May 19, 1986

An article in The Home Section on Thursday about working at home misidentified Marion Behr. She is president of Women Working Home Inc., publisher of ''Women Working Home - The Homebased Business Guide and Directory,'' and was the founding president of the National Alliance of Homebased Businesswomen. The current president of the alliance is Louise Seeger.

Changes in the Federal tax system that have been proposed by the Senate Finance Committee would provide pension benefits to millions more American workers, according to some tax experts. The changes would also increase the costs of pensions to companies that offer pension programs, they said. But executives at several large concerns asserted that they nevertheless supported the proposals. For pension funds, the key change in the Finance Committee proposal is that the maximum ''vesting'' period - the length of time that a worker must be employed before being entitled to a pension - would be shortened from 10 to 5 years.

International Tensions between Israel and Syria that reflect complex, long-term changes in their military balance of power are at a point where even a small miscalcualtion by either side could ignite an armed conflict, ccording to Israeli, Arab and Western military experts. The changes include a marked strengthening of the Syrian Army since 1982 to a point where its leaders may now believe it can challenge Israel without another Arab partner, the experts say. [ Page A1, Column 6. ] Safety features at Chernobyl were more plentiful and closer to American reactor designs than Western experts had assumed before it blew up in the Ukraine. Although it probably would not have met United States safety standards, the experts say, the Chernobyl plant contained enough of the advanced safety features used in American reactors to raise questions among some experts about the effectiveness of nuclear plant designs in the United States. [ A1:4. ]

In an age in which most great architectural monuments in New York get torn down, ''improved'' with towers plopped on their roofs, or in some other way altered beyond recognition, the New York Public Library looks exactly as it always has. Actually, that is not quite so: it now looks better than it has for almost all of the three-quarters of a century that it has been on Fifth Avenue. For the library is now nearing the end of an ambitious program to restore and rehabilitate its great beaux-arts building, the structure by Carrere & Hastings that is one of New York's incomparable pieces of public architecture. Just in time for the 75th anniversary of the library's opening on May 23, 1911, the library's facade and entrance terrace on Fifth Avenue opposite 41st Street have been restored, and several of its finest interior rooms have been returned to their original grandeur.

The nuclear power plant that exploded in the Soviet Union last month had more safety features and was closer to American reactor designs than Western experts had assumed in the days soon after the accident, nuclear experts say. Although it probably would not have met United States safety standards, the experts say, the Chernobyl plant incorporated enough of the advanced safety features used in American reactors to raise questions among some experts about the effectiveness of nuclear plant designs in this country. The conclusions are based on technical drawings and other information obtained through Government and international scientific sources by American nuclear experts in recent days. Steel and Concrete Structure The experts say it has become clear that a large structure of heavy steel and concrete surrounded the No. 4 reactor at Chernobyl, and that at least some of this containment structure was designed to withstand pressures similar to those in many American reactors. The roof of the Chernobyl plant was blown off by a hydrogen explosion April 26, allowing radiation to spread over the Ukraine, Eastern Europe and parts of Scandinavia.