bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Practical Memory Concerns in Adulthood
Authors: Reese Celinda M. , Cherry Katie E.
Published: May 2005

In this article, we focus on practical memory concerns in adulthood. Young, middle-aged, and community-dwelling older adults responded to seven open-ended questions covering the topics of memory self-efficacy, memory management, memory remediation, and fears about memory aging in adulthood. The results revealed several similarities among the age groups. All groups reported the same types of information as easy to recall, and responses across age groups were also largely alike in terms of mnemonics usage, forgetting that is bothersome, and forgetting that is not bothersome. Differences between the age groups were most evident in responses related to types of information that are difficult to recall, areas of memory where improvement is desired, and fears of memory aging. Implications for understanding adult memory concerns and memory beliefs across the adult lifespan are discussed.
Psychopathologic Features among Drug Addicts and Homosexuals with HIV Infection
Authors: Cazzullo Carlo Lorenzo , Gala Costanzo , Martini Simonetta , Pergami Andrea , Rossini Maristella , Russo Rossana
Published: May 2005

Personal and familial psychopathological histories and information about early losses were collected and the results of the locus of control test and tests for psychological responses were determined for a series of ninety-two HIV-infected subjects (58 drug addicts; 26 homosexuals; 8 heterosexuals, partners of drug addicts). A higher percentage of drug addicts reported past histories of attempted suicide than the homosexuals. Early loss events were more frequent for homosexuals than for drug addicts. There was a higher psychopathological risk for asymptomatic HIV seropositivity in homosexuals, drug addicts who had attempted suicide, subjects that acknowledged that they have serious illness and subjects with external coping mechanisms rather than internal.
Admission Rate and Length of Stay for Nonspecific Enteritis in Pediatric Departments in Sweden
Authors: Smedby B. , Sundelin C.
Published: May 2005

In a study of variations in use of inpatient care for nonspecific enteritis in six pediatric departments in the Uppsala region of Sweden considerable differences in both admission rate and length of stay were revealed. The department with the highest use of hospital days for enteritis devoted nine times as many days per unit of population than did the department with the lowest use. It was concluded that differences in admission rate were only partly explained by differences in incidence of disease in the various catchment areas. A high admission rate was linked with relatively liberal indications for admission. This did not result in shorter mean stay, however. Differences in disease characteristics, and geographic, social, departmental, and other factors were investigated in determining causes for variation in length of stay, and the simultaneous effect of these variables on length of stay was studied by multiple regression analysis. A significant proportion of the individual variation in length of stay proved to depend on admitting department policy. In fact, local policy differences seemed to have had a greater effect on length of stay than did combined demographic, geographic, social, and disease characteristics.
Underrepresentation of Girls and Women in Computer Science: Classification of 1990s Research
Authors: Dryburgh Heather
Published: May 2005

The proportions of Computer Science (CS) graduates who are women has been declining in the last fifteen years. At a time when the demand for computer programmers and systems analysts has been increasing, why are women becoming a smaller proportion of those enrolling in CS programs? This article presents a categorization by educational stages of the research into this topic, and an evaluation of the generalizability of findings to broader contexts. The categorization shows that the most extensive research on women in computing is done at the post-secondary stage, and uses students as non-randomly selected subjects. These studies are non-comprehensive, but where similar results are found in a number of studies, the findings are supported. The emphasis in research focuses on structural factors at the elementary stage, but by the post-secondary stage the emphasis is more likely to be on social psychological factors.
The Influence of Demographic/Psychological Factors and Preexisting Conditions on the Near-Death Experience
Authors: Twemlow Stuart W. , Gabbard Glen O.
Published: May 2005

Thirty-four participants responding to a questionnaire survey and reporting near-death experiences are examined for preexisting psychological, perceptual-cognitive, demographic, and physical differences when compared both with each other and with a larger pool of 386 respondents who were not near death. There was no evidence of psychopathology in the population, but definite evidence of different perceptual-cognitive style in those prone to near-death experiences. Different preexisting physical states did show clusters of features, thus apparently influencing the nature of the experience. Tentative psychoanalytic explanatory formulations are noted.
The Stream of Consciousness: XV. James in Recent Context (1981–1986)
Authors: Natsoulas Thomas
Published: May 2005

