bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Chronology and Projectile Point Neck-Width: An Idaho Example
Authors: Fawcett William B.
Published: May 2005

Projectile point neck-widths are used to estimate the age of specimens from surface assemblages in southern Idaho. Like other attribute-based dating techniques, it is easier to replicate and can be accomplished with more fragmentary artifacts than more typological-based approaches. Estimating the age in years allows us to examine the past in a more continuous way that avoids problems arising from periodization and discrepancies between archaeologists in their definition of sequences. The availability and physical characteristics of the raw material from which the projectile points were manufactured, along with constraints in scheduling other subsistence resources, may have contributed to the long-term empirical trend toward narrower neck-widths over time. This trend transcends the change in projectile technologies from the earlier atlatl thrown darts to later bow propelled arrows. Both technologies coexisted for at least a millennium in southern Idaho.
Individual Characteristics Influencing Teachers' Class Use of Computers
Authors: Van Braak Johan
Published: May 2005

This study investigates the relationship between computer use in the classroom and influencing factors on an individual level. Subjects were 236 secondary school teachers familiar with computer use. First, tests of mean differences were performed to determine the differences between class users of computers and non-class users on the following individual characteristics: 1) age, 2) gender, 3) teaching a technology-related subject, 4) general computer attitudes, 5) attitudes toward computers in education, 6) technological innovativeness, and 7) general innovativeness. Except for the age variable, all factors were found to be significantly related to the dependent class use variable. In a next step, logistic regression was used to analyze the strongest predictors for computer use in the classroom. Technological innovativeness, teaching a technology-related subject, and computer experience were found to account for more variation in explaining the use of computers in the class than the computer attitude scales, general innovativeness, age, and gender.
The African Reaction to Foreign Initiatives in Population Programs
Authors: Pradervand Pierre
Published: May 2005

This paper takes a hard look at foreign initiatives in the field of population in Africa. Some important characteristics of the contemporary African scene are outlined, including the great diversity of attitudes regarding population control, and high infant mortality rates. A culturally insensitive approach to family planning characterizes most foreign initiatives in this area and has led to serious backlashes. The growing number of organizations active in this field and the increasing availability of funds for family planning contrasted with the lack of money for other concerns, which many Africans perceive as more urgent, has led recipients to question Western motives. The author underscores African irritation with so-called “experts” who know little or nothing about Africa, yet attempt to organize family planning programs. A new restiveness prevails among the younger generation of African administrators and intellectuals who demand that family planning be approached in the global context of development issues.
Brief Group Alcohol Interventions with College Students: Examining Motivational Components
Authors: McNally Abigail M. , Palfai Tibor P.
Published: May 2005

The utility of brief interventions with at-risk college drinkers would be enhanced if they could also be delivered in group settings without the need for risk prescreening. The current study therefore explored whether components of brief interventions could be effectively administered to mixed groups of drinking and non-drinking students. Specifically, the outcomes of two methods aimed toward increasing motivation for change were compared to controls. One intervention focused on enhancing actual-ideal drinking behavior discrepancy through a structured group discussion, while the other focused on enhancing self-norm drinking behavior discrepancy through the provision and discussion of didactic information. Among at-risk drinkers, significant reductions in heavy drinking episode frequency at four-week follow-up were found for the self-norm (S-N) group only, while reductions in alcohol problems were obtained in both the S-N and control groups. Results suggest that self-norm discrepancy enhancement strategies may be more effective than actual-ideal discrepancy strategies when used with a mixed drinking group.
Work, Disease, and Occupational Medicine in the Federal Republic of Germany
Authors: Deppe Hans-Ulrich
Published: May 2005

The development of occupational diseases, accidents, and injuries is analyzed within the framework of social, technological, and economic development in the Federal Republic of Germany. The interaction between economic crisis and occupational accidents is described and the distribution and origins of occupational accidents discussed. Finally, the occupational health care system in the Federal Republic is analyzed.
Perceptions of Preservice Teachers about Participation in Extracurricular Activities: Effects of Simulated and Real Experience
Authors: Powell Jack V. , Lee Seungyoun
Published: May 2005

This article investigated how a component of a computerized simulation (Extracurricular Activities) could influence the behavior of early childhood preservice teachers before and after they were involved in four weeks of field experience. Statistical measures applied to analyze the data were Somers'd, Gamma, correlation and regression analyses, with significant differences as follow: Somers'd ( d = .322, p < .08); Gamma (.450, p < .08); Pearson's R (.466, p < .02); Spearman (.379, p < .08); Regression ( b = .485, p < .02). Regression model explains 21.7% of overall variation in the dependent variable ( R2 = .217). Results indicate that preservice early childhood teachers tend to rate the effectiveness of the simulation higher after the field experience than before it. Qualitative analysis explored subjects' participation in extracurricular activities before and after field experience, and their related explanations along with thematic descriptions.
The Effect of an Instructional Module on Death and Dying on the Death Anxiety of Emergency Medical Technician Trainees
Authors: Coleman Ted
Published: May 2005

