Does a Reactor Need a Safety Backfit? Case Study on Communicating Decision and Risk Analysis Information to Managers

An approach to communicating decision and risk analysis findings to managers is illustrated in a real case context. This article consists essentially of a report prepared for senior managers of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to help them make a reactor safety decision. It illustrates the communication of decision analysis findings relating to technical risks, costs, and benefits in support of a major risk management decision: whether or not to require a safety backfit. Its focus is on the needs of decision makers, and it introduces some novel communication devices.     

A MODEL FOR COLLABORATIVE TEAM PROCESSING IN BRIEF SYSTEMIC FAMILY THERAPY*

While there has been considerable growth in recent years in the use of collaborative teamwork in Systemic Family Therapy, there has been a dearth of literature concerning the process of team functioning. Based upon a careful analysis of actual teamwork, a model for conducting more efficient and effective team conferences has been developed. The ensuing discussion examines the risks in working in teams and proposes ways to counteract these. Further avenues of research are suggested.     

Models of gambling and gambling addictions as perceptual filters

Models, in the sense of loosely entertained clusters of beliefs, attitudes, assumptions and expectations which direct the work of researchers and clinicians, also act as perceptual filters, tending to focus the attention of those who use them on certain aspects of reality and relegating to the background or ignoring altogether other aspects of the field of study and action. The central characteristics of social learning and of medical models are briefly reviewed and they are compared as perceptual filters for their distorting effects on research in gambling and in gambling addictions and on intervention strategies for problem gamblers. It is concluded that the exclusive predominance of any one model leads to the impoverishment of both research and intervention.     

Dropouts and continuers in Gamblers Anonymous: Part 3: Some possible specific reasons for dropout

This is the third part of a study of dropouts from Gamblers Anonymous, the overall design, aims and rationale of which are outlined in part one. Dropouts who had attended more than one meeting were asked about many specific aspects of their experience in Gamblers Anonymous. These reports are compared with similarly obtained reports from a group of continuing attendees who had not gambled for more than one year in an attempt to explore the viability of many specific hypotheses as to the possible factors in dropout.     

Political support for minimum wage legislation

Conclusion Even if minimum wage laws reduce employment opportunities for some workers, other individuals may benefit from their enactment. In particular, union members and residents of states with high wage levels would be expected to encourage their senators to vote in favor of minimum wage legislation. Examination of senators’ votes on the 1966 and 1974 minimum wage bills indicates that senators favoring passage of these bills are likely to come from states with high union membership and, to a lesser extent, high wage levels. The equations explaining senators’ votes on these bills were disaggregated by political party affiliation and length of membership in the Senate. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to support minimum wage bills. Virtually no difference was observed between senators who voted on both the 1966 and 1974 measures and those who voted on only one. Perhaps the most encouraging result reported is the similarity of coefficients generally observed for corresponding 1966 and 1974 equations. This similarity suggests that the equations reported herein could be used to predict votes on future minimum wage bills. The results suggest also that the general mode of analysis can be fruitfully applied to other economic legislation.