bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Retinoblastoma and Neuroblastoma Predisposition and Surveillance
Authors: Kamihara Junne , Bourdeaut Franck , Foulkes William D. , Molenaar Jan J. , Mossé Yaël P. , Nakagawara Akira , Parareda Andreu , Scollon Sarah R. , Schneider Kami Wolfe , Skalet Alison H. , States Lisa J. , Walsh Michael F. , Diller Lisa R. , Brodeur Garrett M.
Published: July 2017

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common intraocular malignancy in childhood. Approximately 40% of retinoblastomas are hereditary and due to germline mutations in the RB1 gene. Children with hereditary RB are also at risk for developing a midline intracranial tumor, most commonly pineoblastoma. We recommend intensive ocular screening for patients with germline RB1 mutations for retinoblastoma as well as neuroimaging for pineoblastoma surveillance. There is an approximately 20% risk of developing second primary cancers among individuals with hereditary RB, higher among those who received radiotherapy for their primary RB tumors. However, there is not yet a clear consensus on what, if any, screening protocol would be most appropriate and effective. Neuroblastoma (NB), an embryonal tumor of the sympathetic nervous system, accounts for 15% of pediatric cancer deaths. Prior studies suggest that about 2% of patients with NB have an underlying genetic predisposition that may have contributed to the development of NB. Germline mutations in ALK and PHOX2B account for most familial NB cases. However, other cancer predisposition syndromes, such as Li–Fraumeni syndrome, RASopathies, and others, may be associated with an increased risk for NB. No established protocols for NB surveillance currently exist. Here, we describe consensus recommendations on hereditary RB and NB from the AACR Childhood Cancer Predisposition Workshop. Clin Cancer Res; 23(13); e98–e106. ©2017 AACR.

See all articles in the online-only CCR Pediatric Oncology Series.
Cancer Screening Recommendations and Clinical Management of Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer Syndromes in Childhood
Authors: Achatz Maria Isabel , Porter Christopher C. , Brugières Laurence , Druker Harriet , Frebourg Thierry , Foulkes William D. , Kratz Christian P. , Kuiper Roland P. , Hansford Jordan R. , Hernandez Hector Salvador , Nathanson Katherine L. , Kohlmann Wendy K. , Doros Leslie , Onel Kenan , Schneider Kami Wolfe , Scollon Sarah R. , Tabori Uri , Tomlinson Gail E. , Evans D. Gareth R. , Plon Sharon E.
Published: July 2017

Hereditary gastrointestinal cancer predisposition syndromes have been well characterized, but management strategies and surveillance remain a major challenge, especially in childhood. In October 2016, the American Association for Cancer Research organized the AACR Childhood Cancer Predisposition Workshop in which international experts in care of children with a hereditary risk of cancer met to define surveillance strategies and management of children with cancer predisposition syndromes. In this article, we review the current literature in polyposis syndromes that can be diagnosed in childhood and may be associated with an increased incidence of gastrointestinal neoplasms and other cancer types. These disorders include adenomatous polyposis syndromes (APC and MUTYH), juvenile polyposis coli (BMPR1A and SMAD4), Peutz–Jeghers Syndrome (STK11/LKB1), and PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome (PHTS; PTEN), which can present with a more limited juvenile polyposis phenotype. Herein, the panel of experts provides recommendations for clinical diagnosis, approach to genetic testing, and focus on cancer surveillance recommendations when appropriate during the pediatric period. We also review current controversies on genetic evaluation of patients with hepatoblastoma and indications for surveillance for this tumor. Childhood cancer risks and surveillance associated with disorders involving the mismatch repair genes, including Lynch syndrome and constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMRD), are discussed elsewhere in this series. Clin Cancer Res; 23(13); e107–e14. ©2017 AACR.

See all articles in the online-only CCR Pediatric Oncology Series.
Is Cardioprotection Dead?
Authors: Lefer David J. , Marbán Eduardo
Published: July 2017

For >4 decades, the holy grail in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction has been the mitigation of lethal injury. Despite promising initial results and decades of investigation by the cardiology research community, the only treatment with proven efficacy is early reperfusion of the occluded coronary artery. The remarkable record of failure has led us and others to wonder if cardioprotection is dead. The path to translation, like the ascent to Everest, is certainly littered with corpses. We do, however, highlight a therapeutic principle that provides a glimmer of hope: cellular postconditioning. Administration of cardiosphere-derived cells after reperfusion limits infarct size measured acutely, while providing long-term structural and functional benefits. The recognition that cell therapy may be cardioprotective, and not just regenerative, merits further exploration before we abandon the pursuit entirely.
Digoxin Use and Subsequent Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation With or Without Heart Failure in the ENGAGE AF‐TIMI 48 Trial
Authors: Eisen Alon , Ruff Christian T. , Braunwald Eugene , Hamershock Rose A. , Lewis Basil S. , Hassager Christian , Chao Tze‐Fan , Le Heuzey Jean Yves , Mercuri Michele , Rutman Howard , Antman Elliott M. , Giugliano Robert P.
Published: July 2017

