Areas Of Disagreement Research Articles

Understanding treatment decision making: Contexts, commonalities, complexities, and challenges

The diagnosis of cancer sets off a cascade of complex decisions at a time when patients feel vulnerable and distressed. Although clinical decisions used to follow one standard, many guidelines now outline several options and include explicit recognition of the need to incorporate patients' preferences to determine the most appropriate treatment. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of empirical studies about cancer patients' treatment-related decision making, to highlight the areas of congruence and divergence in that empirical literature, and then to generate a framework that points to future interventions and research. Through a group discussion with a range of experts in the field, we generated a framework for the critical treatment decisions and key issues within those decisions. Then, we reviewed the literature describing the experiences of cancer patients and evaluating interventions designed to improve the quality of treatment decisions. We identified four major differences that influence decision making across cancers and across individuals with the same diagnosis. We also identified four common themes across situations and people. There is considerable evidence that decision aids can improve the quality of decisions across a range of diseases, although the data for cancer treatment decision making are limited. Other interventions such as navigation-skill training are promising but have little evidence of benefit for cancer decisions. There are many opportunities for behavioral research to extend and contribute to the understanding and improvement of cancer treatment decision making. Some key areas in need of research include developing taxonomies of disease and patient characteristics and increasing understanding of the lived experiences of cancer survivors, of the influence of time and timing, of the relationship of information and preferences, and of participation in randomized clinical trials.

Cocaine sensitization and dopamine mediation of cue effects in rodents, monkeys, and humans: areas of agreement, disagreement, and implications for addiction

Sensitization of mesocorticolimbic dopamine projections has been a valuable model of neurobiological adaptation to chronic exposure to cocaine and other psychostimulants. In addition to providing an explanation of exaggerated responses to drugs that might explain their increased ability to serve as reinforcers, sensitization has also been incorporated into influential theories of how drug associated cues can acquire increased salience and incentive motivation. However, almost all of the work exploring behavioral and neurochemical sensitization has been conducted in rodents. Importantly, the relatively small amount of work conducted in human and nonhuman primates differs from the rodent work in some important regards. This review will examine areas of convergence and divergence between the rodent and primate literature on sensitization and the ability of drug associated environmental cues to elicit dopamine release. The implications of this comparison for expanding addiction research beyond dopaminergic mechanisms in the striatum/nucleus accumbens will be considered.

Parent Report of Stereotyped Behaviors, Social Interaction, and Developmental Disturbances in Individuals with Angelman Syndrome

Research examining autistic symptoms in Angelman syndrome (AS) is limited. The goal of this study was to further characterize the nature of stereotyped behaviors, social interaction deficits, and developmental disturbances in individuals with AS. Parents of 248 individuals between the ages of 3 and 22 completed a survey of autistic symptomatology by mail, the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale. Results confirmed a high degree of developmental delay and limited expressive language skills. In terms of stereotyped behaviors and social interaction, areas of convergence and divergence between AS and behaviors typically associated with autism spectrum disorders are described. The relationship between child characteristics (age, gender, seizure disorder, genetic subtype) and autistic symptomatology are discussed.

U.S.‐Japanese relations after Koizumi: Convergence or cooling?

Did the Bush‐Koizumi personal connection mask underlying areas of divergence between the United States and Japan? A look at bilateral relations between leaders, Japan's external threat environment, common values, and economic relations gives some insight into the way ahead.

Consensus and Divergence in International Studies: Survey Evidence from 140 International Studies Curriculum Programs

There is a growing debate over the extent of consensus or divergence found within interdisciplinary International Studies (IS) programs. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, this debate has taken place in the absence of empirical data. This article advances our understanding of the current state of IS curricula through an analysis of data generated from a survey of 140 interdisciplinary undergraduate IS majors across the United States. The surveyed programs comprise 63 Doctoral/Research institutions, 40 Master's institutions, and 37 Baccalaureate institutions found in 38 states and the District of Columbia. The 140 programs are analyzed in terms of six basic components: introductory course(s), research methods, capstone course(s), area and/or thematic concentrations, study abroad, and foreign language requirements. The findings demonstrate significant areas of both consensus and divergence in IS programs.

