bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Moral discourse as reflection
Authors: Rehg William
Published: April 2003

In his Reflection Revisited, James Swindal interprets Habermas’s formal pragmatics as recasting the traditional philosophy of reflection in intersubjective, augmentation-theoretic terms. In this review essay, I consider some aspects of Swindal’s interpretation for situated moral criticism. I focus in particular on Swindal’s claim that moral discourse must be preceded by meta-discourses in which actors discuss issues related to the initiation of moral discourse. Although I reject Swindal’s arguments for the necessity of such meta-discourses, I provide further arguments for their theoretical possibility and practical desirability for a contextualized critical social theory.
The Relationship Between Marriage and Psychological Well-being
Authors: KIM HYOUN K. , McKENRY PATRICK C.
Published: April 2003

This study examined the relationship between marriage and psychological well-being using a sample from the National Survey of Families and Households panel data. Eight different marital status groups were identified and used to test two competing perspectives explaining the relationship between marriage and individual psychological well-being (protection vs. selection). Findings confirmed the strong effects of marital status on psychological well-being, supporting the protection perspective. The effect of the quality of marital (cohabiting) relationship on psychological well-being was significant, but the strong effect of marital status remained unchanged after controlling for relationship quality. Findings also indicated that the transition to cohabiting did not have the same beneficial effects as marriage for psychological well-being, suggesting that the protective effects of marriage are greater than those of cohabiting relationships. The selection effects of psychological well-being were found to be weak and inconsistent. The findings generally did not vary by gender.
The Incidence of Adolescent Maltreatment in Arab Society and Some of its Psychological Effects
Authors: HAJ-YAHIA MUHAMMAD M. , MUSLEH KHADER , HAJ-YAHIA YOUSIF M.
Published: April 2003

The article deals with the incidence of adolescent maltreatment by parents and siblings and some of its psychological effects, as revealed by a cross-sectional survey conducted among a sample of 1,640 Arab adolescents in Israel. The results revealed that a high percentage of adolescents are psychologically and physically maltreated annually. Furthermore, regression and multiple regression analyses reveal that significant amounts of the variance in adolescents' feelings of hopelessness, psychological adjustment problems, and low self-esteem can be attributed to their maltreatment by parents and siblings. These levels of variance go beyond the amounts of variance in these psychological states that can be explained by the sociodemographic characteristics of the adolescents, their parents, and their families. The implications of these results for future research are discussed. The relevance of sociocultural and sociopolitical contexts of Arab society to child and adolescent maltreatment is also illuminated.
Aspiring Law and Business Professionals' Orientations to Work and Family Life
Authors: ORRANGE ROBERT M.
Published: April 2003

Findings are presented from a study of 43 advanced professional school students in law and business using in-depth interviews to investigate their orientations to work and family life. Thematic types are developed that identify the orientations of segments within the sample. These types draw on respondents' implicit and explicit definitions of the situation, paying special attention to key assumptions about gender-based work and family roles. Interestingly, the findings indicate a certain degree of asymmetry between the men and the women with respect to how they plan to construct work and family life. The dominant segment of men identified strongly with a modified form of providing, whereas others identified with either a strong or a weak form of egalitarianism. The dominant segment of women were oriented toward a strong form of egalitarianism, with others oriented toward a weak form of egalitarianism, and still others considered remaining single a realistic possibility.
Family Structure and the Physical Punishment of Children
Authors: NOBES GAVIN , SMITH MARJORIE
Published: April 2003

A community sample of nearly 500 parents was interviewed in order to examine the relative extent of physical punishment of children in one- and two-parent homes. Lone mothers' use of physical punishments was compared first with partnered mothers' and second with the combination of mothers' and fathers' punishments in two-parent homes. Lone mothers were considerably more disadvantaged than partnered mothers yet did not punish their children more frequently or more severely. Among mothers with poor mental health, those with partners reported having used more severe physical punishments. Inclusion of fathers' punishments showed that children of lone mothers were punished less frequently and severely than children who had two parents, indicating that children in one-parent homes are not a risk group for harsh physical punishment or abuse. Indeed, in difficult circumstances partners might exacerbate mothers' stress and increase the chances of child maltreatment.
Where are All the Men?
Authors: FORSTE RENATA
Published: April 2003

