Personal Inclinations Research Articles

"Mr. Madison's War" or the Dynamic of Early American Nationalism?

This article explores who was ultimately responsible for the War of 1812. By applying the three-phase model of the emergence of nationalism (from an elite to a mass phenomenon) to the political situation in the United States from 1809 to 1812, it seeks to reconcile the historiographical debate between those who consider President Madison the driving force behind the movement toward war and those who argue that the war movement was anchored in the legislature. Though Madison and Jefferson had since 1803 taken an uncompromising stance toward the former mother country in order to promote an Anglophobic American nationalism, thereby escalating Anglo-American tensions, they wished to avoid outright war, as they feared that the requirements of war could overwhelm the young and fragile American republic. By 1811, however, public opinion, incited by the Republicans' persistent anti-British foreign policies, clamored for armed confrontation. A majority of Americans consequently elected Republicans to Congress who were willing to vote for a declaration of war. Yet Congress was reticent to declare war until Madison officially recommended this step, believing that a war waged without the administration's support would not succeed. Against his personal inclination, Madison opted to seek war to remain in control of American nationalism and to ensure, as a wartime president, that the waging of war would not undermine America's republican form of government. American nationalism had become a mass movement, assuming a dynamic of its own that became increasingly difficult to control. The onset of the War of 1812 was thus partly due to the pressure exerted by a rising populist nationalism that brought the so called war hawks into Congress, and partly due to the Madison administration's bid to remain in control of the political process.

Laboratory medicine and sports: between Scylla and Charybdis

Laboratory medicine is complex and contributes to the diagnosis, therapeutic monitoring and follow-up of acquired and inherited human disorders. The regular practice of physical exercise provides important benefits in heath and disease and sports medicine is thereby receiving growing focus from almost each and every clinical discipline, including laboratory medicine. Sport-laboratory medicine is a relatively innovative branch of laboratory science, which can provide valuable contributions to the diagnosis and follow-up of athletic injuries, and which is acquiring a growing clinical significance to support biomechanics and identify novel genomics and "exercisenomics" patterns that can help identify specific athlete's tendency towards certain types of sport traumas and injuries. Laboratory medicine can also provide sport physicians and coaches with valuable clues about personal inclination towards a certain sport, health status, fitness and nutritional deficiencies of professional, elite and recreational athletes in order to enable a better and earlier prediction of sport injuries, overreaching and overtraining. Finally, the wide armamentarium of laboratory tests represents the milestone for identifying cheating athletes in the strenuous fight against doping in sports.

The Hunter and the Pianist

Details of 2 patients with cirrhosis and hepatic encephalopathy whose hobby or job were possibly responsible for a selectively enhanced performance in 1 neuropsychiatric test are reported. Clinicians should be alert to the fact that personal inclinations and habits may impinge on both neuropsychological and psychophysic performance, thus producing a mismatch between the results of different mental status tests. A prospective study with accurate history taking, use of comprehensive assessment protocols, and modeling/critical interpretation of the test results is required to confirm this hypothesis.

Schopenhauer, Nietzsche e a crítica ao formalismo da moral kantiana

Neste artigo apresentamos as convergências entre Schopenhauer e Nietzsche na crítica ao formalismo da moral kantiana, sustentada pelo primado do dever, postulado pretensamente racional que exige o cumprimento da ação moral do indivíduo de maneira objetiva, sem manifestação de quaisquer inclinações pessoais. Schopenhauer e Nietzsche, apesar de apresentarem pontos divergentes acerca do valor existencial da compaixão, apresentam argumentos éticos que se chocam violentamente com a doutrina kantiana da moral, uma ilusão deletéria para a condução prática da vida humana.

