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The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has the responsibility for overseeing the preparation of future physician specialists and subspecialists to serve the American public. To ensure ACGME's ability to adapt and sustain its accreditation activities in a future marked by significant uncertainty, its administration and board of directors embarked on a planning process that would frame its strategic actions in support of this responsibility.We describe the scenario planning process, and report key insights that resulted from it. We also discuss in greater depth a subset of those insights, which challenge certain conventional truths, call for new collaborative directions for the ACGME, and reaffirm the importance of professionalism in service of the public across all future scenarios evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses recidivism of public and private state prison inmates in Florida. Recent studies have found that there are no significant differences in recidivism between offenders after their release from publicly and privately managed prisons in Florida. This finding challenges prior studies that found lower rates of recidivism among one or more categories of offenders released from privately managed prisons. The claims of ideological opponents of privatization that the full-scale privatization of jails and prisons would yield nothing short of abject failure find no support. The equally biased claims of some proponents of privatization that the innovative approaches of the private sector would bring both major cost savings and substantial quality improvements are unsubstantiated. Well-conceptualized privatization initiatives typically yield substantial construction cost savings, more modest operational cost savings, and an overall quality of correctional services that is at least the equivalent of what traditional public agencies provide.

Discusses the analytical process used in applying technology assessment (TA) for technology planning and forecasting. Advantages of TA approaches for determining the future performance of specific technology-baaed products; Need for customizing a flexible and adaptable technology assessment method to anticipate changing technology requirements.

The relationship between objective (researcher) and subjective (respondent) definitions of status inconsistency is examined with data from a survey study of Gary, Indiana. The analysis of a variety of measures of income-occupation inconsistency indicated a moderately high correlation between "normatively" defined and objectively defined inconsistency but otherwise very little relationship between subjective and objective measures. The overall pattern of correlations among the particular measures employed suggests that researchers and subjects share a common mode of status evaluations up to, but not including, the concept of status inconsistency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the impact of status offenses on offenders' involvement in more serious offenses. Analysis of the offense histories of a sample of juveniles who appeared before urban juvenile courts; Potential of status offenders to recidivate; Association of legal processing with subsequent involvement of juveniles in more serious delinquency.

Discusses the learning power of scenario planning, a planning method that systematically analyzes the uncertainties of the future and complements and reinforces a company's efforts to become a learning organization. Identification of crucial uncertainties of the future; Formulation of goals and strategies that will be advantageous in a variety of future; Barriers to strategic thinking; Five learning disciplines.

Focuses on the scenario planning at OPM Finance and Insurance Company. OPM's experience of rapid and fundamental shift in its business environment; Perceived fundamental shift in the business environment as the key motivation for scenario-based planning; Details of the planning process; Development of core strategies and program.

Compares the recidivism rates of groups of releasees from privately and publicly operated prisons. Details on the study; Subsequent offenses committed by those released from private prisons; Similarity of the two groups on how long it took for the first recidivism event to occur.