bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Absence of Self-Control as the Basis for a General Theory of Crime:
Authors: GEIS GILBERT
Published: March 2007

It is now approaching a decade since Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi promulgated what they called `a general theory' of crime. This article scrutinizes the claims made by the theory as measured against the standards of science and the results of empirical inquiries into elements of the proposed theoretical construct.
Genocide and the Social Production of Immorality
Authors: JAMIESON RUTH
Published: March 2007

This article is an exploration of two different instances of genocide of the late 20th century—the mass rape of women in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992 (in which women constituted the primary victims) and the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 (in which women were active perpetrators). The connected objectives of the article are, first, to consider the relationship between genocide and other forms of social exclusion and, second, to explore the limits of some forms of criminological commonsense, for example in the field of victimology, and these contemporary instances of genocide. The article then concludes with an assessment of the different analytical approaches to what Zygmunt Bauman calls `the social production of immorality'.
Falls in Later Life: Status Passage and Preferred Identities as a New Orientation
Authors: Kingston Paul
Published: March 2007

This article argues that medical hegemony has constructed a dominant discourse around falls in later life. This medical dominance has subjected the fall to randomized control trials (RCTs) in an attempt to evaluate post-fall interventions especially in older populations. However, there has been a paucity of literature from any discipline other than medicine. This article attempts to rectify this imbalance by utilizing status passage and preferred identities as sociological theories that can offer insights into falls. First, it is suggested that status passage offers a useful theoretical starting point to develop critical insights into ‘what it means to fall in later life’. Second, analogies are drawn from the work of Charmaz in attempting to understand the role of preferred identities after a fall. Finally, it is suggested that the fall is a powerful metaphor that perpetuates the homogeneous view of decremental decline in older age which serves to reinforce ageism within health and welfare agencies.
The Irish Media and the Lack of Public Debate on New Reproductive Technologies (NRTs) in Ireland
Authors: Heffernan Catherine
Published: March 2007

The aim of this article is to investigate the lack of public debate surrounding new reproductive technologies in Ireland. Despite, the controversy they have attracted for the past 20 years in Europe and in the USA, Ireland has remained conspicuously silent on the issues and ethical concerns that arise from the implications of the technologies. There is a multitude of reasons for the lack of Irish public debate, many of which are the result of various factors embedded with the current socio-economic changes. This article will argue that the Irish media is the platform for initiating debate. It has the power to be a channel not only for communication on the topic but can reflect and motivate public opinion. Ultimately, it could spark the public insistence on legislation by the Irish government.
Messages of Responsibility: HIV/AIDS Prevention Materials in England
Authors: Dodds Catherine
Published: March 2007

This article investigates messages of responsibility expressed in HIV/AIDS health promotion literature produced in England. Critical academic literature provides an analysis of the impact of overly individualized approaches to responsibility for health, which lead to victim blaming. While some of the materials in this sample demonstrate the type of simplistic approach to responsibility addressed by this literature, there are also some expressing shared social and organizational responsibility for AIDS prevention. These complex differences will be discussed in the article with reference to specific examples of image and text from prevention materials. I argue that isolated messages of individual responsibility alone do not encourage readers to identify with the broader social context of the epidemic. It is not only possible but imperative to integrate notions of broader shared responsibilities into public health efforts in order to generate a community response that includes attempts to reduce social vulnerability among those most at risk of contracting the virus. This has implications for the success of future HIV prevention efforts both in England and globally.
Cultural Expressions of Distress
Authors: Takeuchi David T. , Chun Chi-Ah , Gong Fang , Shen Haikang
Published: March 2007

We test whether acculturation to American society is linked to higher depressive symptoms but lower neurasthenia symptoms. Depression and neurasthenia represent compelling contrasts since the first is a prevalent mental health problem in the United States and the latter is a common diagnostic entity in China. We also examine whether financial stress interacts with acculturation to explain depressive and neurasthenia symptoms. Data come from a community study conducted on Chinese Americans residing in the greater Los Angeles area ( N = 1610). Analyses show a main effect between acculturation and depressive symptoms, but an interaction between financial stress and acculturation in explaining neurasthenia. The results argue for the inclusion of multiple indicators of mental health and cultural expressions of distress when investigating racial and ethnic minority groups.
‘Mighty Glad to Gasp in the Gas’: Perceptions of Pain and the Traditional Timing of Obstetric Anesthesia
Authors: Wolf Jacqueline H.
Published: March 2007

