Attitude Of Mind Research Articles

Landmark perspective: The legacy of well-water methemoglobinemia

THE LANDMARK ARTICLE¹reprinted in this issue ofThe Journalwas written by a pediatric resident, Hunter Comly, MD, who was encouraged by Robert Jackson, MD, to seek out the cause of cyanosis in two infants referred to Iowa City from the surrounding countryside. Central to the mystery's solution was a theory advanced by the father of the first patient that implicated well water in his daughter's recurrent episodes of cyanosis. Respecting Dr Jackson's "open minded attitude" toward the "cock and bull theory," the young Comly had water from the suspect well analyzed and in so doing demonstrated that well-water nitrates were a cause of methemoglobinemia in infants. A survey of the nitrate content of water from Iowa wells clearly demonstrated the public health dimension of the problem. Neither Comly nor Jackson pursued their interest in methemoglobinemia: Comly became a child psychiatrist, while Jackson distinguished himself as a pediatric

The Legacy of Well-Water Methemoglobinemia

THE LANDMARK ARTICLE¹reprinted in this issue ofThe Journalwas written by a pediatric resident, Hunter Comly, MD, who was encouraged by Robert Jackson, MD, to seek out the cause of cyanosis in two infants referred to Iowa City from the surrounding countryside. Central to the mystery's solution was a theory advanced by the father of the first patient that implicated well water in his daughter's recurrent episodes of cyanosis. Respecting Dr Jackson's "open minded attitude" toward the "cock and bull theory," the young Comly had water from the suspect well analyzed and in so doing demonstrated that well-water nitrates were a cause of methemoglobinemia in infants. A survey of the nitrate content of water from Iowa wells clearly demonstrated the public health dimension of the problem. Neither Comly nor Jackson pursued their interest in methemoglobinemia: Comly became a child psychiatrist, while Jackson distinguished himself as a pediatric

発話者の心的態度からみた助詞「は」と「が」の使い分け

The purpose of this study was to examine the usage of Japanese particles “wa” and “ga” based on speaker's attitude of mind. To consider the education of Japanese for foreigners, hypotheses were built up pragmatically ; a speaker used “wa” to lay emphasis on the following part of a sentence which particles divide, and “ga” to emphasize the preceding phrase. It was opposed to given-new information hypothesis. The first study investigated the different usages of “wa” and “ga” on the first sentences appearing in newspapers. The results showed that “wa” was much used in economic pages as “ga” was rather used in social ones. It suggested that the different usages of “wa” and “ga” were related to a writer's different attitude of mind. The second study investigated different usages by undergraduates when asked to select appropriate particles in given sentences and to write their reasons why they selected them. It suggested that the selection of the particles depended on how to lay emphasis rather than on given-new information.

The creative design philosophy applied to the design of process plant

This paper describes a project based on design teaching at postgraduate level conducted in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Liverpool in conjunction with Pilkington Brothers plc. The co-operative project had two main aims: the education of a postgraduate design engineer employed by Pilkington Brothers plc to an adequate level to enable him to obtain a Master's Degree in Engineering Design; and the design of a specific item of process plant required by the Company. These two aims were complementary, as the student was introduced to many approaches to design thinking, while attempting to provide effective solutions to a specific design problem. The paper briefly describes the various steps involved in attempting to satisfy both requirements. It is indicated that, although there is no universal and all-sufficient design process, a creative and organized attitude of mind can result in the appropriate design procedure being adopted. This can then be justified by the performance of the end product.

