Changing the world of development research? An insight into theory and practice

Development research has been through many stages over the past few decades and during this time has experienced fluctuating appreciation by development practice. There is an increasing gap between different ways of doing development research. For some, the purpose of development research is primarily to influence policies, and in order to do this development research has to reframe its whole approach, language, and methodology. Others maintain that development research needs to distance itself, maintain an analytical and even critical approach towards development practice, and become an academic discipline in its own right.     

Neue Besch?ftigungsstrategien jenseits von externer und interner Flexibilisierung

Recent research about regular employment in core areas of high qualified service work in Germany yields contradictory findings about continuities and changes in employment stability. In addressing current debates about changing employment relations, this paper examines how organizational change and the role of customers in service work interact to shape employer demands for more flexible employment. The results of a qualitative study of employment practices in one branch of qualified service work, IT services, shows how clients?? intervention into the production process affects skill demand and firms?? use of flexible employment. At the same time, a pronounced client orientation precipitates the need for context-specific knowledge and stability of employment. The resulting employment strategies aim at developing long-term relations with free-lancers and other short-term workers. These new employment practices call into question the well-accepted distinction between internal and external forms of employment flexibility.     

Differences among species in compact bone tissue microstructure of mammalian skeleton: use of a discriminant function analysis for species identification

In order to develop an identification key for distinguishing between several mammalian species, bone structure of their compact bone tissue was analyzed using qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Ninety femora of adult male humans, pigs, cows, sheep, rabbits, and rats were studied. The average area, perimeter, minimum, and maximum diameter of 1863 Haversian canals and 1863 secondary osteons were measured using a digital image device. The observed data were first used to evaluate inter- and intraspecies diversity. After that, we applied a discriminant function analysis for differentiation of the species by these variables. Classification functions for investigated species give cross-validated correct classification rates for 76.17% of cases. This percentage value can be increased by integrating conclusions from the qualitative analysis.     

Self-Awareness (<Emphasis Type="Italic">svasaṃvedana</Emphasis>) in Dignāga’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pramāṇasamuccaya</Emphasis> and -<Emphasis Type="Italic">vṛtti</Emphasis>: A Close Reading

The concept of “self-awareness” (svasaṃvedana) enters Buddhist epistemological discourse in the Pramāṇasamuccaya and -vṛtti by Dignāga (ca. 480–540), the founder of the Buddhist logico-epistemological tradition. Though some of the key passages have already been dealt with in various publications, no attempt has been made to comprehensively examine all of them as a whole. A close reading is here proposed to make up for this deficit. In connection with a particularly difficult passage (PS(V) 1.8cd-10) that presents the means of valid cognition and its result (pramāṇa/pramāṇaphala), a new interpretation is suggested, inspired by the commentary of Jinendrabuddhi. This interpretation highlights an aspect of selfawareness that has hitherto not been claimed for Dignāga: self-awareness offers essentially subjective access to one’s own mental states and factors.     

Ageing in forensic psychiatric secure settings: the views of members of staff

Background: Although the prevalence of older patients in forensic psychiatric services is increasing, research around service provision for this population is very limited. We aimed to gather the views of members of staff on how well secure services are meeting the challenges of an ageing population.

Methods: Three focus groups were carried out with 13 members of staff working with older patients in secure services. A topic guide, based on the research team’s previous research, guided the sessions. The focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis.

Results: Two themes were identified: (1) Identifying patients’ needs, which focused on how promptly any emerging issues in the older patients are identified and reported; (2) addressing patients’ needs, which focused on how the unique needs of the older patients are addressed, once established.

Conclusions: There are unique age-related issues that may have an impact on the older patients’ opportunities for recovery, including a lack of specialist training for members of staff, prolonged stay in secure care and a limited number of age-relevant activities. Far from optimal, provision requires improvement through the active involvement of the primary stakeholders.     

Developmental Trajectories and Predictors of Externalizing Behavior: A Comparison of Girls and Boys

Recent studies have shown that the development of externalizing behavior in childhood and adolescence can be described through different developmental pathways. However, knowledge about differences between the sexes regarding the trajectories is limited. This study focused on potential differences by examining the trajectories of self-reported externalizing symptoms for girls and boys separately. In addition, the relationships of several familiar and child-specific variables with those developmental courses were assessed. The study was conducted on a large community sample of German youths (N = 3,893; mean age 11.38 years; 50 % girls) over 4 years. Using growth mixture modeling, three different classes of trajectories were found for both sexes. The classes differed with regard to the level and the course of symptoms (“low”, “moderate”, “high-decreasing”). Girls were overrepresented in the “low” class, whereas boys were predominant in the “moderate” and “high-decreasing” classes. The multiple group analysis revealed that the girls and boys differed significantly in their level and linear course of symptoms with regard to the “high-decreasing” class. In contrast, no sex differences were found in the growth factors of the “low” and “moderate” classes. The regression analyses showed that the children’s depressive symptoms, dysfunctional parenting style, and negative family climate were associated significantly with the level and course of symptoms as well as the class membership of girls and boys. Life events predicted class membership only for boys, whereas maternal depressive symptoms and family conflict did not demonstrate any significant relationship. The sizes of the predictive associations with the growth factors were similar for both sexes. The results are discussed with regard to existing developmental models and their possible implications for prevention and future research.     

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Changing Frames in Buddhist Thought: The Concept of Ākāra in Abhidharma and in Buddhist Epistemological Analysis

It has been argued that the use of the concept of ākāra—a mental “form,” “appearance” or “aspect”—in Buddhist epistemological analysis or pramā?a exhibits continuities with earlier Buddhist thinking about mental processes, in particular in Abhidharma. A detailed inquiry into uses of the term ākāra in pertinent contexts in Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmako?abhā?ya brings to light different semantic nuances and functions of this term. The characteristic use of ākāra in Buddhist epistemological discourse turns out to be continuous with only some of the nuances it has in Abhidharma. Moreover, ākāra becomes associated with novel explanatory functions in Buddhist pramā?a. These discoveries underscore the need to pay closer attention to the reuse of terms and concepts, ideas and arguments in Buddhist philosophy, and to the often subtle adaptations and transformations that formed an integral part of its history.