bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Participants' Reactions to Computerized Testing
Authors: Moe Kim C. , Johnson Marilyn F.
Published: May 2005

This study investigated participants' reactions to computerized testing and assessed the practicability of this testing method in the classroom. Three hundred and fifteen students took a computerized and a printed version of a standardized aptitude test battery, and a survey assessing their reactions. Overall reactions to the computerized test were overwhelmingly positive. Students reported that computerized testing can be a workable alternative to printed standardized testing. Administrators' reactions were mixed; examiners were excited about this new mode of test administration but had some difficulty with the planning and logistics of administration. Suggestions for improving computerized testing and the impact of the changing technology are discussed.
Effect of Patient Demand for Drugs on Physician Prescribing
Authors: Lapp J. E. , Pihl R. O. , Hamel J. , Marinier R.
Published: May 2005

In a controlled setting with symptoms and demographic variables held constant, differences in physicians' ratings of symptoms, diagnosis and prescribing of drugs were explored in response to six videotaped patients of differing age groups who either demanded drugs or presented somatic complaints. There was a 1.2:1 ratio of prescriptions given to female versus male patients; demand for drugs resulted in significantly lower prescription rates, drugs prescribed, and multiple prescriptions; and those patients who presented somatic complaints received significantly higher amounts of minor tranquilizers. Older patients were prescribed a significantly greater number of drugs than younger patients, particularly in the antidepressant classification, and differences in symptom ratings but not in prescription rates were seen between male and female physicians.
Characteristics of Smokeless Tobacco Use among High School Football Players as Related to Type of Smokeless Tobacco and Period of Use
Authors: Creath Curtis J. , Wright J. Timothy , Wisniewski John F.
Published: May 2005

The present study was conducted to assess differences in the behavioral and demographic characteristics of snuff (dip) users as compared to users of chewing tobacco. High School football players (1116) were surveyed concerning their use and perceptions of smokeless tobacco. Adolescent athletes who tried smokeless tobacco were more likely to be white, to use cigarettes, alcohol, and cigars and to have family users than those who never tried. Initial use was highest before the age of fourteen years and was influenced by friends, curiosity and family. Dippers tended to initiate use because of friends, while chewers started because of family users. Users of both dip and chew started primarily because of curiosity. Users of both were more likely to consume greater amounts to alcohol and cigarettes and to smoke cigars and pipes. It appears that the longer smokeless tobacco is consumed, the more likely both dip and chew will be used. Users of smokeless tobacco for more than two years tended to consume more of the product each week, used it for more hours/day, initiated use at an earlier age, and used it more often at school and work than those using it for less than two years. Use of cigars/pipes, consumption of alcohol, and quantity of cigarette consumption increased significantly with longer duration of smokeless tobacco use. Intervention and prevention programs would be helped by understanding differences between users of various smokeless tobacco products and differences related to the duration of use. In addition, further analyses of smokeless tobacco users should study chewers, dippers, and users of both separately.
Medical-Psychological Implications of Recent Sleep Research
Authors: Pearlman Chester A. , Greenberg Ramon
Published: May 2005

Recent sleep research has shown that the conventional concept of sleep as a period of inactivity for recovery from fatigue is outmoded. Active neurophysiological mechanisms regulate the sleep cycle in a manner similar to other circadian rhythms. The slow wave (NREM) part of the sleep cycle appears to be involved in recovery from muscular fatigue; the dreaming (REM) part appears to be involved in psychological adaptation to life events. Since most hypnotic drugs suppress REM sleep, they should be used after careful consideration of the possible psychological effects. For example, some depressions may be alleviated by agents which suppress dreaming at the cost of isolating the patient from his inner emotional life. Chloral hydrate, chlordiazepoxide, and diazepam avoid this problem because they do not affect REM sleep. Some sleep disorders like severe nightmares may be treated by suppressing deep NREM sleep. Other disorders like enuresis and narcolepsy appear to be psychosomatic conditions and require a medical psychological-approach. There is some evidence that methods which increase or substitute for REM sleep may eventually be useful in facilitating emotional adjustment.
Safety and Health Conditions, Practices, and Priorities for OSHA Reform: A Comparison of Views of New Jersey Union Members and Safety and Health Professionals
Authors: Ochsner Michele
Published: May 2005

This article draws on survey and interview data from New Jersey occupational health and safety professionals and union members to provide insights into the interactions among workers, management, unions, and health and safety professionals that shape work place conditions and practices. A substantial number of both professionals and union members reported: serious or very serious health and safety problems; limited access to effective resources for addressing these problems; and the presence of serious barriers to resolving these problems. Fewer than half of the union and professional respondents reported that effective participatory mechanisms such as union/management health and safety committees existed at their work sites, and many interview respondents described situations in which serious problems might be aired but seldom resolved.
The Effects of Two Teaching Methodologies on the Performance and Attitudes of Students in a Technical Report-Writing Course
Authors: Kaltenbach Joan C.
Published: May 2005