Addressing work on consciousness published in this Journal allows me to bring relevant present-day material to bear on my ongoing exploration of James's stream. Instead of, as before, making use of an author's findings or ideas to improve our understanding of James's stream, I inquire into what each author has explicitly drawn from James's work in his or her article. I consider all fifteen published volumes of Imagination, Cognition and Personality in successive units of five, beginning with the first five years in this article. Of special interest are the specific ways present-day psychologists, who are strong on objective method, demonstrate or acknowledge the relevance to their work of the introspectively grounded propositions of their great predecessor. Discussed in the present article are theses belonging to five large topics: 1) the perception of reality, 2) conceiving of consciousness, 3) the emotions, 4) altered states of consciousness, and 5) discriminating imaginal from perceptual awareness.
Death-Related Experiences and Funerary Practices of the Hmong Refugee in the United States
Authors: Hayes Christopher L. , Kalish Richard A.
Published: May 2005

This article reviews the death-related experiences and concerns of Hmong refugees from Laos. Traditional funerary and burial practices of the Hmong and the barriers to maintaining these practices in the United States are discussed. To understand the losses suffered by the Hmong, parallels are drawn between their experiences and those of holocaust victims. Because of their immense losses, many older Hmong are experiencing severe mental health problems. For those professionals and service providers who work with the dying and grieving, it is essential that they be aware of the customs and values of the population with whom they are working.
Community Care Policies and Gender Justice
Authors: Osterbusch Suzanne E. , Keigher Sharon M. , Miller Baila , Linsk Nathan L.
Published: May 2005

The current approach in the United States to the provision of community care to the elderly interacts with the feminized structure of family care-giving to foster inequities for women, who provide the bulk of informal, unpaid care. The central concern of present policies with limiting eligibility and rationing benefits results in policies that reduce the choices of these carers, many of whom are already substantially disadvantaged by their economic position in society. What is necessary for gender justice is development of policies that address the needs and rights of carers and elders by providing necessary supports to families, including, when appropriate, adequate compensation to carers. We argue for an approach that takes into account the relationship of the adequacy of government support and the capacity of individuals to freely choose the caregiving role.
The Informational Sketch — A Major Vice of the Technical Writer
Authors: Douglas George H.
Published: May 2005

The author of this article argues that all too often teachers of technical writing spend too much time pressuring their students to write simply and without jargon, and that as a result they often get writing that is bad because it is skeletal and undeveloped writing lacking in continuity and narrative functions. The technical writer is often overjoyed to submit outline-writing because it requires small effort, not realizing that it shifts the burden of interpretation to the reader. The author recommends a number of cures for the skeletal technical paper.
In Defense of the National Health Service
Authors:   Radical Statistics Health Group
Published: May 2005

Many influential British groups have taken the opportunity provided by the Royal Commission on the National Health Service to put forward proposals which would fundamentally damage that service. In this paper we discuss the implications of some of these proposals, and explain why we defend the NHS as the basis of an equitable method of providing health care.

We consider the various methods which have been suggested to increase the revenue of the NHS. We compare the experiences of several Western countries, and show that the method of financing inevitably affects the pattern of medical care and the indices of health and illness. We examine the underlying motives of many critics of the NHS, and document the development of private medicine in the United Kingdom. We continue by discussing ways in which less money could be spent on health care without detriment to the patient. As an example, we look at several surgical procedures in detail and demonstrate the costs of uncertainty in surgical practice. Finally, we consider the continuing power of the medical profession, how it is maintained, and its implications.

We conclude by summarizing why we support the NHS despite its imperfections, and why attempts to undermine it should be resisted.
Stress, Emotion, and Coping Strategies as Predictors of Personality Disorder Pathology
Authors: Watson David C. , Sinha Birendra K.
Published: May 2005

The utility of coping strategies, stress, and emotion as predictors of personality disorder pathology was examined by exposing subjects to a set of stressful scenarios. It was predicted that personality disorder (PD) would be associated with less adaptive coping strategies, higher stress, low control, and low perception of coping efficacy. In general, the results indicated strong correlations between PD and the coping strategies of escape-avoidance and accepting responsibility and weak or negative associations with the problem-solving and positive reappraisal strategies. Personality disorder was associated with stress, negative emotions, and low control/efficacy. The coping/emotion profiles are useful in elaborating and discriminating similarities and differences between PDs.
The Effect of Semantically Ordered Computerized Test Questions on Student Performance and Behavior
Authors: Marshall Thomas E. , Byrd Terry Anthony , Spence J. Wayne
Published: May 2005

This study examines the strategies used in answering a computerized multiple-choice test where the items have been semantically blocked (all questions on a semantic topic grouped together) or unblocked (semantics randomly distributed throughout the test). Student subjects had almost total control to navigate the test in any way they chose and also to reorder the organization of the multiple-choice items. The strategies were captured using a non-intrusive computer logging mechanism that records the actions of the subjects. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the strategies that the subjects employed in completing the test. The findings indicate that students grouped by performance on the test used distinctly different strategies in completing the test. It is proposed that the differences are due to distinct cognitive processes between the groups.
Medical Care and Mortality: Racial Differences in Preventable Deaths
Authors: Woolhandler Steffie , Himmelstein David U. , Silber Ralph , Bader Michael , Harnly Martha , Jones Alice A.
Published: May 2005

