bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Establishing the return on investment for information and knowledge services
Authors: Hendriks Boyd , Wooler Ian
Published: February 2006

It is vital that information managers are able to demonstrate the added value of information and knowledge services for their organizations. Establishing the Return on Investment (ROI) of these services requires a clear understanding of the basic structure of intellectual capital and, when communicated, an ROI can provide further evidence of the strategically important role played by information managers in the business models of their organizations. The research that takes place to establish the estimate of the ROI is based on identifying and surveying knowledge workers, using a mix of questionnaires and in-depth interviews. By outlining a five-step approach we show how a map can be made of an organization's information environment and how this can be used to measure returns in specific values, differentiated over all areas of an organization's activity. A structured approach is described to derive the final valuation of the information and knowledge services, and their management, using the themes of quality, character, management style, and shelf life. We also show how to develop a marketing and communication plan for information and knowledge services, and the role this plays in providing evidence of ROI. The importance of information managers clearly understanding the core processes of their organization and its key steps is emphasized, and an explanation given on how to identify the benefits that information and knowledge can bring to these processes. We also show how benchmarking is used in ROI and how an information department can monitor its client base. Finally, we describe how to prepare an ROI plan of action.
Utilization of Granite Powder as Filler in Epoxy Phenol Cashew Nut Shell Liquid-toughened Epoxy Resin for Impact and Compression Strength
Authors: Ramakrishna H. V. , Priya S. Padma , Rai S. K.
Published: February 2006

Granite powder, a waste product generated while sizing granite slabs has been posing problems of disposal. The purpose of this study is to make a meaningful utilization of granite powder as the filler in epoxy phenol cashew nut shell liquid (EPCNSL)-toughened epoxy matrix. The properties under consideration are impact and compression. Composites are made with varying proportions of granite powder in pure epoxy and EPCNSL-toughened epoxy matrix system. The impact strength is determined by using an Izod impact tester. The compression properties are measured on a computerized universal testing machine according to ASTM standards. A comparison of the properties of the composites filled with untreated and treated granite powder establish that the treatment of granite powder imparts better reinforcing properties.
Loading Rate Sensitivity of Glass Fiber–Epoxy Composite at Ambient and Sub-ambient Temperatures
Authors: Ray B. C.
Published: February 2006

Little information regarding the effect of weight fraction of constituent phases of freeze–thaw response in polymer composites at different loading rates and temperatures has been published to date. The present experimental study uses a 3-point flexural test to qualitatively assess such effects for 55, 60, and 65 weight percentages of E-glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites during cryogenic and after thawing conditions. The specimens were tested at a range of 0.5–500 mm/min crosshead speed to evaluate the sensitivity of mechanical response during loading at ambient and sub-ambient temperatures (80°C temperature). These shear strength values are compared with the testing data of as-cured samples. The findings are explainable at a lower range of crosshead speed. The data obtained at higher loading rate suggest further investigation to establish the nature.
Non-Ventral Lateral Neuron-Based, Non-PDF-Mediated Clocks Control Circadian Egg-Laying Rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster
Authors: Howlader Gitanjali , Paranjpe Dhanashree A. , Sharma Vijay Kumar
Published: February 2006

The authors report the results of their study aimed at investigating the consequence of targeted ablation of ventral lateral neurons (LNvs—neurons regulating eclosion and locomotor activity rhythms) and genetic disruption of pigment-dispersing factor (PDF—an important output of circadian clocks) on the egg-laying rhythm of Drosophila melanogaster. The results clearly suggest that genetic ablation of LNvs and loss of function mutation of PDF abolish eclosion and locomotor activity rhythms, whereas the egg-laying rhythm continues unabated. Furthermore, the results also demonstrate that the period of egg-laying rhythm remains unchanged under different ambient temperatures and nutrition levels, suggesting that the egg-laying rhythm of D. melanogaster is temperature and nutrition compensated. Based on these results, the authors conclude that the egg-laying rhythm in D. melanogaster is regulated by non-LNv-based, non-PDF-mediated circadian clocks.
The Epidemiology of Morningness/Eveningness: Influence of Age, Gender, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Factors in Adults (30-49 Years)
Authors: Paine Sarah-Jane , Gander Philippa H. , Travier Noemie
Published: February 2006