Past fertility studies have focused almost exclusively on surveys of women and adolescents; thus, little is known about the role of adult men in family formation. Because men are underrepresented in national surveys, the literature on young adult men, especially disadvantaged, nonmarital fathers, is particularly lacking. On the basis of a review of past research, this study illustrates men's importance in forming sexual unions and making contraceptive decisions and considers related issues of family formation. In addition, the importance of these processes to fathering children as well as to later paternal involvement is highlighted. Drawing from a life course and structural perspective, a conceptual model is proposed, and a potential research agenda is outlined to address the dearth of research about young adult men's family formation behaviors and early participation in parenting.
Later-Life Divorce and Parent-Adult Child Contact and Proximity
Authors: Shapiro Adam
Published: April 2003

This study explores how parental divorce that occurs after children have reached adulthood affects parent–adult child contact and proximity. Data are from two waves of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) and include 1,463 respondents. The findings suggest that divorce affects parent–child contact and proximity differently for mothers and fathers. Compared with stably married fathers, fathers who divorced were more likely to experience a decline in coresidence and weekly contact with at least one adult child. However, divorced mothers were more likely than stably married mothers to report an increase in weekly contact with an adult child. At the same time, the data intimate that divorce may slightly increase mothers’ likelihood of little or no contact with an adult child.
The Effects of Singlehood and Cohabitation on the Transition to Parenthood in the Netherlands
Authors: Mulder Clara H.
Published: April 2003

Previous research has shown that singlehood and cohabitation are associated with postponement of parenthood. This study examines whether this association extends to the long term, potentially leading to a higher likelihood of ultimate childlessness among those with singlehood or cohabitation experience. Results from analyses of retrospective life course data from a sample of people born since 1935 and living in the Netherlands show that experience with nonmarital living arrangements has a long-term impact on the transition to parenthood. This impact is greater for females than for males and is partly caused by the higher likelihood among cohabitors to end their partnerships.
Using “Short” Interrupted Time-Series Analysis To Measure The Impacts Of Whole-School Reforms
Authors: Bloom Howard S.
Published: April 2003

The present article introduces a new approach for measuring the impacts of whole-school reforms. The approach is based on “short” interrupted time-series analysis, which has been used to evaluate programs in many fields. The approach is used to measure impacts on three facets of student performance: (a) average (mean) test scores, which summarize impacts on total performance; (b) the distribution of scores across specific ranges, which helps to identify where in the distribution of student performance impacts were experienced; and (c) the variation (standard deviation) of scores, which indicates how the disparity in student performance was affected. To help researchers use the approach, the article lays out its conceptual rationale, describes its statistical procedures, explains how to interpret its findings, indicates its strengths and limitations, and illustrates how it was used to evaluate a major whole-school reform—Accelerated Schools.
“Born To Be Wild”
Authors: Stolzenberg Lisa , D’Alessio Stewart J.
Published: April 2003

In response to political pressure, the state of Florida repealed its mandatory motorcycle helmet-use law for all operators and passengers older than the age of 21, effective July 1, 2000. Using monthly data and a multiple time-series design, the authors assessed the effect of this law change on serious injury and fatality rates for motorcycle riders aged 21 and older. Controls for serious injury and fatality rates for motorcycle riders younger than 21 years of age were included in the analyses. Maximum-likelihood results showed that the repeal of the mandatory helmet-use law in Florida had little observable effect on serious injuries or on fatalities that resulted from motorcycle crashes. Policy implications of these findings are discussed, and explanations are given as to why the repeal of the mandatory motorcycle helmet-use law in Florida was inconsequential.
Lack of Awareness and Nonadherence in Schizophrenia
Authors: Kozuki Yoriko , Froelicher Erika Sivarajan
Published: April 2003

This cross-sectional study examines whether lack of awareness of symptoms is a predictor for nonadherence. The study consecutively recruited 134 participants with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorders at acute psychiatric units. Outcome was measured by a combination of self-reports, utilizing the Rating on Medication Influences and medical records. The univariate analysis showed that homelessness was a predictor for nonadherence ( p = .03). The subsequent logistic regression showed that the multidimension symptom lack of awareness score was significantly associated with nonadherence to psychotropic medications (odds ratio = 0.59, 95% Confidence Interval = 0.35, 0.96). Other clinical and demographic variables as well as subjective responses were not significant predictors of nonadherence.
Identity Shifts as Turning Points in Health Behavior Change
Authors: Kearney Margaret H. , O’Sullivan Joanne
Published: April 2003

