bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Framework for Investigating Event Occurrence
Authors: Singer Judith D. , Willett John B.
Published: September 2009

This chapter introduces the essential features of event occurrence data, explaining how and why they create the need for new analytic methods. Section 9.1 provides a context by describing three studies of event occurrence, each conducted in a different discipline. Section 9.2 identifies the three major methodological features of each study: a well-defined “event” whose occurrence is being explored; a clearly identified “beginning of time”; and a substantively meaningful metric for clocking time. Section 9.3 concludes by highlighting the hallmark feature of event occurrence data that makes the new statistical methods we soon discuss necessary—the problem known as censoring.
Describing Discrete-Time Event Occurrence Data
Authors: Singer Judith D. , Willett John B.
Published: September 2009

This chapter presents a framework for describing discrete-time event occurrence data. Section 10.1 introduces the life table, the primary tool for describing event occurrence data. Section 10.2 introduces three essential statistical summaries of the life table—the hazard function, the survivor function, and the median lifetime—and demonstrates that these ingenious statistics, which deal evenhandedly with censored and noncensored cases, are intuitively appealing as well. Section 10.3 applies the new techniques to four empirical studies, to help you develop intuition about the behavior, interpretation, and interrelationships of life table methods. Section 10.4 focuses on sampling variation, showing how to estimate standard errors. Section 10.5 concludes by showing how to compute all these summaries using standard cross-tabulation programs available in every major statistical package.
Fitting Basic Discrete-Time Hazard Models
Authors: Singer Judith D. , Willett John B.
Published: September 2009

Good data analysis involves more than using a computer package to fit a statistical model to data. To conduct a credible discrete-time survival analysis, one must: specify a suitable model for hazard and understand its assumptions; use sample data to estimate the model parameters; interpret results in terms of your research questions; evaluate model fit and test hypotheses about (and/or construct confidence intervals for) model parameters; and communicate your findings. This chapter illustrates this entire process using the “age at first intercourse” study introduced in section 10.3. This sets the stage for a subsequent discussion of how to evaluate the assumptions underpinning the model and how to extend it flexibly across many circumstances in Chapter 12.
Extending the Discrete-Time Hazard Model
Authors: Singer Judith D. , Willett John B.
Published: September 2009

The basic discrete-time hazard model invokes assumptions about the population that may, or may not, hold in practice. This chapter examines its assumptions, demonstrating how to evaluate their tenability and relax their constraints when appropriate. Section 12.1 revisits the original specification for the main effect of TIME in the discrete-time hazard model—which, in the previous chapter, was specified using a system of time indicators—and compares it with other specifications that constrain the shape of the baseline hazard function in different ways. Section 12.2 re-examines the logit link that used to relate hazard to predictors in the previous chapter and compare it to an alternative—the complementary log-log link—which yields an important correspondence with the continuous time hazard models that we will describe subsequently. Section 12.3 deals with time-varying predictors, showing how to include them in the discrete-time model and discussing inferential difficulties that their inclusion raises. Sections 12.4 through 12.6, examines three important assumptions embedded in the discrete-time hazard model—the linear additivity assumption (“all predictors operate only as main effects”); the proportionality assumption (“the effects of each predictor are constant over time”); and the no unobserved heterogeneity assumption (“population hazard depends only on predictor values”). Section 12.7 concludes by describing analytic strategies for “residual” analysis to accompany model fitting.
Oral Health
Authors: Allukian Myron , Horowitz Alice M.
Published: September 2009

This chapter describes the impact of social injustice on oral health. It defines oral health and describes the oral disease epidemic. A box in the chapter describes social inequalities in oral health internationally. The chapter discusses national priorities, local and state priorities, school programs, dental public health infrastructure, the dental workforce, and practices of the food and tobacco industries. It describes what needs to be done to improve oral health and reduce the impact of social injustice on oral health.
Promoting Social Justice Through Public Health Policies, Programs, And Services
Authors: Plough Alonzo
Published: September 2009

