Taking a Capabilities Approach to Evaluating Supportive Environments for Older People

The ageing of our population means that most places have to see themselves as retirement communities. A pressing question is therefore how environments are supporting quality of life for older people. This paper suggests that a capabilities approach could be a valuable tool. Firstly, it can explicitly address issues of inequality and diversity (Sen, Inequality re-examined. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992; Nussbaum, Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; Robeyns, Feminist Economics 9/2–3:61–92, 2003). Secondly, because the capabilities approach acknowledges agency, it can be used to ensure that older people themselves name the criteria that are important. The resulting framework can be used by older people and policy makers to map the responsiveness of their place to later life concerns. It offers, therefore, a means of shifting attitudes from one of deficit and dependency to independence and well being. In producing capabilities criteria, this paper looks to the views of older people as expressed in recently published work in the UK. The paper discusses in turn the domains cited by older people: health, adequate income, mobility, safe neighbourhood, the comfortable and secure home, social relations and support illustrating how these key quality of life factors are often compromised by poor policy provision.     

Recalling an aversive experience by day-old chicks is not dependent on somatic protein synthesis

Long-term memory is dependent on protein synthesis and inhibiting such synthesis following training results in amnesia for the task. Proteins synthesized during training must be transported to the synapse and disrupting microtubules with Colchicines, and hence, blocking transport, results in transient amnesia. Reactivating memory for a previously learned avoidance triggers a biochemical cascade analogous to that following the initial training and renders the memory labile once more to protein synthesis inhibitors. However, the reminder-induced cascade differs in certain key features from that following training. Here we show that in a one-trial passive avoidance task in chicks, in contrast with initial consolidation following training, memory following a reminder is not impaired by Colchicine. We conclude that recall after a reminder does not require synaptic access to somatically synthesized proteins in this task. Our results support the hypothesis that in the chick, a reminder may instead engage local protein synthesis at the synapse, rather than in the soma.     

Auditory backward masking deficits in children with reading disabilities

Studies evaluating temporal auditory processing among individuals with reading and other language deficits have yielded inconsistent findings due to methodological problems () and sample differences. In the current study, seven auditory masking thresholds were measured in fifty-two 7- to 10-year-old children (26 diagnosed with reading disability [RD], 26 without reading disability). Hierarchic multiple regression analyses indicated that RD status predicted performance only in the backward-bandpass noise (p<.05) and backward notched-noise conditions (p<.05), suggesting both temporal and spectral auditory processing deficits. These results suggest that any auditory deficit associated with RD may be more complex than previously hypothesized.     

Femininity and fertility in sisters with twin brothers: prenatal androgenization? Cross-sex socialization?

Are sisters of twin brothers behaviorally or physiologically masculinized? Prenatal exposure to their brothers' androgens and postnatal socialization experiences unique to girls growing up with twin brothers might influence their attitudes, pubertal development, and reproductive histories. To investigate, we studied age- and cohort-matched samples of Finnish sisters from same-sex and opposite-sex twin pairs. Using data from two ongoing longitudinal studies of consecutive birth cohorts of Finnish twins, we assessed pubertal development at ages 11 and 14 and endorsement of attitudes associated with femininity at age 16. We also studied fertility in Finnish women from same- and opposite-sex twin pairs born from 1958 through 1971, obtaining information on their child-bearing histories when they were ages 15 to 28. Results of each comparison were unambiguously negative: There was no evidence of differences between sisters from same- and opposite-sex twin pairs, and thus, no evidence of either androgenization or cross-sex socialization.     

Analyses of habituation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Although the nonassociative form of learning, habituation, is often described as the simplest form of learning, remarkably little is known about the cellular processes underlying its behavioral expression. Here, we review research on habituation in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that addresses habituation at behavioral, neural circuit, and genetic levels. This work highlights the need to understand the dynamics of a behavior before attempting to determine its underlying mechanism. In many cases knowing the characteristics of a behavior can direct or guide a search for underlying cellular mechanisms. We have highlighted the importance of interstimulus interval (ISI) in both short- and long-term habituation and suggested that different cellular mechanisms might underlie habituation at different ISIs. Like other organisms, C. elegans shows both accumulation of habituation with repeated training blocks and long-term retention of spaced or distributed training, but not for massed training. Exposure to heat shock during the interblock intervals eliminates the long-term memory for habituation but not the accumulation of short-term habituation over blocks of training. Analyses using laser ablation of identified neurons, and of identified mutants have shown that there are multiple sites of plasticity for the response and that glutamate plays a role in long-term retention of habituation training.     

