bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Shopping Malls, Consumer Culture and the Reshaping of Public Space in Egypt
Authors: Abaza Mona
Published: April 2003

Egypt witnessed in the last decade, as in many Southeast Asian mega-cities, the reshaping of public space through the creation of new shopping malls and recreation places. This went hand in hand with the `gentrification' of certain areas of the city of Cairo, which is continuing at the expense of pushing away the poor. The 1980s and 1990s also witnessed increasing prosperity among certain classes and the appropriation of new consumer lifestyles. This article attempts to look at the variations of shopping malls in Cairo and the new phenomenon of hybridization of tastes. One can observe the creation of `chic' shopping malls functioning parallel to popular and working-class malls which are frequented by different classes, depending on the various districts of Cairo. These newly created public spaces are gendered. The malls provide new outlets for deprived youth to experience mingling and flirting, in other words, these spaces offer new forms of `mixity' between sexes. A glimpse at the ` grands magasins' is brought up in relation to the history of consumerism in Egypt. This article also analyses the government's official discourse which alienates those living in unplanned and scattered construction as `violent' and unruly and relates it to the new remaking of the town of Cairo.
Resisting with Authority: Historical Specificity, Agency and the Performative Self
Authors: Lovell Terry
Published: April 2003

How is it possible for human subjects who are socially constructed to engage in effective and authoritative acts of resistance to the social norms and institutions within which they were formed? Judith Butler, in her engagement with the work of Pierre Bourdieu, locates this possibility in the nature of `speech acts', and in resistance to social norms emanating from the abjected margins of social life. She criticizes Bourdieu for undermining the promise of agency contained in habitus by reducing it to the social field in which it was constituted, thus re-closing `the iron cage' of structural/institutional determination. For Butler, social norms and institutions, dependent as they are on reiterative performance, are intrinsically open to disruption. It is possible, she claims, using as her example Rosa Parks's historical act of resistance in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, to resist with authority, yet without prior institutional authorization. This article argues that Butler's theory of iterability works to endow the capacity to authorize against the grain of institutional authority with individuals and their acts and hence neglects the social contexts that inform and de-limit this capacity. `Resisting with authority' is possible precisely because it is not endowed by individuals or their acts, but is collective and interactional.
Beyond the Destruction of the Other's Collective Memory
Authors: Gur-Ze'ev Ilan , Pappé Ilan
Published: April 2003

This article follows the formulation of a new Palestinian attitude toward the Holocaust memory. It presents it as a bold challenge to past Palestinian perceptions of and attitudes toward the Holocaust memory. This novel Palestinian stance connects the Holocaust memory to the memory of the Nakbah, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948. It is part of a critical deconstruction of the manipulation of collective memory in the service of nationalism. The authors of this article respond by providing their own deconstruction of the memory's manipulation on both the Israeli and the Palestinian side of the divide. This additional analysis is meant to contribute to a dialogue that would enable us to explore further the dialectical relationship between the Holocaust and Nakbah memory in the Arab-Israeli conflict. This is not a mere academic exercise. Like others who had already participated in this dialogue, the authors believe firmly that such an exposure is a precondition for the elimination of the violence, direct or symbolic, from Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.
The modulatory effects of dopamine D1 and D2 receptor function on object working memory in humans
Authors: Bartholomeusz Cali F. , Box Georgia , Van Rooy Cindy , Nathan Pradeep J.
Published: April 2003

The role of dopamine D1 and D2 receptors in modulating object working memory in humans is poorly understood. The current study was designed to investigate the effects of D1 and D2 receptor modulation on object working memory. Twelve healthy subjects underwent testing under three conditions [0.05 mg pergolide (D1/D2 receptor agonist), 2.5 mg bromocriptine (D2 receptor agonist) and placebo] in a double-blind, placebo-controlled repeated measures design. Subjects performed the object working memory N-back task pre-drug and 1.5 h and 3 h post-drug administration. Neither pergolide nor bromocriptine had an effect on object working memory performance. These findings suggest that object working memory may not be modulated by D1 and D2 receptors in humans.
Effects of different subanaesthetic doses of (S)-ketamine on psychopathology and binocular depth inversion in man
Authors: Passie Torsten , Karst Matthias , Borsutzky Mathias , Wiese Birgitt , Emrich Hinderk M. , Schneider Udo
Published: April 2003

