bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Revised Prediction of Seasonal Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclone Activity from 1 August
Authors: Klotzbach Philip J.
Published: October 2007

Predictions of the remainder of the season’s Atlantic basin tropical cyclone activity from 1 August have been issued by Gray and his colleagues at the Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University since 1984. The original 1 August prediction scheme utilized several predictors, including measures of the stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO), West African rainfall, El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and the sea level pressure anomaly and upper-tropospheric zonal wind anomalies in the Caribbean basin. The recent failure of the West African rainfall and QBO relationships with Atlantic hurricanes has led to a general degradation of the original 1 August forecast scheme in recent years. It was decided to revise the scheme using only surface data. The development of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis has provided a vast wealth of globally gridded meteorological and oceanic data from 1948 to the present. In addition, other datasets have been extended back even further (to 1900), which allows for a large independent dataset. These longer-period datasets allow for an extended period of testing of the new statistical forecast scheme. A new prediction scheme has been developed on data from 1949 to 1989 and then tested on two independent datasets. One of these datasets is the 16-yr period from 1990 to 2005, and the other dataset is from 1900 to 1948. This allows for an investigation of the statistical significance over various time periods. The statistical scheme shows remarkable stability over an entire century. The combination of these four predictors explains between 45% and 60% of the variance in net tropical cyclone activity over the following separate time periods: 1900–48, 1949–89, 1949–2005, and 1900–2005. The forecast scheme also shows considerable skill as a potential predictor for giving the probabilities of United States landfall. Large differences in U.S. major hurricane landfall are also observed between forecasts that call for active seasons compared with those that call for inactive seasons.
Political Parties and Pressure Group Politics
Authors: Bone Hugh A.
Published: October 2007

Political parties and pressure groups are depend ent upon one another. Interest groups find the parties an im portant method of gaining access to those in public authority, and the parties need the support of groups to elect and maintain themselves in power. The loose party structure and the na ture of the federal system foster a chain of continuous re lationships between the two. Interest groups participate in both nonpartisan and partisan primaries and general elections through candidate endorsement, providing campaign funds, and general campaign activity. Interest groups are particularly in terested in programs and seek to influence party platforms and may provide speech materials for candidates. There is some attempt on the part of both to infiltrate each other though rarely has an interest group been able to capture complete control of a party organization. The overlapping memberships help to educate the parties about the interests of the private groups and vice versa, and provide some cross-fertilization of ideas as well as manpower assistance. Political parties have a prime function of accommodating the demands of the private interests into the larger public interests.
Interest Groups as Policy Shapers
Authors: Gable Richard W.
Published: October 2007

The heart of government is public policy. Pri vate interest groups and administrative agencies have come to be the principal originators of policy, while legislative groups, along with administrative and private groups, are the major shapers of public policy. The role of private groups depends upon the cultural setting within which they operate and the nature of the policy-making process. An interest group may succeed in shaping public policy when it is able to identify its conception of desirable policy with prevailing attitudes of the public and when it has access to the major centers of policy determination. Identification of the interests of the group with those of relevant publics may be accomplished by ma nipulating public attitudes, by adjusting the attitudes of the group, or both. Groups seek access along a number of fronts in all three branches of government. The ability of a group to gain or exploit access is limited by certain factors which, to a large extent, are not subject to its control. There has been frequent comment on the alleged danger from interest groups. An objective appraisal of interest groups in a democracy should focus on the process by which policy is formulated rather than on the policy which results.
Pressure Groups in France
Authors: Ehrmann Henry W.
Published: October 2007

As elsewhere pressure groups in France operate on all levels of the political process: shaping public opinion, manipulating political parties, pressing for favorable legislation in Parliament and for desirable rulings by the executive. What distinguishes the tactics and the effects of pressure-group action from those in other countries results rather from the particu larities of the French political apparatus, from the uneven de velopment of economic growth, and from the divided loyalties of the French people. Because of the lack of disciplined par ties in a multiparty parliamentary system, interest groups can operate from within the cabinet. The question to which ex tent it has penetrated the once solidly walled sphere of the high administration is controversial. But that the rigidity and an "immobilism," characteristic of pressure groups everywhere, is transferred in France to the machinery of government, is gen erally admitted; it leads to an analogous immobilism of the political organs and hence has contributed to the crisis of the French Republic.
Social Change and Medical Organization in the United States : A Sociological Perspective
Authors: Parsons Talcott
Published: October 2007

