bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Relation of Observer Agreement to Accuracy According to a Two-receiver Signal Detection Model of Diagnosis
Authors: Quinn Michael F.
Published: March 2007

A long-standing problem of medical diagnosis is why rates of observer disagreement are so high. To study this question a model of test interpretation is defined which accounts for disagreement when observers use identical diagnostic strategies. Test subjects are assigned to one of two disease classes on the basis of two parameters: the test score and A, the diagnostic certainty, a parameter analogous to signal-to-noise ratio. The rate of disagreement and the mean error rate of independent ideal observers are derived as a function of diagnostic strategy. It follows from the model that: 1) Maximization of the ratio of disagreement to error defines an optimal diagnostic strategy with advantages over maximum likelihood and Bayes diagnostic strategies. 2) Disagreement exceeds error if the sensitivity and specificity of in dependent observers exceed one-half for all A. 3) The ratio of disagreement to error can be no greater than two if test interpretation is dichotomous but can approach infinity for tricho tomous interpretation, i.e., if observers are allowed to interpret cases as indeterminate.
Mediastinal Staging in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer
Authors: Malenka David J. , Colice Gene L. , Jacobs Charles , Beck J. Robert
Published: March 2007

Decision analysis was used to study the approach to staging mediastinal involvement in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Various diagnostic strategies for medias tinal disease staging using computed tomography (CT), mediastinoscopy, and bronchoscopy with transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), either individually or in series, were compared and found to result in similar patient life expectancies. Two strategies, one using bronchos copy and TBNA alone and the other using it in combination with CT, were consistently least expensive across a wide range of prior probabilities, test characteristics, and charges. The authors conclude that strategies for staging mediastinal involvement in NSCLC that rely on bronchoscopy and TBNA are preferable because they are least expensive. Key words: staging; lung cancer; decision analysis; computed tomography; mediastinoscopy; trans bronchial needle aspiration. (Med Decis Making 1989;9:231-242)
Treatment Preferences of Patients and Physicians
Authors: Mazur Dennis J. , Hickam David H.
Published: March 2007

The presentation of efficacy data influences preferences for treatment options. To determine how the amount of data provided to patients influenced patient decision making after framing and labeling effects were controlled, patients and physicians were presented results of two alternative treatments for an unidentified serious medical condition, derived from summary data of lung cancer treatment after surgery (better long-term survival) or radiation therapy (better short-term survival). These data are the same as used in previous studies of framing. When summary data at one month, one year, and five years were presented in terms of both survival and mortality, patients preferred the option that would be expected if only mortality data had been presented. When more detailed data were presented (data at six discrete time points), both patients and physicians preferred the option associated with a survival frame influence in previous studies. Thus, once framing influences are controlled, preference changes can be influenced by another attribute of summary data: the amount of data presented. Key words: cognitive attitudes; cognitive biases; data, framing effect; in formed consent; medical decision making; preferences; summary data. (Med Decis Making 1990;10:2-5)
Affirmative Actions
Authors: Diamond George A.
Published: March 2007

Clinical estimates of test efficacy can be distorted by the differential referral of positive and negative test responders for outcome verification. Accordingly, a series of computer simu lations was performed to quantify the effects of various degrees of this selection bias on the observed true-positive rate, false-positive rate, and discriminant accuracy of a hypothetical test. The error in observed true- and false-positive rates was positive with respect to diag nosis, and negative with respect to prognosis. The magnitude of error was highly correlated with the magnitude of bias associated with the test response (primary selection bias), but not with the magnitude of bias associated with additional independent factors (secondary selection bias). Mathematical correction for preferential referral based on the test response using a previously published algorithm completely removed the correlation with primary selection bias for both diagnosis and prognosis. Although a significant correlation with sec ondary selection bias persisted at intermediate base rates, its magnitude was small. Dis criminant accuracy was assessed in terms of area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Biased values of true- and false-positive rates were distributed along the curve defined by the actual true- and false-positive rates of the test for both diagnosis and prognosis. As a result, the areas under ROC curves calculated from biased true- and false-positive rates were within 2% of the areas calculated from the actual rates. Only when the primary and secondary observations were independent with respect to one outcome and dependent with respect to the other outcome did a systematic error appear in ROC area. These data indicate that: 1) selection bias significantly distorts the determination of diagnostic and prog nostic test accuracy in directionally opposite ways; 2) the distortion can be partially offset by a previously published mathematical algorithm; and 3) the area under an ROC curve is insensitive both to the primary bias associated with the test response itself and to the secondary bias associated with concomitant clinical information under a variety of circum stances. Key words: diagnosis; prognosis; referral bias; ROC curves; sensitivity; specificity; verification bias; workup bias. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:48-56)
The Healthy-years Equivalents
Authors: Mehrez Abraham , Gafni Amiram
Published: March 2007