Medical historians have long argued that while birth remained in the home women controlled the event. However, a detailed examination of the prevalent use of obstetric anesthesia beginning in the late 19th century indicates that parturients allowed physicians to define appropriate obstetric treatment even when home birth was still the norm and that this deference led to the use of obstetric anesthesia in a manner that made no physiological sense. For at least 70 years beginning in the 1890s, physicians did not anesthetize women during transition, the most painful portion of labor. Rather, they rendered women unconscious at the moment of birth. Physicians based this therapeutically useless but long sacrosanct medical practice on what they presumed women felt, given the disturbing way women looked at the moment of birth. Women accepted this practice because they were ignorant of the sensations of birth. Thus physicians’ and women’s perceptions of labor pain, rather than reality, have played a major historic role in shaping the administration of obstetric anesthesia.
From the Sick Role to Subject Positions: A New Approach to the Medical Encounter
Authors: Fahy Kathleen , Smith Philip
Published: March 2007

While Parsons’ theory of the sick role has been widely criticized, the alternatives that have been proposed are inadequate. Here subject positions theory is put forward as a viable approach to analysing medical encounters, which combines the advantages of sick role theory with those of its competitors. The approach is demonstrated through ethnographic material taken from a post-structural feminist praxis research project involving a midwife researcher and teenage mothers. This shows that actors move through a variety of subject positions in negotiating medical encounters. While subject positions theory provides a powerful new way of analysing these encounters, it is not yet clear how it can be used to challenge medical dominance.
Defying Gravity: An Interview with Dennis Altman on the 30th Anniversary of Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation
Authors: Brown Stephen
Published: March 2007

Dennis Altman has been one of the leading activists and writers in the Gay Movement since the publication of his highly influential book Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation 30 years ago. In this interview, he is asked about his contributions to the lesbian and gay movement, his contemporary appraisals of the movement, and his thoughts on globalization and the future.
Virtual Ethnography: Using the Internet to Study Gay Culture in Japan
Authors: McLelland Mark J.
Published: March 2007

After English and Chinese, Japanese is the most widely represented language on the internet and yet few studies have been made of how communities in Japan engage with this new technology. This article looks at the internet both as a virtual space in which Japanese and foreign gay men can meet as well as a means for making offline assignations. The author reflects on his own use of the internet in his research on gay communities in Japan, suggesting that the internet has made it possible to reach out to and work with a wider variety of Japanese gay men than was previously possible. It is suggested that gay men's use of the internet in Japan is illustrative of Appadurai's argument that this new technology provides a unique opportunity for relationship building between individuals who are otherwise deterritorialized, diasporic and transnational.
The Sexualization of Corporal Punishment: The Construction of Sexual Meaning
Authors: Butt Trevor , Hearn Jeff
Published: March 2007

Corporal punishment has been increasingly understood in western industrial societies as having a sexual meaning. This article examines alternative interpretive frameworks or discourses of corporal punishment. Three main such discourses are described: the judicial, the comic, and the sexual. The prime focus of the article is the examination of how the sexual discourse has become elaborated, and has intersected with and subverted other discourses. The competing claims for both essentialist and constructionist explanations of this process of sexualization of corporal punishment are critically reviewed. A more adequate account is then outlined comprising the following elements: embodied subjectivity; gendered power relations; the focus on the bottom; practices, representation and pornography; and historical contexts, specifically modernist/postmodernist narratives.
Culture and Dissociation in Toraja
Authors: Hollan Douglas
Published: March 2007

This article examines the extent to which some psychoanalytic ideas about dissociation and its correlates are useful in helping us to understand possession behavior and related phenomena in places such as Toraja, Indonesia. Although some of these ideas can be useful to us, data from Toraja challenge us to modify some key psychoanalytic assumptions about dissociation. The article demonstrates how cross-cultural data can be used to broaden our perspectives on the construction and breakdown of human consciousness.
The Medicalization of Exotic Deviance: A Sociological Perspective on Epidemic Koro
Authors: Bartholomew Robert E.
Published: March 2007

The premise of this article holds that the typification of individual koro as a medical syndrome has been inappropriately applied to collective episodes, and that based on an examination of their characteristic features koro epidemics should be reclassified as a sociological phenomenon involving mass social delusions. There is neither consistent nor compelling evidence to indicate that participants of collective episodes are psychologically disturbed or exhibiting somatoform reactions, but are experiencing the physiological consequences of anxiety generated by a false belief, and the cognitive consequences of altered perceptual sets. The misclassification of epidemic koro appears to be based on the fantastic, implausible nature of the participants' beliefs per se relative to Eurocentric social realities, and alienated from its local context and meaning.
The Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders
Authors: Davis Dona L.
Published: March 2007

