INCREASING DISTANCE AND INDEPENDENCE OF AMBULATION IN ELDERLY NURSING HOME RESIDENTS

We tested the effectiveness of a prompt-and-praise procedure for increasing walking distance and independence in eight nursing home residents. Walking distance and method of ambulation were observed just prior to mealtimes; in addition, mobility and social interaction were time-sampled in the living areas throughout the day. Treatment was lagged in a multiple baseline design across lunch and dinner meals within subjects, and across subjects within each of three units. In the mealtime setting, two subjects began walking the maximum scored distance during baseline; the other six subjects showed a marked increase in walking beginning with the first meal in which the intervention was applied. Six of the eight subjects also progressed to more independent means of ambulation. Generalization of walking to the second meal was observed in all four of the subjects in whom this could be assessed. Generalization across subjects was not observed nor was generalization to the living areas. Staff successfully implemented the procedures in the mealtime settings and the effects were maintained at the 4-month follow-up.     

Attitude of mothers towards physical punishment as a counseling problem in small children with developmental disorders]

Using the questionnaire that has been specifically developed to obtain data on parental educational behavior, 294 mothers of 2-year-old children were studied and their attitudes towards corporal punishment correlated with characteristics and symptoms of children as well as with psychosocial factors. Low level of education and lack of domestic happiness proved to be essential conditions for acceptance of corporal punishment. Children with developmental disorders are especially endangered only because of their particular liability to disorders, but on account of the fact that they do not receive the same amount of clemency as do children who are liable to infections. Problems of maleducation should receive greater attention in the elimination of environmental dangers to healthy development of children as well as in counseling.     

Die rhythmischen Schwankungen der Reaktionszeit beim Menschen

Zusammenfassung Die Reaktionszeit des Menschen unterliegt spontanen Schwankungen im Jahresrhythmus, im Menstruationszyklus der Frau sowie im Tagesrhythmus. Darüber hinaus wird die Reaktionszeit vom zentralen Atemrhythmus, von kardio-vaskulären Afferenzen im Herzrhythmus sowie von bestimmten Phasen des Alpha-Rhythmus im Elektroenzephalogramm beeinflußt. Auch die vegetativen Gesamtumstellungen, wie sie als sog. reaktive Perioden unter chronischer Reizbelastung auftreten, gehen mit periodischen Schwankungen der Reaktionszeit einher.

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Rhythmical variations of the reaction time in man

Summary The reaction time in man shows spontaneous variations in annual rhythm, in the menstrual cycle, and in diurnal rhythm. The reaction time is also influenced by the central respiratory rhythm, by cardiovascular afferent patterns of the heart rhythm, and by certain phases of the alpha rhythm in the EEG. Moreover, the periodic oscillations of the vegetative system (reactive periods) caused by chronic stress are accompanied by periodic changes of the reaction time.

     

THE JUSTIFIED SCOUNDREL: THE STRUCTURAL GENESIS OF CORRUPTION

"It's more important to look honest than it is to get anything done."
Municipal Agency Commissioner in New York City; Interview, 1991     

An investigation of visual responses to brief stereoscopic stimuli

An analytic model of the temporal properties of visual responses to brief stimuli is described. The model is based on the notion that visual responses persist for some time after the occurrence of brief stimuli. The model is quantified from data on stereopsis obtained with alternating brief monocular presentations of disparate stimuli. The relevance of the analysis for the data of experiments using tachistiscopic techniques is discussed.     

Information technology from a knowledge system perspective: Concepts and issues

Studying knowledge utilization and related processes calls for a conceptual framework. We look at the actors that engage in these processes in a specific field of human activity, and the interfaces and linkages between them, as a Knowledge and Information System (KIS). Although this KIS perspective originates from agriculture it also can be applied to other knowledge domains. Evidence gathered shows that for a KIS to be effective the actors (e.g., researchers, extensionalists, and clients) must act synergically. This inspired us to look for basic KIS principles that indicate opportunities for intervention. This article provides a brief state-of-the-art overview, presents some insights gained to date; and states the main issues for the use of information technology in knowledge management.     