This article discusses an attempt to match the student characteristics in sections of technical report writing in a community college setting so as to determine if different teaching methodologies affected performance and/or attitudes. As many similarities as possible in the general characteristics of age, background field of study, and initial attitude towards the course were sought in order to measure the effect of a variance in presentation of material. The first class was taught by the traditional lecture technique; the second, by individual consultation.
Acceptability of Suicide: Attitudes in Taiwan and in the United States
Authors: Domino George , Shen Di , Su Sulin
Published: May 2005

The Suicide Opinion Questionnaire was administered to two samples, one from Taiwan ( n = 291) and one from the United States ( n = 218). Mean scores on the Acceptability scale were significantly higher for the Taiwanese sample, indicating greater acceptance. A chi-square analysis indicated significant response rates for ten of the eleven items, with eight of the eleven items showing greater agreement in the Taiwanese sample. Taiwanese are less accepting of suicide in cases of incurable illness, and agree less that suicide may be the only escape from life's problems. They are, however, more accepting of suicide for the elderly infirm, for captured soldiers, as a reasonable solution, as a normal behavior, agree with non-interference, with the option of suicide clinics, and passive suicide.
The Inadequacies of Technical Reporting
Authors: Macchi Reynolds
Published: May 2005

The advancements of science and engineering which are reported by oral and written modes have become overcomplicated. The message of reporting clearly defines the problem at hand; however, reporting inadequacies have prevented that message from reaching the public.

Reporting in the past has suffered due to strong censorship and ignorance from learning about technical contributions in society. Progress has been made through art and increased faith in scientific discoveries which were monumental enough to have wakened man's mind.

Through the institutional changes in our education programs, technical reporting will become adequate and allow mankind to live with a mutual understanding.
The Westley-MacLean Model Revisited: A Technical Communication Perspective
Authors: Guillemette Ronald A.
Published: May 2005

Many scholars call for systematic empirical research in technical writing. This article reviews the Westley-MacLean communication model and provides an example of the model within a technical communication context. The author suggests use of the Westley-MacLean model as a means to conceptualize the technical communication process, and illustrates how the model can be used as a technical writing paradigm.
The Clear and the Hidden: Person, Self, and Suicide among the Telefolmin of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Jorgensen Dan
Published: May 2005

Among the Telefolmin, women's suicide is culturally recognized while men's suicides are held to be exceptional; despite this, more men commit suicide than women, a pattern contrary to cultural expectations. Analysis of motives reveals that men tend to commit suicide in the face of rupture in marital relations. An examination of concepts of male personhood demonstrates that the culturally enjoined requirement of self-restraint and emotional muting is suspended in husband-wife relations. From this point of view marriage affords a privileged relation in which a man's self is permitted to emerge, while marital disruption jeopardizes this emergent self. In such circumstances suicide is the final act in an already advanced process of destruction of the self.
A Comparison of Grief as Related to Miscarriage and Termination for Fetal Abnormality
Authors: Keefe-Cooperman Kathleen
Published: May 2005

This study proposed that maternal bereavement in women who experienced miscarriage and women who terminated for fetal abnormality would differ related to the existence of a grief reaction, and to identify the factors that differentiated the two groups. There were no significant grief differences between the miscarriage group and termination group. The groups were then combined to analyze within group factors. Six fixed variables were found to be related to vulnerability for a grief reaction. Factors included: time since the most recent loss; intervention of counseling; employment outside the home; feeling responsible for the perinatal loss; age of the mother as related to guilt; and gestational length of pregnancy.
Bulimic Vomiting Alters Pain Tolerance and Mood
Authors: Abraham Henry David , Joseph Anthony B.
Published: May 2005

Bulimia, a disorder of episodic bulging and purging, remains without a known etiology. A case report is presented of a patient who attributed bulimic episodes to efforts at inducing euphoria. Experimental pain tolerance was increased by bulimic vomiting, blocked by naloxone, but not by saline. Vomiting was also associated with falls in depression and anxiety. Plasma ACTH and Cortisol, putative markers for β-endorphin, also rose following vomiting. It is hypothesized that in some bulimics, the disorder arises by virtue of an addiction to one's own internally released endogenous opioid peptides.
Introducing Microcomputers into the Classroom: A Study of Teacher's Concerns
Authors: Cicchelli Terry , Baecher Richard
Published: May 2005