Background

Digoxin is widely used in patients with atrial fibrillation despite the lack of randomized controlled trials. Observational studies report conflicting results regarding its association with mortality, perhaps because of residual confounding by the presence of heart failure (
HF
).

Methods and Results

In the
ENGAGE AF
‐
TIMI
48 (Effective Anticoagulation With Factor Xa Next Generation in Atrial Fibrillation‐Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction 48) trial, clinical outcomes of patients with atrial fibrillation with and without
HF
were examined by baseline digoxin use during a median follow‐up of 2.8 years.
HF
was defined at baseline as prior or current clinical stage C or D
HF
. Of 21 105 patients enrolled, 6327 (30%) were treated with digoxin at baseline. Among patients without
HF
(n=8981), digoxin use (20%) was independently associated with sudden cardiac death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.51; 95%
CI,
1.10–2.08), with no significant interaction by age, sex, left ventricular ejection fraction, renal function, or concomitant medications (
P
>0.05 for each). Consistent results were observed using propensity matching (adjusted hazard ratio for sudden cardiac death, 1.90; 95%
CI
, 1.36–2.65). Among patients with
HF
(n=12 124), digoxin use (37%) was associated with an increase in all‐cause death, cardiovascular death, sudden cardiac death, and death caused by
HF
/cardiogenic shock (
P
<0.01 for each), but not with noncardiovascular death, stroke/systemic embolism, or myocardial infarction.

Conclusions

In this observational analysis of patients with atrial fibrillation without investigator‐reported
HF
, digoxin use was significantly associated with sudden cardiac death. While residual confounding cannot be excluded, the association between digoxin use and worse clinical outcomes highlights the need to examine digoxin use, particularly when prescribed to control heart rate in patients with atrial fibrillation in a randomized trial.

Clinical Trial Registration

URL
:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier:
NCT
00781391.
Integrative Complexity of Communications in International Crises
Authors: Suedfeld Peter , Tetlock Philip
Published: July 2017

Diplomatic communications during international crises that resulted in war (1914 and 1950) and crises that were settled peacefully (1911, 1948, 1962) were scored for integrative complexity. This is a dimension of information processing characterized at one pole by simple responses, gross distinctions, rigidity, and restricted information usage, and at the other by complexity, fine distinctions, flexibility, and extensive information search and usage. Complexity of the messages produced by governmental leaders was significantly lower in crises that ended in war. As the crisis approached its climax, complexity declined in 1914 and increased in 1962. The results demonstrate the usefulness of information processing complexity, which can be measured objectively in a wide range of materials, for analyzing political and diplomatic events.
A Further Study of Grammatical Class as A Variable in Verbal Satiation
Authors: Fillenbaum Samuel
Published: July 2017

Under conditions of continuous elicitation, words functioning as nouns took longer to lose meaning than the same words functioning as adverbs. It was suggested that a word can function more readily as an independent item in a nominal than in an adverbial usage, and that a word is likely to maintain its meaning longer to the extent that it can function as an independent item. This led to the further suggestion that a word should lose meaning more rapidly when part of a larger idiomatic expression than when functioning independently. Some data consistent with this suggestion are reported, and further work along these lines is urged.
Speaking Fundamental Frequency Characteristics of 15, 16 and 17 Year-Old Girls
Authors: Michel John F. , Hollien Harry , Moore Paul
Published: July 2017

The purpose of this research was to obtain speaking fundamental frequency data on a large number of high-school age girls in order to determine the age at which adult female speaking fundamental frequencies are established. Forty-four 15 year-olds, 115 16 year-olds and 148 17 year-olds were recorded reading a standard passage. The mean fundamental frequencies for these age groups were 207.5, 207.3 and 207.8 c.p.s., respectively. These results indicate that females attain adult speaking fundamental frequencies by 15 years of age. It seems necessary, therefore, to study girls 14 years of age and younger in order to determine when adult frequencies are first evidenced.
Stylostatistics of Various Psychiatric Groups
Authors: Reynolds A.G. , Pylyshyn Z.W.
Published: July 2017

