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Background: Deep location and neurovascular structures make access to lesions of the petrous apex a significant challenge. A novel approach for these tumors is the contralateral transmaxillary approach. Clinical Presentation: A 31-year-old male was evaluated for left abducens nerve palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography revealed an enhancing, lytic lesion of the petrous apex with extension to the cavernous sinus and petroclival junction. The patient underwent a combined endoscopic contralateral transmaxillary and endoscopic endonasal transclival approach for resection of the lesion. No new or worsening neurologic deficits were noted following the procedure. Pathology revealed low-grade chondrosarcoma (grade I). Postoperative MRI revealed gross total resection of the lesion. Patient underwent adjuvant radiation therapy at the discretion of radiation oncology. Conclusion: The contralateral transmaxillary approach to the petrous apex allows for resection of lesions of the petrous apex with the ability to extend the dissection laterally. Excellent results achieved by institutions with advanced extended endoscopic endonasal experience can be reproduced in institutions with less experience. Further characterization of the risks and benefits of this approach is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This examination of data on 48 Japanese manufacturing plants in 1983 suggests that contrary to the belief of many Western observers, systems of participative decision making in Japan have not led to workplace democracy. Although the firms in this study allow workers to present ideas and suggestions-which can then, at supervisors' discretion, be embodied in formal proposals and passed to successively higher levels of the corporate hierarchy, receiving amendment as required for consensus-they deny workers the authority to make decisions. In general, as has been found in similar studies in other countries, strategic non-programmed, organization-wide decisions tend to be made at high levels whereas authority to make routine, programmed, sub unit and individual-level decisions is delegated to lower hierarchical levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research conducted to evaluate the outcomes and time required for union following closed intramedullary screw fixation for nonunion of a fifth metatarsal Jones fracture. Researchers evaluated 14 patients. They found that the mean time to union was 13.3 weeks and concluded that closed intramedullary screw fixation achieved an excellent union rate when used in the treatment of nonunion of a Jones fracture.

