bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Archaeological Significance of Rabbit-Raptor Interactions in Southern California
Authors: Hockett Bryan Scott
Published: May 2005

Taphonomy of small fauna is not as well known as actualistic studies performed with large faunal remains. Yet small fauna like rabbit may dominate an archaeological assemblage. Small fauna was a primary meat source for many prehistoric groups in North America. Raptors also damage and disperse rabbit bones. Taphonomic research with rabbit-raptor interactions was undertaken in a lacustrine environment in southern California to determine the role played by raptors in damaging and dispersing rabbit bones which may subsequently be introduced into archaeological sites. Raptors often damage, disperse, and accumulate rabbit bones in a number of areas, including open-air localities and within abandoned human structures. Potential diagnostic characteristics of rabbit bones damaged by raptors are offered as baseline end-effects of raptors exploiting rabbit carcasses. Archaeologists can compare rabbit bones excavated from archaeological sites to these bones known to be damaged by raptors. This information is crucial to archaeologists for accurately interpreting rabbit bones modified by human action, and thus past subsistence strategies over time.
The Development of Health Care Policies in Trinidad and Tobago: Autonomy or Domination?
Authors: Hezekiah Jocelyn A.
Published: May 2005

This article is part of a study that described and analyzed the development of nursing education in Trinidad and Tobago from self-government in 1956 to 1986, with special emphasis on the forces that helped to shape the society from colonial times, and consequently, nursing education. Adaptation and application of major concepts from theories of underdevelopment and development and colonialism formed the basis of the study's theoretical framework. The article focuses on the impact of the metropolitan countries on the development of health care policies. Because of the nation's historical legacy of colonialism and its current linkages with the United States and Canada, a major area fundamental to the analysis was to determine whether those two countries had superseded traditional British influences in determining health care policies. This raised the issue of whether or not health care policies could be autonomously developed to meet the needs of the people.
A Re-Evaluation of Project Pride, a Redesigned School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Program
Authors: Losciuto Leonard , Steinman Ross B.
Published: May 2005

The present study examined the effectiveness of Project PRIDE, a school-based, counselor-administered, drug and alcohol prevention program. The study is presented in the context of Project PRIDE's efforts to keep itself current and effective via continual evaluation-based development. In this outcome evaluation, Project PRIDE participants demonstrated greater pretest to posttest gains on five of six outcome measures compared to control students, although many of the changes were small or moderate and only two were statistically significant. Further, as predicted, gains in more factual or objective areas of the program were greater than in more subjective areas dealing with student perceptions and feelings. The limitations and implications of the findings are discussed. Also discussed are the advantages of the Binomial Effect Size Display as a data presentation mode that promotes both client and general audience understanding of results.
All-Female Classes in High School Computer Science: Positive Effects in Three Years of Data
Authors: Crombie Gail , Abarbanel Tracy , Trinneer Anne
Published: May 2005

In a three-year study, female students from all-female computer science (CS) classes were compared to male and female students from mixed-gender CS classes. Participants were 250 students enrolled in an elective Grade 11 CS course (63 females from three all-female classes and 155 males and 32 females from nine mixed-gender classes). Participants completed a questionnaire assessing perceived support from teachers and parents, computer-related attitudes, and future academic and occupational intentions. Females from all-female classes reported higher levels of perceived teacher support, confidence, and future academic and occupational intentions than did females from mixed-gender classes. Females from all-female classes reported levels as high as those reported by males on perceived teacher support, whereas males reported higher levels than did females from mixed-gender classes on perceived teacher support, confidence, intrinsic value, and future intentions. The present study provides some initial empirical evidence supporting the positive effects of all-female classes in CS at the high school level.
The Significance of the Method Chosen for Suicide in Understanding the Psychodynamics of the Suicidal Individual
Authors: Leenaars Antoon A. , Lester David
Published: May 2005

The suicide notes of those using active and passive methods for suicide were compared for the presence of fifty classifications regarding such psychodynamics as perturbation, lethality, relations, self-cognitions, etc. The two sets of notes resembled each other closely. The lone difference was that those using active methods more often communicated that rejection by a significant other was a critical factor; however, this finding was not replicated with a different (and larger) sample.
Meeting Corporate Needs: How Technical Writing can Prepare Students for Today's Changing Work Place
Authors: Gerson Steven M. , Gerson Sharon J.
Published: May 2005

How can Technical Writing teachers better prepare students for their careers? Corporations suggest that they want employees who can work together on teams, solve problems, and communicate. This requirement is due to the changing nature of business which is no longer industrial, employing a top-down managerial hierarchy. Today's businesses focus on information and employ a horizontal management which leans heavily on the employee who works in inter-organizational teams. First, we show our students how writing is a problem-solving activity. Next, we emphasize this point by assigning numerous short and long team projects which require problem solving and communication.
Behavioral Characteristics in Delusional Pregnancy: A Matched Control Group Study
Authors: Rosch Deborah S. , Sajatovic Martha , Sivec Harry
Published: May 2005

Objective:

False pregnancy or delusional pregnancy, is the condition of believing one is pregnant despite factual evidence to the contrary. This is the first study to utilize a standardized mental disorder assessment tool, The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) to evaluate a group of women with delusional pregnancy compared to a group of controls.