The authors used a grounded formal theory approach to synthesize the findings of 14 studies, with the goal of identifying common elements in qualitative studies of individuals’ efforts to change a variety of unhealthy behaviors. The combined sample of 399 participants had experiences of weight loss, smoking cessation, and alcohol and drug-abuse recovery. Data were extracted from published reports and analyzed using grounded-theory techniques. In the provisional model, a value conflict in response to distressing accumulated evidence prompts a small step toward behavior change. If successful, an identity shift begins. Increased self-awareness and self-confidence fuel continued change. Numerous constraints to success are noted at each step. The links to previous conceptions of identity shift are discussed.
The Lived Experience of Having a Neobladder
Authors: Beitz Janice M. , Zuzelo Patti Rager
Published: April 2003

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to describe the lived experience of people who had a neobladder constructed. Men and women with direct and personal knowledge of the experience were interviewed. Analyses of transcribed verbatim narratives were conducted. Major and minor themes with clustered subthemes were identified. Selected themes included diagnosing cancer, detesting the idea of the bag, coping with stressful events, managing tubes and drains, responding to incontinence, keeping the neobladder healthy, and seeing cancer as a lifelong threat.
Cyber-Slaying Media Fans: Code, Digital Poaching, and Corporate Control of the Internet
Authors: Consalvo Mia
Published: April 2003

This article examines media fans’ Web sites devoted to Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to determine how the code of the Internet allows fans some creative control over media artifacts of interest to them and how such actions pose a challenge to media corporations and their copyrights. However, this challenge is also limited by the changing code of the Internet, at varying levels, as corporations seek to change open code to closed-proprietary code and limit such actions. Thus, this article explores the resistances of fans to corporate actions and how the code of the Internet is gradually changing into a system more conducive to corporate capitalism than community creation or any other transformative space.
Teenagers In Communication, Teenagers On Communication
Authors: Thurlow Crispin
Published: April 2003

With adolescents commonly depicted by adults as communication ignorant and inept, the need to find out what young people actually understand by, and know about, communication is discussed in this article. In this vein, two pieces of research that have investigated "communication awareness" in adolescence are reviewed, and ideas for further research in the area are offered.
Music Lovers
Authors: Hennion Antoine
Published: April 2003

This article presents the implications, objectives and initial results of a current ethnographic research project on music lovers. It looks at problems of theory and method posed by such research if it is not conceived only as the explanation of external determinisms, relating taste to the social origins of the amateur or to the aesthetic properties of the works. Our aim is, on the contrary, from long interviews and observations undertaken with music lovers, mostly in the classical field, to concentrate on gestures, objects, mediums, devices and relations engaged in a form of playing or listening, which amounts to more than the actualization of a taste `already there', for they are redefined during the action, with a result that is partly uncertain. This is why amateurs' attachments and ways of doing things can both engage and form subjectivities, rather than merely recording social labels, and have a history, irreducible to that of the taste for works.
Whose News?
Authors: Lavie Aliza , Lehman-Wilzig Sam
Published: April 2003

The study reported in this article is a survey of 16 female and 25 male editors in seven Israeli newspapers to examine how gender affects professional news selection. It rated the newsworthiness of 16 different general subject areas, 17 journalism selection criteria, and 24 'concrete' headlines as a simulation. Several editors were also interviewed in-depth. Ninety students of mass communications were surveyed as a control group. The findings indicate an absence of significant 'otherness' between female and male editors, both in newsworthiness criteria and actual practice - similar to the control group. The article goes on to address possible reasons for the small number of Israeli women in editorial positions as well as the lack of gender distinctions regarding news values; personal, social economic and news consumption factors, rather than gender-related obstacles or organizational ethos, are implicated.
The Umbilical Cord That Was Never Cut
Authors: Papatheodorou Fotini , Machin David
Published: April 2003

Market dynamics has led to a dramatic transformation of the Spanish and Greek media systems since the late 1980s, bringing them in line with West European patterns. The current media landscape is, thus, a far cry from the introvert, parochial press and broadcasting systems present in the two countries in the first 15 years of democratic government, when the partisan political control of radio and television and the overpoliticization of the press were dominant features of their media systems. The aim of this article is to analyse the key developments in the media industries of these two Southern European countries and identify the elements of continuity and change through an examination of the interplay between the state, the market and the media. Despite the multiplication of media outlets, it is argued, state policy in the media is determined as ever by the persistent culture of political expediency, typical of the European south, as political elites still seek desperately to influence the content of political coverage.
The atypical antipsychotic ziprasidone, but not haloperidol, improves phencyclidine-induced cognitive deficits in a reversal learning task in the rat
Authors: Abdul-Monim Z. , Reynolds G. P. , Neill J. C.
Published: April 2003