In a 3-year longitudinal study of first-time juvenile status offenders assigned at random to three treatment groups and a control group, no significant differences were found in recidivism rates among the groups. A total of 398 juveniles in this study were cited for offenses of tobacco or alcohol in a medium-sized metropolitan northwest city. The offenders were assigned at random to four groups: a traditional magistrate court, a traditional youth court diversion program, a new nonjudicial-diversion program, and a control group. None of the groups, including the control group, showed a significant difference in recidivism rates. It was determined from the evaluation of all groups that the diversion program offered the most cost-effective program intervention to provide more services to potentially troubled teens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People in Taiwan who favor the establishment of an independent Republic of Taiwan face the reality constraint that mainland China (the PRC) threatens to use force to prevent this. Those who hold the opposite view and favor the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China face a different reality constraint: the non-democratic, economically underdeveloped and, therefore, unappealing character of the PRC. These reality constraints were included in the way questions were phrased in several Taiwan surveys during the 1990s. Respondents were asked: (1) If after Taiwan announces its independence it could maintain peaceful relations with Communist China, should Taiwan become an independent country? (2) If mainland China and Taiwan were to become similar in economic, political, and social conditions, should the two sides of the Strait be unified into one country?Depending on how a person answered both of these questions, s/he was categorized as having one of the following four types of national identification: Taiwan nationalist, China nationalist, Pragmatist, and Conservative. This paper first analyzes the distribution of these four types of respondents in surveys conducted before and after the 1996 PRC firing of missiles into the waters near Taiwan's two largest seaports. Next, I show the effect of objective ethnicity (pen-sheng jen vs. wai-sheng jen) and subjective ethnicity (self-identification as "Taiwanese" or "Chinese" or "both") on national identification preferences.These survey findings are then examined within a geopolitical context. From Beijing's point of view, the Taiwan independence movement is a secessionist movement. A comparative analysis of the outcomes of secessionist movements around the world shows that attempts at secession are almost always unsuccessful, for the basic reason that states do not willingly give up what they consider their sovereign territory. And since even modem democratic states are unwilling to accept a loss of territory, even a future democratic PRC would be unlikely to accept Taiwan's independence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As most correctional institutions have retained their paramilitary structure, the power differentials and communication lines continue to favor concentration in the top echelons of the organizations. Yet, power and communication are regulated and delimited informally by the actions of middle-level managers and lower level workers, and by subcultural influences within the organization. Because of these attributes, correctional work is characterized by discretionary decision making, particularly when the matter is minor, hidden from view, and sanctioned by the subculture. Acting in an ethical manner (i.e., doing the right thing) in such a closed, structured, but informally functional environment requires a recognition and appreciation of the complexity of the milieu along with a willingness to forge ahead. This article explores the ethical parameters of corrections work in a typical medium-security prison. In an effort to determine what the correctional staff regarded as ethical behavior, the authors administered a questionnaire to them using a newly developed ethics instrument. The authors endeavor to identify the major attributes of ethical work in prison and to establish the heuristic value of the instrument for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mannheim (1952:283) noted that "Different generations live at the same time. But since experienced time is the only real time, they must all in fact be living in qualitatively quite different subjective eras." This paper tests the following hypothesis derived from Mannheim: the extent to which a generation unit "creates new collective impulses original to itself" and distinct from an earlier or later generation is a positive function of the rate of social change. Since the rate of social change has been rapid in Taiwan for several decades, it is hypothesized that, controlling for age, there will be significant differences between three generations of Taiwanese in their family and kinship patterns, stratification, class and mobility, and attitudes toward life chances and political participation.My data come from two independently drawn sample surveys of the Taiwanese (Min-nan and Hakka) population of Taipei. The first survey was conducted in 1963, the second in 1991. Respondents in each survey were between 20 and 69 years old. The identical questions about kinship, stratification, etc., were asked in each survey. The duration of a generation is conventionally defined as between 20 and 30 years. Combining the 507 respondents in the 1963 sample with the 545 in the 1991 sample, I then divided them into three successive generations, each of 24-25 years' duration. Generation 1 consists of those born between 1894 and 1917 (N = 253), generation 2, those born between 1918 and 1941 (N = 399), and generation 3, those born between 1942 and 1967 (N = 397).The empirical findings largely support the hypothesis stated above: controlling for age, the three generations differ significantly in the directions hypothesized by neo-modernization theory in most, but not all respects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Taiwan as in the United States, even in the same industry and work status there is an earnings gap between men and women. The same question concerning attitudes toward "equal pay for equal work" was asked of two independently-drawn samples of male Taiwanese living in Taipei, the first time in 1963, and again in 1991. While 68% favored equal pay in 1963, this percent did not change significantly in the 1991 sample, despite 28 years of rapid and massive economic development and societal modernization. The respondents used a similar repertory of "reasons why" they supported or opposed equal pay for women in 1963 and 1991. To explain why the majority favored, but a minority opposed, equal pay, this attitude was regressed on three sets of hypothesized causal variables: a person's objective status, subjective life chances, and involvement in the kinship system.The logistic regression analysis shows that the variables with a significant impact on the log odds of a man's favoring equal pay for women were largely different in 1991 as compared with 1963. We discuss the implications of the findings in the light of neoclassical economic theories of gender differences in human capital investment and statistical discrimination, sociological theories of job segregation and the structure of labor markets, and feminist theories of patriarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Considerable comparative political development research has shown that there is a positive relationship between societies' levels of socio-economic development and their political develop ment. Cutright (1963) formulated an explicitly equilibrium theory concerning this relationship. His data on 77 nations for the 1940-60 period showed that while most were "in equilibrium" in the sense that their level of political party competition was what would be "expected" when this was regressed on their level of socio-economic development, a number of nations were extremely "out of equilibrium". Chile and the Philippines had been much more democratic than "expected" on the basis of their relatively low level of socio-economic development, while Spain, Portugal and Saudi Arabia were the most extreme outliers in the opposite direction. Qualitative data from the political history of these five countries are examined to test equilibrium theoretic predictions. As predicted, Chile and Philippines moved toward greater equilibrium by becoming less democratic (more authoritarian) in the 1970s, while Spain and Portugal had transitions from dictatorships to democracy during the same decade. Only one of the five countries—Saudi Arabia—has (to date) remained in disequilibrium, contrary to the prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a comment on an article related to the effects of international economic dependence on development, written by Christopher Chase-Dunn. Chase-Dunn utilizes panel regression analysis to support the hypothesis that the penetration of developing areas by foreign capital produces a development of underdevelopment. In order to study the effects of investment dependence on development, Chase-Dunn uses a national accounting item, debits on investment income, as an index of economic dependence. This statistic reports all profits made by foreign direct investment in the host county, regardless of whether or not they are repatriated. The contention is that this measure represents a good proxy for the stock of foreign capital in a country at a point in time. Using such a proxy, Chase-Dunn assumes the effects of economic dependence on development by comparing the size of the stock of capital held by foreign interests with changes in social and economic indicators for a sample of developing areas.

Campus protest occurred all over the world' in the 1960s. This study follows earlier attempts to explain not student protest in general, but why protest severity varied among colleges and universities. Using published data On nineteen different forms of conflict, the overall amount of conflict in each of Japan's four-year colleges and universities during the 1968-1969 period is measured by a scale of conflict severity. This dependent variable is then regressed on two sets of explanatory variables--the protest issues on each campus and the variable organizational characteristics of the schools themselves. The Japanese findings largely replicate earlier American observations: the severity of campus conflict was greatest in large, structurally complex (differentiated) and high-quality schools. The internal differentiation of the university and other structural characteristics explain more of the variance than do the issues specific to given campuses. The causal importance Of structural differentiation is traced to the "antistructure" ideology of the radical student organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this pilot study was to test the efficacy of providing services to families when the father was incar cerated. The program consisted of teaching parents better com munication and child management skills. Parents and children were measured before and after an eight-week training program. Communication skills increased to the projected target level in all parents after program completion. Child management skills increased in two of the three families in the program. The study offers conclusions for the development of a wide range of services to families when a parent is incarcerated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the Aston Centralization of Authority scale, this paper shows that Japanese organizations vary in their level of overall centralization of authority in decision-making, and in the level at which decisions in particular areas are made. In a sample of 48 heterogeneous Japanese manufacturing firms it is found that both spatial dispersion into multiple sites and higher levels of automation of technology increase centralization of authority, while large size and the increasing number of levels to which size gives rise, and greater task variability all have the opposite effect, i.e., they lower, somewhat, the levels at which decisions can be made. The implications of these findings for claims of 'bottom-up', participative decision-making in Japan's ringi system are discussed in the conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the implications of prior size and complexity of the variance in 1983 administrative intensity (A/P ratio) using data from the manufacturing firms in Japan. Recognition of the theory of size as a cause of administrative intensity; Basis of causal inferences in organizational research; Observations on the changes in A/P ratios in declining size organizations.

