The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses.

This article argues that an iconic event in the history of helping research--the story of the 38 witnesses who remained inactive during the murder of Kitty Genovese--is not supported by the available evidence. Using archive material, the authors show that there is no evidence for the presence of 38 witnesses, or that witnesses observed the murder, or that witnesses remained inactive. Drawing a distinction between the robust bystander research tradition and the story of the 38 witnesses, the authors explore the consequences of the story for the discipline of psychology. They argue that the story itself plays a key role in psychology textbooks. They also suggest that the story marks a new way of conceptualizing the dangers of immersion in social groups. Finally, they suggest that the story itself has become a modern parable, the telling of which has served to limit the scope of inquiry into emergency helping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining a dimensional representation of depression and anxiety disorders' comorbidity in psychiatric outpatients with item response modeling.

The current study replicated, in a sample of 2,300 outpatients seeking psychiatric treatment, a previous study (R. F. Krueger & M. S. Finger, 2001) that implemented an item response theory approach for modeling the comorbidity of common mood and anxiety disorders as indicators along the continuum of a shared latent factor (internalizing). The 5 disorders examined were major depressive disorder, social phobia, panic disorder/agoraphobia, specific phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. The findings were consistent with the prior research. First, a confirmatory factor analysis yielded sufficient evidence for a nonspecific factor underlying the 5 diagnostic indicators. Second, a 2-parameter logistic item response model showed that the diagnoses were represented in the upper half of the internalizing continuum, and each was a strongly discriminating indicator of the factor. Third, the internalizing factor was significantly associated with 3 indexes of social burden: poorer social functioning, time missed from work, and lifetime hospitalizations. Rather than the categorical system of presumably discrete disorders presented in DSM-IV, these 5 mood and anxiety disorders may be alternatively viewed as higher end indicators of a common factor associated with social cost. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

User Interfaces for Complex Engineering Software: Application of Virtual Reality

IT systems for engineers are becoming more numerous and complex and will further proliferate in the future. It is infeasible to expect users to be trained to work with a plethora of systems, especially as many of them will only see occasional use. Therefore, in the near future, systems will need user interfaces that allow intuitive access and usage. This paper examines a new style of user interface based on virtual reality.     

Dynamic Complexity Theory Revisited

Dynamic complexity investigates the required effort to maintain knowledge about a property of a structure under changing operations. This article introduces a refined notion of dynamic problems which takes the initial structure into account. It develops the basic structural complexity notions accordingly. It also shows that the dynamic version of the LOGCFL-complete problem D₂LREACH(acyclic) can be maintained with first-order updates.     

Beyond Boundary Objects: Collaborative Reuse in Aircraft Technical Support

Boundary objects are a critical, but understudied, theoretical construct in CSCW. Through a field study of aircraft technical support, we examined the role of boundary objects in the practical achievement of safety by service engineers. Their resolution of repair requests was preserved in the organization’s memory via three compound boundary objects. These crystallizations did not manifest a static interpretation, but instead were continually reinterpreted in light of meta-negotiations. This suggests design implications for organizational memory systems which can more fluidly represent the meta-negotiations surrounding boundary objects.     

Limits of the output power in Er3+:ZBLAN singlemodefibre lasers

The saturation of the 2.71 μm laser output has been measured in erbium-doped ZBLAN singlemode fibres with Er³⁺ concentrations of 1000, 5000 and 10000 ppm mol. Limits of the single-mode-laser output are discussed     

BRCA1 mutations in women attending clinics that evaluate the risk of breast cancer

BACKGROUND: To define the incidence of BRCA1 mutations among patients seen in clinics that evaluate the risk of breast cancer, we analyzed DNA samples from women seen in this setting and constructed probability tables to provide estimates of the likelihood of finding a BRCA1 mutation in individual families. METHODS: Clinical information, family histories, and blood for DNA analysis were obtained from 263 women with breast cancer. Conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing were used to identify BRCA1 mutations. RESULTS: BRCA1 mutations were identified in 16 percent of women with a family history of breast cancer. Only 7 percent of women from families with a history of breast cancer but not ovarian cancer had BRCA1 mutations. The rates were higher among women from families with a history of both breast and ovarian cancer. Among family members, an average age of less than 55 years at the diagnosis of breast cancer, the presence of ovarian cancer, the presence of breast and ovarian cancer in the same woman, and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry were all associated with an increased risk of detecting a BRCA1 mutation. No association was found between the presence of bilateral breast cancer or the number of breast cancers in a family and the detection of a BRCA1 mutation, or between the position of the mutation in the BRCA1 gene and the presence of ovarian cancer in a family. CONCLUSIONS: Among women with breast cancer and a family history of the disease, the percentage with BRCA1 coding-region mutations is less than the 45 percent predicted by genetic-linkage analysis. These results suggest that even in a referral clinic specializing in screening women from high-risk families, the majority of tests for BRCA1 mutations will be negative and therefore uninformative.     

Potency comparison of peptidomimetic inhibitors against HIV-1 and HIV-2 proteinases: design of equipotent lead compounds

The results of investigation of haptoglobin (Hp) types in 596 donor blood samples in some towns of Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Odessa, Kiev, Uzhgorod, Zhitomir) are presented. Three normal Hp types (Hp1-1, Hp2-1 and Hp2-2) have been found. The reliable interpopulation differences in the Hp types frequency were not found. On the whole the Hp types frequency in the type Hp1-1 comprised 12.7%. In the type Hp2-1-48.1% and in the type Hp2-2-36.5%. The frequency of the gene Hp1 is 0.38. The frequency of the Hp types and of the gene Hpl in Ukraine is similar to that in population of Eastern Europe and European Part of Russia.     

On the ontological expressiveness of information systems analysis and design grammars

Abstract. Information systems analysis and design (ISAD) methodologies provide facilities for describing existing or conceived real-world systems. These facilities are ontologically expressive if they are capable of describing all real-world phenomena completely and clearly. In this paper we formally examine the notion of the ontological expressiveness of a grammar and discuss some of its implications for the design and use of ISAD methodologies. We identify some generic ways in which ontological expressiveness may be undermined in a grammar and some potential consequences of these violations. We also examine ontological expressiveness within the context of some other desirable features that might be considered in the design of ISAD methodologies.