Attitudes of Mind

Attitudes of Mind

Characters and Narrators: Filter, Center, Slant, and Interest-Focus

language at large. In our early linguistic experience (God knows when), we learn word or phrase, say, of view. As students we read Henry James or some other narratologist who uses the term to refer to concept, or more likely, tangle of concepts that we have intuitively felt demands study. As established scholars we look long and hard for more appropriate term angle of vision, post of observation, focalization. At last we find one that seems just right, and we introduce it in the fond belief that it is definitive and transparent, only to discover that our readers start using our term in sense that seems strange, even perverse. Then we either defend the term, try to insist on its real or pure (because intended) sense, or, in frustration, abandon it and float another one. What is there about the ordinary usage of of that makes its projection into narratology so problematic? My desk dictionary lists two senses: a point from which things are viewed, and a mental position or viewpoint. (In the manner typical of small dictionaries, it in turn defines as 1. place affording view of and 2. point of view; an attitude of mind: the viewpoint of an artist. The OED and Webster's Third list other senses, including the narratological one, but I'm more concerned with the phrase in its basic popular usage.) The distinction seems to be between place from which something is seen (what we might more precisely call vista), and the mental attitude of the viewer. The second sense is clearly consequence of metaphoric and metonymic transfers. We literally stand in place, say the top of skyscraper, to see something, say the rest of the city. All three components of the situation the thing seen, the place from which it is seen, and the act of seeing are literal. But each of these, alone or together, can also be meant figuratively. Hence the complexity of

Du bon usage de la forêt chez les Vosgiens de la vallée de la Plaine

How the inhabitants of the Plaine Valley (in Vosges) make good use of the forest. In the Romanic Vosges, poaching is the most noticeable phenomenon in a series of behaviourisms which indicate a particular attitude of mind of hunter-gatherers this attitude is in complete contradiction with modern legislation. In the course of centuries, the law has often changed but the people-of-the-forest have invariably kept on making use of their environment as they see fit.

Miracles and God's Existence

Suppose I have a friend (whose good sense on most matters I respect) who takes seriously the possibility that some at least of the miracle storiesassociated with the origin of the Christian religion are substantially true. He does not say that he knows them to be true, but given his belief in the existence of an almighty, all loving creator-god, he sees no reason to think it impossible that they are, and considerable reason for thinking one or two of them highly probable. He regards those who claim that (say) the resurrection of Jesus could not have happened as being unreasonably dogmatic, and as displaying an attitude of mind more appropriate to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries than the latter half of the twentieth century. To rule out the very possibility of the truth of such stories on a priori grounds seems to him to manifest a simplistic philosophical faith which is at least as naive and arbitrary, and perhaps considerably more arrogant,than his own religious faith. Could he be right?

Open Up, Open Out — Learning Follows Suit

Open = Good? There is a lovely feel to the word open. Open is good, closed is bad. It describes an attitude of mind. As an accurate description of a learning arrangement however it leaves much to be desired. It is useful as a flag to march behind and to rally the troops but it does not help us think clearly about distance education, correspondence study, independent learning and the many other forms of provision with which it is associated. In this paper I will try to bring the term into sharper focus and to identify some prospects for the future; but first some history.

Index thématiques, tableaux méthodiques et thésaurus : luxe ou nécessité ?

Thematical indexes, methodical tables, and thésaurus : are they a luxury or a necessity ? The author raises some questions about the new methods of archival arrangement, in the light of ADP and the new needs its creates. Any archival arrangement, whether of modem or historical documents, implies really a work of intellectual synthesis : an effort of thought especially significant at the level of language, for the choice of terms in the thematical index, which has to be done before writing the finding aid, not after. The author emphasizes the difficulty of creating a documentary language, taking as examples four well-known inventories of the Archives nationales. She then describes the successive phases of the elaboration of a thesaurus, the techniques of cross-indexing, and the subsequent creation of a vocabulary that is supple, open, and with self-evident internal relations. The obstacles to these new archival are still many in our profession : refusal of documentary techniques, mistrust for ADP, fear to call in question traditional attitudes of mind and working practices. However, some individual initiatives have been taken and should be pursued, especially in the field of modem records in departmental (= provincial) archives : for instance, the methodical tables proposed by F.-J. Himly for the Archives of Bas-Rhin. At least one thing is evident : the necessity not to confine ourselves to the traditional field of archives, but to interest ourselves in the experiences of libraries, universities, and scientific research.

