P-SPACE: A program for simulating spatial behavior in small groups

P-SPACE is a computer program that simulates spatial behavior in a small group of individuals. The program describes how interpersonal distances change through time as a result of changes in microlevel features, such as the minimization of local dissatisfaction. Agents are located in a two-dimensional lattice and can move some discrete space units at each discrete time unit within their neighborhood. A nonsymmetrical matrix of ideal distances between agents must be specified. Agents move in order to minimize their dissatisfaction, defined as a function of the discrepancy between possible future distances and ideal distances between agents. At each iteration, agents will move to those cells in their neighborhoods for which the function is minimized. Depending on the specific values in the ideal-distance matrix, different kinds of social dynamics can be simulated.     

Paul Lazarsfeld and Polish sociology: A historical record of contact,perception, and impact

This paper records the Polish aspects of P. F. Lazarsfeld's sociointellectual biography and examines his impact on Polish sociology. The analysis is divided into three chronological parts. In the 1930s, Lazarsfeld's empirical work inspired Polish sociologists in their studies on unemployment. In the late 1950s and 1960s, his model of empirical social research shaped the style of sociological practice in Poland. In the 1990s, some of Lazarsfeld's substantive contributions, mainly in the area of election studies, were taken up in Polish sociology. Lazarsfeld's influence on Polish sociology was conditioned by changes in Polish society and sociology, which is emphasized in this analysis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An Approach to Glivenko’s Theorem in Algebraizable Logics

In a classical paper [15] V. Glivenko showed that a proposition is classically demonstrable if and only if its double negation is intuitionistically demonstrable. This result has an algebraic formulation: the double negation is a homomorphism from each Heyting algebra onto the Boolean algebra of its regular elements. Versions of both the logical and algebraic formulations of Glivenko’s theorem, adapted to other systems of logics and to algebras not necessarily related to logic can be found in the literature (see [2, 9, 8, 14] and [13, 7, 14]). The aim of this paper is to offer a general frame for studying both logical and algebraic generalizations of Glivenko’s theorem. We give abstract formulations for quasivarieties of algebras and for equivalential and algebraizable deductive systems and both formulations are compared when the quasivariety and the deductive system are related. We also analyse Glivenko’s theorem for compatible expansions of both cases. Presented by Jacek Malinowski     

Przyczynek do historii i rachunku zdań

Allatum est die 25. Aprilís 1952.     

An exploratory study of social support, distress, and life disruption among low-income Hispanic women under treatment for early stage breast cancer.

Relationships between distress and perceived availability of social support were examined in 51 Hispanic women being treated for early stage breast cancer. Distress and different types (emotional, instrumental) and sources (spouse, women family members, other family members, friends) of support were measured at presurgery, postsurgery, and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-ups. Emotional support from friends and instrumental support from spouse at presurgery predicted lower distress postsurgery. No other prospective benefits of perceived support emerged. Distress at several time points predicted erosion of subsequent support, particularly instrumental support from women in the family. In contrast to the adverse effects of distress (and independent of them), illness-related disruption of recreational and social activities at 6 months elicited greater support at 12 months.     

Attenuated brain responses to speech sounds in moderate preterm infants at term age

Recent findings have revealed that very preterm neonates already show the typical brain responses to place of articulation changes in stop consonants, but data on their sensitivity to other types of phonetic changes remain scarce. Here, we examined the impact of 7–8 weeks of extra‐uterine life on the automatic processing of syllables in 20 healthy moderate preterm infants (mean gestational age at birth 33 weeks) matched in maturational age with 20 full‐term neonates, thus differing in their previous auditory experience. This design allows elucidating the contribution of extra‐uterine auditory experience in the immature brain on the encoding of linguistically relevant speech features. Specifically, we collected brain responses to natural CV syllables differing in three dimensions using a multi‐feature mismatch paradigm, with the syllable/ba/ as the standard and three deviants: a pitch change, a vowel change to/bo/ and a consonant voice‐onset time (VOT) change to/pa/. No significant between‐group differences were found for pitch and consonant VOT deviants. However, moderate preterm infants showed attenuated responses to vowel deviants compared to full terms. These results suggest that moderate preterm infants' limited experience with low‐pass filtered speech prenatally can hinder vowel change detection and that exposure to natural speech after birth does not seem to contribute to improve this capacity. These data are in line with recent evidence suggesting a sequential development of a hierarchical functional architecture of speech processing that is highly sensitive to early auditory experience.     

