Mixtures of Toxic Agents and Attributable Risk Calculations

Calculations of attributable risks have attracted increasing interest recently. However, these efforts have been limited to mostly one agent, radiation, and no interactions with effects of other toxic agents have been taken into account. This paper outlines a generic approach to the calculation of attributable risks for an exposure to several toxic agents and interaction effects associated with them. In this calculation, the partition of interaction terms between the agents responsible is of particular importance. At present, there are no rules on how to assign equitable shares, so one methodology will be proposed and others discussed briefly. For one example of an assignment, the standard errors of the attributable risks are determined in terms of the uncertainties of the input parameters, thus setting the stage for a comparison of the different shares of responsibility.     

The Political Economy of Social Science Funding

This article examines recent economic and political trends constraining the production of social science knowledge. Particular attention is given to the Reagan Administration's attempt to contract public sector programs and curtail financial support for social science research. Trends in the private economy, especially within the publishing industry, that affect the production of social science knowledge are also discussed. Over the past few years, the market for social science knowledge has seriously eroded. The erosion of this market is examined within the larger framework of a shift in public policy from legitimation to capital accumulation, a shift that has accompanied right-wing ascendancy in American politics. This shift has created political and economic incentives encouraging the social science community to align more closely with conservatives.     

The Structural Context of City Adoption of War on Poverty and National Flood Insurance Programs*

A theoretical formulation is presented that represents an abstract and parsimonious conception of public policy adoption at the subnational level. The formulation consists of two components: the principle that social phenomena exist in contexts with which they are compatible, and several distinguishing attributes of subnational collectivities and public policies. Taken together, these statements lead to the conclusion: if there is a match between attributes of a policy and those of a collectivity, then the probability increases that the policy will be adopted by the collectivity. General hypotheses derived from the formulation appear generally consistent with findings of previous research. Specific hypotheses derived from the formulation regarding city adoption of War on Poverty and National Flood Insurance programs are tested with cross–sectional data for a sample of U.S. cities. Results of an ordinary least-squares regression analysis reveal support for derived hypotheses. It is concluded that the explanatory and predictive powers of the theoretical formulation are high.     

The nature and measurement of freedom

This article develops an ergodic theory of freedom and its measurement. The key idea is that freedom and uncertainty are inextricably entwined. Measuretheoretic isomorphism of stationary processes is a natural way of identifying at an abstract level identity of the structure of uncertainty, which can be measured by the entropy rate of a stationary process. Various empirical examples of markets and elections are considered, as well as the Kantian, as opposed to utilitarian, philosophical framework of the general ideas.     

Determinants of union election outcomes in the non-hospital health care industry

Our research examines union election activity in the non-hospital health care industry over a 12-year period and shows that unions in this industry consistently win a greater percentage of their elections than their counterparts in either the hospital segment of the industry or other industries. Furthermore, the results indicate that several factors, primarily organizational characteristics, significantly affect the union victory rate.     

Back on Your Feet: An Interpretation of an EPUY

The Educational Programme for Unemployed Youth (EPUY) is a federal government scheme which assists the states to run courses for unemployed school leavers. The Queensland course, ‘Skills for Working and Living’, takes sixteen weeks. Participant observation provides an ethnographic look at one of these programmes at the Brisbane Catering College. From the time allocation by course planners, personal development was not officially considered crucially important, though it was to the teachers who were predominantly women. The staff were part time, consisting of Technical and Further Education, College of Advanced Education and temporary teachers. The fifteen students (seven girls and eight youths) ranged in age from 14 to 19 years. The course is selectively described in terms of two central events: the first two weeks; and the final weeks before graduation. A positive group climate developed only very slowly because of various constraints. However, the students reported increased feelings of self-worth and personal effectiveness and they acknowledged staff friendliness and perseverance. During the course and within a month of its completion, eight of the unemployed got jobs. Such schemes deserve encouragement.