An Agenda for Selling and Sales Management Research: Using the Financial Industry’s Forward Thinkers for Insight

Understanding the similarities and differences between the research priorities of academics and those of practitioners may create opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration. We used a three-phase process to tap industry forward thinkers to identify 40 research topics of import to practitioners in the financial services industry. These topics were refined and validated, leaving 15 areas where research needs are a top priority. We mapped these areas against two published academic research agendas to identify areas of convergence and divergence. Our findings suggest that more than half of academic research falls into areas deemed important by practitioners in this industry. We pinpoint four areas particularly vital to practitioners where little academic research exists. We discuss tailored approaches for developing collaborative research for high-convergence areas versus for low-convergence areas.

Exploring Change in the Housing Association Sector in England Using the Delphi Method

This paper uses the Delphi method as a way of studying organisational and sector change. It provides a brief introduction to Delphi, its application to public management and its relevance to research on the transformation of social housing. It then describes an application to research on the future shape and structure of the housing association sector in England. The method is used to clarify areas of consensus and divergence, and to identify differences between types of association and key trends in sector transformation. Conclusions are presented on changing sector identity, governance, spatial level of operations, organisational scale and organisational form and on learning from this application of the Delphi method.

Archaeological Identification of an Idiosyncratic Lifestyle: Excavation and Analysis of the Theosophical Society Dump, San Diego, California

Refuse deposited by members of the Theosophical Institute in San Diego, California, ca. 1900–1920 provides a basis for defining patterns that reflect the idiosyncratic lifeways of the people who lived there. Comparisons with assemblages from urban and rural sites of the same period allow isolation of the areas of divergence. The Theosophical Society assemblage has low proportions of consumer items and bottled products along with lower values for ceramic tableware price scaling. Dietary differences were noted, as well, and the refuse has a large number of homeopathic medicine vials, reflecting specialized health practices. The patterns noted indicate less than full participation in the consumer society of the time and deviations in diet and healing practices from those of the mainstream society, and may have served as boundary markers, reinforcing the sense of group membership and cohesiveness.

A Discursive Approach to the Registration Debate Working with Texts; Thinking Ethics.

Counsellors are currently considering impending registration. This important decision is being made in the context of wider changes that also affect the profession: poststructural versions of subjectivity; potential environmental collapse and increasing regimes of accountability. This article takes a closer look at the registration debate with these concerns in mind. It applies a critical, Foucauldian, discursive approach to two relevant documents: the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA) and the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) Code of Ethics 2002 (the Code). Although these documents have different functions, both impinge upon counselling practice. A comparison foregrounds some ethical discrepancies and raises the question of whether registration under the Act is even possible without a significant rewrite of the NZAC Code. The article lays out some areas of divergence in the hope that they may be useful points of reference in future negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Perspectives on a personal critique of international business

PurposeTo contribute to critical discussion of management education and practice in the “global economy”, engaging with fragmentation of subjects in the academic literature and of issues across zones of production and consumption in the global community. In order to highlight key elements, discusses the role and contribution of the transnational corporation (TNC) and of the export processing zone (EPZ), as illustrative examples of international business.Design/methodology/approachPlaces the discussion into a broad context, through consideration of social, political and economic implications of international business. Presents and contrasts representations of international business in various literature sets and in different contexts. Draws loosely on a broad range of literature, from the field of critical management, and from both academic and non‐academic domains that engage with issues of international business and globalization.FindingsProposes that fragmentation within the mainstream management literature and in areas of management education militates against holistic and critical understanding of the complex nature of global business. Challenges exemplars of “good” management practice from the managerial literature through engagement with a range of discipline‐specific texts, highlighting areas of divergence, contradiction and omission.Originality/valueContributes to the developing critical management literature that engages with issues in a broad societal context.