Thirty non-syntactic stylostatistical measures of language performance were used , in an attempt to differentiate psychiatric patients. Only 5 of these measures showed discriminatory ability; schizophrenics reliably displayed longer words and more variability in word length and neurotics showed a paucity of usage vocabulary size.
Sentence Processing as a Function of Syntax, Short Term Memory Capacity, the Meaningfulness of the Stimulus and Age
Authors: Gamlin Peter J.
Published: July 2017

Three variables were assessed for their impact upon listeners' structuring of sentences. There were significant main effects found for short term memory (STM) capacity, the meaningfulness of the stimulus and age. An interaction between STM capacity and meaningfulness approached significance when data were collapsed over both age levels and was significant for one age level. Deep-structure variables were held constant in this experiment while the meaningfulness of each item was determined by surface level characteristics. Results indicated that subjects were influenced by the semantic variable, suggesting that surface level phenomena may have some independent influence on sentence structuring.
A Comparison of /s/ and /z/ for an English Speaker
Authors: Scully Celia
Published: July 2017

An experiment in which oral pressure and volume flow of air through the mouth were measured simultaneously for one speaker of English has shown that: (1) the timing of the tongue movements for /s/ and /z/ is the same when similar phonetic contexts are compared; (2) air flow and pressure are both significantly greater for /s/ than for /z/, in agreement with previous work; but (3) aerodynamic measures indicating the degree of tongue occlusion show no significant difference between /s/ and /z/.

The feature tense-lax operates in the expected way at the acoustic stage for /s/ and /z/, but applies, at the articulatory stage, either not at all, or else in the opposite direction to that expected.

Experiments with the same speaker, including oesophageal pressure measurements to indicate tracheal pressure, support the view that the only significant difference in the articulation of these /s/ and /z/ segments lies in the glottal adjustment and not in muscular effort defined in any other way, nor in breath force. The observed acoustic effects follow automatically from the different oral pressures and air flows, which are the direct result of the different glottal articulations.
The Effects of Case On the Processing of Noun Phrases
Authors: Hamacher Jane
Published: July 2017

An operation known as the Question Technique, which measures time taken to process various relations in sentences, was used to assess the effects of position and case of nouns on adult comprehension of noun phrases. Questions about initiators of the action or state (Agentives and Instrumental) were answered faster than questions about recipients (Datives and Objectives) regardless of surface structure position. Variations in noun animateness did not consistently affect response latencies, suggesting that it is the noun's functional relationship with the verb (its action role) rather than its animateness that is the important dimension of case for listeners. Further evidence for the saliency of action role was provided by an analysis of the effects on response latencies of other semantic relationships within the sentence (the context). When both nouns in the sentence shared the same action role (e.g., when both were initiators), latencies increased, whereas agreement or disagreement between the nouns in animateness did not differentially affect latencies.
Written Language Maturity and Formal Reasoning in Male and Female Adolescents
Authors: Lawson Anton E. , Shepherd Gene D.
Published: July 2017

The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that a significant relationship exists between the development of formal reasoning and written language maturity as measured by length of minimal terminable units or T-units. Fifty subjects (25 males, mean-age 14.67 years and 25 females, mean-age 14.50 years) enrolled in high school freshman English classes were administered a series of 15 reasoning tasks requiring various aspects of formal reasoning for solution plus a test of field dependence-independence. Subjects were also given an in-class assignment to write an essay of 500 words about an important object in their lives.

Various aspects of formal reasoning were found to correlate significantly with mean T-unit length for the males (r = 0.28 N.S. to 0.58 p < 0.001). The cumulative reasoning score correlated at 0.59 p < 0.001 with mean T-unit length. These coefficients were not substantially altered when field dependence-independence was partialled out.

Surprisingly, for the females, formal reasoning did not correlate significantly with mean T-unit length. Although the reason for the discrepancy between the results for males and females is not clear, it is suggested that the reasoning tasks may be biased against females, and therefore not adequately assess their level of intellectual development.
Hesitation Phenomena as Sources of Perceptual Errors for Non-Native Speakers
Authors: Voss Bernd
Published: July 2017

The object of the study is an analysis of the perceptual problems of non-native speakers of English. Of particular interest is the influence of the hesitation phenomena normal in spontaneous speech on the perception process. Twenty-two subjects were asked to (ortho-graphically) transcribe a stretch of spontaneous speech. These transcripts were analysed and compared with a standardized version. The results support the view that perception resembles a matching process between the listener's projection and the incoming acoustic information. No typical differences were found between the perception strategies of native speakers and non-native speakers. Hesitation phenomena were found to be important sources of perceptual problems for the non-native speakers.
The Effect of Temporal Speech Alterations on Speaker Height and Weight Identification
Authors: Lass Norman J. , Barry Pamela J. , Reed Robin A. , Walsh Jayne M. , Amuso Teresa A.
Published: July 2017