Introducing microcomputers in today's classrooms represents a dramatic change for teachers. Cognizant of the important role of the individual in any change process, we investigated the personal dimensions of any innovation, or teacher concerns, about using micros in the classroom. Results of the Stages of Concern Questionnaire administered to seventy-eight teachers at the elementary, junior high and senior high school levels verified the developmental, hierarchical order of teacher concerns about the use of microcomputers in their classrooms [1]. These data can be useful in the design of differentiated inservice activities that aim to support a high level of comfortable use of computer technology in teaching.
Training Students to Conduct Instructional Systems Research
Authors: Reiser Robert A. , Driscoll Marcy P. , Briggs Leslie J.
Published: May 2005

The purpose of this paper is to describe a series of university research courses designed to prepare students to plan and conduct high quality instructional systems research. These courses serve to introduce students to some important research questions facing the field and to some of the traditional and non-traditional methodologies used to examine them. The courses also provide students with an opportunity to plan, conduct, and describe their own research projects under carefully supervised conditions. The goals of each course, as well as the instructional methodologies employed, are described. Methods of evaluating the success of the courses are also presented.
Simulation to Teach or Evaluate Problem-Solving in Professional Programs
Authors: Edwards Judith B.
Published: May 2005

Simulation is a technique which has gained considerable attention and use in education recently as a strategy for teaching, eliciting, and evaluating higher-level problem-solving skills while providing realism, richness, and complexity.

Complex problem-solving skills are important outcomes of most professional programs in medicine, dentistry, law, and education. Various means have been employed to teach and to test these skills, with simulation techniques being among the most promising.

Computer-based simulation can provide a flexible and individually responsive dimension while automatically scoring and maintaining detailed records of each student's performance.

Computer simulation in the health sciences and law provide a strategy—a medium uniquely suited to instruction in problem-solving for large numbers of students. Projects at the University of Iowa and elsewhere to develop, use, and test simulations for instruction in these settings is described and compared.
Mental Health, Work, and Gender
Authors: Dennerstein Lorraine
Published: May 2005

Women have significantly higher prevalence rates than men for many mental disorders, particularly affective disorders. Married women are more at risk for mental ill-health than single women or married men. The detrimental effects of marriage on mental health appear to relate to the contexts of role performances and the reduction in opportunities in paid employment. This review examines the influence of women's paid and unpaid domestic work and roles on mental health. Many studies show positive effects of paid employment on mental health, and multiple roles have been found to have beneficial rather than adverse effects on mental health. However, husbands' negative attitudes to women's paid employment, with resultant marital conflict, and husbands' lack of participation in child care may erode these potential beneficial effects.
The Industrialization of Fetishism or the Fetishism of Industrialization: A Critique of Ivan Illich
Authors: Navarro Vicente
Published: May 2005

This article critically assesses the ideology of industrialism in light of Ivan Illich's Medical Nemesis. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section is a description of the main features of that ideology, the most prevalent and influential one used in sociological literature to explain the state both of Western societies and of our health services. Also in this section, it is shown how these features appear in Illich's analysis of our societies, of our health services, and of the different clinical, social, and structural iatrogeneses that health services create. The second section examines the assumptions underlying Illich's analysis and discusses their validity to explain the nature and function of our Western health services and their iatrogenic effects. Where Illich's explanations are considered invalid, alternative explanations are presented. Among them, it is postulated that it is not industrialism, but the assumedly transcended category of capitalism that is the cause of the social and structural iatrogeneses. The third section discusses the political implications of Illich's analysis, in a moment when our Western societies are supposedly in crisis.
HIV/AIDS in Asian and Pacific Islander Communities in the U.S.: A Review, Analysis, and Integration
Authors: Yep Gust A.
Published: May 2005

In the United States, HIV/AIDS is invisible in Asian and Pacific Islander (A/PI) communities even though it has affected them since 1981. As the AIDS crisis enters its second decade, A/PI communities continue to face a classic Catch-22: They receive modest, if any, funding for services, education, or research because there are relatively few reported Asian AIDS cases, but no one can financially, socially, and ethically afford to wait for an explosion of HIV infection in these communities. This article, using the AIDS Risk Reduction Model (ARRM) as an organizing framework, reviews, analyzes, and integrates the current state of knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors associated with HIV/AIDS among Asians and Pacific Islanders. Implications for community health education programs and future directions for research are discussed.
Obsessive-Compulsive Aspects of Obesity
Authors: Salzman Leon
Published: May 2005

Obesity is related in some ways to the range of disorders which are compulsively produced and sustained. Like drug or alcohol addiction, obesity may be the consequence of a personality configuration that compels some individuals to overeat as a way of dealing with emotional distress. Such individuals feel exempt from the human physiological limitations and feel they can eat without gaining weight, or they perceive their body image as slender rather than obese. Any therapeutic program must take into account this aspect of grandiosity, which is at the core of many addictive processes. Obesity therefore is viewed here as an addictive disorder in which physiological factors may initiate or sustain the psychological processes.
Are Voluntary Agencies Helping to Improve Health in Bangladesh?
Authors: Briscoe John
Published: May 2005

Since independence in 1971, a large number of health programs run by local and foreign voluntary organizations have been started in Bangladesh. This paper is the result of a survey undertaken on behalf of the Oxford Famine Relief Committee of ten of the most interesting of these projects.

