Captains of erudition

Abstract

W. A. Nielsen's book The Big Foundations is an informed survey of the American foundation scene. Writing from a vantage point within the citadels of big-time philanthropy, Nielsen takes a chatty and discursive approach to a subject that in fact deserves much more. It seems that the insider's privilege of access can be a handicap as well as an asset, and that a subject of this importance needs critical scrutiny from independent researchers.     

Health‐Care Data Protection and Biometric Authentication Policies: Comparative Culture and Technology Acceptance in China and in the United States

A proliferation of health information technology (HIT) policies to implement dimensions of e‐health, including electronic medical records, electronic health records, personal health records, and e‐prescribing—along with expanding initiatives on mobile health in developed countries and emerging technologies—has sparked academic inquiry into the protection of privacy and data and the technology to protect privacy and data. This article examines HIT policies in the United States and in China and the use of authentication technologies to assess biometrics as privacy's friend or foe in different political frameworks with varying conceptions of privacy. An analysis of privacy in the context of health data protection, challenging relations of trust between patients and providers, the increasing perspective of health data integrity as a cyber‐security issue, and the growing rate of medical fraud and medical identity theft may yield findings of a convergence of views of privacy and biometrics unexpected of contrasting political cultures.     

Pitbull mauling deaths in Detroit

Between the years 1987 and 2005, there were 6 deaths reported in Wayne County, Michigan, associated with pitbull dog attacks. This article discusses the age incidence, scene investigation, nature of the injuries, and discussion relative to fatal dog attacks, an unusual accidental type of death.     

Pilgrimage to wellness: an exploratory report of rural African American clergy perceptions of church health promotion capacity

Churches serve vital roles in African American communities, where disease burden is disproportionately greater and healthcare access is more limited. Although church leadership often must approve programs and activities conducted within churches, little is known about their perception of churches as health promotion organizations, or the impact of church-based health promotion on their own health. This exploratory study assessed perceptions of church capacity to promote health among 27 rural, African American clergy leaders and report the relationship between their own health and that of their congregation. Results indicate a perceived need to increase the capacity of their churches to promote health. Most common were conducting health programs, displaying health information, kitchen committee working with the health ministry, partnerships outside of the church, and funding. Findings lay the foundation for the development of future studies of key factors associated with organizational change and health promotion in these rural church settings.     

Composition of bacillus species in aerosols from 11 U.S. cities

A PCR-based heteroduplex assay was used to determine the presence and composition of Bacillus species in 11,059 Environmental Protection Agency PM2.5 aerosol samples from 11 U.S. cities. The assay differentiated three groups: Type A containing Bacillus anthracis and very closely related, often pathogenic, Bacillus cereus and Bacillus thuringiensis strains; Type B containing other B. cereus and B. thuringiensis strains; and a third group of more-distantly related Bacillus species. Eight of the 11 cities were positive for Bacillus species in 50% or more of the samples, and the percent of aerosol samples that contained the HD Type A group ranged from 3% to 32%. Cities from the eastern half of the United States generally contained a higher frequency and broader diversity of Bacillus species than the western half of the United States. Positive samples were detected throughout the year. These results have implications for pathogen detection in environmental samples, understanding the natural evolution of new pathogenic strains, and incidence of infection caused by strains of the B. cereus subgroup.     

Common Language,Different Meaning: What Mediators Mean When They Talk About Their Work

Mediators, for the most part, describe their work as facilitation but what they actually mean varies considerably. Based on an exploratory study with nearly 90 mediators in Canada (all of whom are also mediation trainers), the author describes the great diversity among mediators' understanding of commonly-used terms like facilitation, transformative, settlement, and humanistic. She also reports on how such factors as context, gender, and number of years mediating affect mediator perceptions of what they do. In addition, the author shows how perceptions affect the overall philosophy and goal of the mediation practitioner. One implication of this research is that we can no longer presume to know what people mean by mediation, nor can we assume mediators are like-minded in how they understand their work. Thus, practitioners, scholars and policymakers are encouraged to be purposefully clear when describing and writing about the practice of mediation.     

Narcissistic Features in Young Adolescents: Relations to Aggression and Internalizing Symptoms

Recent research and theory suggest narcissistic features contribute to aggression in adults. The present study examined the association of narcissistic features with aggression and internalizing symptoms in 233 students of 5th–8th grade at three inner-city schools. A factor analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in this sample revealed three factors: Adaptive Narcissism, Exploitativeness, and Exhibitionism. Regression analyses were used to predict the association of these three narcissistic features with self-, teacher-, and peer-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results indicate narcissistic exploitativeness positively predicted self-reported proactive aggression, and narcissistic exhibitionism positively predicted internalizing symptoms. Narcissism and self-esteem interacted to predict teacher-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of existing theories of narcissism, threatened egotism, and self-perception bias.