Category deficits and paradoxical dissociations in Alzheimer's disease and Herpes Simplex Hencephalitis

Most studies examining category specificity are single-case studies of patients with living or non living deficits. Nevertheless, no explicit or agreed criteria exist for establishing category-specific deficits in single-cases regarding the type of analyses, whether to compare with healthy controls, the number of tasks, or the type of tasks. We examined to groups of patients with neurological pathology frequently accompained with impaired semantic memory (19 patients with Alzheimer disease and 15 with Herpes Simplex Encephalitis). Category knowledge was examined using three tasks (picture naming, naming-to-description and features verification). Both patients groups were compared with aged- and education- matched healthy controls. The profile of each patients was examined for consistency across tasks and across different analyses; however both prove to be inconsistent. One striking findings was the presence of a paradoxical dissociation ( i.e., patients who were impaired on living things on one task and non living things on another task). The findings have significant implication for how we determine category effects and, more generall for the methods use to document double dissociation across individual cases in this literature

Principal Desirability for Professional Development (AELJ)

Principals are often required to operate educational programs under a growing number of federal and state mandates for which they have limited knowledge and available recourses. This paper presents the results of a survey of 102 principals from 52 elementary schools, 25 middle schools, and 25 high schools within the state of Virginia. The survey instrument was administered during the 2008 school year and contained 25 professional development statements that previous research indicated were necessary for practicing principals. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of Virginia public school principals concerning their desirability for professional development training in order to meet current accountability measures. The results were analyzed by the following demographic characteristics: principal experience level, level of school (elementary, middle, or high school), the percentage of minority children, children with IEPs, children with limited English proficiency, and children in poverty; Title 1 status; and AYP accreditation. These results have implications for public school systems to determine principal needs and provide the necessary training to meet current mandates. Additionally, this information would allow advocacy and outreach professional organizations for school principals to design workshops that focus their efforts on the most needed professional development areas

The challenge of managing informally

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the orientations of line managers in handling workplace conflict. In particular it examines the tension between the traditional preference of frontline managers for informal approaches and the perceived certainty of written disputes procedures. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws upon findings from 12 organisational case studies, focusing on interviews conducted with HR and managers. Findings – As line managers undertake more responsibility for people management, their preferences for informal approaches to workplace issues appears to be being replaced by a more rigid adherence to policy and procedure. This is largely driven by a lack of confidence and expertise in conflict management and a fear of the repercussions (both legal and organisational) of mishandling difficult issues. Written procedure therefore provides managers with both a systematic guide but also a protective shield against criticism and litigation. Research limitations/implications – It is not possible to generalise from a limited sample, therefore this suggested change requires further exploration to assess whether it has been evidenced in organisations more widely. Practical implications – For practitioners this research highlights the critical requirement for organisations to develop key skills among line managers to enable them to respond effectively to problems at an early stage. Social implications – For policy-makers, the barriers to line managers implementing informal resolution should be considered. Originality/value – This paper enriches understanding of line managers’ current role in people management and the challenges they face in doing so informally

Law Libraries and Laboratories: The Legacies of Langdell and His Metaphor

Law Librarians and others have often referred to Harvard Law School Dean C.C. Langdell’s statements that the law library is the lawyer’s laboratory. Professor Danner examines the context of what Langdell through his other writings, the educational environment at Harvard in the late nineteenth century, and the changing perceptions of university libraries generally. He then considers how the “laboratory metaphor” has been applied by librarians and legal scholars during the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The article closes with thoughts on Langdell’s legacy for law librarians and the usefulness of the laboratory metaphor