bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Death Anxiety and Death Acceptance: A Preliminary Approach
Authors: Ray J. J. , Najman J.
Published: May 2005

Death acceptance is not necessarily the opposite of death anxiety. The two could in fact correlate positively. A third category of “death denial” should also be considered. A new scale to measure death acceptance was devised. It was found to be reliable and, in a group of students, correlated positively ( rs = .242 and .263) with two existing death anxiety scales. People can therefore accept death and be anxious about it at the same time. Religious unbelievers were found to be death-acceptant and females death-anxious. There was no relation between death attitudes and achievement motivation.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: Two Case Reports and an Update of the Literature
Authors: Moldavsky Maria , Stein Daniel
Published: May 2005

Objectives and Methods:

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSP) may significantly hamper the normal development of children. Our aim was to describe the first two Israeli children who fit this diagnosis.

Results:

Case #1 was diagnosed at the age of seven months with failure to thrive, severe recurrent vomiting, and recurrent unexplained fever. Medical tests performed were normal. No improvement was noted following prolonged treatment, which included several surgical interventions. Case #2 was hospitalized at the age of four years because of recurrent convulsive episodes. Medical examinations performed were normal, and there was no improvement in the reported seizure disorder despite continuous treatment. In both cases, MSP was suspected because of a persistent illness that could not be explained by adequate medical basis, and because the symptoms and signs occurred only in the mother's presence. A confrontation was made, leading to rapid deterioration of the hitherto devoted relationship of the mother of case #1 with her child, and of the previous cooperative relationship of both mothers with the medical staff. Removal of both children from their families ensued, with considerable improvement within a brief period, which continued in a one- to two-year follow-up period.

Conclusions:

The study reviews the required diagnostic criteria for MSP and possible treatment options.
Integrating Nonemployment into Research on Health Inequalities
Authors: Arber Sara
Published: May 2005

An increasing proportion of the population is not currently employed; health inequalities research should include these people in analyses. Labor market position is the key determinant of health in Western societies; it is essential to clarify the independent effects of the three main components of labor market position: educational qualifications, occupational class, and employment status. These issues are addressed using national data from the British General Household Survey for 1991–1992 and two measures of ill-health: limiting long-standing illness and self-reported health. Occupational class is a stronger predictor than educational qualifications of measures of ill-health for men and long-term illness for women. When employment status is included in the models, the class gradient is weakened, suggesting that omitting the nonemployed from class analyses will produce a seeming weakening of class inequalities in health. The analyses show that class inequalities in health are somewhat greater for nonemployed than employed men, but weaker for nonemployed than employed women. In spite of older people having left the labor market many years earlier, class based on their previous occupation continues to have a major effect on their health. Class should be the primary variable in analyses of inequalities in health, and all groups of the nonemployed should be analyzed using their last main occupation.
Strategies for Computer-Based Programming Instruction: Program Completion vs. Program Generation
Authors: Van Merriënboer Jeroen J. G. , De Croock Marcel B. M.
Published: May 2005

Two instructional strategies were implemented in a two-and-a-half hour computer-based training program that was designed to teach elementary turtle graphics programming techniques to novice undergraduate students ( N = 40). Learning activities that either emphasized the completion of existing programs or the generation of new programs were studied for the two strategies. In the completion group, the information needed to perform the program completion tasks appeared to be largely available in the to-be-completed programs; in the generation group, students frequently had to search for useful examples while they were performing their program generation tasks. It is hypothesized that during practice, the direct availability of examples in the form of incomplete computer programs facilitates the acquisition of programming language templates, especially because students cannot complete a program without carefully studying it so that “mindful abstraction” is explicitly provoked. Data in this study on learning outcomes support this hypothesis: the completion group showed a superior use of programming language templates in both a program construction test and a multiple choice test that measured the knowledge of language statements.
Cultural Factors in Aedes Aegypti and Dengue Control in Latin America: A Case Study from the Dominican Republic
Authors: Gordon Andrew J. , Rojas Zoila , Tidwell Mae
Published: May 2005

Dengue and Aedes aegypti infestation in Latin America pose substantial health risks. Total reliance on chemical interventions is no longer feasible and, increasingly, programs of control will need to rely on education, behavior change and community participation. Findings from applied behavioral research in the Dominican Republic conducted from July through September of 1987 are discussed in the light of cultural constraints on intervention efforts. Perception of risk, the choices for curative care as opposed to prevention, and explanatory models of environmental risks are considered. The article concludes with a discussion of the benefits of health education messages that possess simplicity and economy of effort. Additionally, the potential importance of biological controls are suggested in light of cultural constraints.
The Impact of Health Care Financing on Family Budgets
Authors: Rasell Edith , Bernstein Jared , Tang Kainan
Published: May 2005