Health holds an important place in the scheme of American values and attitudes. Among leading values are the capacity for valued contributions through achievement, universalistic access to opportunity for such achievement, and the responsibility of the individual extending even to his own capacity. Health is highly valued as a condition of achieve ment, and the co-operation of the individual in maintaining health is stressed. Against this background, the development of "scientific medicine" has impact as part of the trend of industrial society, as well as upon medical education and the organization of medical care around the hospital. The center of gravity of health care, however, has remained in private practice, which has been associated with family and residential community. American values favor a stress on intimacy and the "personal" touch. This seems to have played upon the general idealization of independence and the small town and, coupled with the strains imposed upon large classes of the population, to have tipped the balance of political affiliation of organized medicine to the right. The present position of organized medicine otherwise seems paradoxical in the light of its affiliations with science and the types of social organization most closely associated with the development of science-based technology.
The Social Structure of a General Hospital
Authors: Wilson Robert N.
Published: October 2007

Hospitals are among the most complex organiza tions in modern society, characterized by extremely fine divi sion of labor and an exquisite repertory of technical skill. The major hospital embraces multiple goals, chiefly patient care, teaching, and research. It is at once a hotel, a treatment center, a laboratory, a university. Because the institution's work is so specialized, staffed by a variety of professional and technical personnel, there are very important problems of co-ordination and authority. Paramount in the social structure are relation ships between patients and hospital staff and among staff members. The patient, both client and product of the organ ization, enters a therapeutic situation in which his style is largely passive. He encounters the physician—like himself, a "guest" of the hospital—and the nurse, who is the full-time symbol of the organization's atmosphere. The physician is undergoing a shift from his older charismatic role toward a more nearly bureaucratic niche in the hospital. Staff relation ships are distinguished by unclear patterns of authority and intense competition for spheres of competence and prestige. The physician is implicated as the professional least amenable to hierarchical control and the leading figure in skill and status. Although the hospital illustrates vital, unresolved issues in the organization of work, it flourishes under the impetus of professional zeal and patients' needs.
Social Factors in Disease
Authors: Clausen John A.
Published: October 2007

Recognition of the influence of social and cultural factors in disease goes back to antiquity, though specification of the ways in which this influence is exerted still lacks pre cision. The effects of the social order on health and disease are many and varied. Social definitions determine the actions which persons and societies take in the face of given symptoms and disorders. Social practices may exert their effects di rectly on the organism and its physical capacities or may operate primarily through psychological processes which are linked to the maintenance of bodily equilibriums. In either instance, these effects tend to be nonspecific as to disease. Social status, variations in life styles, adaptation to new or stressful situations, work group structure, and family patterns have been found to be associated with differences in the in cidence of a variety of diseases. The intricacies of dealing with social factors in disease and the ramifications for the larger society are plainly seen in the case of smoking.
The Preparation of Peace Corps Volunteers for Overseas Service: Challenge and Response
Authors: Shea Donald R.
Published: October 2007

In order to be selected to serve abroad, Peace Corps Volunteers have first to complete successfully an inten sive training program designed to develop attitudes, knowledge, and skills necessary for effective overseas service. The great majority of these training programs have been conducted by colleges and universities. It has been a great challenge both to the Peace Corps and to higher education to work together to develop training programs which would prepare the Volunteers for their work in a vastly different culture. Although, initially, universities encountered great difficulties in administering suc cessful training programs, the experience gained has resulted in considerable improvement in the techniques of instruction and content of the training programs. Peace Corps Volunteers are now the best prepared group of Americans going overseas. Lessons learned in developing effective educational programs for Volunteers have had a beneficial impact on the regular in structional programs of many universities. Both higher educa tion and the Peace Corps have benefited from their educational partnership, which is likely to become even more mutually pro ductive in the future.
The Overseas Staff
Authors: Butler Lewis H.
Published: October 2007

In each country where Volunteers serve, a Peace Corps Director and his staff are responsible for the program. They must work with the host government to determine how many Volunteers can best fill the country's needs, doing what jobs, where and how. They must provide the Volunteers with leadership without infringing on the responsibilities of local officials or the Volunteers' freedom and capacity for independ ent action, upon which the Peace Corps success depends. To fill these staff jobs, the Peace Corps usually has looked outside government and to the returned Volunteers and, with consider able success and some failures, has created a noncareer over seas service of remarkably diverse talents and experience.
Public Attitudes toward Crime and Law Enforcement
Authors: McIntyre Jennie
Published: October 2007