This study was designed to determine whether an instructional unit on death and dying during an emergency medical technician (EMT) course can reduce death anxiety in EMT trainees. Participants were voluntarily enrolled in EMT courses; two intact classes were randomly assigned as treatment groups and two as comparison groups. A pre-test was administered to all participants at the beginning of the study. Treatment groups then participated in a nine-hour instructional module on death and dying. All participants were given a post-test immediately after the instruction and a delayed-test eight weeks later. There were no significant differences between groups on pre-, post-, or delayed-tests. While death anxiety generally decreased in both groups, the disengagement factor decreased only in the comparison group. Death education apparently had no more influence on death anxiety than other selected variables.
Hypertext: Technology, Applications, and Research Issues
Authors: Tsai Chia-Jer
Published: May 2005

This article reviews the historical development and technological features of hypertext, a computerized nonlinear text system. New capabilities and their implications of hypertext are described. Three major areas of applications are identified: instruction, electronic publishing and on-line database, and thinking and authoring tools. Research issues in document processing and education are discussed.
Effect of Negative Imaging on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure, as a Function of Image Vividness and Image “Realness”
Authors: Kunzendorf Robert G. , Francis Lee , Ward Janine , Cohen Rachel , Cutler Jennifer , Walsh Jared , Berenson Stacy
Published: May 2005

In Experiment 1, sixty-eight subjects completed, first, a thirty-two-trial task measuring image vividness and image “realness,” then, a task measuring heart rate during one minute of negative imaging, one minute of positive imaging, one minute of negative self-talk, and one minute of positive self-talk. In this first study, negative imaging induced elevations in the heart's pulse, whereas negative self-talk did not. In Experiment 2, sixty subjects completed the vividness/“realness” task, a new task involving paper-and-pencil measures of imaging ability, and a task measuring both heart rate and blood pressure during negative imaging, then positive imaging. In this second study, negative imaging induced higher pulse, as well as higher blood pressure and more intense emotion, in subjects whose imagery was more vivid and more “real” and whose image-induced emotion was mostly anger. Also in the latter study, negative imaging induced higher diastolic blood pressure in subjects who were doubly deficient as reality-testers—subjects who not only discriminated their percepts less quickly from their more vivid images but also made fewer correct discriminations.
Integrating Organizational Development Skills with Community Organization Practice: The Key to Successful National Health Care Programs
Authors: Gunatilake Sarath , Forouzesh Mohammed R.
Published: May 2005

The article describes the developmental stages of a health care project from the inception as a demonstration project until its establishment as a large scale national program. The skills and competencies required of a project administrator during the demonstration stage are more related to the practice of community organization. However, in expanding a demonstration project to a large scale national program, these administrators are confronted with a multitude of bureaucratic and organizational constraints. The skills and competencies required of a program manager at this stage are best grouped under the field of organizational development. The failure of many large programs can be traced to the lack of organizational development skills among those involved in managing them. The implications for organizational development training within the curriculum of instruction in health education are also discussed.
Some Directions of Present and Future Computer-Managed Instruction Systems — Why the Differences?
Authors: Kalisch Stanley J.
Published: May 2005

Computer-managed instruction (CMI) systems exist in various forms. Their origins appear to be due in part to existing resources and funding. Changes to these systems have not necessarily been made with regard to existing resources, but more often with regard to cost considerations. Brigham Young University has maintained an off-line testing component within CMI. Florida State University has abandoned on-line testing. Control Data Corporation has implemented a CMI System, on-line for both authors and students via PLATO computer terminals. The Air Force Human Resources Laboratory has been employing off-line testing, but is confident that an inexpensive “microterminal” will provide adaptive testing capabilities for less than the present form of testing. The opposing directions of CMI for these organizations is partially a function of available funding, but also a function of differing views as to the cost savings technology can bring.
Personality Features in Essential Hyperhidrosis
Authors: Lerer Bernard , Jacobowitz Jordan , Wahba Asher
Published: May 2005

The psychological aspects of essential hyperhidrosis, while long recognized, have been minimally investigated. This study compares the personality features of hyperhidrotic subjects to those of normal subjects and persons suffering from dermatological disorders of nonpsychogenic etiology, using the Shanan Sentence Completion Technique, Stein Self Description Questionnaire, Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Rorschach Test. Hyperhidrotic subjects differ significantly in their lower overall coping ability, avoidance patterns of defense and tendency towards impulsivity and poorly-integrated emotional response but not in their lower than expected level of manifest anxiety. It is suggested that essential hyperhidrosis is based on a genetic predisposition to excessive emotional sweating. Developmental factors, underlying psychological conflicts and stressful life situations is all likelihood determine the extent to which this predisposition is symptomatically manifested. The role of psychotherapeutic and behavioral techniques in the conservative treatment of the disorder and in future research, is seen as strengthened by these findings.
Manuals for the Elderly: Which Information Cannot Be Missed?
Authors: van Horen F. M. , Jansen C. , Maes A. , Noordman L. G. M.
Published: May 2005