Bridging the Gap: Using Triangulation Methodology to Estimate Minimal Clinically Important Differences (MCIDs)

This paper proposes the use of triangulation methodology to derive guidelines for interpreting change scores on health outcome measures. Triangulation integrates results from global ratings with clinical benchmarks of change, statistical estimates of magnitude, and qualitative data from patients and/or clinicians to derive guidelines that are not field-specific or method bound. A case study is presented to illustrate how this methodology can be applied. Secondary analyses were performed on blinded data from 2,971 patients enrolled in three phase IIIa clinical trials to develop guidelines for interpreting change scores on the Breathlessness Diary (BD), a relatively new approach for evaluating dyspnea outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. BD scores were examined by disease severity and rescue medication use. In addition, mean BD change scores by physician global ratings of efficacy were juxtaposed with changes in forced expiratory volume (FEV1) and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire scores. Percent change, effect size, one-half standard deviation, and the standard error of measurement were used as statistical indicators of magnitude. Data from qualitative interviews provided insight into patient perspectives of change in dyspnea. Taking into consideration results across estimation methods, guidelines were developed for defining large, moderate, and small group-level mean changes on the BD. Areas of divergence and convergence across statistical indicators and clinical benchmarks in this case study highlight the importance of using triangulation methodology to derive guidelines that are both empirically sound and clinically relevant.

Real and Imaginary Rotary Motion Processing: Functional Parcellation of the Human Parietal Lobe Revealed by fMRI

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 16 healthy subjects while they undertook orientation discrimination tasks of real rotating and mentally rotating alphanumeric characters. Perception of rotating and stationary abstract characters was also performed. Mental rotation and the perception of alphanumeric characters undergoing real rotation activated equivalent cortical areas, in keeping with the analogue hypothesis of mental rotation. In addition, areas along the dorsal stream, including the V5/middle temporal complex and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), were activated during both the real and imaginary rotary conditions. Within the parietal lobe there were areas of convergence (i.e., recruited by all three motion conditions) and areas of divergence (i.e., selectively activated by a particular condition). Tasks requiring canonical-mirror orientation discrimination revealed involvement of neural substrates localized to the ventrolateral bank of the IPS. Tasks in which this judgment was not performed and during which the subject viewed rotary motion of abstract stimuli recruited activity in the medial bank of the IPS. These results indicate subspecialization of the human posterior parietal lobe according to function.

The search for common ground: Part II. Nonlinguistic performance by linguistically diverse learners.

Below-average performance on some nonlinguistic tasks often is considered a potential correlate of primary language impairment (LI). If nonlinguistic cognitive processing truly is deficient in children with LI, then measures may be identified that distinguish language learners at risk for LI that are independent of the number and type of languages learned. This study focuses on within- and across-task performance on 4 basic nonlinguistic processing tasks. The aim was to systematically investigate areas of potential overlap and divergence among 3 groups of linguistically diverse children: English-only speakers with LI, typically developing English-only speakers (EO), and typically developing bilingual Spanish-English speakers (BI). The performance of the 100 8-13-year-old children who took part in J. Windsor and K. Kohnert's (2004) study was analyzed. Experimental tasks were simple and choice versions of auditory- and visual-detection tasks. Each task included 4 levels of motor difficulty: responding with the preferred and nonpreferred hand and foot. Analyses revealed no significant differences among groups in simple auditory detection. The EO group was significantly faster than the LI group in each of the other 3 tasks. While the same pattern was evident for the BI group, the difference was significant only in choice visual detection. Overall patterns of response latency within and across tasks were qualitatively similar across the 3 groups. Development, indexed here by chronological age, played a significant role in predicting response latencies for children in all 3 groups.