Careers for Graduate Geographers

Committee of the Society reviews the matter from time to time and this memorandum is the result. It outlines the changing trends in career outlets, the attitudes of mind resulting from a training in geography, and then gives details of the current range of careers for which the training and knowledge acquired during a university course in geography are known to be of value. Before the Second World War, most of the then limited number of graduates in geography were absorbed by the teaching profession as schools increasingly included geography in their curriculum. Immediately after the War local and national planning departments were created as a result of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947, and the greater numbers of geography graduates ofthe 1950s and the early 1960s were largely shared by the teaching and planning professions. The late 1960s and the 1970s, however, witnessed an increased interest in the environment and also heralded a new phase in which geography graduates penetrated into a wide range of professional posts in local and central government, industry, commerce, banking and accountancy: this coincided with a relative decline in the traditional outlets of teaching and planning as these professions became fully staffed. Currently, ofthe 2500 graduates in geography each year, little more that 20 per cent are likely to enter the educational world and only about 2 per cent that of planning. The remainder will disperse into a wide spectrum of posts in administration, business, commerce, industry and the environmental field. This great expansion in career outlets for geography graduates should give encouragement to the graduates ofthe 1980s confronted with the spectre of delayed employment. It is sometimes stated that the possession of a geography degree is irrelevant to many of the posts to which geographers have been appointed. Such critics overlook the fact that a geographical training and the adaptability acquired appeals to many employers who have become aware ofthe fact that graduates in geography, unlike those in many other disciplines, have had a training in each of the four basic communication skills: literacy, numeracy, articulacy and graphicacy. Essays, seminar work and projects build up an expertise in Literacy; laboratory work, statistical exercises and computer training underwrite an expertise in Numeracy; tutorials and field interviews with project presentation strengthen the skill of Articulacy; whilst unique to geography is the whole range of visual-spatial data presentation and analysis represented by maps, graphs, charts, diagrams and computer graphics collectively expressed by the term Graphicacy. All these skills can be employed over a very diverse field ranging from environmental, market and operational research to hospital administration, housing management, mapping, survey, landscape architecture and the tourist industry, to name but a few possibilities.

Environmentalism and education

Abstract Environmentalism is as much an attitude of mind and a certain code of behaviour as an ideology. Therefore the educational challenge is to make environmentalism real, not merely a classroom abstraction. The problems of converting environmentalism into modern western living are described, as are various remedies, ranging from new approaches to analysis to various forms of activity and association with the surrounding community.

A Classic of Welsh Folklore Reissued

OVER fifty years have passed since T. Gwynn Jones wrote his Welsh Folklore and Folk-Custom at the invitation of the Methuen Company in 1930. During that period much research work has been done in the field in which Gwynn Jones, like Sir John Rhis before him, was such a pioneer. Yet his volume remains a classic. I know of no better introduction to Welsh folklore, and at least two reasons can be given to explain why the volume is so valuable. Firstly, it is a volume which is a mine of information, with that information (gathered from manuscript, printed and oral sources) presented in an interesting, orderly and concise manner. It would be easy to argue that the author should have dealt also in some measure with subjects such as games, riddles, tongue-twisters, lullabies, rhymes, proverbs and sayings--subjects which are now considered a central part of folklore-but it should be remembered at the same time that he had to restrict substantially the size of the volume to fulfil the demands of the publishers. And remember, too, that the field of folklore then had not been explicitly defined. Indeed, to this day it remains one of the most indefinable fields. It is a special subject, and yet it is more than a subject. It is an attitude of mind which is an inex tricable part of every subject. One cannot discuss subjects of a 'material' nature, such as ploughing and sowing, harvesting and thatching, without mentioning also the folklore that was an integral part of such work-all the beliefs and customs never recorded on paper, but transferred from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation, such as the belief that the proper time to sow oats was 'tridiau'r deryn du a dau lygad Ebrill' (lit. 'the blackbird's three days and April's two eyes'). I, like many another, certainly, would have liked to have seen a man as cultured as T. Gwynn Jones discussing folklore in the widest meaning of the term, but it is unfair to criticize an author for not doing what he had never intended doing at all. His intention, according to his own words in the introduction, was:

