Ecological Risk Assessment Framework for Low-Altitude Aircraft Overflights: I. Planning the Analysis and Estimating Exposure

An ecological risk assessment framework for low-altitude aircraft overflights was developed, with special emphasis on military applications. The problem formulation and exposure analysis phases are presented in this article; an analysis of effects and risk characterization is presented in a companion article. The intent of this article is threefold: (1) to illustrate the development of a generic framework for the ecological risk assessment of an activity, (2) to show how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ecological risk assessment paradigm can be applied to an activity other than the release of a chemical, and (3) to provide guidance for the assessment of ecological risks from low-altitude aircraft overflights. The key stressor for low-altitude aircraft overflights is usually sound, although visual and physical (collision) stressors may also be significant. Susceptible and regulated wildlife populations are the major assessment endpoint entities, although plant communities may be impacted by takeoffs and landings. The exposure analysis utilizes measurements of wildlife locations, measurements of sound levels at the wildlife locations, measurements of slant distances from aircraft to wildlife, models that extrapolate sound from the source aircraft to the ground, and bird-strike probability models. Some of the challenges to conducting a risk assessment for aircraft overflights include prioritizing potential stressors and endpoints, choosing exposure metrics that relate to wildlife responses, obtaining good estimates of sound or distance, and estimating wildlife locations.     

Using survival analysis to demonstrate the effects of training on employee retention

In order to thrive, companies are waging war with competitors to hire and retain the most knowledgeable and skilled employees. Personnel with industry experience are the highly valued field generals who will win new business and generate revenue. The cost of acquiring experienced personnel and the cost of losing such personnel is substantial, upwards of $100,000 per person. To remain profitable, companies must retain personnel as long as possible. Training is among the many tactics that have been implemented to increase retention among employees. This article focuses on assessing the impact of a 3-day training course designed to acclimate experienced hires to one company's policies, formal and informal procedures, and pathways to success. A quasi-experimental design, wherein study participants self-selected to attend training, was used to test the hypothesis that training would increase retention and justify the substantial financial investment in training. Attention is given to the benefits of using survival analysis as a data analytic technique applicable for employee retention studies.     

The education of the American political elite: 1949–2001

The two primary objectives of the paper are to develop a more complete and precise profile of the educational experiences of national political leaders and to use that profile to illuminate several significant aspects of the American educational system and process. The universe of the study consists of 578 presidents, vice-presidents, cabinet members, Supreme Court Justices, and congressional leaders in office from the beginning of the first full Truman administration in early 1949 through the end of the second Clinton administration in early 2001. Among the principal conclusions are that a graduate or professional degree is a prerequisite for attaining high-public office and that political elites are more extensively, but less exclusively, educated than top leaders of other sectors of American society. Twelve American universities, and one foreign institution, have had a consistently disproportionate impact on elite education for a long period of time. Having a law school significantly enhances an institution's contribution to elite education. The training of the American political elite is characterized by both institutional pluralism and homogeneity.     

AN EVALUATION OF ORDER PICKING POLICIES FOR MAIL ORDER COMPANIES

This paper is concerned with the problem of order picking in mail order companies. Order picking is the retrieval of items from their warehouse storage locations to satisfy customer orders. Five order picking policies, strict order, batch, sequential zone, batch zone, and wave, are evaluated using labor requirements, processing time, and customer service as performance measures. A simulation model was developed to investigate these picking policies in a mail order environment. Prior research has focused on the study of individual picking policies. This study extends the prior research by evaluating multiple picking policies under varying operating conditions. The results of the study seem to indicate that (1) wave picking and batch picking perform well across the range of operating conditions considered in this study, and (2) sequential zone and batch zone picking do not perform well, especially as the order volume increases. However, the benefits and drawbacks to each picking policy must be taken into account. The key to effective implementation of an order picking system is to match the firm's business strategy, capabilities, technology, and space requirements with an order picking policy that maximizes the benefits of order picking to the firm and its customers.     

A comparison of two randomized response survey methods with consideration for the level of respondent protection

In recent years randomized response methods have been introduced in an attempt to improve the accuracy and honesty in personalized response surveys of very sensitive questions. Two randomized response methods are compared, taking into account the protection afforded the respondent. In addition, we point out that the estimators, which previous authors have claimed to be the maximum likelihood estimators of the population proportion with the sensitive characteristic, are in fact not the maximum likelihood estimators.     

THE BEHAVIOR OF REGULATORY ACTIVITY OVER THE BUSINESS CYCLE: AN EMPIRICAL TEST

This paper tests a prediction of the interest-group theory of regulation which suggests that regulators generally will not force any one group to bear the full adjustment costs associated with variations in the business cycle. That is, the interest-group model predicts that regulatory agencies will redistribute cyclical gains and losses by supplying more "producer protection" regulation during contractions and more "consumer protection" regulation during expansions; i.e., regulatory activity which reduces consumer welfare will tend to be countercyclical, intensifying when aggregate demand falls and abating as demand increases.
The empirical results show a countercyclical and statistically significant ceteris paribus relationship between Federal Trade Commission enforcement efforts under the Robinson-Patman Act and several alternative measures of general business conditions. Since the Robinson-Patman Act is viewed widely as anti-consumer, the findings suggest that in cyclical downturns the Commission moves to protect producers against losses by bringing more cases which limit the tendency for prices to fall. This result may be rationalized under the view that during recessions, the Federal Trade Commission is in the business of transferring wealth from consumers either to protect small business or to bolster cartels. On the other hand, during business expansions the Commission reduces its Robinson-Patman case load, and such a change in enforcement may serve to mitigate producer gains, transferring wealth to consumers at the margin. In any case the paper offers empirical support for the interest-group model by providing evidence that the business cycle plays an important part in explaining the level and pattern of regulatory activity.     

Beyond contradiction and consistency: A design for a dialectical policy system

It is only within the last ten years that the necessary technical machinery has been developed that enables us to construct models that even begin to approach the complexity of dialectical reasoning. This paper shows both the diversity and the complexity of the concepts that must be woven together in order to construct a dialectic ‘process logic’, i.e., a logic that unfolds over time. It utilizes such concepts as Rescher's and Manor's plausibility calculus, Toulmin's framework for argumentation, and Markov chains. The result is the essence of a design for a computer based dialectical policy system.     

The Laboratory Evaluation and Enrichment of Couples: Applications and Some Preliminary Results

Data relating to the effects of structured versus unstructured interventions with three couples are presented and compared. Arguments are presented for the standard use of: 1) routine, pre- post-intervention assessment, 2) laboratory procedures in the assessment and treatment of couples, and 3) paraprofessionals in intervention with couples. This report is part of a systematic program of research into the appropriate use of structured and unstructured intervention and into the optimal matching of client family and intervention approach.     

POSITIONAL POWER, CLASS, AND INDIVIDUAL EARNINGS INEQUALITY: Advancing New Structuralist Explanations

This article seeks to advance "new structuralist" theory by considering the effects of positional power and class on individual earnings. We contend that positional power, that is the power wielded by workers employed in industries in an interdependent economy, confers upon workers the potential to disrupt system-wide production and creates leverage to demand higher earnings from employers. We demonstrate that positional power, in particular the per worker volume of goods and services received from other industries (or upstream production), increases workers' earnings net of sociodemographic variables and other plausible structural sources of earnings determination. We suggest that the threat of disrupting upstream production holds greater earnings potential than disrupting downstream production because of the profit realization problems associated with the former. We also show that the positive effects of positional power are not evenly distributed across the class structure, but rather are concentrated among non-owning classes who display a social control function in the labor process. We discuss the implications of our research for future new structuralist research.