Although businesses, federal and state governments, and insurance companies are major funding sources for health care, they are just intermediate sources. Ultimately, individuals and families pay all health care costs through out-of-pocket spending, insurance premiums, or federal, state, and local taxes. Using a microsimulation model with data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey, the Internal Revenue Service's Individual Tax Model, and the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the authors examine the distribution of health care spending, by decile, among families and individuals. They find that the distribution of health expenditures is very regressive, with low-income families paying twice the share of income paid by high-income families. The distribution of out-of-pocket expenditures, which comprise 24 percent of total spending, is the most regressive, with low-income families paying 8.5 times the share of income paid by high-income families. Spending on premiums is also regressive, and the regressivity would increase if everyone had private insurance. Expenditures through the public sector are progressive. Regressivity is greater among the elderly than the nonelderly. Out-of-pocket expenditures account for 41 percent of all health care spending by the elderly. A more equitably financed health care system would increase the share of funding raised through progressive taxes, and decrease reliance on expenditures made out of pocket and on premiums.
The Service Economy and Postindustrial Society: A Sociological Critique
Authors: Castells Manuel
Published: May 2005

The growth of the service sector in advanced capitalist societies is the empirical evidence in support of the ideological approach to our social systems as “post-industrial.” By examining the content of so-called “service activities” and by relating the observed trends to the model of uneven development in the U.S., this article tries to explain the transformation of the social structure of the U.S. on the basis of the contradictions inherent in the processes of accumulation of capital, class struggle, and state intervention.
Fun and Games: The Influence of a Playful Pre-Training Intervention and Microcomputer Playfulness on Computer-Related Performance
Authors: Pauli Kevin P. , May Douglas R. , Gilson Richard L.
Published: May 2005

Changing technology creates a need for additional computer-related training. A quasi-experimental study tested a theoretical framework that maintained that a playful pre-training software intervention and an individual difference, microcomputer playfulness (MCP), would combine to influence computer-related performance. Results demonstrated that the intervention positively influenced the computer-related learning of low MCP participants more than of high MCP individuals. Implications for computer training are discussed.
On the “Efficiency” of Managed Care Plans
Authors: Sullivan Kip
Published: May 2005

The claim that managed care plans are more efficient than fee-for-service plans has been made so often that it has reached the status of folklore, but the evidence is inconclusive. The claim is usually based on one or both of the following errors: (1) lower medical care costs mean lower total costs (medical plus administrative costs) and (2) lower HMO premiums mean HMOs are more efficient than fee-for-service plans. The first assertion ignores evidence indicating that managed care has driven up administrative costs for both insurers and providers. The second ignores evidence that managed care plans have numerous methods of shifting costs that are unavailable or less available to fee-for-service plans. The lull in health care inflation during the mid-1990s is often cited as evidence that managed care is efficient. But the lull may have been caused not by the spread of managed care but by the near-simultaneous occurrence of four events: a downturn in the insurance underwriting cycle, the 1990–1991 recession, endorsement of managed competition by numerous politicians, and the merger fever triggered by those endorsements.
Breast Cancer: Evidence for a Relation to Fission Products in the Diet
Authors: Sternglass Ernest J. , Gould Jay M.
Published: May 2005

To establish the possible relation between breast cancer mortality and low doses of radiation due to fission products in the environment, the mortality rates in the nine census regions of the United States for the years 1984–1988 were correlated with the cumulative airborne releases from all the nuclear plants in each region for the period 1970–1987. A high correlation coefficient of 0.91 was obtained for a logarithmic dependence on the total releases, consistent with an indirect action via free-radical oxygen at very low dose rates, in contrast to a direct action on DNA at high dose rates, explaining the wide differences in risk per unit dose obtained in earlier studies. The recent temporal changes of breast cancer rates in the New York metropolitan area including nearby Connecticut, Westchester, and Long Island were examined in relation to the releases from nearby nuclear plants and found to be consistent with a dominant role of short-lived fission products in drinking water and fresh milk. The results support a major role for nuclear plant releases in industrial countries in the recent rises of breast and other forms of cancers not related to smoking, especially among older persons, and strongly support the need to replace nuclear reactors with more benign ways to generate electricity.
Use of the Dexamethasone Suppression Test on a Combined Medicine-Psychiatry Inpatient Unit
Authors: Nelson William H. , Orr William W. , Sullivan Carl R.
Published: May 2005

