Self-Optimization of Walking in Nondisabled Children and Children With Spastic Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy

Children voluntarily adopt a frequency and movement pattern for walking. The force-driven harmonic oscillator (FDHO) model was used in this study for accurate prediction of the preferred walking frequency of nondisabled children and children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy. Four potential optimality criteria with which the preferred walking pattern was forced to comply were examined: minimization of physiological costs, maximization of mechanical energy conservation, minimization of asymmetry in lower limb movements and minimization of variability of interlimb and intralimb coordination. Age and gender-matched nondisabled children (n = 6) and children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy (n = 6) were tested under six frequency conditions of walking at a constant speed on a treadmill. For the nondisabled children, the results indicated that their preferred walking frequency could be accurately predicted by the FDHO model. They freely adopted a walking pattern that minimized physiological costs, asymmetry, and variability of inter- and intralimb coordination. For the children with spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, the prediction of preferred overground walking frequency required that the FDHO model be modified to account for muscle mass and leg length discrepancies between limbs and increased stiffness. Most of the children achieved the same optimality goals as the nondisabled when walking at the preferred frequency. However, the children were found to use different mechanisms to attain these goals: for example, a steeper increase observed in physiological cost at higher frequencies; a lowered center of gravity of the body, which allowed for angular symmetry; and greater variability of between-joint coordination in the nonaffected limb and less variability in the affected limb.     

MARRIAGE AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS

This study examined gender differences in the configuration of components of intimacy in marriage and in the relationship of marriage to depression in a community sample of 260 men and women. We hypothesized that women's report of marital intimacy would include a distinct self-disclosure component, whereas this would be part of companionship in men's report of intimacy. Also, using self-in-relation theory, we hypothesized that self-esteem level would mediate the relationship between marital quality and depression for women but would moderate this relationship for men. Both predictions were upheld, suggesting a need to reformulate current models of the role of marital quality in depression to better capture the influence of gender.     

Value Crisis: Affective Organization of Personal Meanings

The focus of this article is on the specific affective organization of the self in a value crisis. Whereas the self is conceptualized as an organized system of personal meanings, a value crisis is defined as a disorganization of this system. Personal meanings were investigated using a self-confrontation method that is sensitive to the affective properties of personal meanings and their organization into a composite whole. Three groups of students were compared, one high, one medium, and one low in value crisis. Results indicate that the high crisis group had a lower level of intensity of affect referring to self-enhancement, a lower intensity level of affect referring to contact and union with the other, and a lower level of positive affect in comparison with the other groups. In addition, negative meanings were more generalizing in the self of subjects in crisis, whereas positive meanings were more generalizing in the self system of those not in crisis. Moreover, people in crisis showed more discontinuity between their past and future than those not in crisis. Special emphasis was placed on the specific affective organization of subjects in crisis. Two idiographic case studies were presented to illustrate meaningful exceptions to the rule. It was concluded that value crisis is an “in-between state” involving the risk of disorganization of the self, but at the same time including opportunities for innovative self-development.     

Teacher stress and guidance work in Hong Kong secondary school teachers

Major sources of stress in Hong Kong teachers were investigated, with specific reference to guidance work as a potential source of stress. A survey of 415 secondary school teachers revealed that guidance-related aspects of work constituted a major dimension of stress, with guidance teachers, female teachers, younger teachers and junior teachers perceiving more stress than their counterparts in this dimension. Workload and time pressure were perceived as the most stressful aspects of work for all teachers. Results also showed an association between stress and job satisfaction, and biographical variables. Implications of the findings for teachers doing guidance work in Hong Kong and internationally are discussed.     

The relationship between rational thinking and intelligence in children

This study ws designed to evaluate the efficacy of a four-session REE curriculum and examine the relationship between intelligence and the endorsement of irrational beliefs in elementary school children. A twotailedt-test administered to examine difference between pre- and post-test scores onThe Idea Inventory was statistically significant,t (1,94)=5.90,p<.0001. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between pre-test scores onThe Idea Inventory and theOtis-Lennon School Ability Test failed to reach significance (r=.15) suggesting higher intelligence did not predict greater endorsement of rational beliefs. The post-test scores using the same two instruments reached a correlation coefficient of r=.51 and was statistically significant at the .01 level. A higher percentage of children who scored below the mean on theOtis-Lennon improved from pre- to post-test than children who scored above the mean.     

Comparison of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction in teaching science vocabulary words to high school students with mild disabilities

This study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction during daily probe sessions in teaching science vocabulary words. The teacher presented the vocabulary word definitions as instructive feedback during training sessions. Five 16–17 year old students with disabilities participated in an adapted alternating treatments design that evaluated the simultaneous prompting strategy, error correction and instructive feedback. Instruction occurred in a group format using choral responding. The results indicate that (a) all students learned to read the vocabulary words, (b) simultaneous prompting with error correction was slightly more efficient for three of the five subjects in learning the targeted words, and four of the five students made fewer errors in this condition, (c) all students preferred simultaneous prompting with error correction over simultaneous prompting without error correction, (d) words mastered in both conditions generalized equally, (e) there were minimal differences between the two conditions in the collected maintenance data, and (e) students experienced only minimal improvement in their ability to define vocabulary words (instructive feedback). Discussion focuses on issues for further research and implications for instructional practice with simultaneous prompting, error correction and instructive feedback.     

Feminism, law, and bioethics

Feminist legal theory provides a healthy skepticism toward legal doctrine and insists that we reexamine even formally gender-neutral rules to uncover problematic assumptions behind them. The article first outlines feminist legal theory from the perspectives of liberal, cultural, and radical feminism. Examples of how each theory influences legal practice, case law, and legislation are highlighted. Each perspective is then applied to a contemporary bioethical issue, egg donation. Following a brief discussion of the common themes shared by feminist jurisprudence, the article incorporates a narrative reflecting on the integration of the common feminist themes in the context of the passage of the Maryland Health Care Decisions Act. The article concludes that gender does matter and that an understanding of feminist legal theory and practice will enrich the analysis of contemporary bioethical issues.     

Gravitational acceleration as a cue for absolute size and distance?

When an object’s motion is influenced by gravity, as in the rise and fall of a thrown ball, the vertical component of acceleration is roughly constant at 9.8 m/sec². In principle, an observer could use this information to estimate the absolute size and distance of the object (Saxberg, 1987a; Watson, Banks, von Hofsten, & Royden, 1992). In five experiments, we examined people’s ability to utilize the size and distance information provided by gravitational acceleration. Observers viewed computer simulations of an object rising and falling on a trajectory aligned with the gravitational vector. The simulated objects were balls of different diameters presented across a wide range of simulated distances. Observers were asked to identify the ball that was presented and to estimate its distance. The results showed that observers were much more sensitive to average velocity than to the gravitational acceleration pattern. Likewise, verticality of the motion and visibility of the trajectory’s apex had negligible effects on the accuracy of size and distance judgments.