Elderly people seem to encounter more problems than people from other age groups do, when using consumer electronics products and their accompanying manuals. This may be due to the absence of some kinds of information. In this study the effects of the absence of different information types in instructions on action performance were explored for different age groups. Younger (aged 20–30 y.) and elderly (aged 60–70 y.) participants installed a VCR with the help of the manual, while working aloud. The absence of goal information, consequence information and identification information in the instructions proved to have a negative effect on task performance, especially for the elderly participants. When one of these information types was missing in the instructions, the elderly performed more actions incorrectly than when the information was stated explicitly.
Public Health Education: Sources, Growth and Operational Philosophy
Authors: Nyswander Dorothy B.
Published: May 2005

An historical overview of public health education: its sources, development and operational philosophy. The contributions of many disciplines, particularly social science, and key individuals such as Lewin are traced through the past half century. The emergence of health education as a “helping profession” and the expansion of its focus to broader “marketplaces” of change are highlighted. The state of the art today is reviewed and the functions of health educators described with emphasis on “obtaining people's participation” in programs to bring about change. Problems still existing, particularly professional training, are addressed.
Conversion: Fact or Chimera?
Authors: Nemiah John C.
Published: May 2005

For nineteenth century psychiatrists, especially in France, dissociation was viewed as the basic mechanism responsible for the formation of hysterical symptoms. To explain how dissociation occurred, Freud advanced the concept of repression and proposed that hysterical symptoms arose from the conversion of repressed psychic excitations into somatic symptoms. The notion of conversion has since become synonymous with hysteria and has been extended to include processes mediated over the autonomic as well as the sensori-motor nervous system. It is suggested that conversion is an unnecessary hypothesis involving untestable theories of energy transformation, that preoccupation with the concept has diverted scientific attention from the phenomena of dissociation, and that through renewed investigation of the latter will come further understanding of brain-behavior correlations and the genesis of psychosomatic symptoms.
Remaking Medicare: The Voucher Myth
Authors: Oberlander Jonathan
Published: May 2005

There is growing enthusiasm for transforming Medicare into a voucher system. Advocates claim vouchers would increase the health care choices available to Medicare beneficiaries, reduce the regulatory burden on the federal government, and promote the benefits of fair market competition. In addition, some analysts contend vouchers are the only feasible solution to Medicare's short-term financing problems and the long-term “crisis” of the retirement of the baby-boom generation. The author argues against these claims. Vouchers would not work as advertised by proponents because of the limitations of risk-adjustment methods and unrealistic assumptions about consumer choice. Moreover, the elderly and disabled Medicare population is ill-suited to cope in a competitive insurance system. Implementation of vouchers would therefore pose a threat to both the health of beneficiaries and the stability of the Medicare program. The implications of this analysis for Medicare reform are discussed.
Skin Testing and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate in Women Undergoing Breast Biopsy
Authors: Lane Richard , Ungerer James , Bernene James , Askenase Phillip
Published: May 2005

The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of skin testing and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) as measures of immune function in a population undergoing stress. Eight women were tested one week prior to breast biopsy and six were retested at least four weeks later. All biopsies were negative for malignancy. Control subjects were also tested four weeks apart. ESR values were elevated with stress but the magnitude of this effect was small. There were no differences between groups in skin test responses. Skin testing and ESR may have limited usefulness in the study of immune function in populations under stress.
Expert Internet Information Access
Authors: Carroll James B.
Published: May 2005

Expert users of the Internet were studied to identify the strategies they used to locate specific information. Participants' searching actions were recorded, including counts of each movement from Web page to Web page and within Web pages. Three patterns appeared: keyword searching, hierarchical searching, and meandering. Implications for the design of curriculum for Internet use in classrooms are suggested.
Understanding Family Role Reallocation following a Death: A Theoretical Framework
Authors: Vess James , Moreland John , Schwebel Andrew I.
Published: May 2005

