Attitudes Toward the Unemployed

The present study examined whether politicalorientation, experience of unemployment or with theunemployed, and/or occupational background predictedthree dimensions of attitudes expressed toward theunemployed in conversation. The three dimensions were:nature of attitude, variability in attitude, and form ofattitude. Sixty-seven employed individuals participated.Political orientation was found to be a good predictor of the nature of and variability inattitudes toward the unemployed. It was also a goodpredictor of the form with which attitudes wereexpressed in general, with political moderates usingfewer generalizations than those who were politicallypolarized, but it was not a good predictor of the formthat people used to express particular types ofattitude. Occupational group also predicted the nature of and variability in attitudes toward theunemployed, with other factors constant. Personalexperience was a good predictor of the form of attitudeexpressed. Those with more experience with unemployed people tended to use fewer generalizations.However, personal experience of unemployment or with theunemployed did not predict the nature of attitudesexpressed.     

Contingency Learning and Reactivity in Preterm and Full‐Term Infants at 3 Months

Learning difficulties in preterm infants are thought to reflect impairment in arousal regulation. We examined relationships among gestational age, learning speed, and behavioral and physiological reactivity in 55 preterm and 49 full‐term infants during baseline, contingency, and nonreinforcement phases of a conjugate mobile paradigm at 3 months corrected age. For all infants, negative affect, looking duration, and heart rate levels increased during contingency and nonreinforcement phases, whereas respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA, an index of parasympathetic activity) decreased and Cortisol did not change. Learners showed greater RSA suppression and less negative affect than nonleamers. This pattern was particularly evident in the preterm group. Overall, preterm infants showed less learning, spent less time looking at the mobile, and had lower Cortisol levels than full‐term infants. Preterm infants also showed greater heart rate responses to contingency and dampened heart rate responses to nonreinforcement compared to full‐term infants. Findings underscore differences in basal and reactivity measures in preterm compared to full‐term infants and suggest that the capacity to regulate parasympathetic activity during a challenge enhances learning in preterm infants.     

Optimal decision rules for fixed-size committees in polychotomous choice situations

This paper derives optimal decision rules for fixed-size committees in polychotomous choice situations. Earlier studies focus on the dichotomous choice model and thus the present extension broadens the scope of applications of the theory of collective decision making. Received: 10 November 1999/Accepted: 13 April 2000     

The Pervasive Impact of War-Related Loss and Bereavement in Israel

The study of loss as a result of war and conflict has been a mainstay of the bereavement field in Israel. The present article provides a brief background of Israel and its literature relating to loss and bereavement. A series of research studies based on the Two-track Model of Bereavement and covering both military and other losses are reviewed from the vantage point of their impact on and contributions to changing conceptualizations of loss. The article concludes with a review and analysis of the sociocultural trends that have shaped the approach to military bereavement in Israel.     

Longing to belong: children in residential care and their experiences of peer relationships at school and in the children's home

Resilience literature has stressed the potential of both children's educational experiences and their friendships to act as protective factors against adversity. However, less is known about how children living with adversity navigate these ‘everyday’ aspects of social terrain and the particular challenges that they face. This paper explores the meaning and experience of peer relationships to one group of children living in residential care in Ireland. Drawing on a larger study of school and care, it explores data gathered from 16 children, aged 8 to 18, who were living in eight different children's homes on the east coast of Ireland. The findings suggest that the children were acutely aware of their ‘care’ status and developed a number of strategies to manage this identity in school. It appears that more often than not, children described being left to their own devises to manage friendships and peer relationships. Thus, despite being a crucial source of both stress and support, peer relationships did not appear to be regarded as an issue that adults should be involved with. This raises questions for practice about what children should be supported with and the way in which peer relationships are potentially overlooked by social work, residential and school staff.     

Streamlining Acquisition Workflows Through Collaboration and Innovation

Abstract

As a selector, have you ever wondered if the resource you requested was ordered? As an acquisitions staff member, are you struggling with keeping track of your order requests from various channels? As a manager, are you finding it challenging to monitor staff work? CORAL, an open source electronic resource management system, proved to be one solution to these concerns for North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries. This article discusses how to manage workflows in CORAL and outlines a NCSU initiative to evolve this tool through collaboration across departments and across the CORAL community.     

Indian student concerns about violence: exploring student perceptions

While considerable attention has been given to the spate of attacks on Indian students in Australia in 2009 and 2010, less attention has been paid to how the students who were at the centre of the furore perceived the violence. In this paper we explore the perceptions of Indian postgraduate and undergraduate male students studying in Melbourne, Australia, based on data gathered in focus groups. Analysis revealed four broad themes in students' explanations for the attacks: race hate versus opportunism, intercultural issues, systemic ineffectiveness, and media reporting. Students' perceptions of the reasons for the attacks were divided in some areas and aligned in others. There was divergence among students about whether the attacks were race hate crime or opportunistic, and about intercultural issues. Students' perceptions were aligned on issues of systemic ineffectiveness and media reporting. In the current context of decreased international enrolments from Indian students, in which we seek to better understand them, the findings provide implications for international student policy and planning priorities.     

Participation in practice: making it meaningful,effective and sustainable

Children's participation in decision‐making is complex: it is undertaken for different purposes and is reflected in different levels of involvement, different contexts and different activities. This paper reviews the current state of participation and, drawing on practice and research literature, highlights several aspects of practice where further consideration is needed if participation is to develop positively. This suggests that, if participation is to be more meaningful to children and effective in influencing change, it is necessary to move beyond one‐off or isolated participation and consider how participation becomes embedded as an integral part of our relationship with children.