A Bayesian Approach to Integrated Ecological and Human Health Risk Assessment for the South River,Virginia Mercury‐Contaminated Site

We conducted a regional‐scale integrated ecological and human health risk assessment by applying the relative risk model with Bayesian networks (BN‐RRM) to a case study of the South River, Virginia mercury‐contaminated site. Risk to four ecological services of the South River (human health, water quality, recreation, and the recreational fishery) was evaluated using a multiple stressor–multiple endpoint approach. These four ecological services were selected as endpoints based on stakeholder feedback and prioritized management goals for the river. The BN‐RRM approach allowed for the calculation of relative risk to 14 biotic, human health, recreation, and water quality endpoints from chemical and ecological stressors in five risk regions of the South River. Results indicated that water quality and the recreational fishery were the ecological services at highest risk in the South River. Human health risk for users of the South River was low relative to the risk to other endpoints. Risk to recreation in the South River was moderate with little spatial variability among the five risk regions. Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis identified stressors and other parameters that influence risk for each endpoint in each risk region. This research demonstrates a probabilistic approach to integrated ecological and human health risk assessment that considers the effects of chemical and ecological stressors across the landscape.     

Quantifying leader lives: What historiometric approaches can tell us

Historically notable leaders, such as John F. Kennedy, Mohandas Ghandi, and Rupert Murdoch, serve as exemplars in our field of study. Across the domains of military, business, government, ideology, and the arts, these outstanding leaders have markedly impacted the institutions, fields, and broader social structures in which they worked and lived. To understand the unique styles, developmental experiences, and performance contributions of such leaders, a historiometric approach is encouraged. We define this methodological strategy as the study of multiple eminent leaders that requires the translation of historical, qualitative information into quantitative indices of individual differences in leaders. Best practices, limitations, and implications for this technique as an advancement of leadership theory are reviewed.     

Family Allowances in Australia for Children Under 16 Years of Age

Family allowances for children take two forms: uniform child endowment scheme cash benefits and uniform income tax concessional deductions. The benefit per child by child endowment is the same for all income groups, but that received by tax remission increases with income because taxation is progressive. Child endowment benefits have long remained fairly static, while tax remission benefits have increased substantially as incomes have risen. Hence the scheme best suited to meet the criterion of need— child endowment—having declined from 62 per cent of family allowances in 1959 to 55 per cent in 1966, has become a much smaller component of the dual scheme of family allowances. An outline is given of two schemes which, while costing the government no more than the present dual scheme, would achieve a significant redistribution of benefits better designed to meet the criterion of need.     

Team-Based Volunteerism with the Seriously Ill: A Qualitative Analysis from 10 Volunteers' Perspectives

Volunteers offer means through which social workers may extend their ability to support individuals with serious illnesses near the end of life. This study explored the experience of volunteers on teams organized initially as a grassroots movement in response to stigmatized and often socially isolated people with HIV/AIDS dying in the community. Volunteer care teams later expanded to individuals with other serious illnesses. This model spread as a means of meeting the growing need for practical support for seriously ill homebound individuals. Yet, little has been reported in the scientific literature about the interworkings of these teams and their optimal level of functioning. Qualitative inquiry, in the form of semi-structured interviews, explored perspectives of 10 volunteers with experience in volunteer team caring and identified the social processes that shaped their work. The volunteers discussed balance between positive life meaning gained from volunteer work, lessons learned, and negative aspects of a volunteer team approach to caring for the seriously ill in the community. Further investigation is warranted to validate the volunteer care team approach as a cost-effective tool to help seriously ill individuals and caregivers.     

Behavioral insurance: Theory and experiments

“Risk and insurance” provides an illustrative set of decisions made in the presence of uncertainty. As behavioral models become more integrated into economics and finance, many of their effects are illustrated quite well within insurance markets. Especially noteworthy are the complementary roles of theory and experiments. This article reviews the interactive role of experiments and theory in analyzing insurance demand from a behavioral perspective. We pay special attention to several models of underinvestment in insurance or in other risk-mitigation markets.     

Mothers,Monsters, Mentors

In this essay I explore the difficulties many women have in creative work and the relation of this difficulty to conflict with relations to mothers and to women mentors.     

The 1951–55 conservative government and the racialization of black immigration

‘The problem of colonial immigration has not yet aroused public anxiety, although there was some concern, mainly due to the housing difficulties in a few localities where most of the immigrants were concentrated. On the other hand, if immigration from the colonies, and, for that matter, from India and Pakistan, were allowed to continue unchecked, there was a real danger that over the years there would be a significant change in the racial character of the English people’.     

Exercise and executive functioning in older women

Research suggests that exercise can slow the rate of decline in cognitive functioning in older adults. The effects of aerobic and resistance exercise on executive functioning was examined in 68 women over 50 years of age. Participants completed the Tower of London and Benton Controlled Oral Word Association tests. Findings indicated that individuals participating in both aerobic and resistance exercises performed significantly better than individuals not participating in exercise. Individuals who were participating in both aerobic and resistance exercises did not perform disproportionately better. Thus the form of exercise appears to be less important than engaging in some form of exercise.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Scales Measuring Trust,and Control-Self-efficacy of Young Iranian Women

This study is among the first to assess Trust and Control-Self-efficacy scales as measures of cognitive social capital in transitional societies such as Iran. 391 Iranian young women aged between 18 and 35 years (M 27.3, SD 4.8) were recruited at ten sites in the city of Shiraz by cluster convenience sampling to participate in this cross-sectional study. The measures used included “Trust” and “Control-Self-efficacy” scales adapted from the British General Household Survey social capital survey. Confirmatory factor analysis with Structural Equation Modelling was used to assess the model adequacy. In addition, reliability and validity of the model was measured. After assessing all possible models to yield the best fit for the data, the “Trust” scale model represents a change of structure from three subscales to four subscales which provided a best fit with the data (χ² = 2.231, RMSEA = 0.056). While for “Control-Self-efficacy” scale with three subscales, five items were deleted in order to have a fit model (χ² = 2.128, RMSEA = 0.054). As a result, the collective evidence suggested that the instrument includes relevant items for its target population and can be a reliable and valid measure for the population of interest.