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) appears to be a sensitive and specific biological marker for endogenous depression that can have important diagnostic and treatment implications. The authors present three case studies of patients treated on a combined medicine-psychiatric inpatient unit, and who presented with complex psychobiological illnesses. They discuss the usefulness of the DST in the hospital management of these patients from a diagnostic and treatment perspective.
Occupational Medicine: Toward a Worker/Patient Empowerment Approach to Occupational Illness
Authors: Lax Michael B.
Published: May 2005

Clinicians practicing occupational medicine are increasingly confronted with patients who have complex illnesses with chronic nonspecific symptoms. Most clinicians use the traditional tools of biomedicine to diagnose and treat the illness, determine etiology, and assess disability. This article argues that the biomedical approach is inadequate to effectively evaluate and treat occupational illness. After reviewing several critiques of biomedicine, including biopsychosocial, feminist, class, and critical theory/postmodern perspectives, the author offers an alternative approach that builds on aspects of these perspectives as well as the “popular education” work of Paulo Freire. Constraints on, and possibilities for, the development of an alternative approach that attempts to build patients' capacities for transformative action are explored.
Health and Equity in the World in the Era of “Globalization”
Authors: Navarro Vicente
Published: May 2005

The author critically discusses some of the major arguments given for the growth of inequalities in health in the world today. He also questions the “technocratic,” “humanistic,” or “apolitical” discourse used by most international agencies in their analysis of the growing inequalities, a discourse that obscures the actual causes of this growth: the power relations among and within countries.
The General Practitioner in Community Psychiatry: A Progress Report
Authors: Ehrenwald Jan
Published: May 2005

General practitioners, following a six-month to one-year's postgraduate training, are engaged in the care of a selected group of such chronic psychiatric cases as incapacitated neurotics, stabilized schizophrenics, chronic brain syndromes, and so forth. Drugs and supportive therapy are used. The patients are seen by the general practitioners in their private offices. The participating general practitioners meet in weekly or biweekly conferences for consultation with their psychiatric instructors, a social worker and secretary. Some fifty patients have been carried over the past two and one-half years by six or seven general practitioners. The project is funded by foundation grants which also cover the general practitioners' fees. It has helped to keep patients in their communities and has obviated the need for rehospitalization in the vast majority of cases. More than half the patients are now gainfully employed or work part-time under sheltered conditions.
From the North Sea to the Mediterranean? Constraints to Health Reform in Greece
Authors: Matsaganis Manos
Published: May 2005

The report of an international experts' committee, recently invited by the Ministry of Health to review Greece's health care system, recommended the creation of a network of family doctors, reimbursed on a capitation basis. The committee also proposed that family doctors should manage a budget for the purchase, on behalf of their patients, of specialist and hospital services and drugs. The author examines the exportability of the fundholding experience from Britain to a country in which health care organization is very different, social health insurance is fragmented, private health care is large and growing, ambulatory health care services are provided by specialists, and behavioral-cultural factors cast doubt on the consequences of the proposed change. An attempt to implement fundholding in Greece is likely to have effects opposite to those intended. The more humble task of tackling the inequities and inefficiencies of the present system should be the starting point of all future reform projects.
Inferring Trends in Prehistoric Settlement Behavior from Lithic Production Technology in the Southern Plains
Authors: Andrefsky William
Published: May 2005

The character of prehistoric settlement with regard to degree of sedentism and mobility is not well understood in many areas of the southern Plains. This article explores lithic analytical approaches that are useful for making inferences regarding prehistoric settlement behavior. The analysis is applied to a data set from the southern Plains in an effort to characterize changing trends in settlement behavior from Paleoindian times to late prehistoric times.
International Trade Regulation and Publicly Funded Health Care in Canada
Authors: Ostry Aleck S.
Published: May 2005

The World Trade Organization (WTO) creates new challenges for the Canadian health care system, arguably one of the most “socialized” systems in the world today. In particular, the WTO's enhanced trade dispute resolution powers, enforceable with sanctions, may make Canadian health care vulnerable to corporate penetration, particularly in the pharmaceutical and private health services delivery sectors. The Free Trade Agreement and its extension, the North American Free Trade Agreement, gave multinational pharmaceutical companies greater freedom in Canada at the expense of the Canadian generic drug industry. Recent challenges by the WTO have continued this process, which will limit the health care system's ability to control drug costs. And pressure is growing, through WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services and moves by the Alberta provincial government to privatize health care delivery, to open up the Canadian system to corporate penetration. New WTO agreements will bring increasing pressure to privatize Canada's public health care system and limit government's ability to control pharmaceutical costs.
Extracurricular Activities: Are They an Effective Strategy against Drug Consumption?
Authors: Carlini-Cotrim Beatriz , de Carvalho Vera Aparecida
Published: May 2005

