bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An exploratory study of perceptions and practices related to physical activity in women college teachers and students in Bangalore, South India
Authors: Vaz Mario , Bhorathi A.V. 
Published: March 2007

Objective To assess perceptions of the benefits of physical activity, actual physical activity practices and perceived barriers to the adoption of a more physically active lifestyle, in women college lecturers and students. Setting The city of Bangalore in South India, with a population of approximately 5.5 million. Method A self-administered questionnaire in a convenience sample of 130 women college lecturers and 129 students. Results 43.4 per cent of students and 53.1 per cent of college lecturers did not perform any discretionary exercise-related activity during the previous month. The overall physical'activity status in the lecturers as indicated by the physical activity level (PAL) was higher than in the students ( p<0.05); lecturers spent more than three times the duration in household chores as compared to the students ( p< 0.05) and at marginally higher intensities ( p< 0.05). In both these educated urban groups, knowledge regarding the health benefits of physical activity was virtually nonexistent for some diseases like osteoporosis. Lecturers were better informed about the benefits of physical activity with regard to hypertension, diabetes and arthritis than the students ( p<0.01) , but the level of awareness was similar for 'heart disease'. A lack of time and of motivation were at the top of the list of perceived barriers to the adoption of a more optimal exercise programme in both groups. Except for 'lack of facilities', which was listed more frequently by the students than the faculty ( p< 0.05), all other perceived barriers were reported to a comparable extent in both groups. Conclusions This exploratory study indicates that there is a need to improve both knowledge and practices with regard to physical activity in educated urban women. While using lecturers in colleges as vehicles for public health messages may be intuitive and desirable, it will be necessary to ensure that they are better informed and convinced about the utility of lifestyle changes themselves.
Immunising Children in Primary Care in the UK - What are the Concerns of Principal Immunisers?
Authors: Maconachie Moira , Lewendon Gill 
Published: March 2007

Objective To determine the levels of concern about risks associated with childhood immunisations among principal immunisers in general practice. Design Self-administered postal questionnaire survey. Setting South & West Devon Health Authority. Participants Eighty-eight/102 general practices: 78 practice nurses, 7 general practitioners, 3 health visitors. Of these, 73 (83 per cent) were the principal immuniser for the general practice and comprise the study sample. Results A third of the principal immunisers (34.2 per cent) were concerned about at least one of the immunisations given to children. Most of the concern reported focused on the measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations. Issues mentioned in the reasons given for concern included concerns about safety (risks, reactions and side effects), about parents, about adverse media and publicity, about research evidence, doubts about the need for the second MMR and personal experiences. Conclusion The role of principal immunisers is crucial especially when many parents are undecided about immunisation when they attend a clinic. Addressing their concerns may contribute to improving overall confidence in the immunisation programme.
Can health visitor intervention change sun safety policies and practice in preschool establishments? A randomised controlled study
Authors: Syson-Nibbs Linda , Peters Jean , Saul Carol 
Published: March 2007

Objective In the UK there have been no initiatives identified to increase the use of sun safety policies in preschool establishments. This study tests the hypothesis that health visitors with appropriate sun safety training can successfully facilitate the development and implementation of sun safety policies and practices in preschool education and care establishments. Design A two-stage randomised controlled study. Setting All providers of preschool care or education situated within the boundaries of North Derbyshire Health Authority ( n=198). Method In stage one an initial postal screening survey of all preschool providers was conducted to determine the extent to which their policies and practices were consistent with ideal practice for sun safety. Providers who did not have a written sun safety policy were invited to participate in stage two of the study in which they were randomly assigned to either intervention group or control group. The intervention establishments received visits over a four-month period from a health visitor who had attended a one-day sun safety training event. Results The overall response rate to the initial screening survey was 67 per cent ( n=133) of which 90 per cent did not have a written sun safety policy ( n=96). In the intervention group ( n=33) 88 per cent ( n= 29) of playgroups and nurseries had changed their sun safety practice by developing and implementing a sun safety policy, following visits from a health visitor. For example, the percentage of children wearing sun hats was associated with policy development ( r=0.4, p<0.05). In the control group ( n=41) no changes had been made to sun safety policy or practice. Conclusion This is an important finding for Primary Care Trusts who are charged with the development of the public health capacity of health visitors.
Health attitudes and behaviour among the 'healthy' and the 'sick' — some implications for practice
Authors: McGill Pauline C.L. 
Published: March 2007