The Horne and Ostberg Morningness/Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) is widely used to differentiate between morning and evening types, but there is very little epidemiological evidence about the distribution of MEQ chronotypes in the general population. The purpose of the present study was to simultaneously investigate the influence of demographic, socioeconomic, and work factors on the distribution of morningness/eveningness. A New Zealand version of the MEQ was mailed to 5000 New Zealand adults, ages 30 to 49 years, who were randomly selected from the electoral rolls (55.7% response rate). A total of 2526 questionnaires were included in the analyses. According to the Horne and Ostberg classification, 49.8% of the total population was classified as morning type compared to 5.6% having an evening-type preference. However, using new cutoffs for middle-aged working adults described by Taillard et al. (2004), 24.7% of the population was morning type and 26.4% was evening type. After controlling for ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic deprivation, participants ages 30 to 34 years were more likely to be definitely evening type (odds ratio [OR] = 1.59, p < 0.05) and less likely to be morning type (moderately morning type, OR = 0.59, p < 0.01, or definitely morning type, OR = 0.59, p < 0.05) compared to those ages 45 to 49 years. Work schedules were also important predictors of chronotype, with night workers more likely to be definitely evening type (OR = 1.49, p = 0.05) and the unemployed less likely to be moderately morning type (OR = 0.64, p < 0.05) compared to other workers. Evening types were 2.5 times more likely to report that their general health was only poor or fair compared to morning types ( p < 0.01). This study confirms that the original criteria of Horne and Ostberg (1976) are not useful for classifying chronotypes in a middle-aged population. The authors conclude that morningness/eveningness preference is largely independent of ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic position, indicating that it is a stable characteristic that may be better explained by endogenous factors.
Absence of Apparent Circadian Rhythms of Gonadotropins and Free α-Subunit in Postmenopausal Women: Evidence for Distinct Regulation Relative to Other Hormonal Rhythms
Authors: Lavoie Helene B. , Marsh Erica E. , Hall Janet E.
Published: February 2006

Aging is associated with a decrease in gonadotropin levels in postmenopausal women (PMW) and is also associated with alterations in a number of circadian rhythms. The goals of this study were to determine the presence of circadian rhythms of gonadotropins and glycoprotein free α-subunit (FAS) in young and old PMW. Healthy, euthyroid PMW, ages 45 to 55 years ( n = 11) and 70 to 80 years ( n = 11), were admitted in the morning to start a 24-h constant routine of light, temperature, position, and activity. Subjects remained awake and semirecumbent for the duration of the study and were fed hourly snacks, and activity was monitored continuously. Blood was sampled every 5 min for two 8-h periods corresponding to the estimated acrophase and nadir of the temperature rhythm. Luteinizing hormone (LH) and FAS were measured in all samples and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), and cortisol in 20-min serum pools. Mean LH ( p < 0.001), FSH ( p < 0.002), and FAS ( p < 0.002) were lower in older compared with younger PMW. Day/night differences in cortisol and TSH ( p < 0.001) were present in all subjects. However, there were no day/night differences in LH in younger or older PMW or in FSH in younger or older PMW. There were no day/night differences in mean FAS in younger or older PMW or in FAS pulse frequency or amplitude. Thus, in controlled studies in which differences in cortisol and TSH were demonstrated, there were no day/night differences in LH, FSH, or FAS in PMW. These studies suggest that despite evidence of intact circadian rhythms of cortisol and TSH, gonadotropin secretion does not appear to follow a circadian pattern in PMW. Thus, the age-related decline in gonadotropin secretion in PMW is not associated with a dampening of circadian rhythmicity. The absence of day/night differences in FAS suggests that GnRH plays a more prominent role in FAS regulation than does thyrotropin-releasing hormone in PMW.
Independence of Genetic Geographical Variation between Photoperiodic Diapause, Circadian Eclosion Rhythm, and Thr-Gly Repeat Region of the Period Gene in Drosophila littoralis
Authors: Lankinen P. , Forsman P.
Published: February 2006

Drosophila littoralis is a latitudinally widespread European species of the Drosophila virilis group. The species has ample genetic variation in photoperiodism (adult diapause) and circadian rhythmicity (pupal eclosion rhythm), with adaptive latitudinal clines in both of them. The possible common genetic basis between the variability of photoperiodism and circadian rhythms was studied by a long-term crossing experiment. A northern strain (65 °N) having long critical day length (CDL = 19.9 h) for diapause, early phase of the entrained rhythm in LD 3:21 (ψLD3:21 = 12.3 h), and short period (τ= 18.8 h) of the free-running rhythm for the eclosion rhythm was crossed with a southern strain (42 °N) having short CDL (12.4 h), late eclosion phase (ψLD3:21 = 20.2 h), and long period (τ= 22.8 h). After 54 generations, including free recombination, artificial selection, and genetic drift, a novel strain resulted, having even more “southern” diapause and more “northern” eclosion rhythm characteristics than found in any of the geographical strains. The observed complete separation of eclosion rhythm characteristics from photoperiodism is a new finding in D. littoralis; in earlier studies followed for 16 generations, the changes had been mostly parallel. Evidently, the genes controlling the variability of the eclosion rhythm and photoperiodism in D. littoralis are different but closely linked. To test for the possible gene loci underlying the observed geographical variability, the period gene was studied in 10 strains covering all the known clock variability in D. littoralis. The authors sequenced the most suspected Thr-Gly region, which is known to take part in the adaptive clock variability in Drosophila melanogaster. No coding differences were found in the strains, showing that this region is not included in the adaptive clock variability in D. littoralis.
History-Dependent Changes in Entrainment of the Activity Rhythm in the Syrian Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)
Authors: Chiesa Juan J. , Anglès-Pujolràs Montserrat , Díez-Noguera Antoni , Cambras Trinitat
Published: February 2006