Examines the applicability of technological implications theory in the organization development in Japan. Combination of unit and mass production; Emphasis on the formal structure of organizations; Integration of employees into the organizations.

The article discusses modernization and communism. Sociologist Seymour M. Lypset's argument asserts a positive relation between degree of modernization and political democracy. He suggests that while democracy increases with increasing modernization, Comminism decreases. Lipset emphasizes that the main Source of radicalism is not poverty per se but rather the relative deprivation arising from large inequalities in income and status where the poor are aware of a better life. That is, at the lowest levels of modernization, the lower classes are less aware of alternatives and hence less apt to feel deprived. Therefore, they are less attracted to the Communist party. According to this hypothesis, the Communist parties should be strongest in societies in the lower middle range of economic development, where relative deprivation is most acute. Lipset qualifies this hypothesis with reference to rapidity of industrialization, the size of non-Communist reform parties, and regional variations. First, "Whenever industrialization occurred rapidly, introducing sharp discontinuities between the pre-industrial and industrial situation, more rather than less extremist working class movements emerged."

If industrial societies in fact institutionalize universalistic-achievement values in the area of social mobility to a greater extent than re-industrial societies, one would hypothesize that when inter-societal differences in occupational demand are held constant, industrial societies should still exhibit more mobility than pre-industrial societies. This hypothesis, tested with mobility data at the elite level in industrial and pre-industrial societies, is not strongly supported. This suggests that the greater "openness" of industrial societies may be due almost wholly to sheer quantitative occupational demand, rather than to values and norms of a universalistic-achievement type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent sociological research on formal organization has concentrated on modern, Western, highly industrialized societies. As a result, an important part of Max Weber's theory of bureaucracy--that dealing with "pre-bureaucratic" forms of administration--has been seriously neglected. Patterns of promotion in a sample of nineteenth century Chinese government officials are analyzed in terms of Weber's hypotheses on advancement in pre-bureaucratic systems of administration. Advancement is shown to be a function of both "bureaucratic" and "extra- bureaucratic" variables, but multiple correlation analysis shows advancement to be more strongly related to the latter variables than to the former. Further comparative research--both historical and contemporary--is needed to test the generality of this conclusion. Modern bureaucracies in industrialized societies cannot be assumed a Priori to have a greater Primacy of bureaucratic, rather than extra-bureaucratic, influences in all aspects of their organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative sociology is defined as that field which is concerned with the systematic and explicit comparison of social phenomena in two or more societies. Cross-societal (cross-cultural, cross-national) comparison is the essential ingredient; intra-societal comparisons may or may not be made concurrently with cross-societal comparisons. Comparative sociology has the task of progressively specifying which theories, propositions, etc., hold for all societies, which for only certain classes or types of societies, and which for only individual societies. In the period of 1950-1963, cross-societal comparative analysis began to gain momentum. There is every indication that the field of comparative sociology--the systematic and explicit comparison of social phenomena in two or more societies--will in the future flourish on an even greater scale. The variable of degree of societal differentiation is beginning to re-emerge as a major ordering principle in the comparative analysis of societies. A general theory is developing in which many of the processes and relationships of interest to sociologists, social anthropologists and social psychologists are being shown to be a function of the degree of societal differentiation.

In this article the author stressed the fact that "Sons from lower-status families in an industrial society are better able to enter an elite occupation than are lower-status sons in a pre-industrial society." But the crucial fact is that this difference is primarily a result of differences in occupational demand as between more and less industrialized societies. This being the case, he concluded, tentatively and within the limitations of the data, that the differences in mobility into the elite could not be ascribed to differences between particularistic descriptive and universalistic-achievement values and norms independent of occupational demand. The theory that industrial societies institutionalize egalitarian values and norms within channels of nobility to a greater extent than do pre-industrial societies is, he maintain, analytically quite distinct from any explanation of mobility rate differences in terms of "well-known economic principle of supply and demand." He entirely agree that his proposition the greater "openness" of industrial societies is due almost wholly to differences in occupational demand, rather than to values and nouns of an universalistic achievement type needs to be tested further, if and when new cross-societal mobility data are made available.