Assessment of applied research and development: Diversification for science policy

In this paper a method is outlined for measuring the diversity of the results of applied R&D with the use of IPC (International Patent Classification). The method has been tested in the contexts of the academic physical, engineering, and chemical institutes. The trend of applied research at a given institute increases both at the level of classes and subclasses, and at the IPC level. Inventions developed within specializations at each institute have a greater efficiency than other forms of inventive activity. The objective was to seek the optimal extent of diversification of applied R&D, which would simultaneously ensure the preservation of the scientific specialization of an institute, the high level of scientific research associated with developing innovations, and the high overall efficiency of each institute.     

The crane's foot: The rise of the pedigree in human genetics

The standard pedigree used by geneticists is intimately connected to the history of genetics. Pedigrees drawn today are based on standards established in the early decades of the twentieth century. Those standards were established by geneticists who pursued an active interest in eugenics. The slightly different standards followed in America vs. England to some extent followed the stronger support of Mendelism by the Americans, as well as the individual preferences of the leading human geneticists in those countries.     

Transitional phenomena as evidenced in prayer

In this paper, we demonstrate that the study of prayer facilitates understanding of the deeply personal object related nature of religious experience. Within prayer, individuals enter the transitional sphere and meet their God representation. Both conscious and unconscious aspects of prayer can be made available through the use of a projective test developed by the authors, known as STARR: Spiritual Themes and Religious Responses test. The data obtained suggest the usefulness of Winnicottian concepts of transitional phenomena, playing, communicating, and capacity to be alone as a contemporary psychoanalytic framework for interpreting religious experience.     

Perceived Health Barriers and Health Value in Seniors: Implications for Well-Being and Mortality1

There is growing evidence to suggest that the ways in which people think about their health problems may have significant implications for psychological and physical well-being. This possibility has the greatest consequences for those groups facing health problems on a daily basis, in particular, the elderly. This study examined the role of perceived health barriers and value for health in later life. A Perceived Health Barriers (absent, present) by Health Value (low, medium, high) 2.3 factorial design was analyzed for younger and older seniors on: number of life-threatening diseases, need for health care, and life satisfaction. In addition, a longitudinal design was used to examine the joint roles of perceived health barriers (PHBs) and health value (HV) on mortality. Findings generally indicated that individuals’ PHBs and HV are associated with health-related outcomes; however, the results differed for young and old elders. Among young elders, those with PHBs and those with high HV had the most negati e profile. That is, they had more diseases, higher health care needs, and lower life satisfaction. Among older elders, the findings were more complicated in that the relationship between PHB and the outcomes depended on HV. Overall, the patterns for old elders suggest that perceived health barriers are most relevant among those with medium value for health and least relevant among those with low value for health.     

Components of Random Generation by Normal Subjects and Patients with Dysexecutive Syndrome

The study presents a hypothesis on how randomness could be simulated by human subjects. Three sources of deviation from randomness are predicted: (1) the preferred application of overlearned production schemata for producing sequences of digits, (2) a wrong concept of randomness, and (3) the impossibility to monitor for redundancies of higher- than those of first-order. Deviations of random generation of digits produced by healthy subjects, patients with chronic frontal lobe damage, and patients with Parkinson′s disease from random sequences produced by a computer program can be explained by the differential influence of these factors. Whereas incorrect concepts of randomness and limits on monitoring capacity distinguished all sequences produced by humans from actual random sequences, persistence on a single production strategy distinguished brain-damaged patients from controls. Random generation of digits appears to be a theoretically transparent and clinically useful test of executive function.     

Motor functions of the basal ganglia

Summary A study of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease can provide an indication of the motor functions of the basal ganglia. Basal-ganglia diseases affect voluntary movement and can cause involuntary movement. Deficits are often manifested during the coordination of fine multi-joint movements (e. g., handwriting). The disturbances of motor control (e.g. akinesia, bradykinesia) caused by basal-ganglia disorders are illustrated. Data suggest that the basal ganglia play an important role in the automatic execution of serially ordered complex movements.