Distribution and structure of heterotrophic protist communities in the northeast equatorial Pacific Ocean

The distribution and structure of heterotrophic protist communities and size-fractionated chlorophyll a were studied during the Korea Deep Ocean Study 98 (KODOS 98) research expedition (July 1998) in the northeast equatorial Pacific Ocean (5–11°N). Areas of convergence and divergence formed at the boundaries of the South Equatorial Current (SEC), North Equatorial Current (NEC), and North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) during the expedition. Water column physicochemical characteristics significantly influenced the size structure of heterotrophic protist communities. Intense vertical mixing and high nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations characterized SEC and NECC areas, which were affected by converging and diverging water masses, respectively. Nanophytoplankton dominated in SEC and NECC areas; both areas also had relatively high heterotrophic protist biomasses (average 743 µg C m−2). NEC areas were characterized by a stratified vertical structure, low nutrient and chlorophyll a concentrations, and picophytoplankton dominance. The heterotrophic protist biomass in NEC areas averaged 414 µg C m−2; nanoprotists ( 20 µm size classes in both water columns. The biomass of heterotrophic protists significantly correlated with the net-, nano-, and picophytoplankton biomass in SEC/NECC areas and with the nano- and picophytoplankton biomass in NEC areas. Heterotrophic protists and phytoplankton also showed strong positive correlation in the study area. The size structure of the phytoplankton biomass coincided with that of heterotrophic protists; the heterotrophic protist biomass positively correlated with the protists’ prey source. These relationships suggest that the community structure of heterotrophic protists and the microbial food web depended on size classes within the phytoplankton biomass. Microzooplankton grazing and phytoplankton growth rates were higher in SEC/NECC areas than in NEC areas. In contrast, the potential primary production grazed by microzooplankton was relatively high in NEC areas (127.3%) compared with SEC/NECC areas (94.6%). Our results indicate that the relative importance and size structure of heterotrophic protists might vary according to two distinct water column structures.

Temporal and spatial variability of satellite sea surface temperature and ocean colour in the Japan/East Sea

Temporal and spatial variability of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and ocean colour in the Japan/East Sea (JES) are examined during winter and spring using satellite data from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Sea-viewing Wide Field of view Sensor (SeaWiFS). The timing of the spring phytoplankton bloom and the locations of the chlorophyll fronts are related to changes in the thermal fields and the locations of the temperature fronts. Daily images of SST and chlorophyll concentration show both differences and similarities of bio-optical and thermal front location, depending on region and season. Four sub-regions in the JES were defined and SST and chlorophyll values were extracted from weekly and monthly composite images to derive summary statistics. SST at the Subpolar Front increased about 7°C over a 1.5-month period from late April to early June in 1999. During this same period, elevated chlorophyll values near the Korean coast and in the southern basin decreased sharply as the phytoplankton bloom that first developed in the southern basin progressed to the front and northward. The SST/chlorophyll relationship is complex and seasonal. Near the Subpolar Front, SST and chlorophyll were positively related in April. In May, highest chlorophyll values corresponded to mixing regimes (such as areas of convergence and divergence at the edges of meanders) and, by June, SST and chlorophyll near the front were inversely related.

Striking a balance: priorities for research in LIS

This paper examines current research activities, and future priorities for research, in the library and information community and describes some of the areas of convergence and divergence between research driven by UK government policy and that driven by practitioners themselves. Information gathered through two fact‐finding research projects, the Research Landscape Project and the Library Practitioner Research project provides the basis of the discussion outlined. The many benefits that library and information science (LIS) research, in particular collaboration between researchers and practitioners, provides are highlighted. The paper concludes that in the diverse LIS community there are various reasons for undertaking research and that the needs of practitioners should be balanced against those of other sections of the research community, such as funders and politicians.

ACCELERATING STRUGGLING READERS' PROGRESS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXPERT OPINION AND CURRENT RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS

In this article, we review the findings of Rona Flippo's (1998) “Expert Study” within the comparative context of recently published reading research reports such as the National Reading Panel report (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2000) and Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Does expert opinion square with research recommendations for helping young, struggling readers? Instructional practices that the experts categorized as either “making learning to read difficult” or “facilitating learning to read” are distilled into summary form. Areas of convergence and divergence between “expert opinion” and recent reading research recommendations are identified and discussed. Finally, recommendations of the “Expert Study” and recommendations of recent reading research reports are synthesized into a single set of instructional recommendations for accelerating the progress of struggling readers.

