Broad Explanations Research Articles

Electric Sounds: Technological Change and the Rise of Corporate Mass Media. By Steve J. Wurtzler. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. xiv, 393 pp. $34.50, ISBN 978-0-231-13676-1.)

Once media technologies become embedded, they often acquire an aura of inevitability that leads scholars to debate degrees of economic, political, or technological determinism or turn to exceedingly broad explanations such as ideology. Few technological developments have had the market penetration or left as visible a mark on society and culture as the emergence of sound technologies for recorded music, radio, and cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. Rather than succumb to either broad explanatory temptations, Electric Sounds cogently examines a nexus of factors that coalesced to lead to the establishment of a variety of media industries based on the mass dissemination of sound without eschewing important theoretical concerns that underlie debates over determinism or ideology. Electric Sounds takes technology as its point of departure, although it would be misleading to characterize Steve J. Wurtzler's monograph as technical. To the contrary, Wurtzler manages to make the technical readily accessible to nontechnical media scholars and historians alike. Importantly, he establishes the technical aspects of sound recording and dissemination in a model that distinguishes between the apparatuses technicians construct on the basis of technological possibilities and the application of that technology in commercial and cultural contexts. Those two terms form the basis for what Wurtzler examines as electrical acoustics, “the electrical and mechanical means through which sound was successfully encoded, amplified, transmitted, decoded and then reproduced” (p. 3).

Voting Behaviour in the SA Local Government Elections of 2006 with Specific Reference to the Youth

This paper provides an overview of the third local government elections in South Africa, held on 1 March 2006. Three broad explanations are given for voting behaviour (rational choice, party identification, and the sociological model). We argue that contrary to the expectations and assumption that voter turnout and behaviour would be determined by material issues (service delivery) the outcome points to participation as being an intrinsic value in itself. In the second part of the paper we focus on youth voting behaviour, based on a pilot study conducted among political science and sociology students at the University of Pretoria in April 2006. We conclude that despite low levels of voter registration and voting among young people, they tend to become more involved in 'ballot box' activities over time and remain largely optimistic about the country. To the extent that voters (youth and adults) are dissatisfied with the performance of the ruling party (the party of overwhelming choice) such dissatisfaction does not point to a shift to support opposition parties. Rather, debates about policy and performance will take place within the ruling party, among various factions fighting for the 'soul of the ANC'.

Function of pair duets in the eastern whipbird: cooperative defense or sexual conflict?

Paired male and female eastern whipbirds, Psophodes olivaceus, sing precisely coordinated, male-led duets. Four broad explanations have been proposed for the function of duets: 1) cooperative resource defense, 2) prevention of partner usurpation, 3) defense of an individual's own position within the partnership, or 4) mate identification and localization. These 4 hypotheses make different predictions about how male and female residents should respond to simulated intrusion by other pairs or individuals. We compared the behavioral and vocal responses of 20 pairs of eastern whipbirds to simulated territorial intrusions by: 1) a solitary singing male, 2) a solitary singing female, and 3) a duetting pair. Males and females did not coordinate their approach to the playback speaker and showed sex-specific responses to playback. Males did not respond differently to duetting versus solo singing intruders. By contrast, females approached more closely during solo female song than during solo male song or duet playback. Females also produced specific vocalizations only in response to duet and solo female playback. Both sexes approached the speaker more closely and quickly during playback of same-sex solo songs than opposite-sex solo songs. Finally, females answered more of their mate's songs during simulated intrusion by a lone female than during simulated intrusion by a lone male. Our results suggest that duets in this species primarily function to allow females to defend their exclusive position in a partnership. Mate defense by females is unusual in birds but may be promoted in eastern whipbirds by a female-biased sex ratio and the need for exclusive access to male care. Thus, duets result from independent and conflicting strategies of mate and territory defense in males and females. © The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved.