The authors have studied the activity rhythm of Syrian hamsters exposed to square LD cycles with a 22-h period (T22) with the aim of testing the effects of the previous history on the rhythmic pattern. To do so, sequential changes of different lighting environments were established, followed by the same LD condition. Also, the protocol included T22 cycles with varying lighting contrasts to test the extent to which a computational model predicts experimental outcomes. At the beginning of the experiment, exposure to T22 with 300 lux and dim red light occurring respectively at photophase and scotophase (LD300/dim red) mainly generated relative coordination. Subsequent transfer to cycles with ∼0.1-lux dim light during the scotophase (LD300/0.1) promoted entrainment to T22. However, a further reduction in light intensity to 10 lux during the photophase (LD10/0.1) generated weak and unstable T22 rhythms. When, after that, animals were transferred again to the initial LD300/dim red cycles, the amplitude of the rhythm still remained very low, and the phases were very unstable. Exposure to constant darkness partially restored the activity rhythm, and when, afterwards, the animals were submitted again to LD300/dim red cycles, a robust T22 rhythm appeared. The results demonstrate history-dependent changes in the hamster circadian system because the locomotor activity pattern under the same T22 cycle can show relative coordination or unstable or robust entrainment depending on the prior lighting condition. This suggests that the circadian system responds to environmental stimuli depending on its previous history. Moreover, computer simulations allow the authors to predict entrainment under LD300/0.1 cycles and indicate that most of the patterns observed in the animals due to the light in the scotophase can be explained by different degrees of coupling among the oscillators of the circadian system.
Photic Entrainment Is Altered in the 5-HT1B Receptor Knockout Mouse
Authors: Sollars Patricia J. , Ogilvie Malcolm D. , Simpson Anne M. , Pickard Gary E.
Published: February 2006

The hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is a circadian oscillator that receives glutamatergic afferents from the retina and serotonergic afferents from the midbrain. Activation of presynaptic serotonin 1B (5-HT1B) receptors on retinal terminals in the SCN inhibits retinohypothalamic neurotransmission and light-induced behavioral phase shifts. To assess the role of 5-HT1B receptors in photic entrainment, 5-HT1B receptor knockout (5-HT1B KO) and wild-type (WT) mice were maintained in non-24 h L:D cycles (T cycles). WT mice entrained to T = 21 h and T = 22 h cycles, whereas 5-HT1B KO animals did not. 5-HT1B KO animals did entrain to T = 23 h and T = 26 h cycles, although their phase angle of entrainment was altered compared to WT animals. 5-HT1BKO mice were significantly more phase delayed under T = 23 h conditions and significantly more phase advanced under T = 26 h conditions compared to WT mice. When 5-HT1B KO mice were housed in a T = 23 h short-day photoperiod (9.5L:13.5D), the delayed phase angle of entrainment was more pronounced. Light-induced phase shifts were reduced in 5-HT1B KO mice, consistent with their behavior in T cycles, suggesting an attenuated response to light. Based on previous work, this attenuated response to light might not have been predicted but can be explained by consideration of GABAergic mechanisms within the SCN. Phase-delayed circadian rhythms during the short days of winter are characteristic of patients suffering from seasonal affective disorder, and 5-HT has been implicated in its pathophysiology. The 5-HT1B KO mouse may be useful for investigating the altered entrainment evident during this serious mood disorder.
Designing a University-Based Lactation Course
Authors: Howett Maeve , Spangler Amy , Cannon Rose B.
Published: February 2006

A university-based lactation course was developed to provide lactation education to health care providers, with the goal of improving their knowledge, attitude, and skills in assisting American women to breastfeed. This is a key strategy for achieving the Healthy People 2010 objectives, and it addresses the identified need for education among health care professionals. The university as well as an enthusiastic lactation community provided multidisciplinary clinical experiences and classroom lectures to prepare public health students, nurses, midwives, and nurse practitioners to encourage and assist women in breastfeeding. It is hoped that the success of this class and the experiences of the instructors will motivate other lactation consultants to develop similar educational strategies.
The Costs of Being a Child Care Teacher
Authors: Ackerman Debra J.
Published: February 2006

