bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The logic of science and technology as a developmental tendency of modernity
Authors: Omodeo Pietro Daniel
Published: December 2014

This paper deals with Ágnes Heller’s suggestion, in A Theory of Modernity (1999), to ascribe to science a central role in the ongoing development of modernity. As we shall argue, this is not merely a historical issue but, rather, a historical-philosophical one that entails the problem of defining modernity, science and technology and their mutual interconnections. As for modernity, according to Heller, it is a free developmental project without any foundations other than freedom itself. In particular, the evolution of science and technology is one of its main developmental tendencies. Science, she argues, has become the dominant world explanation while technological thought is the corresponding dominant (but not unique) imaginary institution. Her attempt to isolate the essential cultural features of science-technology owes much to Habermas’s analyses of the 1960s on the technocratic developments of contemporary societies legitimized through an ideological employment of science. Like Habermas, Heller embraces an instrumental and problem-solving conception of technology and ‘normal’ science which appears questionable, however, in the light of conclusions on the intrinsic creativity of the science-technology interface deriving from historical epistemology and an externalist history of science. Considerations and examples derived from the recent agenda of historical epistemology could integrate Heller’s philosophical and cultural analysis of the role of science in modernity while challenging some of her assumptions.
Heller’s Either/Or
Authors: Morgan Marcia
Published: December 2014

The question ‘How does a person make an ethical decision?’ becomes all the more compelling and problematic when trying to behave ethically during, as Ágnes Heller puts it, ‘the total breakdown of “normal” ethical worlds’. In her philosophical work Heller pieces together a moral compass internal to individual subjectivity to employ during such times. Kierkegaard’s model of existential choice has played a formative role in Heller’s solution to the problem. In my article I describe Heller’s Kierkegaardian framework of choosing oneself as an ethical being and consider a recent critique of Heller’s Kierkegaardian ethics of personality by Richard J. Bernstein, continuing the substantively productive tension between the irrational and rational forces that determine our ethical actions. In the process, I show common ground between Bernstein and Heller through an appropriation of Arendtian judgment. I turn to Heller’s most recent work in The Concept of the Beautiful in order to make this common ground tangible.
Ágnes Heller and the secret of goodness
Authors: Crotti Ornella
Published: December 2014

The paper aims to investigate the meaning of historicity in the light of Ágnes Heller’s interpretation of history as ‘being-in-common’. By touching on the problem of the modern world’s axiological pluralism, the issue of the legitimation of moral theories and the dilemma of morals, the paper analyses Heller’s conception of human goodness as an incontrovertible, inexplicable and mysterious ‘fact’ that is able to illuminate the path of human life and determine the opening of the individual onto the world with the same wonder that marks the beginning of any philosophical attitude.
Use of Domperidone as a Galactagogue Drug
Authors: Paul Catherine , Zénut Marie , Dorut Agnès , Coudoré Marie-Ange , Vein Julie , Cardot Jean-Michel , Balayssac David
Published: December 2014

Breastfeeding is the optimal method for feeding a newborn. However, some mothers may have difficulties lactating. Domperidone is widely used as a galactagogue but to the best of our knowledge has not been approved by any health authority. The objective of this review was to assess the benefit-risk ratio of domperidone for stimulating lactation. The benefit-risk ratio of domperidone as a galactagogue was assessed following a literature search of the PubMed database up to July 2013. Four studies were selected to assess domperidone efficacy and demonstrated an increased milk production. The limited data (60 mother-baby pairs) and the moderate methodological quality of 1 study remain insufficient to conclude on domperidone efficacy. Regarding the safety of domperidone, 7 studies were selected that exposed 113 infants to domperidone through breastfeeding. No adverse effects were observed in 85 infants, and no information was provided for the remaining 28. The limited data available remain in favor of a safe domperidone profile in infants and mothers. However, in large studies focused on gastrointestinal disorders, domperidone is responsible for drug-induced long QT syndrome and sudden cardiac death. The use of domperidone as a galactagogue is worrisome as drug-induced long QT syndrome occurred mostly in women. In these circumstances, an improvement of breastfeeding practices seems to be more effective and safer than the use of an off-label domperidone treatment.
The Perceived Impact of Open Inspection Data on the Quality of Education in Dutch Primary Schools
Authors: de Kool Dennis , Bekkers Victor
Published: December 2014