Transparence dans les marchés publics :

At the second ministerial Conference of the WTO in Singapore (1996), a Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement was established to elaborate possible elements for an agreement. Its mandate was reinforced at the fourth ministerial Conference in Doha (2001) in view of launching negotiations on transparency at the next ministerial Conference by explicit consensus. Aspects referring to market access would not be covered, each Member being able to keep its own regimes to grant preferences to local suppliers. This article analyses first the major results of the Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement in order to identify areas of convergence and divergence. Common views are registered for the key transparency procedures linked to tenders. Major difficulties refer to coverage, national remedies and WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism. Without such rules, the effectiveness of transparency risks to be seriously limited. Positions differ also significantly regarding the scope of the rules – transparency only or transparency and implementation of the rules – as well as the treatment of the linkages between government procurement and other policy areas. Second, the preliminary results of the full revision of the WTO plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement are reviewed. The negotiations aim at simplifying, clarifying, updating the present GPA as well as improving developing countries’ access. Particular emphasis is set on shortening the tender procedures as well as devising new provisions referring to withdrawal of entities from the coverage of the Agreement. Market access negotiations and abolition of discriminatory measures should lead to further liberalisation. Third, the options for the future are reviewed. Following the Decision of the WTO General Council of August 1, 2004 re-launching the Doha Round, negotiations of an agreement on transparency in government procurement will not take place under the Doha Programme due to strong opposition by several developing countries. They do not want their policy flexibility to be restrained by WTO rules. For the after-Doha era, an agreement lacking a national remedy system or the WTO dispute settlement mechanism would run the risk of not bearing much result. Various authors emphasize that without a strong commitment from national authorities to apply rigorously rules and fight corruption, it may be difficult to achieve significant practical results. The article concludes that, at present, accession to the new GPA may be the best option for developing countries favourable to multilateral rules on transparency because it would include a national remedy system, the WTO dispute settlement mechanism and a progressive liberalisation at the international level.

Sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder and panic: convergence and divergence.

Disturbed sleep is a common clinical problem in anxiety disorders, particularly in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic disorder (PD). Several studies have attempted to validate the subjective sleep complaints of these disorders using laboratory polysomnography. These attempts, typically focusing on PTSD or PD independently, have demonstrated inconsistent results. To our knowledge, no such studies have attempted to directly compare and contrast sleep disturbances in PTSD and PD together. Our review of the studies of subjective sleep disturbances, sleep architecture, and sleep-related biologic phenomena suggests that a comparative characterization of sleep disturbances in these two disorders is timely. Such an inference is based on our identification of several areas of convergence and divergence between PTSD and PD found in the published literature, as well as our own preliminary investigations. Specifically, PTSD and PD seem to converge on several sleep-related parameters, namely, sleep quality, presence of episodic parasomnias, and movement time. They also appear to diverge in other important sleep-related areas such as respiratory disturbances and the particular phenomenological nature of episodic parasomnias, namely nightmares or nocturnal panic attacks. Investigations focusing on such overlapping phenomena may provide groundwork for further elucidation of central fear systems underlying these two disorders. Additionally, such sleep studies have the potential to provide important insights into ongoing efforts to develop a cohesive conceptual framework into the patho-physiologies of these disorders.

Studying Equality/Inequality: Naturalist and Constructionist Approaches to Equality in Marriage

This article compares naturalist and constructionist approaches to the qualitative study of equality and inequality, and encourages more ethnographers to adopt the latter. Focusing on the subfield of marital equality, three areas of divergence are explored: sampling, interviewing, and the analysis and presentation of data. In each area, naturalists tend to obscure the diversity and complexity of respondents’ interpretations. The constructionist alternative is to make storytelling paramount by treating equality and inequality as situated narrative accomplishments. A constructionist approach focuses on respondents’ own ethnographic skills while still fitting “the data” into a larger analytic story about equality.