The Concept of Human Nature in East Asia: Etic and Emic Characteristics

Adopting a constructivist approach, individual constructions of the concept of human nature were investigated by using an 'adulthood interview' and culturally adapted dilemma stories. Subjects were young adults with higher education, including university students and individuals already in work from the US, Indonesia, Japan and Korea. The central hypothesis that subjects from different cultures conceptualize similar structures of understanding human nature at different levels of complexity was clearly confirmed. A second complementary hypothesis assumed that subjects from eastern cultures emphasize a more collective and interdependent identity compared with US subjects. Content analysis revealed that all subjects from eastern cultures elaborated characteristics of interdependency that were viewed as crucial for human nature, while US subjects emphasized aspects of individuality and independence. However, without exception, eastern subjects also simultaneously stressed autonomous identity. Conflict resolutions resulting from contradictions between independent and interdependent identity are described by examples from Indonesia (parent-child conflict) and Japan (self-other conflict). Finally, a combination of universal structural levels and of a culturally shaped conception of identity is suggested, assuming that the interdependent self, more pronounced in eastern cultures, and independent identities, more elaborated in western cultures, are conceived at different structural levels of increasing complexity that show universal characteristics

From William Preyer to William Stern: On the role of developmental diaries in the beginnings of the German developmental psychology

Der 125. Jahrestag des Erscheinens von William Thierry Preyers Die Seele des Kindes ist Anlass, aus methodologischer Perspektive einen Blick auf die Frühgeschichte der wissenschaftlichen Entwicklungspsychologie zu werfen. Preyer hat in dieser ersten umfassenden Darstellung der frühen Kindheit vor allem auf Tagebuchaufzeichnungen zurückgegriffen, die er zur Entwicklung seines Sohnes Axel in den ersten drei Lebensjahren angefertigt hatte. Bei aller Anerkennung, die Preyer als Begründer der modernen Entwicklungspsychologie erfahren hat, ist er schon sehr bald von seinem »Nachfolger« William Stern mit den Argumenten kritisiert worden, seine Psychologie sei im Grunde eine Physiologie und seine Tagebuchmethodik wiese etliche Schwächen auf. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden wir in unserem Beitrag zunächst die methodischen Prinzipien und das Vorgehen Preyers bei den Tagebuchaufzeichnungen, soweit bekannt, nachzeichnen, um sie anschließend mit den Ansprüchen und der Praxis der Sternschen Entwicklungstagebücher zu vergleichen. Es zeigt sich, dass Preyer und Stern unterschiedliche methodische Standards in den Vordergrund rückten. Im letzten Teil setzen wir unsere Erkenntnisse über die »klassischen« Entwicklungstagebücher zum Status der Tagebuchmethodik in der heutigen Entwicklungspsychologie in Beziehung.Exactly 125 years have passed since William Thierry Preyer published in 1882 The mind of the child, a publication which is known as the first textbook of modern developmental psychology. To a great extent, The mind of the child is based on diary notes that Preyer collected about his son Axel during the first three years of the child’s life. Although Preyer very soon became famous as the »founder of developmental psychology,« one of his prominent German successors, William Stern, was very critical of Preyer’s general orientation and his empirical methods. In our article, we first describe Preyer’s and Stern’s practices of taking diary notes and compare their explicit and implicit methodological standards. It turns out that Preyer and Stern adhered to different standards; thus, Stern’s critique is partly misleading. In the second part of our paper, we present in more detail Preyer’s and Stern’s diary notes on the development of the self concept, thereby pointing out that their diaries continue to be an vital source of information for developmental research. We conclude by comparing the classical diary studies with the current practice of collecting diaries within the framework of the qualitative vs. quantitative methods distinction

Current Status of Trace Metal Pollution in Soils Affected by Industrial Activities

There is a growing public concern over the potential accumulation of heavy metals in soil, owing to rapid industrial development. In an effort to describe the status of the pollutions of soil by industrial activities, relevant data sets reported by many studies were surveyed and reviewed. The results of our analysis indicate that soils were polluted most significantly by metals such as lead, zinc, copper, and cadmium. If the dominant species are evaluated by the highest mean concentration observed for different industry types, the results were grouped into Pb, Zn, Ni, Cu, Fe, and As in smelting and metal production industries, Mn and Cd in the textile industry, and Cr in the leather industry. In most cases, metal levels in the studied areas were found to exceed the common regulation guideline levels enforced by many countries. The geoaccumulation index (Igeo), calculated to estimate the enrichment of metal concentrations in soil, showed that the level of metal pollution in most surveyed areas is significant, especially for Pb and Cd. It is thus important to keep systematic and continuous monitoring of heavy metals and their derivatives to manage and suppress such pollution