Time Pressure, Time Saving And Online Shopping: Exploring A Contradiction

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Previous survey research revealed that consumers perceived online shopping and buying to be a time saving practice. Paradoxically, they only rarely reported using that tactic to save time, introducing a contradiction. Focus group research and unstructured interviews among active, time-pressured consumers provide partial solutions to the puzzle. Two types of online shopping benefits appeal to two types of consumers: Those experiencing situational time pressure respond well to "time-saving" appeals. Another, larger proportion, whose personal inclinations or personality traits result in time pressure are more interested in doing more tasks quickly or engaging in polychronic activities. These findings suggest online merchants simultaneously promote both time-saving and quicker accomplishment of more tasks. Though they are two sides of the same coin, time-pressured consumers tend to see only one side or the other. Both types of time-pressured shoppers eschew Websites requiring substantial "up-front" investment of time; complex, multi-option initial or home pages, and early insistence for "registration" that requires revealing personal information. This suggests clean, clear, uncluttered introductory pages and delay in urging registration until rapport has been established. Inexpensive, rapid delivery times and liberal return privileges were also highly valued by all time-pressured participants. Cost restrictions limit the degree to which online merchants can accommodate these preferences.</span></span></span></p>

An Analysis on Elderly Housing Preference Using Structural Equation Model: Focusing on Silver Town

Previous empirical researches on elderly housing preference show controversial findings; for example, Sun (2004) found women like silver town more than men do, but Park (2005) found the opposite. This controversial outcome is an example of Simpson's Paradox, so we need to group old people into subgroups. We hypothesize that elderly peoples' personal inclination affects housing preference. This research investigates the linkage between elderly peoples' personal inclination and their preference for silver town. To overcome the complexity of housing choice, we used a Structural Equation Model (SEM). We surveyed 350 prospective elderly people, whose ages' ranged from 45 to 65. 293 surveys were returned with proper answers. We extracted six latent criteria, which affect elderly peoples' housing choice, using factor analysis. The criteria include location, capital gain, monthly fee, amenity, convenience, and security. This research finds that old people who are concerned with proximity to city, low monthly fee, and high security tend to prefer silver towns to other housing options. This research confirms that location is the most important factor of silver towns.

Back to Basics: How Technology and the Open Source Movement Can Save Science

The recent debate arising from leaked emails from a UK‐based research group working on the issue of climate change is another in a long string of historical lapses that periodically threatens public confidence in the institutions and methods of science. As with other similar events, it did not have to happen. What should concern us is that the accepted methods and practices of science have once again to be shown to be too easily set aside, ignored, or broken due to human frailties. Years of research are now in question, publications must be viewed in a new, more skeptical light, and research programs that might have no direct relation with the one involved in the controversy are affected. One response to scandals like “ClimateGate” is to renew an oft‐repeated call for increased openness in the sciences. The apparent disappearance or alteration of data, and its implications for the trustworthiness of published results of ongoing research suggests strongly that a more transparent, open, and accessible system could have prevented personal inclinations or policy concerns, even if benevolently motivated, from undermining the indifferent and detached progress of climate science.

Max Weber’s notion of asceticism

The notion of asceticism plays a large and important role in Max Weber’s writings; however, it has remained relatively unexamined. Weber did not offer a definition of asceticism, but he did provide a contrast between the ‘polar concepts’ of the ascetic and the mystic. In this paper I discuss this contrast and place it within the historical context of the early and medieval monks. Then, I examine Weber’s discussions of the four major monastic reform movements. I conclude with a discussion concerning Weber’s political preferences for the strict, rational conduct of the ascetic, and especially his own personal inclinations towards asceticism.

It’s all about relationships! The psychology of human rights.

H aving spent more than a few hours in law school faculty lounges over the years, I suspect that there are few settings (Irish pubs reputedly among them) in which good-natured banter is more frequent or apparently mundane discourse is more atmospheric. Probably by both personal inclination and professional socialization, lawyers like to argue, and law professors are especially adept in such verbal jousting. Moreover, their already formidable forensic skills are honed by daily repartee with students less experienced in the art. It is unsurprising to observers of university culture to hear that such verbal contests often escalate during the season of recruitment of fledgling faculty. In such a context, I once heard an especially erudite colleague proclaim only half jokingly that any law professor, no matter how (un)skilled, could fully prepare a course on international law in just a few hours. (The half-serious implication was that the law school undoubtedly had a better place to invest money than in the recruitment of an assistant professor to teach international law.) My colleague’s flippant remark apparently rested on two related observations that together account for the relatively low status of international lawyers (or worse, novice lawyers teaching international law) in law schools. First, in a technical sense, there is not much law in international law. Although international tribunals create a body of decisions, they do not have the rich heritage of precedents found, for example, in U.S. constitutional law or Anglo-American common law. the community