Open government has become a prominent issue for governments in recent years. Many studies focus on the data published by governments (supply) instead of on the needs of potential users (demand). In this study, we investigated the perceived impact of open data provided by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education. The research question is what is the perceived impact of open inspection data, as used by parents, on the quality of education in Dutch primary schools? The empirical data have been gathered by both surveys and interviews. The results of the surveys show that both the factual use and the perceived usefulness of the Inspectorate’s open data are relatively low. Parents want all individuals and institutions, in general, to have more influence on the quality of primary education. The results also indicate that the increasingly frequent visits to the Inspectorate of Education’s website are linked to parents’ desire to have more influence on the quality of primary education. Finally, as parents are more involved in the schools or visit the Inspectorate’s website more often, they want the participation councils to have more influence. Nevertheless, Dutch parents highly estimate the average quality of the education provided by primary schools. However, when their involvement increases, their assessments of their school’s performance decrease. Frequent visits to the Inspectorate’s website are related to lower performance assessments. So, open inspection data are potentially valuable for (critical) parents, especially when attention is also paid to “soft” quality indicators.
The birth of French labour sociology after the War: some reflections on the nature of the corporate state and intellectual engagement for the sociology of work in the UK today
Authors: Durand Jean-Pierre , Stewart Paul
Published: December 2014

The controversies in French sociology of labour between 1945 and the early 60s sometimes overlook its place in the period of national reconstruction. As part of the social consensus marking reconstruction sociologists, encouraged by state fonctionnaires, sustained a research agenda perceived as ‘useful’ for national renewal: the focus would be on questions that sociologist-practitioners would share with France’s political class. While the state’s hegemonic project of social development through technological progress was manifest in similar methodological agendas in the oeuvre of two leading protagonists, nevertheless it allowed for radically different views of sociology’s role. This is of significance not just for the discipline’s researchers in France. It has relevance for a ‘public sociology’ of work in the UK in a period of conformist pressure.
Spillover and conflict in collective bargaining: evidence from a survey of Dutch union and firm negotiators
Authors: Lehr Alex , Akkerman Agnes , Torenvlied René
Published: December 2014

Using unique survey data on Dutch collective agreement negotiators, the authors model how information about other collective bargaining events influences the probability of negotiators encountering bargaining impasses or industrial action during collective bargaining. Competing hypotheses about this influence, derived from economic, social psychological and sociological approaches, are tested. The findings indicate that information about bargaining outcomes elsewhere has no significant effect on the occurrence of conflict. However, if the information content of spillover refers to the conflict potential in other bargaining events and the sources of information are proximate, the probability of conflict is increased. This suggests that sociological mechanisms offer a compelling alternative to those invoked in economics for explaining the relationship between spillover and conflict.
A hybrid robot for friction stir welding
Authors: Li Qinchuan , Wu Weifeng , Xiang Ji’nan , Li Hongjun , Wu Chuanyu
Published: December 2014

Friction stir welding (FSW) has been widely applied in a number of fields instead of traditional fusion welding. However, a huge axial downward force is required to maintain a steady welding process. Moreover, the task of welding along a curved surface requires an orientation ability, which traditional FSW machines cannot provide. To overcome this limitation, we propose a 5-axis hybrid robot for FSW. This hybrid robot comprises a 2-SPR-RPS parallel mechanism (with one translational degree of freedom and two rotational degrees of freedom) and two gantries. First, mobility of the parallel mechanism in the initial and general configuration is analyzed using screw theory and continuous rotational axes are identified. Second, forward and inverse position solutions to the hybrid robot are studied, and the Jacobian matrix of the parallel mechanism is obtained. By analyzing the motion/force transmissibility, the architectural parameters of the parallel mechanism are optimized. Finally, the reachable workspace of the end effector is obtained considering the constraints of actuation links, joint angles, and singular configuration.
Cooperative path replanning method for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles with obstacle collision avoidance under timing constraints
Authors: Zhen Ziyang , Gao Chen , Zheng Fengying , Jiang Ju
Published: December 2014

An online cooperative path replanning method based on the rapidly-exploring random tree (RRT) algorithm for multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is presented. Chaotic sequence is used to improve the RRT algorithm. The improved RRT is applied in online path replanning to round unexpected threats detected while flying along the pre-path, which is designed in advance and satisfies time cooperativity. Because time cooperativity is destroyed by path replanning, a time cooperativity reconstruction strategy is proposed, which is realized by adjusting the flight velocities associate with the circling motions so that all UAVs can reach the destination at the same time. Finally, the simulations are carried out to evaluate the effect of key parameters, and verify the effectiveness of the proposed cooperative path replanning method.
Discursive representations of ‘illegal immigration’ in the Irish newsprint media: The domination and multiple facets of the ‘control’ argumentation
Authors: Burroughs Elaine
Published: December 2014