Families in which a parent has died will show a variety of reactions and recovery patterns. This article examines several factors which contribute to this variance. Within the framework of a developmental role analysis of the family system, the influence of the stage of the family life cycle, the roles of the deceased, previous patterns of role allocation, and the type of death are discussed. It is suggested that “person oriented” families, characterized by achieved roles, open communication, and flexible power structures, will more effectively reallocate family roles following the death of a spouse/parent. On contrast, “position oriented” families, characterized by ascribed roles, closed communication, and relatively inflexible power structures, will be too dependent on cultural norms and will lack the role-reallocating mechanisms necessary to ensure adequate family functioning following such a death.
Statistics in the Schools: The Past, Present, and Future of the Quantitative Literacy Project
Authors: Scheaffer R. L.
Published: May 2005

In the decade of the 1980s, mathematics education in the United States has undergone, and continues to undergo, careful review and profound changes. In the midst of these changes, statistics is one of the areas of study that is becoming increasingly emphasized as educational systems attempt to prepare students for productive work and informed citizenship. As the interest in statistics increases, the ASA-NCTM Joint Committee on Statistics and Probability is playing an ever widening role in providing leadership for educational efforts in this area. Through its NSF funded Quantitative Literacy Project, the Joint Committee has developed teacher training programs and curriculum materials that are now being used throughout the country. The influence of these materials and methods extends far beyond a few classrooms, as many educational organizations look to them for guidance in establishing state and national guidelines on teaching statistics. The job has just begun; much work is needed before statistics becomes a part of the mainstream mathematics curriculum. The Joint Committee and ASA continue to promote statistical education through a newly funded NSF project and through the Center for Statistical Education. Most of these efforts are directed toward bringing together teachers, supervisors, mathematics educators, and statisticians to form strong support networks for training the students of today in the skills they will need tomorrow.
A Strategy for Evaluating “Psychogenic” Symptoms
Authors: Goldsmith Steven
Published: May 2005

Consultation and liaison psychiatrists are often asked to evaluate patients with physical symptoms in order to determine if those symptoms are emotionally caused. The author contends that the traditional way of approaching such patients involves an implied mind/body split and an implication of hidden psychological causes that antagonizes such patients needlessly. A case is discussed in which a different, strategic approach is taken such that the patient remains relatively open to the possibility of mental health assistance with her symptoms.
An Instructional Television Behavioral Pretest Measure and its Relationship to Learning
Authors: Ogston Donald G.
Published: May 2005

Methods of pretesting viewer involvement with ITV program contents are briefly reviewed in terms of their precision, immediacy, unobtrusiveness and relationship to learning. A behavioral system for pretesting programs is described and discussed prior to reporting its use. Results of its application indicated ready utility with elementary school aged children and preliminary evidence of its ability to predict learning from viewer involvement in a test program. The implications of the findings for further study of the system and its use in ITV production are discussed.
Union Carbide and the Community Surrounding it: The Case of a Community in Puerto Rico
Authors: Susser Ida
Published: May 2005

Based on fieldwork in Puerto Rico, this article examines the views on health hazards of residents in a semi-rural community in relation to the influx of industrial development since the early 1970s. It is suggested that “folk” terminology and particular aspects of Puerto Rican culture are less significant in this instance than many studies in medical anthropology suggest. The focus is on the emergence of a protest movement concerned with health problems which community residents and workers attribute to a nearby Union Carbide factory. Residents of El Ingenio, Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, have brought a law suit against Union Carbide and, the management of the plant has attempted to dispel the conflict. The article argues that health concerns of residents, industrial workers, and plant management cannot be interpreted without taking into account problems of unemployment, political affiliations, and company policies and their impact over time.
Grappling with Distributed Usability: A Cultural-Historical Examination of Documentation Genres over Four Decades
Authors: Spinuzzi Clay
Published: May 2005

Traditional models of usability assume that usability is a quality that can be designed into a particular artifact. Yet constructivist theory implies that usability cannot be located in a single artifact; rather, it must be conceived as a quality of the entire activity in which the artifact is used. This article describes a distributed approach to usability, based on activity theory and genre theory. It then illustrates the approach with a four-decade examination of a traffic accident location and analysis system (ALAS). Using the theoretical framework of genre ecologies, the article demonstrates how usability is distributed across the many official and unofficial (ad hoc) genres employed by ALAS users.
Contributions of Health and Demographic Status to Death Anxiety and Attitudes toward Voluntary Passive Euthanasia
Authors: Devins Gerald M.
Published: May 2005

Two experimenter-interviewers and 211 volunteer interviewees participated. Two multivariate data “packages”–obtained via standardized individual interviews–were examined: 1. Templer Death Anxiety Scale (DAS) total scores and attitudes toward voluntary passive euthanasia; 2. five DAS-derived principal components previously identified as independent sources of death anxiety. A significant sex-difference (females showing greater death anxiety than males) was consistent with previous research. Consistent with Kubler-Ross' earlier speculation, both greater death acceptance and anxiety were observed among rural as compared to urban-dwelling participants. Responses by a life-threatened geriatric subsample ( n = 60) revealed significant differences in death fears related to type of medical disorder. This was consistent with an idiographic “orientations toward death” theoretical perspective. The previously reported finding of no difference in the death fears of heart and cancer patients was replicated although its generalization to other life-threatened patient groups was contraindicated.
Pay Television as a Mode of Distribution for Science Programming
Authors: Goldman Ronald J.
Published: May 2005

