The Interplay of Science, Values, and Experiences Among Scientists Asked to Evaluate the Hazards of Dioxin, Radon, and Environmental Tobacco Smoke

To investigate the extent to which personal values and experiences among scientists might affect their assessment of risks from dioxin, radon, and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), we conducted an experiment through a telephone survey of 1461 epidemiologists, toxicologists, physicians, and general scientists. Each participant was read a vignette designed to reflect the mainstream scientific thinking on one of the three substances. For half of the participants (group A) the substance was named. For the other half (group B), the substance was not named but was identified only as Substance X, Y, or Z. Knowing the name of the substance had little effect on the scientists' evaluation of dioxin, although those who knew the substance to be dioxin were more likely to rate the substance as a serious environmental health hazard (51% vs. 42%, p = 0.062). For radon, those who knew the substance by name were significantly more likely to consider it an environmental health hazard than were those who knew it as substance Z (91% vs. 78%, p less than 0.001). Participants who knew they were being asked about ETS rather than substance X were significantly more likely to consider the substance an environmental health hazard (88% vs. 66%, p less than 0.001), to consider the substance a serious environmental health hazard (70% vs. 33%, p less than 0.001), to believe that background exposure required public health intervention (85% vs. 41%, p less than 0.001), and to believe that above-background exposure required public health intervention (90% vs. 74%, p less than 0.001). These findings suggest that values and experiences may be influencing health risk assessments for these substances, and indicate the need for more study of this phenomenon.     

Interest Groups and Social Movements: Self- or Public Interested? Insights from the Brazilian Third-Sector Literature

By definition, interest groups are seen as self-interested, that is, organizations established to pursue the self-interest of their members. As such, this plethora of self-interested actors has been seen largely as a negative thing, cluttering the policy process, creating unmanageable demands, and leading to iron triangles of interest group/legislative/bureaucratic networks geared toward funneling benefits to narrow groups. In contrast, social movements, nongovernmental organizations, and the like typically are seen as positive, democratizing players in public policy. This paper seeks to muddy both sides of this neat distinction by bringing the Brazilian third-sector literature and field research on scientific and professional associations in the states of Sergipe and Santa Catarina to bear on the question of the self- versus public-interested stance of third-sector groups. On the one hand, social movements can be just as self-interested as the more traditional interest groups. On the other, interest groups often act wholly in the public interest.     

Citizen Advisory Committees and Environmental Policy: What We Know, What's Left to Discover

Citizen Advisory Committees (CACs) are being used in increasing numbers to provide public input into environmental policy and management decisions. While there is a large body of literature consisting of guidelines for establishing and running CACs, the body of literature of empirical evaluations of CACs is markedly smaller. Fourteen empirical studies of CACs involved in environmental policy decisions (spanning the period from 1976 to 1994) are reviewed here, including case studies, large-scale surveys, and consultant reports. For each study consideration is given to the methods of study, the issues considered by the CACs, the organizations advised, the definitions of success used in the study, and the suggested factors contributing to the success, or lack of success, experienced by the CACs. The review shows that the influence of CACs on policy outcomes have varied from case to case, with some accomplishing little and others having significant policy impacts. The increased use of CACs by government and industry presents an excellent opportunity for academics and practitioners to strengthen their understanding of the internal processes and capabilities of CACs through comparative evaluation research.     

Social Workers,Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and Client Financial Concerns

ABSTRACT

The negative impact of financial abuse on intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors is well researched (Babcock, Waltz, Jacobson, & Gottman, 1993 Babcock, J. C., Waltz, J., Jacobson, N. S., & Gottman, J. M. (1993). Power and violence: The relation between communication patterns, power discrepancies, and domestic violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61(1), 40–50. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.61.1.40[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), however literature indicating how often social workers ask clients about financial concerns is currently limited. This study examined the frequency with which social workers asked clients about their financial concerns and how that relates to perceived knowledge of IPV and perceived preparedness to work with clients experiencing IPV. A total of 266 social workers who were alumni of a university located on the eastern shore of the United States responded to the questionnaire. Fewer than 30% of respondents reported that they always asked clients about their financial concerns. Logistic regression was used to model the association of always asking clients about financial concerns as a function of perceived knowledge (model 1) and perceived preparedness (model 2). In model 1, perceived knowledge, IPV education and/or training, and age were significant predictors of always asking about financial concerns (p < .05), while in model 2, perceived preparedness and age were significant predictors (p < .05). More research is needed to explore social workers' comfort with addressing client financial concerns and implications for practice.     

Marginal maximum likelihood estimation methods for the tuning parameters of ridge,power ridge,and generalized ridge regression

This study introduces fast marginal maximum likelihood (MML) algorithms for estimating the tuning (shrinkage) parameter(s) of the ridge and power ridge regression models, and an automatic plug-in MML estimator for the generalized ridge regression model, in a Bayesian framework. These methods are applicable to multicollinear or singular covariate design matrices, including matrices where the number of covariates exceeds the sample size. According to analyses of many real and simulated datasets, these MML-based ridge methods tend to compare favorably to other tuning parameter selection methods, in terms of computation speed, prediction accuracy, and ability to detect relevant covariates.     

THE COEFFICIENT OF CONCORDANCE AND THE Q-SORT TECHNIQUE

Under the assumption of random assignment of scores, Kendall's coefficient of concordance and its sampling distribution are applied to rectangular Q-sorts. F, normal, and chi square approximations and their limits of application are described.