Innocuous Question Research Articles

Icons and Electronics

In the late 1950s, a wide-ranging debate erupted over the seemingly innocuous question of how transistors—the revolutionary new electronic devices—should be drawn. By forcing a break in the long-standing traditions of electronic drawing, transistors generated a crisis in the ontology of circuit diagrams, forcing a choice between representations that emphasized form and those that stressed function. This paper explores what was at stake in that mid-century debate over visual culture. It tracks one function-based symbol through concerns about auto-comprehension, visual communication, and electronic reliability to see how transistor symbols formed crucial sites for articulating the meanings of material devices and their relationship to the wider populations of electronic entities, especially vacuum tubes. In doing so, the article shifts the emphasis in the history of electronics from material to visual culture, recasting our understanding of postwar electronics as a history of drawings as well as devices.

Motives for Poaching in Marine Protected Areas in the Seychelles

Motives for non-compliance with no-take regulations in the eight marine protected areas (MPAs) of the Inner Islands of the Republic of Seychelles were investigated using semistructured interviews with fishers. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) of responses to questions was used to classify known poachers and non-poachers to an accuracy of 94%. This classification procedure can be used to predict the poaching status of fishers of unknown poaching status, based on their responses to a standard set of questions. Although these results are preliminary, they suggest that DFA represents a powerful tool in the investigation of sensitive issues such as illegal fishing, as its use of responses to a combination of relatively innocuous questions allows the prediction of poaching activity to a high level of accuracy without requiring a direct admission to poaching. Qualitative data also presented here support these results and offer further insights into the biological, economic and socio-political motives for poaching. Keywords : marine protected areas, MPA, poaching, fisheries, Seychelles West Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science Vol. 3 (2) 2004: pp. 199-208

Doping and Drug Use in Elite Sports

Determining the prevalence of sensitive issues, such as doping or drug use, is problematic, since conventional questioning techniques result in a more or less large amount of unreported false negative responses. PURPOSE: To estimate the dark figure of doping and drug use in elite athletes using the Randomized Response Technique (RRT) developed by Warner. METHODS: RRT allows the subject to respond (yes/no) to two questions (one sensitive and one innocuous question) in a direct interview without the examiner knowing which question the subject is actually answering. The question the subject must actually answer is determined using a randomized procedure. Taking all answers together, one can determine the percentage of positive answers to sensitive questions by analyzing the statistical probability of answering the innocuous question with yes or no and the probability of having answered the sensitive question. A total of n=480 elite athletes who are subject to the anti-doping rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency were interviewed in this way. RESULTS: RRT yielded a prevalence of 6.8% for the use of doping substances, and 8.8% for the use of illicit drugs. In comparison to studies using anonymous questionnaires, the use of RRT yielded a distinctly higher prevalence of doping, yet an only marginally higher prevalence of illicit drug use. CONCLUSIONS: Surveys of people active in fitness centers showed a considerably higher prevalence of drug use, whereas RRT and use of an anonymous questionnaire showed nearly identical results for the prevalence of doping. Comparing these results with those of the current study suggests that the number the unknown cases for each variable seem to depend on the subpopulation in question. This realization could be of great importance in the planning and also in the implementation of prevention programs.

Intervention, Prevention, and the “Responsibility to Protect”

