bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Efficacy of a Low-Level Program Visualization Tool for Teaching Programming Concepts to Novice C Programmers
Authors: Smith Philip A. , Webb Geoffrey I.
Published: May 2005

It is widely agreed that learning to program is difficult. Program visualization tools make visible aspects of program execution which are often hidden from the user. While several program visualization tools aimed at novice programmers have been developed over the past decade there is little empirical evidence showing that novices actually benefit from their use [1]. In this article we describe a “Glass-box Interpreter” called Bradman. An experiment is presented which tests the efficacy of Bradman in assisting novice programmers learn programming concepts. We show that students that used the glass-box interpreter achieved greater understanding of some programming concepts than those without access. We also give evidence that the student's ability to assimilate new concepts was enhanced by exposure to the glass-box interpreter. This is experimental confirmation that such tools are beneficial in helping novices learn programming.
Interaction and Communication: Elementary Students' Learning of Mathematics and Science in a CMC Setting
Authors: Li Qing
Published: May 2005

This study was intended to contribute to knowledge in the area of collaboration in the context of computer-mediated communication (CMC). In this study, collaboration was explored in terms of students' interaction in their learning process. The primary purpose of this study was to examine relationships between language functions associated with the messages generated in the context of CMC and participants' interaction. The secondary purpose to explore the use of language functions in relation to teacher-student interactions. Results of this study indicated that participants (including teachers. students, researchers, and scientists) were actively participating in collaboration in the context of CMC. Out of five language functions examined, two language functions used by participants in the context of CMC showed significant relationships with interaction. Participants' use of “giving explanation” and “expressing disbelief” was positively associated with their interaction. One interesting finding of teacher-student interaction was that with teacher and helping adult involvement, participants were more likely than students alone to make suggestions. When scrutinizing the pattern of the use of language functions in first messages, it appeared that the students' strategy was to ask a lot of information, while with teachers and helping adults engagement, participants used “presenting opinion” most frequently. Educational implication of this study was discussed. In addition, recommendations for future research about collaboration in the context of CMC were made.
A Basketmaker II Massacre Revisited
Authors: Palmer Jay W.
Published: May 2005

Over 100 years ago, Richard Wetherill and other members of the Hyde Exploring Expedition discovered a massacre site of 96 Basketmakers in Southeastern Utah. A possible scenario is that the massacred were Basketmaker II people who had moved into Southeastern Utah when rainfall was plentiful and conditions were favorable for dry-farming of maize. When a period of dry global cooling began, killing frosts made it difficult to grow maize, and competition to survive became critical resulting in the massacre of the Basketmakers by a competing group.
Peer Reviewers and Publishers of Scholarly Book Get Subpoenas in Lawsuit against Chemical Companies
Authors: Guterman Lila
Published: May 2005

Lawyers representing more than 20 chemical companies took the unusual step of issuing subpoenas to five peer reviewers of a scholarly book as part of litigation over the alleged health risks of a widely used chemical compound. The peer reviewers, who are historians and health experts, were summoned to be questioned in the case, which pits a former chemical worker who now suffers from cancer against the companies, including the Dow Chemical Company, the Goodrich Corporation, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the Monsanto Company, and Uniroyal Inc. The book's publishers also received subpoenas, several months earlier, to provide information about early drafts of the book and its peer review.
Spontaneous Post-Hypnotic Amnesia and Spontaneous Rehypnotic Recovery in Repressers
Authors: Kunzendorf Robert G. , Benoit Michelle
Published: May 2005

The Salpêtrière school of hypnosis posited that true hypnotic effects occur spontaneously in people with repressive tendencies. Consistent with this early position, the current study indicates that both spontaneous amnesia after hypnosis and spontaneous recovery during rehypnosis are statistically associated with repression (but not with hypnotic suggestibility). In contrast, both suggested forgetting and suggested recovery are statistically associated with hypnotic suggestibility (but not with repression). Whereas the latter effects of suggestibility are attributable to the demand characteristics of hypnotic suggestions, the spontaneous effects of hypnosis on repressers' memories are not reducible to social psychological principles.
Review: Drug Induced Akathisia in Medical and Surgical Patients
Authors: Brown Peter
Published: May 2005

