Creativity enhancement through flotation isolation

Research over the last 25 years on the contribution of aloneness to creativity enhancement has had mixed results. Early studies of sensory deprivation generally found negative effects while more recent research on flotation isolation has reported positive influence. Sports performance, for example, has been improved by means of directed imagery and flotation aloneness. However, there has been only one study which has attempted to enhance creativity through the flotation method and while this study reported positive results, it lacked several control features and was based on a very small sample of highly selected subjects.The present study was designed to evaluate directly the potential contribution of floating to creativity enhancement as measured by the Guilford fluency test and other measures. Subjects were male and female university students, half of whom spent one hour in a float environment and the other half in a darkened room. Each was tested before and after experimental trial on the Guilford and other creativity measures and on two personality/affect scales. Float subjects showed significant increases on the Guilford test from the pre- to post-float and meaningful increases on other thinking measures as compared to non-floating control subjects. Floating was associated with a decrease in anxiety/tension, depression, hostility, and fatigue, but with an increase in vigor and a maintenance of curiosity scores, and it is speculated that the creativity benefits may be a result of these state changes.     

Protection of the environment from ionising radiation: ethical issues

The paper identifies some of the main ethical issues concerning the protection of the environment from radiation and suggests ways in which ethics can aid in developing a system of protection. After a presentation of background on ethical theory and environmental ethics, three main issues related to environmental protection are discussed: First, the question of valuing the environment and implications for the definition of harm and monetary valuation of environmental goods; second, difficulties with scientific uncertainty and applications of the precautionary principle; and third, issues concerned with the distribution of risk and its relevance for participation in decision-making. In summary, the paper argues that there are strong ethical grounds to provide for the protection of the environment and that, all other things being equal, there is no reason to treat ionising radiation differently to other environmental stressors.     

Sampling pure fetal blood in twin pregnancies by fetoscopy using a single uterine puncture

A technique for sampling pure fetal blood in twin pregnancies using a single uterine entry with a fetoscope is described. The fetoscope was inserted into one sac and after blood had been obtained from that, twin, the fetus in the other sac was sampled by trans-septal passage of the blood-sampling needle. This was done in six out of seven patients, the first in the series having two separate insertions of the fetoscope, one into each sac. Pure fetal blood was taken from all 14 fetuses, either from the placental insertion of the umbilical cord or the umbilicus, and the volume of the samples ranged from 200 μl to 1200 μl. In six patients the fetuses were at risk of β-thalassaemia and in one of haemophilia A. Some observations are made relating zygosity to the ultrasonic and fetoscopic appearance of the septum between the sacs.     

Explaining landholders' decisions about riparian zone management: the role of behavioural, normative, and control beliefs

Water quality is a key concern in the current global environment, with the need to promote practices that help to protect water quality, such as riparian zone management, being paramount. The present study used the theory of planned behaviour as a framework for understanding how beliefs influence decisions about riparian zone management. Respondents completed a survey that assessed their behavioural, normative, and control beliefs in relation to intentions to manage riparian zones on their property. The results of the study showed that, overall, landholders with strong intentions to manage their riparian zones differed significantly in terms of their beliefs compared to landholders who had weak intentions to manage their riparian zones. Strong intentions to manage riparian zones were associated with a favourable cost-benefit analysis, greater perceptions of normative support for the practice and lower perceptions of the extent to which barriers would impede management of riparian zones. It was also evident that willingness to comply with the recommendations of salient referents, beliefs about the benefits of riparian zone management and perceptions of the extent to which barriers would impede riparian zone management were most important for determining intentions to manage riparian zones. Implications for policy and extension practice are discussed.     

The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes

In understanding the safety climate or culture of a workplace, the perceptions and attitudes of the workforce are important factors in assessing safety needs. Safety solutions may fail if they do not take into account these prevailing attitudes and perceptions. Also, changes in attitudes and perceptions about safety are often likely outcomes of safety interventions. The aim of this study was to develop a measure of perception and attitudes about safety as an indicator of safety culture for use with working populations. After reviewing the structure and content of a number of older, related measures of safety attitudes, a 67-item questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was distributed in a self-administered form to 1560 workers in a wide variety of types of jobs and 660 questionnaires were returned from 7 workplaces with a response rate of 42%. Items were evaluated by Cronbach alpha which showed that the item set shared considerable common variance. Scale development was approached in two ways. First items which were highly skewed were removed, resulting in removal of around half of the items, with very little loss in alpha. The remaining items were then subjected to factor analysis which revealed five factors; personal motivation for safe behaviour, positive safety practice, risk justification, fatalism and optimism. This factor structure showed acceptable psychometric properties. Second, in an effort to produce a unidimensional scale with a small, but representative set of items, additional items were removed which had high correlation with other items. This resulted in loss of around half of the remaining items. The short scale contained 17 items with again overall acceptable psychometric properties. The most striking finding in the development of this questionnaire was that there was little variation between respondents on a very large proportion of the questions originally selected. Clearly there are well-known beliefs about safety in the working community which need to be understood in order to progress the concept of safety culture.     