THREE groups completed detailed questionnaires on their personal health attitudes; habit behaviours such as smoking, drinking and eating; and illness behaviour. One group contained subjects who were attending classes with a specific health aim (eg stop smoking); one was composed of subjects who were engaged in a general health activity (eg yoga); the control group were attending adult education classes unrelated to health topics. The 'health problem' group were more likely to smoke, drink and consult their doctors and esti mated their health as 'below average'. However, they did not differ from the controls in being overweight, failing to take regular exercise and in their attitudes to health. The 'health activity' group had, in general, the healthiest attitudes and behaviour. Conclusions are drawn about the appropriate tar get populations for health messages, and rec ommendations are made for holistic approaches to clinical work.
Home Treatment
Authors: Perkins Rachel , Burns Tom 
Published: March 2007

Background: Deinstitutionalisation has stressed where care is no longer taking place. Home treatment in rehabilitation reflects the steady increase in emphasis on support and treatment for individuals with long-term disorders where it matters for them - in their own homes. Materials and Discussion: Whether dealing with individuals discharged after long periods in hospital or with the increasing number who have experienced repeated short-term admissions, most modern day rehabilitation takes place in the patients' homes and neighbourhoods. We are increasingly convinced that this decentralisa tion is a positive strength, not a problem. Its advantages include improving social inclusion and the ability to conduct more accurate, personalised assessments of disabilities and strengths. Skills training is more focused and we discuss the components of home treatment and assertive community treatment as they are relevant to rehabilitation. This involves both medication and practical help, broker age and involvement with the voluntary sector. Conclusions: Rehabilitation remains, at its core, a set of relationships between whole individuals (not just skills and needs). A home-based approach is proposed as the norm, not the exception. It is based on a rounded understanding of the patient as a unique person and emphasises the importance of a strong working alliance.
The Distribution of Sex and Age Among Victims of Homicide
Authors: Lester David 
Published: March 2007

Lester (1982) examined the distribution of suicides by sex and age for the countries of the world and found very different patterns. Females completed suicide at a relatively higher rate in Asian countries. The peak age for suicide was over 75 in almost all nations (except for females alone in the poorest countries where the peak was in those aged 15-24). The present study explores the distribution of victims of homicide by sex and age, since preliminary indications indicated interesting trends. For the sex ratio, Verkko (1951) hypothesized that the ratio of the male to female homicide rates would be higher in countries with the higher homicide rates, that is, the presence of a very high homicide rate in a country is primarily accounted for by a very high male homicide rate. For the age distribution of homicide victims, it appeared that in some countries young adults were killed at the highest rates, whereas in many other countries, babies in the first year of life were most at risk for homicide. This promised to be an interesting focus for the study.
Alcohol Consumption By Patients Attending Outpatient Clinics
Authors: Potamianos G. , Gorman D.M. , Duffy S.W. , Peters T.J. 
Published: March 2007

Three hundred and twenty nine (329) patients aged between 18 and 60 years atten ding the diabetic, hypertension and fracture clinics were studied with regard to their alcohol consumption. The findings confirm the general view that a considerable number of patients atten ding the general medical services may be considered as problem drinkers, a factor which may contribute to their overall medical complaint.
Culture, Personality and Psychotherapy
Authors: Varma Vijoy K. 
Published: March 2007

Conventional Western-model psychotherapy is based on a number of premises regar ding its rationale and technique. The increasing experience in psychotherapy globally is questioning the universality of these premises, suggesting that these could be to a large extent culture-specific, having developed in a particular culture at a particular time. Hence, the need to move from a dogmatic approach to psychotherapy to a flex ible approach taking into account the socio-cultural reality. The paper identifies a number of cultural variables involving the intrapsychic mechanisms (e.g. cognitive and expressive), social relatedness (e.g. autonomy, social distance) and religious-philosophical belief systems (concept of sin, and belief in fatalism and after-life/reincarnation) and discusses their role in the approach to and process of psychotherapy, illustrating it with the situation in the Indian setting.
The Arab Nurse and the Jewish Psychotic Patient in the Closed Psychiatric Ward
Authors: Fennig Shmuel , Tevesess Ilan , Kashkush Gaber , Zmiro Galeb 
Published: March 2007

The ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict has its impact on the mental health system. This issue is investigated from the point of view of the interactional process in the locked unit mainly between the Arab nurse and the Jewish psychotic patient. The unique experience of being treated by the formal enemy during one of the most vulnerable periods seems to be sometimes even therapeutic for the patient. Aspects concerning psychopathology, psychodynamics and social interaction are evaluated through observation and interviews with patients and staff members. Ways of dealing with the complicated issues are discussed.
Psychological Effects of Colliery Closures
Authors: Rowlands Paul , Huws Rhodri 
Published: March 2007

A 'factory closure' type study was conducted by postal survey to assess the impact of the colliery closure programme on individuals. Two collieries were studied, one 'threatened' and one 'unthreatened'. Replies were received from 30% of potential subjects. Miners at the threatened colliery had higher mean GHQ scores and reported greater alcohol consumption and more recent contact with their general practitioners. This study suggests that threat of unemployment and actual unemployment has a significant effect on psychological morbidity, potentially harmful behaviour and use of general practitioners.
Process Modeling of Composite Materials: Residual Stress Development during Cure. Part II. Experimental Validation
Authors: White S.R. , Hahn H.T. 
Published: March 2007

In a companion paper [1] a process model was developed for investigation of residual stress development during autoclave or hot press processing of thermosetting polymer matrix composites. Several material property characterization studies are re quired as input to this model. The present paper summarizes the results of the character ization studies required for input to the model and validation of the model is accomplished by the intermittent cure of unsymmetric cross-ply laminates in which the processing- induced residual curvatures are measured. An IM6/3100 graphite/bismaleimide composite system was chosen for the study. Longi tudinal and transverse mechanical properties were shown to increase during the cure cycle due to increase in matrix strength and stiffness and development of the fiber/matrix bond. Thermal strains were shown to remain relatively constant during cure. Chemical strains occur early in the cure cycle and are completed before cure is fully developed. The vis coelastic mechanical response of BMI is strongly dependent on the cure state. At low cure states the creep response is quite significant. As full cure is approached, the material becomes predominantly elastic. Based on the measured input data, the viscoelastic analy sis showed that the contribution of chemical strains to residual stress was less than 4% for a typical cure cycle. A good correlation was obtained between model predictions and ex perimental warpage data for the cure cycle investigated.
Queensland Teachers' Salaries: A Case Study in Militancy
Authors: McMorrow J.F. 
Published: March 2007

Teachers seem to be amongst the more willing of white-collar employees to participate in direct action over political and industrial issues. For this reason the phenomenon of teacher militancy deserves special study. This paper provides a case study of an attempt by the leadership of the Queensland Teachers Union to organize a state-wide teachers' strike as part of a salaries campaign conducted during 1974. Internal procedures leading to the formulation of a salaries claim and the organization of the subsequent campaign are discussed as is the Union's relationships with its principal targets. Data for the case study are gathered by such methods as document analysis, personal interview and participant observation. The events are interpreted in terms of the Queensland Teachers Union's in ternal characteristics, alternative sources of influence, tactics and outcomes. This in turn enables a judgment of the Queensland Teachers Union's political and industrial effectiveness. Implications for the Union and for the development of teachers' industrial relations in Queensland are also briefly considered. The case study shows that the Union was unable to sustain a conflict over the issue and was unable to influence significantly either the Queensland Public Service Board or the Industrial Commission of Conciliation and Arbitration. Intramural conflict, which was facilitated by the Queensland Teachers Union's organizational structure, is shown to have been a significant constraint on the successful outcome of this foray into widespread teacher militancy in Queensland.
Learning and Affect i n iNternational Politics
Authors: Raser John R. 
Published: March 2007

O. Hobart Mowrer's two-factor model of learning is described by showing its develop ment from Thorndikean, Pavlovian, and Hullian learning theory. The model is then generalized to learning by national actors in an international interaction system, with particular attention to the point that the punishment or rewarding of responses sets up an affective state within the organism (or multi-organism entity) which acts as a prs mary determinant of what future responses will be made. This affective state is one of expectation (fear or hope) that further responses will be either rewarded or punished. When the agent of reward or punishment is seen, not as a neutral environment, but as another sentient or choosing actor in a social system, then the fear or hope become trans lated into hostility or friendship toward that actor. This hostility or friendship will result in either hostility-laden or friendship-laden new responses. Hostile behavior is more apt to be punished, friendly behavior to be rewarded. Thus, the cycle becomes self re-inforcing. The task of diplomacy is to break these cycles by pointing out what behaviors may be rewarded and what must be punished, thus creating an interaction between the actors in which they both learn how to co-exist in the system. At the same time, diplomacy should have the task, when punishment is necessary, to clarify that this punishment is the result of a specific behavior and is not a generalized reaction springing from a view of the other actor as 'evil' or 'bad' due to his very nature.
On the Meaning of Nonviolence
Authors: Galtung Johan 
Published: March 2007

