Basic Account Research Articles

Online banking information: what we want and what we get

This paper reports on young adults’ expectations and perceptions of online retail banking information. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research was used. Focus groups proved valuable in eliciting criteria grounded in the experience of users of bank Web sites. The subsequent questionnaire survey allowed the measurement of gaps between perceptions and expectations. The results indicate that respondents expect bank Web sites to be easy to use and to provide them with basic account/product details. These features are valued more than the technological aspects. Yet, perceptions of actual information provision differ. While basic account and price information is perceived to be provided, certain features are perceived to be less prevalent, rendering bank Web sites ineffective at aiding consumer decision making. The research questions the role of the Internet in information provision and suggests how banks can improve their Web sites to assist consumer decision making.

Book Review: The Medical Society of London 1773-2003

The Medical Society of London, founded 230 years ago by the Quaker physician and philanthropist John Coakley Lettsom is the oldest medical society in England, possibly in the world. It was established as a forum for physicians, surgeons, apothecaries and accoucheurs to give them the opportunity of meeting together for the exchange of medical intelligence. Its stability was ensured by the broad representation of its membership and its security was based on the possession of a valuable library and freehold property. Penelope Hunting has previously written histories of the Society of Apothecaries (1998) and The Royal Society of Medicine (2001), and her latest work sustains her reputation as a scholarly and entertaining writer. As a reviewer I must declare several interests: I am the Society's most senior Fellow, a former secretary and president and a present trustee. If there were errors, however, I would wish to point them out. I have found none. The chapters include well-researched accounts of the Society's early meetings in taverns and in the homes of Fellows. The story includes Jenner and smallpox vaccination, the Napoleonic wars, Nelson's fatal wounds at Trafalgar, Walcheren fever, the death of Napoleon, the Crimean War, the Boer War, the great wars of 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, and the discovery of penicillin. There is an authoritative basic account of the pioneering influence of Lettsom and the Medical Society on American medicine during the nineteenth and twentieth century (Lettsom, born in the West Indies, regarded himself as an American colonist). Lettsom was diligent in corresponding with his American medical friends and was generous in sending books and plants; these pioneer American doctors are awarded brief but useful biographies. Edward Bancroft of Massachusetts was secretary of the Medical Society of London in 1775, at a time when he was a double spy for both America and Britain; his activities as a spy were not disclosed until seventy years after his death. The book includes numerous elegant illustrations, some in colour, and exhaustive appendices of all Presidents, Fothergillian Medallists, Lettsomian Lecturers, Orators and Registrars. These provide helpful background information for speakers invited to talk at Society meetings, to historians writing on medical themes of that era, and to all students of medicine who enjoy medical yarns of yesteryear.

The Medical Society of London 1773-2003

The Medical Society of London, founded 230 years ago by the Quaker physician and philanthropist John Coakley Lettsom is the oldest medical society in England, possibly in the world. It was established as a forum for physicians, surgeons, apothecaries and accoucheurs to give them the opportunity of meeting together for the exchange of medical intelligence. Its stability was ensured by the broad representation of its membership and its security was based on the possession of a valuable library and freehold property. Penelope Hunting has previously written histories of the Society of Apothecaries (1998) and The Royal Society of Medicine (2001), and her latest work sustains her reputation as a scholarly and entertaining writer. As a reviewer I must declare several interests: I am the Society's most senior Fellow, a former secretary and president and a present trustee. If there were errors, however, I would wish to point them out. I have found none. The chapters include well-researched accounts of the Society's early meetings in taverns and in the homes of Fellows. The story includes Jenner and smallpox vaccination, the Napoleonic wars, Nelson's fatal wounds at Trafalgar, Walcheren fever, the death of Napoleon, the Crimean War, the Boer War, the great wars of 1914–1918 and 1939–1945, and the discovery of penicillin. There is an authoritative basic account of the pioneering influence of Lettsom and the Medical Society on American medicine during the nineteenth and twentieth century (Lettsom, born in the West Indies, regarded himself as an American colonist). Lettsom was diligent in corresponding with his American medical friends and was generous in sending books and plants; these pioneer American doctors are awarded brief but useful biographies. Edward Bancroft of Massachusetts was secretary of the Medical Society of London in 1775, at a time when he was a double spy for both America and Britain; his activities as a spy were not disclosed until seventy years after his death. The book includes numerous elegant illustrations, some in colour, and exhaustive appendices of all Presidents, Fothergillian Medallists, Lettsomian Lecturers, Orators and Registrars. These provide helpful background information for speakers invited to talk at Society meetings, to historians writing on medical themes of that era, and to all students of medicine who enjoy medical yarns of yesteryear.