The healthy-years equivalent (HYE) is a measure of outcome of health care programs that combines two outcomes of interest: quality of life and quantity of life. Unlike QALYs (quality- adjusted life years) HYEs fully represent patients' (or other individuals') preferences, as a result of the way they are calculated from each individual's utility function. The authors suggest an algorithm to measure the HYE of any given lifetime health profile. The algorithm is based on the classic standard gamble method to measure individuals' preferences under uncertainty, and consists of two lottery questions. Algorithms for the general case (any given lifetime health profile) and a simpler case—the chronic health state case—are provided, as is a modification of the algorithm aimed at shortening the length of the interview when an individual is faced with many possible lifetime health profiles. In addition, two questions are addressed. The first is theoretical and deals with the existence of HYE: do all lifetime health profiles, which are preferred to death, have hypothetical equivalents that can be measured in healthy years? The second is empirical and deals with the reproducibility of the measures obtained by using the measurement technique suggested. This is needed because the technique employs a combination of lottery questions that had not previously been used together. The results of an experiment performed to test the reproducibility of the measures were satisfactory. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:140-146)
Psychological Androgyny and Preference in Loss-framed Gamhles of Medical Students
Authors: Yarnold Paul R. , Nightingale Stephen D. , Curry Raymond H. , Martin Gary J.
Published: March 2007

Physician decisions concerning allocation of health care resources to patients are highly variable and poorly understood. Psychological androgyny theory (PAT) has been employed as a model of the interpersonal and task activities required of physicians for care of their patients. Several studies have successfully predicted physician resource utilization using measures derived from PAT. Using a sample of 97 first-year medical students, the authors explored the relationship between PAT and risk preference in loss-framed gambles in order to elucidate the process whereby variables derived from PAT predict resource utilization. As hypothesized, students selecting the certain loss had significantly higher mean androgyny scores than did students selecting uncertainty. Research involving these constructs is in tegrated in the context of a theoretical "causal model," which highlights issues deserving of future research. Key words: androgyny; medical resource utilization; medical students; risk preference. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:176-179)
Verbal Expressions of Probability in Informed Consent Litigation
Authors: Merz Jon F. , Druzdzel Marek J. , Mazur Dennis J.
Published: March 2007

Informed consent litigation provides a forum in which probabilistic evidence is elicited from physicians as parties or as expert witnesses. The authors reviewed over 450 medical in formed consent opinions reported by both trial and appellate courts in all 50 states over 40 years to determine 1) the extent to which verbal expressions of probability were used by testifying physicians to characterize the risks of medical procedures; 2) when such expres sions were used, whether consistent numeric interpretations of the terms were being applied by the physicians; 3) whether the choice of expression was influenced by the severity of the consequences associated with the particular risk, and 4) whether the use of such terms was correlated with trial outcomes, inasmuch as the duty to disclose a risk is said to increase with the magnitude of the risk and probability is one measure of such magnitude. It was found that subjective verbal expressions of probability are used in the litigation setting, and that such expressions represent broad ranges of numeric probabilities. There was some correlation between the expression and the represented numeric probabilities. In general, expressions such as "extremely low" and "low" corresponded to probabilities lower than those represented by terms such as "high" and "very high." Further, verbal expressions appeared to be influenced by the seventy of the consequences associated with the risks, but whether this increases or decreases the ambiguity of verbal expressions in the com munication process warrants further research. The authors suggest a syntax of verbal expres sions of probability as a means to reduce the numeric ambiguity of these terms Key words: verbal expressions; probability; syntax; communication; medicolegal, litigation; informed con sent. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:273-281)
Cancer Patients' Evaluations of Their Current Health State
Authors: Llewellyn-Thomas Hilary A. , Thiel Elaine C. , McGreal M. June
Published: March 2007

A study was done to determine the extent to which patients' subjective evaluations of their current health are determined by their expectations, their actual health, and how they compare themselves with others. At the initiation of radiation therapy, 61 laryngeal cancer patients described the health status they expected at the end of therapy, using standardized and individualized dimensions. Objective summative scores were derived for these descriptions. At the end of therapy, these respondents described their current health status and the status they believed others their age were experiencing, on the same dimensions, and objective summative scores were derived for these actual and social comparison states Rating scales and standard gambles were used to obtain values and utilities ("subjective evaluations") for current health at the end of therapy. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the extent to which variation in the subjective evaluations was explained by the objective scores for actual, expected, and social comparison states, under these different methodologic con ditions Actual health state was a consistently significant predictor. Most variance was ex plained in the model using individualized dimensions and value scores (r2 = 46 0%). Further investigation is needed to determine whether differences in the amounts of variance explained are due to aversion to gambling, dimension salience, order effects, or respondent fatigue Key Words. health status, health utilities, health values, prospect theory (Med Decis Making 1992;12:115-122)
The Clinical Algorithm Nosology
Authors: Pearson Steven D. , Margolis Carmi Z. , Davis Scott , Schreier Lisa K. , Gottlieb Lawrence K.
Published: March 2007