Of the local movement of animals: The Wilkins Lecture, 1979

In this lecture dedicated to the memory of the Right Reverend John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, and one of the founding Fellows of the Royal Society, it is, I think, not entirely inappropriate to speak of the work of William Harvey, for in many ways the two men seem to have been alike. It is unlikely that they knew each other for they belonged to different generations (Harvey was 36 when Wilkins was born), and they were on opposite sides in the Civil War. But Wilkins was known for his tolerance and Harvey was ‘far from bigotry’, and neither of them was unmannerly or censorious. Wilkins was greatly esteemed as a person endowed with rare gifts, a lover of mankind and one who had delight in doing good. Harvey ‘excelled in civility towards his fellows, in constancy towards his friends, in justice towards all’ (1). They were both great observers of natural things. Both honoured Aristotle, but both were prepared to disagree with him when observation proved his statements incorrect. Both believed that experientia , personal experience, is the only way to acquire knowledge and both deplored the laziness of those who were content to accept the opinions of the past rather than seek out the truth by the interrogation of Nature herself, as if all knowledge had been revealed to the Ancients and no secrets were left undisclosed. Both were possessed of a restless desire to investigate these secrets and both brought imagination and a capacity for logical argument to the understanding and interpretation of their observations. Because this attitude of mind, so clearly demonstrated in Harvey’s own works, was the ideal of the Royal Society, it is, I think, permissible to suggest that Harvey’s example was in no small measure the source of its inspiration. Of those six ‘worthy Persons, inquisitive into Natural Philosophy and other parts of Humane Learning’, who first met in 1645 to pursue all manner of ‘Philosophical Inquiries’ (2), only John Wilkins cannot be directly linked with Harvey.

TANZANIA: THE DEVELOPMENT DEBATE

THIS PAPER is intended both as a contribution to and as a commentary upon the debate over the nature of Tanzania's development. In particular it seeks to examine critically some of the terms used in the course of that debate. The basic questions at issue are, firstly, whether Tanzania is progressing towards socialism or is already within the toils of capitalism. Secondly, if the latter is the case, as we shall seek to show, then what sort of society is emerging? It is not asserted, even by the most fervent Tanzaphile, that Tanzania is already a socialist country. As Julius Nyerere has always admitted with disarming frankness, 'Tanzania is not now a socialist country; it is only a country whose people have firmly committed themselves to building socialism'.' It is this proposition that has increasingly come under attack in recent years, the spearhead of the critique being the publications of a group of Marxist and neoMarxist scholars who were active at the University of Dar es Salaam until 1976, and who regularly debated in the pages of Maji-Maji, the journal of the University branch of the then TANU Youth League.2 The issues raised by the ensuing debate are important for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Tanzanian experiment is interesting in itself as perhaps the last example of an attempt to erect a new society on the basis of a utopian socialist theory that echoes Rousseau's romantic primitivism. Socialism as an 'attitude of mind'3 is integral to Nyerere's vision of a future ideal society. It is an attitude of mind that would make equality the paramount value and eschew competition and social hierarchy. Although the exigencies of development and implementation have, over the years, impelled Nyerere towards a more programmatic version of socialism with some recognition of the problems of class formation,* nevertheless, at base, the Tanzanian experiment is still animated by a socialist theory that is in essence idealist. Secondly, the Tanzanian experiment is the only genuine attempt on the Continent to put into practice the precepts of African socialism. African socialism is based on the essentially ahistorical notion that African society, prior to the incursion of European colonialism, was a cooperative, sharing, communitarian society of manifest equality. This idyllic, almost Arcadian vision is one that is asserted independently of any notion of a pre-capitalist mode of pro-

