bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reading the Ongoing Changes: European Identity
Authors: PRESTON PETER W.
Published: December 2005

Europeans constituted their post‐Second World War political identities in terms shaped by the Cold War but matters took an unexpected turn when the events of 1989/91 required acknowledgement of the hitherto largely unremarked existence of the project of the European Union. The question of the identity of Europe/Europeans moved into mainstream debate: how can the variety of 'national pasts' be reconciled, how might ideas of Europe/Europeans fit within the range of identities affirmed by Europeans, and can the project present a clear image within the international community? The European Union is the only game in town for Europeans but it is also deficient; reform is made more difficult by the struggle to define the post bloc world: reform for what becomes the issue ‐ upgraded US ally, loose free trade area or federal polity? These are awkward questions but the continent is recovering from the catastrophe of its twentieth century and one can feel optimistic for the future.
The Animal Research Debate
Authors: FESTING SIMON
Published: December 2005

Animal rights extremism has encouraged the media to examine the benefits and justification of animal research. There is broad support from the scientific community and government for carefully conducted animal research; however, Parliament is hindered, as many MPs are ill‐informed. The recent Nuffield Council on Bioethics investigated the issue and determined that in carefully considered cases animal research is justified, scientifically valid, and has contributed to human health. The great majority of the public accept the need for animal research for medical progress when there is no alternative method available. Arguments used by anti‐vivisectionists are discussed, many of which are unfounded and based on misconceptions.
Activation of Face Expertise and the Inversion Effect
Authors: Ge Liezhong , Wang Zhe , McCleery Joseph P. , Lee Kang
Published: December 2005

We used a contextual priming paradigm to examine top-down influences on the face-inversion effect. Adult participants were primed with either faces or Chinese characters and then tested on ambiguous figures that could be perceived as either faces or Chinese characters, dependent on the priming condition. The ambiguous figures differed from one another in their configural information, which is crucial for processing faces but not Chinese characters. The inversion effect was observed in the face-priming condition, but not in the character-priming condition. The present results provide the first direct evidence that top-down activation of the face-processing expertise system plays a crucial role in the face-inversion effect.
Doing Is for Thinking!
Authors: Mussweiler Thomas
Published: December 2005

Three studies demonstrate that stereotypic movements activate the corresponding stereotype. In Study 1, participants who were unobtrusively induced to move in the portly manner that is stereotypic of overweight people subsequently ascribed more overweight-stereotypic characteristics to an ambiguous target person than did control participants. In Study 2, participants who were unobtrusively induced to move in the slow manner that is stereotypic of elderly people subsequently ascribed more elderly-stereotypic characteristics to a target than did control participants. In Study 3, participants who were induced to move slowly were faster than control participants to respond to elderly-stereotypic words in a lexical decision task. Using three different movement inductions, two different stereotypes, and two classic measures of stereotype activation, these studies converge in demonstrating that stereotypes may be activated by stereotypic movements.
Do Approach-Avoidance Actions Create Attitudes?
Authors: Centerbar David B. , Clore Gerald L.
Published: December 2005

Do approach-avoidance actions create attitudes? Prior influential studies suggested that rudimentary attitudes could be established by simply pairing novel stimuli (Chinese ideographs) with arm flexion (approach) or arm extension (avoidance). In three experiments, we found that approach-avoidance actions alone were insufficient to account for such effects. Instead, we found that these affective influences resulted from the interaction of these actions with a priori differences in stimulus valence. Thus, with negative stimuli, the effect of extension on attitude was more positive than the effect of flexion. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the affect from motivationally compatible or incompatible action can also influence task evaluations. A final experiment, using Chinese ideographs from the original studies, confirmed these findings. Both approach and avoidance actions led to more positive evaluations of the ideographs when the actions were motivationally compatible with the prior valence of the ideographs. The attitudinal impact of approach-avoidance action thus reflects its situated meaning, which depends on the valence of stimuli being approached or avoided.
Misperceptions in Intergroup Conflict
Authors: Chambers John R. , Baron Robert S. , Inman Mary L.
Published: December 2005

Two studies examined misperceptions of disagreement in partisan social conflicts, namely, in the debates over abortion (Study 1) and politics (Study 2). We observed that partisans tend to exaggerate differences of opinion with their adversaries. Further, we found that perceptions of disagreement were more pronounced for values that were central to the perceiver's own ideology than for values that were central to the ideology of the perceiver's adversaries. To the extent that partisans assumed disagreement concerning personally important values, they were also inaccurate in perceiving their adversaries' actual opinions. Discussion focuses on the cognitive mechanisms underlying misperceptions of disagreement and strategies for reducing inter- group conflict.
Is High Sex Drive Associated With Increased Sexual Attraction to Both Sexes?
Authors: Lippa Richard A.
Published: December 2005