Concern regarding the cost and quality of medical care has led to a proliferation of competing clinical practice guidelines. No technique has been described for determining objectively the degree of similarity between alternative guidelines for the same clinical problem. The authors describe the development of the Clinical Algorithm Nosology (CAN), a new method to com pare one form of guideline the clinical algorithm The CAN measures overall design com plexity independent of algorithm content, qualitatively describes the clinical differences be tween two alternative algorithms, and then scores the degree of similarity between them CAN algorithm design-complexity scores correlated highly with clinicians' estimates of com plexity on an ordinal scale (r = 0 86) Five pairs of clinical algorithms addressing three topics (gallstone lithotripsy, thyroid nodule, and smusitis) were selected for interrater reliability testing of the CAN clinical-similarity scoring system Raters categorized the similarity of algorithm pathways in alternative algorithms as "identical," "similar," or "different " Interrater agreement was achieved on 85/109 scores (80%), weighted kappa statistic, k = 0 73. It is concluded that the CAN is a valid method for determining the structural complexity of clinical algorithms, and a reliable method for describing differences and scoring the similarity between algorithms for the same clinical problem In the future, the CAN may serve to evaluate the reliability of algorithm development programs, and to support providers and purchasers in choosing among alternative clinical guidelines. Key words. guidelines; clinical algorithms, reliability; validity; quality assurance. (Med Decis Making 1992;12:123-131)
Clinical Assessment of the Probability of Coronary Artery Disease
Authors: Bobbio Marco , Detrano Robert , Shandling Adrian H. , Ellestad Myrvin H. , Clark Jayne , Brezden Oleh , Abecia Ana , Martinez-Caro Diego
Published: March 2007

Probability estimates of angiographic coronary artery disease made by experienced, board- certified staff cardiologists were compared with those of cardiologists in training (fellows). In addition, estimates made before coronary angiography were compared with those made several months later based on written clinical summaries of 15 items of objective clinical and test data. Cardiologists were asked to estimate the probabilities of coronary artery disease, multivessel disease, and triple-vessel or left main disease. The study population consisted of 510 consecutive patients without valvular disease referred for the first time for coronary angiography to three hospitals. Both staff and fellows consistently overestimated the pre-angiographic probability of coronary artery disease. The probabilities estimated from patient summaries were always significantly lower than the pre-angiographic assessments. Only staff cardiologists reliably assessed the probabilities of coronary artery disease during the second assessment (p < 0.05). Thus, estimates of disease probability based on clinical judgment vary according to the source of information, and these estimates are more accurate when physicians have objective data on hand and do not know the identities of the patients. Key words: judgment; disease probability; disease estimate; coronary artery disease; clinical assessment; value-induced bias. (Med Decis Making 1992;12:197-203)
Developing Prediction Rules and Evaluating Observation Patterns Using Categorical Clinical Markers
Authors: McConnochie Kenneth M. , Roghmann Klaus J. , Pasternack Joel
Published: March 2007

Substantial uncertainty often remains at the time that important diagnostic or therapeutic decisions must be made, despite the availability of multiple clinical indicators. Multiple in dicators may be used to define observation patterns that are associated with the presence or absence of disease. Clinical prediction rules based on groups of observation patterns have been used to quantify probabilities and reduce error rates for some medical problems, but efficient use of multiple indicators remains a major challenge in medical practice. Medical outcomes and clinical observations are frequently categorical. Two statistical techniques appropriate for generating prediction rules from categorical data are logit analysis (LA) and recursive partitioning analysis (RPA). LA and RPA were compared in evaluating observation patterns for fractures among 666 upper-extremity injuries in children, and in developing prediction rules for selective radiographic assessment. Fracture estimates and error reduc tions provided by RPA and LA were very similar. Each technique generated a set of prediction rules with a range of misclassification probabilities, and evaluated the probabilities of fracture for all observation patterns. LA used more information than RPA in observation pattern evaluations, however, and provided fracture estimates specific to each pattern. With currently available statistical software, RPA output provides better statistical guidance in generating prediction rules, whereas LA provides more statistical information of use in evaluating ob servation patterns. LA warrants attention similar to that conferred on RPA. It appears that complementary use of LA and RPA would be valuable in developing clinical guidelines. Key words: predictive models; observation patterns; prediction rules; logit analysis; recursive partitioning analysis. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:30-42)
Patients' and Physicians' Interpretations of Graphic Data Displays
Authors: Mazur Dennis J. , Hickam David H.
Published: March 2007