We analyzed deaths of blacks and whites in Alameda County, California where previous studies have documented consistent racial inequalities in health services. We classified each death during 1978 as due to preventable and manageable conditions or as “non-preventable” according to lists compiled by the Working Group on Preventable and Manageable Diseases chaired by Dr. David Rutstein. The total death rate for blacks 0–65 years of age exceeded that of whites by 58 percent ( p < .01). Rates of death due to preventable and manageable conditions for persons aged 0–65 years were 77 percent higher for blacks than for whites ( p < .01). More than one-third of the excess total death rate of blacks relative to whites could be explained by the excess of potentially preventable deaths. Our findings suggest that inequalities in health services reinforce broader social inequalities and are in part responsible for disparities in health status. Improvements in the health and longevity of blacks and other oppressed groups might be achieved by improved access to existing medical, public health, and other preventive measures.
Using Health Education Theories to Explain Behavior Change: A Cross-Country Analysis
Authors: Murray-Johnson Lisa , Witte Kim , Boulay Marc , Figueroa Maria Elena , Storey Douglas , Tweedie Ian
Published: May 2005

Scholars within the fields of public health, health education, health promotion, and health communication look to specific theories to explain health behavior change. The purpose of this article is to critically compare four health theories and key variables within them with regard to behavior change in the area of reproductive health. Using cross-country analyses of Ghana, Nepal, and Nicaragua (data sets provided by the Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins University), the authors looked at the Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Extended Parallel Process Model, and Social Cognitive Theory for these two defined objectives. Results show that all four theories provide an excellent fit to the data, but that certain variables within them may have particular value for understanding specific aspects of behavior change. Recommendations for the selection of theories to use as guidelines in the design and evaluation of reproductive health programs are provided.
Educating the Technical Communicator
Authors: D'Amico Marguerite F.
Published: May 2005

Education in the field of technical communication has not kept pace with the growth of the profession. This is partially a result of an expected time lapse in the educational process for an emerging profession and partially due to mistaken attitudes. An examination of the qualifications of a professional technical communicator—i.e. a grasp of basic sciences, an understanding of communication theory and practice, and a sensitivity to people—provides the basis for a formal curriculum in technical communications.
Health Care and Workers' Self-Management in Yugoslavia
Authors: Kunitz Stephen J.
Published: May 2005

The form of communism developed in Yugoslavia since the early 1950s—called workers' self-management—has been of interest to many westerners concerned with the ideas of participatory democracy and workers' self-management. Yugoslavia's economic growth and general openness toward the West have encouraged many people to visit and to investigate the health care system as well as other aspects of the society. It is generally said that self-management is responsible for the remarkable successes that Yugoslavia has achieved. This paper suggests, on the other hand, that many of the successes achieved in the health care system are attributable largely to the fact that self-management is not allowed to work as freely as it does in other sectors of the economy.
Differences in Visual Preferences and Cognitive Aptitudes of Professional Artists and Nonartists
Authors: Bezruczko Nikolaus , Schroeder David H.
Published: May 2005

In one study, four tests of artistic judgment and a battery of cognitive ability tests were administered to examinee artists and nonartists. In another study, the artistic judgment tests were administered to professional artists and nonartists. The results showed professional artists and nonartists to differ significantly on all dimensions of visual preference and examinee artists to score significantly higher on several tests of cognitive ability. The results suggest fundamental differences between the visual preferences of artists and nonartists with interesting implications concerning the influence of art background on cognitive development.
The Black Experience with Death: A Brief Analysis through Black Writings
Authors: Jackson Maurice
Published: May 2005

How people die is strongly influenced by group membership. The experience of black Americans with death can be examined through mortality statistics, but more vivid insights can be obtained from spirituals, poetry, and other literature that has been created out of the black experience. Taking an historical perspective, it is found that the usual assumption that blacks take an otherworldly view of life and death is not clearly supported. On the contrary, the black norm of death seems to be largely secular and practical-and serves as an important commentary on the relationship between social status and the individual's interpretation of his most powerful experiences.
Managerial Hegemony, Cultural Change, and the Transformation of Infant Care Advice in the United States in the Twentieth Century
Authors: Keane Christopher R.
Published: May 2005