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the importance of temporal features of speech in speaker height and weight identification. A total of 30 speakers, 15 females and 15 males, recorded a standard prose passage. Three master tapes were constructed from these recordings, representing the three experimental conditions in the study: forward-played, backward-played, and time-compressed tapes. A total of 32 judges participated in three sessions, one for each of the three experimental conditions. In each session they were asked to make direct estimations of the height and weight of each speaker. The order of presentation of the three tapes was counterbalanced. Results indicate that temporal alteration of the speech signal by means of backward-playing adversely affected listener judgments of height and weight. However, time compression of the speech signal did not appear to have a significant effect on listener accuracy. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Use of Grammatical Constraints in Reading By Young Deaf Adults as Reflected in Eye-Voice Span
Authors: Cooley Janis David
Published: July 2017

This paper reports evidence that profoundly prelingually deaf adults use a chunking strategy during reading to group words in grammatical units that are used as units of processing. Twenty-five deaf and 28 hearing subjects read aloud materials of varying amounts of grammatical constraint. When the subject's voice reached a preselected position in the text, the text was removed from view. The subject continued to report words that he had already seen. The number of correct consecutive words reported after removal of the text was his eye-voice span. Though eye-voice spans of deaf and hearing groups were quantitatively different, they were qualitatively similar - longer at positions of high grammatical constraint and shorter at positions of low grammatical constraint. Eye-voice spans of both groups tended to end at phrase boundaries, more often at positions of high grammatical constraint and less often at positions of low grammatical constraint. Eye-voice span peformance of deaf subjects was consistent with their silent reading comprehension performance, suggesting that they used the same cognitive processes in both oral and silent reading.
Phonological Recoding in Lexical Decision: the Influence of Pseudohomophones
Authors: Parkin Alan J. , Ellingham Richard
Published: July 2017

In the present study subjects were required to make lexical decisions on words with either regular or irregular spelling-to-sound correspondence. This task was performed in one of two types of nonword environment: the NW condition, in which all the nonwords were orthographically regular but not pseudohomophones, and the PS condition in which 50% of the nonwords were pseudohomophones. The data showed that irregular words were more difficult to identify than regular words but that the extent of this difference did not vary across the two nonword environments. In addition, lexical decision latencies to pseudohomophones, although initially much longer than those to normal nonwords, were found to decrease in size across the experiment to a point at which they did not differ from normal nonwords. The data are discussed in relation to other studies that have suggested that phonological recoding is under strategic control and will be abandoned when such encoding is disadvantageous. In addition, the general nature of pseudohomophone effects is briefly considered.
The Long-Term Spectral Measurement of Voice Quality as a Social and Personality Marker: A Review
Authors: Pittam Jeffery
Published: July 2017

As a long-term vocal feature, voice quality can function as a marker of individuality, be a carrier of personality characteristics and affect, as well as being characteristic of social and ethnic groups. In measuring voice quality acoustically, therefore, the most appropriate measure is one that reflects this long-term nature, particularly when perceptual judgments are to be related to the acoustic values. One potentially useful long-term acoustic measure of voice quality is the long-term average spectrum. This paper reviews the success of the long-term average spectrum in discriminating voice qualities, and the consequent usefulness to researchers working in such areas as phonetics, communications, cross-cultural studies, personality and the social psychology of language.
Acquisition of Reading and Spelling in a Syllabo-Alphabetic Writing System
Authors: Patel P.G. , Soper Henry V.
Published: July 2017

Written language tasks were examined in 120 Gujarati-speaking children from Grades 2–4 to assess the development of such skills in a syllabo-alphabetic writing system. A level of mastery was found even at Grade 2 in all areas of written language processing examined, and by Grade 4 improvement was noted in most. This improvement, however, was generally uneven, and, although a similar developmental pattern was noted for several tasks, it proved to be coincidental. Substantial evidence was found for a shift from a grapheme-sound system to a lexical system for regular spelling from Grade 2 to Grade 4. The course of reading and spelling acquisition in a syllabo-alphabetic system used in India appears to be consistent with current models of reading acquisition constructed for alphabetic systems.
Talk and the Teacher: The Role of Story
Authors: Poole Roger
Published: July 2017