The demand for child care in the United States continues to grow, but child care workers’ wages remain minimal. Using examples within New Jersey, the author demonstrates how low wages impact child care quality and are directly related to the effects of the competitive marketplace. Various historical, regulatory, and cultural contexts also contribute to low wages, however. Because most child care workers are female, the author uses a feminist critical policy analysis lens to examine the gendered aspects of these contextual factors. The author argues that the gender-related issues within these contexts exacerbate the problem of low wages and also contribute to the intractability of the issue, particularly in terms of accessing policymakers’ agendas. The author concludes with a brief summary of issues that policymakers and advocates will need to keep in mind as they search for solutions to the problem of low wages.
The Paradox of Poverty Narratives
Authors: Gerstl-Pepin Cynthia I.
Published: February 2006

This article utilizes narrative policy analysis to examine social justice narratives embedded within No Child Left Behind with respect to economic inequities. It juxtaposes national educational policy dialogues against the stories of educators working within an elementary school that serves a high-poverty community. The qualitative research findings suggest that it is vitally important for policymakers to acknowledge and value the challenges faced by teachers and staff who serve children whose families lack proper healthcare, affordable and quality early childhood education, nutrition, literacy, safety, and livable wages.
Race, Politics, and Arab American Youth
Authors: El-Haj Thea Renda Abu
Published: February 2006

Educators concerned with creating equitable school environments for Arab American students must focus on how contemporary global and national politics shape the lives of these youth and their families. Arab immigrants and Arab American citizens alike experience specific forms of racial oppression that hold implications for school curricula, practices, and policies. Practitioners committed to social justice must assess how schools teach about culture, educate students for knowledgeable deliberation of global politics, and support students and teachers to explore the passions of patriotism. The questions raised by the education of Arab American youth have profound implications for teaching for social justice in a world characterized by global interdependence and increasing transnational migration. No longer can national boundaries mark the limit of concern for social justice. Educating for social justice requires that we teach youth to confront racial, economic, social, and political injustices within and beyond the borders of nation-states.
Teen Pregnancy and Education
Authors: Pillow Wanda
Published: February 2006

This article explores the politics surrounding the education of pregnant/mothering students. Utilizing Title IX, which guarantees the rights of pregnant/mothering students to an education equal to her peers, as an analytical lens, the author specifically identifies how absences in knowledge, research, and practice about the education of pregnant/mothering students are constructed. These absences, which are not neutral, construct discourses that affect the provision of education to pregnant/mothering students. The author argues that until teen pregnancy is repoliticized as an educational issue, pregnant/mothering students will not receive the education they deserve and are entitled to.
Is Robin Hood the “Prince of Thieves”1 or a Pathway to Equity?
Authors: Alemán Enrique
Published: February 2006

In this article, Alemán examines how Mexican American district leaders conceptualize and argue for a more equitable system of school finance. The superintendents studied are politically active educational leaders who participate in the school finance debate while advocating for their Mexican American constituency. The author addresses the nature of the superintendents’ policy and political discourse and their conceptualizations of race and racism in their political strategy. In these analyses, the author uses a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework and argues for a more critical debate of the inherent institutional racism at the foundation of Texas school finance policy.
The Politics of Distributing Leadership
Authors: Maxcy Brendan D. , Nguyen Thu Su’o’ng Thi.
Published: February 2006

Recent work on distributed leadership extends an ongoing critique of conventional “heroic” leader portrayals. This article examines work in this area seeking implications for democratic school governance. With material from case studies of two Texas schools, it considers frameworks presented by Spillane, Halverson, and Diamond and by Firestone and Heller. Invoking critical perspectives, it problematizes a conventional managerial slant in the frameworks. The frameworks direct attention to a wider distribution of leadership than is often portrayed. Unfortunately, the frameworks attend primarily to administrative concerns, namely the steering of local actors and channeling of local activity and are largely silent about the politics of distributed leadership. Reconsidering the nature and dynamics of leadership in the two cases, we find broader notions of performance and attention to more deliberative community-building activity reveal the importance of distributed leadership in engendering responsiveness to and reciprocal accountability with local stakeholders.
Eroding Inequity
Authors: Rorrer Andrea K.
Published: February 2006

This article explores how districts negotiate the conflict that emerges as they attempt to de-legitimize inequity by prompting institutional and organizational-level changes that create equitable access and outcomes for all children. To this end, this article highlights the contentious nature of this pursuit as well as the intended and unintended consequences of such changes. Specifically, the author addresses how district leaders erode inequity by initiating and addressing instigators for change, altering interpretive schemas, and developing normative understandings. These efforts occur as districts straddle the “margin of tolerance” within a political, social, and economical environment that has not radically shifted its ideas about equity. Consequently, as this discussion illuminates, district efforts must concurrently de-legitimize inequity while legitimizing equitable beliefs, practices, structures, and policies.
Hiding the Politically Obvious
Authors: Morfin Otoniel Jimenez , Perez Victor H. , Parker Laurence , Lynn Marvin , Arrona John
Published: February 2006