This work describes data obtained among 16,117 high-school students in fifteen Brazilian cities, involving participation in a number of extracurricular activities and consumption of drugs and alcohol. In the great majority of cases, no association was found between attendance of artistic-, community-, or sports-related activities and the use of these substances. On the other hand, a weak but constant negative association was found involving alcohol/drug consumption and attendance of religious activities. The authors discuss these findings in the light of some current preconceptions prevailing in Brazilian society: namely, that such activities constitute effective strategies for drug use prevention and the “idle” young persons tend to be potential drug users. They also discuss the implications that among students involved in religious activities drug and alcohol consumption was shown to become slightly lower.
Use of Hierarchical Hyper Concept Map in Web-Based Courses
Authors: Chang Kuo-En , Sung Yao-Ting , Chiou Sheng-Kuang
Published: May 2005

The study proposes a hierarchical hyper concept map (or HHCM) course system. A HHCM course consists of a navigation map, concept maps, and hypermedia documents. The navigation map is a guide to the course, illustrating how the course is composed of learning units. The concept map demonstrates the conceptual structure of each unit, and each node in the HHCM is linked to the hypermedia document, which has a more detailed illustration of the concept. Such a combination for the HHCM course can be viewed as a three-dimensional structure of course representation. The effects of HHCM as a course representation were empirically tested. The experimental results found that students who learn from the course represented by HHCM achieve better learning than those who learn from a linearly represented course. Moreover, students can learn more efficiently than those who learn from the course represented by navigation maps. These findings suggest that the HHCM has a good potential as a device for designing Web-based courses.
Gender Representations in Mathematics Software
Authors: Hodes Carol L.
Published: May 2005

A review of current elementary mathematics software found that 41.7 percent of the software programs had main characters that were gender identifiable. Of these programs, only 12.5 percent of the main characters were female. Such bias can effect the attitudes and achievement of female students. The female main characters in the software all represented traditional female roles. There is a need for further research on the effects of the absence of females in software and the exclusive use of traditional roles for characters.
Preference for Profile Orientation in Portraits
Authors: McLaughlin John P. , Murphy Kimberly E.
Published: May 2005

Artists who have painted portraits overwhelmingly represented the sitter in some degree of profile, emphasizing one cheek. When the sitter was female, the left cheek was shown with much greater frequency than the right. However, in forced-choice judgments between original and mirror-reversed portraits, versions emphasizing the right cheek were preferred by male and female, dextral and sinistral subjects, irrespective of the sitter's sex. This may result from a left visual-field perceptual bias attributable to hemispheric specialization or from changing cultural biases.
Communications Media, Computers, and Educators
Authors: David Brother Austin
Published: May 2005

This paper reviews the design and use of an instructional system wherein ITV and telephone were linked to a computer. The computer stored instructional materials and presented this material to the learner through its control of ITV broadcast and voice response units.
Health in Argentina under the Military Junta
Authors: Bermann Sylvia , Escudero José Carlos
Published: May 2005

The socioeconomic policies of Argentina's Military Junta, in power since March 1976, have led to a sharp impoverishment of the vast majority of the population. In the health sector, facilities which previously were public are being transferred to the private sector, and public hospitals formerly providing free services to the population now charge patients for the care received. As a necessary counterpart to these unpopular measures, a regime of terror has been waged against members of the health team—both those politically active and those considered potentially subversive, particularly the psychiatrists and workers in community health. Differences between the Argentinian situation and previous European fascist patterns are noted, and the possibility of use of the “Argentinian model” in other capitalist countries in crisis is discussed.
The Labor Process and Health: A Historical Materialist Interpretation
Authors: Navarro Vicente
Published: May 2005

This article discusses the relationship between the labor process and health, using historical materialism as the method of analysis. Section I conceptualizes the relationship between the elements of the labor process and health. Section II analyzes the historical evolution of the labor process and its consequences for health, with a special emphasis on the effect on health of different forms of alienation. Section III examines the changes in the different branches of economic activity and their impact on health, with added discussion of the consequences of the international mobility of capital for different forms of expropriation of health. The awareness of the relationship between work and health, and the operational meaning of that awareness for labor strategies, are also presented.
A Fluted Biface Fragment from the Lange Site in Gloucester County, New Jersey: Implications for Paleoindian Site Selection and Function
Authors: Boldurian Anthony T. , Fitzgibbons Philip T. , Vento Frank J.
Published: May 2005

