Circadian factors during sustained performance: Background and methodology

Cornell University Medical College, Westchester Division, The New York Hospital, White Plains, New York It is well established that there is a complex timekeeping mechanism in the human brain. This mechanism is associated with a variety of physiological and psychological rhythms having a period of about a day, and thus referred to as circadian rhythms. The circadian system has recently been modeled in terms of two underlying oscillators, one much more resistant to changes in routine than the other. These oscillators are considered to be endogenous, that is, internal to the organism, and not reliant for their existence upon changes in the person’s environment or general behavior. They thus continue to run even when the sleep/wake cycle is suspended, as in sustained operations. Thus, by their very nature, sustained operations require the individual to override the inputs that are coming from his or her circadian system (especially the indication that sleep is required). The aim of this paper is to provide a background to the area of circadian rhythms research, including a section on the methodology, so that the impact of the circadian system on sustained operations can be better understood.     

Social relationships and vulnerability to becoming homeless among poor families.

This study compares social relationships of 677 mothers in families requesting shelter with those of 495 mothers in housed families, randomly selected from the public assistance caseload in New York City. As hypothesized, women seeking shelter had experienced higher levels of a variety of childhood and adult events indicative of disruptions in social relationships. Contrary to our hypothesis, they were more likely than were housed mothers to have had recent contact with parents, other relatives, and friends, although they felt less able to draw on these resources for help with their current housing needs. More than three fourths of families seeking shelter had already stayed with members of their social network in the past year. The data suggest that they had used up potential sources of support before turning to public shelter.     

Interpersonal Conflicts of Women in Nursing Homes: An Administrative Perspective

Older women may respond to conflicts by suppressing anger. Suppressed anger is associated with depression and hypertension. Research on the everyday conflicts of community-dwelling older women has begun to emerge. Such information is not available for women in nursing homes, and is necessary for developing interventions that can help protect women in nursing homes against anger-related illness. Nursing home administrators were surveyed to evaluate women's health promotion programming in general, and the incidence of and institutional response to conflicts of women residents. About 74% of residents were women; yet, women's health promotion programs were rare (offered in 1 out of 25 facilities, or 4%). Ninety percent of administrators identified depression as the most significant women's health problem, but tended to see it as warranting medical rather than programmatic attention. Eighty percent identified strained interpersonal relationships as a significant health problem for women, requiring programmatic attention. In particular, administrators identified the need for programming to help women residents resolve conflicts with roommates and family members. Formal mechanisms for managing conflicts of residents did not exist in sample nursing homes.     

Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies in a Sample of Older Women

Suppressed anger resulting from poorly resolved interpersonal conflicts can increase morbidity. The current generation of older women may be particularly susceptible to morbidity caused by anger inhibition due to socialization to be submissive in interpersonal conflicts. For purposes of disease prevention, we asked 35 older women to describe an interpersonal conflict experienced recently, and how they responded to it. Data coding was based on Selman's model of interpersonal negotiation strategies, which has been used to assess the conflicts of children, adolescents, and young adults, but not older adults. We found that many participants used strategies in which they expressed their point of view in order to persuade the other person. Of those who were expressive, however, many ended up submitting to the other person's demands nonetheless. Thus, overall, most participants used submissive strategies. Conflicts with strangers and acquaintances were frequently reported, and reports included comments about feeling vulnerable. Stereotypic beliefs about age and health also emerged in reports, and seemed related to submissive responses. Our findings suggest that older women would benefit from training in constructive strategies for resolving interpersonal conflicts. Training efforts should reflect the ways in which stereotypic beliefs about age, health, and vulnerability may interfere with constructive strategy choice, and should emphasize the health benefits of constructively dealing with conflict.     

NECESSITY, APRIORITY, AND LOGICAL STRUCTURE

Logical structure may explain the necessity and a priori knowability of such truths as that if A is red then A is either red or green. But this explanation cannot be extended to sentences that, while necessary and knowable a priori, do not wear the appropriate logical structure on their sleeves – sentences like 'if A is a point and A is red, then A is not green,' or 'if A is a sphere, then A is not a cube.' The real origin of these sentences' necessity and a priori knowability is a relationship between the meanings of their component atomic sentences – a relationship which cannot be systematically reduced to logical structure by translating those atomic sentences into any kind of 'ideal' language. Moreover, this kind of relationship is one to which any atomic sentences are susceptible if they have a classifying, or comparison-implying, content. Arguably, then, all atomic sentences are capable of being related to others in ways that are necessary and knowable a priori.     

A Feminist Multicultural Perspective on Supervision

Sixteen members of the Section for the Advancement of Women conference work group identified themes and issues relevant to a feminist multicultural perspective on supervision. Issues raised included feminist silence and White privilege, the importance of self‐examination, the courage to be anxious, personal commitment to uncertainty, and isolation versus support. Specific risks for supervisors and supervisees participating in feminist multicultural supervision are identified. Dieciséis miembros de una Sección para el Adelantamiento de Mujeres conferencia de grupo del trabajo identificaron los temas y ausuntos pertinente de una perspectiva feminista multicultural en la supervisión. Los asuntos elevados incluyeron el silencio feminista y el privilegio Blanco, la importancia del autoexamen, el valor para estar ansioso, compromiso personal para la incertidumbre, y el aislamiento en oposicion de apoyo. Los riesgos específicos para supervisores y supervisa tomando parte en la supervisión feminista multicultural se identifica.     

Organization and learning of visual-motor information during different orders of limb movement: step, velocity, acceleration

Theoretical use of the tracking paradigm as a means of understanding perceptual-motor organization has been influenced by ambiguous assumptions concerning the relation of time orders of force production to the learning and performance of time orders of limb movement. This study provides both a conceptual framework for clarifying these assumptions, and empirical data for testing them. The independent variables were (a) target motion (step, velocity, acceleration); (b) stick loading (elasticity, damping, mass); and (c) practice. The dependent variables were absolute terror for step and time-integrated squared error for velocity and acceleration. The hypothesis was that proficiency of tracking is inversely related to mathematical complexity of reactive forces, within constraints imposed by familiarity with required types of transfer functions. Five subjects were assigned to track one type of target motion in each of the three loading conditions, respectively. Cursor-present "training" trials were alternated with cursor-absent "test" trials. Thereby, a premium was placed on attention to proprioceptive feedback, at least at the start of training. The hypothesis could not be rejected.