Findings of public opinion polls and surveys conducted for the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (hereinafter referred to as the National Crime Commission) suggest widespread belief that crime is increasing and has become a major problem. The crimes that people fear most are attacks on the person by a stranger, the least frequent occurrences. Fear of crime is unrelated to personal experience but provokes people to change their daily habits in order to assure safety. A majority attributes crime increases to breakdown in morals and inade quate training of young people but would rely on strict law enforcement to reduce crime. A substantial proportion also recommends improved social conditions. The recommendation for stern treatment of offenders when a general question is posed is tempered by a concern for individual rights and a tendency to be lenient in a concrete case. Reliance on law- enforcement officials rather than citizen action extends to a denial of responsibility in reporting criminal incidents to police.
The Negotiated Guilty Plea
Authors: Rosett Arthur
Published: October 2007

Plea-bargaining engenders disquiet, partly be cause it is not a formally recognized part of the criminal process and partly because its results are unobserved and largely uncontrolled. These results are frequently arbitrary and often do not meet correctional needs. Finally, existing plea-bargaining practices are marked by fears of unfairness and corruption and an air of hypocrisy. A procedure resem bling plea-bargaining is needed to provide a place in the crimi nal process for ameliorative discretion to work, but existing practice is badly in need of reform. The President's Com mission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (hereinafter referred to as the National Crime Commission) concludes that such reform is possible. Its recommendations are designed to make these negotiations a legitimate part of the system, to exploit their potential for improving decisions on what is to be done with the convicted offender, and to design a more suitable role for the trial judge. When plea- bargaining is considered in the setting of the criminal justice system, it becomes apparent that procedural reform will not suffice without additional men and money. Moreover, changing the plea system brings to the surface troublesome questions concerning the position and function of the prose cutor, defense counsel, and judge. Resolution of these issues must accompany procedural reform.
Drugs, Behavior, and Crime
Authors: Blum Richard H.
Published: October 2007

The difficulty of assessing the effects of mind- altering drugs on human behavior, especially conduct in real-life situations, is discussed. Problems in classification of drugs are also noted; it is emphasized that assumed drug effects are, at best, statements of probability. In considering crimes associated with drug use, it is necessary to distinguish between crimes based on drug use itself, which include all offenses for illicit acquisition, possession, and use of dangerous drugs and narcotics, and dangerous behavior resulting from use. The evidence is clearest for alcohol, revealing a distinct relationship between alcohol use and health hazard, suicide, accidents, and violence. The evidence is less clear for heroin, since most users are delinquent prior to being identified as "addicts" so that continued criminality after heroin use cannot be "caused" by narcotics. That the kind of criminality engaged in is influenced by drug use does seem a reasonable conclusion. Evidence about the degree of risk for the use of other drugs (sedatives, stimulants, hallucinogens, volatile intoxicants, and the like) and crime is absent. Generally, it appears that most Americans use drugs without major ill- effects—including occasional illicit use. Those likely to be engaged in drug use and in crime are likely to be urban slum- dwelling males, with an overrepresentation of minority groups. Such behavior is apt to be part of a life pattern of deficit and disorder.
Public Drunkenness: Crime or Health Problem?
Authors: Stern Gerald
Published: October 2007

The great volume of arrests for public drunken ness—one third of all arrests—imposes a heavy burden on the criminal justice system. Because the offense is not considered serious, due-process safeguards are lacking in the arrest and prosecution of the offender. Little attempt is made within the jails to treat the complex medical problems of offenders, many of whom are alcoholics. The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice (hereinafter referred to as the National Crime Commission) recommended that drunkenness be handled not as a crime but as a public health problem. A treatment program was urged by the Commission which would provide co-ordinated, comprehensive services including supportive residential housing. The first part of the proposed program is a detoxification center which serves as an appropriate "sobering up" facility. Anyone may leave the center when sober; those who appear to need the services, however, will be urged to remain. With the emergence of court decisions barring the prosecution of alcoholics, the temptation will be to commit these people to civil facilities. Many constitutional problems are raised by civil commitment, especially in the absence of successful treatment programs. Professionals should make a concerted effort to protect the rights of alcoholics and should insist upon an allocation of funds which would permit the establishment of voluntary detoxification-treatment programs and supportive social and welfare services.
The Crisis of Overcriminalization
Authors: Kadish Sanford H.
Published: October 2007