This article examines the pay television industry, and the services being delivered by cable television, subscribers television, multi-point distribution systems, videocassette disc; and the direct-broadcast satellite. Although a variety of programming is currently available, interest was found for science material, especially when included as part of a cultural package. Also, interest was found among several cable service providers for inclusion of science programs within their offerings.
Constructing Death: Three Pathographies about Dying
Authors: Hawkins Anne Hunsaker
Published: May 2005

Ours is a culture in search of an ars moriendi. Today's popular narratives about illness and dying propose a variety of models for “the good death.” Three such pathographies are discussed as examples. In each, the author organizes the phenomena associated with the illness and death of a spouse from cancer into a coherent pattern and gives them a specific meaning. The result is three very different paradigms of the experience of dying-“ritual death,” “victorious death,” and “one's own death”-three potential versions of an art of dying for our time.
Risking the Future: Unprotected Intercourse and HIV/AIDS Knowledge among Female Commercial Sex Workers in Central Bangladesh
Authors: Habib Shah E. , Amanullah A. S. M. , Daniel Ann , Lovejoy Frances H.
Published: May 2005

This study examined levels of AIDS knowledge and condom practices in a sample of female commercial sex workers (CSWs) in Bangladesh. The 284 subjects were questioned about AIDS knowledge using a 12-item AIDS knowledge and patterns of condom use questionnaire. The subjects had a moderate knowledge of AIDS with 61.5 percent of the sample responding correctly to 6 or more of the 12 AIDS knowledge questions. Those with high levels of AIDS knowledge used condoms at a higher rate than those with low levels of AIDS knowledge. These CSWs were predominantly young (36.6 percent) and illiterate (62.7 percent). Street-based CSWs were at greatest risk for acquiring HIV; many reported less frequent use of condom than brothel-based CSWs. The majority knew that condoms offered protection against HIV/AIDS, although only 11 percent reported using condoms prior to the day of survey. Misconception and confusion were identified regarding modes of transmission and prevention.
Identification and Classification of Factitious Disorders: An Analysis of Cases Reported during a Ten Year Period
Authors: Goldstein Amy B.
Published: May 2005

Objective:

The current article offers a new conceptualization of Factitious Disorders based on Cases Reported in the Literature.

Method:

The Current Analysis Examines Twenty-Nine Cases Of Factitious Disorder Patients Over The Course Of Ten Years (1986–1996). Cases Were Found Through Psychlit And Medline Searches. Patient Variables Examined Include: Demographics, occupational status, marital status, childhood history, extent of medical history, the presence of a borderline personality disorder, and presence of a psychosocial stressor prior to the onset of the factitious disorder.

Results:

An examination of the cases found demographic patterns of illness presentation consistent with previous reviews of the disorder. From the examination emerged two distinct types of factitious presentations—one acute, one chronic. A two-dimensional approach is introduced in an attempt to understand various disease presentations. Cases were classified based on proposed Current Life Stress and Chronic Life Pattern dimensions. These dimensions are measures of the extent to which the patient's factitious presentation is in response to an immediate psychosocial stressor, or an action consistent with a long-term maladaptive behavior pattern resulting from an underlying character pathology. Three patient groups were identified based on estimated patient levels of each dimension. The three groups are: Stress Response, Life Response, and Mixed Response.

Conclusion:

Recommendations are made to increase the role of physicians in the detection of factitious patients, as well as to move toward a more uniform reporting of cases of factitious disorders in the literature.
Evaluation of a Dutch Educational “Driving While Intoxicated (DWI)” Prevention Program for Driving Schools
Authors: Kayser Robin E. , Schippers Gerard M. , Van Der Staak Cees P. F.
Published: May 2005

A DWI prevention program for driving schools consisting of a videotape, slides, a textbook, and a manual was developed and evaluated. Effects of the program on knowledge, attitude, behavior intention, and self-reported DWI behavior were measured by means of a pretest, posttest, one-year follow-up evaluation design. Two-hundred and eight driving school students followed the program and participated in all three measurements. A control group of 228 pupils followed a traditional curriculum without the DWI program and also participated in all three measurements. Principal findings were that knowledge improved, attitudes and behavior intentions were already positive at pretest, DWI was equally reported by both groups, and there was a positive effect on riding with an intoxicated driver.
The Stream of Consciousness: XXI. Blindsight and States of Consciousness
Authors: Natsoulas Thomas
Published: May 2005