To assess how patients' and physicians' treatment preferences are influenced by graphic data displays (five-year survival curves), a cross-sectional survey of patients, physicians, and medical students was done in a university-based Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Participants in the study were 119 patients seen in a general medicine clinic, 43 physicians, and 67 medical students. Three five-year survival graphs were used. Each graph contained survival curves for two alternative unidentified treatments for an unidentified med ical condition. Graph 1 was a baseline graph used in previous studies of framing effects. Graph 2 contained one survival curve having an area under the curve that was 24% greater than that in graph 1. Graph 3 contained one survival curve that had an area under the curve that was 42% greater than that in graph 1. Respondents were asked to indicate which treatment they preferred for each graph and which aspects of the five-year survival curves most influenced their choices. Respondents did not receive numerical data about the dif ference between the areas under the two curves. Most patients did not change their pref erences across the three graphs. A significantly larger (p ≤ 0.0001) proportion of physicians and medical students than of patients changed their preferences across the three graphs. Patients appeared to use information contained in five-year survival graphs in a different way than physicians and medical students, minimizing or neglecting the importance of ele ments of the five-year survival curve other than immediate (year 0) and long-term (year 5) survival data when presented with curve areas of differing sizes, while the physicians reported using intermediate (year 2 to year 4) data as well as curve shape. Key words: cognitive biases; framing effect; informed consent; medical decision making; preference; five-year survival; life expectancy. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:59-63)
Teaching Clinical Decision Making in a Family Practice Clerkship
Authors: Holtgrave David R. , Lawler Frank H. , Schwiebert L. Peter
Published: March 2007

Limited health care resources and other social factors are making clinical decision making (CDM) a necessary subject of study for medical students. However, CDM material is technical and could be perceived by students as arcane. This study evaluated student attitudes toward a CDM module imbedded in a third-year medical student (MSIII) family medicine clerkship. A survey instrument was used for the evaluation and included a within-subject check for response consistency. The results show that MSIIIs feel that technical CDM material is within their grasp and that it is relevant to their day-to-day care of patients. Key words: clinical decision making; educational evaluation; clerkships. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:114-117)
Test-Retest Reliabilities of Two Treatment-preference Instruments in Measuring Utilities
Authors: Kiebert Gwendoline M. , Stiggelbout Anne M. , Leer Jan-Willem H. , Kievit Job , De Haes Hanneke J.C.J.M.
Published: March 2007

The authors assessed the test-retest reliabilities of two treatment-preference instruments recently applied to the measurement of the utilities of health states after different treatment modalities for cancer. The first instrument measures the strengths of preferences concerning a choice between a wait-and-see policy, and treatment with radiotherapy after an initial surgical breast-conserving procedure for early breast cancer. The second measures the strengths of preferences concerning a choice between two hypothetical surgical treatment outcomes in cancer of the rectum with different probabilities of expected five-year survival. Both measure the strength of a subject's treatment preference given probabilities of treat ment-related costs and benefits. The subjects were radiotherapy technicians (n = 20) and cancer patients (n = 20) who were interviewed in weeks 2 and 4 of radiotherapy. The test- retest reliabilities of both instruments were inconsistent and moderately high, with Spear- man's rank correlations ranging from 0.38 to 0.81 and weighted kappas ranging from 0.38 to 0.69. To investigate whether the start of treatment with radiotherapy influenced the utilities that patients assigned to health states, the same procedure was applied in another, com parable, group of patients with cancer ( n = 20). For this group, the first assessment was made prior to the start of treatment and the second during the second week of radiation therapy. The scores of this group of patients indeed appeared to be less stable than the scores of the patients assessed in weeks 2 and 4 of radiotherapy. However, the instability of the scores could have been the result of test bias. Key words: test-retest reliability; utility assessment; oncology. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:133-140)
Contingent Valuation of Supplemental Health Care in Israel
Authors: Golan Elise H. , Shechter Mordechai
Published: March 2007

The use of the contingent-valuation method for determining willingness to pay for non-market or currently available health care services continues to be experimental. In this study, the contingent-valuation method was used to calculate willingness-to-pay estimates for a pro posed change in the Israeli health care system. It was found that the willingness-to-pay estimates calculated in the Israel study were reasonable and that the methodology is able to adapt to the special nature of the health care commodity while adhering to the conditions for reliability and validity in a contingent-valuation study. Key words: Contingent-valuation method; willingness to pay for health care; Israeli medical care system. (Med Decis Making 1993;13:302-310)
Control of Nonholonomic Wheeled Mobile Robots by State Feedback Linearization
Authors: d'Andréa-Novel B. , Campion G. , Bastin G.
Published: March 2007