Excessive reliance upon the criminal law to per form tasks for which it is ill-suited has created acute problems for the administration of criminal justice. The use of criminal law to enforce morals, to provide social services, and to avoid legal restraints on law enforcement, to take just three examples, has tended both to be inefficient and to produce grave handicaps for enforcement of the criminal law against genuinely threatening conduct. In the case of morals of fenses, it has served to reduce the criminal law's essential claim to legitimacy by inducing offensive and degrading police con duct, particularly against the poor and the subcultural, and by generating cynicism and indifference to the criminal law. It has also fostered organized criminality and has produced, possibly, more crime than it has suppressed. Used as an alternative to social services, it has diverted enormous law- enforcement resources from protecting the public against seri ous crime. Finally, its use to circumvent restrictions on police conduct has undermined the principle of legality and exposed the law to plausible charges of hypocrisy. Pressures to crimi nalize persistently block practical assessments of what the criminal law is good for and what it is not. Studies of the sociology of overcriminalization offer a means of understand ing, and perhaps, to some degree, of controlling, this unfortu nate phenomenon.
Crime and Criminal Justice at the Turn of the Century
Authors: Wilkins Leslie T.
Published: October 2007

The probability that the criminal justice system will suffer a complete breakdown before the year 2000 should not be discounted. If law and social control systems are to accommodate change in their environment at the necessary rate, a new philosophy, as well as quite different operating procedures, must be worked out. The present strategy of law enforcement agencies to develop more-of-the-same can only ensure breakdown. Pressures for control will increase, and with each new pressure on criminals, more side-effects of these pressures will have an impact upon all citizens. The best moral standard which can be expected to guide policy in the intervening years is enlightened self-interest; this may suffice to ensure survival. The quality of that survival may be improved by the development of a new class of moral philosophers out of the ranks of scientists and technicians. No great new moral leadership is expected from organized religions. Politics will mix dangerous sentimentality and nos talgia with more than a small modicum of fear. Much of that fear will be focused on the criminal. Millions of dollars will continue to be wasted on research. If we wish for a better kind of future for criminal justice, we must start to invent it now. However, there is no indication that we are ready to consider the necessary issues.
Mental Health in the Future: Politics, Science, Ethics and Values
Authors: Brown Bertram S.
Published: October 2007

A look at mental health in the future reveals several dimensions: the pulpit or role of the predictor; the time frame, usually centering around the annual budget presentation to the Congress; the definition of mental health, a perennial and difficult subject; and methodology, the model used to look into the future. Until recently, in the mental health field, we have had to deal with the interplay of two forces: knowledge and politics. Now, we must also consider the ethics and values of our actions. As we look to the future, this interplay be tween power and politics, on the one hand, and science or sub stance on the other, has evolved from a bi-polar to a tri-polar view. We must build into the leadership, decision making and governance of our work the capability to deal with, not only the scientific and political issues, but the issues of ethics and values. This sensitivity is especially necessary now, as we contemplate such issues as: psychosurgery and the protection of individual rights in human experimentation; television and violence; marihuana and health; and the scientific aspects of crime and anti-social behavior. Our success in coping with these, and other issues, will depend on our ability to blend politics, science and systems with the demands of ethics and values. The future, as the present, depends on ethics and values to maintain the checks and balances between science and politics.
No Excuse for Crime
Authors: Van den Haag Ernest
Published: October 2007

Criminologists often regard offenders as vic tims of conditions beyond their control or as "political prisoners," punished for "the inevitable consequences" of their socioeconomic status (S. I. Shuman). However, offenders do not become "political prisoners" unless their offenses were addressed to the sociopolitical system. Nor do crimes "inevitably" arise from poverty anymore than corruption inevitably arises from power. Therefore, neither poverty nor power are legal excuses. Criminal law always is meant to perpetuate the existing order, although Richard Quinney objects because the burden of legal restraint falls most heavily on the disadvantaged who are most tempted to disrupt the legal order. Yet the criminal law is meant to restrain those tempted to violate it. Quinney's view that socialism will solve "the crime problem" appears bereft of evidence. The comparative crime rates of blacks and whites are analyzed and the punitive and social reform approaches compared. They are found to be not alternative but cumulative.
Are National Health Services Systems Converging? Predictions for the United States
Authors: Anderson Odin W.
Published: October 2007

A review of the emerging literature on cross- national health services systems and first hand studies by the author reveals that health services systems in many coun tries are converging in their egalitarian objectives, organiza tional forms, methods of paying providers, scope of services, and costs controls. Cross-nationally facilities and personnel are quite similar, indicating the importance of medical tech nology as a shaping force. Organizational forms, methods of payment, and sources of funding differ widely because these are mainly social and political expressions, but these too, are converging. Countries will continue to exhibit differences in structuring inherent in their economic and political styles, from the United States to the U.S.S.R. It is proposed that the range of difference will narrow, but not converge. Several issues are examined cross-nationally: equity, scope of ser vices, financing and cost controls, organizational structure, and planning. Finally, predictions of developments in the United States are made from experiences in other countries, and from the social, economic, and political style of the United States.
Theoretical and Policy Implications of Case Study Findings about Federal Efforts to Improve Public Schools
Authors: Gross Neal
Published: October 2007