On the basis of an analysis of the underlying causes of ill health in Bangladesh, a criterion for the assessment of these health programs is developed. Following an overview of the performance of these “innovative” projects, the pertinent issues which have been and have to be dealt with by appropriate projects are addressed by means of a case study of one of the best of these projects. A basic premise of this analysis is that ill health in particular communities is not simply a result of local conditions; rather, the structural determinants of ill health are frequently national and even international in scope. The effect of these structural determinants of the presence and funding policies of the many voluntary agencies in Bangladesh is assessed by analyzing the performance of the Oxford Famine Relief Committee, one of the more enlightened of these agencies.
The Development of the Physicians' End-of-Life Care Attitude Scale
Authors: Levetown Marcia , Hayslip Bert , Peel Jennifer
Published: May 2005

The Physicians' End-of-Life Care Attitude Scale (PEAS) was developed as an outcome measure for palliative care education. PEAS assesses the willingness of medical trainees to care for dying patients. Sixty-four Likert-type questions were created on the basis of discussions with focus groups of medical trainees, then administered to sixty-two medical students and residents. Total PEAS scores as well as personal preparation and professional role subscales (where higher scores indicated greater concern) possessed excellent internal consistency and reliability. In addition, there were substantial correlations between PEAS scores and the CA-Dying scale, a measure of laypersons' fears about interacting with dying persons. Thus, PEAS adequately assesses the unique communication concerns of physicians in training regarding working with dying persons and their families. Correlations between PEAS scores and age were negative, while those who had experienced the death of a loved one had higher PEAS scores than those who did not. This suggests that for some persons, life experiences may lessen difficulties in dealing with dying persons, while for others, personal losses may exacerbate such concerns. The utility of PEAS in evaluating the efficacy of palliative care education as well as its potential to measure medical trainee's willingness to care for the terminally ill is discussed.
Grief Adjustment as Influenced by Funeral Participation and Occurrence of Adverse Funeral Events
Authors: Gamino Louis A. , Easterling Larry W. , Stirman Linda S. , Sewell Kenneth W.
Published: May 2005

Seventy-four mourners were studied on how their experiences with funeral services for their loved ones influenced later scores on the Grief Experience Inventory (GEI). Those who found the funeral “comforting” and/or participated in planning the funeral reported less grief misery later. A high incidence (43%) of “adverse events” was found to occur during the funerals, contributing, for some mourners, to a perception of the funeral as “not comforting.” Adverse events are categorized and illustrated by the authors to aid grief therapists and funeral directors in assisting mourners to be vigilant toward such adversities and to optimize the healing potential of funeral rituals.
A Network Approach to Formulating Communication Strategy
Authors: Karathanos Patricia , Pettypool M. Diane
Published: May 2005

This article proposes that an examination and analysis of a company's overall communication network may provide some significant guidelines for increasing the organization's communication effectiveness. Through a review of literature in organization communication, this article explains network roles and considers their contributions to the communication climate. Managerial implications are also discussed.
Computer Adaptive Testing: A Shift in the Evaluation Paradigm
Authors: Carlson Randal D.
Published: May 2005

Evaluating and/or testing individuals is utilized in a wide range of instructional situations. This article reviews the development and use of mass testing procedures commonly employed to evaluate large groups of relatively homogeneous individuals and suggests computer adaptive testing (CAT) as a viable alternative to conventional testing in many situations. The CAT process is outlined and briefly described.
Focusing on Women for Water and Sanitation: The Case of Mapo Community in Ibadan, Nigeria
Authors: Olaseha I. O. , Namanja Gracian Bazilious
Published: May 2005

This health service study has attempted to make a needs assessment of the Mapo Community in order to provide basis for appropriate and meaningful intervention. It is believed that even though this community is plagued with water, social, and economic problems, it was possible to reduce the burden of the residents and reduce water-borne infections by creating a sense of determination and self reliance among the women in particular and the community in general.