What have colleges and universities done to increase student of color enrollment since the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger? This article provides a critical race theory (CRT) snapshot of selective data and institutions since these landmark decisions. We find that even though Grutter gives the go-ahead to use affirmative action, higher education has failed politically to take on this challenge. When taken together, the Gratz and Grutter decisions allow higher education institutions to engage in symbolic affirmative action measures that appear as diversity measures but are operationalized as race neutral when one examines the data of continuing overall declines of students of color at many institutions. The authors conclude with a CRT call for a more expansive affirmative action with higher education administrators doing more to justify affirmative action through Grutter.
Taxonomies of Inequality: Lawyers, Maps, and the Challenge of Hybridity
Authors: Grabham Emily
Published: February 2006

Intersectional discrimination challenges not only the structure of equality law, but also the techniques that lawyers employ in assessing and arguing discrimination cases. Client forms, akin to questionnaires, assist lawyers in obtaining a full picture of the client's circumstances and in avoiding the omission of any potential legal remedies. Chronologies of events assist lawyers in mapping discriminatory events and establishing that the client is within the time limit for submitting a claim to the Employment Tribunal. These techniques reflect discrimination law's defensiveness against lived complexities, which in itself restricts possible intersectional analyses. For example, through chronologies, each discriminatory event is defined by reference to only one ‘ground’. Discrimination law therefore links the passing of time itself to the categories it has produced. In this context, Homi Bhabha's concept of hybridity provides a useful way of describing how intersectional subjects relate to their categorization through law. It shows how legal subjects simultaneously adopt and resist the grounds that lawyers use to describe their experiences. If discrimination law is based on enabling legal subjects to speak for themselves, then we should investigate these possibilities for resistance.
Copyright, the Work and Phonographic Orality in Music
Authors: Toynbee Jason
Published: February 2006

Shaped by a combination of romantic aesthetics and capitalist economics in the 19th century, the musical work was only enshrined in copyright law at the beginning of the 20th. However, even as the distinctiveness of the work was being legally inscribed, there emerged a new form of popular music making based on iteration. The recorded blues depended on continuity with other record-songs rather than the uniqueness of the individual work. Significantly, the phonographic orality at stake here was effectively unregulated, with ‘plagiarism’ being tolerated. The contrast is then with the hip hop genre. This has the same iterative mode as the blues, yet with the later style rights owners have become quite litigious, and now guard their symbolic property jealously. Focusing on the USA this article examines the differences between the two moments of blues and hip hop by analysing some key music copyright cases. It argues that despite stronger legal scrutiny of phonographic oral production in the contemporary period, this does not represent straightforward censorship in the way suggested by some commentators. Rather recent cases show the deep contradictions in copyright law between principles of uniqueness and tolerable continuity, and between the codification of physical sound and formal structure in music. These contradictions are inherent in the capitalist organization of music making, and are not susceptible to any quick policy fix.
Print News and Health Psychology
Authors: Thorson Esther
Published: February 2006

This commentary overviews the look of health news in American print journalism and the research that suggests how health news creates influence at both the individual and policy levels. Crime and violence are argued to be public health issues, but unfortunately they are often not treated as such. There is clearly room for improvement in all areas of health news, but unfortunately the extreme stress that newspapers are under to maintain their high profit margins suggests that the resources for such improvement are unlikely to be available. Examination of the Minneapolis Star Tribune's coverage of health, crime and violence exemplifies problematic aspects.
Mediating Social Representations Using a Cartoon Narrative in the Context of HIV/AIDS The AmaQhawe Family Project in South Africa
Authors: Petersen Inge , Mason Andy , Bhana Arvin , Bell Carl C. , Mckay Mary
Published: February 2006

Using findings from the formative evaluation of the adaptation of the Collaborative HIV/AIDS Adolescent Mental Health Programme (CHAMP) familybased intervention in South Africa, known as the ‘AmaQhawe Family Project’, the potential role of ‘micro-media’ using a cartoon narrative for promoting healthenhancing behaviour change is explored. In particular, the cartoon narrative was found to be a useful medium for informing the development and diffusion of health-enhancing social representations that shape the potential for health-related behaviour change.
‘Hardcore Drinking’
Authors: Lyons Antonia C. , Dalton Sue I. , Hoy Anna
Published: February 2006

Young adults and young women in particular are drinking more alcohol than ever before, with implications for risky behaviours and long-term health. This study explored the ways in which alcohol and drinking were represented in six monthly UK magazines (three targeted at young men, three at young women) across a threemonth period (18 magazines). We identified three main discourses across the texts, namely the drug alcohol; masculinity and machismo; and drinking as normality. These discourses constructed women’s and men’s drinks and drinking behaviours in sharp contrast. Drinking was aligned with traditional masculine images, although new kinds of drinks were aligned with traditional feminine images—and derided in men’s magazines. Findings highlight how gender, constructed in relation to the other, is an important aspect of representations of drinking patterns in young adults.
Robert Winston's Superhuman
Authors: Hight Craig , Coleborne Catharine
Published: February 2006