Drug-induced akathisia is a significant and common iatrogenic disorder. It involves both a subjective component of a disturbing sense of compulsion to move and an objective component of motor restlessness. Akathisia is being seen with increasing frequency in medical and surgical patients. This is due to the increased use of anti-emetics or novel adjuncts to pain control as well as more widespread use of the major psychoactive drugs throughout medicine. This review focuses on diagnostic features of the disorder as well as on possible treatment approaches. In addition, the disorder demonstrates the close anatomic and functional relationship between cortical and subcortical dopaminergic pathways. Akathisia is thus both an increasingly significant clinical problem and a fascinating glimpse at the relationship between brain function and behavior.
Widowed Young Parents: Changing Perspectives on Remarriage and Cohabitation Rates and Their Determinants
Authors: Bishop Somer L. , Cain Albert C.
Published: May 2005

This study investigated the incidence and determinants of remarriage and cohabitation among a sample of 35 widowed parents of school-aged children. Data from a U. S. longitudinal study of parentally bereaved children, with surviving parents of mean age 41, revealed—by contrast with prior findings and general lore—that virtually half (47. 5%) of the widows and widowers were either remarried or in substantial cohabitation relationships within five years post-death. Contrary to previous findings, there were no differences in remarriage rates between men and women. Other factors expected to influence the likelihood of remarriages, such as number and age of children, did not; income change pre–post death was a determinant for widows, as was widow's age within this relatively young sample of widows. There was a trend for surviving parents who exhibited fewer symptoms of psychopathology (on the BSI) at the initial Wave I assessment to more likely be remarried or cohabiting at Wave II than those exhibiting higher levels of psychopathology at the initial assessment. Possible interpretations of the divergence between prior reports or assumptions and these data are noted, as is the importance of studying the role of surviving parent remarriage and/or cohabitation(s) intrinsically, and correspondingly, their effects upon parentally bereaved children.
The Volunteer and the Sannyāsin: Archetypes of Retirement in America and India
Authors: Savishinsky Joel
Published: May 2005

Cultures differ in their models of the life course, including the number and the content of the stages through which people are expected to pass. Among those societies that recognize a period of retirement, the developmental tasks and opportunities that older individuals face are shaped by cultural ideas about morality, spirituality, passion, and fulfillment. This article examines two archetypes for retirement: the American volunteer, and the Indian sannyāsin or “renouncer.” Drawing on ethnographic data from a study of American retirees and descriptions of spiritual seekers in India, it considers the social roles these ideal types play, their self and their public images, the congruence between cultural expectations and their actual experiences, and the underlying values these people embody. It suggests that while older American volunteers view retirement as an entitlement, they also stress their obligation to use free time to pay back their society for the benefits they have enjoyed. They thus add a moral dimension to a period often stereotypically characterized by a “busy ethic” and a mindframe of self-indulgence. India's sannyāsins, however, enter a life-stage of social withdrawal and spiritual pursuit after years of fulfilling their adult commitments to family and community. Yet, in their self-denial and renunciation of worldly engagements, they model for others the religious rewards that can follow after leading a dutiful life. These archetypes of aging thus bring out their cultures' contrasting emphases on inner- versus outer-directedness, self-development versus self-effacement, and personal freedom versus social responsibility.
A Use Wear Analysis of Hopewell Bladelets from Paint Creek Lake Site #5, Ross County, Ohio
Authors: Lemons Reno , Church Flora
Published: May 2005

A sample of bladelets from the Middle Woodland component of the Paint Creek Lake Site #5 was analyzed for use wear traces with high power microscopy. The results of the analysis were compared to those obtained by other researchers who have addressed the question of Middle Woodland bladelet usage. Yerkes (1990) and Odell (1994) have suggested that bladelets were not specialized tools, but rather were multi-functional tools. Odell (1994) compared the uses of bladelets from three site types and determined that usage may have varied by site type, being more specialized among sites associated with mounds. The results of the present study bear out these interpretations. The Paint Creek Lake Site #5 is a habitation that is not associated with mounds; the bladelets revealed a variety of use wear traces.
A Community Approach to the Prevention of Alcohol-Related Problems: The San Francisco Experience
Authors: Wallack Lawrence
Published: May 2005

This article describes the San Francisco Prevention Project, a community level intervention designed to prevent alcohol-related problems. The intervention is based on a systems perspective and merges academic and practical perspectives at the community level. The project uses a three component approach of research, community education, and planning for action. Each component is described and a summary of the first year experience is provided.
Which Prevention Strategies for Child Pedestrian Injuries? A Review of the Literature
Authors: Stevenson Mark R. , Sleet David A.
Published: May 2005