Seizure-Like Activities during Head-Up Tilt Test-Induced Syncope

Purpose: Some patients with neurally mediated reflex syncope may be misdiagnosed as epilepsy because myoclonic jerky movements are observed during syncope. The seizure-like activities during the head-up tilt test (HUT) have been rarely reported. The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics of these seizure-like activities and evaluate whether there are differences in the clinical characteristics and hemodynamic parameters of patients with neurally mediated reflex syncope with and without seizure-like activities during HUT-induced syncope. Materials and Methods: The medical records of 1,383 consecutive patients with a positive HUT were retrospectively reviewed, and 226 patients were included in this study. Results: Of 226 patients, 13 (5.75%) showed seizure-like activities, with 5 of these (2.21%) having multifocal myoclonic jerky movements, 5 (2.21%) having focal seizurelike activity involving one extremity, and 3 (1.33%) having upward deviation of eye ball. Comparison of patients with and without seizure-like activities revealed no significant differences in terms of clinical variables and hemodynamic parameters during HUT. Conclusion: Seizure-like activities occurred occasionally during HUTinduced syncope in patients with neurally mediated reflex syncope. The seizure-like activities during HUT might not be related to the severity of the syncopal episodes or hemodynamic changes during HUT. Key Words: Neurally mediated reflex syncope, seizure-like activities, head-up tilt tes

Airway Inflammation and Allergen Specific IgE Production May Persist Longer Than Airway Hyperresponsiveness in Mice

During the preclinical study of new therapeutic modality, we evaluate whether the treatment can reverse the established asthma phenotypes in animal model. However, few have reported on the long term persistence of asthma phenotypes upon re-challenge with allergen (secondary challenge) in animal model. We evaluated the persistence of asthma phenotypes by secondary challenge at different times in previously challenged murine asthma model. BALB/c mice sensitized by intraperitoneal injections of 20 µgram of ovalbumin and 1 mg of alum on days 1 and 14 were challenged initially by the inhalation of 1% ovalbumin for 30 min on days 21, 22, and 23. Each group of mice was rechallenged at 5, 7, 9, or 12 weeks after the initial challenge. Airway hyperresponsiveness, BAL fluid, airway histology and serum ovalbumin-specific IgE level were evaluated. Airway eosinophilia, airway inflammation and serum ovalbumin-specific IgE production persisted upon secondary allergen challenges at least 12 weeks after the initial challenge. However, airway hyperresponsiveness persisted only until mice were rechallenged 7 weeks after the initial challenge. Airway inflammation and allergen specific IgE production may persist longer than airway hyperresponsiveness in a mouse asthma model of secondary allergen challenge

The Relationship between Subjective and Objective Parameters in CT Phantom Image Evaluation

Objective: To evaluate whether there is a relationship between subjective parameters determined by a reviewer (spatial resolution, low contrast resolution, and artifacts) and objective parameters (the CT number of water, noise, and image uniformity) in CT phantom image evaluations. Materials and Methods: We reviewed the CT results of phantom image evaluations conducted by Korean Institute for Accreditation of Medical Image (KIAMI) from May 2007 to June 2007. We compared the objective parameters against the pass or fail groups for the subjective parameters. We also evaluated whether there is a relationship between the artifact types and the other subjective parameters. Results: The mean noise value was significantly higher in the fail groups for the subjective parameters compared to the pass groups (p = 0.006). Specifically, noise and low contrast resolution were found to have a statistically significant positive correlation (r = 0. 183, p < 0.001). In the fail group for low contrast resolution, the failure due to artifacts was significantly higher than the pass group (p < 0.001). In contrast, no statistically significant differences were found for the mean CT number of water, noise, or image uniformity based on the types of artifacts. Conclusion: Subjective CT image parameters evaluated by a reviewer correlate with objectively measured parameters, especially noise. Therefore, a stricter noise standard might be able to improve the subjective parameters results, such as low contrast resolution.Park HJ, 2008, KOREAN J RADIOL, V9, P354, DOI 10.3348/kjr.2008.9.4.354IM TH, 2007, 1 KIAMI, P1*KIAMI DEP ED, 2006, WORKSH EX QUAL ASS P, P141*FLUK CORP, 2005, NUCL ASS 76 410 4130*KIAMI DEP ED, 2005, WORKSH EX QUAL ASS P, P13McCollough CH, 2004, MED PHYS, V31, P2423, DOI 10.1118/1.1769632MCCOLLOUGH CM, 2000, CATEGORICAL COURSE D, P189WIL R, 1998, CT IMAGE QUALITYEUCLID S, 1994, COMPUT TOMOGR, P174BETHESDA MD, 1988, 99 NCRPJUDY PF, 1977, 1 AAPM*ACR, CT ACCR PROGR REQ