<i>Later Medieval English Literature</i> (review)

Reviewed by: Later Medieval English Literature Derek Pearsall Later Medieval English Literature. By Douglas Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Pp. xiv + 712. $130. Douglas Gray is an acknowledged expert in late medieval English literature. He has ploughed, harrowed, and reaped in this field for many years—in his anthology of late medieval religious lyrics (1975) and book on the same subject (1972); in his anthology of late medieval English verse and prose (1985); and in his edition (which included much rewriting and new writing) of J. A. W. Bennett's Medieval English Literature (1986), a volume of the Oxford History of English Literature, now superseded by the Oxford English Literary History. The present volume is not part of a series nor is it written in the style of such literary histories. It is directed at students and beginning readers and its aim is to tell them what they need to know about literature between 1400 and ca.1535. It is selective and descriptive: there is no thesis or argument, except that good writing is always worth attending to, and no attempt to be innovative. It is not an exciting book, but it has a sureness of touch such as always gives rewards to the reader. Bibliographies are given for each chapter, arranged according to the order in which works are discussed in the text, and chiefly consisting of lists of editions consulted: there are no notes. The book is in five parts: an "Introduction," and then sections on "Prose," "Poetry," and "Drama," with a section also on "Scottish Writing," a way of giving Scotland the prominent and independent position for which Gray himself has always argued. The "Introduction" is divided into three parts, dealing successively with the geopolitical and social scene, with culture, religion, medicine, science, and education, and with book production, literacy, the prevalence of images, multilingualism, and the styles and forms of literature. It is a magnificent achievement in its own right, drawing on rich stores of knowledge and experience of the Middle Ages, and it would on its own make a perfect 150-page background for anyone studying later medieval literature. Everything is covered, with the richness of reference that comes naturally to a treasure-stocked mind, but the individuality of the achievement is in the vivid vignettes of lesser-known events, writers, and texts—from the travels of Felix Fabri and William Wey to the Kalender of Shepherdes, a text often referred to but rarely visited in detail. There is judicious and extensive use of quotation, which allows texts to speak for themselves, and which can often go to the heart of a text better than description. Gray has a personal inclination to the anthologists and collectors of curiosities, such as William Worcestre, and to the unexpected treasures of the Vulgaria. His own anthology of later medieval writing has evidently proved a godsend. The rest of the book is, as Gray calls it in the Preface, "a guidebook for the curious traveller." The method is deliberately descriptive: everything is dealt with in turn, the works summarized, the stories of the less familiar romances told in detail, and lengthy quotation employed to give the flavor of a work. Parenthetic glosses are given for hard words in the quotations, a practice which can cause some confusion to the eye in verse printed as prose (often up to seven lines) and in heavily glossed Scots prose texts. The ending date of the survey is never stated, but generally enforces its own logic (ca.1535); the beginning date is arbitrary, and causes some local difficulties with works that are usually dated "ca.1400," such as the alliterative Morte Arthure, or that were written in the fourteenth century but only survive in fifteenth-century copies. Gray usually has a sensible solution. The distinction of prose and verse in Parts II and III works reasonably well except with certain writers like More, who have to be [End Page 244] divided up into several persons, and except with some kinds of romance and historical writing, though even there a distinction can be maintained on other, nonformal, grounds. Major writers like Malory are not made part of any historical or literary-historical argument...

