The natural sciences: Trouble ahead? Yes

This essay expands a talk given by Professor Gross at the annual meeting of the American Academy for Liberal Education, held at St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 29–30, 1993.     

The case of Philippe Rushton

Barry R. Gross, who holds a doctorate from the University of Toronto     

Rhetoric and the origins of the human sciences: A Foucauldian tale untold

Michel Foucault’s famous history of the human sciences focused on “the order of things” and in doing so it overwhelmed a rhetorical perspective that can track the arts of moving souls: pedagogy, politics, and psychology. If we revisit Foucault from a rhetorical perspective there are consequences: (1) at the level of architectonic, we rediscover rhetoric’s role at the inception of the human sciences, and (2) at the level of thematic, we can make better sense of rhetorical phenomena such as the sixteenth-/seventeenth-century sacred arts of listening, which feature a “public ear.” Foucault’s late interest in the pastoral picks up this rhetorical thread, although he never was able to revise the disciplinary and biopolitical history implicated therein. This article initiates just such a revision, paying particular attention to historiographic questions, and to recent discussions of biopower that wind up looking very different from this rhetorical perspective.     

Emotion Regulation in Achievement Situations: An Integrated Model

Achievement emotions are critical because of their impact on success and failure in important domains such as learning. These emotions may be modified via emotion regulation (ER). The dominant process model of ER (PMER) proposed by J. Gross, however, provides a domain-general account of ER strategies and has not had substantial contact with theories of achievement emotions such as R. Pekrun’s control-value theory (CVT) and the academic achievement literature. Moreover, ER has not been a focal point of major theories related to achievement emotions, such as CVT. We propose an integrated model of ER in achievement situations (ERAS) that integrates propositions about the generation of emotions from CVT with propositions about how emotions are regulated and types of ER strategies from PMER. The ERAS model also offers new propositions regarding how different achievement situations, object foci, and time frames, as well as discrete emotions with different appraisal patterns, impact ER strategies.     

Revisit,Reform, and Redesign: A Novel Dissection Approach for Demonstrating Anatomy of the Orbit for Continuing Professional Development Education

Advanced postgraduate medical education for health-care professionals is constantly evolving. Understanding facial anatomy and especially its vascular system is crucial when performing soft tissue filler injections to avoid adverse events including tissue loss or irreversible blindness. Standard anatomical resources often fall short of elucidating clinically relevant concepts in more highly specialized areas of interest. A novel dissection approach for demonstrating the anatomy of the lateral orbit was presented at scientific meetings to participants from dermatology, plastic surgery, and general practice. Results from the post-course online survey (n = 52) were analyzed. The results of the survey reveal a high educational impact and a high clinical relevance of the novel dissection approach. In addition, the majority of respondents (97.7%; n = 51) felt that the exposed anatomical structure of the orbit and face improved their ability to safely perform cosmetic procedures on the face. More experienced respondents who had previously attended at least five cadaveric dissections were more likely to strongly agree that reviewing anatomy through this novel dissection approach increased their confidence in avoiding periorbital vascular danger zones. As minimally invasive outpatient procedures continue to evolve, practicing physicians and mid-level providers often face the challenge of having to reconcile preexisting anatomical knowledge with new clinical practice. Skills required to navigate high impact anatomy include visualization of structures that form the navigational landscape and avoidance of key danger zones. The novel dissection approach to the lateral orbit reflects the increasing focus on revisiting, reforming, and redesigning anatomy for continuing professional development activities.     

A Review of the OvidSP Platform

ABSTRACT

As part of its mission to advance the technological capabilities of its products, Ovid introduced a redesign of its database platform in fall 2007. The platform redesign brought new features and enhancements to an already robust system. The transition between Ovid Gateway and the OvidSP platform was orchestrated seamlessly. With the OvidSP platform came innovative changes such as the incorporation of Natural Language Processing associated with the new Basic Search mode. Discussed are OvidSP features, advantages and disadvantages of the new platform, customizable settings, and future direction.