Ordinary culture is penetrated by ideas, norms, and values about work and consumption that support particular modes of capitalist accumulation. This penetration, or “managerial hegemony,” is an aspect of cultural hegemony that pervades not only work and consumption but also “private” spheres of life. This essay focuses on the penetration of managerial ideology into infant care advice. Since the late 19th century, infant care advice has changed with broader shifts in the dominant ideas, values, and norms that control work and consumption. Infant care advice is connected to this changing aspect of culture in four ways. (1) Infant care has been promoted as a means of socialization into the world of production and consumption; (2) infant care instruction has been shaped by notions of women's role in the “workforce” and in the home; (3) infant care has been described and interpreted through metaphors of production and consumption and their associated infrastructures; (4) infant care advice implicitly assumes a particular distribution of expert knowledge. This analysis examines the relation between three eras of infant care advice in the 20th century and the three eras in managerial cultural hegemony.
Speaking Ebonics in a Professional Context: The Role of Ethos/Source Credibility and Perceived Sociability of the Speaker
Authors: Payne Kay , Downing Joe , Fleming John Christopher
Published: May 2005

Within a theoretical context of speech accommodation theory, this study follows Lambert et al.‘s (1960) “matched-guise” technique. Seventy-two African-American students at a mid-south university listened to and evaluated a tape-recorded excerpt of a speech given by Jesse Jackson at the 1996 Democratic National Convention. The first version of the speech was translated into Ebonics. After students listened to the first four-minute speech in Ebonics, students then proceeded to answer a questionnaire concerning the ethos/source credibility and perceived sociability of the speaker. Next, students listened to the same audiotaped speech (given by the same speaker), except the text of the speech was translated (and subsequently delivered) in Standard English. The students then rated this second speaker on those same ethos/source credibility and sociability scales. The speaker who used Standard English was viewed as more credible (i.e., more competent and having a strong character) and sociable than the Ebonics speaker. Both of these scores were significant at the p .05 level. Future research replicating these results is urged across other African-American samples.
Development and Immediate Impact of a Self-Instruction Curriculum for an Adolescent Indicated Drug Abuse Prevention Trial
Authors: Sussman Steve , Dent Clyde W. , Craig Sande , Ritt-Olsen Anamara , McCuller William J.
Published: May 2005

This article describes the development and immediate impact of a self-instruction indicated drug abuse prevention program, Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND). Self-instruction programming often is used to help youth that are at high risk for dropout and drug abuse to complete their high school education, and is a method of choice among educators at alternative high schools. This article describes the justification for the self-instruction program, keys to good programmed self-learning, and how a 12-session health educator delivered program was converted to a self-instruction format. In addition, the immediate impact of a 3-group experimental trial is presented. Health educator led, self-instruction, and standard care control conditions are compared on knowledge change, and the two program conditions are compared on process ratings. Self-instruction programming can be successfully adapted from a health educator-led format, though the lack of student group interaction in this modality may limit its receptivity among students.
Prescribing and Drug Costs in the Province of Ontario
Authors: Lexchin Joel
Published: May 2005

The Report of the Pharmaceutical Inquiry of Ontario documented dramatic increases in the cost of the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program. This article demonstrates that the rise in ODB costs for those 65 and over is due to two factors: more intensive prescribing—physicians prescribing to the elderly more often and writing more prescriptions each time they see an elderly patient—and physicians writing prescriptions for more expensive drugs. Neither of these two changes in prescribing behavior has resulted in any demonstrable improvement in the health of the elderly. Efforts to control costs through some form of copayment or by eliminating some drugs from the ODB formulary should not be undertaken since they probably will result in a reduction in the use of medically necessary drugs. Ultimately, drug costs will only be controlled by improving the appropriateness of physicians' prescribing.
A Follow-up Report on the Appalachian Education Satellite Project
Authors: Bramble William J. , Hensley Catherine E. , Goldstein Dennis
Published: May 2005

In May of 1974, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched its Applied Technology Satellite Number 6 (ATS-6). Among the jobs planned for ATS-6 was the large-scale delivery of educational and health services, a concept previously untried with communications satellites. Sponsored by the National Institute of Education, education projects were developed for Alaska, Appalachia and the Rocky Mountain region. This paper describes the activities and outcomes of the Appalachian Education Satellite Project (AESP).
Psychological Distress in HIV-1 Disease in Relationship to Hypocholesterolemia
Authors: Shor-Posner Gail , Baldewicz Teri , Feaster Dan , Blaney Nancy T. , Miguez-Burbano Maria , Szapocznik Jose , Goodkin Karl , Eisdorfer Carl , Baum Marianna K.
Published: May 2005

Objective:

Altered levels of serum cholesterol, which are prevalent in early HIV-1 infection, have been associated with disturbances in mood state and behavior. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of serum cholesterol status and psychological distress in HIV-1 seropositive and seronegative men.

