The effect of the united mine workers of America on the probability of severe injury in underground coal mines

This paper examines the efficacy of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in achieving safe working conditions by reducing the probability of severe injury. A detailed data base has been constructed for underground mines during the period 1986–1988. The results obtained fail to provide convincing evidence that the UMWA reduces the severity of injury, even though the UMWA has safety committees and inspectors in the mines where it is the bargaining agent. Further testing reveals that there is no significant difference in the probability of injury due to roof falls, haulage, and handling material, between union and nonunion mines.     

Maltreatment and Trauma: Toward a Comprehensive Model of Abused Children from Developmental Psychology

Knowledge of how maltreatment and trauma aects personality functioning in abused children has been greatly enhanced by clinical theory and research in developmental psychology. Developmental research and theory has allowed the child abuse field to move beyond symptom-lists toward broader models of how trauma impacts major domains of personality functioning. However, these models continue to be based largely on discrete theories of development that parallel, if not confound, one another. This paper attempts to expand our understanding of the traumatized child by using the synthetic model of personality development expounded by Fred Pine that promotes a more holistic and comprehensive view of the abused child and, thus, enhances clinical theory and intervention.     

Editorial

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior -     

Quantitative Risk Assessment of FMD Virus Transmission via Water

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a viral disease of domesticated and wild cloven-hoofed animals. FMD virus is known to spread by direct contact between infected and susceptible animals, by animal products such as meat and milk, by the airborne route, and mechanical transfer on people, wild animals, birds, and by vehicles. During the outbreak of 2001 in the Netherlands, milk from dairy cattle was illegally discharged into the sewerage as a consequence of transport prohibition. This may lead to contaminated discharges of biologically treated and raw sewage in surface water that is given to cattle to drink. The objective of the present study was to assess the probability of infecting dairy cows that were drinking FMD virus contaminated surface water due to illegal discharges of contaminated milk. So, the following data were collected from literature: FMD virus inactivation in aqueous environments, FMD virus concentrations in milk, dilution in sewage water, virus removal by sewage treatment, dilution in surface water, water consumption of cows, size of a herd in a meadow, and dose-response data for ingested FMD virus by cattle. In the case of 1.6 x 10(2) FMD virus per milliliter in milk and discharge of treated sewage in surface water, the probability of infecting a herd of cows was estimated to be 3.3 x 10(-7) to 8.5 x 10(-5), dependent on dilution in the receiving surface water. In the case of discharge of raw sewage, all probabilities of infection were 100 times higher. In the case of little dilution in small rivers, the high level of 8.5 x 10(-3) is reached. For 10(4) times higher FMD virus concentrations in milk, the probabilities of infecting a herd of cows are high in the case of discharge of treated sewage (3.3 x 10(-3) to 5.7 x 10(-1)) and very high in the case of discharge of raw sewage (0.28-1.0). It can be concluded that illegal and uncontrolled discharges of contaminated milk into the sewerage system may lead to high risks to other cattle farms at 6-50 km distance of the location of discharge within one day. This clearly underlines current measures that prohibit such discharges, and also asks for strict control. This risk assessment clearly demonstrated the potential significance of FMD virus transmission via water, and the results will be useful on an international scale, and could also serve as a basis for other FMD risk-assessment models.     

Evocative and Repertoire-Altering Effects of an Environmental Event

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The behavioral effects of environmental events can be classified as evocative when we refer to an immediate but momentary change in behavior, and as...     

Talcott Parsons and national socialism: The case of the “ten mysterious missing letters”

This essay is a response to questions raised by my review of a book by Uta Gerhardt called Talcott Parsons on National Socialism.In short, I found many issues unresolved in the Cold War years from 1946 to 1954 at Harvard University, especially the role of Talcott Parons and Clyde Kluckhohn in allegedly bringing Nazi collaborators to the United States. I have tried to address these controversial issues in this response.