Method:

Eleven-women with delusional pregnancy (DP) were compared to a control group matched for age, race and DSM-IV psychiatric diagnosis. All patients were receiving care in a state psychiatric hospital setting.

Results:

Compared to matched controls, women with DP had significantly higher levels of hostility ( p < .05), higher rates of prescribed polypharmacy ( p < .05) and a trend toward higher antipsychotic medication dosages ( t = 1.48, df = 20, p = .08). These findings may be suggestive of greater resistance to treatment in women with DP.

Conclusions:

Biologic and psychotherapeutic treatment interventions for women with DP may need to address factors of hostility and treatment resistance. Preliminary treatment issues include selection of specific categories of psychotropic agents, as well as psychotherapies that are cognitive and lead to modification of belief paradigm.
Fatal Distraction: Finance versus Vigilance in U.S. Hospitals
Authors: Schiff Gordon D.
Published: May 2005

Three decades ago, a now classic study on the sale of human blood defied conventional economic wisdom by demonstrating that a marketplace system for blood distribution was less efficient, less safe, and more costly. Emerging data, including the article by Thomas and colleagues in this issue, suggest the same may be true for hospitals. For-profit hospitals in Utah and Colorado had higher preventable adverse event rates than matched nonprofits. The author explores possible explanations, including the role of nursing care. While some claimed that a for-profit marketplace would stimulate efforts for improved quality, evidence is accumulating that report cards and profit-driven competition have failed to deliver on their promises. More promising is a series of not-for-profit initiatives to reduce errors that redirects our attention to patients and their need for better quality care. Rather than allowing competition to lower costs and avoid sick patients to distract us, our energies need to focus on better quality alternatives.
The Right to Refuse in Québec: Five-Year Evolution of a New Mode of Expressing Risk
Authors: Renaud Marc , St-Jacques Chantal
Published: May 2005

In this article, the authors trace the outstanding stages in the institutionalization in Quebec of the right to refuse, from its conception in 1978 to its application in more than 1200 cases (as of July 1985) since 1981. The major issue over the first five years of application has been the evolution of norms used as guidelines by inspectors in justifying or not justifying a refusal. The notions of danger and of normality of working conditions and personal conditions were widely debated and clarified. As a new mode of expressing risks for workers and a new mode of regulation for the state, the right to refuse has undergone a reduction in its scope through this process.
The Poorly Coping COPD Patient: A Psychotherapeutic Perspective
Authors: Post Louis , Collins Clare
Published: May 2005

An etiology of maladaptive coping in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is proposed and a model for psychotherapeutic intervention with poorly coping COPD patients is presented. Failure in mourning, manifested by a lack of shift in patient's expectations and goals leads to: 1) difficulty in accepting illness related feelings of loss; 2) chronic anxiety; 3) attribution of responsibility for feelings and behavior to external factors; and 4) poor compliance with medical regime. Recommendations for establishing a therapeutic alliance with the poorly coping patient are discussed. Psychotherapeutic intervention aims at: 1) facilitating acceptance of losses and restructuring of life goals; 2) interrupting the cycle of alienation and social withdrawal; and 3) increasing patient's control over affective arousal and respiratory functioning. Utilization of supportive individual psychotherapy, family or marital therapy, and specific behavioral techniques is discussed. Family or marital therapy is seen as the treatment of choice. The psychotherapeutic model proposed is useful in promoting more adaptive coping in the COPD patient.
Refining Computer-Based Invention through Computer-Aided Evaluation and “State-of-the-Art” Tutorial Design
Authors: Gillis Philip D.
Published: May 2005

The result of utilizing state-of-the-art tutorial research and of making maximum use of the hardware potential of even a microcomputer moves a CAI program far beyond “ad hoc frame-oriented CAI.” Such a system can effectively utilize the potentials inherent in the synthesis of computer technology and sound instructional design in producing a beneficial prewriting experience for the composition student that is not far removed from a similar experience guided by a human tutor. The present article presents the results of a comparison between the effectiveness of two methodologies of eliciting prewriting composition. Method one consisted of CBI that was based upon recent studies in tutoring and CAE techniques; method two consisted of the same methodology with only a different medium employed, that of personal tutoring. The principle question raised was whether or not the CBI method was as good a means of prewriting instruction as that resulting from human tutoring in stimulating prewriting composition.
Archaeological Site Survey in Wooded Environments: A Field Study from the Tombigbee National Forest, North-Central Mississippi
Authors: Peacock Evan
Published: May 2005