The transtheoretical model of change in adolescents: implications for injury prevention

INTRODUCTION: Many injury prevention interventions require changes in human behavior to reduce self-risk or risk to others. Promising injury prevention interventions may be discarded if they lack power to create a significant difference in outcomes when judging their ability to "move a person from nonaction or negative action to positive action (safety)." The transtheoretical model of change (TMC) allows greater sensitivity in detecting along the change process where an intervention may be effective. The stages of change consist of precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, and termination. Change is not viewed as an "all or none phenomenon." METHOD: Use of the TMC was examined using a quasiexperimental, cross-over design involving high school agriculture students enrolled in 21 schools in Kentucky (n=9), Iowa (n=7), and Mississippi (n=5). A series of physical and narrative simulations (safety training exercises) were developed with a focus on preventing amputation, spinal cord injury, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and noise-induced hearing loss. Contemplation and action, as part of the TMC, were measured using a 10-item, Likert-type, stages of change (SOC) instrument comprised of two subscales (reliability coefficients were.88 and.81, respectively). The final sample consisted of 790 students (373 treatment and 417 control). RESULTS: There was a significant group effect for both contemplation, F(1,732)=197.4; p<.0001, and action, F(1,730)=106.1; p<.0001. A convenience sample of 29 of the participating students was selected for follow-up farm visits 1 year postparticipation. Of these students, 25 (86%) had made safety behavior changes in their farm work. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The use of the TMC model can provide researchers with greater precision in examining intervention effectiveness in promoting change.     

Congenital cystic hygroma of the neck diagnosed prenatally: Outcome with normal and abnormal karyotype

Twenty-two cases of cystic hygromas were diagnosed prenatally at Eastern Virginia Medical School and followed through the neonatal period. Our series was combined with 131 cases which have been described in the literature. Karyotypes were obtained in 110 fetuses and 80 (72·7 per cent) were abnormal. Fifty-one were not terminated: 30 with abnormal and 21 with normal karyotypes. There were no neonatal survivors in the group with abnormal karyotypes. There were five survivors in the 21 with normal karyotypes but only 2/21 without severe medical complications. Combining our series with those previously reported in the literature would suggest only a 2–3 per cent rate of intact survivors when fetal cystic hygromas are diagnosed in utero. This information should be helpful when counselling patients whose pregnancies carry this diagnosis.     

绿色科技助力西部少数民族脱贫

UNDP通过了一个为期4年的联合国西部扶贫项目，生活在四川、贵州和云南三省交界地区的农户将可以用当地的一种特殊树种麻风树来生产生物燃料，以提高能源供应。由联合国开发计划署、中国科技部和商务部中国国际经济技术交流中心共同发起的这一项目。总预算为858．5万美元，旨在通过绿色技术来帮助中国西部地区减少贫困。并改善那里脆弱的生态系统。“中国绿色扶贫”项目的目的是帮助他们开发新的能源物质，并在项目所在地区发展绿色能源。     

Bioaccumulation of toxic hydrophobic organic compounds at the primary trophic level

The prevailing hypothesis, which states that the uptake of HOCs by phytoplankton is controlled by the compound's lipophilicity (Kow) was tested. The approach taken was to determine the factors that controlled the uptake of PCBs by phytoplankton under controlled laboratory conditions, and to develop a model that would describe bioaccumulation of PCBs in phytoplankton.The results demonstrate a relationship of BAF to Kow and to phytoplankton surface properties, as well as the data presented here, support the hypothesis that the mechanism of HOC uptake is a rapid surface sorption followed by a slower transfer into lipids in the cell matrix. The work on the kinetics of uptake indicates that equilibrium is reached slowly and that the rate of uptake is of similar magnitude as phytoplankton growth under normal field conditions.Thus a critical factor that controls the bioaccumulation of HOCs reach equilibrium in phytoplankton itself.