On bunched typing

We study a typing scheme derived from a semantic situation where a single category possesses several closed structures, corresponding to different varieties of function type. In this scheme typing contexts are trees built from two (or more) binary combining operations, or in short, bunches. Bunched typing and its logical counterpart, bunched implications, have arisen in joint work of the author and David Pym. The present paper gives a basic account of the type system, and then focusses on concrete models that illustrate how it may be understood in terms of resource access and sharing. The most basic system has two context-combining operations, and the structural rules of Weakening and Contraction are allowed for one but not the other. This system includes a multiplicative, or substructural, function type −∗ alongside the usual (additive) function type $\rightarrow$; it is dubbed the $\alpha\lambda$-calculus after its binders, $\alpha$ for the $\alpha$dditive binder and $\lambda$ for the multiplicative, or $\lambda$inear, binder. We show that the features of this system are, in a sense, complementary to calculi based on linear logic; it is incompatible with an interpretation where a multiplicative function uses its argument once, but perfectly compatible with a reading based on sharing of resources. This sharing interpretation is derived from syntactic control of interference, a type-theoretic method of controlling sharing of storage, and we show how bunch-based management of Contraction can be used to provide a more flexible type system for interference control.

EVALUATING MUSCLE SYMPTOMS

The correct interpretation of neuromuscular symptoms is critical, with terms such as fatigue or weakness rarely being used with their medical sense. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “weak” as “wanting...

Buddhism and acceptance and commitment therapy

The philosophy, basic theory, applied theory, and technology of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) are briefly described. Several issues relevant to Buddhist teachings—the ubiquity of human suffering, the role of attachment in suffering, mindfulness, wholesome actions, and self—are examined in relation to ACT. In each case there are clear parallels. Given that a major focus in the development of ACT has been on the identification of basic behavioral processes that make sense of acceptance and defusion-based treatments, these parallels suggest that the basic account may also provide a scientific grounding within the behavioral tradition for a range of Buddhist concepts and practices.

Reliabilism 'naturalized'

The article is an attempt to better understand the objections to the doctrine of 'reliabilism' made by prominent epistemologists. The view argued for here is that while one extreme case of anti-reliabilism seems to be the paradigm case against the entire concept, this very case points out some additional, and implicit, problems with the standard account of epistemic justification. The most notable is that the standard view attacks reliabilism on the grounds that it lacks a means of giving adequate reasons or evidence for its claims. We argue that the standard view, while correct on its paradigm case against reliabilism, is itself weakened by its lack of recognition of the central role theories of evidence must play in its basic account. Since theories of evidence are themselves divergent and problematic in terms of explaining how claims are justified, the standard account needs to address the issues of which account of evidence is 'adequate' and why it is. It is finally suggested that traditional epistemology might be more accurately described as a branch of confirmation theory.

Relational frame theory:A post-skinnerian account of human language and cognition

Part I: The Basic Account. 1. Language and Cognition: Constructing an Alternative Approach Within the Behavioral Tradition S.C. Hayes, et al. 2. Derived Relational Responding as Learned Behavior S.C. Hayes, et al. 3. Multiple Stimulus Relations and the Transformation of Stimulus Functions D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 4. Relations Among Relations: Analogies, Metaphors, and Stories I. Stewart, et al. 5. Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Pragmatic Verbal Analysis S.C. Hayes, et al. 6. Understanding and Verbal Regulation D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 7. Self and Self-Directed Rules D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 8. Relational Frame Theory: A Precis S.C. Hayes, et al. Part II: Extensions and Applications. 9. Psychological Development Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 10. Education Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 11. Social Processes B. Roche, et al. 12. Psychopathology and Psychotherapy K.G. Wilson, et al. 13. Religion, Spirituality, and Transcendence D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. Epilogue. References. Index.

