A fuzzy system for mapping worker attributes to tasks

We developed a prototype of a rule-based expert system that facilitates a mapping from tasks comprising a job to the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) ostensibly required to perform the tasks. A variant of fuzzy logic was employed in the inference process. Signal detection theory was used to evaluate the performance of the system. The results indicated that the system performed well in terms of its ability to discriminate between the KSAs that are required of a task and those that are not. The discussion focuses on implications of the system and its use as an intelligent assistant in human resources planning.     

Muslims in europe: History revisited or a way forward?

While the immigration and settlement of Muslims in western Europe can be traced back over several centuries, the settlement which has taken place since 1945 has created a substantial challenge to traditional European and Muslim ways of life and identity. A major change is taking place around the growth of a generation of young people born and brought up in Europe. Their attitudes and responses to their circumstances are not uniform, and a typology is suggested. At the same time, post‐Communist eastern Europe has again opened questions of the relationship between religion, ethnicity and nation in ways which western Europe may now be echoing in its new cultural plurality.     

Book reviews

God, Reason, and Religions: new essays in the philosophy of religion. Eugene Thomas Long (Ed.), 1995. Dordrecht Kluwer Academic. 228 pp., hb. £67.50, ISBN 07 923333 810 3

Christians and Muslims: from double standards to mutual understanding. Hugh Goddard, 1995. London, Curzon Press. 200 pp., pb. £14.99, ISBN 0 7007 0364 0

Al‐Bayanat al‐Masihiyya al‐Islamiyya al‐Mushtaraka. Juliette Haddad (Ed.), 1995. Beirut, Dar al‐Mashriq. 207 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 2 7214 5005 0

Muslim Writers on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible, from Ibn Rabban to Ibn Hazm. Camilla Adang, 1996. Leiden, E. J. Brill. 321 pp., hb. NLG140, ISBN 90 04 10034 2

Abū Ya qūb al‐Sijistani: intellectual missionary. Paul E. Walker, 1996. London, I. B. Tauris. 132 pp., rib. £35, ISBN 1 85043 921 4

The Cambridge Survey of World Migration. Robin Cohen (Ed.), 1995. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 570 pp., hb. n.p. ISBN 0 521 44405 5

Musulmans en Europe occidentals bibliographic commentée. Muslims in Western Europe: an annotated bibliography. Felice Dassetto & Yves Conrad (Eds), 1996. Paris, Editions L'Harmattan. 202 pp., pb., n.p., ISBN 2 7384 4126 2

Muslim Politics. Dale F. Eickelman & James Piscatori, 1996. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press. 235 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 691 00870 1

Islam and the Myth of Confrontation: religion and politics in the Middle East. Fred Halliday, 1996. London, I. B. Tauris. 255 pp., £12.95, ISBN 1 85043 959 1

Nine Parts of Desire: the hidden world of Islamic women. Geraldine Brooks, 1995. New York, Doubleday. 255 pp. hb. £22.95, ISBN 0 385 47576 4

Aunt Safiyya and the Monastery. Bahaa’ Taher, 1996. Translated from the Arabic by Barbara Romaine. Berkeley, University of California Press. 124 pp., pb. n.p., ISBN 0 520 20075 6

Dreams of Trespass: tales of a harem girlhood. Fatima Mernissi, 1994. Reading, MA, Addison‐Wesley. 242 pp. pb., ISBN 0 201 62649 7

Lettres et message d'Algérie. P. Claverie, 1996. Paris, Karthala. 222 pp., pb. 120FF, ISBN 2 86537 657 5

Islamic Resurgence and Islamization in Malaysia. S. Batumalai, 1996. Perak, Malaysia. 279 pp., pb. RM 25/‐, no ISBN

Christian‐Muslim Relations: a case study of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Theodore Gabriel, 1996. Aldershot, Avebury. xiv, 133 pp., n.p., ISBN 1 85972 325 X

Muslim Communities in the New Europe. Gerd Nonneman, T. Niblock & B. Sjajkowski (Eds), 1996. Reading, Ithaca Press. 356 pp., hb. £35.00, ISBN 0 86372 192 3

Al‐Mughtaribun: American law and the transformation of Muslim life in the United States. Kathleen M. Moore, 1995. Albany, State University of New York Press. 211 pp., pb. $16.95, ISBN 0 7914 2580 0

The Landscape of Belief: encountering the Holy Land in nineteenth‐century American art and culture. [The Princeton Series in Nineteenth‐Century Art, Culture, and Society]. John Davis, 1996. Princeton, Princeton University Press. 264 pp., hb. $65.00, ISBN 0 691 04373 6     

Overview and examples of instructional modules

The fundamental instructional design concepts underlying the systematic development of new computer-based courseware are defined and illustrated. The advantages of the electronic chalkboard and electronic studyguide are discussed.     