The effects of soil screening have seldom been explicitly addressed in field studies designed to evaluate different site survey strategies. On the Tombigbee National Forest, north-central Mississippi, several quarter-sections that had been surveyed without screening in the 1980s were resurveyed using screens. The survey method involved using a combination intuitive/systematic approach, where areas of high site potential that fell between standard testing intervals were investigated. Besides shovel testing and screening, visual survey was used whenever conditions allowed. Nearly four times as many sites were found as had been previously recorded. The use of screens not only aided in the locating of sites, but also provided for more accurate measurements of site sizes. Data amenable to fine-scale chronological and wide-scale settlement pattern analyses were retrieved from the survey. The method yielded promising results while allowing for a relatively rapid rate of survey.
Beyond Family Planning: Incentives in Taiwan
Authors: Sun T. H. , Cernada George P.
Published: May 2005

Two large-scale, long-term research projects to test the feasibility of using positive and non-coercive incentives to encourage having fewer children and spacing were carried out in Taiwan during the 1970s. The results of these long-term projects are presented. The Educational Savings Plan, begun in 1971, provided financing for the secondary school education of children whose parents had limited family size to no more than three children. The Spacing Incentive Plan, begun in 1975, encouraged prolonging the interval between first and second births to at least three years by providing free birth delivery of the second child. Although both were less successful than anticipated, much was learned about the social, economic, and practical difficulties of program implementation.
The Political Context of Health Service Regulation
Authors: Krause Elliott A.
Published: May 2005

Can regulation work in health services, given the present political context? General issues in the regulatory process are discussed, followed by a consideration of the relevance of these issues to the health care field. Regulatory processes are reviewed for the United States in four areas: credentialling of people, surveillance of delivery systems, quality of materials and technology, and rate-setting or cost control. It is concluded that the process cannot work. Four alternatives are presented and briefly evaluated: tinkering, centralized regulation, national health service, and general nationalization of most major economic sectors.
Cultural Perceptions of Diarrhea and Illness Management Choices among Yoruba Mothers in Oyo State, Nigeria
Authors: Okunribido Osibamke O. , Brieger William R. , Omotade O. O. , Adeyemo A. A.
Published: May 2005

Home management of childhood illness is a norm throughout most of the world. Decisions about treatment are influenced by cultural perceptions of the illness, and diarrheal illnesses are no exception. A group of 473 mothers and their pre-school age children in rural communities outside Ibadan metropolis in Nigeria were followed over a two-month period. Data were collected on actual diarrhea illness episodes: mothers' names for these illnesses were recorded, and reported treatment actions were noted. Six major ethno-medical diarrheal illnesses were identified and were grouped broadly into watery diarrheas and dysentery-like diarrheas. Although few (40%) women used home-made sugar-salt solution (SSS) in case management, those who labeled their child's illness as a watery diarrhea were more likely to use SSS. Modern and herbal medicines were commonly and equally applied to both groups of diarrheal illnesses. While very few mothers reported decreased fluid intake by their children, many said the child had reduced appetite, especially if the child had a watery diarrhea. The findings indicate that twelve years after the national Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) Program was launched, few mothers practice the recommended actions of giving SSS, increasing food intake and avoiding drugs. Lack of attention to studies that describe the cultural basis for mothers' decisions could be part of the reason why the ORT has not been more successful.
The Validity of Psychiatric Diagnosis under Conditions of Physical Trauma: A Pilot Study
Authors: Silverman Joel J. , Stockman Susan J. , Goldberg Solomon C. , Peed Steven F.
Published: May 2005

The validity of psychiatric diagnosis obtained from hospitalized trauma patients was investigated to determine whether hospitalization with associated pain, discomfort, and medication artificially inflated the estimated prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses. Diagnostic Interview Schedule results from eleven hospitalized patients were compared with those obtained from the same patients after discharge. Diagnoses were found to be consistent for eight of eleven patients and eleven of fifteen diagnoses remained unchanged. This study yielded no evidence that recent trauma and hospitalization significantly influenced the initial psychiatric diagnoses obtained using the DIS.
Teaching Psychological Medicine on Hospital Rounds: A Liaison Experiment
Authors: Zabarenko Ralph N. , Zabarenko Lucy M.
Published: May 2005