Work and autonomy in the assembly of printed circuit boards

Work, conceptualised as a concrete and practical activity, continues to remain an under-explored problematic in the field of Indian labour studies. The neglect of ethnographic research techniques could perhaps account for this shortcoming. Based on non-participant observation in a public sector company, this article examines the practices and attitudes of workers specialised in assembling printed circuit boards for electronic telephones. Despite the standardised nature of the product and its low economic value, operatives allocated to this task experience a significant degree of autonomy in their daily activities. In consonance with their personal inclinations and interests, they are not only free to structure their immediate physical environment but also to control their work pace and organise the way they perform their jobs. In all these spheres of practice, important variations can be observed from one individual to the next. This situation belies the conventional thesis equating semi-skilled occupations of the kind described here with job fragmentation, the absence of individual discretion and stringent managerial controls. The departure from the norm stems in part from the desire to preserve a harmonious industrial relations climate and in part from the non-strategic character of the end product—telephones—in the company’s portfolio. But slack disciplinary controls, a problem common to state-owned enterprises in general, could also explain the latitude granted to workers.

Intersubjective Systems Theory

Intersubjective systems theory is the view that personal experience always emerges, maintains itself, and transforms in relational contexts. It is held for reasons of personal inclinations, philosophical belief, and clinical conviction. As a clinical sensibility, it primarily includes an emphasis on the emotional convictions or organizing principles that systematize experience, the personal engagement of the analyst, and the refusal to argue about reality.

Prediction of breast cancer metastasis by genomic profiling: where do we stand?

Current concepts conceive “breast cancer” as a complex disease that comprises several very different types of neoplasms. Nonetheless, breast cancer treatment has considerably improved through early diagnosis, adjuvant chemotherapy, and endocrine treatments. The limited prognostic power of classical classifiers determines considerable over-treatment of women who either do not benefit from, or do not at all need, chemotherapy. Several gene expression based molecular classifiers (signatures) have been developed for a more reliable prognostication. Gene expression profiling identifies profound differences in breast cancers, most probably as a consequence of different cellular origin and different driving mutations and can therefore distinguish the intrinsic propensity to metastasize. Existing signatures have been shown to be useful for treatment decisions, although they have been developed using relatively small sample numbers. Major improvements are expected from the use of large datasets, subtype specific signatures and from the re-introduction of functional information. We show that molecular signatures encounter clear limitations given by the intrinsic probabilistic nature of breast cancer metastasis. Already today, signatures are, however, useful for clinical decisions in specific cases, in particular if the personal inclination of the patient towards different treatment strategies is taken into account.

Lessons for Classics from the History of Mathematics

Presented here are examples of two problems set by ancient Greek mathe maticians that engaged scholars for centuries and could be included in a course on Greek civilization. Also presented are samples from mathematical works published in Latin and some Latin anagrams produced by mathematicians and scientists, all of which could be introduced into the Latin classroom. The Teaching Innovation Program at the University of Mary Washington provided the opportunity for a Teaching Partner Exchange that granted two faculty members in different disci plines a course release to attend one another's classes. The faculty members were to engage themselves fully, doing all the work, side by side with the regular students. The anticipated results included a greater awareness of another discipline and a healthy reminder of what it means to be a student. Participating in this program, the mathematician among us took Elementary Latin and the classicist The History of Mathematics.1 With a continued interest in the intersection of our disciplines, we have sought ways to build on those interdisci plinary connections. While the importance of ancient Greece to the history and development of mathematics is common knowledge, and while most classicists are aware that mathematical treatises were published in scholarly Latin into the Renaissance and beyond,2 it is rare to see the history of mathematics incorporated into either courses in classical civilization or Latin classes. We therefore offer some examples from the history of mathematics and science that could reasonably be inserted into Classics courses at the high school or college level. Plato and the Three Classical Construction Problems Plato's impact on the development of mathematics cannot be overstated. While he developed little original mathematics himself, he used the subject to train the intellect, and his insistence on its impor tance produced an environment in which the discipline flourished. 1 The textbook used in the latter course, Burton (2007), is an excellent reference for the history of mathematics, especially in antiquity. 2 Mathematical works published in Latin, in addition to Barrow (1655), Cardano [1663] (1967) and Heiberg (1883-6) discussed below, include Newton's Philosophiae Natu ralis Principia Mathematica (1687) and Fibonacci's Liber Abaci (1202). No copy of Fibonac ci's work from 1202 is extant. See Boncompagni (1857-62) for Fibonacci's 1228 edition. THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL 104.4 (2009) 351-62 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.156 on Sat, 10 Sep 2016 06:10:11 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 352 LIANE HOUGHTALIN AND SUZANNE SUMNER Legend has it that Plato even affixed a sign over the doors of his Academy with the warning, "Let no man ignorant of geometry enter here."3 His personal inclination, however, was to value theoretical mathematics and to display contempt for applying the subject to any practical use. Instead, Plato believed that all mathematics should be created from the ideal forms of circles and lines, and he accordingly restricted the tools allowed to a straightedge (a ruler with no grid for measuring) to draw lines, and a compass to construct circles with any center and radius.4 Over the course of the centuries, mathematicians realized that three mathematical problems, called the Three Classical Construction Problems, were unsolvable under Plato's limitations, but were solv able with looser restrictions. These problems are Squaring a Circle (constructing a square with the same area as a given circle), Trisect ing a General Angle (dividing an arbitrary angle into thirds) and Duplicating a Cube (constructing a cube with double the volume of a given cube). Figure 1 illustrates the essence of the cube duplication problem. The cube on the left with edge a will have a volume of a3, whereas the cube on the right with edge x will have a volume of x3, which will be double the volume of the first cube if x3 equals 2a3.