Method:

The association between serum cholesterol level and psychological distress, measured with the Profile of Mood States (POMS), was examined in 169 individuals (117 HIV-1 seropositive and 52 seronegative homosexual men), controlling for negative life events, social support, coping style, and HIV-1 serostatus.

Results:

Individuals with hypocholesterolemia (serum cholesterol levels < 150 mg/dL), exhibited significantly higher levels of distress, relative to individuals with values of cholesterol > 150 mg/dL ( p = 0.01). HIV-1 seropositive men had significantly lower cholesterol levels ( p = 0.0001) and higher levels of distress than the seronegative men ( p = 0.03). A significant interaction between negative life events and cholesterol status was demonstrated as well ( p = 0.04).

Conclusions:

Hypocholesterolemia appears to be associated with increased psychological distress. Whereas the causal direction of the cholesterol-distress association cannot be specified, our results suggest that HIV-1 infected men with low cholesterol levels may benefit from being monitored for changes in distress level, so that appropriate psychosocial intervention can be instituted, as necessary.
Edith Wharton: Peer Groups and Peerless Women
Authors: Schneiderman Leo
Published: May 2005

And Edith Wharton arose, a bluestocking of Manhattan, and smote the high-born Philistines with stale baguettes and fictional reproaches. I say “fictional” because Wharton's novels and stories attest to mixed motives: She both loved and hated old-money elites. As to the baguettes, they refer, of course, to her fascination with aristocratic French culture, which she came to regard as the best alternative to life in America. Eventually, her sense of identity and her ability to manage anxiety came to be dependent upon her membership in peer groups anchored in French society. Earlier, Wharton's conflicted identification with a post-Civil War New York social set had played a central role in her life [1]. One of the keys to understanding her fictional themes and characterizations is to be found in Wharton's marginal role in relation to this social set. Another key is Wharton's existence, as a child and as a young woman, on the margins of her mother's consciousness. The mother, as described by one of Wharton's biographers, was a narcissistic, class-conscious woman who had little interest in her daughter, except to marry her off as quickly and strategically as possible [2]. As I will try to demonstrate, Wharton's modus operandi as a writer was to assign to various social sets some of the qualities of an ambivalently valued maternal love object.
Writing Research in the Technical Writing Classroom: The Blind Leading the Double-Blind
Authors: Holdstein Deborah H. , Redman Tim
Published: May 2005

A review of recent research in the field of technical writing and communication indicated that although the methodologies employed were sound, they were not fully articulated. An attempt to use a double-blind research design in the writing classroom by dividing the students into competing teams that reviewed each other's work led to some interesting reactions by the students as well as to some the need to introduce more open-ended assignments in our classrooms. Asking our students to come up with competing solutions to the same problem and requiring them to design means of testing their effectiveness can develop their abilities in critical thinking and group dynamics. At the same time this approach will allow teachers to pursue their own research on various problems in technical communication. The result is a unit which has pedagogical effectiveness and suggests new directions for writing research.
Specialized Training and the Science Writer
Authors: Ryan Michael , Dunwoody Sharon L.
Published: May 2005

The problem of specialization in news reporting is enormously complex and often confusing, with arguments centering around how much expertise the specialized reporter should have and how he should acquire it. In perhaps no other area is the complexity and confusion greater or more perplexing than in science writing.

Strengths and weaknesses of specialized training for science writing were explored in a mail survey of 152 newspaper, magazine, and free lance science writers in the United States and Canada. Advantages and disadvantages of specialized training were identified through analysis of comments which many science writers made on the questionnaires they returned. Some recommendations for potential science writers are presented.
The Fulfillment of Expectations for College and Student Departure Decisions
Authors: Helland Patricia A. , Stallings Hilary J. , Braxton John M.
Published: May 2005

Following the recommendations of Braxton, Sullivan, and Johnson, (1997) to seek explanations for social integration, this study addresses how the fulfillment of college expectations affects social integration. Path analysis is used to examine the effects of having academic and social expectations met on social integration; the effect of social integration on a student's subsequent level of commitment to his/her college or university; and finally the effect of subsequent institutional commitment on the likelihood of student persistence in college. Results from the analyses indicate the fulfillment of students' social expectations for college positively affects both social integration and subsequent institutional commitment. The greater the degree of these, the more likely students will re-enroll in the university.
Cutting the Longline to Extinction: New Sea Turtle Campaign Takes Aim at Industrial Longline Fishing and Mercury-Poisoned Seafood
Authors: Ovetz Robert
Published: May 2005

