Methodology for the Calculation of Annualized Incremental Risks in Systems of Dams

In the past few years, the field of dam safety has approached risk informed methodologies throughout the world and several methodologies and programs are appearing to aid in the systematization of the calculations. The most common way of implementing these calculations is through the use of event trees, computing event probabilities, and incremental consequences. This methodology is flexible enough for several situations, but its generalization to the case of systems of several dams is complex and its implementation in a completely general calculation methodology presents some problems. Retaining the event tree framework, a new methodology is proposed to calculate incremental risks. The main advantage of this proposed methodology is the ease with which it can be applied to systems of several dams: with a single risk model that describes the complete system and with a single calculation the incremental risks of the system can be obtained, being able to allocate the risk of each dam and of each failure mode. The article shows how both methodologies are equivalent and also applies them to a case study.     

Language in the process of labour market rationalisation: A sociohistorical approach across twentieth-century Spain

This article analyses the role of linguistic skills in the process of defining professional classifications in Spain during 1919–1980. The aim is to determine the social evaluation of the skills involved. To retrace the classifications, a total of 114 official documents were examined, establishing a chronological division into three major stages: 1920–1940, 1940–1960 and 1960–1980. The first period (1920–1940) shows efforts toward the initial objectification of working conditions and salary scales, revealing social prejudices and tacit conventions shaping the employment hierarchy, while the second one (1940–1960) indicates the extent to which office work stood out over manual work. Finally, the third stage (1960–1980) shows processes of language rationalisation, which entailed attempts to standardise positions based on required skill sets.     

Rational-experiential thinking style and rational intergroup cooperation: the moderating role of intergroup conflict / Estilos de pensamiento racional-experiencial y la cooperación intergrupal racional: el rol modulador del conflicto intergrupal

Cooperative relationships between groups are difficult because of the high human capability to differentiate between in-group vs. out-group members. This obstacle exists even when the groups can obtain benefits for themselves from cooperation with other groups (rational cooperation). Based on an interactionist approach, the authors propose that personal (individual differences) and situational (conflicts) factors contribute to rational intergroup cooperation. The authors conducted a preliminary correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental investigation (Study 2). In Study 1, the authors examined, with 105 participants, the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Rational–Experiential Inventory (REI), measuring individual differences in information processing. In Study 2, the authors conducted an experimental investigation with 141 participants, testing the role of individual differences and conflict in intergroup rational cooperation. Findings of Study 1 showed that the scale has adequate psychometric properties. Results of Study 2 confirmed that the existence of both manipulated and perceived intergroup conflict reduces the magnitudes of the relationships between rational ability and rational cooperation. In addition, perceived intergroup conflict increased the magnitude of the links from experiential ability and experimental engagement to rational cooperation. Both individual differences and previous conflict have a role in predicting rational intergroup cooperation. According to the interactionist approach, personal and situational factors should be considered in the understanding of intergroup relationships.     

Linking Local Government Discretion and Accountability in Decentralisation

Decentralisation offers significant opportunities to improve government accountability by exerting stronger pressures both from below (demand) and above (supply). The literature contains many examples, however, where the potential has not been realised, partly because decentralisation reforms have often been introduced without thinking through their accountability implications. Even when accountability is taken into account, the efforts tend to emphasise either the supply or the demand side of the equation, but not both. Drawing on the sets of literature on fiscal, administrative and political decentralisation, this article presents a methodology for studying this.     

Building a new international is necessary and urgent

ABSTRACT

Samir Amin was one of the most creative Marxists, but also an orthodox, as his appeal for a new international proves, consistent with his defense of the socialist revolution against a decaying capitalist system, which threatens with the extinction of human civilization. However, in a contradictory way, if in the past the material conditions did not exist, they exist today, materializing in a distorted manner by capitalism, the organization of a revolutionary international leadership has never been so non-existent. This article begins by demonstrating the systemic conditions that require the proletariat to build a new International, the reasons for the current difficulty in achieving it; and, from the analysis of the most successful experience to date, the Third International, lessons are drawn for a future Fifth International.     

Temporary Employment,Working Conditions and Expected Exits from Firms

This paper analyses two issues related to working conditions and temporary employment. First, why do temporary workers exhibit lower scores in objective indicators of working life? Second, what is the influence of working conditions on mobility? Using information for Spanish workers, the results indicate that differences in working conditions remain after controlling for individual, job and firm characteristics: in particular, temporary workers with short job tenure seem to occupy jobs with poorer working conditions. Moreover, there is evidence that workers with worse working life are more likely to expect to leave their current firms.     

The Chicago Tradition and Social Change: Thomas,Park And Their Successors

Through their writings and research, Thomas and Park exemplified to their students and their successors at Chicago how to “do” sociololgy. Central to their respective positions were their conceptions of social change, reform and progress; the role of science and especially sociology; the agents of social change; the arenas and mechanisms of social change. Not only were there some basic differences in their respective conceptions, but succeeding generations of Chicago sociologists have been profoundly influenced in their ideas and work by selective interpretations of either or both founding fathers of this tradition. Like any other intellectual tradition, the Chicago one is neither as integrated as it often seems nor have its participants drawn on precisely the same aspects of their intellectual heritage. To understand the work of contemporary “Chicagoans,” it is necessary to, at least, understand what they have made and are making of their diverse heritage.     

Organizational Alternatives for Companies' Management of Occupational Risks: The Examples of Spain and Argentina

This study discusses the various options available to companies for the management of occupational risks. In this context, occupational accident insurance schemes in Spain and Argentina are analysed, with reference to the theory of organizational economics. Spain has 75 years' experience of such schemes, while in Argentina they have only recently been introduced. Although the two models have similar goals, their differences, in terms of competition, regulation and ownership, lead to different incentives for those concerned: workers, companies, insurers and regulatory bodies.