Health psychologists are being challenged by researchers to consider interdisciplinary approaches to health research, particularly around media representations. This article argues that the praxis and research of health psychology might benefit from strategic and interdisciplinary readings of media texts. It argues that insights from current documentary theory are important because they show us how documentary texts are structured and how medical documentary deploys techniques from medicine itself in order to effect certain persuasive discursive shifts in our wider culture. The article takes the BBC documentary series Superhumanas its example and explores this text as it involves media spectacle, medical surveillance of the body and of patients and the positioning of patient narratives of personal experiences with medical intervention.
An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Participation in a Pro-anorexia Internet Site and Its Relationship with Disordered Eating
Authors: Mulveen Ruaidhri , Hepworth Julie
Published: February 2006

Pro-anorexia Internet sites aim to promote, support and discuss anorexia nervosa. Media coverage has raised concerns that sites may increase the level of eating disorders. This research examines the meaning of participation in a pro-anorexia Internet site and its relationship with disordered eating by using an interpretative phenomenological analysis of fifteen separate message ‘threads’ followed over a six-week period. Four themes were identified: (1) tips and techniques; (2) ‘ana’ v. anorexia nervosa; (3) social support; and (4) need for anorexia. Findings suggest participation was multi-purpose, providing a coping function in relation to weight loss, and the contribution of sites to increased levels of eating disorders is not inevitable.
Using New Media to Build Social Capital for Health
Authors: Bolam Bruce , Mclean Carl , Pennington Andrew , Gillies Pamela
Published: February 2006

The present article presents an exploratory qualitative process evaluation study of ‘Ambassador’ participation in CityNet, an innovative informationcommunication technology-based (ICT) project that aims to build aspects of social capital and improve access to information and services among disadvantaged groups in Nottingham, UK. A purposive sample of 40 ‘Ambassadors’ interviewees was gathered in three waves of data collection. The two emergent analytic themes highlighted how improvements in confidence, self-esteem and social networks produced via participation were mitigated by structural problems in devolving power within the project. This illustrates how concepts of power are important for understanding the process of health promotion interventions using new media.
Growing up and moving on in rheumatology: development and preliminary evaluation of a transitional care programme for a multicentre cohort of adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis
Authors: McDonagh Janet E. , Shaw Karen L. , Southwood Taunton R.
Published: February 2006

This article describes the development and initial evaluation of an evidence-based transitional care programme recently implemented in a multicentre controlled trial in the United Kingdom. The individual components of the programme are described. Evaluation of the acceptability and utilization of these components employed questionnaires administered to users (adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and their parents) and providers (rheumatology health professionals). The results confirm the acceptability and utilization of the programme components in addition to further innovative developments during the course of the study. In conclusion, the evidence-based transitional care programme components reported here are acceptable and useful to both user and provider and are potentially feasible in clinical practice in a revised format.
Differences in parenting needs of fathers of children with chronic conditions related to family income
Authors: Hovey Judith K.
Published: February 2006

Children with chronic conditions now survive longer than has been true historically, creating a need to promote optimal growth and development for themselves, their family members and the family as a whole. This article reporting a midwestern United States study compares the concerns and coping strategies of fathers of chronically-ill children with household annual incomes less than $50,000 with fathers of chronically-ill children with household incomes of $50,000 or more. The sample of 48 fathers completed the Hymovich Family Perception Inventory anonymously. The results revealed differences in the parenting concerns of fathers related to family income. The low-income fathers expressed a desire for more knowledge about the children's condition and worries about family finances. Professional anticipatory guidance and dissemination of information holds promise for providing the support needed by fathers of children with chronic conditions, particularly those with lower household incomes.
Developing the children's nursing workforce: profile, first jobs and future plans of newly qualified diplomates
Authors: Robinson Sarah , Cox Susanne , Murrells Trevor
Published: February 2006

Concerns regarding the number of children's nurses persist despite initiatives designed to reverse this trend. Recruiting and retaining a diverse nursing workforce is high on the policy agenda, particularly since the publication of the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. This article reports findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study investigating the careers of child branch diplomates, focusing on the cohort's profile, first jobs and future plans. Findings suggest there is considerable scope to increase diversity in the children's nursing workforce. Child health diplomates indicate little sign of early attrition from nursing at qualification. Continuing professional development is a high priority for many child health nurses at the outset of their careers. These findings provide an important benchmark for later stages of child branch nurses' careers.
The moral experience of parents regarding life-support decisions for their critically-ill children: a preliminary study in France
Authors: Carnevale Franco A. , Canouï Pierre , Hubert Philippe , Farrell Catherine , Leclerc Francis , Doussau Amélie , Seguin Marie-Josée , Lacroix Jacques
Published: February 2006