Chanting “Get on the right track … stop killing the leatherback!,” a festive protest of people of many ages dressed in colorful turtle costumes wound its way along the busy streets of San Francisco's Fishermen's Wharf. The action last October marked the launching of the Bay Area-based Sea Turtle Restoration Project's Save the Leatherback ( www.savetheleatherback.com ) campaign for a moratorium on longline fishing in the Pacific Ocean. Longline fishing in the Pacific kills tens of thousands of sea turtles annually to serve up swordfish, shark, and tuna poisoned with high levels of methylmercury for lucrative seafood markets in Japan, the United States, and Europe.
The Political Economy of the Welfare State in Developed Capitalist Countries
Authors: Navarro Vicente
Published: May 2005

The article analyzes the social, economic, and political changes taking place in developed capitalist countries that are affecting their welfare states, in particular the changes in the family, in people's life cycles, in economic and social structures, and, most importantly, in the political contexts. The author shows how these changes take place and how the ways in which various countries respond to them depend mainly on the correlation of forces (of which class forces continue to be of great importance) and their expression in the political space. The dominant theoretical frame (promoted by international agencies and many governments) assumes that all governments, regardless of their political coloration, are forced to follow the same policies because of the need to be competitive in the globalized economy, where international markets (whether financial or commercial) determine what governments can and must do. Questioning this economic determinism, the article recovers the importance of politics, putting politics at the center of the explanation of what is happening in the welfare states of the developed capitalist countries, including the neoliberal aggression against them.
Death of the Future?: An Outcome Study of Bereaved Parents in Israel
Authors: Rubin Simon Shimshon
Published: May 2005

Child loss has been described as the most devastating of bereavements. To explore this multidimensional phenomena, thirteen Israeli parents bereaved of young children were compared with forty-two parents who had lost sons to war. Although all parents demonstrated pronounced mourning, those bereaved of adult sons were particularly affected by the loss. This was true for the initial year as well as the current status of the bereavement response, an average of ten years post loss. These findings are discussed and implications for the family are considered.
Organization by Design: Some Implications for Structuring Information
Authors: Gribbons William M.
Published: May 2005

This article proposes a system for document organization based on cueing and page formatting techniques. The logical and systematic use of cueing and formatting creates a visual hierarchy organizing and signalling information for the reader. When the proposed system is properly applied, the result is increased reading speeds, increased ease of access and increased comprehension.
Promoting Self-Care and Daily Living Skills among Older Widows and Widowers: Evidence from the Pathfinders Demonstration Project
Authors: Caserta Michael S. , Lund Dale A. , Obray Sarah Jane
Published: May 2005

While most bereavement intervention programs for the recently widowed focus primarily on loss and grief issues, few, if any, specifically address ways to engage in necessary self-care activities, to assume new responsibilities that once belonged to their deceased spouse, and to remain socially connected to the larger community. The Pathfinders demonstration project was designed to provide important health and wellness information in a supportive environment where the participants could develop self-care and daily living skills and learn how to access additional community resources to meet their specific needs. This article describes changes in self-care and daily living abilities reported by the Pathfinders participants and ways in which they used what they learned in the classes to achieve health and independence and to meet the daily challenges of widowed life. Eight-four widows and widowers (age 50+) participated in one of five 11-week class sequences. Statistically significant, although incremental improvements over time were reported in active coping, health care participation, household management, home safety, and nutritional self-care skills. Almost all the participants reported applying at least some of the class content in their daily lives and nearly 70% sought additional information from sources outside the classes. After completing the program, many participants believed they were better prepared to take care of themselves and to address the daily challenges of widowed life. The results of the Pathfinders demonstration project suggest a promising new line of research focused on bereavement interventions other than those that traditionally address grief and loss issues alone.
Professional Educators as Communications Consultants
Authors: Mitchell John H.
Published: May 2005

This article describes techniques for finding and for preparing for consulting work in communications. It explores procedures essential to workshops, in-plant and extension seminars, free-lance and staff-writing and editing, scientific and medical journalism, reviewing and abstracting and translating services, and several of the communication links established by new federal legislation.
Continuing Education Experiences of District Level Health Staff in Nigeria
Authors: Onuoha Philip C. , Brieger William R.
Published: May 2005