This paper reviews efforts to incorporate cultural considerations on sexual and gender identity disorders in DSM-IV. An initial literature review revealed very few sources that met the criteria of relevance for the DSM constructions of sexual and gender identity disorders. Cultural caveats were included in introductions to the sexual dysfunctions and paraphilias, but not for the gender identity disorders of DSM-IV. Discussion of the Culture and Diagnosis Work Group's suggestions for revision shows that: (i) we were more successful at getting culturally insensitive statements eliminated from preliminary drafts than in getting culturally sensitive statements included in the final document; and (ii) although cultural considerations were considered important, any challenge to the basic nosological assumptions that underlie the categories themselves went unheeded. The DSM-IV categories of sexual disorder are also taken to task for the inherent notion that while a culturally informed critique may be appropriate for some exotic societies it is irrelevant for our own and for a lack of sensitivity to gender issues that have been well articulated in the literature.
Audience research at the crossroads
Authors: Livingstone Sonia
Published: March 2007

While audience research, particularly reception studies, has successfully furthered the diverse traditions from which it developed, there now seems to be some uncertainty about the way forward: audience research is at a crossroads. This article argues that the future agenda should not restrict itself to repeating the cultural studies 'canon' of reception research, but should strengthen external relations between audience research and other domains of media and cultural studies, challenging the 'implied audience' - the ways in which audiences are theorized outside audience theory — within the realms of political, policy, technological, economic and social theory. It is further proposed that by developing a multi-level conception of audiences that analytically links the macro and the micro, several existing problems facing reception studies - particularly concerning the nature of audience activity and resistance - may be addressed.
Recovering praxis: cultural studies in Africa
Authors: Tomaselli Keyan G.
Published: March 2007

Despite the contribution by Handel Wright (1998) in the first issue of this Journal, seminal work within Africa and other non- Western countries remains largely unnamed by the corporatizing enterprise that cultural studies is becoming in the Western North. The push to publish, linked as it is to markets, money and power, has displaced praxis, with its threats of danger, detention and death. Cultural studies has largely affiliated itself with publishing capital. This intervention therefore asks: Can the field be coherent? Why is African work de-centred? What relevance does African cultural studies have for the West and the North? Has imperialism triumphed? And, what can be done?
A Dynamic Model of Group Performance: Considering the Group Members’ Capacity to Learn
Authors: Brodbeck Felix , Greitemeyer Tobias
Published: March 2007

A dynamic model of group performance is suggested that combines the group learning approach and the combination of contributions approach. Three hypotheses are tested in two experiments, comparing individual training conditions with mixed group and individual training conditions on subsequent nominal and collective group performance of rule induction tasks under identical time constraints. As predicted, collective group performance improves as a function of group experience, nominal group performance improves as a function of improved individual resources for performing the task individually, and group experience reduces process losses by improving individuals’ ability to collaborate efficiently. Several experiments from the literature that address issues of group learning are analyzed in the light of the propositions made in the dynamic model. Overall, theoretical and experimental approaches to investigating group learning phenomena are discussed.
Attributions for Poor Group Performance as a Predictor of Perspective-Taking and Subsequent Group Achievement: A Process Model
Authors: Reimer Torsten
Published: March 2007

Several studies on group problem solving have shown that perspective-taking may affect group performance. In this paper, a model is outlined in which the effect of performance attributions on group achievement is assumed to be mediated by the quality of group members' partner spaces (i.e. by their ability to recognize their partners' perspective on a problem). According to the model, the extent to which individuals try to take their partner's perspective is a function of their attributions for poor performance: the more group members attribute negative feedback on performance or disagreement about the correct problem solution to themselves relative to their partners, the more they will try to generate an adequate partner space. Additionally, it is assumed that the quality of the partner spaces has a direct impact on group achievement. These basic assumptions were confirmed by a study in which participants were asked to solve Tower of Hanoi problems in dyads, although attributions themselves did not directly predict achievement.
Identity, Argument and Schism: Two Longitudinal Studies of the Split in the Church of England over the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood
Authors: Sani Fabio , Reicher Steve
Published: March 2007