Post-Oil-Spill Fires at Ugbomro (Niger Delta): A New Vista in Soil-Pollution Studies

Reconnaissance of the post-oil-spill, fire-scourged site at Ugbomro, in the Niger Delta, was contingent upon the loud public outcry and galvanizing hue that ensued the widespread conflagration. Sampling was carried out by the grid technique, and fire-scourged soils and their unaffected controls were analyzed. Contrary to the 'celebrated' opinion of some that the fires improvised bush fallowing for cropping, the site had witnessed severe impoverishment as evidenced by the hitherto neglected insidious impact of such infernos on soil macronutrients. Alterations in physico-chemical properties (pH, conductivity, etc.) provided adequate bases for this conclusion, and offered broad explanations for the paucity of macronutrients in affected soils. For instance, a pH range of 3.1-3.8 hindered N2 fixation and other metabolic activities that enhance mineralization. Elaeis guineensis in a density of 3 stands/m2 at the control site was the only tree-form not charred beyond recognition.Against future fires, it is important to strengthen contingencies for more-expedient clean-up responses to oil spills to severe possibilities of in situ conflagrations. Nutrient supplementations, revegetation, and site surveillance should disengage the 'unsighted fingers' of sabotage. A careful husbandry of these measures might re-establish nutrient stability, and forestall future re-occurrence of such effacing incidents.

When slavery was called freedom: evangelicalism, proslavery, and the causes of the Civil War

When Slavery Was Called Freedom is a bold new interpretation of the intellectual foundations of secession and the American Civil War. Author John Patrick Daly focuses on the culture of antebellum America and the debate about the morality of slavery that obsessed people of the period. Contrary to common wisdom, striking similarities between North and South led to the ferocity of the slavery debate and the war. Daly explains that antislavery and proslavery emerged from the same evangelical roots; both sides interpreted the Bible and Christian moral dictates in light of individualism and free market economics. In an age when many history books avoid synthesis and broad explanations, Daly's analysis attacks hard questions and uncovers the cultural and ideological bonds that linked the combatants in Civil War era America.

Power, Security and the Past: Polish-German Relations in the Context of EU and NATO Enlargements

This article attempts to answer 'why' Poland and Germany pursued EU and NATO enlargement in the ways they did and why their strategic interests converged in support for enlargement. Two broad explanations are 'power maximisation', stressing rational notions of economic and security interests, and 'historical legacies', pointing to the importance of historical factors and national predispositions or political cultures in shaping German and Polish perspectives on enlargement and European integration. Germany's inbred attachment to multilateralism gelled with Poland's post-1989 desire to return to Europe, which resulted in a common position on enlargement. However, this would not necessarily endure in the long run, as has been indicated more recently in Polish-German discord over the issue of European federalism and the future shape of integration.

Why Don't British Young People Vote at General Elections?

Turnout in the 2001 UK general election sunk to a post-war low of just 59%. It is clear that, at this election, even fewer young, first-time voters participated. Over the past decade, journalists and youth-oriented interest groups have highlighted an apparent growth in young people's non-interest in politics. There are many explanations that have been offered to account for this phenomenon. Drawing from both political science and youth studies, this article identifies four broad explanations to understanding young people's non-participation: youth focused, politics focused, alternative value' and generational approaches. It is recommended that popular explanations based on young people's apathy or their alternative interest in environmental and identity politics cannot by themselves explain non-participation. Instead, more consideration should be given to young people's changing transition journeys to adult statuses and, in particular, the extent to which the cues to encourage participation have disappeared.

Urban Poverty afterThe Truly Disadvantaged: The Rediscovery of the Family, the Neighborhood, and Culture

▪ Abstract In what follows we critically assess a selection of the works on urban poverty that followed the publication of WJ Wilson's The Truly Disadvantaged ( 1987 ), with a particular focus on the family, the neighborhood, and culture. We frame our discussion by assessing the broad explanations of the increased concentration of poverty in urban neighborhoods characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s. Then, in the section on the family, we address the rising out-of-wedlock and disproportionately high teenage birthrates of poor urban women. Next, we critique the literature on neighborhood effects. Finally, in the discussion of culture, we examine critically the new efforts at complementing structural explanations with cultural accounts. We conclude by calling for more comparative, cross-regional, and historical studies, broader conceptions of urban poverty, and a greater focus on Latinos and other ethnic groups.

Review of The addiction-prone personality.

