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Fear to get near: personal space in individuals with psychopathic traits
Get PDFPast literature theorized that personal space -a physical boundary in which a person experiences discomfort when another person intrudes it- might depend on personality. This study hypothesized, that higher scores on psychopathic personality measures would lead to a larger personal space in individuals. Furthermore, as personal space is thought to function as an intraspecies aggression regulator, this study also hypothesized that personal space tends to be larger towards dominant individuals, than towards non-dominant individuals, as dominant other might be seen as possibly more aggressive. Results indicate no direct correlation between overall psychopathic traits and personal space. However, a positive correlation is found in the relationship between one particular psychopathic personality trait –Coldheartedness- and personal space. Regarding perceived dominance, it was found that individuals tested in this study kept a larger personal space towards dominant individuals. This effect was found to be independent of score on a psychopathic personality measure
Functional and anatomical connectivity in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging study
Get PDFPain processing relies on a distributed network of cortical regions. It is therefore proposed that cortical connectivity analyses may be useful for examining the abnormal cortical network interactions that modulate pain perception, and other symptoms, in chronic pain conditions. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging to investigate differences in functional and anatomical connectivity between healthy controls and patients with complex regional pain syndrome (type 1). It was hypothesised that this chronic pain condition would associate with changes in functional connectivity within resting-state networks, as well as changes in fractional anisotropy in white matter tracts. Results suggested that there is increased functional connectivity between regions of the sensorimotor resting-state network, and that there is decreased fractional anisotropy in the portion of the superior longitudinal fasciculus connecting these regions. These regions correspond to primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, which have been implicated in the sensory-discriminative aspect of pain processing. This supports the hypothesis that there are both functional and anatomical changes within pain processing networks, in patients with complex regional pain syndrome
How our brains are wired: Are the applications of diffusion imaging useful given the current limitations?
Get PDFDiffusion imaging (DI) enables researchers to study white matter (WM) pathways in the human brain in-vivo by labelling water molecules and measuring their diffusion into different directions. Connectivity patterns are inferred assuming that water diffuses rather along than across fibre bundles. This paper introduces the concept of DI, addresses suitable applications and evaluates gains versus limitations. Common applications are (1) generating WM atlases, (2) mapping connectional models of functionally subdivided brain regions, (3) linking disorders to connectivity abnormalities, (4) verifying WM pathways from animal studies, (5) linking personality traits to particular connectivity patterns, (6) measuring structural changes resulting from experience or ageing and (7) presurgical planning. Despite limitations like the moderate spatial resolution, or – more fundamentally – the lack of a gold standard and the kissing/crossing problem, DI can be regarded as a useful tool if researchers choose methods carefully and consider the known limitations
The effect of violent games on aggression
Get PDFThe aim of this study was to examine the effects of violent video games on aggressive behaviour when played by children and adolescents. This was done by investigating several theories and by conducting a structured literature review in which the studies were considered separate by methodology. Eight articles were included in the review after computerized searches of the psychological database PsycINFO. The results showed a small effect of violent video games on aggressive behaviour. However, several other factors have been found to play a role and to make the effect larger. Examples of these factors are wishful identification, competitiveness, arousal, and trait aggression. Gender has also been found to play an important role: the effects of the games are higher within boys when compared to girls
Framing Government Transparency in the Obama Administration
No full textThis chapter examines the framing of transparency as a governmental reform policy in the US-American context. It concentrates on the Obama administration’s government transparency policy, the Open Government Initiative and related policies, rather than on targeted transparency policies imposed on corporations or other private organizations to reduce risks or improve performance (on the latter cf. Fung et al., 2007). It is attentive to the ‘usages’, the purposes and functions, of transparency rather than seeing transparency as a basic right and intrinsic value (on the latter cf. Stiglitz, 1999). This however neither implies that transparency can be used as a means to any end nor that there is no underlying political philosophy or public administration theory behind a government’s notion(s) of transparency
Borderless Market legislation practice in EU and USA: Competence of central authorities in the federal model
