Maternal Tactile Stimulation and the Neurodevelopment of Low Birth Weight Infants

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of early maternal touch to the neurodevelopmental status of low birth weight (LBW) infants. One hundred and eight LBW infants and their mothers were videotaped during a typical feeding when the infant was 3 months old. This tape was used to analyze both the mother's touch and other facets of caregiving behavior using standardized coding systems. Data on perinatal medical risk were also acquired through chart review, and neurodevelopmental tests were administered to the infants at age 1 year. Results indicate that infants whose mothers used more stimulating touch during caregiving had better visual‐motor skills at 1 year of age. In addition, infants of mothers who touched them frequently had more advanced gross motor development. Findings suggest that stimulating and frequent touch may help to compensate for early neurosensory deficits and promote neurodevelopment for LBW infants. Infant birth weight made the strongest contribution to all measures of infant neurodevelopmental status at age 1 year.     

Attachment status and complexity of infants' self- and other-knowledge when tested with mother and father

At 13 and 20 months, infants' featural knowledge of self and parent was assessed separately with mother and father. Infants' featural knowledge was measured by a scale that included tasks reflecting infants' knowledge of facial features, spatial location, name, possession and gender. No significant relation between attachment status and featural knowledge was obtained at 13 months when tested with either parent. At 20 months, in contrast, more complex featural knowledge of self and parent was demonstrated by infants who were securely attached than by those who were insecurely attached. Independent of age, however, infants' featural knowledge of their mothers was more complex than that of their fathers, although no differences in self-knowledge were obtained as a function of parent gender. These data are understood in the context of cognitive development and the differences in interactional qualities assessed by attachment status and parent gender.     

MANAGING GUILT:

In this article I illustrate the connections between talk, emotion management, and identity. In much of the recent work on collective, discursive strategies such as narrative and rhetoric, this link is left implicit. Through the study of a support group for parents of "troubled" teenagers, I highlight how parents' rhetorical talk created an emotional pathway that enabled them to maintain their good-parent identities despite their teenagers' rebellion. Parents used a personal responsibility rhetoric to make sense of their teenagers' misbehavior. For the most part as parents applied the personal responsibility rhetoric, they followed meeting protocol. Occasionally, however, parents violated the rhetoric's expression rule that parents were to avoid talking about guilt. I address how parents collectively constructed meeting discourse and conclude that their use of the personal responsibility rhetoric was how they collectively managed their own and each others' emotions. As a result they set the stage for becoming strict disciplinarians, which made it possible to see themselves as good parents, regardless of their teenagers' rebellion.     

"Men of Influence"– The Ontology of Leadership in the 1914 Boer Rebellion

Abstract This paper raises questions about the ontology of the Afrikaner leadership in the 1914 Boer Rebellion – and the tendency to portray the rebel leadership in terms of monolithic Republicans, followed by those who shared their dedication to returning the state to the old Boer republics. Discussions of the Rebellion have not focused on the interaction between leadership and rank and file, which in part has been obscured by Republican mythology based on the egalitarianism of the Boer commando. This paper attempts to establish the ambitions of the leaders for going into rebellion and the motivations of those who followed them. It traces the political and economic changes that came with union and industrialization, and asks why some influential men felt increasingly alienated from the new form of state structure while others adapted to it. To ascertain the nature of the support for the leaders, the discussion looks at Republican hierarchy and the ideology of patriarchy. The paper further discusses the circumscribed but significant role of women in the Rebellion. This article seeks to contribute to a wider understanding of the history of leadership in South Africa, entangled in the identity dynamics of masculinity, class and race interests.     

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO CURE AND THE RIGHT TO DIE: CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION AND HOSPITAL STRUCTURE

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation has become a routine procedure in hospitals in spite of the fact that it may be carried out without orders from a physician or consent from the patient It has a high failure rate and some research has indicated that the benefits to patients may be questionable. This article analyses some aspects of the structure of hospitals, other than the role of patient care and cure, which provide sociological explanations for the firm entrenchment and indiscriminate use of the procedure.     

The Concept of Distance in International Business Research: A Review and Research Agenda

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of distance arising from country differences on outcomes at the firm and subsidiary level. It provides some clarity on what has been learned so far about distance by answering four questions: Which distance? Why does distance matter? What outcomes are affected by distance? and What aggravates or alleviates the effects of distance? Based on the review of the literature, a set of future research suggestions are developed, intended to direct attention to research questions that the authors believe are among the most pressing questions in distance research and that may have the potential to advance the field substantially.     

Dignity,Wisdom, and Tomorrow's Ethical Business Leader

This article examines the role wisdom and dignity play in developing ethical business leaders, or what we call shamanic leaders, for the twenty‐first century. We define wisdom as the integration of moral imagination (the good), systems understanding (the true), and aesthetic sensibility (the beautiful) into decisions, actions, and practices in the service of a better world. Dignity is our inherent value, worth, and vulnerability, a core aspect of humanity that each of us is born with. The challenges of developing shamanic leaders, i.e., individuals who evidence the shamanic attributes of healing, connecting, and sensemaking, are discussed, including how to think about and embody wisdom, and the learning that is required to understand and lead with dignity. We argue that dignity and wisdom can be learned and provide the reader with insights into what is required to promote an inclusive and integrated culture where human flourishing and well‐being are at the core of ethical leadership.