In 1992, motor vehicle-related injury was the leading cause of injury-specific death in the United States for children aged zero to fourteen years. In the five to nine years age group, childhood pedestrian injury was exceeded only by motor vehicle occupant injuries as the leading cause of death. The prevention of these injuries is a multifactorial problem involving individual characteristics of the child, environmental design, and the mutual dependence between the child and his or her environment. This article considers the plethora of descriptive and analytical research and proposes suitable strategies to reduce the rate of child pedestrian injury.
Effects of Orienting Activities and Instructional Control on Learning Facts and Procedures from Interactive Video
Authors: Tovar Mariela , Coldevin Gary
Published: May 2005

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of orienting activities and locus of instructional control on the learning of factual and procedural knowledge via interactive video. Specifically, the interaction between three levels of instructional control (linear, mixed and learner) and two levels of orienting (orienting versus no orienting) was investigated. It was hypothesized that the provision of an orienting activity would show a greater impact on learning for the learner control condition than for the mixed control and linear control conditions. Subjects consisted of ninety-one university students majoring in either biology, chemistry or exercise science. The dependent variables were recall of facts, recall of procedures, and instructional time.

The results did not support the predicted interaction between orienting activity and instructional locus of control. It was found that provision of the orienting activity significantly facilitated the recall of factual information from the lesson. Both linear and mixed control treatments were significantly superior to the learner control. No significant effects were found for the recall of procedural information. Analysis of the time variable showed that subjects provided with the orienting activity spent significantly more time with the program than those who did not have this activity.
The Effects of Stress Inoculation Training and Skills Training on the Treatment of Speech Anxiety
Authors: Burnley M. Caroline E. , Cross Patricia A. , Spanos Nicholas P.
Published: May 2005

Stress Inoculation Training (SIT), Skills Training and Combination Training were compared to a control condition in the treatment of public speaking anxiety. Speech anxious university students were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Anxiety was measured by self-reports and a behavioral measure. S's in all conditions ( N = 73) gave a pretreatment and post-treatment speech and at one month follow-up, completed self-report measures. Subjects in all treatments improved between pretreatment and follow-up on the Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker. However, only those in the Skills group decreased their anxious behavior between pretreatment and post-treatment. Trial effects were found for the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale and the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. Implications are discussed.
Ethics and Equity in U.S. Health Care: The Data
Authors: Rice Dorothy P.
Published: May 2005

Access to and equality in health care has deteriorated in the 1980s, as shown by the data on racial differences in reducing infant mortality rates, in life expectancy, and in the incidence and economic burden of AIDS. Various health status measures indicate significant declines with decreasing income, and the use of medical care services is higher for low-income groups. The growing number of uninsured and underinsured persons has exacerbated the problem. A consensus is emerging among diverse groups that health care should be extended to those who do not have access to it and that providing universal and affordable health care is a major national health priority.
Toward a Political and Moral Economy of Aging: An Alternative Perspective
Authors: Hendricks Jon , Leedham Cynthia A.
Published: May 2005

A conceptual framework for empowerment of the elderly is proposed, using variations on Gramsci's hegemony and Thompson's moral economy to complement recent political economic and social psychological theories. The political economy and social psychology of aging highlight structural constraints and actors' reactions without articulating a model for empowerment. Gramsci's idea of hegemony as new moral and philosophical leadership calls for principles of social and economic organization deserving assent because they maximize people's chances for a decent life at all ages. Hegemony, as normalizing dominance, reveals ways in which the elderly may be disempowered as well as possibilities for intervention. Underlying diverse forms of hegemony are economic arrangements and an array of cultural norms. In contrast to Thompson, the authors argue that norms implicit in moral economy vary with changes in social context. In the process, two ideal types of moral economy are elaborated, grounded in exchange value and use value, respectively. Empowerment may be found through a moral economy grounded in use value appropriate to advanced industrial society that is consonant with Gramsci's new hegemony. Implications for health and income maintenance policies are explored.
Using the Newspaper to Disseminate Vasectomy Information in Kenya
Authors: Wilkinson David John , Lyman Pamela Fenney , Mason Katherine , Wambwa Grace E.
Published: May 2005

Recent research in Kenya shows that, although there is still a high population growth rate, there is increasing interest among men as well as women in family planning and in limiting family size. Vasectomy, however, is little known and practiced in Kenya. A major reason for this is a general lack of knowledge about the procedure and where it may be obtained. Little effort has been put into addressing the barriers to vasectomy acceptance in Kenya, partly because of the commonly held assumption that Kenyan men would not be interested in the method. Innovative Communication Systems, with the support of the Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception, implemented a study using the print media to examine this perception. Advertisements providing information about the method were placed in newspapers and a magazine. An unexpectedly large response was received—over 800 written requests for information from all parts of the country. The majority of inquiries were from rural areas, and there was a high proportion of requests from the coastal district, a Muslim area generally considered to be extremely resistant to family planning. A large proportion of inquiries came through a Kiswahili newspaper appealing to lower socioeconomic groups.
The Purdue Stepped Approach Model: Sequencing Community and Clinical Interventions to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Authors: Black David R. , Hultsman John T.
Published: May 2005