The role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) neurotransmitter system in relation to psychoses is not completely understood, but represent a challenge in neurobiological research. The psychotic states induced by NMDA antagonists such as phencyclidine and ketamine have been described as being most similar to schizophrenia and the NMDA system has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Binocular depth inversion, an illusion of visual perception, has been shown to be impaired in psychotic and psychotomimetic states in healthy and schizophrenic subjects. In this study, pictures of natural and artificial objects were presented stereoscopically to 12 healthy male volunteers and depth perception assessed using an operationalized method. The effects of the psychotomimetic S-enantiomer of the anaesthetic ketamine in two different subanaesthetic doses were compared with those of a placebo. In spite of dose dependence and grave subjective and significant objective psychopathology, no significant impairment of binocular depth perception was found with (S)-ketamine. Implications related to memory function, perceptogenesis and ‘bottom-up’ processing in ketamine model psychosis and schizophrenia are discussed.
Adrenoceptor mechanisms underlying imipramine-induced memory deficits in rats
Authors: Zarrindast Mohammad Reza , Ghiasvand Maryam , Homayoun Houman , Rostami Parvin , Shafaghi Bijan , Khavandgar Simin
Published: April 2003

The post-training administration of tricyclic antidepressant imipramine impairs memory consolidation in the passive avoidance task. The present study investigated the effects of intrahippocampal (i.h.) injection of adrenoceptor agents on imipramine-induced (2–8 µg/rat) amnesia. The administration of the α1-adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine (0.05 µg/rat) and the α1-adrenceptor antagonist prazosin (0.5 µg/rat) did not alter the effect of imipramine. The lower doses of phenylephrine (0.005 and 0.015 µg/rat) impaired, while the higher dose of the drug (0.025 and 0.05 µg/rat) improved retention. The effect of phenylephrine was not altered by prazosin (0.5 and 1 µg/rat) pretreatment, although prazosin alone decreased retention latencies. The α2-adrenoceptor antagonist yohimbine (0.5 and 1 µg/rat) decreased the response induced by imipramine. However, the α2-adrenoceptor agonist clonidine (0.08 µg/rat) did not alter the effect of the drug. Clonidine (0.15 and 0.3 µg/rat) by itself decreased, while yohimbine (1 and 2 µg/rat) increased retention latencies. Yohimbine pretreatment attenuated the effect of clonidine. It is concluded that α2-adrenoceptor mechanism(s) may be involved in imipramine-induced impairment of memory.
The prolactin response to fenfluramine in depression: effects of melancholia and baseline cortisol
Authors: Mulder Roger T. , Porter Richard J. , Joyce Peter R.
Published: April 2003

Depression may be associated with a hypofunction of central serotonergic systems. The prolactin response to fenfluramine, an indicator of serotonergic activity, has been reported to be blunted in depressed patients compared to controls. It has also been suggested that blunting is more likely in melancholic depression. Baseline cortisol, prolactin and tryptophan availability have also been suggested to affect this response. Forty-eight men and 61 women with a major depressive episode, and who were drug free, and 20 healthy control men underwent clinical evaluation and fenfluramine challenge with dl-fenfluramine 1 mg/kg. When baseline variables were covaried, there was no difference in prolactin response to fenfluramine between males with depression and age-matched controls. Amongst all the depressed patients, body mass index showed a significant association with prolactin response to fenfluramine. There was an interaction between baseline cortisol and DSM-III-R melancholic subtype of depression whereby non-melancholic patients appeared more likely to increase prolactin response to fenfluramine in response to higher cortisol levels. Prolactin response to fenfluramine was not blunted in major depression and there was no difference between melancholic and non-melancholic depression. However, the relationship between prolactin response to fenfluramine and baseline cortisol levels appeared to differ between these two subtypes of depression.
A placebo-controlled study of lofexidine in the treatment of children with tic disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Authors: Niederhofer Helmut , Staffen Wolfgang , Mair Alois
Published: April 2003