‘Illegal immigration’ is an intangible entity within Irish society and currently only minimal research has been undertaken on this topic. For multiple reasons, those referred to as ‘illegal immigrants’ are generally voiceless and have few opportunities for self-representation. Nonetheless, various portrayals of ‘illegal immigrants’ stem discursively through key Irish institutions. This article identifies the discourses that are disseminated by the Irish newsprint media and concentrates upon the most common argumentation (topos) forwarded – the ‘control’ of ‘illegal immigration’. This specific argumentation is expressed through a variety of narratives, which are fused with both positive and negative ideologies. However, the majority of ‘control’ texts argue in favour of restrictions on ‘illegal immigration’. Grounded within a Foucauldian and Critical Discourse Analysis framework, this article shows how the ‘control’ topos is linked to broader ideological conceptualizations of governmentality and national identity, which may contribute towards legitimized practices of inequality and exclusion in Ireland.
Evolution of metaphors: Phylogeny of oil slick cartoons in Spanish press
Authors: Domínguez Martí
Published: December 2014

The main purpose of this article is to analyze the evolution of a metaphor set over time. By studying cartoons about the oil slick caused by the Prestige oil tanker in 2002 on Spanish shores and the subsequent court decision in 2013, we observe a progressive metaphor diversification and evolution, with the oil slick as an old common trait. Additionally, using basic cladistical methods, we propose a phylogenetic tree for the metaphor set, from a common ancestor to the subsequent diversification regarding news content. These results show that phylogenetic models can be very helpful in understanding the evolution of conceptual metaphors, and this method of analysis could even be a methodological pattern for the study of other similar events.
Directionality of wave propagation and attenuation in plates with resonant shunting arrays
Authors: Wen Jihong , Chen Shengbing , Wang Gang , Yu Dianlong , Wen Xisen
Published: December 2014

This article proposes an analytical method to evaluate the propagation constant in arbitrary direction in the plate with shunting arrays, which can circumvent the complicated transcendental eigenvalue problem. Based on this method, the directionality of waves propagating or decaying in the plate with arrays of resonant shunts is examined, including directionality of attenuation constant, location of band gaps, and group velocity in pass band. Moreover, the theoretical results are verified by simulation in well-accepted commercial finite element software.
Modeling and simulation of the thermo-mechanical response of NiTi-based Belleville springs
Authors: Sgambitterra Emanuele , Maletta Carmine , Furgiuele Franco
Published: December 2014

Nickel–titanium (NiTi) Belleville washers exhibit unique mechanical and functional features due to the reversible stress-induced and/or thermally induced phase transition mechanism of NiTi alloys. In this article, the thermo-mechanical response of such washers has been analyzed by finite element simulations as well as by a special semi-analytical model, which is based on a modified literature approach. The effects of the geometrical configuration of the washers as well as of different thermo-mechanical loading conditions, under stress-induced phase transformation regime, have been analyzed. The results highlighted a marked hysteretic response, in terms of force–deflection curve, due to the hysteresis in the stress–strain behavior of NiTi alloys. In addition, a marked influence of the geometry, as well as of the temperature, has been observed on the thermo-mechanical response of the washer.
Influence of carbon nanotube on the piezoresistive behavior of multiwall carbon nanotube/polymer composites
Authors: Avilés Francis , May-Pat Alejandro , Canché-Escamilla Gonzalo , Rodríguez-Uicab Omar , Ku-Herrera J Jesus , Duarte-Aranda Santiago , Uribe-Calderon Jorge , Gonzalez-Chi P Ivan , Arronche Luciana , La Saponara Valeria
Published: December 2014

The role of the physical properties of multiwall carbon nanotubes on the strain-sensing piezoresistive behavior of multiwall carbon nanotube/polymer composites is systematically studied using three types of multiwall carbon nanotubes as fillers of a brittle thermosetting (vinyl ester) and a tough thermoplastic (polypropylene) polymers under quasi-static tensile loading. Two of the three multiwall carbon nanotubes investigated have similar length, aspect ratio, structural ordering, and surface area, while the third group contains longer multiwall carbon nanotubes with higher structural ordering. The results indicate that longer multiwall carbon nanotubes with higher structural ordering yield higher piezoresistive sensitivity, and therefore are better suited as sensors of elastic and plastic strains of polymer composites. The highest gage factor achieved was approximately 24 and corresponded to the plastic zone of multiwall carbon nanotube/polypropylene composites with the longest nanotubes.
The Nomological Network of Self-Reported Distress Tolerance
Authors: Kiselica Andrew M. , Rojas Elizabeth , Bornovalova Marina A. , Dube Chad
Published: December 2014