An unusual version of liaison psychiatry is described in which the object of the liaison is the practicing physician in the hospital setting. Hospital work rounds were used as teaching rounds at frequent intervals over a relatively long time span. The paper demonstrates the usefulness and feasibility of such a project. The processes and principles of teaching psychological medicine in this way are described and exemplified.
Equity and Distributive Justice in European Health Care Reform
Authors: Saltman Richard B.
Published: May 2005

Equity is a central objective of most European health care systems, yet equity, particularly in the form of distributive justice, has not been a central objective of many recent health sector reforms. This article considers three aspects of the relationship between equity and recent health reforms. After defining what is meant by equity in the health sector, the author briefly examines available evidence on present levels of equality then discusses the equity implications of ongoing reforms in European health care systems.
Alternative Funerals: An Exploratory Study
Authors: Bergen M. Betsy , Williams Robert R.
Published: May 2005

A questionnaire to obtain data concerning beliefs and attitudes related to death and funeral preferences and to ascertain attitudes related to specific aspects of an alternative funeral plan developed by a small, midwestern, urban, Protestant congregation was completed by sixty-four respondents within the congregation. Statistical analyses revealed significant relationships existed among several of the unique aspects of the alternative plan.
Polypharmacy: Its Cost Burden and Barrier to Medical Care in a Drug-Oriented Health Care System
Authors: Isenalumhe Anthony E. , Oviawe Osawaru
Published: May 2005

In order to determine the economic and therapeutic implications of the prescriber habit in a drug-oriented health care system, data were collected on the provisional diagnosis, prescribed drugs, and their cost and procurement pattern among 1450 pediatric outpatients in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital. It was found that on average, about five drugs were prescribed for each patient, and there was a tendency to prescribe more expensive and sometimes unnecessary drugs. The more the number or higher the cost of drugs prescribed, the less patients procured them. It is therefore recommended that health care authorities and physicians in similar settings should review their drug policies and prescribing habits in order to discourage polypharmacy and the high cost of chemotherapy, with their attendant barrier to medical care.
Writing Courses in the Engineering College Curriculum
Authors: Loeb Helen M.
Published: May 2005

This article presents results of a survey of 150 engineering colleges in the United States regarding writing courses in their curricula. The results indicate that a great majority of responding colleges include writing courses in their curricula. These courses are at both the freshman and upperclass level, may be either required or recommended, and are usually taught by faculty from English or Communication departments outside the college. The results also show that writing courses are considered successful and extremely important by respondents.
Spiritual and Religious Transformation in Women Who Were Parentally Bereaved as Adolescents
Authors: Cait Cheryl-Anne
Published: May 2005

This article is based on a larger research study that focused on how an adolescent girl's identity development is influenced by the death of a parent. A sample of 18 women was recruited for the study. This article highlights the transformation of these women's spiritual and religious beliefs as part of their identity development following the death of their parents. The different pathways the women took with respect to their views on religion and spirituality are exemplified in what follows, highlighting themes of struggle and connection.
Vacation—Still an Issue of Workers' Protection? An Empirical Study of Vacation and Recuperation
Authors: Aronsson Gunnar , Gustafsson Klas
Published: May 2005

The aim of this study was to investigate how commonly employees take vacation or compensatory leave instead of sick leave, and how commonly they do not feel rested/recuperated following a fairly lengthy vacation. In the study group (n = 2,536), consisting of a representative sample based on Sweden's regular labor-market surveys, 14 percent of subjects had taken vacation or compensatory leave over the previous 12 months instead of taking sick leave. As many as 15 percent of subjects in the entire sample reported not being rested/recuperated when returning to work following several weeks' leave. A stepwise logistic regression prediction model was constructed to compute the probabilities of not being recuperated. Personal financial situation is a contributory factor, but there is also a strong correlation with the way work is organized.
An Evaluative Study of Three Photographic Focusing Screens under Two Levels of Illumination
Authors: Bunch John B.
Published: May 2005

The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the ability of photography students to focus a camera accurately under two levels of illumination (high/low) with three types of focusing screens (plain groundglass, split-image and microprism). The participants were required to focus each screen three times under each light level; scores were focus errors in feet. A 2 × 3 MANOVA design was used, and post hoc comparisons were made for plain vs. split-image, plain vs. microprism, and plain vs. microprism and split-image combined.