Can do in the world? This seemingly innocuous question is in fact loaded. While there seems to be a broad, though not universal, as will be discussed later, consensus on defining as a foreign policy that promotes peace, order, and good government on a global scale, there is much more disagreement on the manner in which such objectives ought to be promoted. Debates on the kind of intervention best suited for have recently revolved over the preferred nature (military or political/developmental) and framework of intervention (NATO, ad-hoc coalitions, or the UN). These debates have been fuelled, in part, by provocative publications such as Andrew Cohen's While Slept, which argued forcefully that had lost its place in the by becoming a free-rider and practising foreign policy on the cheap. They also have been fuelled by the process leading to the release, in April 2005, of Canada's long-awaited international policy statement.In this article, I argue that the problem does not lie with the choice of instruments to pursue Canada's foreign policy but with inconsistencies in the definition of the broad objectives of this foreign policy. Canada's outlook on intervention remains particularly plagued by contradictions. Taking a longer-term perspective on intervention and drawing on the lessons of international involvement in post-conflict nation-building, I identify some of the areas of concern and propose a framework to think about how to reconcile Canada's divergent interests.The article starts by spelling out the connection between security and development, which is at the heart of the argument. I then go on to address the disconnect between security and development objectives in Canada's recent international engagements, as illustrated in The responsibility to protect, the report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in which played a much-touted role-and in the Martin government's international policy statement. the search for ways out of this quandary, I identify some of the tensions, if not outright contradictions, that pit the logic of intervention and that of prevention against one another. I finally conclude by suggesting a few guidelines to reconcile these contradictions in the framework of a coherent and integrated foreign policy.ON THE COMPLEMENTARITY OF INTERVENTION AND PREVENTION: THE SECURITY-DEVELOPMENT NEXUSSecurity and development are two faces of the same coin. Socioeconomic marginalization and political exclusion often provide the breeding ground for violence. Development problems are in fact highlighted by the World Bank as an integral part of what Paul Collier labels the conflict trap. While poverty as such is not correlated with conflict, ceteris paribus the chances of civil war increase five-fold for countries that fall below the US$1000 per capita income threshold.1 This is also consonant with earlier findings that it may not be absolute poverty but extremely unequal distribution of wealth-resulting in political or economic marginalization-that creates fertile ground for internal conflicts.At the Canada in the world conference, then-American ambassador to Paul Cellucci reaffirmed that it was in the joint economic and security interest of the US and to help countries lift their people out of poverty. This attitude is echoed in several key documents including former UN secretary general Boutros Boutros-Ghali's 1992 Agenda for and 1994 Agenda for development. More recently, the report of the UN high-level panel on threats, challenges and change recognized the need for better understanding of the intersection between development and security if the international community is to respond effectively to potential threats to collective peace and security. But nowhere is the relationship between freedom from fear and freedom from want better expressed than in UN secretary General Kofi Annan's recent report entitled In larger freedom: Towards development, security, and human rights for all, in which he states:Not only are development, security and human rights all imperative; they also reinforce each other. …

Is Your Hedge Fund a Trader or an Investor?

The author first observes that it is a well-accepted fact that most hedge funds are often somewhat tax-inefficient, though there are ways for hedge fund managers to make their trading more tax-efficient. In this article, he turns to a somewhat different question, highlighting a problem that most hedge fund investors will face even when their hedge funds employ such tax-friendly trading tools. Indeed, the answer to the apparently innocuous question of whether a hedge fund manager is classified as a trader or an investor could well be the burning issue for individuals investing in hedge funds. For most individuals, the “wrong” answer can cause taxes to be paid on “phantom” profits, and the IRS definition of “trader” may surprise many. The author discusses a variety of possible solutions, ranging from the characterization of fees, to wrap-vehicles and derivative contracts, but offers the important caveat that no solution is absolutely bulletproof, though most address one or another of the aspects of the problem.

Four colors suffice: how the map problem was solved

On October 23, 1852, Professor Augustus De Morgan wrote a letter to a colleague, unaware that he was launching one of the most famous mathematical conundrums in history--one that would confound thousands of puzzlers for more than a century. This is the amazing story of how the was solved. The problem posed in the letter came from a former student: What is the least possible number of colors needed to fill in any map (real or invented) so that neighboring counties are always colored differently? This deceptively simple question was of minimal interest to cartographers, who saw little need to limit how many colors they used. But the problem set off a frenzy among professional mathematicians and amateur problem solvers, among them Lewis Carroll, an astronomer, a botanist, an obsessive golfer, the Bishop of London, a man who set his watch only once a year, a California traffic cop, and a bridegroom who spent his honeymoon coloring maps. In their pursuit of the solution, mathematicians painted maps on doughnuts and horseshoes and played with patterned soccer balls and the great rhombicuboctahedron. It would be more than one hundred years (and countless colored maps) later before the result was finally established. Even then, difficult questions remained, and the intricate solution--which involved no fewer than 1,200 hours of computer time--was greeted with as much dismay as enthusiasm. Providing a clear and elegant explanation of the problem and the proof, Robin Wilson tells how a seemingly innocuous question baffled great minds and stimulated exciting mathematics with far-flung applications. This is the entertaining story of those who failed to prove, and those who ultimately did prove, that four colors do indeed suffice to color any map.

Binary bases of spaces of continuous functions

This paper addresses the question of density of binomials in C[ a, b]. This seemingly innocuous question turns out to be equivalent in certain instances to the moment problem.

Run-of-the-Mill Lunacy

In her 1980 interview with Charles Bukowski, Italian journalist Fernanda Pivano posed what seemed at first an innocuous question: “Why are you called Charles in the books and Hank in your private life?”

Finite Groups That Have Exactly n Elements of Order n

(2002). Finite Groups That Have Exactly n Elements of Order n. Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 75, No. 3, pp. 215-219.