The Purdue Stepped Approach Model (PM) is applied to the reduction of cardiovascular risk factors. The PM is schema for service delivery that increases the intensity of interventions presented in a series. Community interventions are sequentially introduced followed by clinical programs. Benefits of community interventions and clinical programs are discussed which include target of a large number of people, optimal utilization of technology and human capital, responsiveness to individual differences, and increased likelihood of permanence of behavior change. Empirical support from community and clinical research are provided. The five steps of the model are described and an heuristic example is illustrated. The PM may expand the role of community health educators and may lead to the evolution of more inclusive means of delivering community and clinical health programs.
Clinical Trials Seen Shifting Overseas
Authors: Rowland Christopher , McMahon Jean
Published: May 2005

A Tufts University study released in mid-2003 indicates that increasing numbers of clinical trials for U.S.-produced pharmaceutical are being conducted outside the United States, mainly by contract research organizations. This process speeds up clinical trials, but raises ethical issues of the possible coercion or exploitation of more vulnerable and naive patient populations.
Computer Awareness Laboratory
Authors: Powell James D. , Speece Herbert E.
Published: May 2005

The Computer Awareness Laboratory is a traveling van, equipped with several computers, which brings computer capability to schools and school children who otherwise would not have an opportunity for first hand experience. This paper describes the background for this project and gives a description of the contents of the van and the activities that take place at each visit. An evaluation of the first years activities are presented and plans for the future are given.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act: What is Fair?
Authors: Brugge Doug , Goble Rob
Published: May 2005

In 1990 the U.S. Congress passed a law providing compensation to former uranium miners who became ill while the U.S. Government was the sole purchaser of uranium. Ten years later, in 2000, the law was amended to correct widely perceived problems. We reviewed the content of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) laws and regulations, cataloged complaints about the 1990 law, compared the law to the scientific knowledge base in 1990 and in the present, reviewed the 2000 amendments to RECA, and drew lessons about how such compensation programs might be better structured. We concur with popular sentiment that the 1990 law had numerous flaws, the central one being that it failed to compensate many miners who by most other standards would have been deemed deserving. This problem arose through setting exposure criteria very high (at six to 15 times elevated risk), with a disproportionate burden placed on miners who had smoked. The additional burden on smokers was exacerbated by a very stringent definition of smokers (one pack-year in a lifetime). Federal compensation laws should prioritize payment to deserving claimants rather than excluding undeserving claimants. Thus, a doubling of risk should be an upper limit for setting an eligibility threshold and a lower “significant contributory effect” standard could be considered more appropriate. Uncertainties in exposure and in dose response should be considered and resolved with a bias toward compensation. Beyond setting appropriate criteria, an active effort is needed to inform potentially eligible people and to assist them in qualifying; the eligibility criteria and the requirements for documentation should be appropriate for Native Americans and other cultural groups. Built-in evaluation mechanisms are needed for all compensation programs to assess whether they are meeting their stated objectives.
Changing Attitudes and Patterns of Behavior among Emerging Physicians
Authors: Slaby Andrew E. , Schwartz Arthur H.
Published: May 2005

In an attempt to identify emergent trends in the value systems of graduating medical students, questionnaires investigating sexual, religious, and political attitudes and behavior as well as students' drug use, prejudices, attitudes toward the American Medical Association, and several social issues were sent to the graduating classes of Columbia (1968) and Yale (1970). Although physicians are frequently seen as the repositories of the morals of the nation, these graduating physicians had views quite distinct from the more traditionalistic views generally ascribed to physicians.
Prevalence and Course of Depressive Disorders in Hospitalized Stroke Patients
Authors: Morris Philip L. P. , Robinson Robert G. , Raphael Beverley
Published: May 2005