Coping among african-american,hispanic, and non-hispanic white women recently treated for early stage breast cancer

Relatively little is known about how members of minority groups cope with experiences such as diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer – in particular, whether coping patterns among minorities differ from that of the majority. This study adds to the existing knowledge base using a cross-sectional sample of middle-class African-American (n = 26), Hispanic (n = 59), and non-Hispanic White women (n = 151) who had been treated for early stage breast cancer in the past year. We tested for differences in coping responses per se and also for the possibility that coping would relate to distress differently in different groups. There were only two differences in coping (controlling for medical variables, education, and distress): compared to non-Hispanic White women, the other two groups both reported using humor-based coping less, and religion-based coping more. There was one difference in how coping related to distress: venting related more strongly to elevated distress among Hispanic than among non-Hispanics. Discussion centers on a growing consensus on ethnic differences in religious and humor-based coping, and on the relative absence of other coping differences among these populations.     

Construct Validity of ADHD/ODD Rating Scales: Recommendations for the Evaluation of Forthcoming DSM-V ADHD/ODD Scales

Exploratory structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to a multiple indicator (26 individual symptom ratings) by multitrait (ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI and ODD factors) by multiple source (mothers, fathers and teachers) model to test the invariance, convergent and discriminant validity of the Child and Adolescent Disruptive Behavior Inventory with 872 Thai adolescents and the ADHD Rating Scale-IV and ODD scale of the Disruptive Behavior Inventory with 1,749 Spanish children. Most of the individual ADHD/ODD symptoms showed convergent and discriminant validity with the loadings and thresholds being invariant over mothers, fathers and teachers in both samples (the three latent factor means were higher for parents than teachers). The ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI and ODD latent factors demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity between mothers and fathers within the two samples. Convergent and discriminant validity between parents and teachers for the three factors was either absent (Thai sample) or only partial (Spanish sample). The application of exploratory SEM to a multiple indicator by multitrait by multisource model should prove useful for the evaluation of the construct validity of the forthcoming DSM-V ADHD/ODD rating scales.     

Utility of the Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic (MBMD) to Predict Adherence to Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) Medication Regimens Among HIV-Positive Men and Women

Trait loyalty has received virtually no attention from researchers; consequently, the basic goal of this research was to create a measure of interpersonal loyalty. Principal factor analyses of an initial pool of items revealed 2 factors: Individual Loyalty (e.g., “I stand by my friends, even when they make mistakes”) and Group Loyalty (e.g., “I am loyal to my country”). Analyses of a revised item pool identified the same 2 factors in a second sample. Scales based on these factors were internally consistent and only moderately related to one another. Additional analyses indicated that both scales (a) were stable over time; (b) showed moderate to strong self-peer agreement; (c) positively correlated with conscientiousness, agreeableness, altruism, and positive emotionality; and (d) negatively related to an avoidant attachment style. However, these associations all were moderate in magnitude (in fact, none was as high as |.40|), indicating that the Individual and Group Loyalty Scales tap unique variance that is not captured by existing instruments.     

Research note: A motivational perspective on change processes and outcomes

A reengineering process in a chemical plant with technostructural and human-process-oriented interventions was analysed in order to develop and test a generalized expectancy?–?valence-theory model for participation in the change process and effective change. It was assumed that both supervisory support and favourable colleagues' change attitudes enhance one's change motivation, and participation in the change process, by increasing participation opportunities, and positive attitudes toward change. In turn, employee participation should have a positive impact on outcomes of the change process. After 2 years of restructuring, 104 employees participated in the evaluation of the change process. Path analyses revealed results that supported our model by and large. Employee participation in the change process predicts positive organizational effects. Favourable change attitudes as well as perceived participation opportunities, and supervisory support, which were integrated into one scale, predict the degree of employee participation. The latter also showed a direct path to organizational effects.