Homelessness in the United States: Assessing Changes in Prevalence and Public Opinion, 1993–2001

A national survey was administered in 1993-1994 (N = 360) and repeated in 2001 (N = 435) to assess the prevalence of homelessness as well as attitudes, opinions and knowledge regarding homelessness. No significant changes in prevalence were found, despite a strong US economy during most of the 7-8 year period. Respondents in 2001 had less stereotyped views of homeless people and were more supportive of services, but came to see homelessness as a less serious problem that was less often due to economic factors. This "mixed" set of findings may reflect both beliefs on the benefits of a good economy and an increased awareness of the complexity of homelessness. Across the surveys, younger, female, liberal, and less wealthy respondents demonstrated more sympathetic attitudes towards homeless people.     

HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF MINDFULNESS AND SELF-ACCEPTANCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

We describe some of the historical conditions that made possible Kabat-Zinn’s [(1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Delacorte] very successful use of mindfulness in his stress management program. The ground had been prepared by the nonjudgmental acceptance of people and symptoms by Humanistic psychotherapists, and by the increasing assimilation of Buddhist ideas into Western psychology and psychotherapy. In addition the word “mindfulness,” as the translation of the Pali sati, came to refer to both the manualized practice that provides the evidence for its efficacy in the hands of Kabat-Zinn and others, and the more complex process of clear comprehension and recollection that is described in his more discursive writings, and is similar to Ellen Langer’s use of “mindfulness” in her book of that name.

Further examination of discriminated functional communication

One child with developmental disabilities was taught to mand for attention by saying "excuse me." Treatment effects were extended to multiple training contexts by teaching the participant to attend to naturally occurring discriminative stimuli through differential reinforcement of communication during periods of the experimenter's nonbusy activities (e.g., reading a magazine). Results are discussed in terms of future research on the generalization and maintenance of functional communication in the natural environment.     

Just the thought of it!: Effects of anticipating computer-mediated communication on gender stereotyping

A study investigated how anticipated communication mode affects the use of stereotypes in forming impressions and making task assignments. Participants rated male or female targets with whom they envisioned working on a business project using computer-mediated or face-to-face modes of communication. Results indicated that both men and women were characterized more stereotypically when participants anticipated working with them electronically than when they anticipated working with them face-to-face. Furthermore, task assignments were more often gender stereotype consistent when the communication mode was computer-mediated than when it was face-to-face. These findings suggest that the mere anticipation of computer-mediated communication, without the actual the experience of it, is enough to promote stereotypes and biased decision-making.     

Distributed recognition of natural songs by European starlings

Individual vocal recognition behaviors in songbirds provide an excellent framework for the investigation of comparative psychological and neurobiological mechanisms that support the perception and cognition of complex acoustic communication signals. To this end, the complex songs of European starlings have been studied extensively. Yet, several basic parameters of starling individual vocal recognition have not been assessed. Here we investigate the temporal extent of song information acquired by starlings during vocal recognition learning. We trained two groups of starlings using standard operant conditioning techniques to recognize several songs from two conspecific male singers. In the first experiment we tested their ability to maintain accurate recognition when presented with (1) random sequences of 1–12 motifs (stereotyped song components) drawn from the training songs, and (2) 0.1–12-s excerpts of continuous song drawn from the training songs. We found that song recognition improved monotonically as more vocal material is provided. In the second experiment, we systematically substituted continuous, varying length regions of white noise for portions of the training songs and again examined recognition accuracy. Recognition remained above chance levels for all noise substitutions tested (up to 91% of the training stimulus) although all but the smallest substitutions led to some decrement in song recognition. Overall, above chance recognition could be obtained with surprisingly few motifs, short excerpts of song, and in the absence of large portions of the training songs. These results suggest that starlings acquire a representation of song during individual vocal recognition learning that is robust to perturbations and distributed broadly over large portions of these complex acoustic sequences.     