The glutamate/N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist phencyclidine (PCP) has been shown to induce both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, as well as cognitive deficits, thus providing a relatively valid model of psychosis. Isolation rearing from weaning in the rat has been proposed as a non pharmacological model of psychosis. The aim of the present study was to explore the validity of a combination of these techniques to model cognitive dysfunction associated with schizophrenia. The present study evaluates the effects of the novel antipsychotic ziprasidone and the typical antipsychotic haloperidol in their ability to reverse the cognitive deficit induced by PCP in isolation reared rats and social controls. Rats housed in social isolation (n = 25) or in groups of five (n = 25) from weaning were food deprived and trained to respond for food in an operant reversal learning paradigm. PCP at 1.0 and 1.5 mg/kg (intraperitoneally, i.p.) significantly and selectively impaired reversal task performance in both groups of rats. This impairment was not significantly improved following the coadministration of haloperidol (0.05 mg/kg, i.p.). Higher haloperidol doses (0.1 and 0.25 mg/kg, i.p.) were found to impair task performance, with the social animals being more sensitive than isolation-reared animals. In contrast, ziprasidone (2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) reversed the impairment caused by PCP. This was significant in social animals, while in isolates there was a non-significant enhancement in performance of the reversal task with ziprasidone compared to PCP alone. Thus, PCP produced a selective reversal learning deficit in rats, which was ameliorated following treatment with ziprasidone but not haloperidol. Rearing conditions did not influence performance of the test or the deficit produced by PCP.
The Real World of Modern Science, Medicine, and Qigong
Authors: Tiller William A.
Published: April 2003

Humankind is concerned with scientific enquiry because humans want to understand the milieu in which they find themselves. They want to engineer and reliably control or cooperatively modulate as much of the environment as possible to sustain, enrich, and propagate their lives. Following this path, the goal of science is to gain a reliable description of all natural phenomena so as to allow accurate prediction (within appropriate limits) of nature’s behavior as a function of an ever-changing environment. As such, science is incapable of providing us with absolute truth. Rather, it provides relative knowledge, internally self-consistent knowledge, about the relationships between different phenomena and between different things.

The goal of engineering, on the other hand, is to build on this fundamental understanding to generate new materials, devices, structures, attitudes, moralities, philosophies, and so on, for producing tangible order, harnessing the latent potential in nature’s phenomena and expanding human capabilities in an ever-changing environment. In this context, medicine is to human biology as engineering is to physical science.

As each of us rides the “river of life,” the great consciousness adventure, we perceive events occurring around us, but more often than not, we do not perceive the total information content inherent in those events nor the true reality of those events. The latter point is so because what we take as the reality of an observation is actually a convolution between (1) what our sensory system actually senses and (2) our mindset or belief structure that filters and/or selectively amplifies segments of the basic gathered data stream. Further, only what we call the five physical senses are well-developed and integrated in our overall sensory system, so only a portion of the total available data becomes our basic internal data stream. We are thus always making personal observations through the distorting and spectrally-limited lens of our mindsets, and we have no way at present to perform a deconvolution and perceive the pure information inherent in our basic input data stream. By using designed instruments to access information patterns in nature, we gain a more objective perspective of these events. However, we must always remember that these instruments were designed on the basis of the logic of our average cognitive development and therefore probably also have only a limited access to the total information spectrum for these events occurring in nature. In particular, these instruments only respond to positive energies.

Over the course of the past four to five centuries, we have learned how to conduct true scientific investigations, first under the rubric of classical mechanics and, more recently, quantum mechanics. Let us now look a little more deeply to see what this means.
Homeostasis Is Maintained in Yan Xin Life Science Technology-Optimized Caloric Restriction: Physiological and Biochemical Studies
Authors: Yan Xin , Li Canhui , Lu Chao , Chin Wei , Shen Hua , Wang Jun
Published: April 2003

Yan Xin Life Science Technology-Optimized Caloric Restriction (YXLST-CR) is a unique food abstinence, which suppresses appetite and sensation of hunger while maintaining physiological homeostasis. The authors review the first clinical case study on YXLST-CR, or YXLST-bigu, a 15-day, 24-hour observation in 1987 on a 21-year-old female undergoing YXLST-bigu for several months. The participant took no food or water and conducted normal physical activities. The daily records of body weight, temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and daily urine test results showed no abnormalities. Homeostasis was maintained during YXLST-CR. The authors also report serum leptin levels in a group of individuals undergoing YXLST-CR and a control group before and after a 24-hour water-only period. The leptin level prior to the observation for the YXLST-CR group was lower than that for the control group and remained unchanged during the observation, suggesting the possibilities of an established metabolic adaptation.
Reexamining Knowledge Spillovers: An Auto-Industry Project Reveals the Range of Benefits Government-Supported R&D Can Provide to Smaller Firms
Authors: Fitzsimmons Beth
Published: April 2003