Study difficulties in undergraduate nursing students—a British perspective

This paper is an attempt to outline some of the basic issues, and their complex interrelationships, which affect learning in undergraduate nursing courses, student counsellors and administrators concerned with the selection of applicants. That students should learn to think and work independently through effective methods of study is an opinion expressed by Ruth Beard (1976) in terms of essential teaching objectives, and shared by most teachers engaged in higher education. However, such practising teachers might also agree that objectives are sometimes more easily stated than actually achieved! Sir James Mountford (1966) holds the view that university teaching and education “must necessarily provide the student with a body of positive knowledge which enhances his store of learning, and in part equips him for his career in later life . . .“. He expresses the priorities of such an education as inculcating in the student “an attitude of mind which regards the critical assessment of facts and values as more important than dogmas, and which holds that a grasp of underlying principles is more valuable than the accumulation of information or the acquisition of skills and techniques . . . above all-(students should) be able to work confidently on their own”. In a Bachelor of Nursing course, helping students to think and work independently via more effective methods of study is not without its problems. The nature and content of nursing is rooted in its own peculiar traditions that, to some extent, still resist independent thought and place considerable emphasis on “the acquisition of skills and techniques”. These distinct ritualized practices limit independent action, certainly in relation to “safe practices” (whatever these may be) where the margin of error must be negligible. While the nature and content of nursing, and perhaps the complexity of its academic-vocational curriculum, may place limitations on independent thought and action, a University level of education should provide the student not simply with the means of coping with the conflict that can arise, but with essential intellectual skills that substantiate the reasoned, innovative and adaptive professional behaviour ultimately required. These intellectual skills are essential in that they should facilitate both personal professional competence and progress of the profession.

Croatian Humanists and the Writing of History in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Modern European historiography was nurtured in the school of Humanism, that attitude of mind, so characteristic of the Renaissance, which broke through the ecclesiastical “fixation” of medieval thought by a renewed appreciation of man and his role in this world. It accomplished this in part by reviving interest in the pagan culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Humanist men of letters looked to the literary and historical works of classical antiquity for their models of outlook and expression, and in these they found both a liberation from medieval modes and a new bondage. Humanism was also cosmopolitan: Humanist poets, scholars, and artists belonged to a Pan-European republic of arts and sciences with an official language of its own—a revived classical Latin. They traveled and mixed freely and lived in each others’ countries.

A very personal view

I am 56 next birthday and until three years ago I was one of those supremely lucky people who had never been ill. Now there was nothing clever about that and nothing for self-con gratulation?perhaps I came from healthy stock or enjoyed some equally vague inherent resistance?perhaps I'd just been lucky. Anyhow, there it was: unassailed by illness or accident, my reservoir of reliability seemed inexhaustible, and in this I revelled, strong and secure. While others might fall beside me, I was impregnable, always ready to step in. With this I must own came a certain attitude of mind that really amounted to a deep-rooted dislike?no, even almost a contempt?of pills and tablets, medicines and lotions, and, if I am honest, a sort of tolerant forbearance of those who, through no fault of their own, seemed to need such things. Certainly they were not for me. At any rate, not until I sneezed. Now for some curious reason I have always had a truly remarkable sneeze?not one of those poor-quality jobs that can be stifled and trapped in a rapidly drawn handkerchief, but a colossal, house-shaking, unpredict able explosion, with a measurable, noisy echo. Assailed by one such explosion as I stood shaving one morning, I was transected across my back by a pain such as I never dreamed could have existed, and worse?the agony down one leg floored me as I shouted for mercy. But none came, and over the next few days no amount of pulling and injecting made any difference, and that somewhat notorious investigation the myelogram clearly showed why : a full-blown disc protrusion. Well, I could hardly call this illness' after all. Surely this was just something traumatic?yes, that was right?just as traumatic as a road accident. And so to a lumbar laminectomy, and?absolute magic?all the pain gone. So I settled my operation-ruffled feathers and made a rapid, straightforward recovery, firmly resolved to control my volcanic sneezing. All this happened three years ago. But then another trouble started. On a short lakeland holiday I got a swollen ankle, then knee, then the other ankle. So what ??these things passed. I thought that I must have sprained them somehow, though I knew I hadn't. Oh well, out of sight, out of mind. body had other ideas, and suddenly I awoke very early one morning, knowing that something really was wrong: both my hands and fingers looked like sausages, and were stiff and tingling with pain. So away to the experts : My dear chap, you have an acute arthro pathy. Blood tests: well, the uric acid will be in the skies? that's it?no. But the Rose-Waaler?well, that was it: positive. Such a lot seems to have happened since then. Firstly, and I suppose this must be good for me, I have been