Models of Clergy Spouse Involvement in Protestant Christian Congregations

While all adults in the paid labor force face the difficult task of managing the competing pressures of work and family life, clergy families encounter an added dynamic in the way spouses are integrated into the church. Yet spouses approach involvement in unique and varied ways, making intentional choices over how much or little to participate in the congregations their husbands and wives pastor. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 46 pastors and clergy spouses in five Protestant Christian denominations, this study describes three models of clergy spouse participation showing the diverse ways women and men interpret and enact their role through the ongoing management of boundaries. I consider several social factors informing the model a clergy spouse embraces—pressure from congregants or one’s own ideas, congregational precedent, gender and stage in the life cycle—shedding light on the interaction between individual preferences and contextual factors. In doing so, I argue that although the women and men in this study are continually recreating what it means to be a clergy spouse, they remain heavily rooted in a traditional expectation that pastors’ wives and husbands provide support to their spouse’s church and calling to pastoral ministry.     

The hard-won benefits of familiarity in visual search: naturally familiar brand logos are found faster

Familiar items are found faster than unfamiliar ones in visual search tasks. This effect has important implications for cognitive theory, because it may reveal how mental representations of commonly encountered items are changed by experience to optimize performance. It remains unknown, however, whether everyday items with moderate levels of exposure would show benefits in visual search, and if so, what kind of experience would be required to produce them. Here, we tested whether familiar product logos were searched for faster than unfamiliar ones, and also familiarized subjects with previously unfamiliar logos. Subjects searched for preexperimentally familiar and unfamiliar logos, half of which were familiarized in the laboratory, amongst other, unfamiliar distractor logos. In three experiments, we used an N-back-like familiarization task, and in four others we used a task that asked detailed questions about the perceptual aspects of the logos. The number of familiarization exposures ranged from 30 to 84 per logo across experiments, with two experiments involving across-day familiarization. Preexperimentally familiar target logos were searched for faster than were unfamiliar, nonfamiliarized logos, by 8 % on average. This difference was reliable in all seven experiments. However, familiarization had little or no effect on search speeds; its average effect was to improve search times by 0.7 %, and its effect was significant in only one of the seven experiments. If priming, mere exposure, episodic memory, or relatively modest familiarity were responsible for familiarity’s effects on search, then performance should have improved following familiarization. Our results suggest that the search-related advantage of familiar logos does not develop easily or rapidly.     

IS EPISTEMIC AGENCY POSSIBLE?

There are mental actions, and a number of epistemic attitudes involve activity. But can there be epistemic agency? I argue that there is a limit to any claim that we can be epistemic agents, which is that the structure of reasons for epistemic attitudes differs fundamentally from the structure of reasons for actions. The main differences are that we cannot act for the wrong reasons although we can believe for the wrong reasons, and that reasons for beliefs are exclusive in a sense in which our reasons for actions are not. Epistemic agency is possible in the weak sense that we can be active, but not in the strong one in which we could have some elbow room for our epistemic reasons in reasoning leading to beliefs and other epistemic states.     

Role‐Induced Bias in Court: An Experimental Analysis

Criminal procedure is organized as a tournament with predefined roles. We show that assuming the role of a defense counsel or a prosecutor leads to role‐induced bias even if participants are asked to predict a court ruling after they have ceased to act in that role and if they expect a substantial financial incentive for being accurate. The bias is not removed either if participants are instructed to predict the court ruling in preparation of plea bargaining. In line with parallel constraint satisfaction models for legal decision making, findings indicate that role‐induced bias is driven by coherence effects, that is, systematic information distortions in support of the favored option. This is mainly achieved by downplaying the importance of conflicting evidence. These distortions seem to stabilize interpretations, and people do not correct for this bias. Implications for legal procedure are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.