Distress tolerance (DT), or the ability to withstand psychological distress, is a popular construct in the psychological literature. However, research has not specified the nomological network of DT across self-report measures. The purpose of the current investigation was to understand what personality features, environmental stressors, current affective states, and behaviors contribute to DT in two different samples: college students and those in residential substance use treatment. Correlations revealed that self-reported DT was most strongly associated with trait negative emotionality, state negative affect, impulsivity, and perceived stress. In comparisons across samples, self-harm exhibited a stronger relationship with self-reported DT in the drug treatment than in the student sample, whereas perceived stress had a stronger association in the student sample. Correlations between self-report and behavioral measures of DT were nonsignificant. To understand this lack of associations, associations of outcomes with behavioral measures were assessed. In contrast to self-reported DT, behavioral DT was more closely related to achievement orientation, state negative affect, and state positive affect, but was not significantly related to psychopathology and maladaptive behaviors. It is necessary to continue investigating the construct validity of behavioral DT measures via the use of incremental utility analyses and experimental approaches.
Development and Validation of the ADHD Benefits of Coaching Scale (ABCS)
Authors: Deal Linda S. , Sleeper-Triplett Jodi , DiBenedetti Dana B. , Nelson Lauren , McLeod Lori , Haydysch Emily E. , Brown T. Michelle
Published: December 2014

Objective: Develop and validate the ADHD Benefits of Coaching Scale (ABCS), a self-report instrument designed to measure benefits of ADHD coaching in college students. Method: Concepts were elicited from interviews with ADHD coaches and college students receiving ADHD coaching. Draft items were tested in cognitive interviews among ADHD students. Item and scale reliability and validity of ABCS were evaluated using web-survey data from students reporting ADHD. Mean ABCS scores for coached and noncoached groups were compared. Results: Five coaches and 14 students participated in concept elicitation interviews; 10 students participated in the cognitive interviews; 209 students completed the web-survey. The 10-item ABCS showed satisfactory internal consistency reliability and validity and differentiated between coached ( n = 17) and noncoached groups ( n = 192; p < .01). Conclusion: To assess benefits of ADHD coaching in college students, the ABCS was developed and psychometrically validated in accordance with Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) patient-reported outcome guidance.
A Meta-Analysis of Decision-Making and Attention in Adults With ADHD
Authors: Mowinckel Athanasia M. , Pedersen Mads Lund , Eilertsen Espen , Biele Guido
Published: December 2014

Objective: Deficient reward processing has gained attention as an important aspect of ADHD, but little is known about reward-based decision-making (DM) in adults with ADHD. This article summarizes research on DM in adult ADHD and contextualizes DM deficits by comparing them to attention deficits. Method: Meta-analytic methods were used to calculate average effect sizes for different DM domains and continuous performance task (CPT) measures. Results: None of the 59 included studies (DM: 12 studies; CPT: 43; both: 4) had indications of publication bias. DM and CPT measures showed robust, small to medium effects. Large effect sizes were found for a drift diffusion model analysis of the CPT. Conclusion: The results support the existence of DM deficits in adults with ADHD, which are of similar magnitude as attention deficits. These findings warrant further examination of DM in adults with ADHD to improve the understanding of underlying neurocognitive mechanisms.
Developing creativity in practice: Explorations with world-renowned chefs
Authors: Stierand Marc
Published: December 2014

Relatively little practice-based research explores situated learning beyond the level of basic skill development. This article seeks to expand our understanding by focusing on the situated development of high-level creativity in the practice of haute cuisine and the role of the master–apprentice relationship in this development. Much has been written on what creativity is and where it happens, but little is known about how it is developed. By using an insider to investigate highly creative practitioners, namely, world-renowned chefs, this research provides the necessary contextual understanding for studying and explaining the development of high-level creativity in this field.
Leadership development: A place for storytelling and Greek mythology?
Authors: Schedlitzki Doris , Jarvis Carol , MacInnes Janice
Published: December 2014

This article explores how storytelling and Greek mythology within classroom-based leadership development may facilitate learning to deal with ambiguity and social construction in leadership practice. We aim to show how using narratives and making explicit tacit plotlines can disrupt thinking and enable participants to experience the emergent process of re-storying. We argue that the projective focus of the re-storying process encourages critical self-reflection and discussion of the socially constructed nature of organisational roles, relationships and leadership. The use of Greek mythology archetypes in combination with re-storying helps participants to question taken-for-granted assumptions of leadership practice, explore emotions and reflect on the past, present and future of a story. Drawing on reflections from practice, we propose a re-storying leadership development workshop and highlight complexities of working within the realm of re-storying and critical self-reflection. This article concludes with an outline of avenues for future research and leadership development practice.
Binaries need to shatter for bodies to matter: Do disembodied masculinities undermine organizational ethics?
Authors: Knights David
Published: December 2014