Admission to higher education: The legal issues arising from applicants with criminal convictions

Historically, applicants for entry to higher education have not been required to declare information about their background with respect to criminal convictions. In the 1990s a number of cases arose where entrants to higher education who did have criminal backgrounds proceeded to reoffend. In response, the University and Colleges Admissions Service introduced from 1998 a question on its standard application form which requires all applicants to declare whether or not they have any criminal convictions. This apparently innocuous question raises a significant number of legal issues, most notably relating to contractual and tortious duties, rehabilitation of offenders, human rights and data protection. This article considers each of these areas with reference, as appropriate, to the interests of both the applicant with criminal convictions and other members of the higher education community who might be at risk should reoffending occur.

Beyond a ‘good thing’: political interests and the meaning of Landcare

[Extract] If any one question plagues those who seek to evaluate or comment on Landcare - not to mention those attempting to initiate Landcare groups or programs - it is the seemingly innocuous question of just what Landcare is. Even the most cursory perusal of documentation on Landcare will reveal at least two things; firstly, that the term 'Landcare' means many things to many people; and secondly, that the idea of Landcare is closely related to many other concepts and projects. If we look solely at this edition of Rural Society, for instance, we find that Landcare is examined as a government program by Curtis and De Lacy; a form of extension and information system by Carr; a means of enacting governance by Martin; and as the network of community Landcare groups, and supporting institutions, by Campbell. Further, the paper by Ritchie shows that the concept of Landcare has travelled across the Tasman, but has changed even further along the way. The question we might ask is whether the dilemmas this diversity poses for professional evaluators - who work best with clear goals and criteria - are of any consequence for anybody else. Contemplating the meaning of Landcare no doubt seems as esoteric for many people as the meaning of life; an interesting question to puzzle over late at night with a good bottle of wine, but somehow remote from the day-to-day projects and issues which confront their lives. Indeed, six years into the Decade of Landcare we may well conclude that the time for pondering meanings is well and truly over if Landcare is to make an indelible mark on our landscape by the turn of the century. It could, on the other hand, be argued that we need some sort of common understanding about what Landcare is so that we might all 'pull in the same direction', aligning our individual and communal goals to satisfy an agreed upon notion of the common good. Listening to some, we may even conclude, somewhat paradoxically, that we need to suspend our discussion of what Landcare is in case the ensuing debate threatens any consensus we may already have, even if this extends little beyond the banal observation that Landcare is, without doubt, 'a good thing'. All of the above positions obscure real, and legitimate, differences in the interests of participants in Landcare, and consequently the importance of their position taking practices in associated discourses. Some of the 'battles' over meaning associated with Landcare are fairly obvious and have been discussed by numerous other authors. Others are a little less clear, and require us to think more about the relationships between Landcare, and social and cultural change more generally. This paper will begin with a brief outline of the theoretical perspective which informs this analysis. The fieldwork on which most of the ensuing discussion is based was conducted through 1993 and 1994, and involved a range of methods aimed towards ethnographic understanding of the research problem, namely, both open-ended and structured interviews, and participant observation. These methods were deployed in the context of a case study conducted in one Local Government Area in the mixed cropping/grazing zone of south west NSW, and through involvement with the wider 'Landcare community'. They were undertaken as part of PhD research which will be completed shortly.

Language training in development: New strategies and roles

“We want to know how well our language training program is going. Can you help us?” (Olle Andersson, Chief Technical Advisor, Lao-Swedish Road Projects, July 1991). It seemed a relatively innocuous question at the time and we were only too willing to help. As language training specialists at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, it was our job to respond to such requests. In answering it, though, we have addressed the issue of developing technical competencies which had led us to propose a strategy for including language training as a key component of participatory competency development programs.

Exorcising Professional Demons: Charles Rann Kennedy and the Transition to the Modern Bar

History abounds with debates which turn on the seemingly innocuous question as to whether fundamental change did or did not occur in any particular period. Many such controversies are well-known: Was there or was there not a ‘Tudor revolution’? Was there or was there not an ‘agricultural revolution’? What about a ‘great transformation’? A revolutionary change in Canadian government in 1982? A ‘making’ of the English working class? A ‘transformation’ or ‘Americanization’ of American law? Are we or are we not at the present conjuncture in the process of a fundamental—and globe spanning—transformation to a dominant corporatist ideology? The examples of this sort of debate can be multiplied almost endlessly.

Good/bad splitting in the religious experience.