This chapter addresses promoting social justice through public health policies, programs, and services. It describes public health agencies and social justice and the roles that they can play in promoting social justice. It presents two case studies in which public health practice was oriented to social justice. The chapter puts forward an action agenda for a social justice core competency in public health practice.
Finding Care
Authors: Iezzoni Lisa I. , O'Day Bonnie L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter explores how persons with disabilities find doctors and other health care professionals to provide primary and specialty care. It presents information about health care services used by persons with disabilities. It looks at different approaches for paying for health care services and describes how persons with disabilities must pay considerable costs out-of-pocket. The costs of accommodating disabilities, such as expenses for sign language interpreters, are also described. The chapter addresses a particularly challenging problem, as young adults with disabilities try to transition from the pediatric health care settings of childhood into the adult health care sector.
Challenges to Interpersonal Communication
Authors: Iezzoni Lisa I. , O'Day Bonnie L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter starts by describing the importance of interpersonal communication and relationships between patients and clinicians for ensuring high quality health care, drawing upon numerous studies that report better clinical outcomes with better communication. It then presents various challenges to interpersonal communication between patients with disabilities and clinicians, ranging from issues such as attitudes of clinicians to lack of accommodations for persons who are blind, experience low vision, deaf, or hard of hearing. The chapter presents examples of inadequate or damaging interpersonal communication. It raises particular concern about discussions of potentially sensitive topics, such as sexuality and reproductive health, mental health, and substance abuse.
Self-Management and Advocacy
Authors: Iezzoni Lisa I. , O'Day Bonnie L.
Published: September 2009

Shifting the paradigm of care from traditional roles of clinicians directing patients to a model of collaboration in care has gained currency as a strategy for improving both health care quality and outcomes. This chapter describes self-management and collaborative care programs, which are well developed for certain chronic conditions (such as arthritis and diabetes). It then discusses various considerations in moving toward a self-management and collaborative care approach for persons with disabilities. The core to any such effort is for clinicians to listen to and learn from their patients with disabilities, who are often the experts about their health and needs. The chapter looks at accessibility of self-management and resources and technologies to aid self-management.
The Internet and Information Technologies
Authors: Iezzoni Lisa I. , O'Day Bonnie L.
Published: September 2009

Electronic health information technologies and the Internet are playing increasing roles in health care and the ways that patients obtain information about their conditions and options for care. This chapter reviews how these electronic sources are used by health care consumers and makes a case that these information technologies could offer potentially enormous benefits to persons with disabilities. Despite this, persons with disabilities may confront obstacles to accessing information through electronic sources and to sorting through voluminous information to evaluate its accuracy and utility. The chapter reviews guidelines about how clinicians and their patients might safely and effectively communicate via secure Internet portals.
Infectious Disease in the Age of Globalization
Authors: Saker Lance , Lee Kelley , Cannito Barbara
Published: September 2009

This chapter explores the links between globalization and infectious diseases in relation to changes in four major spheres—economic, environmental, political and demographic, and technological. It highlights areas where the evidence suggests that processes of globalization have led to changes in the distribution, transmission rate, and, in some cases, management of infectious diseases.
Global Climate Change and Human Health
Authors: McMichael A. J. , Ranmuthugala G.
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses the health impacts of global environmental change. Topics covered include relationship between globalization and global environmental change, impacts of climate change, interaction between weather and air pollution; effects of economic, social, and demographic disruption; and strategies to reduce population health risks from climate change.
Population Movements
Authors: Allotey Pascale , Zwi Anthony
Published: September 2009

This chapter analyzes migration and health with a focus on a broadly defined concept of forced or “compelled” migration. It highlights the influence of structures created through globalization on the level of agency of mobile populations. It argues that globalization has had a paradoxical effect on migration and the health particularly of the migrating populations. The primary focus of the discussion is on the ethical and humanitarian challenges presented by the “othering” of migrant groups.
Summary Measures of Population Health: Controversies and New Directions
Authors: Reidpath Daniel D.
Published: September 2009

This chapter offers a critique of summary measures of population health status (e.g., disability-adjusted life years and health-adjusted life expectancies) that have been promoted by the WHO and other bodies as tools for priority setting in health policy. The measurement of population health is a case study of globalization. Where the term “globalization” tends to stand as a marker of certain approaches to economic engagement and global trade, here it stands as a marker for the global management of an idea. The idea is that there exists a universally (i.e., cross-culturally) accepted notion of health as an attribute intrinsic to the individual based on loss of bodily function or structure that is unrelated to the social, cultural, or physical environment. This idea may seem self-evident, and the evidence supporting it is scant. It has, nonetheless, resulted in an intensive effort to develop measures of population health that are based on it, and to repudiate ideas that stand in opposition to it.
Health Policy and the World Trade Organization
Authors: Bloche M. Gregg , Jungman Elizabeth R.
Published: September 2009

This chapter argues that the portrayal of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its associated agreements as implacable threats to the health of people constitutes pessimism bordering on panic. Not only does this portrayal overlook potential synergies between trade and health, it all but ignores recent developments within the WTO that have affirmed member states' power to promote health.
Why Americans Don’t Trust the Government and Don’t Trust Healthcare
Authors: Blendon Robert J.
Published: September 2009

