Decision-Making,Cognitive Distortions and Alcohol Use in Adolescent Problem and Non-problem Gamblers: An Experimental Study

In the psychological literature, many studies have investigated the neuropsychological and behavioral changes that occur developmentally during adolescence. These studies have consistently observed a deficit in the decision-making ability of children and adolescents. This deficit has been ascribed to incomplete brain development. The same deficit has also been observed in adult problem and pathological gamblers. However, to date, no study has examined decision-making in adolescents with and without gambling problems. Furthermore, no study has ever examined associations between problem gambling, decision-making, cognitive distortions and alcohol use in youth. To address these issues, 104 male adolescents participated in this study. They were equally divided in two groups, problem gamblers and non-problem gamblers, based on South Oaks Gambling Screen Revised for Adolescents scores. All participants performed the Iowa gambling task and completed the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale and the alcohol use disorders identification test. Adolescent problem gamblers displayed impaired decision-making, reported high cognitive distortions, and had more problematic alcohol use compared to non-problem gamblers. Strong correlations between problem gambling, alcohol use, and cognitive distortions were observed. Decision-making correlated with interpretative bias. This study demonstrated that adolescent problem gamblers appear to have the same psychological profile as adult problem gamblers and that gambling involvement can negatively impact on decision-making ability that, in adolescence, is still developing. The correlations between interpretative bias and decision-making suggested that the beliefs in the ability to influence gambling outcomes may facilitate decision-making impairment.     

Ecological and biological determination of invasion success of non-native plant species in urban woodlands with special regard to short-lived monocarps

Today’s urban green space is exposed to a constant flow of newly introduced exotic plant species, resulting from multiple, intentional and inadvertent introductions. A substantial share of introduced plant species are represented by potential invaders of plant communities, which allows considering that the risk of rapid dispersion by aggressive plant species to be today’s most serious threat to the urban biodiversity. Alien plant species with a short life span (monocarps, therophytes, annuals and biennials) are the most successful invaders across anthropogenically transformed landscapes. These species can have a significant impact on the functioning of previously disturbed ecosystems. At the same time, it is still unclear which mechanisms enable short-lived monocarps to invade under specific conditions of urban forest interiors. Therefore, I have conducted a literature analysis aiming at identifying possible biological and ecological determinants of monocarpic plants’ invasive success in urban woodlands. The analysis was made at three qualitative levels taking into account characteristics of the urban environment, those of different types of urban woodlands as well as traits of non-native monocarpic species. Considering the city level, the main ecological factors are the high level of human-induced disturbance and propagule pressure on the urban-woodland interface sites. The level of invasion as well as invasibility of urban woodlands is mainly determined by the landscape context, whereas the habitat type, species composition and spatial structure play a less important role. In the forest environment, where competition for light and nutrients is the main shaping factor of the phytocoenosis, short-lived alien species must possess a certain level of competitive ability. These findings indicate that this ability may be due to such traits as high fecundity rates, effective dispersal mechanisms, early germination, high rate of growth and the overall big size of plants, presence of autonomous pollination and high shade-tolerance.     

Towards interprofessionality in developing family mediation in Finland

Collaboration crossing professional and organizational boundaries is promoted, but also considered difficult and uncalled for. The aim of this study is to advance the comprehension of inter-professional collaboration on boundaries as a resource for learning and change. I examine and trace the initial shapes of interprofessionality and learning in two separate learning networks of a project researching, developing and learning family mediation in Finland. The naturally occurring data consists of transcribed audio-taped talk between practitioners (e.g. social workers, family counsellors, psychologists and judges) at the beginning of their collaborative work. The qualitative analysis detected communicative patterns, disruptions and dialogical learning mechanisms. The results interpreted through Cultural-Historical Activity Theory show that although the two quite similarly composed learning networks were given the same tasks, they differed on emerging learning mechanisms and unfolding dialogues. If collaboration is intended to be inter-professional and lead to change, there is a need to actively create shared tools, such as models, that enable transformative dialogue. For social work education inter-professional collaboration poses a challenge: how can education concurrently promote both learning the boundaries of social work and learning how to inter-professionally cross them?     