Arguing that binaries and their relationship to masculinities operate to constrain the development of corporeal or embodied ethics in organizations, this article seeks to advance their deconstruction and dissolution. If bodies are to matter, binaries need to shatter. First, it deconstructs the binary by examining the epistemological space between representations of life, language, labour and gender and the assumptions of subjectivity that are their conditions of possibility. Recognizing deconstruction to have some limitations in terms of subscribing to cognitive and perhaps masculine discourses, the article turns secondly to two literatures that seek to dissolve binary constructions ontologically. By combining epistemological deconstructions and ontological dissolutions, the second of these approaches facilitates the development of an embodied and embedded approach to organizational ethics that disavows dominant discourses of masculinity. The article then has two central objectives of first documenting the dominance of masculine, disembodied binary thinking in organizations and society and second, of examining ways through which it may be deconstructed and dissolved so as to enable an embodied ethics of engagement in organizations.
What can bodies do? Reading Spinoza for an affective ethics of organizational life
Authors: Thanem Torkild , Wallenberg Louise
Published: December 2014

Recent attempts to develop an embodied understanding of ethics in organizations have tended to mobilize a Levinasian and ‘im/possible’ ethics of recognition, which separates ethics and embodiment from politics and organization. We argue that this separation is unrealistic, unsustainable, and an unhelpful starting point for an embodied ethics of organizations. Instead of rescuing and modifying the ethics of recognition, we propose an embodied ethics of organizational life through Spinoza’s affective ethics. Neither a moral rule system nor an infinite duty to recognize the other, Spinoza offers a theory of the good, powerful and joyful life by asking what bodies can do. Rather than an unrestrained, irresponsible and individualistic quest for power and freedom, this suggests that we enhance our capacities to affect and be affected by relating to a variety of different bodies. We first scrutinize recent attempts to develop an ethics of recognition and embodiment in organization studies. We then explore key concepts and central arguments of Spinozian ethics. Finally, we discuss what a Spinozian ethics means for the theory and practice of embodied ethics in organizational life.
A review of telerehabilitation for cardiac patients
Authors: Frederix Ines , Vanhees Luc , Dendale Paul , Goetschalckx Kaatje
Published: December 2014

We conducted a literature review of telerehabilitation interventions on cardiac patients. We searched for studies evaluating some form of telerehabilitation in cardiac patients. A total of 116 publications were screened initially, of which 37 publications were eligible for further review. We assessed study strength, based on the level of evidence and the quality of the intervention. The majority of the articles (70%) represented the highest level of evidence. Most interventions were of good (46%) or fair (51%) quality. Most studies evaluated the efficacy of the telerehabilitation interventions (84%), while 38% reported on feasibility and acceptance. Most studies did not include safety and/or cost-benefit analyses. Most telerehabilitation interventions (90%) employed only one or two core components of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Of the CR core components, physical activity was most frequently evaluated. Telerehabilitation appears to be a feasible and effective additional and/or alternative form of rehabilitation, compared to conventional in-hospital CR. Evaluations of telerehabilitation programmes taking into account patient safety and health economics are now required.
Time course of attentional bias for health-related information in individuals with health anxiety
Authors: Kim Sujin , Lee Jang-Han
Published: December 2014

This study examined whether particular coping strategies influence attentional bias in individuals with health anxiety. A total of 84 participants were divided into four groups on the basis of their health-anxiety level (high/low) and coping strategy (monitor/blunter). The participants were shown screens displaying health-related pictures paired with non-health-related pictures. As a result, the high health-anxiety group was more attentive to health stimuli than the low health-anxiety group, regardless of the coping strategy. When maintaining attention, the high health-anxiety blunter shifted attention away from health stimuli, whereas the high health-anxiety monitor shifted attention toward the stimuli. These results indicated differences in how individuals manage attention processing according to their coping strategy.
‘Feel the Feeling’: Psychological practitioners’ experience of acceptance and commitment therapy well-being training in the workplace
Authors: Wardley Matt NJ , Flaxman Paul E , Willig Carla , Gillanders David
Published: December 2014

This empirical study investigates psychological practitioners’ experience of worksite training in acceptance and commitment therapy using an interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants, and three themes emerged from the interpretative phenomenological analysis data analysis: influence of previous experiences, self and others and impact and application. The significance of the experiential nature of the acceptance and commitment therapy training is explored as well as the dual aspects of developing participants’ self-care while also considering their own clinical practice. Consistencies and inconsistencies across acceptance and commitment therapy processes are considered as well as clinical implications, study limitations and future research suggestions.
Jehovah’s Witness parents’ refusal of blood transfusions: Ethical considerations for psychologists
Authors: Hoffman Anna
Published: December 2014