GORDON E. BARNES, ROBERT P. MURRAY DAVID PATTON, PETER M. BENTLER, and ROBERT E. ANDERSON The Addiction-Prone Personality New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000, xvi + 320 pages (ISBN 0-306-46249-4, us$65, Hardcover) Reviewed by ROBERT O. PIHL Searching for a relationship between personality and addiction is a bit like attempting to navigate between Charybdis and Scylla. Definitional whirlpools and methodological monsters have realistically, not mythically, engulfed many reviewers and researchers. The end result has been that for the most part, the determination of meaningful conclusions has been functionally obviated. This indetermination would seem predestined given the historical vagaries in defining personality and addiction. Seen positively, the area of personality has been evolving, from being conceptualized by broad speculative explanations, to concerns about the stability and predictability of any personality concept per se, to the present era where traits are defined factor analytically. Finally, some consistency and convergency is occurring in this arena, which allows for the repeatable specification of independent variables. Definitions of addiction, on the other hand, dominated by allor-none categories of the effects of drug usage, often ignore highly differential typologies and reasons for a problem with a specific drug. Thus, the predicament and challenge is apparent: how does one apply a selected set of predictor variables to the very noisy category of addiction? In the first section of this text, Barnes et al. embark on a review, almost exclusively of the alcohol-personality literature using 1979 as the point of departure. This date marked the publication of a previous review by Barnes, in which the traits of stimulus augmenting-reducing, ego strength, neuroticism, and field dependence were featured. The literature to that date, viewed sympathetically, was replete with untestable theoretical ideas, methodologically limited investigations, and suspect and contradictory conclusions. These facts, recognized by Barnes, nonetheless resulted in a conclusion emphasizing these four traits and the initiation of a 20-year journey chronicalled in this text. Thus, the present review, in part, represents an effort to evaluate this 1979 conclusion in light of more recent findings. As one might suspect, this attempt though laudable is only partially successful. For example, some parallels that are drawn are arguable, while others do bring a knowing nod. Importantly, what the review and this focus do provide is an organization for a complex literature which then provides a friendly consistency throughout the text. This is a significant accomplishment, as without a workable framework attempting to comprehend this literature is akin to drinking from a fire hose. Also of note is the breath of literature reviewed with sections on high-risk and longitudinal studies particularly relevant because of their obvious methodological advantages over clinical data. Sections II and III present results and analyses from the ambitious Winnipeg Health and Drinking Survey (WHDS), with the first representing a longitudinal panel survey of personality and substance-use and the latter an "add-on" comparison to a clinical population. In the survey, participants were stratified by age, and considerable care was displayed in their selection and the choice of measures. Significantly lacking, however, is information about when these data were collected, although the reader finds generally favourable comparisons with census information of the late 1980s. Like most studies of this kind, the inclusion of certain measures is time-limited and thus there is some dissociation between current measures discussed in the previous section and those included in the survey. The use of multiple measures of drinking, however, is a strength, as is the proliferous use of structional equation modeling. The strongest personality predictor for alcohol problems (continuously defined) was a psychotism factor which also predicted problems at the second sampling, as it did the number of problems at the first sampling and alcohol use between samples. …

Manufacturing Change: A Two-Country, Three- Industry Comparison

There are three broad explanations for why workers adapt, or fail to adapt, to technological change in the workplace. The adversarial perspective holds that employment security produces resistant workers, and conversely that insecurity assures efficiency in adapting a workforce to technological and organizational changes. Institutionalists argue the opposite, emphasizing that secure workers have little to fear from change. Finally, a neo-corporatist variant sees managers and powerful trade-union leaders as capable of successfully negotiating industrial changes, independently of rank and file preferences. In this paper we explore these explanations via interview data collected from managers and trade unionists (or labour representatives) from Canada and Sweden. Our focus is on three industries - pulp and paper, steel and telecommunications equipment. Analyses deal with specific questions associated with the introduction of new equipment and technology, attempts to introduce organizational restructuring, and experiences with layoffs. We further examine respondents' comments on obstacles encountered during the change process, including the reactions, conflicts and grievances of the rank and file workers at their plants, mills and factories. On the whole, the results of our interviews with respondents at seventy-three plants in our three-industry two-country comparison seem to contradict the strict adversarial theory. While our data provide some evidence in favour of the institutionalist perspective, the neo-corporatist arguments found the most support. Swedish trade union leaders were viewed by managers, and viewed themselves, as more positively disposed to change than either their Canadian counterparts or workers in either country

The Conquest of American Inflation

Presenting an analysis of the rise and fall of U.S. inflation after 1960, this book examines two broad explanations for the behaviour of inflation and unemployment in this period: the natural-rate hypothesis joined to the Lucas critique and a more traditional econometric policy evaluation modified to include adaptive expectations and learning. The text begins with an explanation of how American policymakers increased inflation in the early 1960s by following erroneous assumptions about the exploitability of the Phillips curve - the inverse-relationship between inflation and unemployment. In subsequent chapters, it connects a sequence of ideas, such as self-confirming equilibria, least-squares and other adaptive or recursive learning algorithms. The author synthesizes results from macroeconomics, game theory, control theory, and other fields to extend both adaptive expectations and rational expectations theory, and he explains postwar inflation in terms of drifting coefficients. He interprets his results in favour of adaptive expectations as the relevant mechanism affecting inflation policy. This book is intended for academics, graduate students, and professional economists.