James Britton and Douglas Barnes have been prominent in drawing attention to the importance of classroom talk in the education of children. They consider that talk by pupils is vital since it makes them conceptualize in terms of language. They advance the suggestion that teachers detract from this process by sometimes employing a mode of language which is too difficult for the pupils to understand. In addition they believe that teachers talk too much themselves, thereby limiting pupils' opportunities to talk. Bamcs and Britton are also to be differentiated by their different emphases, the former concentrating upon subject-centred talk and the latter upon generalized talk and chatter or gossip. The present writer accepts all these positions but considers that talk which is based upon narrative or story reading and story telling provides in every way a more helpful and more significant vehicle for the formation and articulation of concepts by children.
Preschool Leadership: A Review and Critique
Authors: Kitano Margie K. , Tafoya Nancy
Published: July 2017

Literature on early childhood leadership urges promotion of leadership abilities prior to the school years, offers methods for early identification of leadership potential, and suggests training techniques. Yet critical analysis of the literature on leadership cautions that such efforts may be premature. This article evaluates the concept of preschool leadership and points to several topics requiring consideration. These include consensus on definitions of preschool leadership, validation of identification and training methods, and examination of models for reflective as well as action leadership.
1999 in Review: A Synthesis of the Special Education Technology Literature
Authors: Edyburn Dave L.
Published: July 2017

Despite ready access to technology and the overwhelming amount of information available via the World Wide Web, the professional journal continues to serve as a critical source of information used by researchers and practitioners to stay apprised of current developments in their discipline. To facilitate use of the extant knowledge base, this study utilized research synthesis methods to examine two questions: How widely scattered is the literature on special education technology? and What did we learn in 1999? The table of contents for all 1999 issues of 26 journals in special education technology, special education, and educational technology were studied. The procedures yielded a corpus of 788 articles of which 114 articles (14%) were judged as contributing to the emerging knowledge base on special education technology research and practice and therefore relevant for this review. Analysis of the literature scatter revealed that 92% of the relevant literature could be found in 12 journals and that a core set of four journals contained 60% of the relevant articles. Content analysis of the relevant articles resulted in a profile concerning what the discipline has learned in 1999 relative to research and practice on a wide array of topics in special education technology. The strengths and weaknesses of this literature analysis approach are discussed and the implications of this work for future research and practice are noted.
Enhancing Learning Environments through Solution-Based Knowledge Discovery Tools: Forecasting for Self-perpetuating Systemic Reform
Authors: Tsantis Linda , Castellani John
Published: July 2017

The rapid growth of databases in many disciplines has overwhelmed the traditional, interactive approaches to data analysis and created a new generation of tools critical to intelligent and automated data discovery. Education researchers are beginning to investigate using these data mining techniques for applying knowledge-discovery principles and data mining in the field of special education. For special educators, data mining and knowledge discovery have great promise for providing anticipatory guidance in teaching and learning in the development of models critical for promoting student achievement. This monograph explores how knowledge-discovery applications can empower educators with the information they need to (a) provide anticipatory guidance for teaching and learning, (b) forecast school and district needs, and (c) find critical markers for making the best program decisions for children and youth with disabilities.
Findings from the Study of Transition, Technology and Postsecondary Supports for Youth with Disabilities: Implications for Secondary School Educators
Authors: Stodden Robert A. , Conway Megan A. , Chang Kelly B.T.
Published: July 2017

Over the past twenty years, changes in the nation's labor market have increased the importance of possessing a postsecondary degree. Students who continue their education after high school maximize their preparedness for careers in today's changing economy as they learn the higher order thinking and technical skills to take advantage of current and future job market trends. For individuals with disabilities, completion of some type of postsecondary education, including vocational-technical training, significantly improves their chances of securing meaningful employment. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that youth with disabilities are fully prepared in secondary school to continue on to and to meet the challenges of postsecondary education. The successful use of technology and other supports plays a critical role in this preparation. The purpose of this article is to (a) describe findings from a five-year research project at the University of Hawaii at Manoa that demonstrate the importance of postsecondary school for individuals with disabilities and highlights the current status of postsecondary access for these individuals, (b) discuss barriers to the successful transition between secondary school and postsecondary school for youth with disabilities, and (c) explore the implications of these findings for secondary school preparation.
Employer Perspectives on Hiring and Accommodating Youth in Transition
Authors: Luecking Richard G.
Published: July 2017