The billions of dollars appropriated by Congress to promote equality of educational opportunity and to facilitate educational reforms in recent years have stimu lated thousands of school districts to introduce major innova tions into their curricula, modes of operation and organiza tional arrangements. The benefits derived from these change efforts, however, have generally been disappointing. The poor record of educational innovations has stimulated in quiries designed to determine conditions that serve to facili tate and block planned organizational change in schools. Major impediments to eductional change, largely overlooked in conceptualizations of the process of organizational change were identified in six longitudinal case studies of efforts to institute major innovations in school systems. Their theo retical and policy implications are examined. The findings of the studies press for a major reformulation of the theoretical scheme most frequently used to account for the fate of or ganizational innovations—overcoming resistance to change (ORC). The studies indicate that ORC is truncated and simplistic because it ignores important stages in organiza tional change, and overlooks conditions internal and external to the organization that can have an important impact on the fate of innovations. Seven policy implications of the case studies are specified, including the need for Congress to abandon the categorical aid approach to educational problems in favor of more functional tailor-made solutions, and to insti tute procedures to assure that those who administer educa tional policies will facilitate, not inhibit, the accomplishment of its objectives.
Normative Assumptions in Educational Policy Research: The Case of Jencks's Inequality
Authors: Joseph Lawrence B.
Published: October 2007

Christopher Jencks's Inequality: A Reassess ment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America is an example of social policy research which is also policy advocacy or normative political argument. His empirical analysis of the short-term and long-term effects of education is aimed at discrediting the "equality of opportunity" model for reducing social and economic inequality. He argues that we must move from concern with "equality of opportunity" to direct emphasis on "equality of results." Jencks cannot make a convincing case, however, because of a failure to pay sufficient attention to underlying normative assumptions con cerning both the meaning of the concepts of equality and equality of opportunity and the nature and purpose of educa tion. His argument is fundamentally misdirected because of a lack of awareness of the normative implications of both the position he is attacking and position he is advocating. Because of the role of social science as a legitimating symbol in debates over educational policy, it is particularly incumbent upon policy analysts both to clarify their own normative assump tions and to justify them in terms of a larger theoretical frame work. Policy research as policy advocacy is likely to fail as long as it neglects fundamental issues in normative political theory.
Fund-Raising Coalitions in School Board Elections
Authors: Adams Brian
Published: October 2007

This article examines campaign finance activity in two large school districts: San Francisco, California and Hillsborough County, Florida. Using datasets containing contributions to school board candidates, it explores from whom candidates raise campaign funds. The findings indicate that entities with material interests in school board decisions, such as teachers' unions and businesses with school district contracts, are active contributors but do not dominate fundraising activity. School board candidates typically assemble broad fund-raising coalitions comprising of a diverse range of groups and individuals. Even though established interests are often part of fund-raising coalitions, few candidates rely heavily on them for funds. These groups may exercise substantial influence through other means, but they typically do not use the campaign finance system as a means through which they exert influence.
The Academic Resilience and Psychosocial Characteristics of Inner-City English Learners in a Museum-Based School Program
Authors: Kanevsky Lannie , Corke Michael , Frangkiser Lorri
Published: October 2007

School in the Park is a museum-based intervention intended to nurture the resilience of inner-city students in third grade to fifth grade. The academic resilience and personal development of participants were compared to those of nonparticipants for 2 years. Although the groups differed in academic resilience for the duration of the study, they did not differ in their positive self-perceptions of three psychosocial variables (character, self-efficacy, and attitude toward school). The only significant difference between groups was in academic self-concept; program participants' and younger nonparticipants' ratings were stable, whereas those of the older nonparticipants declined. All groups' attitudes toward school declined. The independence of these two sets of measures was an unexpected finding, as they have been highly correlated in the majority of previous studies.
Prospects for the UK Economy
Authors: Khoman Ehsan , Kirby Simon
Published: October 2007