We are concerned in this article with the control of wheeled mobile robots, which constitute a class of nonholonomic mech anical systems. More precisely, we are interested in solving the problem of tracking with stability of a reference trajectory, by means of linearizing "static" and "dynamic" state feedback laws. We give conditions to avoid possible singularities of the feedback laws.
Relative 3D Reconstruction Using Multiple Uncalibrated Images
Authors: Mohr R. , Quan L. , Veillon F.
Published: March 2007

In this article we show how relative 3D reconstruction from point correspondences of multiple uncalibrated images can be achieved through reference points. The original contributions with respect to related works in the field are mainly a direct global method for relative 3D reconstruction and a geometric method to select a correct set of reference points among all im age points. Experimental results from both simulated and real image sequences are presented, and robustness of the method and reconstruction precision of the results are discussed.
Matching and Clustering: Two Steps Toward Automatic Object Modeling in Computer Vision
Authors: Gros Patrick
Published: March 2007

In this article, we present a general frame for a system of au tomatic modeling and recognition of 3D polyhedral objects. Such a system has many applications for robotics: e.g., recog nition, localization, and grasping. Here we focus on one main aspect of the system: when many images of one 3D object are taken from different unknown viewpoints, how to recognize those that represent the same aspect of the object? Briefly, is it possible to determine automatically if two images are similar or not? The two stages detailed in the article are the matching of two images and the clustering of a set of images. Matching consists of finding the common features of two images while no information is known about the image contents, the motion, or the calibration of the camera. Clustering consists of regrouping into sets the images representing a same aspect of the modeled objects. For both stages, experimental results on real images are shown.
Colonial Perspectives in the Construction of the Psychotic Patient as Primitive Man
Authors: Heinz Andreas
Published: March 2007

■ Evolutionary concepts about the hierarchical organization of the brain and mind dominated schizophrenia during the last hundred years. These theories compared psychotic patients with 'primitive people' and suggested that both do not master rationality, a function of the highest level of mental develop ment. While 'primitives' supposedly never reached this level, psychotic patients were supposed to have lost their higher mental functions in the disease process. Evolutionary concepts thus allowed to construct social hierarchies as biological stages in a unilinear development of the human race. Structures of domination in the colonies were coded as developmental differences. Placing psychotic patients in the position thus defined proved dangerous for the patients, who ulti mately were confronted with the techniques of exclusion and extermination developed in the colonies. Modem psychiatric theories avoid direct comparisons between 'primitives' and psychotic patients. However, the structure of the old hierarchical model has survived in some recent theories that compared psychotic behavior with animalistic instinct reactions or the problems of the 'underclass' with aggression among non-human primates.
The Dialogue between Abraham and Yhwh in Gen. 18.23-32: a Historical-Critical Analysis
Authors: Zvi Ehud Ben
Published: March 2007

An analysis of the logic of the dialogue between Abraham and YHWH in Gen. 18.23- 32 shows that this text attempts to persuade its historical audience of the validity of several theological propositions by appealing to YHWH as the most preferred audi ence. Some of these propositions, and in particular the idea that there may be limits to divine omnipotence, and that human beings know some of the rules concerning what God ought to do, caused uneasiness in the theological discourse of the time. The dia logue in Gen. 18.23-32 also sheds light on some likely characteristics of the post- monarchic community in which it was written.
INTAMEL — Farewell to Budapest
Authors: van Swigchem P.J.
Published: March 2007

That speeches are not by definition so dull that they spoil one's pleasure in attend ing conferences was proven by the Chairman of INTAMEL, Dr P.J. van Swigchem, when he addressed the hosts at the closing session of the INTAMEL meeting, held from 24-29 August 1981 in Budapest. The Editorial Committee of IFLA Journal offers you this speech as a source of entertainment as well as of instruction.
Acquisition and Exchange - Report on IFLA Activities
Authors: Montag Ulrich
Published: March 2007

During the IFLA Conference in Paris, August 1989, Ulrich Montag, Secretary of the Section, gave a brief report on current activities of the Section on Acquisition and Exchange. His report has been updated for this issue of IFLA Journal.
From the IFLAS Secretariat
Authors: Tallim Paula , Hurley Gerry
Published: March 2007

The news section of IFLA Journal contains information about IFLA and its activities, and other "international" news. National information is only dissemi nated if it has international relevance.