On beyond LTP. Long-term potentiation.

In a challenging and insightful commentary, Sanes and Lichtman (1999) courageously point out in print what has often been discussed at recent meetings: LTP seems to have lost its usefulness as a paradigm for studying synaptic plasticity, much less learning and memory. The authors then offer two broad explanations for the current profusion (and confusion) of potential molecular mechanisms for LTP. The first is the simple suggestion that “Many molecules are required to mediate the process.” The second is that a variety of historical, experimental, and biological “factors have thwarted attempts to pinpoint a minimal cadre of essential molecules among a larger group of candidates.” Sanes and Lichtman favor this second, less optimistic explanation. I will argue that the truth lies somewhere in between. Sanes and Lichtman suggest that one reason we have a clear molecular explanation for, say, the action potential but not for LTP is that “the molecular biologists and biochemists studying action potentials knew what they were trying to explain.” In contrast, they correctly point out that it has “remained a challenge to supply a clear definition, description or function” for LTP. I agree that the inability to measure with a microelectrode alone the subtle mechanistic differences between one form of long-lasting synaptic potentiation and another has prevented a clear definition of LTP. The problem is magnified because the Nature of modern Science of the Cell biology of the Neuron has been to equate function with what is measured by a microelectrode. Thus, the trend has been to accept almost any manipulation that alters the tetanus-induced increase in EPSP slope as a legitimate functional study of LTP. It seems evident that a new paradigm is needed. In fact, many investigators have been quietly forging new ways of investigating synaptic regulation in the CNS, despite the frustration of having their work often relegated to non-functional status. In theory, there are a finite number of ways to change the strength of synaptic transmission. For example, the probability that a presynaptic action potential causes release of a vesicle of transmitter can be altered. An able group of molecular biologists and biochemists have made great strides in understanding this facet of synaptic regulation by investigating the molecular mechanisms of vesicular transmitter release. These studies, starting with descriptions of the proteins in synaptic vesicles (Reichardt and Kelly 1983) and interacting proteins in the plasma membrane (Bennett and Scheller 1994), have lead inevitably to exciting insights into the mechanisms of controlled synaptic vesicle fusion (Sutton et al. 1998; Chen et al. 1999). The next step will be to clarify the sites of regulation by calcium and by protein phosphorylation (Bennett 1997; Bajjalieh 1999). Another way that synaptic strength can be altered is to change the magnitude of the current-through-activated postsynaptic glutamate receptors. Here again, molecular biologists and biochemists have defined COMMENTARY

Work Orientations of Males and Females: Exploring the Gender Socialization Approach*

Earlier surveys show differences in work orientations of males and females, but these were based on mostly sex‐segregated workers. Two broad explanations are used to examine differences in work orientations of males and females: namely the socialstructural and the gender‐socialization approaches. A secondary analysis of 22 separate sudies of specific occupations are combined and used to determine if the sexes display different patterns on ten work dimensions when occupation is held constant. Patterned differences in work orientations between the sexes persist supporting the gender socialization approach. Implications for workplace discrimination are discussed.

Aggression, Dominance, and Social Organization in Evening Grosbeaks

AbstractRelationships between social behavior and ecology are of great interest to ethologists and behavioral ecologists. For example, limited comparative data have already resulted in the development of broad explanations for possible interrelationships between patterns of social interaction and food supply in diverse species. Here, we analyzed agonistic behavior, dominance relationships, and social organization in evening grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) living near Boulder, Colorado U.S.A. We found marked seasonal variations in mean rates of agonistic behavior, mean sex ratios, and mean flock sizes. Rates of agonistic encounters were positively correlated with group size and the number of adult males present. Generally, adult males dominated (>>) adult females, young males, and young females; young males >> adult and young females; and young females >> adult females. Adult males were most aggressive during the beginning of the breeding season.The formation of large flocks of grosbeaks most likely facilitates locating the dispersed and locally irruptive food on which these birds depend, and may also confer protection against predators. We suggest that flocks of grosbeaks composed of mainly transient birds are maintained by (1) low rates of noncontact aggressive encounters and (2) the rare occurrence of potentially disruptive fights, both of which appear to result from birds' being able to assess the likely outcome of an encounter with another animal using phenotypic cues such as wing length, weight, and especially plumage. The ability to predict the outcome of an aggressive encounter may also be important in the integration of young birds into flocks.

