Advice to Risk Assessors Modeling Viral Health Risk Associated with Household Graywater

Quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) is a valuable tool that can be used to predict the risk associated with human exposure to specific microbial contaminants in water sources. The transparency inherent in the QMRA process benefits discussions between multidisciplinary teams because members of such teams have different expertise and their confidence in the risk assessment output will depend upon whether they regard the selected input data and assumptions as being suitable and/or plausible. Selection of input data requires knowledge of the availability of appropriate data sets, the limitations of using a particular data set, and the logic of using alternative approaches. In performing QMRA modeling and in the absence of directly relevant data, compromises must be made. One such compromise made is to use available Escherichia coli data and apply a ratio of enteric viruses to indicator E. coli in wastewater obtained from prior studies to estimate the concentration of enteric viruses in other wastewater types/sources. In this article, we have provided an argument for why we do not recommend the use of a pathogen to E. coli ratio to estimate virus concentrations in single household graywater and additionally suggested circumstances in which use of such a ratio may be justified.     

Third Sector Accounting Standard Setting: Do Third Sector Stakeholders Have Voice?

The study examines the empirical evidence of the submissions received from third sector organisations and their stakeholders in response to proposed changes to the New Zealand accounting standard setting framework. The study aims to determine whether third sector stakeholders have voice in third sector accounting standard setting. Critical comparison of submissions and proposals appear to show that the standard setters were not listening to their third sector stakeholders. However, the study found that the standard setters utilised legitimacy management strategies to gather third sector stakeholders’ voice. The standard setters proactively achieved this by conforming to the environment and achieving pragmatic legitimacy to ensure that their decisions were based on third sector stakeholders’ voice. The study is important for those countries where accounting standard setters are grappling with the due process to undertake for third sector accounting standards in its elevation of working groups to the role of salient stakeholders.     

Partnership with parents in planning the care of their children

Working in partnership with parents is a guiding principle of the Children Act. This principle is made more concrete through specific requirements of the Act, such as those relating to care plans and reviews for children looked after by the local authority. This article examines the extent to which working in partnership with parents has been translated into practice, using some of the findings from a major research evaluation of child care planning under the Children Act.     

Matches and Mismatches: The Contribution of Carers and Children to the Success of Foster Placements

Correspondence to Professor Ian Sinclair, Social Work Research and Development Unit, University of York, York YO10 5DD. E-mail: acs5{at}york.ac.uk Summary Data were collected on 472 foster children at an interval of14 months. The children's social workers, the family placementsocial workers and the foster carers reported on disruptions,and the reasons for placement success or lack of it. These views,combined with comments from the children, led to hypothesesabout the origins of successful placements. Statistical testsof these hypotheses suggested that success depended on threeaspects of the placement. First of these was the children'scharacteristics. Children, who wanted to be fostered (had attractivecharacteristics and low levels of disturbance), did better.Second were the qualities of the foster carer. Placements withwarm, child-oriented carers were more successful. Third wasthe interaction between carer and child. The findings emphasizethe crucial importance of the foster carers to outcomes. Theyalso support the need to pay close attention to children's views,and the potential importance of early intervention to preventnegative spirals of interaction between carer and child.     

Office of the future — New challenges for operational research

A technological barrage has been fired on the office environment in an attempt to attack rising costs and improve productivity. Although very new, a dramatic level of effort is already being applied. The state of the art is changing daily but so far the problems still outnumber the solutions. The opportunities to contribute are significant. This paper briefly describes the scene, characterizes the state-of-the-art and suggests an entry strategy for the OR professional. The probable response of the OR profession is considered.     

Identities under scrutiny: How women leaders navigate feeling misidentified at work

The identities of women leaders can fall under intense scrutiny; they are often confronted with other's perceptions of them—perceptions that may not be wholly accurate. Through in-depth qualitative interviews of senior women leaders working in male-dominated industries, we explore how they experience and respond to feeling misidentified (internal identity asymmetry; Meister, Jehn, & Thatcher, 2014) throughout their careers. Employing grounded theory methods, we uncover how women are likely to experience asymmetry, and discover it becomes most salient during personal and professional identity transitions. We build theory with respect to how women leaders navigate feeling misidentified, and find with time and power the experience becomes less salient. Our study draws together and contributes to both the identity and leadership literatures by exploring an important identity challenge facing women leaders in industries that are striving for a greater gender-balance in senior positions.