Blindsight research provides an opportunity to place James's account of consciousness in an empirical context that is attracting much comment from psychologists. Recently, I briefly indicated some lines along which the neurological phenomenon of blindsight—which results from visual-cortical lesions—is interpretable in keeping with James's conception of the stream in The Principles of Psychology. Although this Jamesian interpretation includes certain theses with which I disagree, I spell it out here in greater detail than I could in my previous article. I do so for the light that it sheds on the kind of conception of consciousness that James was developing. Consistently with James's general theory, no role is assigned to unconscious mental occurrences in this Jamesian interpretation of blindsight. Accordingly, the special deficiency of blindsight consists in the total brain process's bringing states of consciousness into existence whose intrinsic visual-perceptual dimension is inaccessible or unreliably accessible to immediate apprehension.
An Evolutionary-Psychodynamic Model of the Main States of Consciousness
Authors: Kokoszka Andrzej
Published: May 2005

This article presents a model, created on the basis of Freud's model of “structural relations of mental personality”, and also an evolutionary model of the main states of consciousness [1–4]. A terminological order is proposed to promote the consistent understanding of such notions as: consciousness, awareness, self-consciousness, and self-unconsciousness. The final version of the evolutionary model constitutes the framework for integration of the variety of data coming from different approaches. Taking into consideration the previous version of the model, the main levels of psychical organization are described in terms of their anatomical localization, typical mechanisms of cognition, emotion, and decision making [2]. These levels are also characterized in terms of psychological needs, ways of experiencing values, morality regulating mechanisms, typical interpersonal and group relations [3].
Psychological Reactions to Cardiac Operations: An Historical Perspective
Authors: Abram Harry S.
Published: May 2005

The impact of heart surgery has many ramifications for the patient. With studies of mitral commissurotomies in the early 1950's, we begin to learn of man's response to newer surgical and medical procedures which radically change the course of life. In the area of heart surgery, the dramatic and prevalent postoperative psychoses occurring in intensive care units have been discussed, along with the intimate relationship existing between preoperative emotional slate and postoperative outcome. The symbolism of the heart, as the life-sustaining organ, the meaning of death, and the importance of the motivation to live are three interrelated facets representative of man's response to having his heart operated on. New technology in physical medicine leads to new insights in psychological medicine and thereby underscores the pressing need for greater collaboration amongst all specialists concerned with patient care.
Fibroid Tumors and Response to Guided Imagery and Music: Two Case Studies
Authors: Pickett Eugenia
Published: May 2005

Two case studies demonstrate the healing response to Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) of two women with uterine fibroid tumors. In one case the healing is primarily physiological; in the other it is primarily psychological. The GIM technique is described briefly, and the relationship between imagery and other important factors in psychotherapy is discussed.
Creating a Favorable Therapy Schema
Authors: Flowers Amy L.
Published: May 2005

A model is proposed for facilitating a successful therapeutic outcome via creation and maintenance of a positive Therapy Schema in the client. Such a schema is constructed from three components: 1) the client's prior experience with therapy, 2) the client's expectations about the therapeutic experience, and 3) the client's cognitive style. Literature on cognitive style as it relates to therapy and to enhancing client expectations is discussed. It is recommended that practicing therapists make more use of non-specific treatment factors and techniques of pre-therapy training to enhance client expectations and reduce premature termination from therapy.
Temporal Inventory on Meaning and Experience: A Structure of Time
Authors: Block Richard A. , Saggau John L. , Nickol Leo H.
Published: May 2005

Beliefs of nonscientists concerning meanings and experiences of time were assessed by developing and administering a sixty-five-statement questionnaire, the Temporal Inventory on Meaning and Experience. The statements reflected a broad range of conceptions of time and temporal experience which have been expressed by physicists and psychologists. The findings reveal an interesting factor structure of beliefs about physical time, personal time, and duration experience. Comparisons of the beliefs of the respondents with scientific theories and evidence produce insights and implications on the study of time and consciousness.
Using the Extended Definition Paper to Teach Organization
Authors: Tebeaux Elizabeth
Published: May 2005

Audience and definition are the two foundation concepts of technical writing, for all technical writing is, in a broad sense, definition. Reports that classify, partition, analyze, describe, illustrate, compare, and contrast essentially define a concept or problem. Thus, classification, partition, description, illustration, comparison, and contrast represent seven of fifteen devices which can be used to expand definitions. The expanded definition, as a beginning assignment (after audience analysis), can show how these same devices are embedded in the major ways of organizing information for reports, technical descriptions, process analyses, and instructions — topics later introduced in the course. Furthermore, developing content about these specific devices helps students to catalogue mentally information about a subject and to organize and present this information precisely.
Sources of Drug Information among Adolescent Students
Authors: Mirzaee Elaheh , Kingery Paul M. , Pruitt B. E. , Heuberger Greg , Hurley Robert S.
Published: May 2005