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of Lofexidine in treating children with tic disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Subjects from a specialty tic disorders clinic were randomly assigned to receive 8 weeks of treatment with lofexidine or placebo under double-blind conditions. Follow-up visits occurred every 2 weeks for safety monitoring and dose adjustment. Fourty-four medication-free subjects (41 boys and three girls; mean age of 10.4 years) with ADHD, combined type, and a tic disorder participated. After 8 weeks of treatment, lofexidine was associated with a mean improvement of 41% in the total score on the teacher-rated ADHD Rating Scale compared to 7% improvement for placebo. Eleven of 22 subjects who received lofexidine were blindly rated on the Clinical Global Scale-Improvement as either much improved or very much improved compared to none of 22 subjects who received placebo. The mean score on the parent-rated hyperactivity index improved by 29% in the lofexidine group and 18% in the placebo group, which was not a significant difference. On the Continuous Performance Test, commission errors decreased by 25% and omission errors by 20% in the lofexidine group, compared with increases of 33% in commission errors and of 36% in omission errors in the placebo group. Tic severity decreased by 27% in the lofexidine group, compared to 0% in the placebo group. One lofexidine subject with sedation withdrew at week 4. Lofexidine was associated with insignificant decreases in blood pressure and pulse. Lofexidine appears to be a safe and effective treatment for children with tic disorders and ADHD.
Are Biology and Medicine Only Physics? Building Bridges Between Conventional and Complementary Medicine
Authors: Dürr Hans-Peter
Published: April 2003

In classical physics, the world is considered as a matter-based reality, the arrangement of whose parts in time is uniquely determined by certain dynamic laws. By contrast, modern quantum physics reveals that matter is not composed of matter, but reality is merely potentiality. The world has a holistic structure, which is based on fundamental relations and not material objects, admitting more open, indeterministic developments. In this more flexible causal framework, inanimate and animate matter are not to be considered as fundamentally different but as different order structures of the same immaterial entity. In a stable configuration, effectively all the uncertainties are statistically averaged out, thus the unique and deterministic behavior of ordinary inanimate matter is exhibited; whereas in the case of statically unstable but dynamically stable configurations, the “lively” features of the underlying quantum structure have a chance to surface to the mesocopic level and to be connected with what we observe as the phenomenon of life. This supposition can be more explicitly treated and clarified by identifying the electric dipole moment of biomolecules as the ordering parameter of the corresponding macroquantum system. This has important consequences for biology and medicine. In particular, it suggests the existence of a quantum-based “software,” essential perhaps for the logistics of biological processes, which are hidden behind the matter/energy-based “hardware” that alone is considered in the conventional approach. In medicine it opens an opportunity to build bridges between conventional medicine based essentially on the classical paradigm, and the various forms of complementary medicine, which have strong affinities with the new features of the modern holistic worldview.
Studies on the Fundamental Theory of Bigu (Food Abstinence)—Preliminary Experimental Observations of Cellular Bigu
Authors: Yan Xin , Traynor-Kaplan Alexis , Li Hongmei , Wang Jun , Shen Hua , Xia Zhen-Qin
Published: April 2003

Clinical studies as well as hundreds of case reports have indicated that Yan Xin Life Science Technology has enabled human participants to live a normal life with little or no food intake for prolonged periods—a state referred to as bigu. Bigu is described in historical records as “taking in qi to avoid food,” and is regarded as a special technique to achieve a long and healthy life. In this study, experiments were designed to study whether cells in vitro can survive without commonly acknowledged essential nutrients after receiving external qi treatments from Dr. Yan Xin, a chief physician and a renowned life scientist. Results reported here indicate that mouse hybridoma cells can survive in Dulbeco’s modified Eagles medium without serum or in phosphate-buffered saline buffer without other nutrient ingredients after qi treatment. These results are the first evidence that a cellular equivalent of the human bigu phenomenon or cellular bigu phenomenon may occur.
External Qi of Yan Xin Life Science Technology Can Revive or Suppress Enzyme Activity of Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase
Authors: Yan Xin , Xia Zhen-Qin , Shen Hua , Traynor-Kaplan Alexis
Published: April 2003

Phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI 3-kinase) is an important enzyme that is involved in the regulation of a variety of biological processes such as apoptosis, cell division, and ion channel activity and can play a role in the pathological development of a number of diseases, including AIDS and cancer. The authors’ data indicate that external qi of Yan Xin Life Science Technology (YXLST) can modulate enzyme activity in two directions. Within a time window of 3 days of the initial emission of external qi of YXLST, PI 3-kinase activity was restored in an outdated enzyme sample that had lost activity, and PI 3-kinase activity was suppressed in a freshly purified sample relative to an untreated control sample so that its activity was nearly undetectable. The data presented are consistent with the hypothesis that external qi of YXLST can alter molecular events. The uniqueness of this and other observations mandates further study.
The World of Boomerangs
Authors: Nishiyama Yutaka
Published: April 2003