If sex drive is a generalized energizer of sexual behaviors, then high sex drive should increase an individual's sexual attraction to both men and women. If sex drive energizes only dominant sexual responses, however, then high sex drive should selectively increase attraction to men or to women, but not to both, depending on the individual's sexual orientation. Data from three studies assessing a total of 3,645 participants show that for most women, high sex drive is associated with increased sexual attraction to both men and women. For men, however, high sex drive is associated with increased sexual attraction to only one sex or the other, depending on the individual's sexual orientation. These results suggest that the correlates of sex drive and the organization of sexual orientation are different for women and men.
Village on the Border, Anthropology at the Crossroads: The Significance of a Classic British Ethnography
Authors: Cohen Anthony P.
Published: December 2005

Village on the Border was the seminal anthropological study of a mainland British rural community. It was written and published during a period of unsurpassed scholarship and creativity in British social science. To explain the impact it had on social anthropology, British studies and public discourse at the time, I look at the influences on Ronnie Frankenberg and his work of the then state of social anthropology; of the particular academic environment in which he was trained and worked; and of his personal background and political convictions. This analysis shows that although the book clearly bears particular historical and intellectual influences, it was explicitly set within comparative ethnographic frameworks, and in due course greatly influenced work elsewhere. Both methodologically and substantively, it should be seen as a significant contribution to the comparative study of local-level politics, gender relations and the role of the ‘stranger’, as well as the authentic origin of modern anthropological studies of rural Britain.
Revisiting ‘Communities in Britain’
Authors: Morgan David H.J.
Published: December 2005

In this article I re-examine Frankenberg's Communities in Britain (1966) and his use of a ‘morphological continuum’ within his analysis. This analysis is itself a reassessment of some influential community studies conducted within the British Isles. I look at some particular ideas within the more theoretical part of this book, especially the ideas of ‘social redundancy’ and the distinction between ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’. I then consider some themes arising from some more recent studies. These themes include identity, networks and social capital and time and I argue that Frankenberg's analysis can still provide the reader with useful tools to think through the ideas and practices of community.
Anthropology, Class and the ‘Big Heads’: An Ethnography of Distinctions between ‘Rough’ and ‘Posh’ amongst Women Workers in the UK Pottery Industry
Authors: Hart Elizabeth
Published: December 2005

In the context of the take-over by a global corporation (Royal Doulton) of a family-owned and run pottery factory in Longton Stoke-on-Trent, known as ‘Beswick’, and the subsequent re-structuring of production, this paper explores the way in which women pottery workers make social distinctions between the ‘rough’ and ‘posh’, ‘proper paintresses’ and ‘big heads’ which cut into and across abstract sociological notions of class. Drawing on ethnographic data I show that for these working class women, class as lived is inherently ambiguous and contradictory and reveal the ways in which class is gendered. I build on historical and sociological studies of the pottery industry, and anthropological and related debates on class, as well as Frankenberg's study of a Welsh village, to develop my argument and draw analogies between factory and village at a number of levels. My findings support the view that class is best understood not as an abstract generalising category, but in the local and specific contexts of women's working lives. I was the first one in our family to go in decorating end and they thought I was a bit stuck-up. My sister was in clay end as a cup-handler and I had used to walk off factory without her, or wait for her to leave before I left, though she said, ‘If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have anything to paint!’ They were much freer in the clay end – had more to do with men – we thought we were one up. 1
Relationality, Place, and Absence: A Three-Dimensional Perspective on Social Memory
Authors: Degnen Cathrine
Published: December 2005

This article builds on recent work on memory and place in the social sciences. One emphasis in the literature on ‘Western’ forms of social memory has been on official, intentional sites of commemoration, such as war memorials and monuments. Based on fieldwork in the north of England with older residents of a former coal mining village, I approach social memory from a different perspective, emphasising the work of memory and its complex interactions with place, absence, social relations and social rupture. Like Village on the Border, this research has taken place in a setting that has undergone significant socio-economic change: the closure of the South Yorkshire coalfields. The embeddedness of local knowledge in social relations emerge in both Ronnie Frankenberg's work and my own and I explore these topics here in connection with what I term a ‘three-dimensionality of memory’.
The Translocation of Culture: ‘Community Cohesion’ and the Force of Multiculturalism in History1
Authors: Werbner Pnina
Published: December 2005

In his work on a Welsh border village, Ronald Frankenberg showed how cultural performances, from football to carnival, conferred agency on local actors and framed local conflicts. The present article extends these themes. It responds to invocations of ‘community cohesion’ by politicians and policy makers, decrying the failure of communal leadership following riots by young South Asians in northern British towns. Against their critique of self-segregating isolationism, the article traces the historical process of Pakistani migration and settlement in Britain, to argue that the dislocations and relocations of transnational migration generate two paradoxes of culture. The first is that in order to sink roots in a new country, transnational migrants in the modern world begin by setting themselves culturally and socially apart. They form encapsulated ‘communities’. Second, that within such communities culture can be conceived of as conflictual, open, hybridising and fluid, while nevertheless having a sentimental and morally compelling force. This stems from the fact, I propose, that culture is embodied in ritual, in social exchange and in performance, conferring agency and empowering different social actors: religious and secular, men, women and youth. Hence, against both defenders and critics of multiculturalism as a political and philosophical theory of social justice, the final part of the article argues for the need to theorise multiculturalism in history. In this view, rather than being fixed by liberal or socialist universal philosophical principles, multicultural citizenship must be grasped as changing and dialogical, inventive and responsive, a negotiated political order. The British Muslim diasporic struggle for recognition in the context of local racism and world international crises exemplifies this process.
Multiscale Poisson Data Smoothing
Authors: Jansen Maarten
Published: December 2005