There was significantly less focus error (p < .05) under the low illumination level, but no significant difference between screen types across both light levels. The screen type X light level interaction was much higher than the p .05 required in this study. Plain groundglass produced the least overall error; microprism yielded the least error under low illumination and the highest error under high illumination; and split-image was the most accurate under high illumination and the least accurate for the low light level condition.
Color Preferences, Color Harmony, and the Quantitative Use of Colors
Authors: Rapoport Aviva , Rapoport Amnon
Published: May 2005

One hundred and forty-eight subjects participated in an experiment in which each subject had 1) to indicate the magnitude of his or her preferences between all pairs of seven surface colors and 2) to later use the same seven colors in a coloring task so as to create as harmonic a painting as possible. A scaling procedure due to Saaty was employed to compute for each subject a numerical measure of the consistency of his or her preference judgments and, subsequently, to construct a ratio scale of the strength of each person's preferences for the seven colors [1, 2]. It was found that 1) color preferences can be meaningfully measured on a ratio scale, 2) the derived intensities of color preference are largely accounted for by Munsell's laws of harmony, which can be extended to derive quantitative relations between surface colors with known Munsell designations, and 3) the intensities of color preference and the quantitative use of colors in a content-free coloring task are strongly related within the same individual.
The Measurement of Communication Apprehension regarding the Terminally Ill
Authors: Hayslip Bert
Published: May 2005

In order to establish the reliability and validity of a scale assessing communication apprehension regarding the dying, measures of generalized communication apprehension (CA), communication apprehension regarding the dying (CA-Dying), and death anxiety were administered to fifty-nine individuals, twenty-nine of whom had enrolled in an eight-week hospice volunteer training program, and thirty of whom were on the hospice mailing list. Results suggested that the CA-Dying scale possessed more than adequate reliability (internal consistency, test-retest) and validity (correlations with death fear, susceptibility to volunteer training program effects). It was concluded that the CA-Dying scale may serve as a useful index of difficulties caregivers have in communicating with the terminally ill.
Stressful Life Events and Minor Psychiatric Disorders: An Estimate of the Population Attributable Fraction in a Brazilian Community-Based Study
Authors: Lima Mauricio S. , Beria Jorge U. , Tomasi Elaine , Conceicao Adriano T. , Mari Jair J.
Published: May 2005

Objective:

A population-based survey was conducted in Pelotas, southern Brazil, to assess the specific and the combined contribution of life events and socioeconomic factors on the overall prevalence of minor psychiatric disorders (MPD).

Methods:

The study covered a representative sample of the population aged fifteen years or older living in the urban area of the city. Using multi-stage sampling, a total of thirty census tracts and 600 households were selected. A standardized questionnaire assessed the presence of MPD (using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire—SRQ-20), the occurrence of life events (death of a relative, a relative with a chronic disease, loss of employment, divorce, migration, accident, and robbery/assault), and socioeconomic factors.

Results:

The prevalence of MPD was 22.7 percent (17.9% males and 26.5% females) and increased with age. Significant linear relationships with education and income were observed: the less education and income, the higher the prevalence of MPD. All life events, except migration and accident, were positively associated with MPD. People who experienced divorce in the last year had a prevalence of MPD three times higher than those who had not. The likelihood of MPD increased linearly with the number of life events. The highest proportion of Population Attributable Fraction for any life events was 24 percent.

Conclusions:

These data suggest that life events can explain a substantial proportion of MPD and with socioeconomic factors may be related to the onset of MPD.
The Content of Suicide Notes: Does it Vary by Method of Suicide, Sex, or Age?
Authors: Black Stephen T. , Lester David
Published: May 2005

A study of 40 suicide notes indicated that those written by those using violent methods contained less joy, less love for others, less humor/irony, and less thanks, suggesting a greater amount of alienation from significant others. The notes written by women were found to show less intrapersonal hostility, gave fewer instructions concerning final affairs, accepted less personal responsibility, and used fewer absolute terms than those written by men. No significant differences were found by age save for a lone difference of more mention of ill-health in the suicide notes of the older suicides.
Microcomputer Support for the Business Data Processing Course
Authors: Sircar Sumit
Published: May 2005

Microcomputers are of great interest to business schools as a means of providing computer resources to beginning students. Questions of cost, unit and overall facility configuration, maintenance and staffing are of interest These characteristics are described for a particular laboratory at the University of Texas at Arlington. The programming workload on the facility is analyzed and problems described. The conclusion is that a microcomputer facility is a viable option for business schools, despite shortcomings.
Organized Ambulatory Health Service in International Perspective
Authors: Roemer M. I.
Published: May 2005

Historically, health services for the ambulatory patient have been organized throughout the world along several paths: (1) separate dispensaries for treatment of the sick, (2) hospital outpatient departments, (3) specialized preventive clinics under public health agencies, industries, or schools, (4) private group medical practice, and (5) health centers of either preventive or integrated preventive-curative scope. All five of these types of organized service continue to expand throughout the world, in relation to a declining importance of private individualistic medical practice. The trend is toward integrated ambulatory service for both preventive and curative services in health centers. The staffing and scope of health centers vary with the economic development of a country and its prevailing political philosophy. As a result of dialectical dynamics between hospitals and ambulatory care centers, these two types of service are becoming integrated in regionalized networks, increasingly supported by funds from collective sources (both taxation and insurance) and designed through national health planning. Increasing use is being made of paramedical personnel working with doctors in health teams.
Sociomedical Achievements in the People's Republic of China
Authors: deHaas J. H. , deHaas-Posthuma J. H.
Published: May 2005