Primary health care (PHC) implementation has stimulated the need and interest in developing continuing education (CE) programs in Nigeria. A population study of 144 government (69%) and private (31%) health workers in the Ibarapa District of Oyo State in Nigeria documented their CE opportunities. Only 39 percent had attended an in-service training (IST) program in the past five years. Fewer (32%) had received a supervisory visit within the previous month, and most of these visits contained little of educational relevance according to respondents. Slightly over half (54%) reported attending a staff meeting in the previous month, but 72 percent had attended at least one in the past six months. Like supervisory visits, these meetings were not primarily educational in nature. Only 58 percent engaged in self-study through reading in the past six months, but quality reading materials were scarce, forcing health workers to rely on old texts and popular health magazines. Local government staff and workers with formal health training were most likely to have taken advantage of an IST. Trained workers and males were more likely to have engaged in self-study. New PHC management structures have the potential filling CE gaps and redressing imbalances in CE opportunities in this and other rural districts throughout the country.
Art Critics and Art Publics: A Study in the Sociology and Politics of Taste
Authors: Levy Emanuel
Published: May 2005

This article examines theoretically and empirically a central question in the sociology of art: the role of art critics and their influence on artists, art works, and art publics. The study compares two taste subcultures: the artistic tastes of professional theater critics and the lay public. It is based on empirical research on critics' and publics' assessments and reactions to theatrical productions in Israel over a period of half a century, from 1918 to 1968. These differential reactions are described and explained in terms of three variables: the type of publication in which the plays were reviewed (mass versus elite publications), the historical time-period (the pre-statehood versus the post-statehood era), and the type of play presented (specifically Jewish versus non-Jewish plays). Patterns of agreement and disagreement among the critics, and between the critics and the larger public are described and analyzed. The article concludes with a discussion of the changes in the roles of critics and in the functions of the theatrical institution, which are examined in relation to Israel's changing political, demographic, and social settings from 1918 to 1968.
Teaching Mathematics with Microcomputer Instructional Games
Authors: Bright George W.
Published: May 2005

Four microcomputer instructional games were used to teach mathematics to preservice elementary school teachers. Previous research indicated that non-computer games were effective at teaching mathematics to school-aged students, so the extension to microcomputer format was the primary focus. Subjects were thirty preservice teachers in a mathematics methods course during spring 1983; data on one subject was lost. Subjects were randomly assigned in equal numbers to play each of the six pairs of games. There were no important differences in learning between each game-playing group and its control group; there were slight negative effects of two of the four games.
Gender Equity and the Population Problem
Authors: Sen Amartya
Published: May 2005

The central issue with which this essay is concerned is the relation between (1) high fertility rates and (2) the low decisional power—indeed subjugation—of women.
A Generational Approach to Using Emoticons as Nonverbal Communication
Authors: Krohn Franklin B.
Published: May 2005

The purpose of this article is to help determine whether the use of emoticons in computer mediated communication (CMC) are truly nonverbal cues. A review of the literature revealed that the traditional nonverbal theorists failed to predict the future employment of nonverbal cues in electronic CMC. A variety of emoticons are then described including the traditional happy face ☺ and sad face ☺, numerous variations of faces employing keyboard keys, a number of abbreviations commonly in use, and FLAMING. Inasmuch as emoticons are presently in widespread though informal use, the problem of how and what business communication instructors should teach about emoticons is discussed. The conclusion reached is that of a generational recipient determinism. It is recommended that recipients who are Traditionalists (born before 1946) should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) probably should not be sent e-mail with emoticons; those who are Generation Xers (those born between 1964 and 1980) may be sent e-mail with some of the more commonemoticons; and those who are termed Millenials (bornafter 1980 and coming of age after 2000) may be sent e-mail with generous use of emoticons.
Forensic Suicides and Attempted Suicides
Authors: French Laurence A.
Published: May 2005

Forensic suicides and suicide attempts challenge certain premises long held by classical suicidologists. Integration and status or personal loss do not appear to be critical factors when considering forensic suicide behavior. Instead, rage and marginality surface as the paramount factors. Although it is obvious that anomie is a dimension of marginality, it is important to note that marginal members of society fail, for whatever reason, to adequately internalize an acceptable or meaningful normative model from which to assess their successes and/or failures. Consequently “loss,” as it is implied within the classical perspective, does not seem to be a significant factor associated with most forensic suicides. Here, chronic ambiguity and free-floating rage, attributes exacerbated by the jail-like environment of many forensic units, pose a situation whereby either the self or others become convenient targets for aggression release.
APACT: Its Organization and Impact on Resistance to U.S. Tobacco Imperialism
Authors: Chen Ted T. L. , Winder Alvin E.
Published: May 2005