The paper introduces a framework for non-linear multiscale decompositions of Poisson data that have piecewise smooth intensity curves. The key concept is conditioning on the sum of the observations that are involved in the computation of a given multiscale coefficient. Within this framework, most classical wavelet thresholding schemes for data with additive homoscedastic noise can be used. Any family of wavelet transforms (orthogonal, biorthogonal or second generation) can be incorporated in this framework. Our second contribution is to propose a Bayesian shrinkage approach with an original prior for coefficients of this decomposition. As such, the method combines the advantages of the Haar–Fisz transform with wavelet smoothing and (Bayesian) multiscale likelihood models, with additional benefits, such as extendability towards arbitrary wavelet families. Simulations show an important reduction in average squared error of the output, compared with the present techniques of Anscombe or Fisz variance stabilization or multiscale likelihood modelling.
Semiparametric Estimation in General Repeated Measures Problems
Authors: Lin Xihong , Carroll Raymond J.
Published: December 2005

The paper considers a wide class of semiparametric problems with a parametric part for some covariate effects and repeated evaluations of a nonparametric function. Special cases in our approach include marginal models for longitudinal or clustered data, conditional logistic regression for matched case–control studies, multivariate measurement error models, generalized linear mixed models with a semiparametric component, and many others. We propose profile kernel and backfitting estimation methods for these problems, derive their asymptotic distributions and show that in likelihood problems the methods are semiparametric efficient. Although generally not true, it transpires that with our methods profiling and backfitting are asymptotically equivalent. We also consider pseudolikelihood methods where some nuisance parameters are estimated from a different algorithm. The methods proposed are evaluated by using simulation studies and applied to the Kenya haemoglobin data.
On Properties of Functional Principal Components Analysis
Authors: Hall Peter , Hosseini-Nasab Mohammad
Published: December 2005

Functional data analysis is intrinsically infinite dimensional; functional principal component analysis reduces dimension to a finite level, and points to the most significant components of the data. However, although this technique is often discussed, its properties are not as well understood as they might be. We show how the properties of functional principal component analysis can be elucidated through stochastic expansions and related results. Our approach quantifies the errors that arise through statistical approximation, in successive terms of orders n−1/2, n−1, n−3/2, …, where n denotes sample size. The expansions show how spacings among eigenvalues impact on statistical performance. The term of size n−1/2 illustrates first-order properties and leads directly to limit theory which describes the dominant effect of spacings. Thus, for example, spacings are seen to have an immediate, first-order effect on properties of eigenfunction estimators, but only a second-order effect on eigenvalue estimators. Our results can be used to explore properties of existing methods, and also to suggest new techniques. In particular, we suggest bootstrap methods for constructing simultaneous confidence regions for an infinite number of eigenvalues, and also for individual eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
Collapsibility of Distribution Dependence
Authors: Ma Zongming , Xie Xianchao , Geng Zhi
Published: December 2005

Cox and Wermuth proposed that the partial derivative of the conditional distribution function of a random variable Y given another X is used for measuring association between two variables with arbitrary distributions. The paper presents a necessary and sufficient condition for uniform collapsibility of this association measure over a third variable W.
Creating Peer Sexual Harassment: Mobilizing Schools to Throw the Book at Themselves
Authors: SHORT JODI L.
Published: December 2005

This paper describes how peer‐to‐peer sexual harassment rapidly was transformed from an unremarkable reality of secondary school life into a serious social and legal problem. First, it shows how organizations and professionals served as an entry point for social change and legal mobilization. I argue that schools were quick to address peer sexual harassment because activists framed it as a moral and pedagogical issue that resonated with educators’ deeply held professional values. Second, the paper shows how law and organizations developed endogenously. Without any legal mandate, schools created and institutionalized harassment policies. Courts then looked to these organizational practices to determine the content and scope of Title IX. In this way, schools literally “enacted” the law through their practices. This finding goes beyond previous work on endogeneity in that school policies influenced law at the level of doctrine, not simply at the level of meaning, enforcement, or application.
Brazilian Environmental Laws and Policies, 1934–2002: A Critical Overview
Authors: DRUMMOND JOSÉ , BARROS‐PLATIAU ANA FLÁVIA
Published: December 2005