The United States has had a history of having increasing levels of distrust of the government, from the founding fathers to the Vietnam War to scandals in recent years. This chapter demonstrates how the changes in trust levels in the U.S. healthcare system parallel the changes in trust of the US government. These changes can be correlated to historical events and have similar dynamics. The chapter draws parallels from other sectors of society to healthcare on the personal, institutional, and organizational levels, and looks at why the healthcare sector is experiencing—and deserves—the decline in trust.
Skeptical Patients: Performance, Social Capital, and Culture
Authors: Norris Pippa
Published: September 2009

This chapter seeks to explain the decline of trust of social and political institutions through three theories: institutional performance-based accounts, social capital theories, and cultural accounts based on modernization theory. It also sheds light on confidence trends in thirteen institutions from the General Social Survey and suggests factors that can explain these trends. Based on this analysis, the implications for the future of healthcare and patient-doctor relations are explored.
Building Quality in the Healthcare Environment
Authors: Berwick Donald M.
Published: September 2009

The quality of care issues in healthcare has long been recognized and publicized in studies done by the Institute of Medicine and other organizations. This chapter explores the relationship between quality and trust. Quality results can build trust, and the fastest way to rebuild the trust in the healthcare system may be through healthcare quality improvement, but performance change is often blocked by systemic conditions. It explores how looking past Taylorism, accepting responsibility, and developing the skills to pursue an aim are key to generating change.
Medical Errors and Patient Safety
Authors: Leape Lucian L.
Published: September 2009

Several studies have touted healthcare as hazardous to health. The Institute of Medicine report on medical errors in 1999 publicized the prevalence of medical errors in the United States. While poor quality can undermine trust, the response of providers to poor results is another facet of declining trust in the US. The healthcare system fails to come to grips with problem doctors, and increased professional accountability is the recommended solution. This chapter explores the principles and practices that must be present in order to create a safety culture. In such a culture, providers are able to confront medical errors comfortably and confidently, and provide proper medical error disclosure. As a result, trust will be rebuilt and patient safety enhanced.
Patients’ Trust in Their Doctors: Are We Losing Ground?
Authors: Safran Dana Gelb
Published: September 2009

This chapter evaluates the patient-physician relationship's role in declining trust. Previous studies have shown this relationship is a predictor of patient loyalty and trust. The chapter defines a patient's trust in his or her physician as comprising three parts: confidence in their integrity, confidence in their clinical knowledge and skill, and confidence in their promise to put the patient's interests before other financial interests. It describes how the information age, declining morale among physicians, and different models of health insurance can affect this relationship. The ultimate goal of evaluating the quality of patient-physician relationships is to improve both business outcomes and health outcomes. The chapter emphasizes why the patient-physician relationship is a good place to start rebuilding trust, resulting in tremendous payoffs.
Healthcare Research: Can Patients Trust Physician Scientists?
Authors: Koski Greg
Published: September 2009

Medical research, and specifically clinical trial research on human subjects, is necessary to make advances in medicine. Such research depends on high levels of trust between the subjects and the physician scientists conducting the trials. This chapter addresses the erosion of public trust in health research, its causes and consequences, and some solutions. Abuses of the past have left a broad legacy of mistrust. Government regulation attempted to impose better procedures to ensure good medical ethics. Institutional Review Boards were formed to monitor federally funded research. However, patient mistrust and conflicts of interest by researchers remain concerns in the field. The chapter recommends moving from a culture of compliance to a culture of conscience, in which people act responsibly because it is the right thing to do. In addition, it discusses the importance of providing incentives for good performance.
Temperature and Humidity
Authors: Jaakkola Jouni J.K.
Published: September 2009

This chapter describes the scientific parameters of temperature and humidity and the ways in which they affect comfort and health in schools. Thermal conditions—temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity—have direct effects on the human body and on functional outcomes such as performance, learning, and productivity. Thermal conditions can also indirectly affect indoor air pollutant concentrations, as well as human exposure to these pollutants. Regulation of the thermal environment is necessary to maintain optimal conditions and involves routine monitoring and adjustment of the temperature, relative humidity, and air movement.
Playgrounds
Authors: Moore Robin
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins by tracing the history of playgrounds and exploring the philosophies behind the changes. Two major themes emerge. First, playgrounds should be places where children can play without incurring serious injury. Second, playgrounds should be spaces that support healthy child development through the process of active play, learning, and exploration. With regard to playground safety, the chapter reviews trends in injuries and fatalities and presents prevention strategies. Finally, case studies of community-based efforts to create playgrounds and school parks that meet both sets of goals are discussed. Focusing on elementary schools serving children four-twelve years of age (prekindergarten to sixth grade), the chapter offers suggestions on how to optimize playgrounds as educational and developmental settings that are safe for all children.
Healthy School Travel
Authors: Crider Linda B. , Hall Amanda K.
Published: September 2009

