Do you think that your health or safety are at risk because of your work? A large European study on psychological and physical work demands

Throughout Europe there are relatively few statistics, gathered a national level, which deal specifically with the problem of violence at work. In the UK, the revised Reporting of Injuries. Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 now require that certain violent incidents are reported on a national basis. The criteria for reporting, which are entirely dependent on the physical outcome of incidents, are discussed. It is recommended that employing organizations should establish their own internal systems for reportmg and recording a wider range of violent, and potentially violent, incidents. These should then be used to inform risk assessment and risk management.     

Multigaussian models: The danger of parsimony

Summary MultiGaussian models have the intrinsic property of imposing very little continuity to extreme values. If the variable that is being modeled is hydraulic conductivity and the processes being studied are groundwater flow and mass transport, the absence of continuous paths of extreme values will have a retardation effect in the computed travel times. In the case of radionuclide release of nuclear waste from a deep geological repository, underestimation of travel times may lead to unsafe decision making. To demonstrate the impact of the low continuity of extreme value implicit to multiGaussian modes, travel times are computed in a site similar to Finnsj?n-one of the sites in crystaline rock studied in Sweden-using two stochastic models with the same histogram and covariance, one of them is multiGaussian, and the other is not and displays high connectivity of extreme high values. The results show that the multiGaussian model leads to less conservative results than the non-multiGaussian one. Invoking the parisimony principle to select a multiGaussian model as the simplest model that can be fully described by a mean value and a covariance function should not be justification enough for such selection. If there is not enough data to characterize the connectivity of the extreme values and therefore distriminate whether a multiGaussian model is appropriate or not, less parismonious models must also be considered.     

A comparison of encoding techniques

A limiting constraint of many management science techniques is that inputs from the decision maker based upon his experiences, opinions and intuition are not considered. For those models that do allow this type of input, it is assumed that they can be accurately and precisely defined in a subjective probability distribution. Little attention, however, has been directed towards evaluating the techniques to define these distributions in a management setting. This study investigates the relative merits of four of the most commonly used techniques for the quantification of subjective assessments. When these techniques were used with professionals whose jobs entail evaluation of uncertainty, a clear preference was shown. Additionally, some concluding observations concerning the selection and the application of assessment techniques are presented.     

Variations in carambola infestation rates byBactrocera carambolae drew and hancock (Diptera: Tephritidae) with fruit availability in a carambola orchard

The relationship between the infestation rate of carambola fruits byBactrocera carambolae Drew and Hancock was investigated in a carambola orchard. Phenology of the fruits was found to influence percentage infestation of fruits byB. carambolae. The proportion of unbagged or susceptible fruits infested varied with time of year and tended to decrease with the increase of unbagged fruits available on the tree. The number of ovipunctures per fruit varied with fruit size and was also found to be indicative of the number of adult insects (B. carambolae and parasitoids) that will emerge from each fruit. Higher number of susceptible fruits available on each tree also decreased both the number of ovipunctures per fruit and the number of eggs laid per fruit, which could possibly be due to the strategy of spreading the risk adopted by the femaleB. carambolae or a result of random selection with more hosts available. The main parasitoids recorded wereBiosteres vandenboschi (Fullaway) andB. arisanus (Sonan). The mean percentage of parasitism was 38.3% and it followed roughly that of infestation of fruits.     

Longitudinal measurement models in evaluation research: Examining stability and change

This article provides an introduction to the use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test measurement invariance and stability in longitudinal research. The approach is illustrated through examples representing: (a) one construct, two measurement waves; (b) one construct, three waves; (c) two constructs, two waves; and (d) comparison of treatment and control groups in pre-post designs. Basic issues in establishing measurement invariance over time, across treatment groups, and within measurement waves are discussed. Estimates of the stability coefficients that are corrected for measurement error and method variance associated with each specific measured variable are provided. Establishing measurement invariance is a critical requirement for making inferences about treatment effects and changes in constructs over time.     

Toward a Policy for Lifelong Career Development: A Transatlantic Perspective

A revolution in the structures of work is taking place in most advanced industrialized countries. This article suggests that giving new meanings to the concept of “career” is one of the keys to economic success and social harmony in the new postindustrial society. It argues that a number of new social ligatures are needed to make the new concept of career accessible to all. One of these ligatures is lifelong access to career counseling. This article outlines a strategy developed in the United Kingdom for achieving such access and analyzes its cautious application of market and quasi-market principles to career counseling provision.