Behavioral management of command hallucinations to harm in schizophrenia

The study objective was to evaluate changes in prevalence of command hallucinations to harm self or others, characteristics and intensity of auditory hallucinations, and levels of anxiety and depression after attendance at a 10-session course teaching behavioral strategies for managing persistent auditory hallucinations to adult outpatients with schizophrenia. Prevalence of command hallucinations to harm self or others was measured at baseline, end of course, and 1-year post-course. Pre-course scores on the Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire, Unpleasant Voices Scale, tension-anxiety subscale of Profile of Mood States, and Beck Depression Inventory-II were compared with scores immediately post-course and 1 year later. The prevalence rate of command hallucinations to harm self of 44% at baseline decreased to 24% immediately after attending the 10-session course and remained at 24% 1-year post-course. The prevalence rate for command hallucinations to harm others of 21% at baseline decreased to 16% at end of course and 17% 1-year post-course. People who attended the course perceived it as helpful, and improvement was seen in all seven characteristics of auditory hallucinations, intensity of auditory hallucinations, and anxiety and depression immediately after the course and 1-year post-course.     

“Mnandi-licious!” trends in African language usage in South African television advertising

Advertisements in African languages are generally confined to radio, and in that medium are factual, dialogic and direct. When used in television advertising, however, South Africa’s indigenous languages, particularly those spoken by the largest number of people in South Africa (Nguni languages), play a less informative role, being employed rather to index a concretised African essence, African identity or urban style, or a particular reified post-apartheid togetherness and cultural mobility. In this essay, we analyse four recent television advertisements, all using a Nguni language, and reflect on how and why the vernacular is used and to what extent African languages are no longer seen by television advertisers as carriers of information but as exploitable symbols of trustworthiness, multiculturalism, belonging and innovation. Key tropes that emerge as motivating the inclusion of African languages in television advertisements are identified and serve to organise and focus the argument.     

Restoring and Sustaining Home: The Impact of Home Modifications on the Meaning of Home for Older People

ABSTRACT

The importance of a supportive home environment to successful aging has been well-established in the literature, with home modifications increasingly acknowledged as ways of removing barriers to function and increasing independence for older people. Home modification literature and practice primarily focus on the home environment as a physical space in which to perform tasks and on the impact of modification on competencies and function. Home, however, is much more than a physical environment. Within a transactive framework, people and places are seen as engaged in a dynamic, reciprocal relationship through which home becomes a place of significant personal meaning. Through a qualitative framework, this study examines the experience of older people living in the community who are recipients of a home modification service. It explores the impact modifying the physical environment has on their experience of home as a place of meaning and provides insight into how home modifications can strengthen the home as a place of personal and social meaning as well as improve safety and comfort for the older person at home.     

Globalization and international adoption from China

Since the mid-1990s, China has become one of the major countries from which children are adopted overseas. This paper examines ways in which globalization has contributed to the development of international adoption from China and explores cultural and historical attitudes to population growth, child abandonment and adoption. How China's social, economic and welfare policies have affected adoption policies and practices are discussed, with reference to ethnographic fieldwork undertaken by the authors between 2001 and 2007. Interviews and group discussions were conducted with UK, Chinese and American adoptive parents, directors of social welfare institutes, Chinese welfare officials and staff of non-government organizations working in the area of adoption and fostering in China. While globalization has affected, and continues to affect inter-country adoption, its influence in China is analysed using Masson's value positions on international adoption – abolitionists, promoters and pragmatists. China's pragmatic approach to international adoption is considered in relation to policies that reflect the best interests of children in China and overseas.     

无巧不成书--阿拉伯第一部小说之新说

"毫无疑问,小说的肯定,还受惠于先驱者们的努力.在前一个时期(指1919年之前),就产生过一种尝试,把小说写成是现代文学的一种.于是,小说在穆罕默德·侯赛因·海卡尔的手中诞生了.短篇小说在穆罕默德·泰木尔手中诞生了."     

Social Exclusion and Poverty: Translating Social Capital into Accessible Resources

This article investigates the dynamic multi‐dimensional processes through which the poor become excluded from social participation. Drawing on social capital literature, it traces how bridging and bonding capital do not always translate into expected levels of social participation. It does so by detailing research findings from low income focus groups undertaken in Dunedin, New Zealand. These describe the experiences of group members in attempting to manage connections around employment, their own broader social participation or the participation of their children. In each case, the study highlights the difficulties of translation they experienced: in particular, translating available bridging or bonding capital into useful social, cultural or economic resources which could mitigate their social exclusion or enable fuller social participation.     

俄罗斯远东联邦区的人口与移民问题研究

长期以来,俄罗斯联邦的人口与移民问题非常突出,主要原因是俄罗斯人口出生率低、死亡率高,已成为制约俄罗斯经济发展的重要因素之一.本文根据俄罗斯改革时期远东联邦区人口发展状况和区域人口再生产的趋势,分析了远东联邦区移民产生的原因、移民方向及其影响.提出了解决俄远东联邦区人口问题的措施.     

《共和国不会忘记——大庆人的故事》序言

忽培元同志是国务院研究室来大庆的挂职干部,任市委副书记(正厅级)。他还曾经担任过延安市委副书记、市政协主席。作为一个现职的地市级领导,他在繁忙的工作之余,坚持文学创作,曾著下《群山——马文瑞与西北革命》、《难忘的历程》、《延安记忆》等十多部作品。歌颂革命历史,记录改革进程,塑造艺术典型。但是写诗,特别是写长诗这还是第一次。如同他在延安工作时间,满怀深情地讴歌延安一样,他来到大庆后,为大庆的一次辉煌创业历史所感动,为大庆正在进行的蓬蓬勃勃的二次创业实践所振奋,他把写报告文学、随笔、杂记的感怀,转化为写诗的创作激…     

在大庆“大庆精神、铁人精神”研究会成立大会上的讲话

(2006年7月14日)尊敬的各位老领导、同志们:大庆精神铁人精神研究会,经过一个阶段的组织策划和精心筹备,今天正式成立了。以此为标志,大庆精神铁人精神的研究工作又步入了一个新的发展阶段。在此,我代表中国石油天然气集团公司大庆地区各石油石化企业,向研究会的成立表示热烈的     

现代远程教育校外学习中心的建设与发展

校外学习中心是试点高校开展现代远程教育的校外学习支持服务机构,承担着试点高校与学生的桥梁和纽带作用,校外学习中心的建设与发展,决定着现代远程教育高等学历教育的信誉和办学质量,乃至现代远程教育的发展。针对目前校外学习中心所存在的主要问题,应加强规范校外学习中心设置,建立健全招生与管理体系,以及加强教学评估体系等方面探求其规范建设的策略。