Views of euthanasia from an east Texas university

Euthanasia has become a subject of public debate and concern. Here we examine the views of euthanasia among students at an east Texas university. Roughly three-fourths are in favor of euthanasia -similar to the general public. Because the university is located in a conservative geographical area, this result suggests growing approval of the various forms of euthanasia and doctor assisted death. While no significant differences were found between the three student major groups -Liberal Arts, Science and Business, some demographic differences were found within the groups. Mainly, African American female Science majors are the most opposed to euthanasia whereas Caucasian male Science majors are the most in favor and the most likely to use a scientific definition of death. The views of the latter group contrast notably with practicing doctors who lag behind the public in their approval of euthanasia. Student views might reflect a cohort difference, a lack of professional experience, or a growing trend among medical practitioners. Liberal Arts majors are the most conservative of the three groups, indicating nonscientific reasons for opposition. Resistance to euthanasia is apparently associated with demographics and nonscientific reasoning.     

Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI): Who gets back in?

Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, or commonly known as HOPE VI, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has a mission to rebuild severely distressed public housing. In general the goals of HOPE VI projects are to improve severely distressed public housing and to improve the lives of its residents. While evidences around the country either lend support to these goals, or find anomalies, we find severe contradictions in a specific mid-south HOPE VI project. The question investigated is whether one particular HOPE VI project was efficacious in accomplishing these goals or was it deleterious to the residents and to what extent. The study began with straightforward comparisons of the original residents and the residents selected for resettlement in a HOPE VI reconstruction project. The investigation continued with a regression analysis of the factors that were significant in determining if a head of household was accepted for resettlement. The results of this analysis clearly demonstrate that there is a bias in the selection of those individuals accepted for resettlement.     

Patterns of parental bereavement following the loss of a child and related factors

This study investigated the patterns of parental bereavement in 20 parents who have lost a child to cancer, congenital heart disease, meningitis, or drowning in the last 19 months, using semi-structured interviews and standardized questionnaires of depression and grief. Qualitative content analysis of interviews identified three bereavement patterns: The majority of parents (65%) presented uncomplicated, Integrated Grief five mothers were Consumed by Grief and one mother and one father expressed Minimal Grief. Quotes from parents exemplified these patterns. Parental gender, symptoms of depression, and pre-death relationship between parents and their deceased child differentially related to these patterns. Having surviving children, social support, and being active appeared to help to integrate grief into daily life. These findings illustrate differential patterns of parental bereavement and related factors, information that has important implications for identifying at-risk parents for complicated bereavement.     

How Probabilistic Risk Assessment Can Mislead Terrorism Risk Analysts

Traditional probabilistic risk assessment (PRA), of the type originally developed for engineered systems, is still proposed for terrorism risk analysis. We show that such PRA applications are unjustified in general. The capacity of terrorists to seek and use information and to actively research different attack options before deciding what to do raises unique features of terrorism risk assessment that are not adequately addressed by conventional PRA for natural and engineered systems—in part because decisions based on such PRA estimates do not adequately hedge against the different probabilities that attackers may eventually act upon. These probabilities may differ from the defender's (even if the defender's experts are thoroughly trained, well calibrated, unbiased probability assessors) because they may be conditioned on different information. We illustrate the fundamental differences between PRA and terrorism risk analysis, and suggest use of robust decision analysis for risk management when attackers may know more about some attack options than we do.     

Diskussionslinien der Entrepreneurial Marketing-Forschung: Ergebnisse einer Zitationsanalyse

Entrepreneurial Marketing (EM) is a research field that grows dynamically and that seems to be heterogeneous. Heterogeneity of a research field exacerbates the orientation in and the advancement of the field. Therefore, this article strives to inventarize the EM-literature and thereby to identify key discussion lines of EM research.Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, we first outline the history of EM research, and identify core authors and core journal Based on a citation analysis of 199 EM papers with a total of 6,222 references and an ensuing expert evaluation, we identify four key discussion lines: (1) theoretical foundations, (2) entrepreneurship-marketing interface, (3) new venture- and SME-marketing, and (4) EM in the sense of innovative, proactive and risk-oriented marketing. These four discussion lines and the respective literature constitute a framework for the advancement of EM research.