Replicative experiments indicate that a fluted biface fragment found at the recently destroyed Lange site in Gloucester County, New Jersey, was from a preform broken during the fluting stage of projectile point manufacture. The nearby occurrence of lithic raw materials suitable for flaked stone tool manufacture suggests that the site possibly functioned as a more permanent base camp for Paleoindian populations. This speculation may be supported further by the occurrence of late stage fluted biface manufacture. Additionally, other flaked stone tools of probable Paleoindian affiliation have been recovered from the site. Together, these data provide further support for Marshall's (1982) hypothesis that the occurrence and distribution of pebble cherts in the New Jersey Coastal Plains figured significantly in the settlement patterns of Paleoindian populations.
The Petroglyphs at Grand Lake Stream, Maine
Authors: Ray Roger B.
Published: May 2005

Two of the petroglyphs at the Elliott Site on the east bank of Grand Lake Stream, Maine, seem to indicate who the inhabitants were during the post plague years. The author believes these two glyphs were drawn by an evangelistic member of the Midewiwin Society for the benefit of his fellow Ojibwas and marshals evidence in support. With the exception of three other glyphs drawn on the rocks at this site, there is no attempt to describe or interpret the remaining ones. The use of symbols next to several of the glyphs described in this article was startling to find in Maine. The author thinks these symbols are Kekeewin writing used by Algonkian people from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River, according to Schoolcraft, used by Ojibwas for teaching purposes (Schoolcraft, 1856:119–120) and possibly for communication. A gap in Maine Indian history will have been filled, if the argument proves convincing.
A League of Their Own: Gender Practices among Adolescents and Teachers in a Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment
Authors: Craig Dorothy Valcarcel
Published: May 2005

The study—funded through a Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Grant—examined gender differences and the process of Internet-assisted inquiry in a single-sex, technology-enhanced environment. Five group case studies consisted of various configurations selected from a cohort group of students and teachers representing two city school systems, five county systems, and one private school. A qualitative approach to research was implemented using the constant comparative method of data analysis. Data in the form of observational field notes, transcripts of video tapes, artifacts, and photos resulting from a two-week summer workshop revealed interesting findings regarding student behaviors while interacting with computers in a single-sex environment. Results from the study indicate that female students—when interacting within a single-sex environment—display similar behaviors as male students do when engaging in technology-enhanced activities. Additional findings show that the classroom teacher, operating within a theoretical framework and personal educational philosophy, can either hinder or enhance student processes.
A Classification of Sociomedical Health Indicators: Perspectives for Health Administrators and Health Planners
Authors: Siegmann Athilia E.
Published: May 2005

The conceptualization and operationalization of measures of health status are considered. Health indicators are conceived as a subset of social indicators, and therefore, as any social indicator, they are viewed as derivative from social issues. The interrelationships of different frames of reference for defining and measuring health that have accompanied three distinct health problem patterns in the United States are viewed from a developmental perspective. Mortality and morbidity rates, the traditional health indicators, by themselves no longer serve to assess health status in developed nations. Their deficiencies as indicators serve as background for a classification schema for sociomedical health status indicators that relates health definition frames of reference, measures of health status, and health problems. The role of a group of health indicators—sociomedical health indicators—in the current formulation of health status measures is assessed.
Associations between Daydreaming Style and Information Processing Predispositions
Authors: Tanaka J. S. , Panter A. T. , Winborne Wayne C.
Published: May 2005

Various domains of chronic predispositions in information processing have been studied from different perspectives. For example, strict experimentally-based information processing paradigms stem from a different research tradition than daydreaming styles. This study considers the association between these domains by examining the interrelations between two-self report measures of chronic information processing. One measure is the Need for Cognition, developed in the social cognition literature to study individual differences in chronic tendencies to utilize information. The second measure, the Short Imaginal Processes Inventory, is a measure of daydreaming style. Results show that these measures are related. A single bipolar dimension measuring affective/evaluative domains in information processing underlying the common properties of both measures is identified. Extensions of this research to domains in clinical and social psychology are discussed.
The Debt-Depression of the Less Developed World and Public Health
Authors: Chernomas Robert
Published: May 2005

Millions of people in the less developed world are currently living in an economic depression. In this article the author outlines the relationships between debt, depression, and public health in less developed countries, with a special emphasis on who is incurring the debt and who is paying for it and why. The article concludes with a case study that illustrates an alternative to underdevelopment and presents some generic policy options.
Psychiatric Training for Primary Care Residents: Proposed Standards
Authors: Covington Edward C. , Rodenhauser Paul , Gottlieb Marvin E. , Houston Alma
Published: May 2005

