Analysing the perceptions of pedestrians and drivers to shared space

Shared space is an approach to improving streets and places where both pedestrians and vehicles are present, with layouts related more to the pedestrian scale and with features encouraging drivers to assume priority having been reduced or removed. It creates a more pedestrian-friendly environment than conventional street layouts, which are based on greater segregation between pedestrians and vehicles, while at the same time introducing uncertainty, which makes drivers engage more fully with their surroundings, leading to lower vehicle speeds and improved safety. This paper investigates the importance of certain person-, context- and design-specific factors affecting the perceptions of pedestrians and drivers to shared space. Using two web-based stated-preference surveys, two sets of responses are collected from pedestrians and drivers, who are presented with different combinations of binary factors forming scenarios. Regression analysis is carried out with logit models for each survey. The results suggest that pedestrians feel most comfortable in shared space under conditions which ensure their presence is clear to other road users – these conditions include low vehicular traffic, high pedestrian traffic, good lighting and pedestrian-only facilities. Conversely, the presence of many pedestrians and, in particular, children and elderly, makes drivers feel uneasy and, therefore, enhances their alertness.     

Book Review

This research reviews and analyzes case law related to private-school employment contracts. The cases deal with the validity of contracts and termination of employment in which the courts have been called upon to settle a variety of disputes between nonpublic schools and their employees. School administrators must be knowledgeable of the basic principals of contract law.     

Sources of Cognitive Inflexibility in Set-Shifting Tasks: Insights Into Developmental Theories From Adult Data

Two experiments examined processes underlying cognitive inflexibility in set-shifting tasks typically used to assess the development of executive function in children. Adult participants performed a Flexible Item Selection Task (FIST) that requires shifting from categorizing by one dimension (e.g., color) to categorizing by a second orthogonal dimension (e.g., shape). The experiments showed performance of the FIST involves suppression of the representation of the ignored dimension; response times for selecting a target object in an oddity task immediately following were slower when the oddity target was the previously ignored stimulus of the FIST. However, proactive interference from the previously relevant stimulus dimension also impaired responding. The results are discussed with respect to two prominent theories of the source of difficulty for children and adults on dimensional shifting tasks: attentional inertia and negative priming. In contrast to prior work emphasizing one process over the other, the findings indicate that difficulty in the FIST, and by extension other set-shifting tasks, can be attributed to both the need to shift away from the previously attended representation (attentional inertia) and the need to shift to the previously ignored representation (negative priming). Results are discussed in relation to theoretical explanations for cognitive inflexibility in adults and children.     

Beyond the Spiritual Supermarket: The Social and Public Significance of New Age Spirituality

This article argues that New Age spirituality is substantially less unambiguously individualistic and more socially and publicly significant than today's sociological consensus acknowledges. Firstly, an uncontested doctrine of self-spirituality, characterised by sacralisation of the self and demonisation of social institutions, provides the spiritual milieu with ideological coherence and paradoxically accounts for its overwhelming diversity. Secondly, participants undergo a process of socialisation, gradually adopting this doctrine of self-spirituality and eventually reinforcing it by means of standardised legitimations. Thirdly, spirituality has entered the public sphere of work, aiming at a reduction of employees’ alienation to increase both their happiness and organisational effectiveness. A radical ‘sociologisation’ of New Age research is called for to document how the doctrinal ideal of self-spirituality is socially constructed, transmitted, and reinforced and critically to deconstruct rather than reproduce sociologically naive New Age rhetoric about the primacy of personal authenticity.     

School and Peers: Examining the Influence of Protective Factors on Delinquency and Age of Onset

This paper uses data on 10th graders from 2014 Caring Communities Youth Survey to examine the effect of protective factors on delinquency/age of onset (never, 13 or younger, 14 or older) of two antisocial behaviors (carrying a handgun to school and attacking someone with the intent of seriously hurting them). Two domains of protective factors are used: school and peers. The most significant protective factor for both antisocial behaviors was religiosity which is within the peer domain. Cramer’s V was used because of the nominal level variables, 2 by 3 tables, and large sample. The literature on age of onset and protective factors is discussed.     

Clinical Interview for high‐risk Parents of premature infants (CLIP) as a predictor of early disruptions in the mother–infant relationship at the nursery

The relations between mothers' narrative regarding the infant and the premature birth and the quality of mother–infant interaction were examined in mothers of 47 very low birth weight (<1650 g) premature singletons prior to discharge. Maternal representations were assessed with the Clinical Interview for high‐risk Parents of premature babies (CLIP), a semistructured interview that explores mothers' experiences of the pregnancy, delivery, hospitalization period, thoughts and feelings about the infant, and impending discharge. Ten minutes of mother–infant interaction were videotaped, and global and microanalytic codes were used to define three interactive variables: maternal adaptation, maternal touch, and infant withdrawal. Factor analysis of the CLIP items identified two factors with eigen values of 2.00 and above, termed Readiness for Motherhood and Maternal Rejection. Regression analyses were used to predict the three interactive variables by the infant's medical condition, maternal anxiety and depression, and the CLIP factors. Maternal adaptation to the infant's signal and maternal positive touch were each uniquely predicted by the mother's readiness for the maternal role, and were each negatively related to maternal depression. The infant's interactive withdrawal was independently predicted by maternal rejection. The clinical implications of the findings and the potential use of the CLIP for routine detection of early disruptions in the mother–infant relationship are discussed. ©2003 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Coping and Emotional Distress in Primary and Recurrent Breast Cancer Patients

The purpose of this study was to explore the emotional distress and coping strategies among women with primary as against recurrent (local or metastatic) breast cancer. The study sample consisted of 80 women, all 1 year postdiagnosis of primary or recurrent breast cancer. All women completed a demographic questionnaire, the Emotional Symptoms Checklist (SCL-90R) and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Patients with recurrence reported higher levels of depression and anxiety as well as a higher global severity index (GSI). This group used significantly fewer problem-solving and positive-focus strategies. Emotion-focused coping predicted depression and the GSI, but only positive attitude predicted the level of anxiety. The state of disease was a major predictor of emotional symptoms, and to a lesser extent of the coping strategies used. Although emotion-focused coping had a deleterious effect on emotional well-being, our study highlighted the importance and relevance of positive attitude for reducing emotional distress in general and level of anxiety in particular. Promotion of positive-focus coping strategies should thus be a key element in psychological interventions with cancer patients.     

Against No-Ātman Theories of Anattā

Suppose we were to randomly pick out a book on Buddhism or Eastern Philosophy and turn to the section on 'no-self' (anattā). On this central teaching, we would most likely learn that the Buddha rejected the Upanisadic notion of Self (ātman), maintaining that a person is no more than a bundle of impermanent, conditioned psycho-physical aggregates (khandhas). The rejection of ātman is seen by many to separate the metaphysically 'extravagant' claims of Hinduism from the austere tenets of Buddhism. The status quo has not, however, gone unchallenged. I shall join forces against this pernicious view, integrating some recent contributions into a sustained, two-pronged argument against no-ātman theories of anattā. At the end it shall be suggested, in line with Thanissaro Bhikkhu, that anattā is best understood as a practical strategy rather than as a metaphysical doctrine.