Attention is drawn to the fact that members are free to translate andlor dupli cate any part of this news section, without copyright implications. IFLA, indeed, urges members to disseminate the IFLA news in their country and region. A statement of the source of information would be appreciated.
Ie, the World Women Make: Toward an Interpretive Sociology1
Authors: Hashimoto Mitsuru
Published: March 2007

This article is based on material obtained from survey research con ducted in 1977 and 1978 in a street in downtown Kyoto, and describes the street as two women have seen it. The personal histories of the two women provide the theme to which are connected the histories of their households, the street around the households, and the whole of Japanese society surrounding the households and the street. One woman built her own household and the other preserved a traditional household, and both accounts are important for the creation of a more satisfactory sociological theory.
Whores, Whore-Chasers, and Swine: the Regulation of Sexuality and the Restoration of Order in the Nineteenth Century German Divorce Court
Authors: Abrams Lynn
Published: March 2007

This article suggests that in a society experiencing economic and political upheaval, marriage, and especially the language used to talk about marital break down, was placed at the forefront of an attempt to bolster the idea of the sexual balance of power and proper gender role division. An analysis of the depositions presented at divorce cases in one court in the Prussian Rhine Province between 1814 and 1871 demonstrates that social organization was dependent on sexual and productive categories, which in turn held the key to marital stability. Those couples who appeared in the divorce court illustrate how gender relations within marriage were being negotiated and contested around these two poles and how abusive language and violence were used to reassert or undermine power and authority within the marriage relationship.
The Rhetoric of Reproduction and the Reconfiguration of Womanhood in the French Birth Control Movement, 1890-1920
Authors: Accampo Elinor A.
Published: March 2007

Birth control movements that emerged in Europe and the United States during the last third of the nineteenth century lost their emancipatory and feminist potential in the twentieth century as they succumbed to control by the medical profession, eugenicists, and institutionalized goals of planned parenthood. The neo-Malthusian movement in France, however, retained a radical character and became a focal point for the convergence of libertarian, feminist, and anarchist concerns. By emancipating women from their "biological destiny" and separating sexuality and reproduction, neo-Malthusian rhetoric reconfigured womanhood and established the basis for women's development as full individuals and citizens.
The Boundaries Between Marriage, Nonmarriage, and Parenthood: Changes in Behavior and Policy in Postwar Britain
Authors: Lewis Jane , Kiernan Kathleen
Published: March 2007

This article suggests that there have been two major changes in the pattern of development of lone motherhood since the Second World War. First there was a widespread separation of sex and marriage. The second shift has been more recent and arguably more radical, involving the separation of marriage and parenthood. Whereas the first set of changes was regarded with considerable optimism by commentators, the second has given rise to moral panic about lone motherhood. The result, we suggest, has been a recasting of family law, putting the emphasis on the responsibilities of parenthood rather than marriage.
The Effects of AFDC On American Family Structure, 1940-1990
Authors: Ruggles Steven
Published: March 2007

The "end of welfare as we know it" in the United States was predicated on the belief that the welfare system was responsible for a dramatic upsurge of single- parent families. This article addresses the issue historically, examining the poten tial impact of interstate differences in Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefit levels on family structure from 1940 to 1990. The author's results reveal that the impact of AFDC on family structure was considerably smaller in the period from 1940 to 1970 than in 1980 or 1990. It is concluded that increasing welfare benefits cannot account for a significant portion of the increase in illegitimacy, divorce, or separation in the postwar period. Nevertheless, rising benefit levels are significantly associated with changes in the living arrangements of unmarried mothers.
Madness and the Family Before Freud: the View of the Mad-Doctors
Authors: Porter Roy
Published: March 2007

The antipsychiatry movement of the 1960s, led in Britain by R. D. Laing, construed the bourgeois family as psychogenic, in particular blaming mothers for the double binds typical of schizophrenia. This article searches out the (partly) Freudian roots of such beliefs. Its main aim, however, is to offer a rapid survey of how psychiatric writing and practice had approached family dynamics from the time of Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) up to the close of the Victorian era. It finds that in the pre-Freudian tradition, blame tended to be affixed to the deviant family member, and therapy was geared toward reintegrating that person within the bosom of the "normal" family.
"If It Shall Seem Just and Proper": the Effect of Race and Morals On Alimony and Child Support Appeals in the District of Columbia, 1950-1980
Authors: Ards Sheila D. , Darity William A. , Myers Samuel L.
Published: March 2007

This article tests the hypothesis that judicial arbitrariness dominated alimony or child support appeals in the pre-no-fault era by analyzing data on all alimony and child support appeals in the District of Columbia from 1950 through 1980. Censored regression analysis is used to isolate the impacts of race and morals grounds for divorce on changes in alimony and child support awards from trial to appeal. The results show large race effects but small morals effects. Judicial discretion—measured by unexplained gaps in awards—dominated relevant eco nomic factors in determining changes in alimony and child support awards during the pre-no-fault era.
Cognitive Processes Involved in the Recognition of Chinese Characters
Authors: Jia Yuxin
Published: March 2007

Long ago the Chinese people developed the habit of thinking in terms of images. They also formed the habit of writing and recognizing scriptforms in terms of images. In fact, these diverse cognitive processes - thinking, writing and decoding in terms of images - have been interacting and reinforcing one another for thousands of years, and, as a result, have played a significant role in shaping Chinese culture and the Chinese mind, and have become a part of the collective unconscious of the people.