More than most economic activities, innovation and technological change depend on new knowledge. Economists and other social scientists have demonstrated that the research and development activities of private firms generate widespread benefits to consumers and society at large.The overall economic value to society often exceeds the economic benefits of the innovating firms and is described by economists as spillovers. Knowledge spillovers occur when knowledge created by one company or industry is not contained within that company or industry and thereby creates value for others. Government programs that involve the intermingling of government and private-sector funds as well as personnel will always raise questions about the methods and extent of appropriate government participation. This article examines a government-industry supported project that was effective and successful at creating knowledge spillovers.
Micropower: New Variable in the Energy-Environment-Security Equation
Authors: Dunn Seth
Published: April 2003

The California power crisis and September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001 have reinvigorated debate over the electric power system’s vulnerabilities. But beyond the threat of terrorist attacks on nuclear power stations and the issue of insufficient power, a central, fossil-, and nuclear-based electric power infrastructure carries additional risks. These include aging transmission and distribution systems, environmental impacts, and the failure to bring power to 1.8 billion people in the developing world. Such vulnerabilities could be lessened through small-scale, decentralized technologies. These micropower units exhibit many hidden benefits, such as improved fuel supply diversity, strengthened transmission and distribution systems, and a lower ecological footprint. Micropower is emerging in two niches: developed nations where businesses place a premium on power reliability and developing-nation regions where small-scale power is the most economical means of alleviating power poverty. But broader deployment of micropower requires removal of market barriers and greater use of innovative financing.
Globalization and Sustainability: Conflict or Convergence?
Authors: Rees William E.
Published: April 2003

Unsustainability is an old problem - human societies have collapsed with disturbing regularity throughout history. I argue that a genetic predisposition for unsustainability is encoded in certain human physiological, social and behavioral traits that once conferred survival value but are now maladaptive. A uniquely human capacity - indeed, necessity - for elaborate cultural myth-making reinforces these negative biological tendencies. Our contemporary, increasingly global myth, promotes a vision of world development centered on unlimited economic expansion fuelled by more liberalized trade. This myth is not only failing on its own terms but places humanity on a collision course with biophysical reality - our ecological footprint already exceeds the human carrying capacity of Earth. Sustainability requires that we acknowledge the primitive origins of human ecological dys-function and seize conscious control of our collective destiny. The final triumph of enlightened reason and mutual compassion over scripted determinism would herald a whole new phase in human evolution.
A New Approach to Environmental Decision Analysis: Multi-Criteria Integrated Resource Assessment (MIRA)
Authors: Stahl Cynthia H. , Cimorelli Alan J. , Chow Alice H.
Published: April 2003

A new approach to environmental policy analysis is introduced that is designed to mitigate the exacerbation of environmental problems, which can result from the application of traditional approaches in environmental decision making. These approaches are problematic because they tend to rely on technical fixes, a single-discipline focus, and optimality. When such traditional approaches are applied, complex environmental problems are simplified beyond recognition, and the solution produced no longer matches the original problem. An alternative approach has been developed at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that is designed to improve the utilization of scientific research results and data (social, physical, and biological) through a more inclusive problem-solving process aimed particularly at difficult and complex environmental issues. Using a policy application pertaining to the EPA’s 1995 decision to approve a fuel additive, the authors illustrate how integrated environmental policy decision analysis can be made operational using this new approach.
E.F. Schumacher: Changing the Paradigm of Bigger Is Better
Authors: Varma Roli
Published: April 2003

In the mid-1970s, the phrase “small is beautiful” became a counterculture slogan against the industrial threat to the environment and the scarcity of resources. Arguing against excessive materialism and meaningless growth, the late Dr. Ernest Friedrich Schumacher—the author of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, promoted the use of small-scale technology to benefit both humankind and the environment. As an economist trained in a market-oriented discipline, his thinking evolved from believing that large-scale technology could be salvation for industrial civilization to believing that large-scale technology is the root of degrading human beings and the environment.
Eliciting Willingness to Pay: Comparing Closed-Ended with Open-Ended and Payment Scale Formats
Authors: Frew Emma J. , Whynes David K. , Wolstenholme Jane L.
Published: April 2003