In a sample of ninety-nine patients seen two months post-stroke, 18 percent were diagnosed as having minor depression and 14 percent major depression. At follow-up, fifteen months later, the prevalence of depressive disorder had declined substantially, to 12 percent overall. Major depression was characterized by an average duration of thirty-nine weeks, a mortality rate of 23 percent and was associated with positive family history of affective or anxiety disorder. Among patients with left hemisphere lesions, major depression was associated with cognitive impairment. Minor depression had a shorter average duration (twelve weeks) and was more common in males. These two syndromes may define distinct types of post-stroke depression with implications for treatment interventions.
Prevalence and Correlates of Alcohol Use in a Survey of Rural Elementary School Students: The New Hampshire Study
Authors: Stevens M. , Youells F. , Whaley R. , Linsey S.
Published: May 2005

Alcohol use by 1190 fourth, fifth and sixth grade students was assessed in a survey of four rural New Hampshire school districts. Half the students surveyed (596) drank, but not regularly; 5 percent (59) were regular drinkers, and an additional 2 percent (19) were regular drinkers and had been drunk at least once. Reported alcohol use increased with both grade and age, and males drank more than females. The child's attitude towards drinking, perceived family attitudes towards drinking, the number of drinking friends, and self-perceived wrongdoing by the child were four factors strongly related to alcohol use. Increased alcohol use was also associated with experimental and current use of cigarettes, marijuana, and smokeless tobacco.
Piano Learning Effects on Sequentially Presented Visuo-Spatial Stimuli
Authors: Hatta Takeshi , Mitsuda Mariko
Published: May 2005

Students of the Music Department and control subjects made memory matchings as to the sequentially displayed dot patterns in Experiment 1. The pianists experts performed better than the other subject groups by the aid of a special strategy (imaging a score). Experiment 2 showed that pianists experts employed this strategy spontaneously, but other subjects were unable to utilize this strategy when advised to employ it. Experiment 3 and 4 revealed that the visuo-spatial ability of the experts was comparable to the controls unless the employment of a special strategy was difficult. Based upon the results, the effects of intensive piano learning on cognitive ability are discussed.
Children's Perception of Death and Interpersonal Closeness to the Dead Person
Authors: Orbache Israel , Weiner Michal , Har-Even Dov , Eshel Yohanan
Published: May 2005

Fifty-four boys and girls of three age groups: six to seven, eight to nine, and ten to eleven, participated in an investigation of the relationship between the comprehension of death and the degree of interpersonal closeness to the dead person. The children responded to a death concept questionnaire tapping their understanding of the deaths of a “brother,” a “cousin,” and “Johnny”—an unfamiliar child. A 3 × 3 ANOVA showed an age × person interaction. While first- and fifty-graders perceived the death of a person to whom they were close on an interpersonal basis less accurately (lower score) than the death of a person of a more distant relationship, no such distinctions were made by the third-graders. In addition, there was a main effect of person and of age. A significant correlation was found between interpersonal distance and death concept scores. The findings were discussed in light of children's emotional development and the way in which they comprehend and process emotionally loaded concepts.
Preschooler's Use of Microcomputers and Input Devices
Authors: King John , Alloway Nola
Published: May 2005

This study measured the efficiency of use by preschoolers of common input devices including the keyboard, the joystick and the mouse. It also investigated their preferred input device in a free play setting. The manner in which the children interacted with the microcomputers and each other in this setting, including gender factors, was also considered. The subjects in the study consisted of thirty-seven children, of whom fifteen were girls and twenty-two boys, with an average age of four years, seven and a half months. The results indicate that there is a significant difference in efficiency between the three input devices, with the mouse being more efficiently used than the joystick, which in turn is more efficiently used than the keyboard. The between groups interaction of gender with input device is not significant. No pattern of preference was identified for a particular input device. The microcomputers were used extensively during free play, and from the variety of activities available, the boys selected the microcomputer activity significantly more than the girls. The present study demonstrates that unmonitored free-play allows for inequitable access to, and selection of, a microcomputer activity.
A System for Production and Dissemination of Modular Instructional Materials
Authors: Hewitt C. A. , Roy Rustum , Knox B. E.
Published: May 2005

The textbook is greatly limited as a means of meeting the educational requirements of new syncretic disciplines like materials science and engineering. Print modules may be the direction of the future in these cases. Accessed by key words in a computerized system, custom made courses of such modules could be quickly prepared. An experimental system is being developed to do this with a special emphasis on cost efficient dissemination through a Journal with free reproduction rights.
Sex, Stress, and Health
Authors: Brecher Jeremy
Published: May 2005

Recent research suggests possible health benefits of sexual activity. Sexual arousal appears to increase testosterone levels in males. (Related effects in females have not been studied.) This article shows that increased testosterone has a number of health-promoting effects and that good sexual functioning is a health issue not only in itself, but also in its effects on general health as well.