Although today the Chinese characters are highly abstract and symbolic, the language still preserves its pictographic and ideographic prototypes, the parent script which evolved almost six thousand years ago. In other words, although modern Chinese characters are no longer actual drawings of objects, ideas, and images, they still have a blood relationship to these primitive forms. Their graphemes, configurations, or grapho-semantic radicals still bear direct semantic relation to their referents, so much so that it would be fair to describe the development of Chinese writing as an overlapping process as well as a gradual one.
Socialism and the Consumer in the U.S.S.R
Authors: Skurski Roger , Skurski Roger
Published: March 2007

This is an essay on the changing role of the consumer in Soviet economic development. The USSR is, according to its leaders, now at the stage of communist construction, the main goal of which is to insure the complete well- being and free, all-around development of the individual. Improvement of the material welfare of the people, they say, has been and continues to be the long- run goal of Soviet society. This long-run material improvement is important in it self and also as an essential precondition for the full development of the indivi dual. Until the 1950s, however, progress in consumer welfare was concentrated in public goods because of the higher priority accorded to industrialization, def ense, and building socialism in one country. Since that time, a greater concern for consumer welfare has emerged resulting in improvements in the quantity, qual ity, and variety of goods and in real incomes as well as new problems for the So viet economic system. In the current transitional stage, there are still many prob lems to be resolved before either the complete well-being or the free, all-around development of the individual can be assured.
A Co-Operative Playgroup in a Psychiatric Day Hospital
Authors: Lindsey Caroline R. , Pound Andrea , Radford Michael
Published: March 2007

The introduction of a weekly group for psychiatrically disturbed mothers and their pre-school children in a Psychiatric Day Hospital is described. Theoretical consideration is given to the fact that psychiatric illness in parents gives rise to increased risk of disturbance in their children. The aims of the group are to increase mothering skills and to improve the mother-child relationship. The techniques used, derived from experience with group psychotherapy and educative playgroups, is described. It is illustrated by clinical case studies of two mothers and their children.
Political perspectives of opinion leaders in Uganda
Authors: Prewitt Kenneth
Published: March 2007

This study was a cooperative venture of the Uganda Extra-Mural Depart ment, the East African Institute of Social Research and the International Center for Intergroup Relations of the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the International Social Science Council, Paris. Unesco provided financial support through a grant administered by the International Center for Inter group Relations.

The author is indebted to many people who helped in collecting and processing the material. The Extra-Mural Resident Tutors, Thalma Awori, Steve Brazier, Chango Machyo, and Wyn Williams along with Kristen Timothy helped administer the questionnaires. Additional assis tance was provided by the Political Science Research Program of the East African Institute of Social Research, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Center for the Comparative Study of Political Development, of the Uni versity of Chicago. Thanks are also due to the author's wife for preparing the codebook, and to the staff of the International Center for Intergroup Relations, for the difficult work of coding the material. Computer time for processing the data was made available from a grant administered through the University of Chicago, Division of the Social Sciences.

Portions of this report were previously made available to the Uganda extra-mural students who cooperated in our venture *.
Lecture et système du tableau
Authors: Schefer Jean-Louis
Published: March 2007

La sémiologie générale étant avant tout une description ( une formali sation) des systèmes signifiants, le problème qu'elle soulève au lieu même de sa formation, est celui de la transcription dans un code linguistique ( logique, mathématique) de données extra-linguistiques ( extra-logiques, extra-mathé matiques).

Ce problème se pose dans toutes les branches de la sémiologie. mais il est plus aisément inaperçu ou passé sous silence lorsqu'il s'agit d'une sémio logie formalisant ( transcrivant ) les systèmes signifiants élaborés dans les langues naturelles ( la littérature. les différents types de communication sociales, les phénomènes psychopathologiques, etc.) .

Or, une fois touchés les systèmes signifiants représentatifs ( comme la peinture, l'image cinématographique, la photographie, etc.) qui s'orga nisent sans recours explicite au langage naturel, le problème de la lexicali sation de ces systèmes et de la formalisation de cette lexicalisation, surgit avec tout son poids épistémologique et sémiologique. C'est la question du " triptyque image-langue-discours" : c'est ici que nous trouvons la notion de lexie qu'élabore l'étude de Jean-Louis Schefer, " Lecture et système du tableau ".

Traité par un spécialiste à propos d'un objet qui paraitra restreint, la peinture ( un tableau), le concept de lexie et la manière dont il est présenté jette, cependant, un pont entre le texte ( le discours, et notamment le discours sémiotique) et les pratiques sociales non textuelles (tout ce que la multipli cité de la vie sociale, le " monde ", " notre histoire ", représentent). En ce sens, cette étude pourra introduire, à nos yeux, à une réflexion générale sur l'expansion de la démarche sémiotique vers toutes les pratiques signifiantes non discursives de la société.