Willingness to pay (WTP) is increasingly being used as a measure of valuation in health technology assessment. A variety of formats for eliciting values are available, although the relative virtues of each remain the subject of methodological controversy. This article compares valuation results obtained using a WTP survey instrument in a closed-ended format with those obtained from instruments using open-ended and payment scale formats. Samples of subjects were drawn from a general population, and all were asked to value the same intervention—alternative methods of screening for colorectal cancer. It was discovered that, whereas the open-ended and payment scale formats produced broadly similar valuations, the closed-ended format produced significantly higher WTP valuations and different justifications for those valuations. It is hypothesized that anchoring and yea-saying effects explain these differences and that the closed-ended format triggers a different response mode in subjects.
Job Satisfaction In The Public Sector
Authors: Wright Bradley E. , Davis Brian S.
Published: April 2003

This study examines the influence of the work environment on public employee feelings of job satisfaction, linking characteristics of the work context perceived to be more prevalent in public organizations with specific job characteristics that serve as important antecedents of job satisfaction. In particular, this study analyzes the effects of three components of the work context—organizational goal conflict, organizational goal specificity, and procedural constraints—and four job characteristics—job specificity, routineness, feedback, and human resource development—faced by public employees. Building on previous research, a causal model of job satisfaction was tested in a covariance analysis (LISREL) using data from a survey of state government employees. The model explained two thirds of the variation in employee job satisfaction and suggests that the work context may not only be important in distinguishing between public and private sector employment but also may be at the root of any sector differences in job satisfaction.
The Sustainability of “Sustainable Consumption”
Authors: Dolan Paddy
Published: April 2003

This article examines the limitations of the concept of sustainable consumption in terms of the inadequate attention given to the social, cultural, and historical contextualization of consumption. The author argues that macromarketing should adopt modes of inquiry that fully engage with this contextualization. The implicit assumptions of sustainable consumption center on the rational individual and his or her needs and wants, and neglect the significance of consumption practices as embodying the relations between individuals. Acts of consumption are not in opposition to, and prior to, macro structures and processes; they are macro processes at work. Consumer practices are cultural and social practices that have historically developed and are manifestations of local and global linkages of social interdependencies. To continually look at the consumer as the cause of the ecological problem effectively decontextualizes consumption from such interdependencies. It posits a macro problem onto a micro situation and seeks the solution there.
Navigation Strategies for Exploring Indoor Environments
Authors: González-Baños Héctor H. , Latombe Jean-Claude
Published: April 2003

In this paper, we investigate safe and efficient map-building strategies for a mobile robot with imperfect control and sensing. In the implementation, a robot equipped with a range sensor builds apolygonal map (layout) of a previously unknown indoor environment. The robot explores the environment and builds the map concurrently by patching together the local models acquired by the sensor into a global map. A well-studied and related problem is the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem, where the goal is to integrate the information collected during navigation into the most accurate map possible. However, SLAM does not address the sensor-placement portion of the map-building task. That is, given the map built so far, where should the robot go next? This is the main question addressed in this paper. Concretely, an algorithm is proposed to guide the robot through a series of “good” positions, where “good” refers to the expected amount and quality of the information that will be revealed at each new location. This is similar to the next-best-view (NBV) problem studied in computer vision and graphics. However, in mobile robotics the problem is complicated by several issues, two of which are particularly crucial. One is to achieve safe navigation despite an incomplete knowledge of the environment and sensor limitations (e.g., in range and incidence). The other issue is the need to ensure sufficient overlap between each new local model and the current map, in order to allow registration of successive views under positioning uncertainties inherent to mobile robots. To address both issues in a coherent framework, in this paper we introduce the concept of a safe region, defined as the largest region that is guaranteed to be free of obstacles given the sensor readings made so far. The construction of a safe region takes sensor limitations into account. In this paper we also describe an NBV algorithm that uses the safe-region concept to select the next robot position at each step. The new position is chosen within the safe region in order to maximize the expected gain of information under the constraint that the local model at this new position must have a minimal overlap with the current global map. In the future, NBV and SLAM algorithms should reinforce each other. While a SLAM algorithm builds a map by making the best use of the available sensory data, an NBV algorithm, such as that proposed here, guides the navigation of the robot through positions selected to provide the best sensory inputs.
The Perception of Emotional Expression in Music: Evidence from Infants, Children and Adults
Authors: Nawrot Elizabeth S.
Published: April 2003