Both clinical and experimental evidence indicates that stress disrupts the normal sexual response. Combining this with the previous evidence, a general model of reciprocal inhibition between sexual and stress effects is proposed, with the implication that sex may be an antagonist to the deleterious health effects of stress. If stress disrupts sex, the result is likely to be indirect negative effects on health. Three basic types of stress which frequently disrupt sexual functioning are described, and it is argued that sex therapy techniques are effective in large part as a result of their ability to reduce these forms of stress.

The kinds of stress that lead to sexual dysfunction have clear social roots. A variety of etiological factors are identified. It is argued that movements promoting social change may in fact perform sexual preventive medicine, which may indirectly augment general health as well.
Technology Literacy in the Immediate Future and Educational Technology
Authors: Kitagaki Ikuo
Published: May 2005

In today's and immediate-future society where science and technology are becoming increasingly sophisticated and closer to our daily life, the general public is required to have an ability to properly evaluate the use of science and technology. Basic knowledge and competence necessary for conducting such evaluation and relevant decision making are called “technology literacy” comprehensively. In this article, I describe frameworks of technology literacy and propose to consider the development of such an ability as a task of research in educational technology.
Computer-Based Education in Prison Schools
Authors: Siegel Martin A.
Published: May 2005

The PLATO Corrections Project (PCP) is implementing PLATO computer-based education in Illinois prisons. Since October 1975, the PCP staff has assembled a pre-GED and GED curriculum of over 400 already available PLATO lessons; has developed the PCP instructional management, communications, and evaluation system; has designed an instructor training package; and more recently has developed forty hours of mastery-based instruction in adult reading comprehension and vocabulary development. Some 2,000 students and 120 staff in three Illinois prisons have used the system for over 32,000 hours. The PCP network also has expanded to the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Data collected on student/instructor usage, attitudes, and achievement demonstrate that the PCP System is feasible, attractive, and effective in corrections education. Moreover, educational strategies employed in PCP's current curriculum development program will form the basis for a comprehensive basic skills curriculum for educationally disadvantaged youth and adults.
Originality and Technical Skill as Components of Artistic Quality
Authors: Kozbelt Aaron
Published: May 2005

Artistic quality is often thought of in terms of two components: originality and technical skill. To examine the relations between these three constructs, 35 judges rated 72 drawings on 25 survey items related to quality, technical skill, and originality. Rasch statistical analysis revealed an underlying dimension of quality. Items related to both technical skill and originality loaded highly onto this dimension, indicating that both are components of quality. All three measures were strongly inter-correlated. Technical skill and originality jointly accounted for over 90% of the variance in quality. Despite a high correlation ( r = .65), technical skill and originality can be distinguished in three ways: originality items fit the underlying quality dimension better than did technical skill items, originality was more difficult to achieve than technical, and the two kinds of items loaded with opposite valences on the first factor of a factor analysis.
Provocation of Pseudoseizures by Psychiatric Interview during EEG and Video Monitoring
Authors: Cohen Lewis M. , Howard George F. , Bongar Bruce
Published: May 2005

Objective:

This paper discusses a new technique for diagnosing pseudoseizures. The technique consists of an intensive psychiatric interview designed to provoke a pseudoseizure during EEG and video monitoring. We wished to determine the overall efficacy of the technique and learn how our patients felt about having undergone the procedure. We were also interested in whether their seizures persisted approximately three years later.

Method:

We reviewed medical records and conducted telephone interviews with thirty of thirty-two patients who had previously undergone the procedure as part of an evaluation for unusual or intractable seizures. All evaluations had been performed on a university hospital neurology service. The patients were consecutive referrals to the consultative psychiatry service for suspicion of pseudoseizures.

Results:

Nineteen of the thirty-two patients interviewed had a pseudoseizure under EEG and video monitoring. Of the thirty reached by telephone for follow-up, twenty-two recalled the procedure as helpful or benign. None regarded the overall psychiatric consultation negatively. Among the patients who had exhibited pseudoseizures there was a variety of psychiatric diagnoses with a preponderance of personality disorders. Two thirds of those patients without coexisting epilepsy stopped having seizures or rarely had seizures following their evaluations.