Most of the nation's psychiatric care is provided by primary care physicians, and this trend is expected to continue. Primary care physicians see themselves as poorly trained in psychiatry, and evidence supports a high incidence of missed diagnosis and inadequate or inappropriate treatment. In addition, poor training may underlie the indifference to psychiatric problems often demonstrated by primary physicians. The Ohio Psychiatric Association Foundation has designated an annual award to be given to the primary care program which provides the best psychiatric training in the state, and the psychiatric training directors met to develop criteria for selecting the recipients. The resulting standards emphasize the importance of training which is relevant to a medical care setting, provided by psychiatrists, and supportive of the integration of psychiatric methods into-medical care.
Operating a Publication in a Real World with Unrealistic Constraints
Authors: Ullman Louis L.
Published: May 2005

In the real world, jobs arrive at a typical publication department at random intervals. The length and difficulty vary randomly from job to job, as does the fraction of effort required from each group within the department. Frequently, however, higher management decrees that all workers in the publication department must be usefully busy all the time, and that overtime must be virtually eliminated, requiring complicated approval for each individual case. This paper presents the mathematical method used in Operations Research to model such real-world conditions; shows how this method, called queueing theory, is applied to a publication department; and describes the important implications of this theory and its application for managing a publication department. The paper then describes some of the ways an understanding of this theory can be used to meet real-world conditions while staying within unrealistic constraints.
The Role of Union Democracy in the Struggle for Workers' Health in Mexico
Authors: Laurell Asa Cristina
Published: May 2005

In this article, the author analyzes the struggle for workers' health in Mexico, emphasizing the importance of the general and specific political context. In an overview of the legislation on industrial health and safety, the state institutions involved in the issue, and the characteristics of union organization in Mexico, the author shows that the limited activities related to workers' health have more to do with the relative political weakness of the Mexican working class than with the formal structures of legislation, state institutions, and unions. The second part of the article deals with the four most important struggles for health and safety in Mexico during the last ten years, which show some similarities. These struggles are consistently linked to processes of union democratization and tend to decline when union democracy is lost. The strategies of the companies show a common pattern: removing health issues from collective bargaining and putting them in the hands of state institutions. When workers have opposed this solution, management has used selective repression to solve the conflict. The state institutions subordinate their position to the companies' by postponing action or by doing a technically poor job. Changing the existing situation involves the social legitimation of the workers' health issue, since this would have an impact on the political processes involved, i.e., corporate control over workers, authoritarian labor relations and professionalism, and resources of the state institutions.
Stereotypes of the Elderly in U.S. Television Commercials from the 1950s to the 1990s
Authors: Miller Darryl W. , Leyell Teresita S. , Mazachek Juliann
Published: May 2005

Critics have charged that American advertisers have often portrayed the elderly with negative stereotypes. These negative portrayals, they suggest, not only offend elderly consumers but also contribute to ageism. This study examined whether American advertisers have indeed used a great deal of negative stereotyping of the elderly, as the critics have suggested. Employing a concept of stereotypes found in cognitive psychology, the authors examined trends in the portrayal of the elderly in television commercials produced in the United States from the 1950s through the 1990s. Results of the study do not support the contentions of the critics. Very little negative stereotyping was discovered. Analysis indicated trends in the appearance of several positive stereotypes, and differences in the stereotyping of gender groups and age segments within the elderly group. Results are interpreted from both marketing and social science perspectives.
Conflicting Criteria of Success in the Careers of Symphony Musicians
Authors: Smith Thomas Spence , Murphy Raymond J.
Published: May 2005

Orchestral musicians earn larger salaries as their career development wins them employment in major orchestras, but they may simultaneously face disappointing losses of intrinsic musical satisfactions from their work. Such trade-offs of intrinsic for extrinsic rewards, along with other contradictions in the setting of orchestral work, appear to be primarily a function of the stratification among orchestras. These and other observations are presented in this article in the course of developing a structural equation model of orchestral career commitment. The model is fitted to survey data drawn from a national sample of symphony orchestras.
The Use of Computers for Writing: Effects on an English Composition Class
Authors: Robinson-Staveley Kris , Cooper Joel
Published: May 2005

Students in English composition classes were assigned to either using computers or using paper and pen to write their course assignments. Analysis of their final essays revealed that those subjects assigned to use computers wrote better essays than those assigned to work on paper. Essays written on computer were judged of higher quality, were longer, and contained fewer errors. Attitudes toward computers, writing and the course were also measured, and revealed that those who used computers throughout the course had more positive attitudes toward computers than those who did not. Attitudes toward writing and the course did not differ. These findings suggest that using a computer for writing can improve the quality of the work produced, and can also foster more positive views of computers.
Assessing Health Concerns
Authors: Stretton Martha S. , Salovey Peter , Mayer John D.
Published: May 2005