Morphodynamics of the follicular-luteal complex during early ovarian development and reproductive life

Female reproductive activity depends upon cyclic morphofunctional changes of the ovarian tissue during the female's fertile period, but the primum movens of an active gonadal rearrangement can be found from early phases of embryo development. To offer a basic account of the main steps of ovarian dynamics, we review the morphofunctional behavior of the follicular-luteal complex in an integrated study using light microscopy and transmission and scanning electron microscopy as well as through the use of numerous drawings. Particular emphasis is given to some reproductive aspects including (1) germ-somatic cell relationships and onset of folliculogenesis during early gonadal development; (2) follicular development and oocyte-follicle cell associations through adult folliculogenesis, finally leading to ovulation; (3) morphodynamics of corpus luteum formation, development, and regression, and (4) degenerative processes involving germ and somatic cells. The results reported, many of which originated in our laboratory, arise from some experiments on laboratory mammals but mostly from a large selection of human specimens. The data obtained are integrated and correlated with classic reports as well as with current views. Crucial biochemical, histophysiological, and clinical aspects are also emphasized.

Relational frame theory: a post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition

Part I: The Basic Account. 1. Language and Cognition: Constructing an Alternative Approach Within the Behavioral Tradition S.C. Hayes, et al. 2. Derived Relational Responding as Learned Behavior S.C. Hayes, et al. 3. Multiple Stimulus Relations and the Transformation of Stimulus Functions D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 4. Relations Among Relations: Analogies, Metaphors, and Stories I. Stewart, et al. 5. Thinking, Problem-Solving, and Pragmatic Verbal Analysis S.C. Hayes, et al. 6. Understanding and Verbal Regulation D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 7. Self and Self-Directed Rules D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 8. Relational Frame Theory: A Precis S.C. Hayes, et al. Part II: Extensions and Applications. 9. Psychological Development Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 10. Education Y. Barnes-Holmes, et al. 11. Social Processes B. Roche, et al. 12. Psychopathology and Psychotherapy K.G. Wilson, et al. 13. Religion, Spirituality, and Transcendence D. Barnes-Holmes, et al. Epilogue. References. Index.

The greatest dangers facing behavior analysis today.

Behavior analysis is the underclass of psychology. It is under-funded, under-taught, and underappreciated. A lot is happening that is positive, but just beneath the surface, there are grave dangers lurking that could significantly worsen our already poor status. I prefer to believe that most of these dangers are things we can control by our own behavior (itself a rather behavioral idea), and I offer this list of dangers in that spirit. As someone once said: if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. Behavior analysts need to appreciate the following six dangers and adapt to them. LOSS OF MISSION Behavior analysis was initially strategically committed to the field of animal learning, but from the beginning its ultimate purpose was an understanding of complex human behavior: importance of a science of behavior derives largely from the possibility of an eventual extension to human affairs (Skinner, Behavior of Organisms, 1938, p. 441). In the early decades that was merely a promise, but the arrival of applied behavior analysis turned it into a program. Over the years, however, both basic and applied behavior analysis have narrowed and that original vision is being lost. Applied behavior analysis is gradually becoming a subfield of developmental disabilities, as a glance at a recent issue of JABA will confirm. The depth of the risk this creates is covered over by methodological rigor and applied impact within that narrow domain. Basic behavior analysis clings largely to narrow and precise questions of self-stimulatory interest in the animal laboratory, even while animal laboratories are being closed one by one, and areas of research within behavior analysis are being opened up that require human research. The depth of the problem is covered over by the productivity of a few major behavioral laboratories and the emergence of a handful of international labs, where protection from political winds have allowed the old seeds to grow a few new sprouts. In some ways, all of the other dangers I list can be traced back to the following core concern. Behavior analysis was always a carom shot. Instead of approaching human complexity directly, it tried to develop conceptual tools based on simple behaviors in simple contexts with small non-human animals, and then to apply these to an analysis of virtually every form of complex human behavior. It was a bold and even slightly preposterous idea, and yet it was one that worked far beyond what anyone had a right to expect. Now, however, we seem to be on the verge of forgetting what the mission was in the first place. Many basic behavior analysts have begun to believe that basic behavior analysis is a subfield of animal learning or (perhaps worse) behavioral biology. Where are the experimental analyses of emotion, friendship, sexuality, health, reasoning, humor, intelligence, and so on? Interpretation is not enough--we need an experimental analysis of such behaviors. Without the basic account, applied behavior analysts either ignore these areas or build common sense approaches to them. TOOL POLISHING No field so enjoys principles as does behavior analysis. Principles of behavior are ways of speaking about the prediction and influence of the historically and currently situated actions of organisms that are precise, broadly applicable, and coherent in terms of the larger fabric of science. Principles are the intellectual tools of analysis. They are not, however, ends in themselves. Sometimes behavior analysts are like the watchmakers who decided to make a set of extremely fine tools before actually making some complicated new watches. Forgetting what the tools were for, the talented watchmakers did not build the watches and display them in a glass cabinet, but instead put the tools themselves in that cabinet, taking them out only to polish them and to show how they work. Basic behavior analysts are especially prone to this error. …