This paper presents evidence from two studies which bears upon a social psychological approach to schisms. The two studies both relate to the split in the Church of England over the ordination of women and were conducted over the period when the first women became priests. The first is a qualitative study of leading proponents and opponents of the change. It is shown that, first, the Pros and Antis have differing constructions of the nature of the Church and of women's ordination. Second, all the Pros see the measure as affirming the essence of Church identity while all the Antis see ordination as subverting the essence of the Church and turning it into a sect. Third, the divisions are confirmed rather than attenuated over time and the sense that the essence has changed is used by Antis to justify the possibility of schism. The second study is quantitative and analyzes the way in which 185 activists (138 Pros and 47 Antis) construe the position of the Church in relation to other categories through the application of Multi-Dimensional Scaling. The findings corroborate those of the first study. Together, the studies both suggest the necessity to include a rhetorical and argumentative dimension to our understanding of social categorization and also support the contention that, when group members differ as to whether developments affirm or subvert group identity, discussion may not bring about consensus but rather can lead to further division and schism.
Differential Evaluation of Crossed Category Groups: Patterns, Processes, and Reducing Intergroup Bias
Authors: Crisp Richard J. , Hewstone Miles
Published: March 2007

Previous meta-analytic reviews of the literature on crossed categorization have uncovered a number of important findings; however, several questions remain unanswered and may best be tackled using a more traditional narrative approach. This review of the literature on crossed categorization divides studies into those that are relevant to (a) which pattern of evaluation prevails in multiple categorization contexts, (b) what processes best account for the effects, and (c) whether crossed categorization can reduce intergroup bias relative to simple categorization. Re-examination of existing theory and available evidence suggests a number of important new issues to consider in studying multiple categorization.
Citizenship and Difference
Authors: Lister Ruth
Published: March 2007

Citizenship can be represented as both a status and a practice, reflecting the liberal/social rights and civic republican traditions but also moving beyond them in a critical synthesis. A key challenge for contemporary feminist and radical citizenship theory is how to move beyond the bogus universalism that underpinned both of these traditions, as well as that implied by the category `woman', so as to accommodate citizenship's universalist promise to the demands of diversity and difference. The article suggests how citizenship as both a status and a practice can be rethought so as to respond to this challenge. Drawing on a range of social and political theorists, it offers the concept of a `differentiated universalism' as a means of encapsulating the creative tension between the universal and the particular that lies at the heart of this approach to citizenship.
`You'll Think We're Always Bitching':
Authors: GUENDOUZI JACKIE
Published: March 2007

Literature relating to gender and discourse has shown that the features and structure of women's talk are highly cooperative. The implicature taken from this research has led to a binary opposition of gender stereotyping that allows for the inference that if women's talk is stylistically cooperative then it follows that cooperativity is a characteristic feature of women's social lives. Further, in opposition to this, men are seen as competitive and, as Cameron (1997) has rightly noted, analysis that focuses on the `style rather than the substance of what is said' obscures the complex nature of talk and results in unhelpful `competitive/cooperative oppositions'. This article explores the genre of gossip and suggests two main sub-genres `bitching' and `peer group news-giving'. Analysis of instances of women's `bitching' reveals that while women's conversations may rely on interlocutor cooperativity and a collaborative floor, the conversations are underpinned by a need to discursively claim symbolic capital through competition for socially acceptable images of femininity which reproduce a hegemonic ideology of gender.
Embodied Experience: Representing Risk in Speech and Gesture
Authors: SAUER BEVERLY
Published: March 2007

This article investigates the ways in which individuals assume two distinct viewpoints in both speech and gesture - both simultaneously and sequentially - when they represent the uncertain knowledge that characterizes risk. In the mimetic viewpoint, individuals represent events as characters in their own narrative or mimic the character viewpoint of an Other. In the analytic viewpoint, individuals move outside of embodied experience to analyze events from a distance. As part of a larger study investigating viewpoint in discourses of risk, this study suggests the important role of viewpoint in understanding individual accounts of risk. Together, speech and gesture provide a richer representation of risk than either speech or gesture alone. But viewpoints represented in gesture may be rendered invisible in written accident reports and investigations (Collins, 1990; Sauer, 1994). This study suggests that individual accounts of risk ultimately reflect highly local sensory experiences that are situated - literally and physically - by an individual's position in institutional and material sites. Within these institutions, individuals can access a range of analytic and mimetic viewpoints in both speech and gesture in order to represent their experiences. This research has important implications for rhetorical theory and risk and decision science.
Rules, Ideology and Coalition Formation in the European Parliament
Authors: Kreppel Amie
Published: March 2007

