Showing papers on "Context (language use) published in 1983"

Beyond objectivism and relativism

Abstract: Modern science is inseparable from the society that supports it. Yet now more than ever before the scientist is encouraged to specialize and narrow his field of vision. Stewart Richards argues that it is vital to reverse this trend, and that all students of science — natural and social — should look at the context, roots and structure of their disciplines. 220 pages, hardback £17.50 (0 63113411 5) paperback £5.95

Social Work with Disabled People

Abstract: Preface.- Introduction: Setting the Scene.- Social Work and Disability: Old and New Directions.- Impairment, Disability and Research.- Relationships and Families.- Independent Living and Personal Assistance.- Independent Living: The Wider Social Policy and Legal Context.- Independent Living: Vulnerability and Safeguarding.- Conclusion - Future Directions.

Marital interaction: physiological linkage and affective exchange.

Abstract: Thirty married couples were studied during naturalistic interactions to determine the extent to which variation in marital satisfaction could be accounted for by physiological and affective patterns between and within spouses. The authors hypothesized that (a) compared to nondistressed couples' interactions, distressed couples' interactions would show greater physiological interrelatedness or "linkage," more negative affect, and more reciprocity of negative affect and (b) these differences would be more pronounced when the interaction was high in conflict (discussing a marital problem) as opposed to low in conflict (discussing the events of the day). Heart rate, skin conductance, pulse transmission time, and somatic activity from both spouses were analyzed using bivariate time-series techniques to derive a measure of physiological linkage. Self-report affective data (obtained using a video-recall procedure) were analyzed using sequential analyses to derive a measure of affect reciprocity. The hypotheses were strongly supported; 60% of the variance in marital satisfaction was accounted for using measures of physiological linkage alone. Additional nonredundant variance was accounted for by the other physiological and affective measures. Social interaction provides a rich, naturalistic, and theoretically advantageous context for studying the relations among physiological, affective, and behavioral phenomena. Unfortunately, the demands associated with laboratory experimentation extract significant compromises that may escalate until the experimental context bears little relation to natural dyadic interaction. For example, interaction between two strangers may be substituted for interaction between intimates; a carefully "programmed" confederate may replace the second person; and finally, the confederate may be replaced by a film, a photograph, an audio recording, or a situation created in the subject's own imagery. In this experiment, naturalistic interaction within a husband-wife dyad was used as the context

Contextual control of the extinction of conditioned fear: tests for the associative value of the context.

Abstract: Four conditioned suppression experiments examined the influence of contextual stimuli on the rat's fear of an extinguished conditioned stimulus (CS). When rats received pairings of a CS with shock in one context and then extinction of the CS in another context, fear of the CS was renewed when the CS was returned to and tested in the original context (Experiments 1 and 3). No such renewal was obtained when the CS was tested in a second context after extinction had occurred in the conditioning context (Experiment 4). In Experiment 2, shocks presented following extinction reinstated fear of the CS, but only if they were presented in the context in which the CS was tested. In each experiment, the associative properties of the contexts were independently assessed. Contextual excitation was assessed primarily with context-preference tests in which the rats chose to sit in either the target context or an adjoining side compartment. Contextual inhibition was assessed with summation tests. Although reinstatement was correlated with demonstrable contextual excitation present during testing, the renewal effect was not. Moreover, there was no evidence that contextual inhibition developed during extinction. The results suggest that fear of an extinguished CS can be affected by the excitatory strength of the context but that independently demonstrable contextual excitation or inhibition is not necessary for contexts to control that fear.

Mentorship: A Career Training and Development Tool

Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on mentorship and presents an intitial framework for research on mentor-protege relationships for both men and women. Critical dimensions of this framework include the context within which a mentor-protege relationship exists, the gender of these role partners, the characteristics each partner seeks in the other, the stages of the relationship, and the positive and negative outcomes accruing to the mentor, to the protege, and to their organization.

Toward understanding strategic issue diagnosis

Abstract: This paper calls attention to a central but neglected process in strategic decision making, i.e. strategic issue diagnosis (SID). A framework for discussing SID is presented in terms of three critical components: inputs, process characteristics and outputs. The framework is illustrated in the context of PIMS and BCG, two widely recognized strategy models. The major implications highlight the theoretical significance of SID for understanding strategic decision making.

The locus of contextual interference in motor skill acquisition

Abstract: Trois experiences tentent d'expliquer le paradoxe selon lequel les essais d'entrainement presentes dans un ordre aleatoire durant l'acquisition d'une habilete motrice sont nuisibles a la performance d'entrainement mais favorables a la performance de retention

Time-dependent ARMA modeling of nonstationary signals

Abstract: Modeling of nonstationary signals can be achieved through time-dependent autoregressive moving-average models and lattices, by the use of a limited series expansion of the time-varying coefficients in the models. This method leads to an extension of several well-known techniques of stationary spectral estimation to the nonstationary case. Time-varying AR models are identified by means of a fast (Levinson) algorithm which is also suitable for the AR part of a mixed ARMA model. An alternative to this method is given by the extension of Cadzow's method. Lattices with time-dependent reflection coefficients are identified through an algorithm which is similar to Burg's. Finally, the Prony-Pisarenko estimator is adapted to this nonstationary context, the signal considered in this case being the output of a zero-input time-varying system corrupted by an additive white noise. In all these methods the estimation is global in the sense that the parameters are estimated over a time interval [0, T], given the observations [y 0 ... y T ]. The maximum likelihood method which falls within the same framework is also briefly studied in this paper. Simulations of these algorithms on chirp signals and on transitions between phonemes in speech conclude the paper.

