A distributed, semiotic-inductive and human-Oriented approach to web-scale knowledge retrieval

Web-scale knowledge retrieval can be enabled by distributed information retrieval, clustering Web clients to a large-scale computing infrastructure for knowledge discovery from Web documents. Based on this infrastructure, we propose to apply semiotic (i.e., sub-syntactical) and inductive (i.e., probabilistic) methods for inferring concept associations in human knowledge. These associations can be combined to form a fuzzy (i.e.,gradual) semantic net representing a map of the knowledge in the Web. Thus, we propose to provide interactive visualizations of these cognitive concept maps to end users, who can browse and search the Web in a human-oriented, visual, and associative interface.

The Family Preservation Philosophy and Therapy With Lesbian Clients

Family preservation is generally viewed in terms of a rather narrow practice definition. However, it's underlying philosophy offers a strong framework for building a positive, nonbiased helping alliance with lesbian clients in a therapeutic setting. The family preservation philosophy offers a unique heuristic for helping professionals to work with lesbians. Family preservation values teach that the therapist must start with the client's reality, recognize the particular needs of that client, and use the client's strengths in treatment. Also inherent in this perspective is respect and sensitivity to the lesbian client's "cultural context, experience, and history" (Family Preservation Institute, 1995). In other words, in the family preservation philosophy there is no assumption of heterosexuality in the therapeutic relationship; rather there is an assumption of unconditional positive regard. Further, clients are engaged in a dialogue and encouraged to name the challenges they encounter in their own words, from their own perspective. All of these principles will help empower lesbian clients. Lesbians may avoid traditional mental health services in times of need, preferring to depend on alternative services or friendship support networks. The choice not to seek help through mainstream agencies may be based on previous negative experience or on an assumption of the homophobic attitudes which are often inherent in such services. Traditional services are usually based on the medical model. Services based on the family preservation philosophy, however, have the capability of creating therapeutic relationships in which there is no assumption of heterosexuality, where the lesbian client is respected and viewed as a whole, healthy individual.

A neurophysiological fingerprint of the empty-chair dialogue

The empty chair dialogue is a validated technique used in Gestalt and emotion focused therapy to help clients overcome unresolved interpersonal grievances. It aims at influencing emotional processing in a way that emotional states characterized by advanced meaning making, thus by the integration of cognition and affect, are facilitated. Even though a variety of studies demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique as well as the usefulness of improvements in emotional processing, it remains unclear how these changes are characterized on a neuronal level. The present study aimed at tracing changes induced by the empty-chair dialogue with electrophysiological methods. Subjects reporting long-standing interpersonal grievances were recruited. After informed consent, an experienced therapist guided subjects to work on their individual interpersonal theme using the empty chair dialogue. During this one-session intervention, multichannel EEG was recorded and the session was video-taped. Afterwards, a validated observational rating instrument was used to identify time periods representing emotional states characterized by either high or low meaning making and the preprocessed, artifact-free EEG-data was labeled accordingly. Thus the comparison of neurophysiological activity during two distinct types of emotional processing becomes possible. EEG-data will be analyzed with modern methods of frequency analysis. Furthermore global field synchronization will be compared between the two types of emotional processing.