Explaining home education: Parents' accounts of their decisions to teach their own children

This paper analyzes the reasons that parents choose to teach their children at home. From data collected over 18 months of qualitative research in a state in the southeast, three broad explanations for choosing home schooling emerged. First, the parents believe that home education will strengthen their families. Second, many home-schooling parents (particularly those who are fundamentalist Christians) believe that schools teach values and beliefs that directly contradict those they want their children to learn. Third, many of the parents believe that only they, as parents, understand their children's unique educational needs well enough to effectively teach them. The failure of educational policy makers to consider the extraeducational issues raised by home-schooling parents is then discussed.

New radio sources at AFGL 2591 - Young cluster or single star?

view Abstract Citations (43) References (12) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS New radio sources at AFGL 2591 : young cluster or single star ? Campbell, B. Abstract New sensitive VLA observations in the region about the galactic infrared source AFGL 2591 are reported. In addition to the two sources already known, two new sources at S(5 GHz) less than 1 mJy are identified. None of the four sources is coincident with the infrared position or the nearby H2O maser source. Two broad explanations for this disparity are discussed: that the radio sources are 'leaks' from an otherwise highly obscured ionizing source at the infrared position, or that AFGL 2591 is a cluster of at least five (four radio and one infrared) B0 or earlier stars powering individual H II regions. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: December 1984 DOI: 10.1086/162692 Bibcode: 1984ApJ...287..334C Keywords: Infrared Astronomy; Radio Sources (Astronomy); Star Clusters; Stellar Evolution; Astronomical Maps; Nebulae; Water Masers; Astronomy full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (8) NED (1)

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Medicine

With the stated goal of providing a general introduction to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging for practicing radiologists, the book is one of the first such works on this exciting new development in diagnostic medicine. The book comprises ten well-integrated chapters authored by reputable workers in the field. The chapters are grouped into four sections encompassing the "Principles" of NMR imaging, NMR "Imaging" results, imaging of "Elements Other Than Hydrogen," and "Potential Hazards" associated with the technique, plus a glossary and an introductory chapter on potential applications. The principles section describes the basic physics of NMR, the different techniques used for obtaining images, and the required instrumentation. The fundamental dilemma faced by the editors is one of interfacing the complexities and intricacies of this technique with the stated goal as an introduction. Too often, the solution is to skirt important, complex issues with broad explanations. Examples are combining quantum mechanical

Money and prices in the 19th century: Was Thomas Tooke right?

Two broad explanations of long-term sustained movements of the price level have coexisted since the earliest evolution of economic ideas. Nineteenth-century price history is no exception to this generalization. In recent work dealing with the issue, W. W. Rostow and W. A. Lewis’ have forcefully argued that real, not monetary, forces explain major periods of inflation and deflation in both the United States and Great Britain from 1797 to 1914. For them, changes in the relative growth rates of agricultural output’ induce changes in the relative prices of major commodities and in the overall price level. They regard monetary forces as passive, with money supply determined by demand and velocity a will o’ the wisp.3 Their argument, essentially a restatement of the views of Thomas Tooke in A History of Prices (1857): emphasizes the role of changing costs as the determinant of price level movements.’ Accordingly, their

Perception and memory of the orientation of visually presented lines by children.

YOUNG children up to the age of between 6 and 7 years perform very poorly in tasks which require response on the basis of orientation of visually presented stimuli. This consistent finding has been variously interpreted as being the result of a deficit in the child's ability to attend to, or to perceive, or to memorize orientation differences1–3. I now report results which suggest that these broad explanations are inadequate: they indicate that young children adopt a perceptual code, which is appropriate for some but not for all orientation discriminations.

Patterns in the Growth of Meaning Drawn from the Behavioral Sciences

Previous articleNext article No AccessDiscussionPatterns in the Growth of Meaning Drawn from the Behavioral SciencesRobert V. HannafordRobert V. Hannaford Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 74, Number 1Oct., 1963 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/291472 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1963 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.