This chapter addresses the physically active aspect of school travel, such as walking and bicycling. Walking and bicycling offer important health benefits to children, but the proportion of children who walk and bike to school has declined in recent years. Safe Routes to School is a set of strategies designed to promote walking and biking to class by providing safe, appealing pedestrian routes and encouraging their use. These strategies include engineering and environmental changes, enforcement of applicable laws, education of children, parents, and motorists, and encouragement (social marketing). Important elements of Safe Routes to Schools programs include team approach, surveys to assess needs before implementing the program, and program evaluation once the program is in place.
4 Rational and Irrational Beliefs from an Evolutionary Perspective
Authors: Wilson David Sloan
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the relationship between factual and practical rationality from an evolutionary perspective. Among its arguments are that rationality cannot be defined, at the outset, as both factually and practically rational, and that factual rationalism contributes to practical rationalism only under certain conditions.
6 Rational and Irrational Beliefs in Human Feelings and Psychophysiology
Authors: David Daniel , Cramer Duncan
Published: September 2009

People can be analyzed with respect to at least four interrelated levels: (1) biological structure (i.e., anatomy and physiology), (2) behavioral output, (3) cognitive processes, and (4) subjective experience. Psychologists typically focus on the other three levels: (1) behaviors (e.g., observable and measurable operant reactions of the organism), (2) cognitions (e.g., information processing), and (3) subjective experience (e.g., feelings and emotions). Psychologists also study physiological reactions (e.g., unconditioned and conditioned responses) that are often defined as behaviors, and discussed in connection with either behaviors or feelings. This chapter considers such physiological reactions in the course of the discussion of feelings.
Establishing Validity and Reliability of Physical Activity Assessment Instruments
Authors: Bassett Jr. David R. , Fitzhugh Eugene C.
Published: September 2009

This chapter aims to provide an understanding of how to evaluate critically the validity and reliability of survey instruments for measuring physical activity. If an existing instrument were to be chosen, the first step would be to search the literature for studies that have been performed to establish its validity and reliability. If there is sufficient evidence that the chosen instrument is a robust measure of physical activity in the population of interest, then the research can proceed. However, if validity and reliability studies are lacking, then the researchers should conduct studies to address these issues. The results of the validity and reliability studies can be affected by a number of factors, including the type of validation criteria selected, the characteristics of the population being studied, the measurement time frame, and the methods of statistical analysis used. These factors are discussed in detail.
Development as Change of System Dynamics: Stability, Instability, and Emergence
Authors: Schöner Gregor
Published: September 2009

Dynamical systems thinking can provide metaphors that help ask new questions, generate new experimental paradigms and measures, and lead to new kinds of explanations. This chapter reviews dynamical systems theory (DST) as a set of concepts that formalizes such metaphors and thus becomes a scientific theory of considerable rigor. It considers five concepts: (1) Behavioral patterns resist change; that is, they are stable. This may be mathematically characterized by considering behavioral patterns as the attractor states of a dynamical system. (2) Behavioral change is brought about by a loss of stability. (3) Representations possess stability properties, as well, and can be understood as the attractor states of dynamic fields, that is, of continuous distributions of neuronal activation. (4) Cognitive processes emerge from instabilities of dynamic fields. (5) Learning occurs as changes in behavioral or field dynamics that shift the behavioral and environmental context in which these instabilities occur.
Brain, Body, and Mind: Lessons from Infant Motor Development
Authors: Corbetta Daniela
Published: September 2009

This chapter focuses on the role that the body plays in the process of brain and mind formation. It begins by reviewing some theoretical concepts about embodiment and the dynamic systems approach. It then considers three examples of infant motor development that illustrate the strong coupling existing between the body and the mind in development, and that highlight the usefulness of accounting for the body and its properties when investigating a developmental question. The concluding section of this chapter extends the theme to situations that do not involve motor activities per se, to illustrate that even such activities can be embodied. The chapter shows that development is a process marked by continuous perceptual and sensorimotor experiences, which involve a brain with a body that can act and sense. It argues that those perceptual and sensorimotor experiences are crucial for brain, mind, and behavioral development, and that they create the foundation of many forms of thinking in development.
Dynamic Field Theory and Embodied Cognitive Dynamics
Authors: Spencer John P. , Perone Sammy , Johnson Jeffrey S.
Published: September 2009

