The Association of Children's Nonverbal Decoding Abilities With Their Popularity,Locus of Control,and Academic Achievement

The present study examined the relation between children's abilities to decode the emotional meanings in facial expressions and tones of voice, and their popularity, locus of control or reinforcement orientation, and academic achievement. Four hundred fifty-six elementary school children were given tests that measured their abilities to decode emotions in facial expressions and tones of voice. Children who were better at decoding nonverbal emotional information in faces and tones of voice were more popular, more likely to be internally controlled, and more likely to have higher academic achievement scores. The results were interpreted as supporting the importance of nonverbal communication in the academic as well as the social realms.     

“What Are You?”: Racial Ambiguity,Stigma, and the Racial Formation Project

Using interview data from individuals who were frequently asked some version of the question “What are you?” in regards to their race, we apply a deviance perspective to frame these encounters as micro level racial formation projects. Racial formation projects are problematized when one’s race is not readily classifiable. These data suggest that when race is perceptibly ambiguous, stigma is assigned and normativity is enforced through discursive constraint and other means. Racially ambiguous individuals use many forms of resistance to navigate these encounters and make identity claims that either affirm or endanger the normative racial formation order.     

Spinoza on the Problem of Akrasia

Abstract: Two common ways of explaining akrasia will be presented, one which focuses on strength of desire and the other which focuses on action issuing from practical judgment. Though each is intuitive in a certain way, they both fail as explanations of the most interesting cases of akrasia. Spinoza's own thoughts on bondage and the affects follow, from which a Spinozist explanation of akrasia is constructed. This account is based in Spinoza's mechanistic psychology of cognitive affects. Because Spinoza's account explains action asissuing from modes of mind that are both cognitive and affective, it captures the intuitions that motivate the two traditional views while avoiding the pitfalls that result from their one-sided approaches. This project will allow us a fuller understanding of Spinozist moral psychology. In addition to this historical value, the Spinozist theory may offer a satisfactory explanation of certain hard cases of akrasia while avoiding the problems be set by other theories. For this reason, the Spinozist account could also be seen as a useful contribution to our philosophical understanding of the phenomenon of akrasia.     

Learning about Teaching in Communities: Lessons for Faculty Development

Abstract. While teaching workshops like those offered by the Wabash Center provide a unique opportunity for scholars to reflect on their teaching, three elements important to the workshops’ success can be effective in institutional settings as well. Certain characteristics of community, conversation stimulated by differences, and appropriate attention to self‐care help create an environment supportive of faculty development throughout a scholar's career.     

Revisionist Koran Hermeneutics in Contemporary Turkish University Theology: Rethinking Islam – Felix Körner

Book reviewed:
Revisionist Koran Hermeneutics in Contemporary Turkish University Theology: Rethinking Islam , Felix Körner, Ergon Verlag 2005 (3-89913-373-0), 230 pp., n/p     

Neural representations of the body in 60‐day‐old human infants

The organization of body representations in the adult brain has been well documented. Little is understood about this aspect of brain organization in human infancy. The current study employed electroencephalography (EEG) with 60‐day‐old infants to test the distribution of brain responses to tactile stimulation of three different body parts: hand, foot, and lip. Analyses focused on a prominent positive response occurring at 150–200 ms in the somatosensory evoked potential at central and parietal electrode sites. The results show differential electrophysiological signatures for touch of these three body parts. Stimulation of the left hand was associated with greater positive amplitude over the lateral central region contralateral to the side stimulated. Left foot stimulation was associated with greater positivity over the midline parietal site. Stimulation of the midline of the upper lip was associated with a strong bilateral response over the central region. These findings provide new insights into the neural representation of the body in infancy and shed light on research and theories about the involvement of somatosensory cortex in infant imitation and social perception.     

Child and Family Team Meeting Characteristics and Outcomes in a Statewide System of Care

Systems of care (SOC) have relied on the wraparound care process to individualize community‐based services for children and youth with serious emotional and behavioral difficulties. A core element of wraparound care is Child and Family Team meetings (CFTs), which are designed to give youth and families a leadership role in developing and guiding their plan of care. The National Wraparound Initiative (NWI) has identified Practice Standards regarding CFT implementation. This study examined CFT characteristics and the association between those characteristics and youth and family outcomes in a statewide SOC. Participants were 363 youth (M_age = 10.89, SD = 3.72) and their caregivers. Families completed measures of youth and caregiver functioning and symptoms at enrollment and 6‐month follow‐up. Care coordinators completed a survey assessing CFT implementation and characteristics following each meeting. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between CFT characteristics and youth and caregiver outcomes. Results indicated that a higher number of CFTs was associated with poorer outcomes, while a higher percentage of natural supports at meetings was associated with better youth outcomes. Number of days to the first CFT was associated with greater caregiver strain. Implications for CFT implementation within wraparound are discussed.     

Police surveillance of cell phone location data: Supreme Court versus public opinion

The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. As technology evolves, courts must examine Fourth Amendment concerns implicated by the introduction of new and enhanced police surveillance techniques. Recent Supreme Court cases have demonstrated a trend towards reconsidering the mechanical application of traditional Fourth Amendment doctrine to define the scope of constitutional protections for modern technological devices and personal data. The current research examined whether public opinion regarding privacy rights in electronic communications is in accordance with these Supreme Court rulings. Results suggest that cell phone location data is perceived as more private and deserving of protections than other types of location data, but the privacy of other types of information recorded on cell phones is valued even more than location data. These results have implications for the police and courts considering how the Fourth Amendment will apply to smart phone technologies.     

Under the Microscope

This is a personal account of life in the United Kingdom National Health Service by a pathologist who has worked there for 25 years. The principles of clinical governance are embraced by the medical profession, but their application is often insensitive, governmental and bureaucratic. A doctor's working life is now less autonomous, less centred on the patient and less fun. Medical humanities are a balm for the sore spots but not, I think, used consciously so by management, likely suffering from the same bureaucratic governmentality that sees value in nothing-unless it can be measured.