Differential Context Effects in the Comprehension of Abstract and Concrete Verbal Materials

Abstract: Three experiments were performed to test contrasting predictions of a dual-representation theory and a context availability model of concreteness effects in verbal processing. In one experiment, abstract and concrete sentences were presented with and without a paragraph context. Without context, subjects took longer to read abstract sentences than concrete sentences. With context, the reading times did not differ. A similar result was observed in a second experiment in which lexical decision times were measured for abstract and concrete words. In the absence of context, lexical decision times for abstract words were longer than for concrete words. With a sentence context, however, the lexical decision times for these two word types were equivalent. A subsequent rating experiment indicated that rated context availability was a good predictor of reaction time in both experiments. The results were discussed as providing support for the context availability model.

A unified model for complex segregation analysis

Abstract: Various methods have been proposed for statistical inference of major genes by segregation analysis of human familial data. An attempt is made to resolve some divergences that have occurred in this context by the consideration of a unified model, with some practical applications.

Risk Taking: A Study in Cognition and Personality

Abstract: Risk taking, as it operates within a motivational context, is investigated in an attempt to learn about the broad outlines of the psychology of thinking.

The Louisville Twin Study: Developmental Synchronies in Behavior.

Abstract: The Louisville Twin Study includes nearly 500 pairs of twins and their siblings who have participated in a longitudinal study of mental development, beginning in infancy and extending to adolescence. The results show that individual differences beginning in infancy and extending to adolescence. The results show that individual differences in intelligence progressively stabilized by school age, and each child followed a distinctive pattern of spurts and lags in mental development. Monozygotic twins became increasingly concordant over ages and matched each other closely for developmental trends. By contrast, dizygotic twins regressed to an intermediate level of concordance, comparable with that found for siblings and parent-offspring sets. A comprehensive home assessment was performed to identify the home/family variables that contributed to mental development. The overall results pointed to a strong developmental thrust in the growth of intelligence, which was principally guided by an intrinsic genetic ground plan. Qualitative features of home and family did, however, add significantly to prediction of offspring IQ. The results are interpreted in the context of Waddington's developmental model, and some recent advances in neurobiology and genetics are surveyed for their implications for developmental behavior genetics.

The Constructivist Researcher as Teacher and Model Builder

Abstract: The constructivist teaching experiment is used in formulating explanations of children’s mathematical behavior. Essentially, a teaching experiment consists of a series of teaching episodes and individual interviews that covers an extended period of time—anywhere from 6 weeks to 2 years. The explanations we formulate consist of models—constellations of theoretical constructs—that represent our understanding of children’s mathematical realities. However, the models must be distinguished from what might go on in children’s heads. They are formulated in the context of intensive interactions with children. Our emphasis on the researcher as teacher stems from our view that children’s construction of mathematical knowledge is greatly influenced by the experience they gain through interaction with their teacher. Although some of the researchers might not teach, all must act as model builders to ensure that the models reflect the teacher’s understanding of the children.

Modern Racism and Modern Discrimination The Effects of Race, Racial Attitudes, and Context on Simulated Hiring Decisions

Abstract: Researchers in American race relations have demonstrated the ambivalence white Americans feel toward black Americans. The prejudiced white behaves positively or negatively toward blacks depending on the context of the behavior, while the less prejudiced white behaves more consistently across contexts. In this study, the ambivalence concept was used to demonstrate the construct validity of a relatively nonreactive scale of racial prejudice-the Modern Racism Scale. Eighty-one white college students were pretested on the scale and then evaluated job candidates with identical resumes (except for a picture of a black or white male) under contexts designed to elicit positive or negative discrimination by ambivalent (presumably prejudiced) subjects. As predicted, when the candidate was black, the Modern Racism Scale was negatively correlated with hiring evaluations in the negative context and positively correlated in the positive context. When the job candidate was white, context and the Modern Racism Scale were...

Type of Entrepreneur, Type of Firm, and Managerial Motivation: Implications for Organizational Life Cycle Theory

Abstract: Miner Sentence Completion Scale measures of managerial motivation for a sample of Oregon entrepreneurs were compared with interview data on entrepreneur and firm type using a system of differentiation derived from the Enterprising Man (Collins, Moore and Unwalla, 1964) research. Certain relationships between aspects of managerial motivation and firm expansion and growth were found. In addition, the overall level of managerial motivation among the entrepreneurs relative to corporate managers was found to be low, and the previously noted association between an opportunistic entrepreneurial type and growthoriented firms was confirmed. These findings are discussed in the context of organizational life cycle theory with special reference to the early stages of transition from entrepreneurial to bureaucratic forms and various typologies of entrepreneurs. It appears that under certain circumstances growth may not require a shift in leadership style, but that in some important respects entrepreneurial and bureaucratic systems are managerially distinct.