This chapter explains some of the core concepts of dynamic field theory (DFT) and how this theory provides a formal framework for thinking about embodied cognitive dynamics. It begins with some context, describing the milieu in which the theory emerged and the problems it was initially designed to address. In particular, it focuses on a central problem in cognitive science: How do cognitive systems interface with real-time sensorimotor systems? That is, how can real-time cognitive dynamics be embodied? The answer is discussed within DFT where neural dynamics and stable peaks of activation are used as the basic unit of cognition. Peaks can be continuously coupled to sensorimotor systems in real time. But peaks move far beyond a basic feed-forward picture, allowing for a host of cognitive properties that come for free in this theoretical framework. The chapter highlights these properties and shows how peaks provide critical links to two other central challenges in the cognitive developmental sciences: the integration of processes over multiple timescales and the origins of behavioral flexibility.
Timescales of Change in Connectionist and Dynamical Systems Approaches to Learning and Development
Authors: Newell Karl M. , Liu Yeou-Teh , Mayer-Kress Gottfried
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the origins of the construct of timescales as expressed in Waddington's (1957) metaphor for development of the epigenetic landscape, and its subsequent use as a metaphor for change in learning/development in theoretical frameworks, both connectionist and dynamical systems. It presents an epigenetic landscape model for motor learning and development, which is constructed as a low-dimensional approximation of a high-dimensional (or infinitely dimensional) complex dynamical system that possesses a score, error, or fitness function. The chapter concludes by illustrating briefly three case studies of the timescales of change in the epigenetic landscape framework to motor learning and development.
Dynamic Systems and the Quest for Individual-Based Models of Change and Development
Authors: van Geert Paul , Fischer Kurt W.
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses the question of how dynamic systems theory can be fruitfully applied to the development of the kind of phenomena and variables that have been of interest for a long time. Examples of these phenomena are (a) the development of language, including the development of the lexicon and syntactic and grammatical knowledge and skill; (b) the development of cognition and thinking, including the emergence and acquisition of cognitive skills and knowledge in various domains; (c) the development of reflective judgment, including metacognition and social understanding; and (d) the development of social skills and behavior. Behind all these phenomena are the development of context-specific but overarching principles of skill formation, such as principles of relationships, systems of relationships, and so on.
Criminal Law and Public Health Practice
Authors: Lazzarini Zita , Goodman Richard A. , Dammers Kim S.
Published: September 2009

This chapter introduces the unique characteristics of criminal law, provides a broad overview of the many substantive areas in which criminal law and public health law interact, and discusses the concept of forensic epidemiology and the role of criminal exposure and transmission laws.
Frontline Public Health: Surveillance and Field Epidemiology
Authors: Neslund Verla S. , Goodman Richard A. , Hadler James L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter provides an overview of the legal issues relating to public health surveillance and field epidemiology. It discusses the general legal authorities for surveillance and public health investigations provided by the U.S. Constitution and by state laws; legal milestones in the evolution of public health surveillance, outbreak investigations, and disease control in the United States; and legal issues related to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of surveillance data. The chapter also presents information about new surveillance challenges beyond traditional infectious disease models, including the influence of bioterrorism preparedness on surveillance activities.
Legal Authorities for Interventions in Public Health Emergencies
Authors: Matthews Gene W. , Abbott Ernest B. , Hoffman Richard E. , Cetron Martin S.
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins by providing the historical context to the current revision of legal authorities that may be needed in public health emergencies. It then describes the array of legal authorities available to practitioners, including the traditional public health powers to manage property and protect persons, as well as the federal and state emergency management laws and structures that must be brought carefully to bear during a public health emergency. Finally, it highlights cutting-edge emerging issues that are likely to challenge public health officials and stakeholders as the demands of 21st century public health emergency practice continue to unfold.
Hepatitis A, B, and C Virus Infections among Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States: Transmission, Epidemiology, and Intervention
Authors: Rhodes Scott D. , Yee Leland J.
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the epidemiology of hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C within the U.S. male population and within various samples of men-who-have-sex-with-men. Vaccine strategies for the prevention of hepatitis A and B are discussed, including relevant information about vaccine uptake among MSM. The chapter concludes with a review of promising strategies for resolving disparities in hepatitis infection (especially HBV) among MSM. These include both clinic and community-based interventions.
Interacting Epidemics and Gay Men's Health: A Theory of Syndemic Production among Urban Gay Men
Authors: Stall Ron , Friedman Mark , Catania Joseph A.
Published: September 2009