Two studies investigated the development of the perception of emotion in music. In Study 1, preschool children and adults matched nine pieces of music to five photographed facial expressions (happy, sad, anger, fear and neutral). While children did not agree with the adult majority interpretation for most pieces, their pattern of responding to the music, both with photograph choices and spontaneous verbal labels, was similar to the adults. Important methodological differences between this and previous research could explain the inconsistencies. Study 2 used happy and sad music along with a dynamic visual display in an intermodal matching experiment with 5- to 9-month-old infants. Infants preferred the affectively concordant happy display but did not look longer to the affectively concordant sad display as predicted. Taken together, these results begin to explore how emotional perception from music may be due to innate perceptual predispositions together with learned associations that develop in childhood.
Stability of Motor Programs During a State of Meditation: Electrocortical Activity in a Pianist Playing ‘Vexations’ by Erik Satie Continuously for 28 Hours
Authors: Kohlmetz Christine , Kopiez Reinhard , Altenmüller Eckart
Published: April 2003

Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of an expert pianist playing Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations’ for a continuous period of 28 hours were used to explore the changes in electrocortical activity during a state of trance and the subsequent influence on executive motor function. According to the event protocol, the pianist experienced different states of consciousness throughout the performance ranging from alertness to trance and drowsiness. We then compared the stability of motor performance for those three states by measuring the length of one played sequence as well as the power of the spectrum of the pianist’s cerebral activity recorded over posterior regions of the brain. The results revealed no significant difference between the mean duration of a played sequence in the alert as compared to the trance state. A Fast Fourier Transformation of cerebral activity showed a significant increase in power of the alpha 1 spectrum (8.0-10.0 Hz) for the trance state of mind only. This effect occurred more markedly over the left hemisphere and is often referred to as equivalent to a meditative state of consciousness. In summary, one main finding was that in trance the performance of a demanding sensorimotor integration task remained constant. Hence, these results demonstrate the high degree of stability of executive function, even in changing levels of consciousness in expert pianists.
Criminal Psychological Profiling: Validities and Abilities
Authors: Kocsis Richard N.
Published: April 2003

Criminal psychological profiling has attained unprecedented recognition despite little empirical evidence to support its validity and the absence of any thorough exposition of the skills involved with the technique. This article reports on the empirically derived conclusions of studies that sought to examine the accuracy and skill of various groups performing a profiling task. The conclusions provide some support for the contention that professional profilers can produce a more accurate prediction of an unknown offender in comparison to other studied groups. The results also give an indication of the type of skills required for proficient profiling.
Substance Use, Health, and Mental Health: Problems and Service Utilization Among Incarcerated Women
Authors: Staton Michele , Leukefeld Carl , Webster J. Matthew
Published: April 2003

This article profiles self-reported substance use, health, and mental health problems among a sample of incarcerated women in Kentucky as well as lifetime service utilization. Findings indicate that a high percentage of women reported use of alcohol, cocaine, and multiple substances during the month before incarceration. In addition, participants reported common health problems such as dental, female reproductive, physical injuries, and mental health problems including depression and anxiety. Participants reported moderate use of emergency room and mental health treatment but limited substance abuse treatment utilization. Implications for criminal justice programs and linkages with community-based aftercare services for women are recommended based on findings that health and mental health problems are associated with service utilization before incarceration.
Individualism and Traditionalism in Inheritance Law in Germany, France, England, and the United States
Authors: Willenbacher Barbara
Published: April 2003

Civil and common-law traditions treat surviving spouses and children differently. The surviving spouse has come to be increasingly protected in common-law and civil law countries. But civil law countries restrict testamentary freedom to protect the shares of children, whereas common-law countries allow the children to be disinherited. The gulf between common-law and civil law countries is, however, in the process of being closed by sociolegal practice and law reforms. In practice, nuclear family members (the spouse and children) everywhere remain the most frequent beneficiaries of inheritances. The attribution of individualist or traditionalist traits to legal concepts of inheritance seems to be futile when legal history is taken into account. The social consequences of inheritance rules depend on the specific historical, social, and economic conditions under which the rules function.
Marital Violence In A Martial Town: Husbands And Wives In Early Modern Portsmouth, 1653-1781
Authors: Warner Jessica , Lunny Allyson
Published: April 2003

Sessions papers from early modern Portsmouth survive from 1653 on and are nearly continuous for eighty-five years, that is, from 1696 to 1781. They include 356 cases of wife beating in addition to 7,658 other assaults; as such, the town’s records allow for a comparison of the violent behavior of individual wife beaters both inside and outside of their marriages. These comparisons suggest that assaults on wives were more severe than assaults on strangers and acquaintances: not only were many wives assaulted on several occasions before lodging a complaint, the attacks themselves often resulted in greater injury, reflecting (1) a greater tendency to use potentially lethal weapons and (2) a differential in strength between most husbands and wives. The motives of individual wife beaters are less clear; what can be said with certainty is that wife beatings, like assaults in general, tended to rise whenever soldiers were demobilized and men were either unemployed or underemployed.
Hygiene, Health, And Bodily Knowledge, 1880-1940: A New Zealand Case Study
Authors: Brookes Barbara
Published: April 2003