A sample of 1023 eighth and tenth grade students in small to medium-sized central Texas school districts was assessed to determine the amount of information they receive from ten sources about six categories of drugs. The amount of information males reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what females reported, and the amount of information that eighth graders reported receiving about each drug category was significantly greater than what tenth graders reported. Television was the primary source of drug information for all categories of drugs except inhalants, for which friends and television were equally important sources. Parents and printed media (magazines or newspapers) were of secondary importance, followed by friends and teachers. Adolescents were less likely to receive drug-related information from experience, siblings, church, doctors, and police. The reliance on the mass media for drag information in smaller school districts is a pattern which has been previously observed in larger urban districts. This consistency suggests that mass media approaches to drug education are likely to be as effective in rural areas and smaller towns as they are among urban adolescents. Implications for television programming are discussed.
Changing Breton Responses to Death
Authors: Badone Ellen
Published: May 2005

Based on field work conducted in Brittany, France, during 1983 and 1984, this article discusses changes in Breton responses to death which have accompanied modernization and economic development in this region. It is suggested that familiarity with death and acceptance of it are being replaced by the “denial of death” characteristic of contemporary Western culture. This is indicated by such changes as the disappearance of the wake in urban centers, the discontinuation of mourning customs, and the increasing tendency to hospitalize the dying. Parallel changes have occurred in the domain of religion and folk-belief. Contemporary Breton worldview is marked by a rigidification of the boundaries dividing the natural from the supernatural, and the world of the living from that of the dead.
Instruction in Lithic Technology in U. S. Universities
Authors: Patterson Leland W.
Published: May 2005

Results are presented of a poll taken of U.S. Universities on types of courses offered in lithic technology for archeological students. The importance of lithic technology for New World archeologists is discussed, and related to the general lack of multi-disciplinary instruction offered to archeological students.
Death, Nature and Uncertain Spaces: A Commentary from Paganism
Authors: Green Dave
Published: May 2005

Contemporary theorists have hypothesized that individuals seek to maximize feelings of ontological security against a modern background of increasing risk, fragmentation, and uncertainty. For some, modernity has become an epoch of death denial consciously divorced from nature through the legacy of the Enlightenment project. Conversely, celebrations of mortality are central to contemporary paganism, particularly where linked to the honoring of the regenerative cycles of nature. For pagans, mortality is often linked to carnivalesque celebration taking place in ambivalent spaces, termed heterotopia, where symbols of life and death meet. In these spaces death is sublimated into a nurturing, rather than life-denying force, strengthening pagan identity and solidarity. Effectively, death becomes interiorized by pagans. Ritualization around “death” becomes not merely a way of assuaging fears about one's own mortality, but an opportunity for insight and self-transformation.
Choice or Chance: Questioning Dimensions within the Idea of Community
Authors: Longo Bernadette
Published: May 2005

In using a community model of communication based on consensus, we adopt a double-edged notion that encompasses both harmony and coercion within the community. But the possibility that any one of us might engage in coercion and/or terror when we intend to create harmony is something we would rather not acknowledge. So we use the metaphor “community” only in its benign aspect, in its possibility of harmony, to describe communication. This article explores how ideas of harmony and coercion play out in the metaphor of community and suggests four dimensions as continua along which communities could be described: choice/chance, time/space, abstract/concrete, affinity/proximity. If we break up the clearly bounded, either/or approach to modeling community, we can better accommodate the ambiguity we intuitively understand as an important part of communication.
The Archaic Environment of Boca De Potrerillos, Nuevo León, Mexico
Authors: Turpin Solveig A. , Eling Herbert H. , Moreno Moisés Valadez
Published: May 2005

Nine new radiocarbon dates expand the occupational sequence at Boca de Potrerillos, a large open camp site on the fringes of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nuevo León, Mexico, to the range between 270 and 7700 years ago. Incised stones attributable to the Archaic component provide an estimate of the age of some of the 3000 petroglyphs at this site. Cut-and-fill cycles, pollen counts, and gastropod analyses contribute to the definition of two climatic episodes. Between 980 and 1280 years ago, low energy sedimentation suggests a benign climatic interlude prevailed locally. Massive erosion at Boca de Potrerillos and other excavated sites within a 150 km range identifies a period of regional environmental stress around 4800 years ago.
Evidence Based Health Care in Old Age Psychiatry
Authors: Banerjee Sube , Dickinson Edward
Published: May 2005

Objective:

The purpose of this article is to present the current status and future needs of old age psychiatry in relation to evidence-based health care.

Method:

The opportunities and difficulties of evidence-based medicine as applied to old age psychiatry are described. Depression is used as a specific example. The role of the Cochrane Collaboration and of clinical guidelines in dealing with these difficulties are discussed.