Work-based experiences are critical educational adjuncts for the career development of youth with disabilities. Such experiences are dependent on willing and available employers. This article examines effective workplace supports and accommodations and relates them to employer perspectives of bringing youth with disabilities into the workplace. Employment supports, including assistive technology, that may be required by youth with disabilities are also examined in relation to typical internal company human resource management practices. A review of the literature and two case study illustrations strongly suggest that employer attitudes toward disability are less significant when deciding to bring youth into the workplace than are other factors, notably the identification of workplace supports, accommodations, and interventions that also contribute to improvement of companies' operational and organizational processes. Combining special education and disability employment interventions with typical company human resource interventions can facilitate the achievement of a more accessible workplace for youth with disabilities. Implications for education and transition programs are discussed.
Snapshot—Ten Years after the Law: A Survey of the Current Status of University Web Accessibility
Authors: Krach S. Kathleen
Published: July 2017

The changing interpretation of laws regarding individuals with disabilities requires Web sites to be accessible by assistive technology devices. This study examined the current accessibility of university and departmental home pages. The first research hypothesis theorized that some improvement in Web accessibility for home pages of colleges in 2007 would be found when compared to data from a 2001 accessibility study by Zaphiris and Ellis. In 2001, 29.4% of colleges evaluated were accessible, and in 2007 58.8% of colleges evaluated were accessible. The second research hypothesis theorized that there would be more accessible pages for departments that focus on disability studies, such as special education and educational psychology, than would be found on general, university-wide homepages. Findings indicated that approximately half of the university-wide and special education home pages evaluated were accessible; however, only about 30% of the educational psychology home pages evaluated were accessible. These data show that university and departmental home pages still have some way to go to meet the legal requirement that 100% of all Web sites be accessible.
A Model for Evaluating Special Education Programs: An Application to Determining the Management and Instructional Benefits of Microcomputers
Authors: Gable Robert K.
Published: July 2017

The recent technological explosion in microcomputers offers much promise to special educators and students. Many schools currently employ microcomputers to assist in the development and management of student programs as well as for the delivery of instruction. The challenge to program evaluators is to ascertain the managerial and instructional benefits of these machines for particular program needs and populations. A comprehensive program evaluation model is presented for evaluating special education programs; application of the model for examining the efficacy of using microcomputers is presented.
Interagency Cooperation to Disseminate Materials concerning Exceptional People's Needs
Authors: McLoughlin James A. , Edge Denzil , Petrosko Joseph , Strenecky Bernard , Davis Cathy
Published: July 2017

Key elements in providing services to exceptional people are to arouse public awareness to their needs and to provide valid information about them. To enable parents of handicapped individuals and others interested in special education to receive useful printed information, agencies at various levels must cooperate more. This study outlines current cooperative activities among state departments of education and public and private agencies and associations. The results indicate a modest level of joint material development and dissemination practices in the past, but a high level of interest and capability in future cooperative activities. Obstacles to joint ventures are discussed, and examples of possible cooperation are given.
An Examination of the Relationships Between Farmland Values, Agricultural Commodity Prices, and Land Reform Issues in South Africa
Authors: Ziqubu Mykeni , Nichola Tennassie , Mainardi Stefano
Published: July 2017

Land reform is an issue that is current and hotly debated in South Africa. The policy pursued by the South African government to date to achieve restitution and equity in land ownership is to promote the willing seller willing buyer regime. But progress under this policy has been slow. It is claimed that part of the problem is the inflation of prices by landowners. This study investigates through the analysis of time series data the factors that influence land values in South Africa. The values of land under maize, sugar cane and deciduous fruit were examined. The empirical results show fluctuations in agricultural commodity prices, and interest rates charged do significantly impact land values. The study also found that market value for farmland differs significantly from productive value. For potential emerging farmers and Land Reform Policy makers, inflated land values act as a huge barrier to their success.

JEL Classification: Q15 055
Effect of Air Pollution on Peri-Urban Agriculture in Varanasi, India
Authors: Sen Chandra
Published: July 2017

Air pollution reduces both the yield and nutritional quality of the farm produce. Phytotoxic gases have been found to cause major yield reductions on a range of important crops in the developing countries. The present study estimates the yield loss in the major corps of peri-urban areas due to air pollution. All the major corps like Paddy, Pigeon-pea, Maize, Wheat and Potato grown in the peri-urban areas have shown yield reductions due to air pollution in the city Varanasi, India. There is a need to carry out similar studies at others cities also for the validation of findings of the present study. Efforts should be made to reduce air pollution in the city for improving the yield and quality of crop produce in peri-urban areas.
Book Review: Showa Japan: The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy
Authors: Cortazzi Sir Hugh
Published: July 2017

Showa Japan: The Post-War Golden Age and Its Troubled Legacy, by Hans Brinckman, Tuttle, Tokyo and Singapore, 2008, 212 pages including index, glossary and plate section, ISBN-13:978-4-8053-1002-1
Foucault’s Archaeology and Economic Thought
Authors: Vint John
Published: July 2017