This article describes and analyzes major laws, decrees, regulations, resolutions, and institutional mandates linked to environmental protection policies in Brazil, from 1934 to 2002. It argues that many early regulations resulted basically from centralization and planning policies conducted by a development‐oriented state. However, it shows that most recent regulations were demanded by a more environmentally aware and more organized civil society, in the context of a more participatory and democratic political framework and improved scientific knowledge and requirements.
Is Fingerprint Identification Valid? Rhetorics of Reliability in Fingerprint Proponents’ Discourse
Authors: COLE SIMON A.
Published: December 2005

Beginning around 1999, a growing number of scholars have claimed that validation studies for forensic fingerprint identification do not exist. This article revisits that claim by reviewing literature produced by proponents of fingerprint identification in response to that charge. It shows that fingerprint proponents employ rhetorical tricks in which they claim to address the validity question, but then subtly shift the question to ones that are easier to address. The article explores several different rhetorical strategies fingerprint proponents use to appear to be demonstrating validity, while in fact demonstrating other things. These include “the fingerprint examiner's fallacy” and “the casework fallacy.” The inability of fingerprint proponents to refute the charge that validity studies are lacking is further evidence that the charge is, in fact, correct.
Expansionary Fiscal Shocks and the US Trade Deficit*
Authors: Erceg Christopher J. , Guerrieri Luca , Gust Christopher
Published: December 2005

In this paper, we use a dynamic general equilibrium model of an open economy to assess the quantitative effects of fiscal shocks on the trade balance in the United States. We examine the effects of two alternative fiscal shocks: a rise in government consumption, and a reduction in the labour income tax rate. Our salient finding is that a fiscal deficit has a relatively small effect on the US trade balance, irrespective of whether the source is a spending increase or tax cut. In our benchmark calibration, we find that a rise in the fiscal deficit of 1 percentage point of gross domestic product (GDP) induces the trade balance to deteriorate by 0.2 percentage point of GDP or less. Noticeably larger effects are only likely to be elicited under implausibly high values of the short‐run trade price elasticity, or of the share of liquidity‐constrained households in the economy. From a policy perspective, our analysis suggests that even reducing the current US fiscal deficit (of 3% of GDP) to zero would be unlikely to narrow the burgeoning US trade deficit significantly.
Monetary Policy in a Liquidity Trap: What Have We Learned, and to What End?*
Authors: Fujiwara Ippei , Hara Naoko , Hirakata Naohisa , Watanabe Shinichiro , Yoshimura Kentaro
Published: December 2005

Reflecting recent economic developments in Japan, there is a growing interest in how monetary policy should be conducted under low inflation and nominal interest rates. Among several proposed solutions, the conventional wisdom seems to be to commit to lower future short‐term nominal interest rates through some variation on price‐level targeting. We confirm the effectiveness of such a policy in a large‐scale dynamic general equilibrium model: the Japanese Economic Model. However, uncertainty – which affects how monetary policy should be conducted – increases in the presence of the zero bound on nominal interest rates. We posit that the increased uncertainty may explain why the central bank cannot fully commit to a certain fully specified policy scheme far into the future when the economy is caught in a liquidity trap.
Are Constant Interest Rate Forecasts Modest Policy Interventions? Evidence from a Dynamic Open‐Economy Model*
Authors: Adolfson Malin , Laséen Stefan , Lindé Jesper , Villani Mattias
Published: December 2005

This paper uses an estimated open‐economy dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model for the euro area to examine if during 1993Q4–2002Q4 constant interest rate forecasts (CIRFs), commonly used by inflation‐targeting central banks, are viewed as being in line with the central bank's historical policy behaviour. In the sense of Leeper and Zha (2003), a CIRF is defined as a modest intervention of the policy rule if it does not trigger the agents to revise their expectations about the inflation‐targeting policy. Using univariate modesty statistics, we show that the modesty of the policy interventions depends on the assumptions about the uncertainty in the future shock realizations. Taking the joint effects of the policy interventions on all variables into consideration, we find that the CIRFs are not modest policy interventions in the latter part of the sample (1998Q4–2002Q4), and thereby affect the expectations formation of the agents. Consequently, the constant interest rate assumption has arguably led to conditional forecasts at the two‐year horizon that cannot be considered economically meaningful during this period, and should not be used as a communication device by inflation‐targeting central banks.
Credibility and Inflation Targeting in an Emerging Market: Lessons from the Chilean Experience*
Authors: Céspedes Luis F. , Soto Claudio
Published: December 2005

This paper assesses the challenges that the lack of credibility poses for the implementation of inflation targeting, and for the design of inflation stabilization processes in emerging market economies. We also discuss the role that credibility has played in rationalizing the main elements of the disinflationary process in Chile during the 1990s and in explaining the grounds behind the monetary policy framework's changes in Chile at the end of the last decade.
Structural equation analysis of a hypothesised symptom model in the autism spectrum
Authors: van Lang Natasja D.J. , Boomsma Anne , Sytema Sjoerd , de Bildt Annelies A. , Kraijer Dirk W. , Ketelaars Cees , Minderaa Ruud B.
Published: December 2005

Background:  Several studies showed a different symptom structure underlying the spectrum of autistic‐like disorders from the behaviour triad as mentioned in the DSM‐IV. In the present study, a hypothesised symptom model for autism was constructed, based on earlier explorative findings, and was put to a confirmatory test.