the media's portrayal of urban and rural school violence: a preliminary analysis

Although the juvenile arrest rate has declined in the last few years, public awareness of juvenile crime has not diminished (Snyder 1996; Schiraldi 1998). The recent rash of rural school shootings has, in fact, heightened public awareness of juvenile crime and delinquent behavior. This research examines acts of school violence that have been committed by juveniles in three rural school districts and analyzes how the newspaper media present these acts relative to similar acts committed by juveniles in urban school settings. Our content analysis of the Wall Street Journal, Louisville Courier Journal, New York Times, St. Louis Post Dispatch, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post reveals that these newspapers present school violence in these two settings very differently and that these differences are reflected in the way the political system reacts to such incidents.     

Self-Portraits: Possible Selves in European-American,Chilean, Japanese and Japanese-American Cultural Contexts

Possible selves of students from European-American (EA), Chilean (CH), Japanese-American (JA), and Japanese (JN) cultural contexts were analyzed, revealing differences in the emphasis given to various content themes. EA possible selves focus on intrapersonal themes (i.e., “fear being dependent”), consistent with cultural emphases on uniqueness and independent development. In JN, JA and CH contexts, career and education themes dominate possible selves, consistent with particularly strong cultural emphasis on professional and academic accomplishments. The cultural contexts also differ in their predominant configurations of possible selves—EA and CH possible selves often show balance (expected and feared selves of similar theme but opposing valence, i.e., “expect to graduate from college” and “fear dropping out of college”) while JN and JA selves more frequently match (expected and feared selves of similar thematic content and valence, i.e., “expect to be idle” and “fear being idle”).     

A Cautious Note on Auxiliary Variables That Can Increase Bias in Missing Data Problems

The treatment of missing data in the social sciences has changed tremendously during the last decade. Modern missing data techniques such as multiple imputation and full-information maximum likelihood are used much more frequently. These methods assume that data are missing at random. One very common approach to increase the likelihood that missing at random is achieved consists of including many covariates as so-called auxiliary variables. These variables are either included based on data considerations or in an inclusive fashion; that is, taking all available auxiliary variables. In this article, we point out that there are some instances in which auxiliary variables exhibit the surprising property of increasing bias in missing data problems. In a series of focused simulation studies, we highlight some situations in which this type of biasing behavior can occur. We briefly discuss possible ways how one can avoid selecting bias-inducing covariates as auxiliary variables.     

Impact of Abuse History on Adolescent African American Women's Current HIV/STD-Associated Behaviors and Psychosocial Mediators of HIV/STD Risk

This study examined if relationship power, sex refusal self-efficacy, or fear of condom negotiation mediated the relationship between abuse history and consistent condom use (CCU) among African American female adolescents (N?=?593). Participants with an abuse history (58%) were less likely to report CCU. Women with an abuse history reported less relationship power and self-efficacy for refusing sex and more fear of condom negotiation, none of which independently or jointly mediated the association between abuse and CCU. Notably, history of abuse was associated with CCU across mediator models despite inclusion of psychosocial mediators. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding adolescents' condom use behaviors within the context of their life experiences, especially past abuse history.     

Aptitude and Trait Predictors of Manned and Unmanned Aircraft Pilot Job Performance

Sixty-seven United States Navy maintainers (55 men and 12 women) representing both the aviation and surface communities participated in an experiment examining the efficacy of a simulation to assist technicians in rapidly understanding a system's state. Participants were assigned to one of three groups based on the technicians' experience and one of two experimental conditions: simulation (SIM) or technical manual (TM). The experimental task consisted of a series of eight questions regarding the condition of the S-3 aircraft's nose wheel steering (NWS) system given a set of initial aircraft conditions. To aid in performance of the experimental task, participants assigned to the TM condition were given a paper copy of the S-3 aircraft's organizational maintenance manual for the NWS system, and participants assigned to the SIM condition were given a laptop computer running a computer-based interactive model of the S-3 NWS system. Results showed that regardless of level of expertise, participants assigned to the SIM condition answered questions significantly faster than participants assigned to the TM condition. Further, technicians experienced in nonaviation maintenance assigned to the SIM condition answered questions significantly more accurately than experienced nonaviation technicians assigned to the TM condition.