Conclusions:

The diagnostic technique described here is useful in patients with possible pseudoseizures. It does not appear to be harmful when employed as part of a comprehensive psychiatric consultation. How it may compare with other methods of pseudoseizure diagnosis will have to be determined by further study.
The Influence of Subject-Experimenter Sexual Congruence on the Frequency of Task-Unrelated Imagery and Thought: Further Evidence
Authors: Giambra Leonard M.
Published: May 2005

Four experiments ( n = 105, 189, 26, 10, respectively) were carried out which permitted an investigation into the reliability of a previously reported increase in task-unrelated imagery and thought likelihood when experimenter and subject are opposite sexes [1]. All experiments found more task-unrelated images and thoughts when the experimenter and subject were of the opposite sex than when they were of the same sex. However, only one experiment found a significant relationship. The consistency of the outcomes of the four experiments along with the original significant finding of Algom and Singer led to the conclusion that interpersonal interaction of subject and experimenter of the opposite sex is a sufficiently salient event to influence task-unrelated imagery and thought during a vigilance task.
Some Sticky Wickets in the Behavioral Objective Game—Looking at Learning Curves
Authors: Drumheller Sidney J.
Published: May 2005

A look at how behavioral objectives are related to learning curves. Definitions and major uses are noted. Havighurst's development tasks are presented as a model for providing better retention of learning. Also includes a brief look at the “infant science” of Psychometrics.
Public Health Sector Unions and Deregulation in Europe
Authors: Lethbridge Jane
Published: May 2005

Deregulation and liberalization of health services take several forms in Europe: public-private partnerships; contracting out of services; and corporatization of health care institutions. The impact on health workers includes changes in terms and conditions of employment, breakup of collective bargaining agreements, and often more stressful working conditions. The author examines four types of trade union responses to deregulation. National health trade union action has used campaigning, awareness raising, and judicial review. Health workers' unions in alliance with other trade unions have taken part in wider campaigns against privatization and in promoting public services. Health workers' unions joining with social movements have become involved in wider alliances that link with broader public policy issues such as poverty reduction and urban/regional regeneration. European-wide action, seen through the work of the European Federation of Public Service Unions, has concentrated on the development of an alternative health policy, and the promotion of social dialogue at a European level. Trade unions must adopt a range of approaches to challenge the effects of deregulation. Increasingly, trade union members need to be aware of how to take action at both the national and European levels.
Comments on Birch and Abelson's “Is Reasonable Access What We Want?”
Authors: Chernomas Robert
Published: May 2005

The inequitable distribution of mortality and morbidity in Canadian Society is the result not so much of inequities due to cost barriers to health care, as identified by Birch and Abelson, as of inequities in sectors outside the health care system.
An Electrophysiological and Psychophysical Analysis of Hypnotic Visual Hallucinations
Authors: Perlini Arthur H. , Lorimer Audrey L. , Campbell Kenneth B. , Spanos Nicholas P.
Published: May 2005

We examined the physiological and behavioral concomitants of high hypnotizable subjects reporting the capacity to hypnotically hallucinate. Subjects were required to perform a lexical decision task under baseline and four hypnotic hallucination conditions: obstructive, transparent, negative, and semantic. Analyses were conducted on various evoked potential components and psychophysical indices (RTs, sensitivity, response bias). Overall, hypnotic hallucinations did not alter VEPs over baseline; however, more liberal analyses indicated that the obstructive hallucination produced suppressions in the VEPs at P1 (left occipital), P2 (midline parietal) and P3 (midline parietal) compared to baseline. P1 latencies were also larger in the obstructive condition. Lexical decisions took longer in the hallucination conditions, and both sensitivity and response bias were reduced in these conditions. The relationship of these indices to attention are discussed.
Seneca, Self-Destruction, and the Creative Act
Authors: Faber M. D.
Published: May 2005

The life, the works, and the suicidal death of Lucius Annaeus Seneca help us to understand not only the nature of suicidal behavior but the significance of creative actions within the life of the self-destructive individual. Separated from his mother at an early age, raised by a stern, patriarchal father in Rome's authoritarian culture, Seneca extols in his philosophical prose works a life of reason, of control, of obedience to the laws of nature and tradition. In his plays Seneca focuses upon familial passions, particularly patricidal, matricidal, filicidal, and incestuous deeds, with an intensity that can only be described as remarkable. The reasonable universe of the essays gives way to the ungoverned universe of the tragedies. An exploration of this contrast, or “split,” sheds light upon Seneca's system of defense, and by extrapolation, upon the defensive systems of all creative writers, who strive for equilibrium between unconscious wish and conscious aim. The tensions of Seneca's early life, especially those surrounding maternal separation and paternal control, surface in his suicide and are resolved thereby in a manner that strikingly confirms his powerful ambivalence toward the parental figures.
Time Perception in Suicidal Individuals
Authors: Neuringer Charles , Levenson Marvin
Published: May 2005