The common paediatric critical care practice in France is for physicians (rather than parents) to maintain the ultimate responsibility for lifesupport decisions in children. Some French literature asserts that it is inappropriate for parents to bear such responsibilities because they do not have the required knowledge and should be protected from feeling culpable for such decisions. The aim of this grounded theory preliminary study was to examine the moral experience of parents of critically-ill children that required life-support decisions in France. A convenience purposive sample of seven parents was recruited in Paris. Five principal themes emerged as significant from these interviews: (1) a need for more information; (2) physicians should be responsible for life-support decisions; (3) the child's concerns and wishes need to be better heard; (4) maternal guilt; and (5) physicians require better training in parent communication. These findings raise important issues for clinical practice and further research in France.
Committee Representation in the European Parliament
Authors: McElroy Gail
Published: February 2006

The European Parliament (EP) possesses a highly specialized committee system, operating in a complex institutional and political environment, yet little empirical work has investigated how MEPs are assigned to EP committees and what consequences this process has for representation and policy-making. In this article I examine the growth of EP committees and committee membership since 1979, and address the question of whether these committees are representative of the EP as a whole. Using an original data set of committee membership, national and EP party affiliation, MEP characteristics, and MEP policy preferences derived from roll-call votes, I address three key questions: Does committee membership reflect the party group composition of the EP? Do committee members possess specialized expertise in their committees’ policy areas? And, finally, do committee members’ general or committee-specific policy preferences differ substantially from those of the overall Parliament? The results suggest very strongly that, although committee members do tend to possess policy-specific expertise, committees are, nonetheless, highly representative of the EP as a whole, in terms of both party and policy representation.
Allocation of Codecision Reports in the Fifth European Parliament
Authors: Hoyland Bjorn
Published: February 2006

This article argues that MEPs from national parties represented in the Council of Ministers are more active as rapporteurs on Codecision legislation than MEPs from national parties not represented in the Council. EP rapporteurs can be thought of as informed actors offering non-binding advice to the EP plenary. Expert committees and the Council presidency play a similar role in the Council. Compared with rapporteurs from parties not represented in the Council, EP rapporteurs from parties represented in the Council may incur lower costs in coordinating their proposals with the informed actors in the Council. If this is the case, they should be more interested in writing Codecision reports than are MEPs from parties not represented in the Council. This possibility is investigated using a data set consisting of all Codecision legislation initiated by the Commission between 1999 and 2004.
Who Is Powerful?
Authors: Slapin Jonathan B.
Published: February 2006

Previous studies have proposed competing theories to explain European intergovernmental conference (IGC) outcomes, but they fail to test these theories against one another. I examine the literature on IGC bargaining and derive several testable hypotheses. Using data on member state preferences at the IGC leading to the Treaty of Amsterdam, I first examine which member states favor integration and which are most skeptical of integration. I also determine which member states face the highest domestic ratification constraints. I then test the competing hypotheses found in the literature by calculating the bargaining strength of member states. I find that large member states have no more bargaining strength than the average member state; instead, domestic ratification constraints seem to confer power. States preferring less integration appear to outperform states desiring more integration. Supranational actors, as expected, have little power.
Adjusting to EMU
Authors: Enderlein Henrik
Published: February 2006

The article suggests an explanation for seemingly diverse patterns of change in domestic economic institutions following the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It argues that EMU participants redesigned ill-fitting domestic fiscal and wage-setting institutions in order to counter the anticipated destabilizing effects of the ‘one size fits all’ monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). After outlining the argument, the article identifies general economic and institutional conditions that are required for the use of fiscal and wage-setting institutions as effective stabilizers in a monetary union. It then undertakes a comparative assessment to detect country-specific mismatches between anticipated needs and the available domestic economic institutions. Finally, the article surveys institutional changes in 10 member states between the mid 1990s and 2002 and shows that the observed institutional adjustments largely correspond to the expected correction of initial mismatches.
Peirce and the Founding of American Sociology
Authors: Wiley Norbert
Published: February 2006

This paper argues that Charles Sanders Peirce contributed significantly to the founding of American sociology, doing so at the level of philosophical presuppositions or meta-sociology. I emphasize two of his ideas. One is semiotics, which is virtually the same as the anthropologists’ concept of culture. This latter concept in turn was essential to clarifying the sociologists’ idea of the social or society. Peirce also created the modern theory of the dialogical self, which explained the symbolic character of human beings and proved foundational for social psychology. Politically Peirce was a right-wing conservative, but his ideas eventually contributed to the egalitarian views of cultures and sub-cultures. In addition his ideas contributed, by way of unanticipated consequences, to the 20th-century human rights revolutions in the American legal system. Thus he was both a founder of sociology and a founder of American political liberalism.
The Foundation of Pragmatic Sociology
Authors: Schubert Hans-Joachim
Published: February 2006