GDP growth in the second quarter of this year remained robust at a quarterly rate of growth of 0.8 per cent. With revisions to previous quarters, economic growth has been maintained at this rate since the end of 2006. NIESR's monthly estimate of GDP showed this robust growth continuing into the third quarter of this year. The official preliminary estimate confirms the pattern of robust growth continuing into the third quarter of this year (figure 1). In light of this we have revised our forecast for GDP growth this year up from 2.8 per cent to 3.1 per cent. We have revised down our forecast for GDP growth in 2008 from 2.6 to 2.2 per cent. This reflects weaker net trade, with the recent financial turmoil having only a small domestic impact.
Interest Rates and the UK economy
Authors: Barrell Ray , Kirby Simon
Published: October 2007

At the beginning of 2007 inflation was in excess of its upper threshold of 3 per cent and the Governor of the Bank of England had to write a letter to the Chancellor explaining why this had happened and what measures were to be taken to remedy this. It was our opinion that interest rates had been too low for eighteen months. It was also our opinion that the Bank had kept them too low because it anticipated wrongly that inflation would have accelerated if interest rates had been inappropriately set. In August 2005 the Bank of England cut interest rates by a quarter of a point, and held them at 4.5 per cent for around a year, before introducing five interest rate increases in the subsequent twelve months.
Francis Fisher Kane Philadelphia's Lance of Justice
Authors: Pollock Herman I.
Published: October 2007

"So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun; and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter." Ecclesiastes IV : I
The Compressometer
Authors: Schiefer H.F.
Published: October 2007

The instrument described in this paper provides a convenient means for measuring the thickness and the change in thickness of a textile or similar material when it is subjected to increasing or decreasing pressures. The foot of the instrument can be lowered or raised by means of a rack and pinion acting through a helical spring. The pressure applied to the specimen by the foot is indicated on a dial micrometer and the corresponding thickness of the specimen on a second dial micrometer. Readings are taken under increasing pressures and then under decreasing pressures.

Curves for the compression and recovery of several materials are shown. Definitions are proposed for the terms thickness, compressibility and compressional resilience as applied to textiles. The results of tests on rug underlays, blankets, felts, on knit, woven, and pile fabrics and on sheet rubber and paper are given.
Some Physical Properties of Cotton Fibres Without "Growth Rings": A Note Relative to
Authors: Moore Jerry H. , Anderson Donald B.
Published: October 2007

Cotton fibres of Mexican 128-6, grown under continuous illumination and uniform temperatures, and therefore without any evidence of lamellation of the cell wall have a lighter unit fibre weight, a lower breaking load per fibre, a higher percentage of thin-walled fibres, and approximately the same intrinsic strength as fibres of the same strain from plants grown in pots under field conditions during the same season.
Some Conversational Conditions and Processes of Brief Encounters
Authors: Wolf Gerrit
Published: October 2007

Conversation, the exchange of opinions between two parties, was analyzed as a function. of the parties' topical experience, attitudinal polarization, and three behavioral processes. Two experiments consisting of fifteen-minute conversational interactions showed different effects of experience and behavioral process factors on frequency of conversational statements. Behavioral processes were shown not to function by a similarity mechanism. Implications for thinking about conversation were drawn.
Audience Perceptions of Violent Television Content
Authors: Howitt Dennis , Cumberbatch Guy
Published: October 2007

This article places emphasis on the content analysis of British television programs by the respondents in a sample survey. Though exploratory in nature, it offers a challenge to the traditional imposition of a priori content categories on program material. The authors provide each respondent with a subset of the 37 programs being examined and ask for a rating scale evaluation of the programs across 50 potential program attributes. These attributes were determined from previous research and open-ended interviews with a different set of respondents. The mean score for each program on each attribute was derived from respondents who were given the program and who could use the attribute meaningfully. An attribute by attribute correlation matrix was calculated which was in turn factor analyzed. Interpretations were provided as to the structure of attribute perceptions.
The Impact of an Aggressive Juror in Six- and Twelve-Member Juries
Authors: Snortum John R. , Klein Jeff S. , Sherman Wynn A.
Published: October 2007

One hundred seventy high school seniors were randomly assigned to five juries of each of the following types: 6 members, 12 members, 5 members plus confederate, or 11 members plus confederate. The confederate was trained to argue forcefully for the guilt of the defendant in a fictional case involving a fellow student. The 6- and 12-member juries did not differ in the proportion of guilty verdicts assigned. The 5-member and 11-member juries both yielded in the direction of the assertive confederate; however, the effect was more pronounced in the smaller jury. While there are several limitations of this experiment as an analogue for actual juries, the present results suggest that there may be serious risks in reducing jury size below the traditional panel of 12.
The MMPI in Presentence Decision Making
Authors: Holland Terrill R. , Levi Mario
Published: October 2007

