The effects of fatal vision goggles on drinking and driving intentions in college students

The present study was designed to examine the effectiveness of Fatal Vision Goggles in reducing intentions to drink and drive. Participants performed a field sobriety task and drove in a traffic simulator while wearing the goggles. A regression analysis was performed in order to predict changes in intentions to drink and drive, using typical drinking patterns, perceived likelihood of getting into a collision when drinking and driving, self efficacy, and driving independence as predictor variables. Results showed that drinking and driving intentions were reduced following the use of Fatal Vision Goggles among those that typically drink more during outings, among those that believe the likelihood of collisions when drinking and driving are greater, and among those less likely to drive to achieve independence and autonomy. These results indicate that Fatal Vision Goggles can be an effective tool in altering drinking and driving attitudes among drivers with specific attitudinal and personal characteristics.     

(Net)Working out: social capital in a private health club

In Bowling Alone Robert Putnam considers the possibility that the growth of private health clubs and the rising rates of membership to such clubs might represent a counter-trend to his thesis on the decline in social capital. In this paper I explore this idea using ethnographic data and social network analysis. I show both that and how networks form in health clubs and I discuss the ways in which these networks constitute social capital for their members. In addition, however, I explore the 'dark side' of this form of social capital. I argue that high integration amongst some members of a fitness class can generate a power differential between those members and other, less integrated members who experience this negatively. Furthermore, with an eye on Burt's (2005 ) important thesis on brokerage and closure, I argue that brokerage between relatively closed clusters of agents can lead to inter-group rivalry and conflict, which, in turn, is experienced negatively by those involved.     

Modernity: a non-European conceptualization

In the light of insights drawn from historical sociology and Parsons' theory of differentiation/modernization, an attempt is made to conceptualize modernity in such a way as to avoid both eurocentrism and the total rejection of the concept by those who view it as an ideological means for the further advancement of western cultural imperialism.     

Staff & client perceptions of unit quality: a pilot study

This pilot study compared psychiatric health care team members' perceptions of unit quality with discharged clients' perceptions of quality of care received on the unit. The staff members were from four different service units in one acute care psychiatric facility. The study used the Perceptions of Unit Quality (PUQ) scale, a valid and reliable outcome measurement instrument, developed by Cronenwett. Most quality assurance instruments that exist have focused on individual caregivers' or service-specific views of quality, but the PUQ scale allows quality assurance data that represent team performance to be described through team perceptions of quality. Results of this pilot study suggest that use of the PUQ scale, in conjunction with clients' perceptions of unit quality, may be a legitimate approach in continuous quality improvement efforts in psychiatric-mental health care centers.     

Couple age discrepancy and risk of intimate partner homicide

Although national level studies in the United States and Canada find that extreme partner age discrepancy is a risk factor for intimate partner homicide in opposite-sex couples, these studies carry two caveats: They are limited to cohabiting marital or common-law couples and they are not detailed enough to explore alternative explanations for the age discrepancy-homicide risk association. Using the Chicago Homicide Dataset, which includes all homicides that occurred in Chicago from 1965 to 1996, we analyze the 2,577 homicides in which the victim was killed by a current or former legal spouse, common-law spouse, or heterosexual boyfriend or girlfriend, and in which the woman was at least 18 years of age. Within each of 14 categories of couple age discrepancy, we estimate the population of intimate heterosexual couples and calculate the population-based risk of homicide. The results replicate national level findings showing that the risk of intimate partner homicide is considerably elevated for couples with a large discrepancy between their ages-where the man is at least 16 years older than the woman or the woman is at least 10 years older than the man. This risk pattern occurs regardless of whether the man or the woman was the homicide offender. We then investigate whether the link between partner age discrepancy and homicide risk is explained by the offender's arrest record. Results show that the higher risk of intimate partner homicide for age discrepant couples is robust, and does not depend on the previous arrest record of the offender. Discussion addresses other possible explanations for the increased risk of partner homicide for age discrepant couples, and the practical implications of these findings.     

Capital accumulation,inertia of consumption and norms of reproduction

A model of capital accumulation is built in relation with fertility and consumption. Avoiding to impose a direct analytical relationship between these three variables, the author studies the set of possible evolutions under the constraints imposed by the inertia of habit change.The conflict between the necessity to avoid impoverishment, the desire to increase consumption when possible and the reproduction intensity delineate the set of viable solutions and the set of attitudes leading to capital extinction. This qualitative view of change of behaviors provides an alternative explanation to historical fertility fluctuations outside the usual Easterlin framework.I am grateful to the three anonymous referees, who helped to improve this article.     

What will future historians say about the Clinton health reform act

In a series of articles that began in the March-April 1992 issue of Physician Executive, the author has provided historical background on the debate that currently rages on the nature and course of national health reform. In addition to tracing past efforts to expand access to health care for Americans, Dr. Goldfield has provided unique insights into the American political process and into the American psyche. In this final article in the series, Dr. Goldfield provides his personal assessment of what the chances for real reform of the health care delivery system are and his views on what that reform will ultimately look like. He calls himself a skeptic, not a cynic, saying that the likelihood of meaningful change is small, given the numerous proponents of the status quo.     

谁制造了法国大革命

乔治·勒菲弗尔这位法国革命史权威在《法国革命的起因》中对这次革命做出这样一种细致的划分:一场失败的贵族革命(君主政体的改革尝试);一场资产阶级革命——由于受到普遍的城市革命的支持而获得了成功;一场被资产阶级镇压了的农民的乡村革命,所有的参与者都是通过政治改革或起义来行动的社会等级。然而,贯穿始终的是资产阶级,资产阶级试图把它的优势强加给政治结构和贵族等级制度。     

权力攻守

◆最激烈、最耗时的争斗常常大部分是与权势相关联。有时你得采取以守为攻的策略,来奋力保卫自己的势力范围;而其他时候呢,采取全力出击的方法,引导政策向有利于自己的方向发展。