Method:  Items from the Autism Diagnostic Interview‐Revised (ADI‐R) were used to examine the goodness of fit of the DSM‐IV model, the hypothesised symptom model, and two additional models for autism. All models were tested in a group of 255 verbal and nonverbal individuals with minor to severe autistic symptomatology.

Results:  The DSM‐IV model encountered estimation problems. Conversely, the hypothesised symptom model had no such problems and proved to have a better fit to the sample data than the two additional models for autism. However, some of the observed variables were weak indicators of the three latent factors in the model.

Conclusions:  The hypothesised symptom model appeared to be a plausible model in a group of individuals with a broad range of autistic behaviours and levels of functioning. Nevertheless, the stability of the model needs further examination in a larger group of individuals with disorders in the autism spectrum, and with varying degrees of intellectual functioning.
Emotion regulation strategies in offspring of childhood‐onset depressed mothers
Authors: Silk Jennifer S. , Shaw Daniel S. , Skuban Emily M. , Oland Alyssa A. , Kovacs Maria
Published: December 2005

Background:  This study examines emotion regulation strategies used by children of mothers with childhood‐onset depression (COD) and children of never‐depressed mothers (NCOD).

Methods:  Participants were 49 COD offspring (ages 4–7) and 37 NCOD offspring (ages 4–7) and their mothers. Emotion regulation strategies were assessed observationally during a laboratory mood induction paradigm.

Results:  COD offspring were more likely to focus on the delay object or task than NCOD offspring. Daughters of COD mothers were also more likely to wait passively and less likely to engage in active distraction than daughters of NCOD mothers. These findings were replicated using number of maternal depressive episodes.

Conclusions:  COD offspring, especially daughters, exhibit a more passive style of regulating emotion that may place them at risk for developing psychopathology.
Discrimination of temporal synchrony in intermodal events by children with autism and children with developmental disabilities without autism
Authors: Bebko James M. , Weiss Jonathan A. , Demark Jenny L. , Gomez Pamela
Published: December 2005

Background:  This project examined the intermodal perception of temporal synchrony in 16 young children (ages 4 to 6 years) with autism compared to a group of children without impairments matched on adaptive age, and a group of children with other developmental disabilities matched on chronological and adaptive age.

Method:  A preferential looking paradigm was used, where participants viewed non‐linguistic, simple linguistic or complex linguistic events on two screens displaying identical video tracks, but one offset from the other by 3 seconds, and with the single audio track matched to only one of the displays.

Results:  As predicted, both comparison groups demonstrated significant non‐random preferential looking to violations of temporal synchrony with linguistic and non‐linguistic stimuli. However, the group with autism showed an impaired, chance level of responding, except when presented with non‐linguistic stimuli.

Conclusions:  Several explanations are offered for this apparently autism‐specific, language‐specific pattern of responding to temporal synchrony, and potential developmental sequelae are discussed.
The relation between salivary cortisol, callous‐unemotional traits, and conduct problems in an adolescent non‐referred sample
Authors: Loney Bryan R. , Butler Melanie A. , Lima Elizabeth N. , Counts Carla A. , Eckel Lisa A.
Published: December 2005

Background:  Previous research has suggested that adult psychopathic behavior and child callous‐unemotional (CU) traits are uniquely related to low emotional reactivity. Salivary cortisol is a promising biological measure of emotional reactivity that has been relatively overlooked in research on CU traits and antisocial behavior. The current study examined for gender differences in the relation between resting salivary cortisol levels and CU traits in a non‐referred adolescent sample. Salivary testosterone levels were assessed to provide discriminant validity for cortisol analyses and were not expected to bear a relation to CU traits.

Method:  An extreme groups strategy was used to recruit 108 adolescents (53 male, 55 female) from a larger screening sample who exhibited various combinations of low and high scores on parent‐report measures of CU traits and conduct problems. Resting saliva samples were assayed for cortisol and testosterone levels using a radioimmunoassay procedure.

Results:  Consistent with prediction, male participants exhibiting elevated CU traits were uniquely characterized by low cortisol levels relative to male comparison groups (p < .05). Testosterone levels did not differentiate groups and no hormone effects were found for female participants.

Conclusions:  The current findings build upon recent research in suggesting that low cortisol may be a biological marker for male CU traits.
Social behavior and peer relationships of victims, bully‐victims, and bullies in kindergarten
Authors: Perren Sonja , Alsaker Françoise D.
Published: December 2005

Background:  Although the prevalence of bully/victim problems in school‐age children and adolescents has been investigated in many countries, only a few studies have been carried out among younger children. This study examines social behaviors and peer relationships of children involved in bully/victim problems in kindergarten.