Psychologists in medical settings may be confronted with Jehovah’s Witness parents refusing blood transfusions for their children as an ethical dilemma. The purpose of this discussion is to help psychologists provide informed, ethical consultations and support by investigating the values of the Jehovah’s Witness community and the origin of the blood transfusion taboo, how medical and legal professionals have approached this dilemma, exploring relevant ethical principles and standards for psychologists, and suggestions for how to move toward a better understanding of harm with Jehovah’s Witness families.
Will South Asia Benefit from Pan-Asian Integration?
Authors: Wignaraja Ganeshan
Published: December 2014

This article examines the gains for South Asian economies from integrating with East Asia and India’s role in this process. Evidence of increased pan-Asian integration exists but the process is uneven. Bilateral trade has grown. Bilateral foreign direct investment flows and free trade agreements (FTAs) have also increased, albeit at a slower pace than trade. The integration process has been led by India and Pakistan with limited participation of smaller South Asian economies. Tackling key impediments in infrastructure, FTAs, trade barriers and business regulations, and barriers to services will foster further integration. Computable general equilibrium simulations suggest that a South Asia–East Asia FTA offers the most gains for South Asia and that India has an incentive to include its neighbours in such an arrangement rather than going it alone with East Asia. The rest of South Asia will gain by deepening South Asian integration and fostering ties with East Asia.
Monetary Integration between India and Nepal
Authors: Panday Anjan
Published: December 2014

An open border, a pegged exchange rate regime and large trade with India offer Nepal some preconditions to satisfy monetary integration with its southern neighbour. In this study, investigation of the economic symmetry in the two countries is considered. A two-pronged empirical approach reveals inconclusive evidence to satisfy such integration. First, using a three-variable structural vector auto-regression showed a low and negative correlation in the supply shocks. Decomposing the structural shocks into regional and idiosyncratic components showed a favourable co-movement with the regional element only in Nepal’s monetary shock. Second, the business-cycle analysis using state-space models of Nepal’s GDP and its components showed evidence of co-movement with the regional element in some variables while others showed divergence.
Applicability of Openness-led Growth Hypothesis in Sri Lanka
Authors: Ravinthirakumaran Navaratnam
Published: December 2014

An openness-led growth hypothesis investigates the causal relationship between trade openness1 and economic growth. Indeed, trade openness can stimulate economic growth by enhancing the international flow of knowledge and innovation and by allowing economies of specialization, not only in the production of goods, but also in the generation of new knowledge and new inputs into production. The purpose of this article is to empirically examine an openness-led growth hypothesis, using the case of Sri Lanka for the period from 1965 to 2012. The article uses the recently developed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test for cointegration developed by Pesaran et al. (2001). The empirical results confirm the validity of the openness-led growth hypothesis for Sri Lanka.
Spanish students’ use of the Internet for mental health information and support seeking
Authors: Montagni Ilaria , Parizot Isabelle , Horgan Aine , Gonzalez-Caballero Juan-Luis , Almenara-Barrios José , Lagares-Franco Carolina , Peralta-Sáez Juan-Luis , Chauvin Pierre , Amaddeo Francesco
Published: December 2014

The Internet is a growing source of information for health in general, with university student being online almost daily. Evaluating their use of the Internet for mental health information and support can help understanding if online tools and websites should be used for mental health promotion and, to some extent, care. A survey was conducted with more than 600 students of Law, Nursing and Computer Science of the University of Cadiz in Spain to determine their general use of the Internet and their perceptions and trust in using this medium for mental health information. Data were collected using a 25-item-questionnaire and findings indicated that students had a strong distrust in online mental health information, notwithstanding their daily use of the Internet. The frequency and methods of their research on the Internet correlated with their health status, their medical consultations and with certain socio-demographic characteristics.
From punishment to rewards? Treatment dilemmas at a youth detention home
Authors: Franzén Anna G , Holmqvist Rolf
Published: December 2014

The present article analyses staff members’ discourses on the treatment method token economy, as it is implemented at a detention home for young men. The study draws on interviews with eight staff members and on participant observations at the detention home. Using discursive psychology, the analysis centers on the staff members’ own constructions of token economy as well as paradoxes and dilemmas that appear in their talk. Two paradoxes were found: (1) paradox of transparency and interpretation; token economy is objective and transparent, but requires interpretative work over time; and (2) paradox of rewards and punishments; tokens are rewards, but they can be ‘zeroed’ or withdrawn in order to limit undesirable behavior. Further, the analysis showed that both paradoxes invoke a principal ideological dilemma of control – freedom, which staff members attempt to resolve by positioning the young men as responsible for their own actions and themselves as subordinate parties in the outcome of ‘objective’ token economy practices.
Two hundred and fifty years since the publication of On Crimes and Punishments: The currency of Cesare Beccaria’s thought
Authors: Ferrajoli Luigi
Published: December 2014