D'autre part, la notion de lexie telle qu'elle est étudiée par Schefer, étend la problématique soulevée par l'article de Gérard Genette " Langage poé tique, poétique du langage" (Information sur les sciences sociales, 7, 2) concer nant l'aspect sémiotique des rapports norme-anomalie dans les systèmes signifiants irréductibles à la langue parlée. La lexie propose un point de vue qui dépasse une telle distinction dans la mesure où, traitant du texte ( diffé rencié de la langue), elle passe outre la ligne et la surface, et pense dans l'espace de la permutation signifiante ( dans l'intertextualité ) .

Cette réflexion se situe de même, on le verra, dans le champ ouvert par la philosophie de J. Derrida exposée brièvement dans ce numéro.
Dynamic Assessment and the Preschool Child
Authors: Lidz Carol S.
Published: March 2007

A state of the art review and discussion of dynamic, or process, approaches to psychological assessment, as this model relates to preschool children is discussed. Dynamic assessment is defined and contrasted with static, or traditional, models, and the role of this approach is presented in the context of the overall assessment process. Three specific dynamic or process measures currently available for use with preschool children between the ages of three and five are described.
Comparison of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised for Learning-Disabled and Referred Students
Authors: Breen Michael J. , Siewert Julaine C.
Published: March 2007

The PPVT-R and WISC-R were administered to 30 learning-disabled and 29 referred students. Form M of the PPVT-R correlated significantly with all WISC-R measures for both groups. The PPVT-R also yielded significantly lower scores than the WISC-R for both groups. The learning-disabled group scored significantly lower on all measures than did the referred group. Due to a determined high degree of commonality between the PPVT-R and WISC-R verbal IQ, an ANOVA was conducted with verbal IQ covaried. Results indicated that the two groups no longer differed significantly on PPVT-R scores.
Relationships between Temperament and Classroom Behavior, Teacher Attitudes, and Academic Achievement
Authors: Martin Roy P. , Nagle Richard , Paget Kathy
Published: March 2007

This paper investigates the concurrent validity of the Teacher Form of the Temperament Assessment Battery. This questionnaire was designed to measure activity level, adaptability, approach/withdrawal, emotional intensity, distractibility, and persistence in children 3 to 7 years of age. In study 1, significant correlations were obtained between several temperament dimensions and observed classroom behavior among first-grade children. Study 2 focused on the relationships between teacher attitudes (attachment, indifference, concern, rejection) and temperament variables. Children nominated for three of the four attitude groups were found to be differentiated from their nonnominated peers by temperament ratings. Finally, correlations between achievement and temperament variables were obtained in study 3.
Eleven-Month Predictive Validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children
Authors: Murray Alice , Bracken Bruce A.
Published: March 2007

The predictive validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was investigated for 29 elementary school children (14 females and 15 males) over an eleven-month period. The K-ABC evidenced nearly identical global scale standard scores as the Peabody Individual Achievement Test; correlation coefficients in a moderate (.40-.83) range were noted between the two tests. The K-ABC appears to have acceptable predictive validity for normal elementary-aged children.
Application of a WAIS-R Short Form with Neurological Patients: Validity and Correlational Findings
Authors: Ryan Joseph J.
Published: March 2007

Investigated was the validity of the combination of the Information, Arithmetic, Picture Completion, and Block Design Subtests as an estimate of WAIS-R Full Scale IQ for 70 brain-damaged patients. The correlation between short-form and Full Scale IQwas highly significant, p < .001. A pairwise t test between the mean IQs for the two forms was significant, p < .005, and indicated that the short form yielded higher IQs than the standard form. However, the average difference between the two IQs was small (1.74 points) and lacked clinical significance since the measures agreed in terms of Wechsler's (1981) classification system 83% of the time. The short-form and Full Scale IQs were intercorrelated with scores from selected neuropsychological tests. A lack of meaningful differences emerged between the resulting correlations for the two IQs. The two ability measures behave in essentially the same manner when used as part of a neuropsychological battery. Expectations about a patient's appropriate level of functioning on neuropsychological measures will be similar whether based on the abbreviated or Full Scale IQ.
Interpreting Clinically Derived WISC-R Subtest Groupings: A Statistical Approach
Authors: Grossman Fred M.
Published: March 2007

In recent years, psychologists have proposed a variety of Wechsler scale subtest recategorizations to aid practitioners in their approach to cognitive profile analysis. For the most part, subtest regroupings on the Wechsler scales have been clinically derived, with the exception of the three WISC-R factors scores. The present paper introduces information that clinicians may use to calculate standardized deviation quotients and standard errors of measurement for selected subtest groupings. In addition, data for determining significant discrepances between pairs of subtest combinations are introduced. The material presented should lead to a more statistically accurate interpretation of WISC-R profiles than more clinically oriented methods.