The authors have had the unique opportunity of visiting China three times, in 1964, 1967, and 1971. Since liberation (a term indicating the founding of the People's Republic of China) in 1949, China has undergone metamorphoses from economic, social, and medical viewpoints. Living conditions have improved markedly. Vaccinations have eradicated common infectious diseases. Social diseases are disappearing, and venereal diseases have been eliminated. The‘ state of general hygiene is good. Recent bumper harvests help to explain the good nutritional state of children, adolescents, and adults. The mortality of infants and preschoolchildren has dropped sharply, leading to a drastic reduction in total mortality. Birth control efforts can be traced back to the middle 1950s. Late marriage and contraception are promoted, the latter including the pill, abortion, and sterilization. Since the decline of birth and death rates, the natural population increase is probably 20 per 1000. China's present population approaches 800 million. Mao Tse-tung's directive, “In medical and health work, put the stress on the rural areas,” has been upheld since the Cultural Revolution. Practitioners of traditional medicine prescribe herbs and practice acupuncture for treatment and anesthesia, methods which still await scientific evaluation. Medical education follows the same pattern as general education in that practice is given priority over theory. The organization of public health exhibits certain weaknesses, but the state of health of the population is incomparably better than in surrounding Asian countries or in China prior to liberation.
What's Killing Americans in the Prime of Life?
Authors: Jenkins C. David , Runyan Desmond K.
Published: May 2005

This article compares health outcomes in the United States with those prevailing in other nations, in terms of survival during the prime of life, ages 15 to 59 years. To seek to explain U.S. mortality excesses, age-gender-cause– specific mortality rates are compared for the United States and nine economically comparable nations, using World Health Organization national survival statistics (life tables) and age-gender–specific mortality rates by major causes. Additional data were drawn from the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. Compared with other nations in the WHO's mortality database, in the United States 15-year-old girls rank 38th and 15-year-old boys rank 34th in their likelihood of reaching age 60. U.S. adults ages 15 to 64 years have higher total mortality than those in the nine other developed nations selected for the study (and in more nations as well), for both genders and for all the five decades of life considered. The authors identify the specific causes of excess U.S. mortality. Despite huge expenditures for medical care, U.S. citizens have embarrassingly high death rates during the prime of life. Nine issues are highlighted that may illuminate ways to improve health in the United States.
Phenomenological and Quantitative Analyses of Absorption in Literary Passages
Authors: Braun Ingrid K. , Cupchik Gerald C.
Published: May 2005

The phenomenology of reader absorption was investigated using quantitative and qualitative measures. The 12 male and 12 female participants ranged in age between 19 and 53. There were two parts to the study that were counterbalanced across participants. In one part, they read two excerpted literary passages contrasting emotional and descriptive styles of writing and rated them on an 11-item questionnaire. In another part, they were interviewed regarding the general experience of being absorbed in a book and about a specific absorbing text of their choice. Phenomenological analysis of interview data revealed experiential properties (corporeality, sensory perceptions, spatiality, temporality, and agency) and underlying processes (e.g., reader's perspective, attention, familiarity with situation) that shaped the reading activity. Factor analyses of the verbal rating scales and of the frequency tables for properties and processes both contrasted empathetic and sympathetic reading modes. These were also revealed in close (i.e., spontaneous and experiential) and far (i.e., purposeful and inferential) reader orientations which appear to have reflected individual differences in reading styles. The pedagogical implications of the findings are also discussed.
Health Care in the United States: Who Pays?
Authors: Bodenheimer Thomas S.
Published: May 2005

The lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States is perpetuated by the regressive taxation system and the payment of public subsidies to large corporations. These factors operate in important ways in the health system. Health care finances—whether out-of-pocket payments, insurance premiums, or social security—burden the poor far more heavily than the rich. Even the more equitable federal income tax spares wealthy individuals and corporations. National health insurance will not rectify the unjust nature of health care financing since it relies chiefly on regressive payments and insures profits for health-related corporations. Because poor health is closely linked to poverty, the redistribution of wealth is a fundamental tenet of sensible health policy.
Aids Prevention in the United States: Lessons from the First Decade
Authors: Freudenberg Nicholas
Published: May 2005