This research investigates the frequent creation of voting coalitions between the Socialist (PSE) and largely Christian Democratic (PPE) party groups within the European Parliament. The tendency of the PPE and PSE to form a `grand coalition' is frequently understood to imply that there is no significant role for ideology in the EP. Two common explanations of the creation of the `grand coalition' are tested demonstrating their inability to adequately explain actual coalition trends. I then offer some simple spatial models as a means of predicting when we should expect to see the grand coalition form. I then analyze 200 votes to test for the existence of each of the theoretical models and discuss the present and future role of ideology within the EP.
The `Deserving' Victims of Political Violence:
Authors: KNOX COLIN
Published: March 2007

The plight of the victims of political violence in Northern Ireland and the enduring suffering of their families has recently assumed much greater public prominence. Some see this new-found concern by government for victims as no more than a necessary part of the political and public relations management of the prisoners' early release programme within which victims were mere pawns in the wider unstoppable agenda for a peace deal. Preconceived notions of perpetrators and victims have been politically contested in ways which suggest there are those who are `deserving' or `undeserving' of victimhood status. This article considers one category of victim, those subject to paramilitary `punishment' beatings and shootings, and argues that they have become expendable and legitimate targets for violence in Northern Ireland. They are expendable in the sense that any attempt to deal with the problem in a serious way would have widespread political ramifications for parties currently in devolved government. They are legitimate in that victims' culpability derives from the communities within which they live and their `punishment' is meted out by paramilitaries acting on the communities' behalf.
A Survey of the Nutritional Status of Adults and Children Using the Learning Disability Services of a Health Trust
Authors: Aldridge John , Pullen Julia , Whelan Carol
Published: March 2007

A survey of the body mass indices (BMIs) of 101 child and adult users of the learning disability services of a Health Trust in the UK was carried out. It was found that 61.3 percent of the children and 27.1 percent of the adults were underweight, with BMIs below 20. Being underweight was associated with profound and multiple disability, the need for food supplements, a history of difficulty in maintaining body weight, and carers’ perception that the individual was difficult to give food or drink to. A significant difference was found between the BMIs of children and adults. No difference was found between the sexes or between full-time and short-term users of health services. A discussion of the possible implications of the findings and indications for future research is given.
Women with Learning Disabilities and the Menopause
Authors: Martin David M. , Cassidy Geraldine , Ahmad Farooq , Martin Mary S.
Published: March 2007

The menopause is a naturally occurring significant life event. How menopause affects women with learning disabilities is a neglected area of research. Studies have shown that the menopause is usually earlier in women with learning disabilities and earlier still for women with Down's syndrome. Hot flushes, night sweats, psychological effects and osteoporosis are all linked with a decline in oestrogen. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been demonstrated to have some benefits and some adverse side-effects. Physical problems among women with learning disabilities and other aspects of ageing warrant particular focus. Studies among women from the general population show that the menopause can be a fulfilling time of a woman's life. There are no known comparative studies that look at how women with learning disabilities experience this change.
Employment Aspirations of People with Learning Disabilities Attending Day Centres
Authors: McConkey Roy , Mezza Felice
Published: March 2007

A small but growing number of people with learning disabilities are obtaining paid work through supported employment initiatives. A survey of 275 persons attending three day centres in Belfast suggests that upwards of one-third aspired to having a job and their key workers thought that one in five would be able to hold down a job. These proportions were higher among those who had work experience placements. Key workers viewed poor concentration, communication skills and motivation as the most common obstacles to obtaining paid work, with the main benefits to the individuals being increased self-esteem, independence and confidence. These findings confirm that new forms of day services are required for this client group in order to meet their aspirations. These should provide work experience opportunities alongside vocational and social skills training, job finding assistance and support in the workplace.
Ways of Knowing and their Applicability
Authors: O'Shaughnessy John , O'Shaughnessy Nicholas
Published: March 2007

This article takes the three ways of knowing in science, namely natural history, analysis and experimentation to argue for the importance of selecting the appropriate approach or approaches according to what problems or questions are being addressed. It is claimed that ignoring this guideline leads to invalid findings, inadequate explanations or suboptimal results. The claim is illustrated by a number of current but unsound approaches to marketing problems.
Moral Universalism and Global Economic Justice
Authors: Pogge Thomas W.
Published: March 2007

