Bent Flyvbjerg: power and project management – an appreciation

© 2008, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critique of Bent Flyybjerg's work that has high relevance to the project management (PM) literature. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a narrative with argument and analysis. Findings – The paper challenges readers, PM academics and practitioners to view PM with a political perspective. This paper was delivered at the ICAN 2007 Conference (which is the focus of this issue), which was entitled “Mission Control: Power, Knowledge and Collaboration in Project Practice.” Originality/value – This paper triggers and sustains the debate about the influence of power and its unintended consequences that may affect projects. The review raises PM issues worthy of consideration that are often neglected

Studies of circadian cycles in human subjects during prolonged isolation in a constant environment using 8-channel telemetry systems Memorandum report no. 66-4

Circadian cycles in human subjects during prolonged isolation in constant environment using eight channel telemetry system

Utility of the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS) and the Assessment of Depression Inventory (ADI) in screening for malingering among disability seeking outpatients

Sixty-four individuals undergoing a social security disability evaluation were administered the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS), Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS), and Assessment of Depression Inventory (ADI). Individual results were classified as honest or suspected malingering based on SIRS scores. In addition, 63 individuals from the community were randomly assigned to complete the SIMS and the ADI honestly or as if they were malingering depression. Both malingering groups had significantly higher mean scores on the SIMS Total and ADI Feigning scales than both honest groups. The scores of the malingering groups did not significantly differ. In the clinical sample, previous recommended SIMS Total cut-scores (\u3e14 or \u3e16) had excellent sensitivity, but low specificity. Conversely, the recommended ADI Feigning cut-score (\u3e13) had excellent specificity, but low sensitivity. Higher and lower cut-scores on the SIMS Total and the ADI Feigning scale, respectively, may improve their utility in screening for malingering among disability seeking outpatients

Factors associated with treatment acceptance and compliance among incarcerated male sex offenders

The present study examined factors associated with acceptance and completion of treatment among incarcerated male sex offenders. The files of 156 sex offenders who had been offered treatment at a medium-security state prison were reviewed. Participants were divided into three groups: those who refused treatment from the outset (n = 59); those who began treatment, but later dropped-out or were expelled due to non-compliance ( n = 61); and those who completed treatment or were in an advanced stage of treatment and had never been non-compliant (n = 36). Data were collected for the following variables: age, education, race, marital status, plea, offense denial, parole eligibility, victim age, victim gender, relation to victim, prior sexual offenses, prior felony incarcerations, psychiatric disorders, mental health treatment, childhood sexual victimization, IQ, reading ability, neurological impairment, and personality assessment scores. Significant differences were found between groups on years to parole eligibility; plea; relation to victim; childhood sexual victimization; and MMPI-2 VRIN, L, and Mf scale scores. Logistic regression analyses revealed that significant predictors of treatment refusal include: increased time until parole eligibility and lower VRIN and Mf scores (vs. non-compliant), and no history of childhood sexual victimization and higher L scores (vs. compliant). Having entered a not guilty plea was the only significant predictor of non-compliance among those who initially accepted treatment. These findings are discussed in relation to previous studies of sex offender treatment compliance and directions for future research

Hugh to Doctor Jim, 31 July 1961

Personal correspondenc

Reflections on phronetic social science: a dialogue between Stewart Clegg, Bent Flyvbjerg and Mark Haugaard

Clegg, Flyvbjerg and Haugaard debate the strengths and weaknesses of a Foucauldian-Nietzschean critique of power compared to a tradition exemplified by Lukes and Habermas. Flyvbjerg and Clegg argue that the pursuit of universal normative principles and of rationality without power may lead to oppressive utopian thinking. Drawing on the Aristotelian tradition of phronesis, they propose a contextualist form of critique that situates itself in analysis of local practices to render domination transparent and open to change. While Haugaard accepts there cannot be a universal view that transcends the particularities of context, he argues that the phronetic approach is crypto-normative because it implicitly presupposes unacknowledged liberal normative premises; moreover, any use of 'truth' as a criterion follows Enlightenment principles of verification. © 2014 Taylor & Francis

Likelihood-based assessment of dynamic networks

This paper deals with the problem of assessing probabilistic models that represent the evolution of a target graph. Such models have long been a topic of interest for a number of networks, especially communications networks. The solution developed in this paper gives a rigorous way to calculate the likelihood of the observed graph evolution having arisen from a wide variety of hypothesized models encompassing many already present in the literature. The framework is shown to recover parameters from artificial data and is tested on real data sets from Facebook and from emails from the company Enron

FREKUENSI TRAIT THALASSEMIA-b DI AMBON, MALUKI

Genetic screening for D-thalassemia trait was carried out in Ambon population of the Moluccas, a population genetically related with other eastern Indonesian populations with strong Melanesian influence where HbE gene frequency is very low. Blood specimens were collected from 92 adult healthy unrelated individuals consists of 32 males and 60 females mostly student nurses participated in the study. Three blood indices, hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume and MCHC were normal. However, increase of HbA2 concentration was observed in six individuals (6.5%). Unlike the previous study, not even single individual with abnormally structural hemoglobin was found in this study. The occurrence of carrier of this genetic traits comparable with previous studies in Java, again confirms the interaction of 13-thalassemia and HbE distribution in malaria endemic region. Further measures include premarital genetic counseling should be considered to avoid public health problem that may be created in the future. Key words : genetic screening, B-thalassemia trait, malaria endemic, premarital genetic counselin