AIDS prevention programs in the United States have been relatively successful in providing accurate information on AIDS to a wide cross-section of the population, but less successful in helping people to change their risk behavior. The most significant changes have been reported in urban gay men, with lower levels of change in drug users, and the least change in young adult heterosexuals. Various obstacles to effective AIDS prevention interventions have been identified, including too great an emphasis on information; a reliance on one-way rather than interactive communication; a narrow categorical approach to AIDS; a failure to integrate prevention and treatment services; an unwillingness to acknowledge widespread distrust of government, scientists, and health officials; and a focus on individual behavior rather than the social and political factors that shape behavior. To address these obstacles, AIDS educators should identify and strengthen those cultural forces that support prevention while also challenging those that block it. AIDS prevention programs need to be integrated into other programs serving community needs, especially into those grassroots organizations that can raise questions of gender behavior and drug use. While AIDS organizations should help meet the service needs of people with AIDS, they must also play a role in mobilizing communities to demand the resources they need to contain the further spread of the epidemic. Finally, AIDS prevention programs need to be linked to a vision of a better world in which the conditions that have contributed to the rapid spread of HIV infection are addressed and improved.
The Role of Radio in Interpersonal Communication in Developing Countries
Authors: Rashidpour Ebrahim
Published: May 2005

This article is the result of serious speculation about the role of radio in solving some of the social and psychological problems of adolescents and young adults in developing countries. It can also be considered as a pilot study and the first part of a very extensive content analysis research that will be hopefully carried out in future.

The findings show the necessity of further research in relation of mass media and interpersonal communication. It will also contribute to our understanding of the real place of radio in the lives of adolescents when faced by social and psychological problems which other social agencies cannot help them with.
Pretreatment Behavioral Profiles Associated with Subsequent Psychosocial Adjustment in Radiation Therapy Patients: A Prospective Study
Authors: Schmale Arthur H. , Morrow Gary R. , Davis Ardis , Illies Elizabeth , McNally Janet , Wright Gretchen , Craytor Josephine K.
Published: May 2005

A clinically derived system of judging cancer patients' engagement, reality testing and degree of arousal during a pretreatment consultation was found predictive of psychosocial problems or no problems reported by sixty cancer patients one month after starting radiation therapy. Independent ratings of psychosocial problems by the treating oncologists, nurses and radiation therapists three months after starting treatment were also found significantly associated with the pretreatment composite.

Disease, treatment and demographic factors were not predictive of psychosocial problems and were not associated with the pretreatment clinical composite.

Follow-up observations at six months and eighteen to twenty-four months of forty-four and twenty-four of the original patients available for study revealed there was no continuing association between their pretreatment clinical composites and psychosocial problem ratings.
Action-Oriented Community Diagnosis: A Health Education Tool
Authors: Eng Eugenia , Blanchard Lynn
Published: May 2005

Health education research and practice have found individuals' health decisions and behaviors to be related to their perceptions of need. It has also been found that physical, social, and political conditions generated by one's community can exert important influences on individuals' ability to act on the basis of need. It appears that conducting a needs assessment is a necessary component of program planning, but the information is not sufficient for designing sustainable interventions. An Action-Oriented Community Diagnosis procedure has been developed over several years to: 1) identify normative and comparative needs determined by service agencies as well as expressed and perceived needs experienced by clients; 2) assess community conditions contributing to collective competence as well as the barriers and gaps contributing to disease and illness; and 3) increase collective competence of communities and agencies to collaborate in defining problems and needs. One of the many health education projects that have conducted such a diagnosis has been selected to illustrate the features of the procedure, the rationale behind the methods and sequence of steps, how the methods can be operationalized, and the outcomes.
Bush Supersizes Effort to Weaken the World Health Organization
Authors: Simon Michele , McMahon Jean
Published: May 2005

Obesity has reached global epidemic levels, and two-thirds of Americans are now either obese or overweight. But the U.S. government, along with the powerful food industry, is trying to thwart the World Health Organization's efforts, through its proposed Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity, and Health, to make even the most commonsense recommendations on diet.
Attitude and Peer Cross Pressure: Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Use
Authors: Robin Stanley S. , Johnson Eric O.
Published: May 2005

This research uses the concept of cross pressures, a concept created to explain political behavior, to predict the frequency of adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and drug use. Using a population of eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders from 207 Michigan public school districts, respondents reported their frequency of alcohol, cigarette, and drug use for thirty days and one year prior to the survey. They also reported their perception of friends' approval/disapproval of substance use, peer pressure to use, and their assessment of risk of use. Cross pressure patterns are created from these three variables and used to predict frequency of substance use. In addition to descriptive data and associations between independent and dependent variables, the findings show the patterns and extent of cross pressures to be highly predictive of frequency of substance use. The implications for understanding adolescent substance use and for educational programs are noted.
Offshore Safety Regulations in Norway: From Model to Systems in Erosion
Authors: Ryggvik Helge
Published: May 2005