Two different ways of studying nonviolence are distinguished, depending on whether one uses explicit or implicit definitions of nonviolence used by others, whether writers on the subject or people who say they have practiced nonviolence, or one tries to develop one's own definition. The second approach is followed in this article in order to avoid ritualistic repetition of what others have regarded as nonviolence. Nonviolence is seen as an effort to influence, and a typology of influence techniques is developed, based on a simple model of how human actions are decided upon. This typology has as its main axis a distinction between positive and negative techniques of influence, i.e. the distinction between techniques that facilitate the execution of positive actions and techniques that impede the execution of negative actions. Nonviolence is then defined in a negative and a positive sense: negative nonviolence would include all possible techniques of influence short of 'deprivation of biological health' (called violence in the narrow sense) and positive nonviolence would exclude all negative techniques of influence (called violence in the broad sense). Current forms of nonviolent resistance or intervention are then examined in this perspective, and five main types are distinguished: a symbolic form that aims at pointing out to the adversary what are positive and what are negative actions; the use of physical means such as nonviolent sabotage, emigration, escape and their positive counterpart: close social contact; the use of positive and negative sanctions; the use of positive and negative 'amplification' (a way of increasing the impact the adversary's actions have, whether they are good or bad) and role-playing which includes such techniques as non cooperation and civil disobedience. In the final evaluation it is pointed out that adherents of nonviolence should do more to develop positive techniques of influence, and that many of the negative techniques differ little from biological violence.
The Images of International Stratification in Latin America
Authors: Schwartzman Simon , Mora y Araujo Manual 
Published: March 2007

A questionnaire about the perceptions of international stratification in Latin America was applied to a non-representative sample of 327 Latin American students of social sciences, and also to a control group of Norwegian students. The students had to distribute the Latin American republics in three levels of prestige and importance, and a general image of stratification was then inferred. Other questions were concerned with knowledge about Latin America, perceptions of the countries' rank positions on some relevant rank-dimensions, and the criteria used to distribute the countries on levels of prestige and importance. The analysis of the determinants of the image of stratification showed that this derives from the generalized rank-roles played by the countries as a function of their power and development, and does not depend on specific knowledge about the countries. At the conscious level, nevertheless, there is an exclusive concern about accessible elements, mainly industrialization and education, and a strong refusal of ascribed rank-criteria. This contradiction between values and actual behavior is interpreted as related to the transition of the international system from a feudal-like to a class-like structure. Some minor variations in the perception of stratification are due to ideological orientations, general level of knowledge and nationality of the respondents, the last factor being the most important. The effect of nationality was explained by an interplay between the country's rank-profile and the place the country occupies in the international structure, as well as the place the subject occupies in the national structure of stratifica tion. It was indicated that the reciprocal perceptions between pairs of countries can be explained by the degree of rank-equivalence and rank-congruence the pair has.
A Vietnam Simulation: a Report On the Canadian/English Joint Project
Authors: Macrae John , Smoker Paul 
Published: March 2007

This paper begins with a discussion of models in which two complementary sets of ideas are contrasted. The first set of ideas come from a political scientist, and the second set from an operational researcher. This discussion of models leads naturally to a consideration of simulations from the same two points of view. A difference between the two particular views presented here is that the political scientist views simulation as a model, while the operational researcher views simulation as experimentation on a model. In discussing the Vietnam simulation particular attention is given to the problem of selecting participants on the basis of political ideology. An important point from this discussion concerns the difficulties of trying to use such a simulation to study policy. [A fairly complete technical description of the assumptions and methodology of the simulation is also included in the Appendix.] The question of the validity of simulations in some detail. The first of these sections discusses ideas on isomorphism and homomorphism, while the second discusses ideas on validation with reference to experiences with, and outcomes from, the development runs of the Vietnam simulation. This section strengthens the earlier suggestion that the Vietnam simulation is at present best seen as a valuable heuristic and not as a policy-testing instrument. In the final policy implications sections, it is suggested that ( I ) some efforts are made to show the validity of the simulation before attempting to evaluate policies, and (2) governments concerned with the Vietnam situation use the simulation as an aid to thinking about the Vietnam situation.