“How Exposed Is Exposed Enough?” Lay Inferences About Chemical Exposure

The concept of exposure is central to chemical risk assessment and plays an important role in communicating to the public about the potential health risks of chemicals. Research on chemical risk perception has found some indication that the model lay people use to judge chemical exposure differs from that of toxicologists, thereby leading to different conclusions about chemical safety. This paper presents the results of a series of studies directed toward developing a model for understanding how lay people interpret the concept of chemical exposure. The results indicate that people's beliefs about chemical exposure (and its risks) are based on two broad categories of inferences. One category of inferences relates to the nature in which contact with a chemical has taken place, including the amount of a chemical involved and its potential health consequences. A second category of inferences about chemical exposure relates to the pragmatics of language interpretation, leading to beliefs about the motives and purposes behind chemical risk communication. Risk communicators are encouraged to consider how alternative models of exposure and language interpretation can lead to conflicting conclusions on the part of the public about chemical safety.     

Perceived Acceptability of Risk Analysis as a Decision-Making Approach

Three methods for making a consumer product safety decision were evaluated on scales relating to their perceived acceptability, logical soundness, completeness, and sensitivity to moral and ethical concerns. Two of the methods were formalized techniques: cost-benefit analysis and risk analysis. The third method involved abiding by standard industry practices. Other factors in the decision-making context were also varied. The results indicated that formalized techniques were preferred over the standard practices method. Within the formalized methods, cost-benefit analysis was judged less acceptable than a comparable method that did not involve making explicit value tradeoffs. All methods were judged more acceptable when they led to improved product safety. Knowledge of consequences did not exert direct effect on judgments, though it did interact significantly with other variables. The results are discussed in terms of judgmental processes that people apply when evaluating decision methods.     

Perceived Risks of Radioactive Waste Transport Through Oregon: Results of a Statewide Survey

Transportation of hazardous materials, and particularly radioactive wastes, on public highways has become an important risk management issue. The unfavorability of public attitudes regarding hazardous and nuclear wastes signals the potential for strong public opposition to programs for transporting these materials. This paper presents the results of a survey conducted to assess public reactions to a long-term nuclear waste transport program planned to follow a route through a portion of rural Oregon. The survey assessed a number of key risk perception issues, including perceived health and safety risks of nuclear waste transport, relative risks of transport vs. storage at an existing site, trust in state officials, and satisfaction with life in communities along the transport route. The survey identified a number of attitudes and concerns that need to be understood and considered by those in charge of designing and implementing the waste-transportation program.     

Designing computer models that work

The techniques of financial modelling are becoming more popular and accepted as a useful information processing tool. However, what is ‘financial modelling’ and does the term adequately describe current applications? Why has financial modelling been such a growth area and what are the benefits? Given a desire to build models, where does the manager begin? What type of system and language should be used and by whom? What type of computing facility is most suitable? Which modelling system should be selected and what features are important? As well as an increase in the number of financial modelling applications they are now more complex. What guidelines can one use when designing large and complex models? This article seeks to answer these questions, concentrating on the large and more complex models, particularly for long term planning and budgeting applications. Finally an example is given illustrating how a large modelling system can be constructed and maintained with little technical computer expertise.     

Owner motivation and land use on landed estates in the north-west Highlands of Scotland

Although rarely defined, the terms misuse and underuse have been widely used in relation to the land uses of large Highland estates. This paper considers the results of a study of estates in north-west Sutherland which examined the links between owner motivation and land use. The estates are classified according to land use and use intensity, and differences in these are considered as the product of owner motivations and management objectives, and of the financial backgrounds of owners.The dominant owner motivation is private enjoyment, particularly on sporting estates. Management structures are typically simple, reflecting the restricted range of uses. Most decision-makers are non-resident and their management input is more important on commercially-orientated estates than on those associated with private sport. Government agencies, except those associated with grants and subsidies, have little influence on management: owner motivation is more important.Most estates in the survey identified development potential, but few had invested in developments. Amenity rather than economic potential, particularly on sporting estates, is the most important constraint. More commercially-orientated estates generated investment capital internally from their enterprises. There seems to be a growing difference between estates associated with private sport and all other types of estates. Even on land of similar quality, the latter are expanding their enterprises, while the former are contracting.In the absence of a coherent public policy framework, landholders are the rural decision-makers. If land development and employment creation are to be pursued in the rural Highlands, a more positive and interventionist approach is required.     

Worry Over Technological Activities and Life Concerns

A common mental response to risk is worry. Though generally associated with fear and anxiety, worry is primarily a cognitive activity that can, under some circumstances, be beneficial for developing coping strategies to deal with stressful events. The present study reports an assessment of worry done both before and after the reactor accident at Three Mile Island (TMI). Worries over nuclear risks were assessed in the context of central life concerns such as financial, physical, and interpersonal well-being. The TMI incident elevated nuclear energy worries to a level near those of central life concerns. The productive value of worry is discussed in terms of its relationship with opportunities for personal control.     

Systems simulation: theory of monosynaptic transfer between neuron populations.

This paper presents a theory for the input-output transformation involved in diffuse monosynaptic activation in a neural tissue or organ system of one population of neurons by another. Main findings are: (1) highly diffuse monosynaptic linkages act very much like filters, selectively sensitive to synchronized clusters of action potentials among the fibers of the input population; (2) partially diffuse monosynaptic linkages are capable of effecting either an amplification or diminution of the number of pulses involved in a single synchronized cluster, depending on parameters of the system; and (3) partially diffuse and spatially organized monosynaptic linkages are capable of effecting a spatial inversion of fine-grained spatial patterns. Theoretical predictions are clarified by mathematical analysis and computer simulation.