An attempt was made to further investigate the hypothesis that suicidal individuals perceive time as moving slower than do geriatric and normal patients. Behavioral type estimates of two short and two long time intervals were elicited from serious suicide attempters, geriatric patients and normal hospitalized subjects (N = 15 for each group). It was found that the suicidal Ss overestimated the length of the time intervals to a greater degree than did the other patients. The data suggested that the slowing down of time was more accelerated for the suicidal patients than for the other Ss (i.e., time estimations increased faster for the suicidal Ss as compared to the other groups as interval length increased).
Toward a Model of Caregiver Grief: Nurses' Experiences of Treating Dying Children
Authors: Kaplan Lisa Jill
Published: May 2005

This study explored the emotional experiences of fifteen American nurses who work with terminally ill children. Structured interviews were conducted which considered the relationships and the emotional experiences of one who works with dying children. Specific questions that addressed attitudes and reactions to the dying process were asked, and the notion of a grief reaction was explored. Results from this study indicate that participants experience a form of “emotional tension” in their struggle to balance the intense emotional feelings that exist when treating dying children with their desire and need to be competent care providers. Their emotional experiences are influenced by the relationship that is established with their patient and by the child's dying process. It was concluded that when caregivers recognize the need to grieve and express their feelings while acknowledging that this is a natural, normal, and appropriate manner in which to respond to the death of a patient, they then become better able to take care of themselves, and thus their patients. A proposed model of caregivers' grief is presented.
Monopolistic Structures and Industrial Analysis in Spain: The Case of the Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: Lobo Félix
Published: May 2005

This article seeks to illustrate the monopolistic structure of the Spanish pharmaceutical industry, focusing on its many dimensions. The basic conditions of technology and demand, product differentiation, effect of advertising, and barriers to entry are considered, as is financial and economic concentration. Although economic conditions are emphasized, the ways they affect public and private health, the quality of health services, and health education are also highlighted.
Childhood's Enuresis in the History of Women with Hyperprolactinemic Amenorrhea
Authors: Fava Maurizio , Guaraldi Gian Paolo , Borofsky Gerald L. , Mastrogiacomo Ismaele
Published: May 2005

Hyperprolactinemia, or elevated levels of prolactin in blood, is a normal physiologic post-partum response in lactating women. Non-lactating women with hyperprolactinemia often present during the reproductive years since they may have amenorrhea, galactorrhea, or both. Hypersecretion of prolactin is most commonly due to pituitary adenomas. Women with hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea are often quite anxious, depressed and hostile. It has been hypothesized that these psychological symptoms might antecede the onset of hyperprolactinemia and that hyperprolactinemia may be associated with early developmental problems and may be psychogenic in origin. Twenty patients with hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea and twenty-one normoprolactinemic patients with amenorrhea had an interview covering psychiatric history in order to establish whether they had ever met DSM-III criteria for functional nocturnal enuresis at one time during their childhood. While seven out of twenty (35%) patients with hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea were found to have had functional enuresis during their childhood, only two out of twenty-one (9.5%) normoprolactinemic amenorrheic women reported having had functional enuresis. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (chi-squared: 3.88; p < 0.05). We postulate that early stress and developmental problems may present in children as psychological distress and functional enuresis and in women as psychological symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression) and hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea.
The Unit Box Approach: A Novel Facet of Elementary School Science Teacher Preparation
Authors: Batoff Mitchell E.
Published: May 2005

This paper is Part I of a two-part report. The purpose of the complete report is threefold: 1) To describe the origins, evolution, details of, and rationale for an innovation developed by the author over a five year period at Jersey City State College. The Unit Box Experience, which is the principal assignment and major project in the author's elementary school science methods course, involves the preparation of a multimedia, multisensory, and multilevel package of instructional materials and strategies to implement a classroom tested published unit. Each Unit Box is a custom made kit prepared, used, and owned by the apprentice teacher. 2) To report the findings of a followup study on the Unit Box Experience conducted over a four year period. The followup study entailed three facets: a) brief telephone interviews with 94 per cent of the 704 graduates who completed Unit Boxes in the author's course; b) in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 77 or one out of nine graduates; c) 627 classroom visits to and observations of student teachers and graduates who completed Unit Boxes in the course. The findings of the followup study will be reported in Part II of this article. 3) To report on four serendipitous and significant ramifications of the Unit Box study to be dealt with in Part II of the report, to be published in a future issue of this journal.