Get PDFBoth the EU and the USA have a federated structure with some competencies and responsibilities resting at the central level, some resting with the state governments. Both systems subscribe to a constitutional principle of enumerated powers under which, in order for powers to belong properly to the federal level, they need to have been enumerated as such. The United States Constitution centralized the government with all due respect to a relationship between central government and the state level (amendment X of the U.S. Constitution2). In this study, the current American federal model will be compared to the model of governance in Europe which might be considered to be developing towards a federal system. This system essentially implies the supremacy of the (respective) constitution and, indeed, all the hallmarks of American federalism are included in the European Constitution. The Single Market encompasses the respect for EU basic legal principles, subsidiarity and proportionality (Article 5 TEU). However, the European Constitution remains problematic in the European Union. The 2004 attempt to pass the Constitution turned out to be a failure and slowed down further political integration. Constitutional issues will also be discussed from the judiciary point of view which is to be confronted with political aspects. The important question to be addressed here is the role of judicial control in the process of creating a coherent doctrinal framework. The question whether the legislative acts are immune from legislative review provided that matter falls within the Treaty competences conferred on the EU by the Member States, or in the U.S. Constitution respectively, will be examined
Setting your own wage: The debate surrounding remuneration of Members of Parliament in Germany
Get PDFThis paper examines the debate surrounding the remuneration of Members of Parliament in Germany. It analyzes grey literature, speeches and newspaper articles to shed a light on the debate. With the tool of analytical discourse analysis by Toulmin it scrutinizes the “selfdetermination should be abolished”-argument, which is very salient in the public discussion on the topic. The underlying arguments are being extracted, described and finally evaluated on their validity. Thereby, three main questions emerge: Does increasing their remuneration really increase a Member of Parliament’s utility? Is there really no external control on the determination of Members’ of Parliament remuneration? Does higher remuneration for Members of Parliament really increase taxes? All those three questions are answered in the negative by the author. First, the growth in utility resulting from an increase of Members of Parliament remuneration, which is overestimated by the public, can be assumed to be much lower. Second, there is external oversight on the self-determination process provided by the public. Finally, the tax increase as a result of an increase in Members of Parliament remuneration is neglectable
The Case of Secularism in Italian Classrooms
Get PDFMrs. Lautsi challenged the board of her children’s school and consequently the Italian Republic for the legally obligatory presence of a crucifix in the school’s classroom. She argued that this violated the principle of secularism. After unsuccessful attempts in regional and national courts she appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 which initially ruled in favor , but after an appeal of the Italian Government to the High Chamber, ruled against her. The Lautsi case provoked significant societal debate concerning the role of religion in public space. One of the key players in this debate is Professor Joseph Weiler, who intervened in the case on behalf of several third party states. Weiler’s argumentation will be subject to Analytical Discourse Evaluation in this paper. The goal of Weiler’s argument is to prove that the Chamber’s initial ruling, before Italy’s appeal, was based on a conceptual error of what can be regarded as ‘state neutrality’. Professor Weiler argues that secularism is mistaken to be defined as neutral and Italy should be allowed to prescribe crucifixes in classrooms. The analysis shows that Professor Weiler’s argumentation is flawed and this paper will present a more viable, alternative argument
The Impact of Non-audit Services on Going Concern Opinions Revisited: The Case of Triennially Inspected Audit Firms
Get PDFThe validity of information contained in financial statements is an important concern for users of these statements. Validity can only be achieved through independent attestation of financial statements by auditors. Hence, auditor independence has been a concern of regulators for a long time. Specifically, the provision of non-audit services by auditors is assumed to create economic dependence of auditors on clients and therefore impairs auditor independence. This paper examines whether the provision of non-audit services by triennially inspected audit firms impairs audit quality, measured as the propensity to issue a going concern opinion (GCO) for the time period 2004 - 2006. In addition, it is examined whether the association between non-audit service fees and the propensity to issue a GCO is stronger for triennially inspected audit firms that receive a deficient inspection report from the PCAOB than for triennially inspected audit firms that receive a clean inspection report from the PCAOB. This study does not find support for either of these hypotheses. The relationship between non-audit service fees and the likelihood of issuing a GCO is insignificant for the sample of triennially inspected firms. In addition, the going concern decision by triennially inspected auditors is not influenced by the outcome of their inspection report and the association between NAS and GCO is not stronger for firms with a deficient inspection report compared to those with a clean inspection report. The study does, however, find a significantly positive relationship between the magnitude of audit fees and total fees and the likelihood of a GCO
Preface
Get PDFThe Marble (Maastricht Researched Based Learning for Excellence) programme at SBE facilitates the development of research projects for highly motivated and excellent undergraduate students. Students attending the bachelor programme of Econometrics and Operations Research join the Marble programme in the third year of their study. At the end of their bachelor they perform a short study which covers different applications of econometrical, mathematical and operations research techniques. The findings are presented at a mini symposium in June and documented in a research paper