Moral universalism centrally involves the idea that the moral assessment of persons and their conduct, of social rules and states of affairs, must be based on fundamental principles that do not, explicitly or covertly, discriminate arbitrarily against particular persons or groups. This general idea is explicated in terms of three conditions. It is then applied to the discrepancy between our criteria of national and global economic justice. Most citizens of developed countries are unwilling to require of the global economic order what they assuredly require of any national economic order, for example, that its rules be under democratic control, that it preclude life-threatening poverty as far as is reasonably possible. Without a plausible justification, such a double standard constitutes covert arbitrary discrimination against the global poor.
Women and the Law of Peoples
Authors: Nussbaum Martha
Published: March 2007

John Rawls argues, in The Law of Peoples, that a principle of toleration requires the international community to respect `decent hierarchical societies' that obey certain minimal human rights norms. In this article, I question that line of argument, using women's inequality as a lens. I show that Rawls's principle would require us to treat the very same practices of the very same entity differently if it happens to set up as an independent nation rather than a state within a nation, and I criticize the consequences to which this asymmetry leads. I argue that Rawls gives us no good reason to think that we cannot justify a much richer set of norms for all the world's societies. I argue, however, that issues of justification should be sharply distinguished from issues of implementation, and that respect for the moral significance of national sovereignty ought to restrain us from intervention in all but the most extreme cases.
Expatriate Adjustment from a Social Network Perspective
Authors: Wang Xiaoyun
Published: March 2007

The expatriate social network is an under-emphasized area in expatriate literature. This article contributes to the expatriate adjustment literature by clarifying the relationships among the expatriate personal network, psychological well-being and performance with a testable conceptual model. After reviewing the expatriate adjustment literature and relevant sociology and psychology literature, a conceptual model is proposed that indicates the impact of the expatriate social network on expatriate psychological well-being. It further predicts that the expatriate social network will not only directly affect, but also interact with, other cultural, organizational and individual factors to influence expatriate psychological well-being. This article also highlights the importance of psychological well-being as an indicator of expatriate adjustment. It proposes that psychological well-being has a strong predicting effect on expatriate performance and will mediate the effects of other factors on expatriate performance. Propositions are developed to guide future empirical studies.
Surviving Manifestationsof Selfhood in Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Sabat Steven R.
Published: March 2007

A Social Construction Theory analysis of selfhood is applied to the natural conversational discourse of a person moderately to severely afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. Revealed in this discourse is an intact Self 1, the self of personal identity, and an intact Self 2, comprised of mental and physical attributes and related beliefs. New Self 2 attributes include deficits connected to the neuropathology of the disease. The multiple Self 3 social personae, which require the cooperation of healthy others, are found to exist but this aspect of self is vulnerable to the extent to which the attention of others is focused on new dysfunctional Self 2 attributes. If others focus on dysfunctional Self 2 attributes, the afflicted person’s social persona is restricted to ‘the patient’. If attention is focused on remaining healthy Self 2 attributes, it is possible for the afflicted person to construct worthy Self 3 personae in which he or she can take pride and enjoy a measure of satisfaction.
‘Trying to Continue to Do as Much as They Can Do’
Authors: Menne Heather L. , Kinney Jennifer M. , Morhardt Darby J.
Published: March 2007

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with six individuals in the early stages of a dementia. Interviews were initiated to explore the day-to-day experiences of dementia. The commonality that emerged across the interviews was participants’ desire to maintain continuity with their previous way of life while coping with dementia-necessitated changes. We conceptualized this commonality in terms of Atchley’s (1989) articulation of continuity theory and Park and Folkman’s (1997) framework of meaning making. This research highlights how, despite their impairment, individuals with dementia not only are able but strive to maintain continuity and to make meaning of their situations. The results show that it is possible to gain insight from those in the early stages of dementia; the underlying practical and clinical implication is the importance of encouraging the maintenance of personhood by listening to the desires and concerns of those with dementia.
Crack Modeling for Structural Health Monitoring
Authors: Friswell M. I. , Penny J. E. T.
Published: March 2007