This article presents a case study of the formation and first year activities of the Asia Pacific Association for the Control of Tobacco Products (APACT). The case study is organized around five key concepts that address the organizing activity that led this coalition of antismoking groups to create a multinational association in the Asia Pacific region. These concepts are need, team building, funding, management and program development. APACT was born out of the need for Asia Pacific anti-smoking groups to resist US trade sanctions. Sanctions which the US threatened to apply to a number of Asia Pacific nations if those nations refused to eliminate trade barriers to US tobacco marketing and sales. The development of APACT's social action program and its impact is presented for the year 1989–90. Also included is a brief statement of APACT's five-year plan for controlling tobacco related diseases.
The Actress as a Mental Health Teacher
Authors: Lurie Hugh James
Published: May 2005

This paper describes the role of an actress in a program for the psychiatric education of nonpsychiatrist physicians and nurses. Not only can the actress use her skills in role-playing and simulated interviewing situations, but she can also become an active and essential member of the psychiatric teaching team. In the program described here, the actress has come to serve as an individual and group therapist and as a communications facilitator. The situations in which she can effectively serve these functions are delineated, and the general implications for a broader role for an actress in continuing education programs are discussed.
The Passive Voice in Computer Manuals: A New Perspective
Authors: Cornelis Louise H.
Published: May 2005

There is much debate and confusion about the use of the passive voice in texts in general, and in computer manuals in particular. For example, it is often stated that the passive should be avoided, but on the other hand, it may also have a clear function in a text. The aim of this article is to provide clarity by presenting a straightforward principle for the use of the passive voice in computer manuals. This “alternation principle,” in which active voice is used for user actions and the passive voice for automatic computer, is backed by results from recent functional and cognitive linguistic research. It is illustrated by means of fragments from several computer manuals, including some (apparent) counter-examples.
Pricing, Demanders, and the Supply of Health Care
Authors: Maynard Alan
Published: May 2005

This paper is divided into three substantive sections. In the first section the conventional neoclassical paradigm is augmented by consideration of the agency relationship in which the physician is considered not only as the agent who controls the supply of health care, but also as the decision maker who articulates demand because patients forego this role and rely on “expert” advice. The next section is concerned with the effects of pricing on consumer demand and draws on the available empirical evidence to present estimates of price elasticity, cross elasticity, and other characteristics of the choice process. This analysis is completed by integrating the agency relationship into the discussion and arguing that if the policy objectives are expenditure containment and greater efficiency in resource utilization, the price mechanism should be used to affect the behavior of the primary demander and the supplier: the physician. In the final section the implications of this analysis are discussed in the contexts of two competing perspectives: the liberal market perspective and the collective “needology” perspective, and an attempt is made to distinguish some of the characteristics of the two views of the world.
Dependency among Third World Elderly: A Need for New Direction in the Nineties
Authors: Neysmith Sheila M.
Published: May 2005

The current political economy of aging focuses largely on the conditions of old people in Western industrialized societies. Thus it ignores more than half of the world's elderly—those residing in Third World countries. In the first part of this article the author examines aging trends in developing countries, considering recent approaches to addressing the deteriorating economic and social conditions that shape the lives of the elderly in these countries. In the second part, a feminist perspective is used to assess the implications of these demographic trends and development strategies for women in Third World countries. It is argued that policies that place primary responsibility for care of the elderly within families are as unjust in Third World societies as they are in industrialized nations.
Economic Class and Access to Physician Services under Public Medical Care Insurance
Authors: Beck R. G.
Published: May 2005

The dynamic effects of public medical care insurance on access to physician services are examined in this paper. A special definition of access is employed where access is measured as the inverse of the proportion of families of a given economic class who have not used physician services in a given year. Data are presented for the period 1963 through 1968 for a large sample of families in the Province of Saskatchewan in Canada. The evidence suggests that low-income classes have less contact with physicians than high-income classes. This disparity in accessibility is reduced, but not removed, as experience with Medicare increases. It is concluded that public medical care insurance does result in increased relative accessibility to physicians for the low-income classes.
Do Male Students Often Perform Better Than Female Students When Learning Computers?: A Study of Taiwanese Eighth Graders' Computer Education through Strategic and Cooperative Learning
Authors: Tsai Meng-Jung
Published: May 2005

This study investigated the impacts of strategic learning, cooperative learning, and their combination on junior high school students' computer achievement, attitudes, and anxiety. A total of 155 Taiwanese eighth graders participated in this study. Regarding computer achievement, a significant interaction was found between gender and learning context. No significant difference was found in students' computer attitudes due to either learning context or gender factor. With respect to computer anxiety, however, the boys exhibited a significantly higher level than did the girls. Students' computer anxiety in the cooperative learning group was also significantly higher than that in the control group. It is believed that the culture of socialization involving computers plays an important role in junior high school computer classrooms. In addition, strategic learning is regarded as an effective approach to promote female students' learning with computers.