Methods:  Three hundred and forty‐four five‐ to seven‐year‐old children participated. Children were categorized as victims, bully‐victims, bullies, and non‐involved by means of teacher ratings and peer nominations. Teachers completed questionnaires on children's social behavior patterns. Peer relationships were assessed by means of peer nominations and social cluster mapping.

Results:  Compared to non‐involved children, victims were more submissive, had fewer leadership skills, were more withdrawn, more isolated, less cooperative, less sociable, and frequently had no playmates. As expected, bullies and bully‐victims were generally more aggressive than their peers. In addition, bully‐victims were less cooperative, less sociable, and more frequently had no playmates than non‐involved children. Bullies were less prosocial, and had more leadership skills than non‐involved children. Bullies belonged to larger social clusters and were frequently affiliated with other bullies or bully‐victims.

Conclusions:  We were able to establish distinct behavior patterns for bullies, bully‐victims, and victims. Some of these social behaviors may be considered as risk factors for being victimized or becoming a bully. Our findings also emphasize the significance of peer relationships in bully/victim problems. On the one hand, victimized children's lack of friends might render them psychologically and socially vulnerable, and thus more prone to becoming easy targets. On the other hand, bullies seemed to be preferred playmates, particularly for other aggressive boys. This affiliation of aggressive children might lead to an increase in bullying behavior. Our understanding of the social and interactional nature of bullying and victimization has practical implications for prevention and intervention against bully/victim problems.
Practitioner Review: Short‐term and working memory impairments in neurodevelopmental disorders: diagnosis and remedial support
Authors: Gathercole Susan E. , Alloway Tracy Packiam
Published: December 2005

Background:  This article provides an introduction to current models of working and short‐term memory, their links with learning, and diagnosis of impairments. The memory impairments associated with a range of neurodevelopmental disorders (Down's syndrome, Williams syndrome, Specific Language Impairment, and attentional deficits) are discussed.

Methods:  Methods of alleviating the adverse consequences of working and short‐term memory impairments for learning are identified.

Conclusion:  Impairments of short‐term and working memory are associated with learning difficulties that can be substantial, and that can be minimised by appropriate methods of remedial support.
Differentiation of the Peasantry Under Feudalism and the Transition to Capitalism: In Defence of Rodney Hilton
Authors: BYRES TERENCE J.
Published: December 2005

The focus of the essay is one specific theme pursued by Rodney Hilton: that of differentiation of the English feudal peasantry and the implications this had for the development of capitalism in England. His contribution on this, along with those of E. A. Kosminsky and of Maurice Dobb, are considered and are contrasted with the view of Robert Brenner. For Brenner peasant differentiation has no causal importance: it is an outcome of transformation and not a driving force in its securing. For Hilton, it is central to transformation: it is not an outcome but a determining variable, a causa causans rather than a causa causata. The Brenner position, it is argued, is incomplete in its ignoring of peasant differentiation in feudal England. It was one of Hilton's accomplishments to explore this in scholarly detail, and with analytical precision. It is suggested that if this is abstracted from an adequate examination of the transition to capitalism in England cannot proceed.
Book Reviews
Authors: FREUND BILL , DOWLER ELIZABETH , FRIEDMANN HARRIET , BRENNAN JAMES
Published: December 2005

Books reviewed:

James C. McCann, Maize and Grace: Africa's Encounter with a New World Crop 1500–2000.

T. Lang and M. Heasman, Food Wars: The Global Battle for Mouths, Minds and Markets.

Richard A. Walker, The Conquest of Bread: 150 Years of Agribusiness in California.

Paul Nugent, Africa Since Independence: A Comparative History.
Comparison of optical coherence tomography and fundus photography for measuring the optic disc size
Authors: Neubauer Aljoscha S. , Krieglstein Tina R. , Chryssafis Christos , Thiel Martin , Kampik Anselm
Published: December 2005

Purpose:  To assess the agreement and repeatability of optic nerve head (ONH) size measurements by optical coherence tomography (OCT) as compared to conventional planimetry of fundus photographs in normal eyes.

Methods:  For comparison with planimetry the absolute size of the ONH of 25 eyes from 25 normal subjects were measured by both OCT and digital fundus photography (Zeiss FF camera 450). Repeatability of automated Stratus OCT measurements were investigated by repeatedly measuring the optic disc in five normal subjects.

Results:  Mean disc size was 1763 ± 186 vertically and 1632 ± 160 μm horizontally on planimetry. On OCT, values of 1772 ± 317 μm vertically (p = 0.82) and a significantly smaller horizontal diameter of 1492 ± 302 μm (p = 0.04) were obtained. The 95% limits of agreement were (−546 μm; +527 μm) for vertical and (−502 μm; +782 μm) for horizontal planimetric compared to OCT measurements. In some cases large discrepancies existed. Repeatability of automatic measurements of the optic disc by OCT was moderately good with intra‐class correlation coefficients (ICC) of 0.78 horizontally and 0.83 vertically. The coefficient of repeatability indicating instrument precision was 80 μm for horizontal and 168 μm for vertical measurements.