There are a number of approaches to the modeling of cracks in beam structures reported in the literature, that fall into three main categories; local stiffness reduction, discrete spring models, and complex models in two or three dimensions. This paper compares the different approaches to crack modeling, and demonstrates that for structural health monitoring using low frequency vibration, simple models of crack flexibility based on beam elements are adequate. This paper also addresses the effect of the excitation for breathing cracks, where the beam stiffness is bilinear, depending on whether the crack is open or closed. Most structural health monitoring methods assume that the structure is behaving linearly, whereas in practice the response will be nonlinear to an extent that varies with the form of the excitation. This paper will demonstrate these effects for a simple beam structure.
Operational Definitions of Expertise and Competence
Authors: Herling Richard W.
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. The concept of human expertise is fundamental to the human resource practices Although exemplary performance can be clearly recognized in the actions of others, organizations lack a means of measuring expertise The need to quantify expertise is cntical to being able to manage and develop the organization's human capital effectively This chapter examines the basic characteristics of expertise and develops an operational definition of human expertise
Advancing Our Understanding of Performance Improvement
Authors: Torraco Richard J.
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. If organizations operated flawlessly and performance was at its highest levels, what would we see? Functional areas would work together, and the organization would behave as an effective and efficient system does Personnel from key disciplines would collaborate to meet performance opportunities and needs The present would be characterized by organizational health, and sound informed strategic planning would prepare us for the future But most organizations today do not have these characteristics of sustained high performance To attain them, we need better methods and models for improving performance Research on how to achieve these characteristics is the best way to improve performance improvement methods
Facilitating Action Learning The Role of the Learning Coach
Authors: O'Neil Judy
Published: March 2007

The Problem and the Solution. The HRD professional must move from the role of trainer to the role of learning coach in order to achieve success through action learning This is not a simple shift This chapter clearly defines the role of learning coach and illustrates the specific tasks required to succeed
Children Exposed to Family Violence
Authors: MOHR WANDA K. , NOONE LUTZ MEGAN J. , FANTUZZO JOHN W. , PERRY MARLO A.
Published: March 2007

This article employs the major foci of a developmental-ecological model to evaluate the past decade of research on children exposed to family violence. The foci of this framework were operationalized into a coding system that was then applied to all empirical studies published in this area since 1987. This coding system allowed for inspection of the current state of the knowledge base from this perspective and the ability to determine the progress that has been made in this research area. A total of 21 quantitative studies and 1 qualitative study were reviewed. Despite progress having been made over the past 10 years, foundational issues related to definitions of the independent variable, substantiation of exposure, developmental sensitivity, and methodology remain. The authors critique the extant literature and present recommendations for future research studies.
Clinical Research and Practice with Battered Women
Authors: LUNDY MARTA , GROSSMAN SUSAN
Published: March 2007

Studies of treatment efficacy provided by process and outcome research with battered women is much less well developed than research on the treatment of batterers. Although there are more than 16 commonly used models, there is little clinical research that addresses their efficacy. This article gives an overview of the theoretical richness that has evolved over the past 20 years and provides a review of process and outcome research on treatment for battered women. The consequent awareness suggests the need for a more integrated model for clinical practice and research. The themes of this article are threefold: (a) more clinical practice research using a multimethod approach, (b) more explicit focus on women of color and immigrant women, and (c) more theoretical and philosophical integration of treatment approaches. The purpose is to focus attention on the need for an integrated approach to practice and research that will inform and guide practitioners.
Nursing Graduate Medical Education: Misdirected Funding
Authors: Fulcher Roxanne
Published: March 2007

The author traces the history of Graduate Medical Education (GME) since its inception as part of the 1965 Medicare law. In structuring the GME payment, congress directed nursing support to provider-operated diploma schools where 80% of the nation’s nursing students were enrolled. Today, community college, senior college, and university programs enroll 82% of the nation’s nursing students. Because college- and university-based nursing education were only beginning to emerge in 1965, congress did not consider funding to support clinical training in graduate nursing programs. Currently, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee is mandated to studying restructuring the 35-year-old GME payment, and must specifically address nursing education. Nursing organizations, particularly, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), continue to lobby congress to redirect GME funding to support graduate nursing education. The author, on the staff of AACN, discusses current strategies and concerns dealing with the GME issue.
The Italian Health Care Reform Experience: Which Role for Nursing?
Authors: Vagnoni Emidia
Published: March 2007

During the 1990s, several reforms were initiated in the Italian Health Care System that were aimed at introducing a managerial culture into the health services environment, similar to what the United States, Great Britain, and other European countries had already done. Thus, health care delivery experienced several changes yielding a higher quality of care, more services for the elderly, and the availability of new technologies. To face the new sociological values and the new demand for health care services, the role of the nursing staff has become crucial. In consideration, therefore, of the principles of personalization, efficiency, quality, and humanization stemming from the reforms of the National Health Care System, the role of the nursing staff must be strengthened. This article, in light of the theories of public sector management and case analysis, aims at describing Italian nursing in the evolutionary sense, pointing out key factors for a successful collaboration with other health care actors.
The Implications of International Health and Education Policy Trends on Nursing Education: An Australian Perspective
Authors: Parker Judith M.
Published: March 2007