Representing Afghanistan: The United States and Democracy's Imposition

There is an ongoing mission in Afghanistan; a mission driven by external political forces. At its core this mission hopes to establish peace, to protect the populace, and to install democracy. Each of these goals has remained just that, a goal, for the past eight years as the American and international mission in Afghanistan has enjoyed varied levels of commitment. Currently, the stagnant progress in Afghanistan has led the international community to become increasingly concerned about the viability of a future Afghan state. Most of these questions take root in the question over whether or not an Afghan state can function without the auspices of international terrorism. Inevitably, the normative question of what exactly that government should be arises from this base concern. In formulating a response to this question, the consensus of western society has been to install representative democracy. This answer has been a recurring theme in the post Cold War era as states such as Bosnia and Somalia bear witness to the ill effects of external democratic imposition. I hypothesize that the current mold of externally driven state-building is unlikely to result in what western actors seek it to establish: representative democracy. By primarily examining the current situation in Afghanistan, I claim that external installation of representative democracy is modally flawed in that its process mandates choice. Representative democracy by definition constitutes a government reflective of its people, or electorate. Thus, freedom of choice is necessary for a functional representative democracy. From this, one can deduce that because an essential function of democracy is choice, its implementation lies with the presence of choice. State-building is an imposition that eliminates that necessary ingredient. The two stand as polar opposites that cannot effectively collaborate. Security, governing capacity, and development have all been targeted as measurements of success in Afghanistan. The three factors are generally seen as mutually constitutive; so improved security is seen as improving governing capacity. Thus, the recent resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and a deteriorating security environment moving forward has demonstrated the inability of the Afghan government to govern. The primary reason for the Afghan government’s deficiencies is its lack of legitimacy among its constituency. Even the use of the term ‘constituency’ must be qualified because the Afghan government has often oscillated between serving the people within its territorial borders and the international community. The existence of the Afghan state is so dependent on foreign aid and intervention that it has lost policy-making and enforcing power. This is evident by the inability of Afghanistan to engage in basic sovereign state activities as maintaining a national budget, conducting elections, providing for its own national security, and deterring criminality. The Afghan state is nothing more than a shell of a government, and indicative of the failings that external state-building has with establishing democracy.

Health education intervention to reduce risk of infectious disease transmission among community health workers and their clients

Indigent and congregate-living populations have high susceptibilities for disease and pose a higher risk for disease transmission to family, friends and to persons providing services to these populations. The adoption of basic infection control, personal hygiene, safe food handling and simple engineering practices will reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission to, from and among indigent and congregate-living populations. ^ The provision of social services, health promotion activities and other support services to indigent and congregate-living populations is an important aspect of many public health-related governmental, community-based and other medical care provider agencies. ^ In the interest of protecting the health of indigent and congregate-living populations, of personnel from organizations providing services to these populations and of the general community, an educational intervention is warranted to prevent the spread of blood-borne, air-borne, food-borne and close contact-borne infectious diseases. ^ An educational presentation was provided to staff from a community-based organization specializing in providing housing, health education, foodstuffs and meals and support services to disabled, low-income, homeless and HIV-infected individuals. The educational presentation delivered general best practices and standard guidelines. A pre and post test were administered to determine and measure knowledge pertinent to controlling the spread of infectious diseases between and among homeless shelter-living clients and between clients and the organization's staff. ^ Comparing pre-test and post-test results revealed areas of knowledge currently held by staff and other areas that staff would benefit from additional educational seminars and training. ^

COSTS AND EFFECTS OF ARKANSAS' LONG-TERM CARE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT (MEDICAID, CHANELLING, COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT)

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Arkansas Long-Term Care Demonstration Project upon Arkansas' Medicaid expenditures and upon the clients it serves. A Retrospective Medicaid expenditure study component used analyses of variance techniques to test for the Project's effects upon aggregated expenditures for 28 demonstration and control counties representing 25 percent of the State's population over four years, 1979-1982.^ A second approach to the study question utilized a 1982 prospective sample of 458 demonstration and control clients from the same 28 counties. The disability level or need for care of each patient was established a priori. The extent to which an individual's variation in Medicaid utilization and costs was explained by patient need, presence or absence of the channeling project's placement decision or some other patient characteristic was examined by multiple regression analysis. Long-term and acute care Medicaid, Medicare, third party, self-pay and the grand total of all Medicaid claims were analyzed for project effects and explanatory relationships.^ The main project effect was to increase personal care costs without reducing nursing home or acute care costs (Prospective Study). Expansion of clients appeared to occur in personal care (Prospective Study) and minimum care nursing home (Retrospective Study) for the project areas. Cost-shifting between Medicaid and Medicare in the project areas and two different patterns of utilization in the North and South projects tended to offset each other such that no differences in total costs between the project areas and demonstration areas occurred. The project was significant ((beta) = .22, p < .001) only for personal care costs. The explanatory power of this personal care regression model (R('2) = .36) was comparable to other reported health services utilization models. Other variables (Medicare buy-in, level of disability, Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI), net monthly income, North/South areas and age) explained more variation in the other twelve cost regression models. ^