Wondrous Strange: The Neuropsychology of Abnormal Beliefs

Detailed studies of people who have experienced the Capgras delusion (the delusion that certain other people, usually close relatives, have been replaced by impostors) have led to advances in constructing an account which can deal with the basic symptomatology, testing alternative possibilities, generating and testing non‐trivial predictions, and broadening the scope of the basic account to encompass other delusions. This paper outlines these developments. It uses them to explore implications for understanding the formation and maintenance of beliefs, and to discuss basic principles of what has come to be known as cognitive neuropsychiatry.

The Canadian Experience in Developing and Using the Tourism Satellite Account

Governments throughout the world are under increasing pressure to give special treatment to tourism in terms of distinct recognition in the structures of government, devoted programmes and funding, subsidies and public-sector promotion. In Canada, the development of the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) was an important step in obtaining such recognition and support. This article summarizes the results obtained from the TSA and their uses, as well as the lines of investigation taken in developing the Canadian TSA: the basic concepts, the methodological approaches and challenges. It then examines how Canada's national tourism industry and the national tourism agency, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC), have used the results of the TSA, and what benefits emerged from their use. Next, it reveals what extensions have been developed beyond the basic account and what results and further implications have emerged from these extensions. The final section of the paper examines future developments envisaged in the Canadian context.

D-branes in the Green-Schwarz formalism

We give a basic account of supersymmetric open strings and D-branes using the Green-Schwarz formalism, obtaining a manifestly spacetime supersymmetric description of their spectrum. In addition we discuss a mechanism whereby some of the D-brane states are projected out and which can lead to chiral quantum field theories on the brane.

Piro Designs: Painting as Meaningful Action in an Amazonian Lived World

Starting from the problems of describing non-Western visual aesthetic systems ethnographically, this article provides a basic account of yonata, painting with design, among the Piro people of the Bajo Urubamba river in Eastern Peru. Yonata, and its product yonchi, `design', is the Piro variant of the Amazonian practice of painting surfaces with designs of `geometric' type. Placing this practice in the context of the Piro lived world, I argue that painting with design encodes the ideal life trajectory of a Piro woman. For Piro people, design is beautiful, and through design women demonstrate the success of their own lives as beauty on the bodies of others and certain material objects. In the conclusion, I extend the analysis presented here to Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian cases, and to the Western tradition.

Morphologic analysis of animal models of congenital heart disease

Background: The description and analysis of congenitally malformed hearts has provided a fertile ground for arguments and disagreements. It would be unfortunate if those now working in the field of animal models of human congenital hearts were forced to till the same soil, potentially recreating the same controversies. This can be avoided by following a simple but rigorous plan for the analysis of the congenitally malformed heart. Method: The system proposed for analysis depends initially on considering the heart in terms of its atrial, ventricular, and arterial segments. Each segment contains two components, one belonging to the right heart and the other to the left. The next step is to establish ways of distinguishing anatomically these components, and then determining how they are or are not joined together. Thereafter, a catalogue is made of all associated malformations in the heart, and note taken of the arrangement of the other abdomino-thoracic organs. At all stages, care is taken not to define one variable in terms of another feature which is itself variable. Results: The morphologically right and left atrial components are distinguished on the basis of the structure of the appendages, since all other components are variable. Similarly, ventricles are distinguished according to their apical trabeculations, and arterial trunks according to their patterns of branching. There are four possible arrangements of the appendages. The atriums can be connected to the ventricles in biventricular or univentricular fashion, with each group having further subdivisions. Ventricles can be connected to the arterial trunks in concordant, discordant, double outlet or single outlet fashion. This is the basis of analysis which is equally applicable to animal models. Conclusions: By the simple expedient of distinguishing morphologically right from morphologically left features in each of the three cardiac segments, and then determining how the segments are joined together over their junctional areas, it is possible to give a basic account of all congenitally malformed hearts, even if they have not previously been described. This form of analysis is completed by providing a catalogue of all associated malformations. This will provide the basis for description of all congenital cardiac malformations seen in animal models of human disease.