Gay men in the United States are characterized by a higher prevalence rate for a series of psychosocial and biomedical health problems compared to heterosexual men in the U.S. This chapter presents a theoretical framework to explain higher prevalence rates among gay and bisexual men that can be used as the basis for public health interventions. The theory takes a life course perspective on the development of health problems among gay men, and describes the development of these problems as a syndemic process of interacting health problems that begin at an early age among gay male adolescents. The current dominant explanations for lower health profiles among gay men are that homophobia causes poor health in men. This chapter adds to that explanation the possibility that the lifelong effects of experiencing homophobic violence and cultural marginalization at a very early age is a centrally-important force in syndemic production among gay men.
The Health of Populations
Authors: Kunitz Stephen J.
Published: September 2009

In the maelstrom of current public health debate over the social determinants of health, this book offers a well-balanced discussion on the roots of prevalent strains of thought on the matter. While this area of research deals in complex problems, it is often dominated by those who deploy rather categorical, partisan positions, citing from a wide range of contradictory statistical studies. This book aims to bring a measured, balanced, and independent perspective to bear on the debate, taking a step back from current arguments to look at the fundamental issues through a socio-historical lens. Part I describes how ideas about the costs and benefits of industrialization and about the causes of disease have been used by writers from different ideological persuasions to explain the health of populations. Part II focuses on some of the ideas that have been particularly influential in contemporary debates: factors such as standard of living, community and its loss, inequality, and globalization. The fact that these have been used to support differing explanations of the determinants of population health suggests that there are no easy generalizations in a field with so many discrepant findings. Scientists often ignore anomalous findings in the interests of advancing a particular paradigm, until the anomalies outweigh the norm and a new paradigm is created. This book argues that in considering social determinants of health, no meaningful over-arching explanations may be possible. Rather, it is by immersion in the reality of particular contexts—work settings, historical periods, geopolitical regions, and governmental credos—that we may gain a better understanding of the way in which social forces shape patterns of health and disease.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Image of God
Authors: Wills Richard W.
Published: September 2009

The main concern of this book is to offer a comprehensive analysis of Martin Luther King’s appeal for civil rights by providing an explication of how he understood imago Dei in contrast to theological thinkers dating from as early as the 5th century. From his position as mediating theologian, Martin Luther King drew at least three major conclusions from his explication of imago Dei that ultimately formed the basis of his appeal and the core of this book’s reconsideration of his theology. His first theological conclusion is strikingly similar to that of his early black church and abolitionist predecessors; it argues that all individuals, as children of God, are equally valued in as much as they are birthed with an inherent dignity that ultimately represents the requisite for the bestowal of just and fair treatment. His second and third conclusions regarding the bearing of imago Dei on humanity’s capacity to actualize sociopolitical equity and beloved community advance Martin Luther King into new and in somewhat uncharted theological terrain. While unapologetically filtered through the lens of his Christian faith, the doctrine of imago Dei provided Martin Luther King with an anthropology that was capable of addressing community beyond provincial notions of justice for its own pursuit, so as to offer the broadest possibility for human interest and mutual cooperation.
The Historical Context
Authors: Wills Sr Richard Wayne
Published: September 2009

This chapter recognizes that King’s understanding of image of God existed on the edge of a historical 18th- and 19th-century dialogue regarding the quest for human and civil rights. As such, this chapter substantiates and considers the extent to which King’s use of image of God language paralleled that of his abolitionist and black church predecessors. It then contrasts this earlier usage of image of God language with that of King’s appropriation and call to justice during the 1950s and 1960s, and considers the ways in which this kind of theological framework became foundational in the development of his ethical appeal for civil rights as well.
King as Critical Thinker
Authors: Wills Sr Richard Wayne
Published: September 2009

This chapter proceeds with a theological overview of several classical thinkers and their respective interpretations of image of God and human capacity in an attempt to clarify the concept’s doctrinal development as primarily reflected in, though not necessarily restricted to, the thinking of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Aquinas. It is provided as a reminder that although King’s appropriation of image of God language is informed, to a large degree, by the immediacy of his historic social situation, he also thinks and critically engages the doctrine in relation to and as an extension of this larger body of Christian and philosophic thought.
King’s Theological Implications
Authors: Wills Sr Richard Wayne
Published: September 2009