The work of the late Michel Foucault had a considerable impact on philosophy and sociology but despite its importance for economic thought, it has gone almost unnoted by orthodox economists and historians of economics. This paper reviews Foucault’s Archaeological approach to knowledge and the periodization of intellectual history which he advocates. These issues are considered with reference to the history of economics from the Scholastics to Marx, and a number of problems with the analysis are discussed and critically evaluated.
Book Review: How to Reduce Interest Rates and Poverty
Authors: Stafford D.C.
Published: July 2017

How to Reduce Interest Rates and Poverty. Arthur O.Dahlberg, Devin-Adair, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1984.
Large Deficits, Individual Welfare, and Private Saving
Authors: Mevorach Baruch
Published: July 2017

A more simple explanation is provided here for a deficit-aggregate demand negative trade-off.

Postwar deficits apparently have not produced high aggregate demand. It has been suggested that a parallel rise in private saving, following intergenerational altruistic transfer motives and accurate foresight of future tax liabilities, was capable of fully offsetting due changes in aggregate demand.

Looking at relevant political information, the explanation provided in this paper regards the rise in private saving as an automatic welfare improvement consequence rather than a complicated intergenerational transfer calculation. When employed, the present explanation allows the relaxation of the above two strong assumptions concerning the rise in private saving.

Both the public and the administrations have had no economic incentive to reduce the deficit or to freeze it at existing levels. Budgetary expansion is accompanied by improved welfare, thus, deficit reduction proves politically unwise for both Democrats and Republicans even with their different economic targets.
Book Review: Gluttons for Punishment
Authors: Shapley Wanda
Published: July 2017

Gluttons for Punishment, James Erlichman, Penguin Special, ISBN 0-14-052372-3, £2.95.
The New Chinese Consumer: Potential Markets for Foreign Companies
Authors: Taylor Robert
Published: July 2017

In 1978 the Chinese leaders launched the open door policy, committing themselves to an ambitious programme of macroeconomic reform in order to enable China to join the ranks of developed countries during the early decades of the twenty-first century. An integral part of that policy is the utilisation of market forces to make China’s goods competitive at home and abroad.

Under the terms of a market economy, rising living standards, on which the leadership has staked its legitimacy, are increasingly seen as key incentives for China’s workforce and management. Increasing personal discretionary income is in turn creating more consumer demand, even though there are already widening disparities in wealth between urban and rural residents. Greater purchasing power for a wide range of consumer goods in the cities is nevertheless setting a trend for future demand in the villages.

Significantly, more and more sectors of the Chinese economy, including retailing and distribution, are becoming open to foreign investment, and the products of wholly owned foreign companies and joint ventures may increasingly be sold on Chinese domestic markets.

Overseas manufacturers may elect to export or localise their operations. In any case China offers a range of potentially lucrative consumer markets which require careful targeting through market research and advertising.
Environment and Development: The Forests of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Thompson Herb
Published: July 2017

The uniqueness and importance of island tropical moist rainforests, such as that of Papua New Guinea is well recognised. It can be safely argued that tropical islands with their rainforests and adjacent coral reefs may well comprise the most biologically rich complexes of ecosystems on the planet. Therefore, those who pursue economic growth or developmental processes on these islands must be particularly cognizant of the environment.

This paper examines, with particular reference to Papua New Guinea, the relationship between development and the environment. Papua New Guinea incorporates the largest continuous tract of lowland tropical moist rainforest in the Southeast Asia/Pacific region. The forestry sector in Papua New Guinea is described. This is followed by a conceptualisation of the environmental/economic dilemma. It is then argued that economic criteria and legal/juridical policies, used by international agencies and the State to resolve the problem of forest degradation, have proved to be a failure in Papua New Guinea. Those people most affected, villagers and peasants, have no control over the incursion of international capital and are forced or enticed to sell off their own and future generation’s customary land rights. Social relationships have been commercialised in a most effective manner. In return the villagers receive roads without maintenance, schools without teachers and royalty agreements without payment. To date no consensus has yet been achieved on the relationship between the protagonists of economic growth and those of ecological or social sustainability
Anti-Reductionism, Methodological Individualism and Analytical Marxism
Authors: Philp Bruce
Published: July 2017

