The role of space as both a conflict trigger and a conflict control mechanism in culturally heterogeneous workgroups

The diversity literature is replete with examples of poor outcomes in Culturally Heterogeneous Workgroups (CHWs) caused by relational difficulties. Although it is widely recognised that culture shapes people's interpretation of behavior and their style of interaction with others in the workplace, what is ill understood is what the specific conflict triggers of these conflicts are. In this paper, we argue that differences in cultural norms and views of physical and psychological space are major triggers of conflict in CHWs. Findings from a field study support the proposition that different viewpoints regarding the use of space, the inability to retreat from exposure to others, decreased interpersonal space, and privacy invasion moderate the relationship between cultural diversity in the workgroup and the type, frequency, and duration of conflict events in CHWs. The paper represents a first step in elucidating the role of space in cross-cultural interactions in the workplace and how space may be a potentially important conflict control mechanism for managers of culturally diverse workgroups.

The mediator role of psychological morbidity in patients with chronic low back pain in differentiated treatments

This study analyzed the mediating role of psychological morbidity and the variables that discriminated low versus high disability, in patients receiving physiotherapy and acupuncture. A total of 203 patients answered measures of illness and medication representations, coping, depression, anxiety, quality of life, and functional disability. Morbidity was a mediator between functional disability and quality of life. Treatment consequences and quality of life, in the acupuncture group, and emotional representations, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and active strategies for pain relief, in the physiotherapy group, discriminated patients with low versus high disability. These results have important implications for identifying high-risk patients.

Forensic neuropsychological assessment: clinical case of depression and working incapacity

Issues related to mental health in relation to court matters have increasingly required the participation of the psychologist. We present the use of forensic neuropsychological assessment in a case of retirement reversal. Incapacity was attested due to disability resulting from depression of a 35-year-old attorney, and the case was forwarded from the courts to the Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology Unit at the USP Clinical Hospital. A clinical interview and application of cognitive tests was conducted. Despite the depression, significant cognitive losses that would prevent return to his professional assignments were not detected. The neuropsychological assessment has been shown to be an important tool in the forensic context, as it assists with diagnostic value for clarification of functional aspects in the various psychopathological areas in terms of disabilities or potentialities.

Sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy: the role of depression and anxiety

Depression has been associated with sleep disturbances in pregnancy; however, no previous research has controlled the possible confounding effect of anxiety on this association. This study aims to analyze the effect of depression on sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy controlling for anxiety. The sample was composed by 143 depressed (n = 77) and non-depressed (n = 66) pregnant women who completed measures of depression, anxiety, and sleep. Differences between groups in sleep controlling for anxiety were found. Depressed pregnant women present higher number of nocturnal awakenings and spent more hours trying falling asleep during the night and the entire 24 h period. Present findings point out the effect of depression on sleep in late pregnancy, after controlling for anxiety.

The use of forensic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon signatures and Compound Ratio Analysis Techniques (CORAT) for the source characterisation of petrogenic/pyrogenic environmental releases.

This study utilised recent developments in forensic aromatic hydrocarbon fingerprint analysis to characterise and identify specific biogenic, pyrogenic and petrogenic contamination. The fingerprinting and data interpretation techniques discussed include the recognition of: The distribution patterns of hydrocarbons (alkylated naphthalene, phenanthrene, dibenzothiophene, fluorene, chrysene and phenol isomers), • Analysis of “source-specific marker” compounds (individual saturated hydrocarbons, including n-alkanes (n-C5 through 0-C40) • Selected benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX), • The recalcitrant isoprenoids; pristane and phytane and • The determination of diagnostic ratios of specific petroleum / non-petroleum constituents, and the application of various statistical and numerical analysis tools. An unknown sample from the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for origin characterisation was subjected to analysis by gas chromatography utilising both flame ionisation and mass spectral detection techniques in comparison to known reference materials. The percentage of the individual Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAIIs) and biomarker concentrations in the unknown sample were normalised to the sum of the analytes and the results were compared with the corresponding results with a range of reference materials. In addition, to the determination of conventional diagnostic PAH and biomarker ratios, a number of “source-specific markers” isomeric PAHs within the same alkylation levels were determined, and their relative abundance ratios were computed in order to definitively identify and differentiate the various sources. Statistical logarithmic star plots were generated from both sets of data to give a pictorial representation of the comparison between the unknown sample and reference products. The study successfully characterised the unknown sample as being contaminated with a “coal tar” and clearly demonstrates the future role of compound ratio analysis (CORAT) in the identification of possible source contaminants.

A collaborative approach for incorporating forensic case data into crime investigation using criminal intelligence analysis and visualisation

There is an increasing awareness that the articulation of forensic science and criminal investigation is critical to the resolution of crimes. However, models and methods to support an effective collaboration between these partners are still poorly expressed or even lacking. Three propositions are borrowed from crime intelligence methods in order to bridge this gap: (a) the general intelligence process, (b) the analyses of investigative problems along principal perspectives: entities and their relationships, time and space, quantitative aspects and (c) visualisation methods as a mode of expression of a problem in these dimensions. Indeed, in a collaborative framework, different kinds of visualisations integrating forensic case data can play a central role for supporting decisions. Among them, link-charts are scrutinised for their abilities to structure and ease the analysis of a case by describing how relevant entities are connected. However, designing an informative chart that does not bias the reasoning process is not straightforward. Using visualisation as a catalyser for a collaborative approach integrating forensic data thus calls for better specifications.

The role of multisensory memories in unisensory object discrimination.