A demand classification scheme for spare part inventory model subject to stochastic demand and lead time

In this study, we aim to develop a demand classification methodology for classifying and controlling inventory spare parts subject to stochastic demand and lead time. Using real data, the developed models were tested and their performances were evaluated and compared. The results show that the Laplace model provided superior performance in terms of service level, fill rate (FR) and inventory cost. Compared with the current system based on normal distribution, the proposed Laplace model yielded significant savings and good results in terms of the service level and the FR. The Laplace and Gamma optimisation models resulted in savings of 82 and 81%, respectively.     

Discovering parental drug dependence: silence and disclosure1

Children of drug dependent parents form a large and growing population at elevated risk of adverse developmental and social outcomes. In this study 36 children and young people described growing up in such families. Parents tried to shield children from exposure, however the majority of young people demonstrated a detailed awareness of their parents' problem with drugs whilst living with the parentally imposed fiction that drugs were not at the heart of their family dynamic. Children and young people are locked into a silence they find difficult to unburden to anyone. The policy imperative is recognition of the impact on children of living daily with parental drug dependence and means of ameliorating their living circumstances in ways that do not label them further.     

Metabolism and colonization. Modes of production and the physical exchange between societies and nature

Written by a sociologist and a biologist, this paper attempts an interdisciplinary approach to describing the basic exchange relations between human societies and their natural environments. One type of exchange relation is termed ‘metabolism’ and related to the biological metabolism member organisms of societies require. A historical overview (part 1) demonstrates this exchange relation in terms of mass throughput per inhabitant to have grown in the course of human cultural evolution—without necessarily increasing the quality of life of those concerned—to the twentyfold it now amounts to in industrial societies (as is demonstrated empirically for Austria in part 3). A strategy of ‘contraction of physical metabolism’ (reduction of physical growth irrespective of ‘economic’ growth) of industrial societies is proposed as a strategic means of survival and possible ways to this goal are discussed quantitatively. The other exchange relation termed ‘colonization’ refers to treatments of natural environments that purposively change some components to render better exploitability (for the purpose of social metabolism), while still relying upon their basic self‐regenerating qualities. It is sketched how colonization strategies developed historically, and it is demonstrated empirically that industrial societies now use about 50% of the available plant biomass (the energetic basis of all animal life) upon their territories for human purposes (part 4). Part 5 classifies different ‘paradigms’ for judging the ‘harmfulness’ of social interventions into the environment and outlines the logic of an information system that would enable society to generate an awareness of its own interventions into nature. On the whole the paper presents a theoretical as well as an empirical attempt to view societies as physical systems (among other physical systems on this planet) and confront sociology with the paradigmatic task to analyze the social regulation of these physical processes.     

Evaluation der Lehre — Theoretische und Methodische Aspekte

Competition of and within universities brings the question of improving the quality of teaching to the fore. Central to this competition discussion is the idea of evaluating teaching. After an intensive review of the evaluation literature one discovers that there is no general definition of evaluation. The term is so used in such a multifaceted manner that it seems impossible to find or agree on a general definition. This essay therefore seeks to understand how the evaluation of teaching can lead to an improvement in the quality of teaching in two ways: First, terms and functions of evaluation are discussed and secon, the definitions and characteristics of good teaching will be considered. Different dimensions that influence successful learning will be introduced before concluding with the question on how evaluation can become an instrument for improving teaching quality.     

Child‐free and unmarried: Changes in the life planning of young east German women

Using evidence from demographic and survey data, this research examines how one decade of postsocialism has changed the life planning of young East German women. Aggregate data reflect marriage and fertility postponement and increased nonmarital birth rates and cohabitation. The analysis shows East German women's “stubbornness” ( Dölling, 2003 ) in adhering to life perspectives in line with the German Democratic Republic (GDR) standard biography (high nonmarital childbearing, high work orientation, rejection of the homemaker status, desire to combine work and family). The most important findings are that (a) motherhood is postponed to increase child‐free time, (b) cohabitation is increasingly becoming an alternative to marriage, (c) marriage (but not partnership) is increasingly optional for childbearing, and (d) employment is prioritized over family formation.     

Understanding the reputation and image of the Philippine public relations industry

This paper attempts to understand the current state of the Philippine public relations industry by investigating how it obtained its current reputation and image. It traces the evolution of public relations’ image and identifies factors and entities which may have contributed to the further development of Philippine public relations’ current reputation. The study begins with the popular assumption among Philippine pubic relations industry practitioners that the nature, function, and role of public relations in corporations and business in the Philippines has often been questioned.