The impact of speed and time on gait dynamics

To determine the effects of speed on gait previous studies have examined young adults walking at different speeds; however, the small number of strides may have influenced the results. The aim of this study was to investigate the immediate and long-term impact of continuous slow walking on the mean, variability and structure of stride-to-stride measures. Fourteen young adults walked at a constant pace on a treadmill at three speeds (preferred walking speed (PWS), 90% and 80% PWS) for 30 min each. Spatiotemporal gait parameters were computed over six successive 5-min intervals. Walking slower significantly decreased stride length, while stride period and width increased. Additionally, stride period and width variability increased. Signal regularity of stride width increased and decreased in stride period. Persistence of stride period and width increased significantly at slower speeds. While several measures changed during 30 min of walking, only stride period variability and signal regularity revealed a significant speed and time interaction. Healthy young adults walking at slower than preferred speeds demonstrated greater persistence and signal regularity of stride period while spatiotemporal changes such as increased stride width and period variability arose. These results suggest that different control processes are involved in adapting to the slower speeds.     

Riddles in serial murder: A synthesis

This article blends the conclusions of four former law enforcement personnel who have investigated and apprehended serial killers, with pertinent principles derived primarily from the field of psychoanalysis. The four—John Douglas, Roy Hazelwood, Robert Keppel, and Robert Ressler—have written extensively about their investigations of serial killers. In their writings, they have answered many questions about the personality development of serial killers while leaving other questions only partially answered. This article expands the answers to three fundamental questions: What is the origin of the dynamics of serial killing? Why is the aggressive drive so singularly powerful and persistent in serial killers? Why is it that serial killers often reveal their identities to the police? In answering these three riddles, the contributions of four emotional pillars in the personality of killers are emphasized. The pillars include emotional hunger, anxiety and aggression, eroticism, and conscience structure. At times, these pillars merge and drive murderous behavior but the pillars lack the integration needed for healthy personality development. This synthesis offers a fuller understanding of the psychodynamics involved in serial killings.     

On neuropsychoanalytic metaphysics

Neuropsychoanalysis focuses on the neural counterparts of psychoanalytically interesting phenomena and has left the difference in the metaphysical presuppositions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis unexamined. The authors analyse the logical possibilities concerning the relation between the brain and the mental unconscious in terms of the serial, parallel, epiphenomenalist and Kantian conceptions, and conclude that none of them provides a satisfactory ground for neuropsychoanalysis. As far as psychoanalytic explanations refer to the mental unconscious, they cannot be verified with the help of neuroscience. Neither is it possible to form a picture of how a neuro-viewpoint might be of help for psychoanalytic theorizing. Neuropsychoanalysis has occasionally been seen as a reductionist affair, but the authors suggest that neuropsychoanalysts themselves lean on the hybrid conception, which combines neuroscientific and psychoanalytic viewpoints. The authors state arguments in favour of the interfield conception of neuropsychoanalysis that takes seriously the metaphysical tensions between neuroscience and psychoanalysis.     

The effects of a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon on vehicle speed

In 2008, nearly 31% of vehicle fatalities were related to failure to adhere to safe vehicle speeds (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], 2009). The current study evaluated the effect of a rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) triggered by excessive speed on vehicle speed using a combined alternating treatments and reversal design. The percentage of vehicles traveling above 41 mph (66 km per hour) decreased by 20%, and speed distributions showed a shift toward lower speeds during the RRFB condition.     

Preventing HIV infection in heterosexual women: What do we know? What must we learn?

Women are becoming infected with HIV via heterosexual activity at an accelerating rate, both in the United States and globally. Although a number of evaluations of behavioral risk-reduction interventions for women have been reported, many suffer from methodological problems that weaken confidence in their findings, and furthermore it is clear that many women are unable to respond to the interventions that have been tested. Most women infected through heterosexual activity are infected by their primary partner, yet achieving consistent condom use with this partner can be highly challenging for women. The present article presents recent work and innovative ideas for intervention strategies that may be more feasible, and thus more effective, for women at risk for HIV infection by their primary male partner.     

The Foundation of an Interpretative Sociology: A Critical Review of the Attempts of George H. Mead and Alfred Schutz

George H. Mead and Alfred Schutz proposed foundations for an interpretative sociology from opposite standpoints. Mead accepted the objective meaning structure a priori. His problem became therefore the explanation of the individuality and creativity of human actors in his social behavioristic approach. In contrast, Schutz started from the subjective consciousness of an isolated actor as a result of a phenomenological reduction. He was concerned with the problem of explaining the possibility of this isolated actor’s perceiving other actors in their existence, their concreteness, and the motives for their behavior. I treat these two approaches and their associated problems as equally relevant. My evaluation is based on their success in solving their specific problems. The aim is to decide which of the two approaches provides the more adequate foundation for an interpretative sociology.

Functional reduction and emergence in the physical sciences

Kim’s model of ‘functional reduction’ of properties is shown to fail in a class of cases from physics involving properties at different spatial levels. The diagnosis of this failure leads to a non-reductive account of the relation of micro and macro properties.     

Interlevel Relations and Manipulative Causality

Summary  The topic of this article is the analysis of the relations between different levels of reality. The core argument is based on considerations of both an epistemology of action and manipulative causality as a criterion of object identity. The argumentation is extended towards the concepts of self-organization and self-regulation. Finally, several views on reduction and the problems of emergence and complexity are discussed.     

关于交锁髓内钉应用中几个问题的思考

尽管交锁髓内钉在骨折的治疗中应用广泛,它还是在对普通髓内钉"扬弃"之后发展而来的。虽然闭合复位与开放复位、扩髓与非扩髓及静力性固定与动力性固定各自之间存在着矛盾,但是只要具体问题具体分析,作为新事物,交锁髓内钉具有强大的生命力。