Geographical and topographic limitations have hindered community efforts to get wholesome water for domestic purposes. In response to this expressed need of the people an educational intervention using women as unit of practice and solution as water purification and management in order to reduce water-borne infections was embarked upon. Health talks, motivation of the participants, seminar/workshop for professional health providers, and laboratory sessions for water purification methods and techniques were some of the components of the learning process to achieve the goal. During and at the end of the project, participants showed interest and enthusiasm and demonstrated behavioral changes as far as making sure that the water they use is clean and kept so in clean receptacles. It is hoped that the process set up will continue through the Community Development Health Committee and the Mapo Zonal Health Office, Ibadan.
Is Propranolol Effective in Primary Polydipsia?
Authors: Kishi Yasuhiro , Kurosawa Hisashi , Endo Shunkichi
Published: May 2005

Objective:

Psychiatric patients presenting with polydipsia are often difficult to treat with standard psychiatric interventions. Pharmacological intervention was attempted in these patients based on the hypothesis that angiotensin II, a potent dipsinogen, may be involved in the drinking behavior of patients with polydipsia. Beta-blockers inhibit renin release (and thus indirectly angiotensin II) by blocking beta receptors in the kidney.

Methods:

Three patients were identified as excessive water drinkers during their hospital admissions. All three patients were eunatremic but polydipsic at the time of study. Two of the three had histories of hyponatremia and required emergency medical treatment on more than one occasion. No patients had been controlled by strict fluid restriction. Trials of propranolol were initiated to control their water drinking.

Results:

After starting propranolol, two patients responded quickly. In one patient, fluid intake decreased from 2650 ± 647 to 1577 ± 361, p < .001. In the other, fluid intake decreased from over 7000 ml before starting propranolol to around 3000 ml. The mean noon body weight of the third patient, in whom it was not possible to document fluid intake or urine volume before and after administering beta-blocker, was 72.6 ± 2.6 Kg and 66.0 ± 1.0 Kg, respectively ( p < .0001).

Conclusions:

These results suggest that propranolol may be useful for the treatment of polydipsia in patients with schizophrenia. Its efficacy could be related to inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system. Additional research using the controlled pharmacotherapeutic trials is required to confirm these findings.
Rorschach Inkblot Movement Responses as a Function of Motor Activity or Inhibition
Authors: Moise Franco , Yinon Yoel , Rabinowitz Aaron
Published: May 2005

Previous studies testing the hypothesis that movement perception in Rorschach is related inversely to motor activity and directly to motor inhibition obtained inconsistent results. The present study attempted to integrate the conflicting data by examining the influence of two situational variables. The perception of movement was expected to be influenced by the interaction between the type of motor activity/inhibition and the timing of the response to the Rorschach blots. Three types of motor activity/inhibition were manipulated: 1) Overt activity, 2) Active inhibition, 3) Passive inhibition. The Rorschach blots were responded to either during or after the motor activity/inhibition task. There were different hypotheses for human movement (M) and animal movement (FM) responses, derived from the different theoretical meanings of these scores. The main hypotheses were that only 1) during overt motor activity and 2) after active motor inhibition, respectively, more animal (FM) and human (M) movement responses would be produced than under the control condition. One hundred and five male high school students randomly assigned to seven experimental groups responded to five Rorschach cards. The mean scores were analyzed by a two-way ANOVA with a single control group. Both hypotheses were confirmed. The increase in “M-thinking” after the active motor inhibition and in “FM-thinking” during the overt motor activity were explained as derived respectively from the notions of the experience of delay of action and immediate impulse gratification.
Multi-Media for Mathematics Learning
Authors: Hoffman Ruth Irene
Published: May 2005

This article describes a specific program in mathematics utilizing multi-media, being developed by the author with Educational Development Laboratories. The program is organized for adult education classes, community college review courses, remediation at the secondary school or for individualized instruction at the intermediate grades and junior high school. It is the description of a laboratory systems approach to individualized learning.
Quantification and Psychological Indicators of Emotions: The Content Analysis of Speech and other Objective Measures of Psychological States
Authors: Gottschalk Louis A.
Published: May 2005

Reliable and valid measurement of affects, emotions, and moods has posed a problem for psychiatric and psychophysiological research as the demand has grown for more sensitive, precise, and objective assessment methods than the method of clinical impressionistic evaluation. There are three major methods in current use for assessing these psychological variables: self-report scales, behavioral rating scales, and the content analysis of verbal behavior. Self-report inventories give an individual an opportunity to describe his subjective state, and their major advantage is that what the person is actually experiencing may not be correctly perceived by external observers. Disadvantages of the self-report method include the possibility that the subject may malinger or fake or may not be in good communication with his own feelings so that he gives a distorted report about them. Psychiatric rating scales have the advantage of putting a trained observer to the task of assessment, and the clinician rater has the option of using a broad range of behavioral and affective cues, verbal and nonverbal, in following this method. But since such raters are not free from systematic distortion and thorough familiarity with the subject of observation is infrequent, all relevant information to make a valid assessment is often not available. Moreover, different interviewers may evoke varying emotional responses from the same person. Objective content analysis of verbal behavior can avoid most of the shortcomings of the self-report and observer rating methods, so long as reasonably standardized procedures are used for eliciting verbal behavior and other key features of scientific methodology are followed. A disadvantage of the content analysis method is that it is time-consuming and requires training and quality checks to carry out accurate content analysis coding. On the other hand, reliable and valid measurement procedures in all fields of research take time and care. A brief review is provided of the variety of findings and applications of the content analyses method of measuring feeling states, and these applications include the research areas of psychotherapy, psychophysiology, and neuropsycho-pharmacology.
Psychosomatic Studies of Psychiatric Disorders: Schizophrenia
Authors: Tucker Gary J.
Published: May 2005