TOTEMISM, METAPHOR AND TRADITION: INCORPORATING CULTURAL TRADITIONS INTO EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY EXPLANATIONS OF RELIGION

Abstract.Totemism, a topic that fascinated and then was summarily dismissed by anthropologists, has been resurrected by evolutionary psychologists’ recent attempts to explain religion. New approaches to religion are all based on the assumption that religious behavior is the result of evolved psychological mechanisms. We focus on two aspects of Totemism that may present challenges to this view. First, if religious behavior is simply the result of evolved psychological mechanisms, would it not spring forth anew each generation from an individual's psychological mechanisms? Yet, Australian Totemism, like other forms of Totemism, is profoundly traditional, copied by one generation from the prior ones for hundreds of generations. Regardless of personal inclinations, individuals are obligated to participate. Second, it is problematic to assume that all practitioners of Totemism actually believe their religious claims. We propose an alternative explanation that accounts for the persistence of Totemism and that does not rely on an assumption that its practitioners are preliterate or naive because they have strange beliefs. We focus on Totemism as a cultural mechanism aimed at building and sustaining social relationships among close and distant kinsmen.

Train, train, train! No pain, just gain

Physical training in myopathy: yes or no? This highlights a long-standing dilemma, and one that is still a matter of debate and controversy. Is it beneficial, at least to avoid muscle deconditioning, or detrimental, even harmful, because of the mechanical stress imposed to wrecked myofibres? An initial consideration is that little attention has been given to the different responses to training that the various myopathic conditions can produce. A second, consequential one, is that lack of unequivocal results and flaws in the training protocols let physicians take a somewhat empirical attitude—dictated by personal inclinations, common sense, indulgence toward patient compliance or just prudence inspired by ‘ primum non nocere - first do not harm’, an old evergreen precept (Hippocrates, 460–377 BC). In many cases, the final persuasion is that physical exercise is not recommended, through anxiety over the risk of damaging an already compromised muscle, or even triggering acute episodes of pain, rhabdomyolysis and myoglobinuria. The latter are certainly contraindications to strenuous physical exercise, for instance in several metabolic myopathies related to impaired energy metabolism, such as the lipid storage myopathies, due to defects of intra-mitochondrial transport and utilization of fatty acids (Bruno and DiMauro, 2008; e.g. carnitine-palmitoyl transferase II deficiency, electron transfer flavoprotein dehydrogenase (ETF-DH) deficiency, and very long-chain fatty acid β-oxidation defects) or glycogen (DiMauro, 2007; e.g. myophosphorylase deficiency and defects of intermediary glycolytic enzymes). Some defects of the mitochondrial respiratory chain are also associated with myoglobinuria, notably deficiency of CoQ10 (especially related to ETF-DH deficiency) and mutations in the MTCOB gene (Andreu et al. , 1999), but in most cases neither high creatine kinase nor myoglobinuric episodes are frequent symptoms of mitochondrial disorders. In addition, little, if any, attention is paid to the quantitative and qualitative features of therapeutic physical training (van der Kooi …