Conclusions:  OCT can be used to determine optic disc margins in moderate agreement with planimetry in normal subjects. However, in some cases significant disagreement with photographic assessment may occur making manual inspection advisable. Automatic disc detection by OCT is moderately repeatable.
Validity and limitations of the Nidek NT‐4000 non‐contact tonometer: a clinical study
Authors: Regine Federico , Scuderi Gian Luca , Cesareo Massimo , Ricci Federico , Cedrone Claudio , Nucci Carlo
Published: December 2005

Using Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) as a gold standard, we evaluated the accuracy of Nidek NT‐4000 pneumotonometry (NPT) in adults without corneal disease. Bland and Altman analysis of serial intra‐ocular pressures (IOPs) measured with NPT and GAT in 10 healthy subjects revealed that the repeatability coefficients for the two methods were similar. NPT, GAT and ultrasonic pachymetry were then performed in 100 patients. Bland and Altman analysis showed that NPT yielded significantly higher readings than GAT [mean biases for right and left eye measurements were 1.37 mmHg (95% limits of agreement: −3.02–5.76) and 1.17 mmHg (95% limits of agreement: −2.76–5.11) respectively] and was more affected by corneal thickness variations. For detection of IOPs ≥21 mmHg, NPT displayed very high sensitivity (0.90) and good specificity (0.95). NPT may be useful in screening and clinical settings but borderline‐high IOP readings should be confirmed with GAT.
Refractive index and equilibrium water content of conventional and silicone hydrogel contact lenses
Authors: González‐Méijome José M. , Lira Madalena , López‐Alemany Antonio , Almeida José B. , Parafita Manuel A. , Refojo Miguel F.
Published: December 2005

Purpose:  The purpose of the present study was to measure equilibrium water content (EWC) and refractive index of conventional and silicone hydrogel soft contact lenses (SCL) using a hand refractometer and an automated refractometer.

Methods:  Sixteen SCL were used in this study including 12 conventional SCL not containing siloxane moieties (equilibrium water content (EWC) range: 38.6–74%) and the four silicone hydrogel based contact lenses currently available (WC range: 24–47%). Two experienced observers performed the measurements in a randomised order being masked by a third party during the three sessions at which the measurements were collected. The Atago N‐2E hand refractometer and the CLR 12‐70 digital refractometer were used. Data were analysed separately for conventional and silicone hydrogel materials.

Results:  Measured EWC and refractive index correlate better when measured with the instruments used in this study (r2 = 0.979, p < 0.001) than the nominal parameters (r2 = 0.666, p < 0.001). The linear relationship that correlates nominal and measured EWC shows higher spread of data when all lenses are analysed together (r2 = 0.840) than when conventional hydrogel (r2 = 0.953) and silicone hydrogel contact lenses (r2 = 0.967) are analysed separately. Regarding refractive index, the relationship between nominal and measured values when all the lenses are considered together (r2 = 0.794) becomes weaker when conventional hydrogel are considered separately (r2 = 0.688), while a stronger relationship is observed for silicone hydrogel lenses (r2 = 0.939). Hence, hand refractometry overestimates the EWC of silicone hydrogels, while automated refractive index measurements are more accurate in silicone hydrogels than in conventional hydrogels.

Conclusions:  New relationships are presented that correlate nominal and measured values of EWC and refractive index for the silicone containing hydrogels. The linear relationships derived fit well to the data. Hand refractometry overestimates the EWC of silicone hydrogel materials and this bias is related to the proportion of siloxane moieties in the material. Conversely, refractive index can be obtained more accurately with automated refractometry for silicone hydrogels than for conventional hydrogels. Present results are of interest in planning future clinical studies involving the measurement of EWC of current hydrogels.
Intermediate spatial frequency letter contrast sensitivity: its relation to visual resolution before and during amblyopia treatment
Authors: Moseley Merrick J. , Stewart Catherine E. , Fielder Alistair R. , Stephens David A. ,   the MOTAS cooperative
Published: December 2005

We examined the loss of letter contrast sensitivity (LCS) measured using the Pelli‐Robson chart, and the extent to which any such loss was modulated by spectacle wear and occlusion therapy in children participating in an amblyopia treatment trial. Their initial mean interocular difference in logMAR acuity was approximately three times that of their LCS (0.45 vs 0.14 log units). Log LCS was weakly though significantly correlated with logMAR visual acuity (VA) for all VAs better than 0.90 (r = −0.19, 95% CI: −0.28 to −0.10) whereas for all VAs of 0.90 or poorer, log LCS was markedly and significantly correlated with VA (r = −0.72, 95% CI: −0.83 to −0.53). LCS in those children with a ≥0.1 log unit interocular difference on this test improved commensurately with VA during treatment. We conjecture that the spatial visual loss in all but the most severe amblyopes occurs in an area of resolution and contrast space that lies beyond that sampled by the Pelli‐Robson chart.
Ocular prevalence and stereoacuity1
Authors: Kromeier Miriam , Heinrich Sven P. , Bach Michael , Kommerell Guntram
Published: December 2005

Background:  Most people attribute a higher weight to the input from one eye than to that from the other eye when they have to align stereodisparate objects in the same visual direction. This preference for visual directions has been termed ‘ocular prevalence’, according to the Latin praevalentia = superior power. Questions: (1) Is ocular prevalence of one eye (or its correlate, partial suppression of the other eye in the prevalence task) restricted to large stereodisparities, close to Panum's limit, or does it occur also at small stereodisparities, near the stereoscopic threshold? (2) Is ocular prevalence a handicap for stereoacuity?