This paper uses some of the data on central nervous dysfunction in schizophrenic patients as a paradigm for the integration of biologic data with psychopathologic conditions. As such, a good portion of the paper emphasizes the methodologic and interpretive problems one must consider in “psychosomatic” studies of mental illness. A possible theory to integrate these findings is presented.
Do Creative People Have More Bizarre Dreams? A Reconsideration
Authors: Wood James M. , Sebba David , Domino George
Published: May 2005

An attempt was made to replicate earlier studies which have found a relation between waking creativity and dream bizarreness. Two-week dream diaries were collected from 126 undergraduates and the dreams scored for bizarreness using Auld's Primary Process Scale and Kluger's Everydayness Scale. Subjects were also administered four commonly used tests of creativity as well as a test of vocabulary knowledge. Dream bizarreness was found to correlate significantly with scores on some but not all the tests of creativity. However, bizarreness correlated most highly with subjects' level of vocabulary knowledge. Furthermore, partial correlations of creativity test scores with dream bizarreness were not statistically significant when subjects' level of vocabulary knowledge was controlled for. The authors conclude that the connection between waking creativity and dream bizarreness has not been convincingly demonstrated, and that earlier researchers may have found an association between the two because they failed to control for subjects' verbal intelligence and for dream report length. Data is also provided concerning the relation of creativity to dream recall frequency.
An Analysis of Non-Symbolic Experience: The Mystic in Everyman
Authors: Betty L. Stafford
Published: May 2005

Non-symbolic (non-perceptual, non-conceptual, “void”) experience is a hallmark of the mystic. How can we account for it? Jung's reductionistic theory of symbolic “all-contamination” is in some ways satisfying, but finally inadequate. Another theory—that the void is a state of “pure affectivity”–is inviting, but again inadequate: It overlooks the intuitive, or “knowing” aspect of mysticism. The mystical state has an affective and an intuitive moment, but the intuitive moment is, unlike ordinary forms of knowledge, wholly non-symbolic. Mystical “knowledge” suggests a new epistemological paradigm for human experience: All normal human experience involves a cyclical moving back and forth, many times every minute, between the symbolic percept or concept and the non-symbolic intuition or affect. In other words, persons experience the Void everytime they think: the Void is a mysterious canvas upon which every cognition is painted. One of the implications of this is the relativity of all religious conceptualizations: The Void is more ultimate. More important implications are those that impinge on most psychologists' working assumptions concerning human nature. A majority of psychologists hold a physicalist view of human nature, make little if any provision for free will, scoff at notions of survival of bodily death, and in general have a much lower esteem of religion than the population at large. If the thesis presented here is persuasive, those psychologists will perhaps be moved to make a reassessment.
Increasing User Acceptance of Technical Information in Cross-Cultural Communication
Authors: Warren Thomas L.
Published: May 2005

A significant problem in technical communication is persuading the user that the information is accurate, valid, and useful. All too often, technical communicators treat users as members of their own culture. When authors do consider cultural issues, they often focus on matters such as vocabulary, visuals, and organization. Other strategies, however, can be useful in gaining acceptance of technical information in cross-cultural situations. For example, the communication theory of compliance-gaining offers suggestions for how the technical communicators can adapt the text to enhance user acceptance when communicating to members of their own culture as well as when communicating across cultures. Communicators can use promises, threats, demonstrate positive and negative outcomes, extend friendliness, etc., to develop the text. In this article, I will explain several compliance-gaining strategies authors can use, identify rhetorical strategies they can combine with compliance-gaining strategies, show how these strategies can be effective in a cross-cultural environment by comparing the strategies in two sample cultures, and analyze a brief sample.
Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric Settlement and Subsistence on the Black Prairie: Buffalo Hunting in Mississippi
Authors: Johnson Jay K. , Scott Susan L. , Atkinson James R. , Shea Andrea Brewer
Published: May 2005