Results:

There has been a tendency for drug studies to focus on younger age groups and to exclude patients with comorbidity or polypharmacy. Aspects of clinical management separate from drugs are given insufficient attention. The generalizability of current studies is a problem in old age psychiatry.

Conclusions:

Psychiatry is no less part of medicine than any other specialty. Increased attention to studies of effectiveness, as opposed to efficacy, is indicated. The Cochrane Collaboration is an international network which promotes and conducts systematic reviews of the effectiveness of health care. Systematic reviews can increase the generalizability of the current knowledge base and better define the needs for future research.
Patient Choice and Patient Empowerment in Northern European Health Systems: A Conceptual Framework
Authors: Saltman Richard B.
Published: May 2005

The issue of patient choice presents a complicated challenge to publicly operated health systems. Increased patient choice can strengthen the citizen's commitment to traditional welfare state objectives, or alternatively, it can severely damage that commitment, depending upon the design of the choice mechanism and the structural context within which patient choice occurs. For patient choice to be linked to true empowerment, choice must reinforce rather than undercut the accountability of health care providers to the population they serve. This article explores the basic issues involved in empowering patients within publicly operated health systems. The author first reviews the conceptual components that could or should be incorporated within the notion of empowered patients, then examines what would be required to actually empower patients within health systems, defined in terms of expanding not only logistical choice but also clinical influence and decision-making participation. The article concludes with a wide-ranging analysis of the impact of potential policies and mechanisms on the long-term objectives of achieving democratically accountable health care systems.
Pseudoseizures Associated with Doll Phobia
Authors: Chand Suma P. , Al Khalili Khalid
Published: May 2005

This report outlines a unique case of pseudoseizures associated with doll phobia in a young adult. Early recognition and treatment directed at the aetiological factors led to the effective treatment of the pseudoseizures and doll phobia.
Use of Psychotropic Drugs in Gynecological, Surgical, and Medical Wards of General Hospitals
Authors: Wancata J. , Benda N. , Meise U. , Müller C.
Published: May 2005

Objective:

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of psychotropic drug use and the predictors of use during hospitalization.

Method:

We investigated 728 patients admitted to medical, gynecological, and surgical wards of two non-university general hospitals in Austria for psychotropic drug use, psychiatric morbidity, and sociodemographic characteristics.

Results:

The use of psychotropics was highest in medical wards (67.6%), followed by surgical (59.3%), and gynecological wards (37.8%). Older age, psychiatric caseness, consultation by psychiatrists and use of psychotropics before admission were predictors for psychotropic drug use. Psychotropics were given for a longer duration to psychiatric cases than to non-cases. Anxiolytics were prescribed most often (39.6%), followed by hypnotics (16.9%), neuroleptics (10.7%), and antidepressants (7.0%).

Conclusions:

The fact that psychiatric illness is a significant predictor of psychotropic drug use suggests that these drugs were prescribed aptly. The longer duration of use among psychiatric cases supports the idea of appropriate prescriptions.
Creativity and Individual Differences in Asymmetric Cerebral Hemispheric Functioning
Authors: Katz Albert N.
Published: May 2005

In an attempt to see whether one can differentiate the highly creative from those of lesser creativity on the basis of hemispheric processing, 100 people were presented with a battery of creativity tests, control cognitive tests, and tasks known differentially to engage the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Compared to those of lesser creativity, the highly creative participants exhibited a greater tendency habitually to employ the right hemisphere in task solution and a pattern of cerebral lateralization marked by a greater segregation of verbal functions to the left hemisphere and bilateral representation of a nonverbal, melodic function. The success at predicting creativity level on the basis of hemispheric task performance was impressive, and was observed even when general intellectual abilities were equated in the high and low creative groups.
Serotonin Irritation Syndrome: An Hypothesis
Authors: Giannini A. James
Published: May 2005

Two patients were seen with multisystemic complaints and anxious feelings. Their history was similar for chronic exposure to potentially ionized atmospheric environments–a waterfall and high-voltage equipment. Physical examination showed various signs sometimes associated with hyperserotonergic states. Laboratory testing showed increased levels of serum serotonin and decreased levels of its metabolite, urinary 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA). Removal of the patients from these environments or the use of a serotonin-blocker ameliorated all symptoms and reestablished normal serotonin and 5-HIAA levels.

A literature-review disclosed a similar symptom-complex reported with airionization during the sweep of hot winds across desert lands. Animal studies are cited in which cation aerosols are used to block serotonin metabolism, producing clinical and laboratory results some of which are similar to those seen in the patients described. It is suggested that a “serotonin irritation syndrome” might be related to cation-induced serotonin metabolic dysfunctions.