Methods:  Six non‐strabismic observers with equal visual acuity of their two eyes were examined. To determine their ocular prevalence, they were presented with vertical vernier lines at stereodisparities ranging between 30 and 430 arcsec. They had to judge whether the lower, anterior line was located on the right‐ or left‐hand side of the upper, posterior line. Their stereoscopic threshold was measured with an adaptive staircase procedure, using the Freiburg Stereoacuity Test.

Results:  All six observers exhibited some ocular prevalence. It changed considerably on repeated measurements. In three observers, it even switched from one eye to the other. Ocular prevalence occurred not only at large stereodisparities, close to Panum's limit, but also at small stereodisparities. The stereoscopic threshold of the six observers ranged between 1.7 and 12.3 arcsec.

Conclusion:  Ocular prevalence is common, intra‐individually variable and occurs even at small stereodisparities close to the stereoscopic threshold. It is compatible with ‘optimal’ stereoacuity. Hence, ocular prevalence appears to be a harmless feature of normal binocular vision.
Is the spectacle lens jack‐in‐the‐box phenomenon really due to the lenses?
Authors: Walsh Glyn , Pearce E. Ian
Published: December 2005

The calculation of the extent of the ring scotoma around positive lenses, as conventionally taught to students of clinical optics, indicates that the scotoma is of a significant size. Using knife‐edge lenses this study shows that the calculations are invalid due to the finite size of the eye's entrance pupil and in many instances the scotoma is shown not to exist. The effect noticed in clinical practice is probably largely due to the frame and the edging techniques used which add to the refractive scotoma which is present with high powered lenses, large apertures and/or small pupil sizes.
Prescribing spectacles: reasons for failure of spectacle lens acceptance
Authors: Hrynchak Patricia
Published: December 2005

The objective of this descriptive study was to determine the frequency with which patients return for re‐examination due to a failure of spectacle lens acceptance and to quantify the reasons for the failure. A random sample of patient records was reviewed to determine the rate of spectacle lens prescription. Spectacles reassessment records, completed after dispensing problems were dealt with were reviewed to determine the primary reason for the failure. Spectacles were prescribed for 58% of the 44 341 patients seen over 6 years. Of the 25 718 prescriptions written, 400 patients (1.6%) returned for reassessment. The most common problem was incorrect refractive error measurement (59%), followed by inability of the patient to adapt to an accurate refractive correction (10.3%), inadequate patient education regarding lens design (9.5%), pathology (9.3%), appliance problem (5.8%), transcription errors (1.6%) and other (4.5%). The frequency of failure to adapt to spectacle prescriptions is quite low and the most common reason for this failure is inaccuracy in the measurement of the refractive error.
Wavefront analysis of eyes with cataracts in patients with monocular triplopia1
Authors: Kim Aya , Bessho Kenichiro , Okawa Yoshitaka , Maeda Naoyuki , Tano Yasuo , Hirohara Yoko , Mihashi Toshifumi , Fujikado Takashi
Published: December 2005

Purpose:  To determine whether wavefront analysis using a Hartmann–Shack (H‐S) aberrometer can reveal the cause of monocular triplopia in eyes with mild cataracts.

Methods:  Six patients (nine eyes; age range 38–58 years; average 49.8 ± 6.9 years) who complained of monocular triplopia at the Osaka University Hospital between January and December 2003 were examined. Wavefront analyses of ocular and corneal aberrations of the central 4 mm diameter were performed using a H‐S aberrometer equipped with a Placido ring videokeratoscope. The ocular and corneal higher‐order wavefronts were fitted with a fourth‐order Zernike expansion.

Results:  All nine eyes showed mild nuclear cataract and had a mean spherical refractive error of −10.3 ± 3.5 D. The visual acuity was ≥ 20/40 except in one eye with glaucoma. For the Zernike polynomials, the trefoil aberration (C3‐3) and the spherical aberration (C40) were significantly higher than those of age‐matched normal controls (p < 0.001). The simulated retinal image of a Landolt C showed that the combination of trefoil aberration and the spherical aberration can cause an image with a triple configuration.

Conclusions:  Monocular triplopia was reported by middle‐aged patients with mild nuclear cataract and high myopia. Wavefront analyses suggested that the triple configuration was caused by the combined increase of the trefoil and spherical aberration in lenses with mild nuclear cataracts.