Contending coalitions in agricultural research and development: Challenges for planning and management

There is a gap between the methods and techniques discussed in planning and management literature, and practitioners’ experiences of agricultural research and extension. This gap is attributable to the fact that outcomes of research and extension (R&E) initiatives are shaped by the interactions of contending coalitions that form around issues or approaches and promote or oppose them. This framework is used to elucidate the development of technologies and methodologies in the past. Implications are drawn for future planning and management, based on seeing the use of methods and techniques in terms of the broader social and political contexts of research and development. This article was prepared for the international evaluation conference:Evaluation for a New Century: A Global Perspective. 1–5 November, 1995, Vancouver, Canada. Sponsored by the Canadian Evaluation Association and the American Evaluation Association.     

AIDS and confidentiality

ABSTRACT AIDS raises the moral problem of confidentiality because those in sexual contact with the patient may contract a life-threatening and incurable disease. Medicine has a tradition in which a patient's condition is regarded as confidential information held by the doctor alone. In this case there is a clear moral inclination to inform those at risk from the disease. In most cases no problem will arise but when it does the moral justification for a violation of confidentiality comes into question. Confidentiality is important because of our respect for certain human values and their importance to our patient. Where that patient acts so as to disregard the welfare of others with whom they are in close relationship, those values are lacking. This lack warrants a departure from our normal canons and provokes a suspension of normal moral privileges. The contention that any transgression, however slight, could be held to justify such a response posits a slope down which we, in fact, have no tendency to slide.     

An empirical approach to the classification and treatment of maximum security psychiatric patients

Treatment approaches with forensic patients have traditionally been nonspecific and have been based primarily on legal or diagnostic categories. The current study, stimulated by the need to reorganize treatment and assessment services, examined the incidence among 189 maximum security psychiatric patients of 70 problems commonly exhibited either in the community prior to admission or within the institution. Through a series of factor and cluster analyses, a model for the placement and treatment of these patients was developed that included assaultiveness, level of functioning, social withdrawal, and active psychotic symptoms.     

Sexual Minority Identity,Viewing Motivations,and Viewing Frequency of LGB-Inclusive Television Among LGB Viewers

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between dimensions of sexual minority identity, viewing motivations, and viewing frequency of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-inclusive television (TV) among LGB viewers. Two hundred two LGB adults completed measures regarding sexual minority identity, TV viewing motivations, and frequency of viewing LGB-inclusive TV programs. Analyses revealed that dimensions of sexual minority identity (i.e., internalized homonegativity, acceptance concerns, and identity affirmation) were positively associated with a learning motivation for viewing LGB-inclusive TV. Moreover, a learning motivation mediated the relationship between dimensions of sexual minority identity and frequency of viewing LGB-inclusive TV. These findings have important implications for clinicians, and suggest that engaging with LGB-inclusive TV may represent an important coping strategy for LGB individuals dealing with identity concerns.     

A Big Five approach to self-regulation: personality traits and health trajectories in the Hawaii longitudinal study of personality and health

Self-regulatory processes influencing health outcomes may have their origins in childhood personality traits. The Big Five approach to personality was used here to investigate the associations between childhood traits, trait-related regulatory processes and changes in health across middle age. Participants (N = 1176) were members of the Hawaii longitudinal study of personality and health. Teacher assessments of the participants’ traits when they were in elementary school were related to trajectories of self-rated health measured on 6 occasions over 14 years in middle age. Five trajectories of self-rated health were identified by latent class growth analysis: Stable Excellent, Stable Very Good, Good, Decreasing and Poor. Childhood Conscientiousness was the only childhood trait to predict membership in the Decreasing class vs. the combined healthy classes (Stable Excellent, Stable Very Good and Good), even after controlling for adult Conscientiousness and the other adult Big Five traits. The Decreasing class had poorer objectively assessed clinical health measured on one occasion in middle age, was less well-educated, and had a history of more lifespan health-damaging behaviors compared to the combined healthy classes. These findings suggest that higher levels of childhood Conscientiousness (i.e. greater self-discipline and goal-directedness) may prevent subsequent health decline decades later through self-regulatory processes involving the acquisition of lifelong healthful behavior patterns and higher educational attainment.     

Immigrant entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective

We examined immigrant entrepreneurship from a social psychological perspective with an emphasis on Social Identity Theory (SIT). Immigrant entrepreneurs from across Canada (N=122) completed a questionnaire about their experiences as Canadian business owners. The results showed that business decisions are, indeed, related to social psychological influences. The use of social capital, the strength of cultural and national identity, acculturation and perceived discrimination were related to decisions made throughout the course of the business, from the initial motivations for pursuing entrepreneurship, to the intention to continue running a business in Canada. Overall, being an immigrant entrepreneur had social psychological implications and, in the future, the influence of identity, acculturation and discrimination among this group deserves further attention.     

Neurocognitive Complications of HIV Disease

Neurocognitive complications are the most common sequelae of HIV infection if the full spectrum of HIV disease—from initial seroconversion to death from advanced AIDS—is considered. Though resembling subcortical neurological disorders from a neuropsychological standpoint, the presentation is variable, and almost any pattern can be seen. Although neuropsychological impairment is often subtle, it can affect day-to-day life and is associated with earlier mortality. It is not clear if milder forms of neurocognitive disturbance necessarily presage advanced dementia, and current data suggest a two-factor model: a subacute relapsing-remitting condition that can occur at any stage of HIV disease and a progressive, more fulminant dementia. The pathological substrates of these conditions are not well characterized, although recent data support the notion that synaptodendritic damage underlies the neuropsychological impairment, and may precede the neuronal loss and other pathological features more characteristic of HIV encephalitis. Some reversibility of neurocognitive disturbance has been reported with zidovudine therapy, though the data are not consistent. New regimens involving protease inhibitors need to be evaluated in terms of benefit to the central nervous system because many drugs of this class do not penetrate the blood-brain barrier efficiently. Finally, studies utilizing experimental treatments that may affect the putative mechanisms of neural injury are in progress.     

The exact null distribution for radial maze statistics: A FORTRAN 77 program

Performance in the radial-arm maze may be assessed by comparing the number of correct responses or, alternatively, the number of repetition errors with that expected if a subject were simply selecting a location at random on each choice. Previous attempts to estimate the null distribution of correct responses or repetition errors have re-lied on computer simulation. In the present approach, a direct analytic argument is used to derive exact expressions for the probability density functions of these random variables. Knowledge of the exact null distributions provides the researcher with enhanced analytic capabilities. For example, it supplies the means of constructing an exact test of significance to evaluate performance at the level of a single subject A FORTRAN 77 program is provided to compute the null distribution of correct responses and repetition errors as well as their respective expectations and variances. Application of the technique to other situations is described briefly.     

Allowing for infeasible pairings in the matching paradigm

The objective of research in the matching paradigm is to determine whether a one-to-one pairing configuration between objects in two arrays contains more pairings of a particular kind than expected under the null hypothesis. The presence of infeasible pairings, that is, of particular pairings which can not possibly take place, has the effect of altering the null distribution that would otherwise obtain. To enable researchers to determine the appropriate null distribution, a generalization of classical rook methodology is developed which can accommodate infeasible pairings in the matching paradigm.