This chapter provides a theological summary of King’s image of God conception and provides an overview of the implications attached to King’s theological anthropology. As such, this chapter provides a necessary reconsideration of King’s approach to theology with respect to his understanding of civil rights, his theological relationship to the black church, and the degree to which his mediated conception of human nature—particularly during his latter years—led to a dialectical tension between that of his anthropology and his heightened eschatological view. At bottom, it can be said that King shared aspects of black church theology, but he did so without wholly rejecting liberalism’s spirit of optimism regarding human progress.
Beloved Community
Authors: Wills Sr Richard Wayne
Published: September 2009

This chapter considers how King combined the influence of the black church’s optimism in God with aspects of liberalism’s influential optimism in the human experience so as to reimagine beloved community. Chapter 6, therefore, considers the ways in which King contemplated beloved community as the movement’s goal, and the methodologies he thought necessary to successfully achieve it as a growing reality. While legislation and desegregation were considered short-term gains, King imagined a day in which society would experience true integration based upon its mutual regard for all humanity. As such, this chapter details King’s concept of beloved community and provides insights as to how he had hoped to implement it.
Swasthya: The Politics of Women’s Health in Rural South India
Authors: Krishnan Suneeta
Published: September 2009

This chapter looks at experiences providing health care to rural women in India. It shares thoughts about the quality of health care offered to women. The chapter also describes the establishment of the Well Woman Clinics, aimed at providing empathic reproductive health care, including information, counseling, and clinical services to women. Community health workers (CHWs) were trained to take a comprehensive, broadly defined health history and provide pre-examination counseling to help women assess what kind of clinical consultation they required and become acquainted with routine examinations.
Reforming Pensions
Authors: Barr Nicholas , Diamond Peter
Published: September 2009

Mandatory pension systems are a worldwide phenomenon. Many need reform. This book, a summary of a longer book, sets out an extensive but nontechnical explanation of the economics of pension design. The book recognizes the multiple objectives of pension plans—consumption smoothing, insurance, poverty relief, and redistribution. Analysis includes discussion of labor markets, capital markets, risk sharing, and gender and family. This is supplemented by discussion of implementation, and of experiences, both good and bad, in many countries, with particular attention to China and Chile.
Chile: Proposed Directions for Reform
Authors: Barr Nicholas , Diamond Peter
Published: September 2009

In 2006, the Presidential Advisory Council on Pension Reform issued a carefully written report examining the circumstances of the pension system in Chile, presenting criteria for evaluating improvements and putting forward seventy proposals for reform. President Michelle Bachelet sent a pension reform bill to the legislature containing many but not all of the council's recommendations, which, with some amendments, was passed into law in January 2008. This chapter sets out and evaluates some of the council's recommendations. Chile had a system of market-based, funded individual accounts providing consumption smoothing but had not adequately developed its distributional and antipoverty institutions. The chapter briefly summarizes the council's strategic thinking. It then sets out the council's recommendations about a new basic pension, and summarizes recommendations concerning individual accounts, discusses mandatory coverage, and finally looks at the proposed reforms to strengthen gender equity.
Policy Questions, and Some Answers
Authors: Barr Nicholas , Diamond Peter
Published: September 2009

Drawing on the principles set out in Part I and the lessons from international experience in Part II, this chapter brings together the main themes that are strategically relevant to policymakers in any country where pension reform is being considered. It poses a series of questions about pension design. None has a definitive answer, although many have wrong answers. It lists the questions mainly to illustrate the array of choices. The chapter finally sets out the key messages and conclusions of the book.
Epidemiology and Informed Consent
Authors: Kahn Jeffrey P. , Mastroianni Anna C.
Published: September 2009

Informed consent is a central concept and practice in the protection of both patients receiving clinical care and individuals participating in research. What began as a commitment to ethical principles has found its way into legal cases concerning the physician-patient relationship, federal policy, and international standards for ethical research on human subjects. Given the tension between informed consent and much of epidemiology, this chapter analyzes three core questions: (1) Does epidemiology require informed consent? If so, (2) why and under what conditions? Finally, (3) what special issues, if any, does epidemiology raise for the concept and practice of informed consent?.
Ethics and Epidemiology in the Age of AIDS
Authors: Levine Carol
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins with a general discussion of ethics and epidemiology. It then focuses on five examples which illustrate the interrelationship of ethics and epidemiology in the case of AIDS. The first describes the conflict during the early years of the epidemic between the need for valid data about a new disease of unknown etiology and subjects' fears of confidentiality breaches. The second details the conflict between the scientific definitions of the term “disease” and the economic and regulatory uses of these definitions, as well as their impact on individuals. The third pits the epidemiologic value of anonymous serological surveillance techniques against the clinical value of identifying seropositivity in individuals as it played out in the case of pregnant women and newborns. The fourth example concerns the global impact of HIV/AIDS on children whose parents are either ill or dead, and the ethical implications of various definitions of orphanhood. The fifth example relates the story back to the outset of the epidemic, describing the announcement of a new and rapidly progressing HIV variant to a highly sexually active gay man.
The Good (Gay) Life
Authors: King Laura A. , Burton Chad M. , Geise Aaron C.
Published: September 2009