Roundtable Sessions of a Children's Hospital Child Protection Team

Roundtable Sessions of a Children's Hospital Child Protection Team

Russia's Duma Elections and the Practice of Russian Democracy

Former President Vladimir Putin and official spokespersons for the Russian political leadership have repeatedly proclaimed their commitment democratic values, but western observers and domestic critics are skeptical.1 The most recent election for the Russian parliament on 2 December 2007-the state duma-exemplified the many ambiguities about the state of democracy in Russia. While the elections were ostensibly competitive-11 parties on the ballot and four winning seats in the legislature-international observers, the extent they were present, made contradictory judgements on the democratic credentials of the vote. Not surprisingly, those from the Commonwealth of Independent States approved the election, while the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) refused send observers because the conditions offered by the Russian government were said prevent them from doing a proper j ob. The Council of Europe, on the other hand, carried out its observer mission, concluding that while the elections were to a great extent free in terms of a variety of voting options, they were definitely not fair.3Problems with the election had less do with overt fraud (although opposition forces made some allegations of that as well) but with restrictions on conditions preceding and surrounding the vote. These restrictions included selective enforcement of electoral laws in order exclude some parties from participating, general crackdowns on critics of the regime, restrictions on public gatherings by groups opposing the government, and media bias. The Council of Europe made specific mention of abuse of administrative resources, as well as unequal media access, use of force against and harassment of opposition leaders, restrictive effects of electoral legislation, and voting improprieties on election day.3 In addition, pressure on voters support United Russia was widely reported in the press, with allegations that school teachers, other state employees, and students were threatened with sanctions if they didn't vote correctly.4 In the larger context, many observers considered these actions unfavourable in democratic governance.Given the consistently high level of popularity of Vladimir Putin both preceding and following the election, and the availability of methods of informal influence over regional elites (who in turn have informal tools influence the regional vote), the extraordinary methods applied in order assure a high vote for United Russia seem puzzling. Some of these measures simply opened the door further allegations about a slide toward authoritarianism, while being unlikely affect the outcome in any significant way.This article explores possible reasons underlying the efforts of the Russian leadership assure the election outcome and suggests some criteria for assessing their compatibility with democratic practice. The underlying argument is that the colour revolutions that took place in other postcommunist countries since November 2003, notably Ukraine's orange revolution, offered a powerful impetus for Russian elites manage the 2007 Russian parliamentary election even more firmly than they had in 2003. No doubt other underlying factors reinforced this tendency, including Putin's own career background and personal inclinations, worries about terrorist attacks, cultural predispositions, the weakness of civil society, and legacies of totalitarianism. This analysis resists the temptation of falling back on these standard explanations, and assumes a rational calculation of interest on the part of the Russian leadership.BACKSLIDE FROM DEMOCRACY PRECEDING THE 2007 ELECTION?The 2007 duma elections should be viewed in the larger context of Russia's backslide from the democratization impetus that took hold in the Yeltsin years. Western scholarly literature has identified the establishment of postcommunist institutional structures involving super-presidential systems as a common feature that makes initial commitments democratic processes but then sees regression more authoritarian structures. …

Residents' Perceptions of their Neighbourhood: Disentangling Dissatisfaction, a French Survey

To avoid the conventional and normative pitfalls of neighbourhood satisfaction scales, the responses to a non-inductive open question identified six statistical types of resident in France. The reasons for their satisfaction or dissatisfaction reflect both personal inclinations and characteristics of the neighbourhood. By controlling for these characteristics, for the local network of relationships, for the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and the social type of the neighbourhood, poor neighbourhoods stand apart in all six types of resident. The few reasons for contentment stem mainly from relationships with relatives and friends in the neighbourhood. The introduction of a socio-residential variable to categorise the neighbourhood socially clarifies residents' perceptions in terms of their social grade.

개인내적성향이 이종격투기 인식도에 미치는 영향

개인내적성향이 이종격투기 인식도에 미치는 영향