One of the key aims of the Dunedin Southern Suburbs project has been to examine the factors that structured opportunity in a period of rapid modernization in New Zealand, 1880-1940. This article argues that health was a key determinant of opportunity and examines how people thought about their bodies and sought to maintain health. It argues that older, humoral theories about health were maintained alongside new understandings wrought by the germ theory and that both placed a high value on regimen. Mothers were regarded as the household experts on health but lacked a vocabulary to communicate with their daughters about menstruation. While bodily health was an ideal to be striven for, there was little communication about bodily pleasure, a situation subject to change with the adoption of family limitation.
Golden Age versus Golden Rule: Capitalists versus Workers in Growth Theory
Authors: Thompson Frank
Published: April 2003

Golden Age steady states determined by saving rates maximizing profit are contrasted with the Golden Rule, that is, consumption maximizing, steady states highlighted in standard economic growth theory. Golden Rule steady states exemplify the classical socialist principle of distribution: to each according to work. Under the Golden Rule, consumption equals labor income, and given stationary class capital ownership shares, all profit must be invested and none consumed. In contrast, in Golden Age steady states, some profit can be freed for consumption, although the levels of investment, output, and most notably consumption are then all lower. These relationships are explored in models initially without, and then with, labor force growth and technical change.
Mapping the Matrix: Healing Vision and Communication
Authors: Douglas Angela
Published: April 2003

This article explores the nature of the Foulkesian matrix as a visual concept and healing construct. I describe the theories of spiritual healing, in particular the chakra system, and examine the matrix in this light as a vehicle for healing through the development and communication of the shared symbolic language and metaphor of the group as a whole.
Research and Survive? A Critical Question for Group Analysis
Authors: Carter David
Published: April 2003

Within the UK NHS (National Health Service) there is an increasing emphasis on evidence based practice in psychological therapies. This article discusses the political challenges and practical dilemmas this raises for group analysis, first by examining questions that might be asked by the principal stakeholders in group analysis as practised within the NHS. Such questions relate to one central issue: `What is the point of group analysis?' and might be regarded as different angles on this shared, core question, as seen from the perspectives of outcome, process and theory. The literature relating to outcome and process in group analysis will be discussed and the current state of group-analytic theory examined, with emphasis on group analysis as a `broad church'. The article will discuss issues of research, and argue that, due to the relatively undeveloped state of group-analytic theory, it is necessary to look to qualitative research methods as a means of helping to build a more clearly defined group-analytic theory and proving its worth.
Community Unconscious on the Internet
Authors: Weinberg Haim
Published: April 2003

This article examines the group dynamics in a discussion list on the Internet, focusing on the special psychological mechanisms that appear. A discussion list is seen to resemble a large group, and the processes characteristic of the large group are relevant to its study. The transference of the list members towards the moderator and the list as a whole is examined together with the countertransference of the moderator. Some of the dynamics that appear on the list deviate from those that usually appear in a large group. Exploring the unconscious of a discussion list on the Internet helps in under-standing the common hidden norms and values of organizations and communities, especially those of the community of mental health professionals.
Lost Shadows - Migrants, Refugees and Social Class: A Group-Analytic Challenge
Authors: Rohr Elisabeth
Published: April 2003

Migrants canid refugees have proved to be a challenge for modern society and certainly a challenge for group analysis as well. This challenge links migrants and refugees to the menibers of the lower social classes, who always seem to have been a v.lYery specific challenge for society as well as for psychoanalysis and group analysis. Against this background, the article explores the possibilities for understanding migrant identities, drawing attention to new? theoretical perspectives beyond psychoanalysis and group analysis, and offring new ways of conceptualizing and understanding tranHscUltural phenomena.
`Vulnerable to the Eye'
Authors: Plant Robert
Published: April 2003

This article focuses on the importance of the foundation matrix for group analysis by considering shifts in the visual culture of the Western world since the beginning of the 20th century. The author explores the influence that these shifts have had on the development and practice of group analysis; in particular; by linking the development of group analysis with the move away from the single fixed-point perspective style of painting which dominated Western visual culture starting from the Renaissance until the advent of Cubism.