Recent Developments in the Provision of Public Library Services in the United Kingdom

To set the scene, I should like to begin with a few general comments. The older I get, the more clearly I realize that the provision of any public service (and no doubt the provision of most other things in our society too) has to fit in with the ethos of the times. There are such things as general trends in our way of living, although they can seldom be precisely defined and it is often very difficult to say how or why they get started. Thus, much of what is happening in British public libraries today naturally reflects the general trends and the attitudes of mind in most other walks of life. To give just one example of this to begin with, libraries are working much less in isolation than they used to. They are called upon more and more to work closely with all organizations providing cultural services-with education, with health and social services, and with the various services, public and voluntary, that provide information for people. Contact between libraries and the book trade is now much closer, and certainly the concept of all types of librarypublic, academic, and special-being aspects of one single total service is far more generally accepted than it used to be. This is not a new trend, but there is no doubt that recently it has gathered momentum. One reason for this is economic. When money is scarce, there must be a closing of the ranks and the greatest possible use must be made of all the resources available. But I do not think that this is by any means the only reason. There is, in addition, a welcome tendency to think of the needs of individuals and communities and the provision of all services as a whole instead of in separate watertight compartments. Considering that almost total responsibility for public library services is in the hands of the local authorities, with hardly any central guidance (and what there is cannot in practice be enforced), it is interesting to observe that public libraries in Britain are tending to develop along roughly similar lines throughout the country. True, we have a Minister for the Arts who is responsible to the Secretary of State for Education

Bernhard Tollens and his influence on research into carbohydrates in Russia.

ONE of the founders of the Soviet school of research into carbohydrates, P. P. Shorygin, particularly emphasized the role of two great old masters whose work played fundamental role in the formation of the whole of present-day chemistry of carbohydrates.1 These two were the German chemists Emil Fischer and Bernhard Tonens. However, the statures of these scientists in the history of chemistry are far from being equivalent-they are not even comparable. Fischer is regarded as the founder of present-day chemistry. of carbohydrates. His work in this field and other branches of organic chemistry could not have been exceeded by whole generation of chemists. It is significant that Fischer's merits were recognized in Ig02 by the award of Nobel prize, only the second to be awarded to chemist. Undoubtedly Fischer was a giant in the land of giants. Even in historical retrospect the contribution of many outstanding chemists contemporary with Fischer seems unimportant, but only in comparison with his work. It is not surprising therefore that Tonens, who worked so wen in the study of carbohydrates, was omitted from the majority of histories. This omission occurred despite the existence of more than ten biographical notes and references on Tonens, published mainly in German. 2 These articles were mainly short anniversary notes and did not pretend to offer complete analysis of the scientific work of Tonens. A more complete analysis of his scientific achievements was given in an article by O. Wanach.3 However, in this outline, the work of Tonens was not considered against the background of the history of the chemistry of carbohydrates. In fact, the direct connection between the oxide-alcohol cyclic formulae of Tonens and the stereochemical formulae of Fischer, deserves emphasis since it was only by assuming the formulae of Tonens that Fischer was able to propose the projective oxycarbonyl formulae of monosaccharides. On the other hand, in the biographical notes on Tonens his pedagogical work is hardly mentioned. This omission is unfortunate: it should be said that the work of Tonens the teacher promoted the extension of research into carbohydrates in many countries of the world, including Russia. However, in the one article that directly refers to the school of agricultural chemistry organized by Tonens in G6ttingen, only his American pupils are mentioned.4 It must be recorded that the pedagogical work of Tonensplayed an important part in his life. It could be defined as another muse, which Tonens truly served, or as an original link between two of his official muses -chemistry and rural economy. This multiplicity of muses of Tonens makes his career particularly interesting. 5 Bernhard Tonens was born on 30 July 1841 in Hamburg. The Tonens family came from the Netherlands, where the name was widely known thanks to Hendrik Tonens (I78o18S6), popular Dutch poet. The poetic attitude of mind always remained characteristic feature of the Tonens family, although they earned daily bread in quite different