Recently analyzed faunal collections from two archaeological sites in northeast Mississippi add to the limited amount of information on the distribution and use of bison in the Southeast. Moreover, the presence of bison in this area is one more factor which needs to be considered in any attempt to understand the dramatic changes in settlement and subsistence which mark the late prehistory of northeast Mississippi.
Sludge Victims: Voices from the Field
Authors: Shields Helane
Published: May 2005

Individuals around the country are filing reports of adverse health effects they say are related to exposures to sludge. This article reviews some of those reports as well as officials' reactions and responses to them.
The Design of Computer Programs for Use in Elementary and Secondary Schools
Authors: Hirschbuhl John J.
Published: May 2005

This article illustrates the two major components of a systematic approach to the development of computer based instructional programs for elementary and secondary schools: analysis and design. To explain and illustrate the two components of an existing elementary mathematics course that was developed by such a process is used as an example. Attention is called to the four major factors that must be considered in the design of any computer based course that is intended for use by elementary or secondary schools: 1. student characteristics and needs; 2. content characteristics; 3. computer capabilities and limitations; and 4. teacher requirements for planning and conducting instruction.
State-Level Clustering of Safety Measures and its Relationship to Injury Mortality
Authors: Brown Phil , Bell Nicole , Conrad Peter , Howland Jonathan , Lang Martha
Published: May 2005

This article proposes a social model of investigating injury mortality. The authors hypothesize that (1) state-level laws and regulations on safety cluster together in one or more groupings; (2) groupings of safety measures play a significant role in injury mortality; and (3) injury mortality is very highly associated with social structural variables. There is a clustering of safety policies, with five factors explaining 67 percent of variance, although no “master factor” was discovered. The strongest factor, explaining 21 percent of variance, includes three gun laws and low speed limits before the 1973 federal law. One factor is the most global in that it taps three distinct areas, including helmet laws, minor blood alcohol levels, and smoke detectors, though it only explains 7.5 percent of variance. The only factor that remains in a regression for injury mortality is one that includes strong seat belt laws and strong enforcement of those laws, though in the direction opposite to that hypothesized. This factor, along with percentage rural and environmental spending per capita, is significant for both motor vehicle and non–motor vehicle mortality. For motor vehicle mortality alone, deaths are higher in states with higher percentages of Hispanics and fewer people receiving food stamps and AFDC. Many factors that usually predict individual injury mortality do not hold at the state level, suggesting the usefulness of looking at social factors for new insights into injury mortality and prevention.
Drugs in the Womb: College Student Perceptions of Maternal V. Fetal Rights
Authors: Vener Arthur M. , Krupka Lawrence R. , Engelmann Manfred D.
Published: May 2005

A survey of 523 college undergraduates regarding a pregnant woman's culpability for the use of specific drugs during pregnancy indicated that a rank order of the relative safety of the drugs existed in the minds of the respondents. Tobacco, alcohol and aspirin were perceived as similar in their consequences to the fetus, while cocaine was considered to be the most deleterious and Accutane®, the least deleterious. Although 75 percent would imprison a pregnant woman who used cocaine, only 16 percent would do so for the use of Accutane®, a prescription drug. The 87 percent of the students who believed that the fetus was a child, were more likely to consider the use of the five drugs during pregnancy as a form of child abuse and were also more willing to imprison the “offending” women. It was suggested that drug education programs need to place more emphasis on the potentially deleterious consequences of prescribed medicines to the fetus.
Detection and Treatment of Major Depression in Older Medically Ill Hospitalized Patients
Authors: Koenig Harold G. , Meador Keith G. , Cohen Harvey J. , Blazer Dan G.
Published: May 2005

While major depression is common among medically ill older inpatients, little is known about the frequency of detection or appropriate treatment in this population. In the present study, 171 consecutive men age seventy and over admitted to the medical and neurological services of a VA medical center were screened for major depression. The medical records of all patients identified with this disorder were reviewed for documentation of depression by housestaff 1) prior to our evaluation and 2) throughout the rest of the hospital stay. Relative and absolute contraindications to antidepressant therapy were also sought. Of patients identified with major depression, 20 percent (3/15) had depressive symptoms documented in their charts by housestaff prior to our evaluation. After housestaff were informed of the possibility of major depression, 27 percent (4/15) of these patients eventually received psychiatric consultations, and 13 percent (2/15) had antidepressants initiated. At the time of discharge only 13 percent (2/15) had followup plans documented in their medical record to provide ongoing therapy or any therapy for depression after discharge. While this low detection rate and less than adequate treatment may indicate a lack of sensitivity on the part of clinicians to depression in this population, the reluctance to use antidepressants may be partly explained by the observation that 87 percent (13/15) of depressed patients had relative or absolute contraindications to antidepressants.
Altered State and Phenomenology of Consciousness in Schizophrenia
Authors: Roussel Jean-Robert , Bachelor Alexandra
Published: May 2005