What makes a life good has been a topic of concern for human beings throughout the ages. Good lives may be thought of as truly exemplary in some way in terms of fulfillment, moral character, health, success, or excellence. In contemporary political discourse, some have asserted that the phrase “good gay life” is somehow an oxymoron. However, life experience and empirical evidence suggest otherwise. This chapter traces the narrative reflections of these virtues in the coming-out stories shared by a sample of 107 gay men and lesbians.
The Relationship Between Jurors’ Religious Affiliation and Legal Attitudes
Authors: Bornstein Brian H. , Miller Monica K.
Published: September 2009

Legal experts have long suggested that jurors of particular religious affiliations are predisposed to favor either the prosecution/plaintiff or the defense. This chapter presents empirical research that has investigated whether members of various religious affiliations have different attitudes toward legal issues. Some of these attitudes may come directly from religious mandates; for instance, the Catholic Church has declared its opposition to the death penalty, which could lead a Catholic juror to be less likely to support capital punishment. Other attitudes may be shaped less directly, through general religious teachings. For example, fundamentalist Protestant churches generally believe that crime is a result of personal sin (as opposed to environmental influences); thus, members of these religiously conservative groups tend to blame and punish the criminal more. This chapter discusses how religious affiliation is related to one's general worldview, legal attitudes, and attitudes toward civil and criminal sanctions.
Chapter 3 Listening to the Violin in South Indian Classical Music
Authors: Weidman Amanda
Published: September 2009

The violin is now an essential part of most Karnatak (south Indian classical) music concerts. This chapter combines a discussion of archival materials and historical recordings documenting the violin's use in 19th- and 20th-century south India with a set of ethnographic observations on current-day practice and theories surrounding the violin. This account tells us about the violin's intertwined musical and social meanings and the role of colonialism in shaping South Asian musical culture.
Chapter 11 Modes of Theorizing in Iranian Khorasan
Authors: Blum Stephen
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses “theorizing” as an activity that prepares and accompanies the acquisition, retention, and expansion or contraction of musical knowledge. Using some typical formats for theoretical statements among bards (baxši) in Khorasan (Iran), the author considers theorizing in a comparative context that extends from Iran to Europe and South Asia. Theorizing, here, takes in many sorts of “episodes of generalizing.” Theorizing begins, it is argued, whenever an agent draws together a body of perceptions and ideas and acts on them, as against remembered or imagined alternatives.
9 Okin and the Challenge of Essentialism
Authors: Jaggar Alison M.
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines Okin's engagement with feminists who found her theories essentialist, in particular, expressing the norms of dominant populations in her work and focusing on heterosexual and privileged families. This chapter looks at Okin's response to those criticisms and the evolution of her work over time to become more inclusive. This chapter argues that this evolution demonstrates the benefits of the essentialism debate for feminist studies, despite its frequent sharpness and painfulness.
Introduction: The Age of Newspapers
Authors: Rubery Matthew
Published: September 2009

This introductory chapter proposes that the transformation of news throughout 19th-century Britain profoundly influenced literary narrative in ways yet to be recognized. The English novel during the era of the commercial press (1836–1900) drew on news as a rival practice of realistic representation and as an authoritative form of public knowledge.
Organization
Authors: Roberts Marc J. , Hsiao William , Berman Peter , Reich Michael R.
Published: September 2009

This chapter considers how government can influence the organization of the health-care delivery system. It begins by defining the meaning of “an organization”—as a provider of health-care services—and that of “the organization of the system.” It then describes three kinds of interventions: changes in who-does-what, changes in incentives, and managerial changes, and discusses how they can improve overall performance. These interventions must work together; incentive changes like decentralization or contracting will not alter outcomes unless accompanied by changes at the managerial level. Similarly, the potential cost savings and clinical quality gains from changing scale and scope will only be realized if managers take advantage of their opportunities. Ultimately, the behavior of front-line workers and their managers has to be changed to produce real improvement.