Ego identity status and decision styles

It was hypothesized that the decision processes used in coping with the identity crisis would be related to more general decision styles in that identity achievers and moratoriums would tend to be reflective in their conceptual tempo while foreclosures would typically be impulsive. No prediction was made about identity diffusions. Ninety-two male college students were given an identity status interview and the Matching Familiar Figures Test. The results were consistent with the hypotheses, and in addition it was found that identity diffusions were generally impulsive. Since conceptual tempo has been found to be well established in childhood, the results of this study have implications for the early prediction of adult identity status.Received Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and correlates of the different identity statuses.Received Ph.D. from SUNY/Buffalo. Recent research has been mainly concerned with the development of ego identity and correlates of the different identity statuses.     

Can We Start to Understand Emergence?

When a new property is required to characterise an altered system, it is said to be 'emergent'. The fundamental importance of emergence for social activists is stressed. It is proposed that we deepen our understanding of it by examining well-understood processes to see exactly how new properties emerge in them. Reasons are given for hoping that this approach can be more fruitful now than in past eras. To illustrate the method, a simple case is examined which brings out inter alia the role of the environment and the precise way that a continuous process underlies the abrupt emergence. The results appear encouraging enough to stimulate further studies along these lines, and it is suggested where suitable cases can be found.     

OUTCOMES OF VARIOUS MODES OF ADMINISTERING AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES

The outcomes of various modes of administration may be summarized as follows:

• 1 Under both ministerial and departmental control, the prior experience and predispositions of the Minister were critical factors affecting the colleges. Under departmental control, the background and attitudes of senior officers within the department were also important. Various instances of this were cited.
• 2 There tended to be proportionately fewer dismissals of principals or resignations in protest by them under departmental control than when colleges were controlled by Ministers of the Crown or governing councils. Several reasons for this trend were suggested.
• 3 Under all systems of control the colleges were subject from time to time to direct or indirect political pressure. For example, there were instances in which parents invoked or attempted to invoke political pressure to save their sons from expulsion from a college. Such pressures played a part in the dismissal or resignation of several principals.
• 4 Another factor which led to the resignation of two principals who were directly responsible to a Minister was the belief that their jurisdiction had been transgressed by another senior public servant.
• 5 Under departmental control a principal was likely to be caught up in intradepartmental politics. The fortunes of the college depended somewhat upon his success in this arena.
• 6 In determining the policies and practices to be adopted on the college farm, a principal generally had greater freedom under Education Department control than under Agriculture Department control. On the other hand, teaching practices were generally subject to closer departmental supervision in the former case than in the latter.
• 7 One problem with any system of control is that of maintaining a balance between continuity in policy on the one hand and sensitivity to demands for change on the other. In general, control over the colleges by government departments or governing councils tended to be conservative in emphasis, to stress continuity. By contrast, where control was directly exercised by Ministers of the Crown and where there were relatively frequent changes in incumbency of the relevant portfolio, continuity in policy was less assured.
• 8 The life of advisory committees was typically marked by early enthusiasms and influence in dealing with urgent matters of policy. After these matters had been dealt with there was generally a decline in activity and influence, growing disillusion among members, and eventually reconstitution or replacement of the committee.

     

Metal and metalloid multi-elementary ICP-MS validation in whole blood, plasma, urine and hair. Reference values

Four multi-elementary metal and metalloid quantification methods using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) were developed and validated in human whole blood, plasma, urine and hair by means of a single preparation procedure for each sample. The ICP-MS measurements were performed using a Thermo Elemental X7CCT series and PlasmaLab software without a dynamic reaction cell. With this procedure 27-32 elements can be simultaneously quantified in biological matrices: Li, Be, B, Al, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Pd, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Te, Ba, W, Pt, Hg, Tl, Pb, Bi, U. Whole blood, plasma and urine samples (0.4 ml each) were diluted with purified water, acid, triton X100 and butanol. Rhodium was used as internal standard. The urine sample results were corrected for enzymatic creatinine determination. Twenty-five milligrams hair samples were acid mineralized after a decontamination procedure and diluted as previously described for biological fluids. To be validated, each element had to show linearity with a correlation coefficient higher than 0.99. The intra-assay and inter-assay inaccuracy, measured as the variation coefficient, were below 5 and 10% respectively. Global performance was assessed by a quality control program. Our laboratory is a registered participant of the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (Sainte-Foy, Canada) inter-laboratory comparison program for whole blood, urine, and beard hair of non-occupationally exposed individuals spiked with selected elements. In our study multi-element metal and metalloid analysis was assessed for 27 elements in whole blood, 27 elements in plasma, 30 elements in urine and 32 elements in hair, from 0 to 25, or 250 to 1000 ng/ml, depending on the element. Quantification limits ranged from 0.002 ng/ml (U) to 8.1 ng/ml (Al) for whole blood, from 0.002 ng/ml (U) to 7.7 ng/ml (Al) for plasma, from 0.001 ng/ml (U) to 2.2 ng/ml (Se) for urine, and from 0.2 pg/mg (Tl) to 0.5 ng/mg (B) for hair. Normal values were determined in whole blood (n=100), plasma (n=100), urine (n=100), and hair (n=45) of healthy volunteers, leading to approximately 10,000 analyses. All results are presented and discussed. Clinical toxicology and forensic toxicology applications are also reported. ICP-MS has made significant advances in the field of clinical biology, particularly in toxicological analysis. This is due to the use of extremely effective equipment that permits better clinical and forensic toxicological analysis of metal and metalloid status of each individual patient.     

Glycine toxicity and unexpected intra-operative death

A rare complication of the use of glycine irrigation fluid during prostatic surgery in a 69-year-old man is described. Following cystolithopexy and transurethral resection of the prostate for benign prostatomegaly, abdominal distension developed with increasing ventilatory pressures. Despite retroperitoneal fluid evacuation at subsequent urgent laparotomy, cardiac arrest occurred that was not amenable to resuscitation. At autopsy a traumatic defect in the posterior bladder wall filled with calculus debris was confirmed that did not communicate with the peritoneal cavity. Hyponatremia with markedly elevated levels of blood, urine, and body fluid glycine were demonstrated. Death was, therefore, attributed to glycine toxicity following tracking of glycine through a surgical defect in the posterior bladder wall. Careful dissection of surgical sites is required in such cases to demonstrate any additional trauma that may be associated with the fatal episode. Analysis of body fluids for glycine and electrolytes is also necessary to assist in the determination of possible mechanisms of death.     

The Role of Woman's Explanations for Refusal on Men's Ability to Discriminate Unwanted Sexual Behavior in a Date Rape Scenario

This study examined the impact of types of women's verbal refusals, and the timing of her refusal, on men's discrimination of when a female wants her partner to stop making sexual advances. Male students were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 conditions (Explanations × Intimacy Levels). Before listening to an audiotape of a date rape, participants were told they would be listening to an interaction between a man and a woman who had just returned from a date. They were instructed to indicate when the woman wanted the man to stop making sexual advances by pressing a switch that synchronously stopped a timer (yielding the measure of latency). In the vignette, the woman provided an explanation for not engaging in sexual intercourse on the date either during kissing or when the man attempted to touch her breasts. She offered one of three reasons for refusing his sexual advances; fear of pregnancy, waiting until marriage, too early in the relationship. Results revealed an interaction in which participants in the too early in the relationship explanation at the level of breast contact condition displayed significantly longer latencies than individuals in the other groups. The implications of the findings are discussed.