Past multisensory experiences can influence current unisensory processing and memory performance. Repeated images are better discriminated if initially presented as auditory-visual pairs, rather than only visually. An experience's context thus plays a role in how well repetitions of certain aspects are later recognized. Here, we investigated factors during the initial multisensory experience that are essential for generating improved memory performance. Subjects discriminated repeated versus initial image presentations intermixed within a continuous recognition task. Half of initial presentations were multisensory, and all repetitions were only visual. Experiment 1 examined whether purely episodic multisensory information suffices for enhancing later discrimination performance by pairing visual objects with either tones or vibrations. We could therefore also assess whether effects can be elicited with different sensory pairings. Experiment 2 examined semantic context by manipulating the congruence between auditory and visual object stimuli within blocks of trials. Relative to images only encountered visually, accuracy in discriminating image repetitions was significantly impaired by auditory-visual, yet unaffected by somatosensory-visual multisensory memory traces. By contrast, this accuracy was selectively enhanced for visual stimuli with semantically congruent multisensory pasts and unchanged for those with semantically incongruent multisensory pasts. The collective results reveal opposing effects of purely episodic versus semantic information from auditory-visual multisensory events. Nonetheless, both types of multisensory memory traces are accessible for processing incoming stimuli and indeed result in distinct visual object processing, leading to either impaired or enhanced performance relative to unisensory memory traces. We discuss these results as supporting a model of object-based multisensory interactions.

Decision-theoretic analysis of forensic sampling criteria using Bayesian decision networks

Sampling issues represent a topic of ongoing interest to the forensic science community essentially because of their crucial role in laboratory planning and working protocols. For this purpose, forensic literature described thorough (Bayesian) probabilistic sampling approaches. These are now widely implemented in practice. They allow, for instance, to obtain probability statements that parameters of interest (e.g., the proportion of a seizure of items that present particular features, such as an illegal substance) satisfy particular criteria (e.g., a threshold or an otherwise limiting value). Currently, there are many approaches that allow one to derive probability statements relating to a population proportion, but questions on how a forensic decision maker - typically a client of a forensic examination or a scientist acting on behalf of a client - ought actually to decide about a proportion or a sample size, remained largely unexplored to date. The research presented here intends to address methodology from decision theory that may help to cope usefully with the wide range of sampling issues typically encountered in forensic science applications. The procedures explored in this paper enable scientists to address a variety of concepts such as the (net) value of sample information, the (expected) value of sample information or the (expected) decision loss. All of these aspects directly relate to questions that are regularly encountered in casework. Besides probability theory and Bayesian inference, the proposed approach requires some additional elements from decision theory that may increase the efforts needed for practical implementation. In view of this challenge, the present paper will emphasise the merits of graphical modelling concepts, such as decision trees and Bayesian decision networks. These can support forensic scientists in applying the methodology in practice. How this may be achieved is illustrated with several examples. The graphical devices invoked here also serve the purpose of supporting the discussion of the similarities, differences and complementary aspects of existing Bayesian probabilistic sampling criteria and the decision-theoretic approach proposed throughout this paper.

The role of the object and the mourning process in the child

The young child's ability to go through a genuine mourning process has been a source of controversy in the psychoanalytical literature. This may seem surprising, considering that mourning is essential for and inherent to psychic development. This paper attempts to show that the young child's ability to go through a mourning process does not depend mainly on ego maturity, nor just on an acknowledgment of a loss in the external world, nor on the child's understanding the idea of death at an intellectual and cognitive level. But it may depend mainly on the establishment of the primordial mourning process inherent to the separation of the transnarcissistic mother-child relation and on the existence of the objectalizing function (A. Green, 1986) in the remaining or substitute parent's psyche. A clinical example serves to illustrate these hypotheses.

Obedience-disobedience dynamic and the role of responsibility

Obedience has been thoroughly studied in social psychology, both in its positive and negative aspects. Nevertheless, in these empirical studies disobedience has been considered to be the opposite of obedience and indeed its negation. Instead, some recent studies suggest that if obedience to authority is important in ensuring the continuity of social and group life, disobedience is crucial, under some circumstances, in stopping the authority relationship from degenerating into an authoritarian relationship. In this perspective, disobedience may be conceived of as a protest undermining the legitimacy of authority, or else it can represent an instrument of the community for controlling the legitimacy of the authority's demands, becoming a factor safeguarding against authoritarianism. The aim of the present study was to empirically verify the dynamics existing between disobedience and obedience. The results show that people who attach importance to both obedience and disobedience in the relationship between the individual and society recognize the importance of democratic values and consider themselves responsible for the defence of human rights. Instead, people who only recognize the value of obedience and consider disobedience as a threat to the status quo are more authoritarian, individualistic people.

La palce de la spiritualité dans les soins infirmiers: une revue de littérature [The role of spirituality in nursing care: a literature review].

Spirituality addresses the need to give meaning to life events and is characterized by the relationship with oneself, others and the universe. This article aims to provide an overview of the empirical knowledge, and the prevailing thoughts about spirituality in nursing and suggest perspectives for future directions. The literature review was conducted using the main databases; 36 articles, published between 2008-2013, were selected. The themes covered include the definitions of the spirituality, the spiritual care and the spiritual well-being. Spirituality differs from, yet is not opposed to religion and takes different forms in multicultural and secular societies. Cancer incites existential questions and impacts quality of life, and spiritual well-being is recognized as a good indicator of quality of life for people living with cancer. Professional caregivers are concerned about the needs and spiritual well-being of their patients and often consider interventions to address them. This article reflects the depth of thought and research in nursing and touches on both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary issues.