Lexical pragmatics

Lexical Pragmatics is a research field that tries to give a systematic and explanatory account of pragmatic phenomena that are connected with the semantic underspecification of lexical items. Cases in point are the pragmatics of adjectives, systematic polysemy, the distribution of lexical and productive causatives, blocking phenomena, the interpretation of compounds, and many phenomena presently discussed within the framework of Cognitive Semantics. The approach combines a constrained-based semantics with a general mechanism of conversational implicature. The basic pragmatic mechanism rests on conditions of updating the common ground and allows to give a precise explication of notions as generalized conversational implicature and pragmatic anomaly. The fruitfulness of the basic account is established by its application to a variety of recalcitrant phenomena among which its precise treatment of Atlas & Levinson's Q- and I-principles and the formalization of the balance between informativeness and efficiency in natural language processing (Horn's division of pragmatic labour) deserve particular mention. The basic mechanism is subsequently extended by an abductive reasoning system which is guided by subjective probability. The extended mechanism turned out to be capable of giving a principled account of lexical blocking, the pragmatics of adjectives, and systematic polysemy.

Hydrology and the management of watersheds

Recent developments show us the urgency of knowing what we're doing when we direct or redirect the flow of water--and of understanding how nature itself manages this precious resource. Hydrology and Management of Watersheds is essential to such an understanding. A basic account of hydrology and watershed management, it provides the fundamental information and practical methods necessary for solving water-use problems in a wide variety of settings and situations--forest or range, agricultural or environmental. The authors present a detailed discussion of the planning, implementation, and evaluation of watershed management, with an emphasis on the social and economic factors involved. They also include a section devoted to specific problems in different regions of the United States and elsewhere in the world. This new edition gives added attention to the cumulative effects of human activities on watersheds, the place of policy and institutions in guiding resource use, and the role of riparian and wetland systems in natural resource management. A key text for students in natural resource management, water resource sciences, and environmental studies, the book will also prove invaluable for administrators, technicians, planners, and natural resource managers.

KIERKEGAARD'S PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENTS: A CLARIFICATION

For Søren Kierkegaard, ‘How is it possible for one to become a disciple?’ was the fundamental question. The Philosophical Fragments, first published in 1844 under the pseudonym of Johannes Climacus, propounds a hypothetical metaphysical framework within which an answer to this question is formulated. This framework is usually construed simply as a general account of what must be the case if Christianity is true. But this has given rise to some perplexity regarding how the Climacian framework is to be interpreted. This is the result of the failure to take into account the specific function which it is meant to serve – namely, as the framework for ascertaining how becoming a disciple is a possibility. My present objective is not to pass any judgement on the adequacy of this framework as a model purporting to represent reality. Rather, I shall simply attempt a consistent elucidation of the framework which Climacus presents; and in so doing, I indicate the way in which, given this framework, the question ‘How is it possible for one to become a disciple?’ is to be answered – what I shall call ‘the Climacian answer’.Part 1 of this article provides a basic account of the framework by explaining its key concepts and their relationship to one another. I then employ this account as the foundation for the thesis developed in Part 2: namely, that, for Climacus, faith is the condition of discipleship. In conclusion, I outline the answer which, on my interpretation, Kierkegaard's Climacian framework yields to the question ‘How is it possible for one to become a disciple?’

Exotic becomes erotic: A developmental theory of sexual orientation.

A developmental theory of erotic/romantic attraction is presented that provides the same basic account for opposite-sex and same-sex desire in both men and women. It proposes that biological variables, such as genes, prenatal hormones, and brain neuroanatomy, do not code for sexual orientation per se but for childhood temperaments that influence a child's preferences for sex-typical or sex-atypical activities and peers. These preferences lead children to feel different from oppositeor same-sex peers--to perceive them as dissimilar, unfamiliar, and exotic. This, in turn, produces heightened nonspecific autonomic arousal that subsequently gets eroticized to that same class of dissimilar peers: Exotic becomes erotic. Specific mechanisms for effeeting this transformation are proposed. The theory claims to accommodate both the empirical evidence of the biological essentialists and the cultural relativism of the social constructionists.