The disciple of Muktunada spoke blissfully of peace and love, yet when her focus shifted to the world's suffering, that smile of serenity never perceptibly changed. She reminded me of a client in therapy whose smile remained frozen, even when talking of her mother's death. The disciple of Krishna lectured to the crowds not only in a monotone but in a voice reminiscent of every other Krishna; and during the serving of dinner, the Maharaji's student's eyes were beset by a glazed look of rapture. I reflected on a patient who spoke with a dull affect, another who always gave the impression that while looking at me he did not really see me, and a third who appropriated the vocal and facial patterns of the people around him. When the follower of Reverend Moon who had been discoursing tranquilly and eloquently, suddenly and inappropriately responded in anger to an innocuous question, it brought to mind the client who always gently spoke of love but would burst into anger when anyone would mistakenly sit in his chair. Raptured eyes, frozen smiles, dull affect, repressed aggression: there was a correlation between certain repetitive symptomatologies in cult disciples who appeared to be otherwise functioning normally, and the schizophrenic population with whom I worked. The connection became evident in. the research I had been doing in the psychology of religious experience. There is a process in early infancy whereby the mother is split into a separate good and bad mother. A similar dynamic emerges in adult religious experience when the individual bifurcates his or her world into an analogous dichotomy: a guru who is omniscient, while nonbelievers are in the "dark"; a God who is exclusively good, with a devil who is totally bad. The following pages will analyze the nature of the good/bad split in infancy and describe that phenomenon's reappearance in the religious experience of certain individuals.

Randomized Response Technique in a National Survey

In order to produce estimates of the number of women having abortions during a 12-month period in the conterminous United States, the randomized response technique was used in the 1973 National Survey of Family Growth. The model applied used 2 unrelated questions in separate half-samples, with a coin as the randomizing device. The randomized response technique resulted in a higher estimate for the number of women with abortions that has previously been obtained through direct questions or reporting systems. The overall estimated proportion who had abortions among women who had been married or who had their own children in the household is 3.0% with a standardized error of 0.8 percentage points; however, there is a wide variation in the half-sample estimates of abortion. Differences between the 2 half-samples led to an examination of possible measurement error. 3 types of errors in measurement which may affect the estimate based on the randomized response technique are: 1) error in the answer to the sensitive question on abortion under the randomized response conditions; 2) error in the answer to the innocuous question under randomized response conditions; and 3) error in the answer to the innocuous question when asked directly. Comparisons between data from the different sources for currently married women suggest that all differences are not due to measurement error and that a large number of women had an unreported and/or illegal abortion in 1973. Although the randomized response models have been in use for at least 10 years, there continues to be a need for work on the field administration and subsequent analysis of these models.

A new discrete quantitative randomized response model

The Randomized Response Technique, which was originally developed for qualitative purposes, is being developed for quantitative purposes, and the current article presents a new discrete quantitative RRT model. This model uses a predetermined combination of balls in the randomizing device, instead of asking an innocuous question. It has been shown that the procedures of administering the model is simple and that its efficiency of estimate is higher than the other currently available models.

A New Discrete Quantitative Randomized Response Model

Abstract The Randomized Response Technique, which was originally developed for qualitative purposes, is being developed for quantitative purposes, and the current article presents a new discrete quantitative RRT model. This model uses a predetermined combination of balls in the randomizing device, instead of asking an innocuous question. It has been shown that the procedures of administering the model is simple and that its efficiency of estimate is higher than the other currently available models.

A New Discrete Quantitative Randomized Response Model

Abstract The Randomized Response Technique, which was originally developed for qualitative purposes, is being developed for quantitative purposes, and the current article presents a new discrete quantitative RRT model. This model uses a predetermined combination of balls in the randomizing device, instead of asking an innocuous question. It has been shown that the procedures of administering the model is simple and that its efficiency of estimate is higher than the other currently available models.

Editorial: Prediction and prognostication in coronary heart disease.

The physician is frequently asked these simple and seemingly innocuous questions: "Does emotional stress bring on heart attacks?" "Is coffee drinking bad for you?" "Is exercise good for you?" "Which coronary risk factor is the most important?" Such cocktail-hour questions from patients, colleagues and friends are among the more difficult in medicine to answer with assurance.Approaches to the scientific study of questions about coronary risk are illustrated in two articles contained in this issue, one by Friedman and his co-authors on the total leukocyte count, and one by Jenkins et al. about answers to a behavioral questionnaire, both in . . .

Faculty Evaluations by Randomized Response Sampling

Students taking part in faculty evaluations have a tendency to avoid questions which reveal too much about themselves when answered. Innocuous questions usually are answered truthfully. Questions that tend to stigmatize usually meet with resistence. Students will try to avoid questions that downgrade them in the eyes of the interviewer. These questions will go unanswered or they will be answered incorrectly. The randomized response model may be employed when evaluating teacher effectiveness. This technique helps eliminate the major causes of bias in sample surveys, that is, the refusal of the respondent to answer questions and incorrect answers. Randomized response allows the interviewee to give answers that furnish information on a probability basis. In that way the interviewer would know only the probability that the answer was true. Since this type of answer is is less revealing, this approach might encourage greater cooperation, better responses, and reduce evasive answer bias.