Actuality in Propositional Modal Logic

We show that the actuality operator A is redundant in any propositional modal logic characterized by a class of Kripke models (respectively, neighborhood models). Specifically, we prove that for every formula ${\phi}$ in the propositional modal language with A, there is a formula ${\psi}$ not containing A such that ${\phi}$ and ${\psi}$ are materially equivalent at the actual world in every Kripke model (respectively, neighborhood model). Inspection of the proofs leads to corresponding proof-theoretic results concerning the eliminability of the actuality operator in the actuality extension of any normal propositional modal logic and of any “classical” modal logic. As an application, we provide an alternative proof of a result of Williamson’s to the effect that the compound operator A□ behaves, in any normal logic between T and S5, like the simple necessity operator □ in S5.     

Miller on Dumézil: The Current State of Play

Robert A. Segal, Joseph Campbell: An introduction. New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1987, $22.00

Lawrence A. Hoffman, Beyond the text: A holistic approach to liturgy. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1987, 213 pp

Wesley A. Kort, Modern Fiction and Human Time: A Study in Narrative and Belief. Tampa, University of South Florida Press, 1985, pp. x + 227. $20.00.

Bentley Layton (ed.), The Gnostic Scriptures. London, SCM Press, 1987, pp. xiii + 526, £25.

H. H. the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, The Kālachakra Tantra : Rite of initiation for the stage of Generation, a commentary ; text edited, translated and introduced in Jeffrey Hopkins. London, Wisdom Publications, 1985, 511 pp. £11.95.     

Explanations of the sex‐deviance relationship

This paper examines sex differences in school deviance and compares a cultural/socialization explanation (the machismo thesis) and structural explanations of this differential. In general, the findings show that the sex‐school deviance relationship is completely explained by differences in social controls and pressures which are structured by sex, and that machismo identity may be a mediator of this relationship for aggression but not for general school misconduct. In addition, the findings suggest that sex differences in deviance are enhanced because children tend to be influenced by same‐sexed peers.     

Synchronization with competing visual and auditory rhythms: bouncing ball meets metronome

Synchronization of finger taps with periodically flashing visual stimuli is known to be much more variable than synchronization with an auditory metronome. When one of these rhythms is the synchronization target and the other serves as a distracter at various temporal offsets, strong auditory dominance is observed. However, it has recently been shown that visuomotor synchronization improves substantially with moving stimuli such as a continuously bouncing ball. The present study pitted a bouncing ball against an auditory metronome in a target–distracter synchronization paradigm, with the participants being auditory experts (musicians) and visual experts (video gamers and ball players). Synchronization was still less variable with auditory than with visual target stimuli in both groups. For musicians, auditory stimuli tended to be more distracting than visual stimuli, whereas the opposite was the case for the visual experts. Overall, there was no main effect of distracter modality. Thus, a distracting spatiotemporal visual rhythm can be as effective as a distracting auditory rhythm in its capacity to perturb synchronous movement, but its effectiveness also depends on modality-specific expertise.     

Quality adjusted survival analysis: A neglected application of the quality of well-being scale

Abstract

Background In survival analysis, those who are alive are statistically coded as 1.0 while those who are dead are coded as 0.0. Since everyone who remains alive is given the same score, a person confined to bed with an irreversible coma is alive and is counted the same as someone who is active and asymtomatic. The Quality of Well-being (QWB) scale defines levels of wellness on the continuum between death and optimum function and integrates morbidity and mortality into the same number. This paper demonstrates the effect of including mortality in QWB estimates for male adults with HIV infection.

Method This study involves follow-up of a cohort of 386 male adults participating in the San Diego HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC). Patients were evaluated using the QWB at enrollment and at six month intervals. All patients were classified into three stages of HIV disease according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) classification: CDC IV (symptomatic HIV disease), CDC II or III (asymptomatic infection) and uninfected male controls.

Results QWB scores were calculated with and without mortality included for men in each CDC class who completed a one year (N = 148) or two year follow-up (N = 60). At each evaluation, there were significant differences among CDC classes and inclusion of deaths increased the variance accounted for by CDC class at each evaluation.

Conclusions HIV infection has significant impacts upon both morbidity and mortality. Survival analysis captures only the mortality dimension, while quality adjusted survival analysis using the QWB includes both dimensions. We propose quality adjusted survival analysis as a more sensitive method for assessing outcome in HIV disease and other health conditions.     

The Relationships Among Differing Loss Experiences,Adjustment, Beliefs,and Coping

Abstract

Losses are often equated for conceptual purposes, and it is often assumed that different types of losses result in similar grief reactions and exert similar effects on cognitive structures and coping patterns. This article examines the expectancies, beliefs, coping patterns, and psychological adjustment associated with loss due to death, parental. divorce, or illness and disability in a college student population. Loss groups did not differ from each other or from a no-loss group on cognitive variables, coping, or psychological adjustment. In instances in which associations between the cognitive measures and either coping or adjustment were indicated, the typical pattern was for loss groups to differ from the no-loss condition but not from each other.     

Test anxiety,emotional responding under guided imagery,and self-talk during an academic examination

Abstract

This investigation examined the assumption that phenomenological responses created by guidedimagery procedures pertinent to test anxiety are topographically similar to emotional responses experienced during an actual examination. Participants were divided on facilitating versus debilitating test anxiety and exposed to subclinical doses of stimulus-response propositions that involved test-taking, fear, and physical activity using the induction technique employed by Lang et al. (1980). Patterns of emotional responses obtained after each induction were compared to the pattern elicited immediately prior to students' final course examination as well as self-talk during the examination. Results indicated that exposure to test-related imagery elicited a pattern of emotional responding that was different than exposure to fear or action imagery but was nearly identical to emotional responses found before examinations. Negative emotional states before the examination also were associated with higher frequencies of negative self-statements during the examination. Treatment implications of these findings were explored.     

Applicant Gender and Family Structure: Effects on Perceived Relocation Commitment and Spouse Resistance

Within the context of a controlled laboratory study, the effects of applicant gender, marital type (single earner, dual earner), and parental status (child, no child) on perceptions of job applicant commitment to a move involving geographic relocation and expected family resistance to the move were investigated. The results indicated that gender and family structure variables interacted in their influence on the dependent variables. Participants also provided reasons for their ratings of perceived commitment. Content analysis revealed 4 themes underlying participant responses: family concerns, goals and motivation of applicant, experience of applicant, and individual differences.     

A naturalistic longitudinal evaluation of counselling in primary care

This study evaluated the effectiveness of generic counselling in a primary healthcare setting during three months of counselling and followed up the patients' progress after counselling had finished for the next twenty-one months. Questionnaires were completed by patients within the Dorset Primary Care counselling service on referral to counselling and at set points afterwards. A naturally occurring waiting-list group was compared with patients receiving counselling at baseline and three months. Measurements were taken of patients' psychiatric symptomatology, quality of life (QOL) and self-esteem. Patients who received counselling made highly significant improvements compared with those on the waiting list. These improvements were maintained throughout the long-term follow-up. This would indicate that generic counselling has positive effects that can be maintained for a long period of time after counselling has been completed.