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of 560 adult male offenders undergoing felony presentence evaluation were analyzed according to the type and unanimity of sentencing recommendations made independently by clinicians and caseworkers. Offenders unanimously recommended for institutional confinement were characterized by higher levels on scales F, Pd, Pa, Pt, and Sc than were their probation-recommended counterparts, and disputed or mixed recommendation cases exhibited intermediate scores on all five scales. Because only clinicians examined the M M PI performance of the subjects prior to making recommendations, the findings suggest the possible use that clinicians might have made of M M PI data during the evaluation process; whereas for caseworkers, the results support the construct validity of the MMPI insofar as it was seen to be sensitive to deviant personality trends that were evident to these decision makers from interview and / or case history sources of information.
Peer and Professional Counselors
Authors: Cahill Thomas J. , Jessell John C. , Horne Arthur M.
Published: October 2007

This research was an inquiry into prisoners' preference for and evaluation of either a peer counselor inmate trained in counseling or a professional counselor. Through the use of videotaped, simulated counseling vignettes, reactions of 98 male inmates of a federal penal institution were examined. Of particular interest was whether or not an inmate's level of adjustment, as measured by Barron's Ego Strength Scale, was related to preference for either a peer or professional counselor. The Ego Strength Scale failed to serve as a useful predictor of inmates' preference for type of counselor. A significant number of subjects preferred the professional counselor over the peer counselor; however, this preference did not lead to more favorable evaluations by subjects who preferred either the peer or professional counselor. Implications for the use of peer and professional counselors in penal institutions are discussed.
Inmate Assimilation
Authors: Zingraff Matthew T.
Published: October 2007

Several explanatory variables derived from the importation and deprivation models of imprisonment are employed in a multivariate design in an attempt to assess the relative predictive strengths of both perspectives. Data obtained from two juvenile correctional facilities in the Southeast, one male and one female, are used in the analysis. The findings indicate that the deprivation model is the better predictor of prisonization for males. For females, variables from both models appear to have a significant impact. For both males and females, the merger of the two models explains more of the variation in prisonization than any one taken separately. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Juvenile Delinquency and Moral Development
Authors: Sagi Abraham , Eisikovits Zvi
Published: October 2007

This article compares moral development of delinquent and nondelinquent adolescents. The subjects, 249 males and females ranging in age from 13 to 17, were administered a morality test for children including the following measures: resistance to temptation, moral stage, feelings after offense, judgment about the severity of punishment, and confession. In most measures of moral development, nondelinquents performed better than delinquents. With few exceptions, females were found to score higher than males on the various moral measures. The findings are discussed in terms of Hoffman's (1977) conceptualization regarding the influence of various disciplining techniques on moral development.
The Change Grid and the Active Client
Authors: Klofas John , Duffee David E.
Published: October 2007

Following Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid (1964), a variety of two-dimensional models have been used to explore problems in planned change and administration. The change grid has been used to examine the relationship of change agents and individual changees. This article reexamines the assumptions of that model in the context of individual client adaptations and bureaucratic classification systems, which channel masses of clients into programs that are designed to implement specific change strategies. The article concludes that penal organizations specifically, but perhaps other human service organizations as well, select and place clients so that programs remain stable, rather than sequence programs to meet the needs of clients.
Cognitive Moral Development and Legal Socialization
Authors: Radosevich Marcia J. , Krohn Marvin
Published: October 2007

The article presents an investigation of the effect of situational mitigators on moral evaluations of and advocated sanctions for hypothetical behaviors involving criminal, civil, and constitutional law issues and the relationship between cognitive moral development and the impact of the situational mitigators. We found that situational mitigators did have an impact on moral evaluations, particularly for the civil and constitutional law items. Respondents operating at the Principled Level of cognitive moral development consistently were the least likely to have their moral evaluations and advocated sanctions changed by the situational mitigators. Respondents operating at the Preconventional and Conventional Level were not markedly different in the propensity to alter their moral evaluations but the Conventional Respondents were more likely to change their advocated sanctions.
Changes in Delinquency Prevalence
Authors: Dunn Christopher S.
Published: October 2007

The relationship between changes in delinquency prevalence over time and prediction error are developed and discussed. Published data from a 21-year British longitudinal study are used to exemplify the formal relationships that are derived. Statistically, as prevalence increases, there will be a relative increase in false negative errors and a decrease in false positive errors; the relationship is independent of prediction accuracy. Substantively, this means that as deliquency prevalence increases, imperfect prediction models will move toward "missing" more actual delinquents (increasing false negatives) and "mistaking" fewer actual nondelinquents (decreasing false positives). Some characterizations of differentially weighting the costs of false negative and false positive errors are presented in terms of intervention and nonintervention policies and decisions.
Hospitalization Versus Imprisonment and the Insanity Plea
Authors: Kahn Marvin W. , Raifman Lawrence
Published: October 2007