Public Storylines in the British Transition from Rail to Road Transport (1896–2000): Discursive Struggles in the Multi-Level Perspective

ABSTRACT

An analysis of the transition from railways to highways as the dominant British transport system during the twentieth century shows that public storylines about competing niche and regime technologies can have a powerful influence on socio-technical transitions. These storylines are developed by supporters and opponents of the competing technologies, with each group attempting to frame their favoured technology positively. The public salience of these storylines can be evaluated by assessing how highly they score on four elements of frame resonance: empirical fit, experiential commensurability, actor credibility, and macro-cultural resonance. These storylines can be seen at play across the entirety of the transition to a road-based transport system, from the very early history of the automobile through to the turn of the millennium, when public opposition to road transport was becoming increasingly pronounced. This case study uniquely traces discursive conflict over the entire course of a multi-decade transition. While existing literature in the multi-level perspective typically emphasises the disadvantages faced by niche-innovations, this case study shows that powerful storylines, enabled by the right cultural repertoires and possibly negative storylines about existing socio-technical systems, can create powerful political support for a new technology, giving it an advantage against more established incumbents.     

Shooting Genes,Distributing Credit: Narrating the Development of the Biolistic Gene Gun

Using oral histories with scientists, technology transfer managers and other collaborators who were involved with the development of the biolistic gene gun, I investigate how actors narrate their experiences of technology transfer. The individuals who worked on the gene gun draw on two different interpretive repertoires for describing the innovation process: a ‘localized’ repertoire that highlights defined moments and the conceptual contributions of a few individuals; and a ‘distributed’ repertoire that emphasizes longer time frames, the process of technical implementation and the importance of a network of collaborators. Each of these repertoires identifies a different assemblage of actors as deserving of credit and reward for the development of the gene gun. Examining how scientists employ these modes of describing the innovation process offers a way of thinking about how university inventors negotiate tensions around novel features of academic capitalism, such as personal profit arising from the commercialization of university technologies.     

Analytic philosophy, 1925–69: emergence,management and nature

ABSTRACT

This paper shows that during the first half of the 1960s The Journal of Philosophy quickly moved from publishing work in diverse philosophical traditions to, essentially, only publishing analytic philosophy. Further, the changes at the journal are shown, with the help of previous work on the journals Mind and The Philosophical Review, to be part of a pattern involving generalist philosophy journals in Britain and America during the period 1925–69. The pattern is one in which journals controlled by analytic philosophers systematically promote a form of critical philosophy and marginalize rival approaches to philosophy. This pattern, it is argued, helps to explain the growing dominance of analytic philosophy during the twentieth century and allows characterizing this form of philosophy as, at least during 1925–69, a sectarian form of critical philosophy.     

多媒体技术在医患沟通中的临床应用实践——以胸外科患者为例

伴随着网络信息技术的飞速发展,医学卫生行业正在跨入信息化时代,本课题采用多媒体技术的多样性、集成性、交互性和实时性的特点,使用自制多媒体术前谈话课件进行医患沟通.通过将胸外科拟手术患者随机分为试验组及对照组,试验组采用多媒体课件进行医患沟通,对照组采用传统方式沟通,分别统计分析两组患者沟通质量满意度,来探讨多媒体技术在胸外科医患沟通中的临床应用.采用多媒体技术进行医患沟通可以显著提高患者满意度,值得在临床工作中进一步推广.     

The Protestant Reformation and Catholic Publishing: A Framework for Contemporary Understanding

Drawing from the perspective of an interdisciplinary exploration of the sociocultural impact of the printing press and its effects on Catholic thinkers, educators, and worship practices, the author of this article explores the educational mission of Catholic publishing during the Reformation and how it has evolved in modern times. First, the author discusses the communication dynamics of the Reformation and specifically the impact of the printing press. Second, the author explores the historical reasons for why the Roman Church perceived the need for uniformity in worship. Third, the author focuses on how the Roman Church built upon this framework of uniformity to define and shape the issues that were being discussed when expanding their outreach to the public during this period. Fourth, the author shows how Catholic worship and education evolved within an interpretation that is relevant to the educational mission of Catholic publishers today.