The present study sought: 1) to determine whether schizophrenia represents an altered state of consciousness; and 2) to identify the unique phenomenology of the psychotic state using a multidimensional, quantitative assessment system. Fourteen schizophrenic patients, 19 psychiatric non-psychotic patients, and 29 undergraduate students completed the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory, that assesses 10 major and 14 associated minor dimensions of consciousness. As hypothesized, compared to the ordinary state of consciousness the psychotic experience was found to represent an altered state associated, however, only with the differential organization of the putative minor components of consciousness. In addition, the psychiatric non-psychotic state was also found to represent an altered state, compared to ordinary consciousness, that was specifically associated with the major components of consciousness. The phenomenology of the psychotic experience was characterized by expected differences relative to the ordinary state, involving more altered awareness and experience (perceptual changes and unusual meanings), greater negative affect (anger, sadness, fear), and diminished volitional control and rationality, as well as greater arousal and decreased attention. The phenomenology of the psychiatric non-psychotic state proved highly similar to that of psychosis. Results highlight the importance of multidimensional mapping in studying the functioning of consciousness in schizophrenia and of controlling for other pathologies.
A Tale of Two Learning Objects
Authors: Francia Guillermo A.
Published: May 2005

Learning Objects are digital or non-digital entities, which can be used, re-used or referenced during technology supported learning. These Learning Objects include multimedia segments, interactive learning systems, instructional software tools, course contents, and course management systems. The challenge for education is to design these learning objects. These objects will draw both from knowledge about human cognition and from practical applications of how technology can facilitate complex learning and teaching tasks. This article describes the design and the implementation of two learning objects: the Web Enabled Basic Knowledge Accessibility Program (WEBKAP) and the Web Enabled Automated Test Generation and Management System (WEATGAMS). These tools are created with a common thread: to ameliorate the learning experiences of students.
Is Scientific Research Part of Prewriting in the Scientific Writing Process?
Authors: Zhang Zaixin
Published: May 2005

Recent studies indicate that scientific research is part of prewriting in the scientific writing process. This article argues that since invention in scientific research is discovery of the unknown of the scientific community and invention in writing is discovery of ideas within existing knowledge, scientific research cannot be part of prewriting in the scientific writing process. Researchers should be aware that inventional heuristics introduced in freshman composition courses, which serve to discover ideas within existing knowledge, are not always applicable in real-life situations where scientific writing occurs, because the content of discourse is sometimes given in these situations.
Nutritional Assessment of Primary School Children in Papua New Guinea: Implications for Community Health
Authors: Moase Olive M. , Pontio Modi , Airhihenbuwa Collins O.
Published: May 2005

The nutritional status of primary school children ( N = 1453) was assessed using weight-for-height (W/H) and twenty-four hour food recall records. Using WHO standards, 21 percent of the students were within the standard W/H. Of the remainder, 71 percent were within 5 kg. of standard W/H, and 8 percent deviated more than 5 kg. from the standard W/H (5% underweight and 3% overweight). The dietary data collected from Grades 5 and 6 ( N = 425) revealed a daily food intake of 1.6, 2.8, and 7.7 servings of protein, protective, and energy foods, respectively, as recorded in local servings. Sixty-five percent of the subjects consumed foods from all three food groups. Twenty-four percent consumed no protein, 14 percent consumed no protective food, and 2 percent consumed neither protein nor protective food. The variety of foods available varied from school to school-3-11 protein foods, 7–15 energy foods, and 8–18 protective foods. To improve nutritional status, government leadership in the areas of education, health, and primary industry will be required. All divisions adhere to the National Food and Nutrition Policy which promotes local rather than imported food.
Fingerspell: Let Your Fingers Do the Talking
Authors: Scarlatos Tony , Nesterenko Dmitri
Published: May 2005

In this article we discuss an application that translates hand gestures of the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet and converts them to text. The FingerSpell application addresses the communication barrier of the deaf and the hearing-impaired by eliminating the need for a third party with knowledge of the American Sign Language, allowing a user to use hand signs that will be translated to letters and words. Through the use of a data glove embedded with multiple input sensors, the application parses each hand and finger gesture signed by the user and detects unique cases which trigger application responses. Application responses come in both visual and auditory forms. The letter corresponding to the unique gesture will appear on the screen and play aloud using computer speech synthesis. The user may also sign an end of word gesture which cues the application to read the previous string of letters together, as one word. This allows a deaf person to communicate with another person without the need for the other person to understand sign language. In addition, this application can serve as a teaching tool for those learning how to sign. FingerSpell is a stepping stone to opening up lines of communication for the Deaf and hearing-impaired communities. Future research and advancements can extend the FingerSpell application to cover the full sign language (word signs) and alphabets of other sign languages.