Individual variability in concern about health plays a role in health-relevant cognition and behavior. Our research examined the latent structure of health concerns in two samples, one a young and healthy college sample and the other an older sample of medical outpatients. In both samples, health concerns reflected two underlying components: (a) fear and worry about health and (b) tendency to report problems. Correlations between these components and several individual difference variables theoretically linked to the experience of health concerns provided evidence of concurrent validity. The implications of the separability of reporting a health problem and worrying about its meaning are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered.
A Behavioral Approach to Post-Catastrophic Illness Work Phobias
Authors: Brown Murray A.
Published: May 2005

Two patients developed work phobias following major catastrophic physical illness. A combined approach to addressing their specific fears of returning to premorbid levels of work function utilized deep muscle relaxation, imagery based desensitization, social reinforcement, and shaping techniques. A significant increase in adaptive function and decrease in depressive symptomatology resulted in both cases within six weeks after initiation of treatment.
An Annotated Bibliography of the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 1971–1977
Authors: Edlefsen Karen A.
Published: May 2005

This annotated bibliography includes all articles published in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 1971–1977, with each of the 233 articles appearing in one of the following five major categories: (1) The Profession, (2) Education and Pedagogy, (3) Preparation and Presentation of Technical Information, (4) Publication and Personnel Management, (5) Applied Theory in Technical Communication.
A Review of Data on the U.S. Health Sector Fall 2002
Authors: Hellander Ida
Published: May 2005

This report presents information on the state of U.S. health care in mid-2002. It provides data on the uninsured and underinsured and their difficulties in finding health care; the increasing costs of care; health, social, and economic inequalities; and the role of corporate money in health care. Information is also presented on mental health care, the hospital and pharmaceutical industries, Medicare HMOs, and the state of nursing. The author then provides updates on Congressional activity and the results of polls on matters of health, and some data on health care systems elsewhere in the world.
A Method for Translating Technical to Nontechnical Prose
Authors: Johnson Parker H. , Garrard Judith , Hausman William
Published: May 2005

To translate the technical language of a survey instrument into ordinary prose for lay readers, we developed a five-step method: 1) the technical language was standardized; 2) a nontechnical translation was produced; 3) lay readers were tested to discover what parts of the translation were unsuccessful; 4) the reading level of the translation was determined; and 5) a statistical correlation was performed to determine whether or not the translation accurately reflected the technical language. The validation measures in steps 3, 4, and 5 verified that our translation was faithful and readable.
The Medicalization of Dying: A Positive Turn on a New Path
Authors: Connelly R. J.
Published: May 2005

The science and technology of Western medicine in the twentieth century have expanded physician power to control the quality and timing of dying. Medicalization of dying is the result: a view of death and dying circumscribed by medical values, rules, accepted practices, and the controlling role of the physician. The new path represents a more holistic orientation in medical care of the dying.
Female Sexual Side Effects Associated with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: A Descriptive Clinical Study of 33 Patients
Authors: Shen Winston W. , Hsu Jeffrey H.
Published: May 2005

Objective:

After the advent of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on the U.S. market in 1988, American psychiatrists have been faced with more choices of antidepressants for the treatment of depression. The prescribing of SSRIs has been increasing in popularity because they are easily titrated by the physicians and tolerated by patients. However, the SSRI use is frequently associated with female sexual dysfunction. The aim of this study was to describe these SSRI-associated female sexual side effects.

Methods:

In a retrospective series, clinic records of 110 female SSRI-treated outpatients were reviewed for loss of or decreased libido, orgasmic disturbances (anorgasmia or delayed orgasm), as well as clinical management patterns to alleviate sexual side effects.

Results:

Twenty-one fluoxetine-, nine paroxetine-, and five sertraline-treated cases with female sexual inhibition were identified. The fates of SSRI-associated sexual adverse effects and clinical managements of restoring these side effects were described.

Conclusions:

With some limitations in interpreting the data, the findings of this study suggest that SSRI-associated female sexual dysfunction occurs at a higher rate than we previously thought, equal potentials in implicating female sexual side effects among three SSRIs, and the absence or the low incidence of female sexual adverse effects from bupropion, and that these side effects can be managed by waiting for a spontaneous remission, dosage reduction of SSRIs, substitution with bupropion and other antidepressants, or the use of an antidote.
Redefining Business and Technical Writing by Means of a Six-Factored Communication Model
Authors: Limaye Mohan R.
Published: May 2005