This essay highlights three aspects of the extraordinarily current relevance of Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments in the 250th year since its publication. The first aspect concerns criminal law, which Beccaria founded anew as a system of individual safeguards against the arbitrariness and excess of punishment – a normative model still largely to be realized today. The second aspect consists in the constituent character of Beccaria’s thought. Together with other Enlightenment thinkers, he paved the way for the political doctrine of limited public powers – the doctrine that would usher in, well beyond the boundaries of criminal law, the contemporary and still largely unaccomplished constitutionalism of legal safeguards and fundamental human rights. The third aspect of Beccaria’s relevance consists in the critical and propositional role he assigned to philosophical reflection vis-à-vis positive law, on the ground of its axiological foundations and a militant defence of the values inherent in the legal artifice.
Death, happiness and the meaning of life: The view from sociology
Authors: Blum Alan
Published: December 2014

This article recovers the understated engagement with the question of mortality and the relationship to death in life through a reading of the classics of sociology – Durkheim, Marx, Simmel and Weber–in order to dramatize the relationship of such a concern to the imaginary of perpetual happiness idealized by the bourgeoisie of each generation and exemplified by Lacan as the ‘problem’ of the city. If engaging mortality is conceived as an example of the thinking of limits, I suggest that this ban parallels disavowing the question of meaning that the bourgeoisie have cultivated and perfected in the name of practical thinking. In this way, the bourgeoisie can be said to have mastered the secret of life and the connection between mental hygiene and intellectual parsimony celebrated by Kant as the advance of enlightenment. This adjustment is located at least as far back as the Stoics and replayed in much thought and in popular culture as a symptom of the self-destructiveness of the fixation on ‘ultimate meaning’ and its realistic pursuit in life. In this sense, the conditions of citizenship in the city are said to require a systemic disregard of such ‘deep’ concerns on Kantian grounds that their inaccessibility and irresolute character can only distract circumspection from its limited goals. Georg Simmel is maintained as the classical figure who both engaged death (and so the risk of thinking limit) and suffered marginalization for this, making his resolution of this tension not tragic, as his idiom suggests, but an exemplification of sociological artistry and of the playful relationship to life that it promises when unencumbered by the fear of the bourgeoisie.
Eisenstadt, Brazil and the multiple modernities framework: Revisions and reconsiderations
Authors: Mota Aurea , Delanty Gerard
Published: December 2014

The notion of multiple modernities as developed by Eisenstadt has become increasingly influential in debates about modernity and the historical formation of societies in comparative perspective. On closer inspection, the theoretical framework is less than straightforward when it comes to specific applications. This article considers Brazil from the perspective of a revised theory of multiple modernities. There has been virtually no application to specific case studies within the countries of the South. Brazil could be considered an important case study of modernity that deserves attention in its own right. The article shows that the theoretical framework of multiple modernities offers insights into the Brazilian trajectory of modernity, a consideration of which also challenges some of the assumptions of Eisenstadt’s approach. Despite the limits of the framework, the notion of multiple modernities offers a good basis for a global analysis of modernity. Greater attention needs to be given to civilizational encounters and to sources of conflict and plurality within modernity and which cannot be accounted for in terms of the principles of axiality postulated by Eisenstadt.
Framing emancipations
Authors: Rebughini Paola
Published: December 2014

This article deals with the topic of emancipation in the social sciences and its transformation in recent decades. Despite its centrality for sociological analysis, emancipation is a topic characterized by ambivalent meanings – autonomy and authenticity, contingency and normativity, free will and negative freedom – and by ‘Eurocentric’ and ‘postcolonial’ interpretations. After a long period in which emancipation was considered the unified expression of the critical consciousness of European modernity, its internal ambivalences have provoked criticism (for instance from the cultural turn in social sciences), enhanced dichotomies in theoretical discussion and highlighted the intertwining between emancipation and historical processes such as individualization and capitalism. This article investigates the ambivalences of the concept of emancipation and frames its present plural meanings, testing its current range and heuristic value.
How does a woman with Alzheimer’s disease make sense of becoming cared for?
Authors: Borley Gayle , Sixsmith Judith , Church Sarah
Published: December 2014