There are indications that the Norwegian oil province has experienced a decrease in incidents since the introduction of its external control system, which gives industry an important role in setting and maintaining safety standards. This article argues that much of the veneration of the Norwegian model is based on a misreading of the Norwegian offshore health and safety system. The author suggests that improvements in offshore safety in Norway were not caused by the adoption of the internal control system alone, but rather by a number of factors which included the introduction of the stringent Norwegian Work Environment Act, which gives union representatives the right to stop work when they feel safety is jeopardized, as well as the maintenance of strong offshore unions with a comprehensive network of trade union-appointed safety representatives.
Using Virtual Reality to Teach Disability Awareness
Authors: Pivik Jayne , McComas Joan , MaCfarlane Ian , Laflamme Marc
Published: May 2005

A desktop virtual reality (VR) program was designed and evaluated to teach children about the accessibility and attitudinal barriers encountered by their peers with mobility impairments. Within this software, children sitting in a virtual wheelchair experience obstacles such as stairs, narrow doors, objects too high to reach, and attitudinal barriers such as inappropriate comments. Using a collaborative research methodology, 15 youth with mobility impairments assisted in developing and beta-testing the software. The effectiveness of the program was then evaluated with 60 children in Grades 4–6 using a controlled pretest/posttest design. The results indicated that the program was effective for increasing children's knowledge of accessibility barriers. Attitudes, grade level, familiarity with individuals with a disability, and gender were also investigated.
Toni Morrison: Mothers and Daughters
Authors: Schneiderman Leo
Published: May 2005

The present article analyzes Morrison's novels with emphasis on the conflicted emotions of fictional African-American mothers in relation to their children. Of special interest is Morrison's depiction of the mother's role in shaping the individuation process of her daughters in a matriarchal, father-absent context. Also examined is Morrison's treatment of intergenerational continuity and the unique role of the grandmother against a background of social change. Such change is interpreted by Morrison as involving conflict between the norms of traditional, rural, folkloric black culture, and the pressures of mainstream American society. Morrison's fiction, taken as a whole, is viewed as illustrating the key role of the African-American mother in maintaining survival strategies developed by black women historically. The fate of black men in Morrison's fictional universe is also considered, along with pertinent implications for understanding African-American patterns of socialization in the broadest sense.
Structural Adjustment and Health Policy in Africa
Authors: Loewenson Rene
Published: May 2005

World Bank/International Monetary Fund Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have been introduced in over 40 countries of Africa. This article outlines their economic policy measures and the experience of the countries that have introduced them, in terms of nutrition, health status, and health services. The evidence indicates that SAPs have been associated with increasing food insecurity and undernutrition, rising ill-health, and decreasing access to health care in the two-thirds or more of the population of African countries that already lives below poverty levels. SAPs have also affected health policy, with loss of a proactive health policy framework, a widening gap between the affected communities and policy makers, and the replacement of the underlying principle of equity in and social responsibility for health care by a policy in which health is a marketed commodity and access to health care becomes an individual responsibility. The author argues that there is a deep contradiction between SAPs and policies aimed at building the health of the population. Those in the health sector need to contribute to the development and advocacy of economic policies in which growth is based on human resource development, and to the development of a civic environment in Africa that can ensure the implementation of such policies.
Personal and Social Motivations as Predictors of Substance Use among College Students
Authors: Haden Tony L. , Edmundson Elizabeth W.
Published: May 2005

The Drug Use Survey was administered via a direct mail to a simple random sample of 2200 students enrolled at a large southwestern U.S. university. A purpose of the study was to determine the predictability of self-reported drug use utilizing motivations (personal and social) commonly reported by substance users. Two subscales were developed, one for each category of motivations. Reliability for each subscale as estimated by coefficient alpha was .80 and .86, respectively. A series of step-wise multiple regression analyses were computed in which individual drug use indices served as criterion variables, while the predictor variables were the personal motivations subscale (PMS) and the social motivation subscale (SMS) for each model. The results indicated that the PMS was the stronger predictor in every model with the exception of the model that predicted the alcohol use index. The SMS was the best predictor for alcohol use.
Commentary: Question your Assumptions
Authors: Lang James L.
Published: May 2005

This article cautions technical writers to be aware of assumptions in their research and writing and suggests a pragmatic incentive for being aware of assumptions. Asserting that our weaknesses are merely our strengths turned inside out by altered circumstances, it compares the power of properly used assumptions with their weakness when improperly used. Its narrative style emphasizes its point with an extended dance metaphor and illustrative examples. “Inspired by the new assumptions, both parties join into a dance of every shifting awareness. Partners in this dance cue each other by tuning in on and accepting the other's assumptions. When the dance starts, communication flows and assumptions begin again. …”