Charles Horton Cooley was, according to George Herbert Mead, an idealist or mentalist for whom ‘imaginations’ and not ‘symbolic interactions’ are the ‘solid facts of society’. Contrary to Mead's critique, Cooley breaks through the Cartesian body–mind dualism in disagreement with idealism and behaviorism. His objective was to develop a theory of ‘communication’ and ‘understanding’ as the foundation of pragmatistic sociology. Communication is the decisive starting point of Cooley's and Mead's sociological theory of ‘social order’ and ‘social change’ as stages in the process of action. In conflict with each other actors must define the meaning of the objective, subjective, social and symbolic world. To overcome problems of action actors create generalized perspectives such as ‘human nature values’ (Cooley) or a ‘logical universe of discourse’ (Mead) which guarantee ‘socialization’ or ‘social order’ and ‘individualization’ at the same time.
The Influence of Charles A. Ellwood on Herbert Blumer and Symbolic Interactionism
Authors: LoConto David G. , Jones-Pruett Danielle L.
Published: February 2006

Most textbooks today reserve the history of sociology for names like Marx, Weber, Durkheim and Mead. This abbreviated version of the history of the discipline leaves the reader with only a rudimentary understanding of the evolution of sociology, yet at the same time it deviates from the basic premise of sociology, which suggests understanding the relationship of the individual to society and the history of both. We have McDonaldized the history of sociology and in the process erased many individuals who were paramount in its development. The following study addresses the influence of Charles Abram Ellwood on the development of sociology, specifically the development of Herbert Blumer and subsequently symbolic interactionism. There are four main areas where Ellwood's ideas can be found in Blumer's work as well as within symbolic interactionism: (1) interactionism; (2) methodology; (3) emotions; and (4) group behavior. It is advocated here that Ellwood should be included among the names of Dewey, Mead, Cooley and Thomas as a central figure in the development of both Blumer and symbolic interactionism.
Superqual
Authors: Hair Mario
Published: February 2006

In recent years there has been growing concern to improve standards in postgraduate research. Much of this has focused on generic research skills training. However, there are other, equally important, supervisory aspects such as welfare, mentoring and support arrangements. This article focuses on the initial expectations, of both students and supervisors, of their roles and duties at the start of the supervisory process. Using concepts from the service quality literature, an instrument ‘Superqual’ is developed aimed at exposing any gaps in expectations that, if not resolved, could generate problems during the life of a doctorate. The use of Superqual in a number of case studies is reported. The results are mostly positive, and suggestions are made for its improvement and adoption.
Teaching action research
Authors: Mcmurray Adela J.
Published: February 2006

This article summarizes a longitudinal study of employed MBA students with particular emphasis on findings involving their choice of action research model to implement personal and organizational change in their environment. A multi-method approach merging both quantitative and qualitative techniques was utilized. A questionnaire consisting of open and closed questions was administered over a three-year period to 261 respondents, of which 243 responses were usable. Comparing the demographic variables of gender, age, country of origin, English proficiency and learning experience with classifications of learning style and choice of AR model, four significant results demonstrating a relationship between the variables were uncovered. Chi-squared analysis confirmed significance for AR model and age (2 (12) = 26.223, p< .05), country of origin (2 (4) = 17.871, p< .05) and English proficiency (2 (4) = 18.335, p< .05), while only English proficiency showed any relationship to learning style (2 (1) = 6.382, 0p< .05). Implications for the teaching of action research and management education are discussed.
Self-, peer- and teacher-assessment of student essays
Authors: Lindblom-ylänne Sari , Pihlajamäki Heikki , Kotkas Toomas
Published: February 2006

This study focuses on comparing the results of self-, peerand teacher-assessment of student essays, as well as on exploring students' experiences of the self- and peer-assessment processes. Participants were 15 law students. The scoring matrix used in the study made assessment easy, according to both teachers and students alike. Self-assessment was sometimes considered difficult, because the students felt it impossible to be objective when considering their own work. In peer-assessment, the students found it difficult to be critical when assessing the essay of a peer. The students found it easier to assess technical aspects of the essays when compared to aspects related to content.
Collaborative and reflective professional development
Authors: Cowan John , Westwood Jenny
Published: February 2006

Seven experienced university teachers who already required reflective journal writing from their students undertook an innovative experiment in which they made the same demand of themselves, with their own continuing professional development (CPD) in mind. Six of them received and considered confidential facilitative comments upon each journal written, provided by the seventh member, who had had experience of this form of facilitation. An original feature of the pilot was for the facilitator to act as a primus inter pares, genuinely compiling his own reflective journal with his own CPD in mind, and offering it for comment, in return for each incoming journal. The teachers' experiences and reactions to these are reported, together with their suggestions for refinement of this scheme.