'But they aren't motivated …' issues concerned with encouraging motivation for change in families

This article is an attempt to provide some frameworks for understanding aspects of the context of families which support or constrain motivation for change. A theme of the entire paper is that ambivalence is normal and that it is therefore useful to regard families both as motivated to change and motivated to maintain stability. Part I focuses particularly upon family–referrer– therapist relationships and Part II upon family–therapist relationships. Part I begins with an exploration of the idea of motivation as a process and outlines the usefulness of the concept of ambivalence. Its main focus however is upon the importance of considering referrers when attempting to assess the motivation of family members for change.
Part II considers the relationship between the family and the therapist and takes account of some important aspects of the contexts of both. It ends with a summary of some experiential exercises which enable one's personal understanding of motivation issues to develop.     

Individual and group differences in intelligence and speed of information processing

A battery of eight different reaction time (RT) tests, measuring the speed with which individuals perform various elementary cognitive processes, and a group test of scholastic aptitude (the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, ASVAB) were given to 50 black and 56 white male vocational college students. The regression of the general factor scores of the ASVAB on the RT measures yielded a shrunken multiple correlation of 0.465. Although discriminant analyses, when applied separately to the ASVAB subtests and to the RT variables, showed highly comparable overall discrimination (over 70% correct classification) between the black and white groups, factor scores derived from the general factor (labeled ‘speed of information processing’) of the RT battery show only about one-third as large a mean black-white difference as the mean group difference on the general factor scores derived from the ASVAB. Comparisons were also made between the 106 vocational college students and 100 university students of higher average academic aptitude who had previously been tested on the same RT battery (Vernon, 1983a). These groups showed marked differences on the RT variables, the largest differences occuring on the tests that required more complex cognitive processing. The more complex RT tests also correlate most highly with the psychometric measures of ability within each group. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that individual differences and the mean differences between groups in psychometric abilities and scholastic achievement are related to differences in the speed of information processing as measured in elementary cognitive tasks.     

Endemic images and the desensitization process

Forty-eight test-anxious subjects were selected and randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions. The subjects in the first group were asked to imagine a series of images that reflected relaxing motifs and these images were counterposed with a series of items from a test-anxiety hierarchy. The second group received a course of group systematic desensitization. The third group (control) was asked to “think about relaxing” as recorded chamber music was played. Two one-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) and a series of Scheffé multiple comparisons revealed that the subjects' post-therapy levels of anxiety as measured by the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale (STABS), as well as their grade point averages (GPA) were significantly different under the endemic image and control procedures. Significant differences were also observed for these measures when the scores of the systematic desensitization and control groups were compared. No significant differences were observed between the post-therapy scores of the endemic image and systematic desensitization groups. The utility of the endemic imagery treatment for clients who are unable to undergo deep muscle relaxation because of physical infirmities, for example, cerebral palsy, is noted and a call for more extensive research is made.     

INTELLIGENCE,COGNITIVE STYLES,AND BRAIN LATERALIZATION

The concept of intelligence as a kind of mental power is criticized, since it is essentially static. Many authors wish to substitute the concept of processes or styles of thinking and learning, which might be developed by appropriate training. But there is no consensus as to which styles are of major importance in intellectual growth, and few of those suggested can be assessed objectively. They resemble the historical notion of types; and like types, they may be weak in internal consistency and generalizability. Some types which are defined by psychometric variables or factors are more promising. Currently the contrast between left brain and right brain functions is over-popularized. But it is associated both with verbal vs visuospatial abilities, and with analytic-sequential vs holistic processing. The right brain has been credited with a wide range of other functions for which there is little evidence, e.g., intuition, creativity, meditational trance states, etc. Findings from studies of brain-damaged or commissurotomized patients, and experiments with normal subjects, are outlined. The dichotomy is not the same as Das' simultaneous vs successive, Freud's primary vs secondary processes, Witkin's field independence, or Guilford's convergent vs divergent. Certain implications for education, for mental testing, and for cross-cultural research are discussed.