Insanity as a legal defense for criminal acts has been widely criticized, most tellingly on the grounds that commitment to a mental hospital when found insane results in longer incarceration than would imprisonment for the crime. Forty-three individuals who invoked an insanity plea to the charge of murder—about one-third of whom were found to be legally insane and were hospitalized and the other two-thirds were found sane and imprisoned—were followed up some 23 years later. There was no significant difference in the mean length of incarceration. For both groups it was slightly over 11 years. These data do not support the contention that being found not guilty by reason of insanity leads to longer incarceration than being found sane.
Do Standardized Tests Treat Minorities Fairly?
Authors: Phillips James E.
Published: October 2007

_ This writer offers recommen dations that should ensure that stan dardized test re sults do not cause minority students to suffer educational inequities.
Testing in Nontraditional Curriculum Areas
Authors: Strathe Marlene , Krajewski Robert J.
Published: October 2007

_ The use of standard procedures for measuring student learning in nontraditional curriculum areas provides tangible evidence of achievement as well as a unique instructional opportunity, according to these writers.
Measuring Effectiveness in Entrepreneurial Organizations
Authors: Dollinger Marc J.
Published: October 2007

Dr. Marc J. Dollinger is assistant professor of management at the College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, USA, and currently is co-ordinator of the Small Business Institute. This paper discusses the problems of measuring effectiveness in entrepreneurial organisations and tests the validity of an effectiveness scale. A sample of 82 owner/operators completed a scale for organisational effectiveness and submitted financial data. The effectiveness scale was subjected to tests for internal reliability and concurrent and predictive validity. The results indicate that the effectiveness measure appears valid and reliable for the retailers in the sample but fails the test of concurrent validity for the manufacturers. Financial performance was inversely related to effectiveness for manufacturers. This suggests that no single measure of effectiveness is appropriate for all entrepreneurial firms.
Employment Effects of New Technologies in Small Business
Authors: Schmidt Karl-Heinz
Published: October 2007

Professor Dr. Karl-Heinz Schmidt teaches at Paderborn University, West Germany, and has recently spent a year as a visiting research scholar at Nagoya University, Japan. The paper considers the problem of whether new technologies have positive or negative net effects on the level and structure of employment. It is found that the displacement of labour seems to be the overwhelming effect on employment in West European countries compared with Japan, where the employment creating effects of new technologies are emphasised. A number of arguments for an optimistic view concerning employment in small and medium sized enterprises are found.
New Technology, Employment and Small Engineering Firms
Authors: Dodgson Mark
Published: October 2007

Mark Dodgson works at the Technical Change Centre, London, England. The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of a postgraduate research studentship at Imperial College, London, England. The paper outlines the effects of a new technology on a range of employment issues in a sample of forty small engineering companies. It argues efficient and profitable use of a technology is dependent on matching its opportunities for improving productivity with flexible work organisation and skilled operation. Noting the technical constraints on the way a technology is used, the paper develops a typology of small engineering companies linked to its form of work organisation, and finds differences in company size, markets and ownership.
Taxation and Small Business in the EEC: So Me Facts and Some Issues
Authors: Bannock Graham
Published: October 2007

Graham Bannock is an independent consultant with a special interest in small firms, having previously been managing director of the Economist Intelligence Unit and ealier director of research for the United Kingdom's Bolton Committee on Small Firms. The structure of the tax system and the rates of taxation are an important -some would say the most important -element in the environment for small business. The paper discusses why this is so, selectively reviews facts on the tax systems in the ten European Economic Community member states collected together in a recent EIU study and briefly touches upon the policy issues which emerge. The author gratefully acknowledges permission from The Economist Publications Ltd. to reproduce material from the EIU study.
Small Business Teaching in Higher Education Quail Fication Courses
Authors: Ball Mary , Gilligan Colin
Published: October 2007

Both authors are members of Sheffield City Polytechnic, England. Mary Ball is a Research Assistant in the Department of Management Studies primarily engaged in research on the processes of environmental scanning and strategic decision-making in small firms. Colin Gilligan is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Business Studies. Both are interested in the amount and type of small business training and education which business and management students receive. These research notes describe an exercise which was undertaken to determine the extent to which existing university and polytechnic business qualification courses include specific 'Small Business' options either taught or by projects.