Reaction times of younger and older men and temporal contingencies of reinforcement

Influences of extended training and temporal contingencies on reaction time were studied in relation to developmental differences. Older and younger men were trained on a chained schedule in which completion of a variable interval produced a terminal link in which reaction time was measured. The reaction-time procedure involved a conditional discrimination with matching to sample in one component and oddity matching in the other. During baseline training, no time limit was placed on the response to the discrimination choice stimuli. Subsequently, increasingly severe time limits were imposed over a series of sessions. Older and younger men showed increased speeds (decreased reaction times) when temporal contingencies were imposed, and these changes were maintained during post-training baseline sessions when there was unlimited time in which to respond. The younger men generally responded faster than the older ones, and age differences were not appreciably reduced during the course of the experiment. The results indicated the feasibility of studying reaction time in human subjects using operant procedures analogous to those developed for the study of nonverbal organisms.     

‘I download my prayer schedule’: exploring the technological mediation of Islamic religious practice at work

The practice of daily prayers in Islam and how observances such as Ramadan fall each year follow specific solar or lunar calendars different from the Gregorian calendar of UK work places. Identifying the time for daily prayers and finding a place to practise is a skilled activity requiring ways to ascertain the correct (and changing) time and a place in which prayer can take place. In the absence of traditional mediation such as the call to prayer broadcast from a local mosque, new, often technologically innovative, approaches are being adopted. This paper reports on a study of how Muslims practise and negotiate the difficulties of performing daily prayers in a UK university. Though technological mediation is a significant aspect of daily prayers, it is but one part of a complex practice which often involves multiple technologies and multiple ways of working.     

青少年精神障碍者日常生活实践的失序与重塑

以日常生活世界为分析视角,通过半结构式访谈的方法收集资料,深描曾患精神障碍青少年的日常生活实践,发现他们要面对生活的失序,包括带病生活日常化、家庭系统受损和社会失能与污名等生物性与社会性的困境叠加,揭示了对精神障碍群体的排斥从制度文化延伸到了日常生活。同时,精神障碍青少年通过个体的韧性坚持、家庭关怀保护、社会链接赋能等策略“正常化”生命历程,实现主体性重塑。最后提出利用自我决定、社会关系协调等优势视角帮助青少年精神障碍者重整日常生活实践。

     

在家庭和国家之间：医护人员疫情支援实践的权衡机制探究

基于对10名疫情期间曾支援前线的医护工作者的深度访谈,并结合对网络平台相关文本的内容分析,旨在透过新家庭主义视角,致力于探讨医护人员在面对家庭与国家二者关系时的矛盾与张力,呈现其支援实践中形成家国平衡的文化与社会逻辑,从而探究其做出“舍小家、为大家”的支援实践的行为机制和合理性基础。研究认为,医护人员支援实践的抉择是受到多方因素影响、在医护人员进行综合考量下的结果。这一权衡过程主要体现为国家在场的驱动与感召、家庭弥散渗透下的调适和个人个体主义的出现。

     

医学伦理学发展新阶段的历史使命

每个时代都有每个时代伦理学的主轴。当今医学伦理学面临崭新的境遇,资本、技术、权力和全民健康等问题,已经构成医学伦理学应对和挑战的主要课题。新形势向医学伦理学提出了种种新任务,探索完成这些新任务的政策建议和伦理举措;适应新形势医学伦理学如何加强自身理念的充实、创新和提高;在新情境下如何促进医学伦理学在医学领域内的全面覆盖,让医学伦理学在医学中深深扎根,促进医学技术更好地服务于人民大众的健康,都是开启医学伦理学新征程面临的担当。