The issues surrounding alternative methodologies of explanation are of extreme importance in all areas of social science which apply any form of aggregate analysis. This paper assesses a number of alternative positions which have emerged in recent years in debates surrounding the development of a new school in progressive social thought, namely analytical Marxism. In the first part of this paper, the development and definition of analytical Marxism is traced out. In the second, the issue of reduction in the philosophy of science is considered, and it is claimed that reduction, which is often interpreted as an ontological claim, is, in reality a claim about the possibility of explanation. The third part of the paper rejects the “reductionism versus holism” oversimplification, claiming there are at least four methodologies of explanation: atomism, methodological individualism, anti-reductionism and radical holism. The latter two reject reductionism. The work of three analytical Marxists – Wright, Levine and Sober – is the reference point for this discussion. Their work is particularly pertinent since they do not advocate methodological individualism which typifies the approach of other analytical Marxists such as Roemer and Elster. In the final section, the relevance of this debate for a specific theme, class analysis, is considered, and the reductionist approach is shown to be problematic.
New Business Start-ups: The More The Better?
Authors: Pinfold John F.
Published: July 2017

The importance of new ventures in the economic process is well established and many governments embark on programs designed to stimulate new businesses start-ups in the belief that increasing the number of new businesses will have a positive impact. Much effort is expended in trying to reduce the failure rate of businesses, usually based on the belief that failure is the result of rectifiable shortcomings within a business, particularly a failure in management. This paper looks at start-up businesses in New Zealand for the period 1987 to 1994. It shows that during the period studied, 5.75 times as many new businesses started up as the economy was able to absorb, and argues that this large oversupply is the underlying cause of the high rate of business failure. Conventional methods aimed at reducing business failure are therefore incapable of reducing the failure rate, they merely help decide who the survivors will be. The paper argues that, in New Zealand, programs aimed at increasing the volume of new business start-ups are misguided and that it is impossible for the economy to absorb the volume of new firms entering the market. It seems likely that a similar situation exists in other western countries and that public policy efforts would be better directed at improving the quality of start-ups rather than the quantity.
The Theory of Political and Social Economics: Beyond the Neoclassical Perspective
Authors: Gassler Robert Scott
Published: July 2017

In the past twenty-five or thirty years interest has grown again among economists and others in the application of economic analysis to topics heretofore considered beyond the scope of positive economics. I call the results of this application “political and social economics”.

Two problems have arisen in that process. The first is how to adapt the theory to new situations where the original set of assumptions may fail to apply. This paper argues that we must overcome that reluctance, and it provides a framework for keeping track of and reexamining assumptions as necessary when doing interdisciplinary work.

The second problem is how to take a theory designed for one discipline and turn it into something intelligible to practitioners of another. This paper argues that systems science is the appropriate way to reformulate economic theory so it can fit into a broader scheme of social science theory.
Book Review: The Euro
Authors: McGuinness Kevin
Published: July 2017

Paul Temperton, The Euro, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1997. £24.95.
Searching for General Principles to Guide the Design of Effective Disaster Mitigation Policy in Developing Countries: Part 1
Authors: Martina Alan
Published: July 2017

The attempts it made to determine policies that effectively mitigate disasters and the averse consequences of disasters in developing countries. In the first part of this discussion attention concentrates on (i) issues concerned with the likelihood of providing timely accurate predictions of disasters and (ii) the weaknesses in the private formal and informal markets systems that prevent, or restrict attempts to insure against the risks associated with disasters. The discussion of (ii) in particular provides the foundations for determining the general form of effective disaster mitigation policies—a matter discussed in second part of this discussion.
The Response of the Property Market to Economic Turmoil in the Asia Pacific as Shown in the UK
Authors: Taplin Ruth
Published: July 2017

Property is usually the third main concern of company directors in terms of investment, overheads and questions of economy of scale. Given its importance to the overall economy, it is a topic worthy of consideration and below we provide evidence supporting this contention in the hope that papers will follow dealing with this often neglected topic. The Asian-Pacific, Far Eastern economies, during the recent turmoil, have been misrepresented according to length, depth and country experiencing the downturn. We look at the empirical evidence and find that with the downturn in the Asia Pacific investors have been seeking safer markets in Europe. As Peter Kershaw, the world renown property developer, who built the Petronas Towers in Malaysia noted, property investment is about location but as with construction timing is more important. Timing is everything in economies so dominated by cycles of growth and recession. As the Far Eastern economies found to their detriment, no one ever seems to understand the potential effects of overbuilding with the total mismatch of supply over demand. Once one section of the market starts to fail often all follow the path downwards like lemmings destroying themselves when their population has grown too great. During the economic turmoil in the Far East, investment into European property increased and will continue to do so, as Western Europe is seen as a major region of growth in the coming year. Peter Kershaw predicts that to the middle to the end of 1999 it will be wise to begin investing in property again in the Far East—A sign of a turnaround of fortunes in that region.