This case study explores the meaning one woman with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) gives to receiving assistance with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) from her spouse. Improving the care of people living with AD is widely accepted as an important outcome in dementia services. Understanding how it feels for the person with AD to receive that care is essential to enhance their quality of life. Experiences identified using interpretative phenomenological analysis focus on a connection to past self and maintaining identity whilst also accepting change. The experience of ‘Sameness and Change’ identifies her feelings of discontinuity whilst ‘Goodness’ depicts her continued emotional expression of care presented in an attempt to remain someone of value within her family. These findings offer new insight and understanding to assist a woman’s transition from carer to becoming cared for.
Secondary Data Analyses From Published Descriptive Statistics
Authors: Nimon Kim
Published: December 2014

The Problem

The need for human resource development (HRD) to develop theory that will lead to improved practice was recognized in published literature in 2002. Two years after Holton’s initial mandate for theory in HRD, Torraco identified the need for researchers to “interpret old data in new ways” as a core role for theory development in HRD research. Yet over a decade later, few scholarly articles published in journals dedicated to HRD report on secondary data analyses (i.e., interpret old data in new ways). Even fewer have considered how quantitative analysis of secondary data can be used to inform theory.

The Solution

A three-pronged solution is provided to address the void of secondary data analyses reported in HRD literature. First, this article demonstrates how secondary data analyses can be conducted using only published descriptive statistics as data. Second, it presents user-friendly software to aid scholars and scholar-practitioners in their pursuit of such analyses. Third, it reviews the concept of the general linear model (GLM) as the technique presented is limited to supporting quantitative statistical analyses that fall within the GLM.

The Stakeholders

Stakeholders include scholars and scholar-practitioners who are interested in conducting quantitative data analyses to inform HRD theory. In addition, scholars and scholar-practitioners who conduct scholarly reviews of academic literature will see why it is important for authors to comply with reporting guidelines that call for relevant descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, and correlation matrices to be included in quantitative research reports.
Mediating Analysis Approaches
Authors: Song Ji Hoon , Lim Doo Hun
Published: December 2014

The Problem

In HRD research, while mediation research is receiving more attention, less is known about to what extent it has been used and what methodological approaches have been adopted by HRD researchers. Also, several critical methodological issues such as the common method variance (CMV) are often indicated by researchers who utilize mediational analysis in their studies. These issues have been known to hinder sound theory-building efforts among HRD researchers.

The Solution

In addressing the problems, the purpose of this research is to examine the mediation studies conducted in the HRD discipline and to identify the general trends of mediation research and the frequently used analytical approaches supporting theory-building efforts of HRD researchers. The Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) journals between 2000 and 2014 were the primary research sample. Also, this study identifies various threats to conducting reliable and valid mediation studies through a thorough review of existing mediation studies from the AHRD journals.

The Stakeholders

Stakeholders include researchers conducting mediation studies in the HRD discipline currently and in the future, and practitioners who utilize mediation study findings for improving workplace performance. Based on the study findings, statistical and theoretical implications for future HRD research are discussed, and practical recommendations are drawn for HRD practitioners for workplace application.
Strategic Offsetting Behavior in the NBA
Authors: Salter Alexander W.
Published: December 2014

This brief article estimates the effects of a rule change from the early days of professional basketball. The Mikan rule was intended to curb the offensive potency of tall players whose primary contribution to team output consisted of points scored close to the basket. The Mikan rule limited players’ ability to stand close to the basket, and hence made it more difficult for these players to score. However, the rule change did not account for strategic offsetting behavior—that defensive players’ optimal allocation of resources would change in response to the rule. I engage the literature on strategic offsetting behavior and estimate a two-way fixed effects model that strongly suggests the Mikan rule did not have its intended effect due to strategic offsetting behavior.
Condom-Associated Erection Problems
Authors: Graham Cynthia A. , Crosby Richard , Sanders Stephanie , Milhausen Robin , Yarber William L.
Published: December 2014

Previous research indicates that young men may experience condom-associated erection loss and that these problems may lead to inconsistent or incomplete condom use. The primary aim of this study was to assess, using a retrospective recall period of 2 months, correlates of condom-associated erection problems among young Black men attending sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinics. Data were collected in clinics treating patients with STIs in three southern U.S. cities. Males 15 to 23 years of age who identified as Black/African American and reported recent (past 2 months) condom use were eligible. A total of 494 men participated. Nineteen percent reported that condom-associated erection problems during condom application occurred at least once, and 17.8% indicated erection difficulties occurred during sexual intercourse at least once in the past 2 months. Multivariate analyses identified that condom-associated erection problems were associated with reports of sex with more than one partner during the recall period, reported problems with condom fit and feel, lower motivation to use condoms, and attempts at condom application before having a full erection. Findings suggest that clinic interventions should address possible condom-associated erection problems among young Black men who are at risk of STIs. Encouraging men who may be vulnerable to erection loss when condoms are used to allow sufficient time for sexual arousal to build may be an effective strategy.