。然而资源总是有限的，存在一个配置效益问题。这样，如何合理使用资源以使家庭获得的效用达到最大，这便成为家庭经济行为合理化的一个重要命题，也是直接影响整个国民经济效果的重要因素。     

从国际法国内法角度谈WTO协定在中国的适用

中国成为WTO成员国之后面临的首要问题是如何履行WTO协定所确定的条约义务 ,即WTO协定如何在中国适用。从国际法 (国际条约 )与国内法关系的传统理论和各国实践出发 ,分析WTO协定作为国际贸易公法的特殊性质 ,参照各国适用WTO协定的做法 ,阐明在目前的国际形势下 ,非直接适用WTO协定是我国履行WTO条约义务的较为理想的方式     

企业营销人才的需求与要求分析——以广东省河源市为例

市场经济的发展带动了市场营销专业人才的需求,人才的需求则催生了市场营销专业的建设,推动了营销专业人才培养工作的发展.近年来,随着高校营销专业人才培养力度的加大,企业营销人才的需求得到了一定的满足,但也还存在着很多的问题.通过对广东省河源市的实证调研表明,对营销人才的需求与要求的深入了解是我们培养企业营销人才的基础,也是我们制定培养满足企业真正需要的营销人才方案的依据.     

加快转变经济发展方式必须正视外资的十大危害

引进外资已经成为我国加快转变经济发展方式的最大障碍。本文列举了外资对我国经济的十大危害：它是我国深陷美元陷阱、人民币被迫升值、引发国内严重通货膨胀和中国经济“自我剥夺”的罪魁祸首;它严重地阻碍了我国内需产业和内地经济的发展,最终将使我国创新型国家建设成为泡影;成为寻租、滋生庞大买办利益集团和跨国公司干涉我国内政的强大力量。它加快了通过掌控产业价值链垄断和支配我国经济的进程,因而成为收入分配两极分化、破坏和谐社会的隐蔽性杀手,并通过挤占民族企业的投资机会成为催生我国泡沫经济的重要因素。外资不仅加剧了对我国生态环境的严重破坏,而且它还通过直接投资特别是金融自由化直接掠夺我国自然资源和金融财产,并最终将造成这样一种可怕的前景：即使我国保护本国市场也主要保护的是外资企业,从而使外资支配我国经济的格局永久化。本文的探讨说明,所谓缺乏资金、转移技术和“搅局”中国经济等引进外资的所有理由都是不能成立的误国误民之论,引进外资对我国经济已是百害而无一利。为了加快转变经济发展方式,我国必须停止引进外资并回购外资企业;而对那些我国政府没有回购的外资企业,也要通过各种政策措施,促使其服务于我国经济发展方式的转变。     

ESP理论指导下的BE目标需求分析

ESP是一种教学方式,利用它的需求分析理论分析后发现,就业市场除了要求BE学习者能熟练使用英语,而且要求他们在实践中熟练运用商务技能;在商务交际过程中,要学会合理使用语言,强化跨文化人际交往的能力。