Long-Term Contracts and Moral Hazard

Abstract: This article extends the economic theory of agency to a simple class of multiperiod situations. In this context we study the role of long-term contracts in controlling moral hazard problems. We characterize the optimal long-term contract, and show that even when the "environment" is separable over time, the agent's compensation in one period will depend on his performance in that period and his performance in the prior periods.

Military Expenditure and Growth in Less Developed Countries

Abstract: This article analyzes the relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in less developed countries using cross-sectional evidence in a macrostatistical framework. Within the context of a fully specified empirical model it is found that military expenditure has a negative effect on growth and thus retards development. Specification sensitivity analysis is conducted to show that the results are robust.

Individuality and connectedness in the family as a context for adolescent identity formation and role-taking skill.

Abstract: Observations of family communication indicate that adolescents who exhibit greater degrees of identity exploration and role-taking skill participate in relationships in which both individuality and connectedness are expressed.

Accounting, budgeting and control systems in their organizational context: Theoretical and empirical perspectives☆

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between accounting, budgeting and control in its actual organization context from a theoretical as well as an empirical perspective. It argues that the process of exercising control in an organization is significantly more complex than conventional managerial accounting theory suggests. It also argues that budgeting and even an accounting system cannot be viewed as a control system per se; rather, they must be seen as a part of a carefully designed total system of organizational control. If the linkages between budgeting or an accounting measurement system and the other essential prerequisites of a control system are not adequate, then the system may not fulfill its intended functions. The validity and implications of these ideas are examined in the context of the control systems of three organizations. The results suggest the need for a different orientation of the role that accounting and budgeting play in the control process as well as a broader concept of control itself.

The use of grounded theory for the qualitative analysis of organizational behaviour

Abstract: Qualitative social research generates large amounts of non-standard data which make analysis problematic. This discussion advocates the use of grounded theory as a way of handling these problems. The approach is illustrated, in the context of organizational research, by three cases of grounded theoretical analyses: (a) a study of face-to-face interaction in a hospital between nurses and patients’ relatives; (b) a field-study based on the complex organizational interrelationships associated with small batch production manufacturing; and (c) a documentary-based analysis of the organizational pre-conditions of large-scale accidents. The discussion of the cases stresses the manner in which the qualitative data collected were manipulated in order to give them theoretical shape.

Critical Mathematics Education: An Application of Paulo Freire's Epistemology:

Abstract: Paulo Freire's critical education theory is “re-invented” in the context of a mathematics curriculum for urban working-class adults. The problems Freire poses for teachers in that context are explo...

Accounting principles

Abstract: From the Publisher: Covers the traditional and managerial issues while ensuring that students understand the importance of accounting in the world today. A heavy emphasis is placed on decision making, communication, ethics and critical thinking. The text demonstrates how leading corporations utilize accounting information and gives students a context for the concepts they are learning.

Incremental Context-Dependent Analysis for Language-Based Editors

Abstract: Knowledge of a programming language's grammar allows language-based editors to enforce syntactic correctness at all times during development by restricting editing operations to legitimate modifications ot ~ the program's context-free derivation tree; however, not all language constraints can be enforced in this way because not all features can be described by the context-free formalism. Attribute grammars permit context-dependent language features to be expressed in a modular, declarative fashion and thus are a good basis for specifying language-based editors. Such editors represent programs as attributed trees, Which are modified by operations such as subtree pruning and grafting. Incremental analysis is performed by updating attribute values after every modification. This paper discusses how updating can be carried out and presents several algorithms for the task, including one that is asymptotically optimal in time.

The use of the life-style concept in travel demand models

Abstract: The concept of life-style is becoming a major differentiating trait between population groups substituting for economic and social classes.This paper describes the utilization of the concept of life-style in the context of travel demand models. Life-style is defined as a pattern of behavior under constrained resources which conforms to the orientations an individual has toward three major ‘life decisions' he or she must make: (a) formation of a household (of any type), (b) participation in the labor force, and (c) orientation toward leisure.A population is classified into life-style groups based on similarity in a multivariate space. Socioeconomic and demographic variables define that space, and emphasis is put on variables which are indicative of emerging new life-styles (for example, the relative contribution of the female spouse to the household income). Cluster analysis is employed to identify the life-style groups.Models for the combinations of choice of mode and destination for shopping trips are es...

Vocabulary Development: All Contexts Are Not Created Equal

Abstract: The Elementary School Journal Volume 83, Number 3 ? 1983 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0013-5984/83/8303-0003$01.00 It is well accepted that the context that surrounds a word in text can give clues to the word's meaning. The process of getting word meaning from context has been explored recently by several investigators. This research has shed light on such aspects of context as to what degree context can be said to consist of text information