Despite local differences, there is a trend toward international convergence of many health and higher education policies stemming from similar issues, similar problems, and similar responses. In this context, many commonalities are emerging in both nursing practice and education. These have an impact on the teaching methods and strategies that will need to be used to prepare the 21st-century nurse to practice within the emerging global milieu. Teaching will need to become learner driven, evidence based, and conducted in both real and virtual space, using world-class materials and ensuring international best practice. Local and international partnerships between universities and business will need to be developed with the aim of collaborating in the development of teaching and learning materials and their ongoing testing and modification. A major investment will need to be made in faculty development and international exchange. The outcome will be a nurse who is an international professional with portable qualifications.
Forces Driving Health Care Policy Decisions
Authors: Greipp Mary Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

Strategies must be created and developed to promote increased participation of registered nurses in the political process and health care policy decision making. An interaction model is presented here that illustrates the driving forces that frame and influence health care policy decisions, including motivators and inhibitors, and makes apparent the need for social responsibility and applied ethics at all levels. It illustrates entry levels into the process. Nurses can utilize this model prospectively and retrospectively in the creation and analysis of strategies to influence appropriate health care policy decisions.
Nonapparel Coating
Authors: Harris David
Published: March 2007

In today's dynamic textile market, the coatings industry is being called upon to provide cost-conscious performance products for application on a seemingly endless array of substrates-both non-woven and traditional. From automotive car peting to vertical blinds, this article will cover generic formula compositions, types of applications, and end-use requirements for the various respective markets.
Policy-balancing Models and the Split-ticket Voter, 1972-1996
Authors: BORN RICHARD
Published: March 2007

Previous examinations of the policy-balancing explanation for presidential-House split-ticket voting have been unable to sustain two of its basic propositions—that splitting should be greater for respondents located between the parties' ideological positions and for those seeing more interparty distance—when each is tested separately. Work by Garand and Lichtl, however, suggests that the between-parties expectation can be supported when both propositions are tested in the same equation. Our study demonstrates the essentially artifactual nature of this result, produced by the strong relationship of the between-parties variable to relative party closeness, with interparty distance held constant. But 1996 stands out as the one year in which clear-cut balancing behavior was manifested by the electorate. Furthermore, some backing for a modified version of the policy-balancing idea emerges when we take into account respondent perceptions of individual candidates' ideological positions.
When Have Presidential Campaigns Decided Election Outcomes?
Authors: CAMPBELL JAMES E.
Published: March 2007

How often and when have fall presidential general election campaigns during the past 50 years been decisive in determining which presidential candidate would receive the plurality of the national popular vote? This article addresses these questions using data from the Gallup Poll, the National Election Studies, and actual election returns for the 14 presidential elections from 1948 to 2000. Based on an analysis of four measures of net effects of general election campaigns from after the national party conventions until election day, there is some evidence of campaigns being decisive in 5 of the 14 elections examined. Campaigns after the conventions were probably decisive in two elections, the 1948 and 1960 contests, and possibly made the difference in the outcomes of the 1976, 1980, and 2000 elections. A conservative estimate is that campaigns conducted after the conventions have probably been decisive in about a quarter of presidential elections since 1948.
Economic Conditions and Congressional Elections
Authors: Gough Paul A.
Published: March 2007

There are reasons to give special attention to the depression of the 1930s when attempting to estimate the relationship between economic conditions and congressional election results. In this analysis, a separate independent variable is used to account for the effects of the depression. Regression equations are estimated with and without the depression variable in order to allow for comparison. The relationship between economic conditions and election results is different when the depression variable is included.
Economic Benefit, Ideology, and Senate Voting On the B-1 Bomber
Authors: Fleisher Richard
Published: March 2007

Most previous studies of congressional voting on national defense have found that the level of economic benefit that a member's district receives is not related to his vote on national defense. Rather, many of these studies argue that voting on national defense is largely ideological. This article developed and tested an interactive model that predicts that (1) conservatives from both high and low benefit states would support higher defense budgets and (2) only liberals from high benefit states would support increased defense spending. Using data on the B-1 bomber, the results provide support for the first hypothesis but little support for the second proposition. Furthermore, it was found that ideology was strongly related to voting behavior even after controlling for level of economic benefit. Finally, the data indicate that ideology was less strongly related to vote choice after President Carter announced his opposition to the B-1 than was the case for the three votes that occurred prior to Carter's announcement. These results are discussed in the context of constituency influence and ideological models of roll call voting.