In this paper we give a skeletal outline of the foundations of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and some of its highlights. We also show that the principal eigenvector solution is essential for deriving the scale of priorities from the fundamental scale of judgments given in the matrix.

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The third and the fourth standardized sample moments are frequently used in practice as measures of skewness and kurtosis for assessing departure of the data from normality. In this article, it is shown that the influence functions of the functionals corresponding to the sample skewness and kurtosis at the standard normal distribution are identical with the third- and the fourth-degree Hermite polynomials. The influence functions of mth-order (m≥5) standardized moments are also obtained. When m≥5, it is revealed that the influence functions are not identical with the Hermite polynomials. Therefore, we determine moment-based statistics whose influence functions are given by Hermite polynomials. For bivariate distributions, we also calculate influence functions of product moments and that of bivariate kurtosis.

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As one learns a language, she or he learns to view the world as one's culture views it. Krober and Kelly claim a culture contains “implicit” designs for living. The objective of the study is to uncover “implicit” dimensions of the Arabic and English languages by using survey data gathered in Amman and Cairo. First, we have found that respondents answer the same questions differently depending upon the language in use. For example, we observed shifts in the use of primary group relations rules as opposed to second group relations rules in the workplace. Second, when the Arab students are answering questions in English, they may not think of only the Arab world but a greater part of the world—perhaps a sign of greater cognitive flexibility and diversity. Third, on the basis of these and other findings in the present study we would posit that a key reason for our inability to grasp certain elements in English grammar that are incomprehensible to the Arabs or the Japanese, no matter how expertly explained, may be caused by implicit dimensions of the concept inherent in English language that defy explication.

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This paper proposes a model to analyze asymmetric matrix of proximity, of which form is expressed in terms of distance and additive parameters. Two versions of the model are treated, one for matrix with diagonal entries, the other for matrix with diagonal elements undefined. For infallible data, necessary and sufficient conditions are considered, and algebraic solutions are suggested. To deal with fallible data, we propose scaling procedures based on least squares criteria. Applications are provided for demonstration.

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Public acceptance of science and technology in Japan cannot be viewed in isolation, either topically or temporally. Science and technology are never perceived as purely technical or purely scientific but rather as socio-technical or socio-scientific. Whereas science and technology were early on perceived as deterministic, more recently they have come to be seen as potentially manipulatable and regulatable. There is certainly a structural interconnection between scientific/technological innovations and social issues, particularly as public acceptance of science and technology is seen as a factor in modernization. This calls for a broad context of interpretation of the socio-political issues impacting upon public acceptance of science and technology. Public acceptance of science and technology is imperative for keeping the development of science and technology on the right track. While it used to be that science and technology were seen as almighty powers for improving the quality of life, in reality this is no longer the case. This paper addresses the assessment of public acceptance of science and technology in Japan from a number of perspectives: influence of the media, survey methodologies and their content, the adequacy or inadequacy of public polls and surveys, the need for longitudinal/trend assessment and analysis, the role of specific events and issues (e.g., Chernobyl), and the role of such social phenomena as cultural lag.

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The purposes of the present study are (a) to determine whether question items on public acceptance of science and technology are scalable, and if so, what aspects of these attitudes they will represent; (b) how these attitudes differ among nations; and (c) how scalable items relate to non-scalable items on public acceptance of science and technology. To achieve these objectives, national surveys were conducted in 1987 and 1988 in Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, the United States, and Japan. Twelve questions relating to public acceptance of science and technology were used as part of general social surveys. By using Guttman's scaling technique, only five of the twelve items could be scaled. The five items were (a) “some day science will permit complete understanding of the functioning of the human mind”; (b) “most of the social and economic problems we face will be resolved by the advancement of science and technology”; (c) “in the next 25 years, a safe method for the long-term storage or disposal of waste products from nuclear power plants will likely be seen”; (d) “in the next 25 years, a cure for common forms of cancer will likely be seen”; and (e) “in the next 25 years, a cure for senility will likely be seen.” Using correspondence analysis, in the dimension of Euclidean space, if we superimpose the locations of the five nations over the locations of the positive and negative attitudes toward these five items which relate to trust toward science and technology, we find that France is located in the area with the most positive attitudes toward these five items, followed by the United States. The Federal Republic of Germany is located in the area with the most negative attitudes. Finally, Great Britain is located in the area with half positive and half negative attitudes, while Japan is located in the area with neutral attitudes. From these findings we conclude that there are notable differences in the formation of a “trust toward science and technology” scale among the five nations with respect to the five items. If we locate the other seven, non-scalable items (which are related to the importance of environmental problems and energy savings) in Euclidean space using correspondence analysis, we will find that there is no notable relationship between the five scalable items and some of the seven non-scalable items, which indicates that attitudes toward science and technology vary significantly from one issue to another. Therefore, when we predict people's attitudes toward science and technology we must take into account the various differing aspects of science and technology . Also, to promote public acceptance of science and technology it is, in general, not enough to simply deepen understanding and knowledge of science and technology.

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A technique for the evaluation of the urban environment using multiattribute utility is presented in this paper. Data collected from citizen consciousness and physical environment surveys are used to obtain comprehensive environmental indices for each individual district by using an additive multiattribute utility function. Three kinds of indices, i.e. civic minimum, aspiration level, and the present comprehensive environmental indices, are estimated for districts with different living standards in an urban area. Through this study, the people in a district may gradually become conscious of their welfare by self-exposure to the information provided by the evaluation of the multiattribute utility of the urban environment. Besides, the local government can determine the strategies of urban environmental improvement based on these results by using compromise programming.

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