Roman Jakobson's six-factored model of verbal communication provides the schema to generate formal definitions of business writing and technical writing. It also enables us to apply these definitions to communication in the world of work. The six factors—addresser, addressee, context, message, contact, and code—have six parallel functions—emotive, conative, referential, poetic, phatic, and metalingual. Each of these factor/function pairs is present to some degree in all types of writing, from technical writing to poetry. However, in certain types of written communication a few functions dominate the others. For instance, the referential or informational function is primary in technical and scientific writing. An examination of different binary functional relationships yields distinctions among various types of writing. For example, the inspection of the you versus it relationship yields the most substantive theoretical distinction between persuasive business writing and technical writing. From this single theoretical distinction emerge various practical aspects of communication, such as good will, the “you-attitude,” and the techniques of behavior modification applicable in business writing; and objectivity, clarity, and precision of meaning aimed for in technical writing.
Ego-Supportive Care in Open-Heart Surgery
Authors: Abramson Ronald , Block Bernard
Published: May 2005

Open heart surgery has been shown to have a rate of occurrence of postoperative psychopathological phenomena (9 percent-57 percent) many times greater than that of general surgery (1/1500). These phenomena result from an interplay of organic, environmental, psychological, and social factors which act on the integrative and coping capacity of the ego.

Treatment is accomplished through support of the ego by: 1) establishment of a relationship, 2) reassurance, 3) environmental support, 4) consultative relationships with staff, 5) ventilation of feelings, 6) medical measures in support of somatic function, and 7) anti-anxiety drugs. Such supportive measures are usually effective in bringing about a rapid remission of these psychopathological phenomena.
The Need for the Psychological Study of Clinical Death
Authors: Pandey Carol
Published: May 2005

“Why dost thou not tell us what happened in the beyond?” And all grew silent, startled by the question. It was as if it occurred to them only now that for three days Lazarus had been dead, and they looked at him, anxiously awaiting his answer. But Lazarus kept silence.

For three days had he been dead; thrice had the sun risen and set, but he had been dead; children had played, streams had murmured over pebbles, the wayfarer had stirred up the hot dust in the highroad … but he had been dead. And now he was again among them; he touched them, he looked at them … looked at them! And through the black discs of his pupils, as through darkened glass, stared the unknowable Beyond.
Hemispheric Lateralization and Programming Ability
Authors: Gasen Jean B. , Morecroft Josephine F.
Published: May 2005

The purpose of the present study was to assess one cognitive style dimension, hemispheric lateralization, and its relationship to programming performance. A total of sixty subjects from four different undergraduate classes in COBOL programming participated in the study. The results indicated that laterality preference did not appear to be significantly related to performance on programming tasks. Varying the mode of instruction also did not have a differential effect on programming performance. Exploration of other measures of hemispheric lateralization and assessment of other cognitive models of programming ability are recommended.
Depression in Children and Adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis: Case Studies
Authors: Elgudin Larissa , Kishan Sunil , Howe Don
Published: May 2005

Objective:

Cystic fibrosis is an autosomal recessively inherited multi-system disorder of children and adults characterized by the obstruction and infection of airways presenting as a wide variety of symptoms. It has varying degrees of psychological impact on patients and their families, requiring numerous adjustments in their life styles. Newer sophisticated medical treatments of cystic fibrosis has led to an increase in life expectancy; however, the same kind of progress has not been made in the psychological interventions available to treat emotional disturbances.

Method:

We report three cases of children and adolescents with cystic fibrosis who were diagnosed with depression and treated with a combination of antidepressant medications and other psychosocial interventions.

Results and Conclusions:

Two of the three cases suggest that treatment with antidepressant medications has a positive influence on psychological outcomes. We further propose clinical studies to test efficacy, safety, and long-term effects of these medications in patients with cystic fibrosis.
Child Abuse, Imagination and Hypnotizability
Authors: Rhue Judith W. , Lynn Steven Jay , Henry Stephanie , Buhk Kerry , Boyd Patti
Published: May 2005

Our research was designed to provide a rigorous test of J. R. Hilgard's hypothesis that hypnotizability is related to a history of physical punishment and to imaginative involvements. College students who reported a history of physical abuse ( N = 21) and sexual abuse ( N = 23) were compared with control subjects who either lost a parent by way of death or divorce ( N = 20) or who were from intact homes ( N = 35), under test conditions that minimized the possibility that context effects would prejudice the findings. No support was found for the hypothesis that increased hypnotizability was associated with a history of physical or sexual abuse: All of the groups were indistinguishable on measures of objective and subjective response to hypnosis. However, consistent with Hilgard's hypothesis, physically and sexually abused subjects were found to be more fantasy-prone than subjects in both nonabused control conditions.
Body Language: The Student-Engineer's AID to Interviewing
Authors: Bober Michael
Published: May 2005

Most discussions on interviewing have been written by people who have long since forgotten what it is like to be interviewed. The author, a student and a recent interviewee at that, writes from experience.