After touching on the three most common misconceptions regarding boomerangs, the author goes on to explain why a boomerang is crescent shaped.The author explains, using the principle of precession motion, why a boomerang turns leftward and why it falls sideways; and he performs a comprehensive analysis through the “right-hand rule,” using the example of a gyro top.The author also explains how to make and fly the boomerang he invented—one that can fly inside a room and come back correctly.
How Do 4th through 12th Grade Science Textbooks Address Applications in Engineering and Technology?
Authors: Cantrell Pamela , Robinson Mike
Published: April 2003

Selected elementary (Grades 4 through 6) and secondary (Grades 7 through 12) science textbooks were examined for their treatment of engineering and technology relative to the national science and mathematics standards in the areas of connections to technology and society.Elementary textbooks were found to have significant connections between science concepts and technology and society; however, the treatment was often superficial and/or indirect.Activities were mostly teacher-directed with little opportunity for designing, making, and testing things.Connections to mathematics concepts were rare.Secondary textbooks made use of extensive technology in lab work and provided students with many connections between science concepts, technology, and society.They did a better job of presenting mathematics concepts in word problems, and some engineering and design projects were fostered.The major concern found with both elementary and secondary texts was the glaring lack of solid connections to mathematics.
Green Dreams: Religious Cosmologies and Environmental Commitments
Authors: Scharper Stephen Bede
Published: April 2003

Whereas religions around the world are being challenged to reexamine both their tenets and practice in the ominous wake of ecological deterioration, one particular challenge they face is cosmological. As a global consumer society becomes more prominent, religious ecological thinkers such as “geologian” Thomas Berry assert that a cosmology of commodification is supplanting not only individual religious cosmologies but also the human appreciation of and relationship to the universe itself.
Why Do We Drink? A History and Philosophy of Heredity and Alcoholism
Authors: Russell Mark C.
Published: April 2003

During the 20th century, many researchers studying heredity sought to apply their findings in the arena of mental health and human (mis)behavior. Many of these have examined, from the perspective of heredity and genetics, the desire to drink and its consequences. In this paper, the author examines hereditary explanations of alcoholism in two historical snapshots: the early decades of the 20th century and in the 1990s. Two things come to light. First is the persistence of an“entrepreneurial spirit,”and second is a remarkable failure to take into account the many-leveled heterogeneity in causes of alcoholism. The author describes some sources of this heterogeneity and showshow epistemological problems that arise from it suggest the failure of genetic accounts to consider the social dimensions of disease classification, observation, and diagnosis that form the very basis of the designation “alcoholic.”
Clean Energy Blueprint: Increasing Energy Security, Saving Money, and Protecting the Environment With Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Authors: Nogee Alan , Clemmer Steven , Donovan Deborah , Deyette Jeff
Published: April 2003

Concerns about energy security have dramatically increased since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. If U.S. energy use follows business-as-usual projections, the energy system will become increasingly vulnerable. No quick fixes are available to make the United States energy independent. However, there are energy policies that promote efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources such as wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar can gradually reduce dependence on imported oil and natural gas and reduce the vulnerability of the U.S. energy infrastructure to disruption of supplies or to attack. This article reviews recent analyses by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s and by the Union of Concerned Scientists. These studies showthat efficiency and renewable energy investments can increase energy security while lowering consumer energy bills and reducing local and global environmental hazards.
Climate Change Solutions as Economic Development: Transforming Barriers Into Drivers
Authors: Mazza Patrick
Published: April 2003

While federal action on climate change is stalled, regional organizing strategies are proving effective. Leveraging regional economic opportunities available through climate protection offers high odds to gain support from constituencies that have raised economic objections to global warming abatement. An emerging clean energy technology revolution offers opportunities to turn them into allies. The clean energy revolution is a branch of the high tech potentially attractive to investors. Clean energy generation and end-use efficiency represent a $3.5 trillion market over the coming 20 years, even with no new public priority. Clean energy production entails use of a wider landscape than fossil fuels, offering rural development opportunities. Climate Solutions, an advocacy group, has jointly issued a clean energy market and policy analysis with major Northwest utilities and economic development agencies. Climate Solutions is also organizing Northwest rural constituencies to take full advantage of the clean energy revolution.
Women in Information Technology: A Case Study of Undergraduate Students in a Minority-Serving Institution
Authors: Varma Roli
Published: April 2003

The issue of underrepresentation of women in information technology (IT) is of national interest due to the rapid growth of IT in recent years, the impact of IT on growth and productivity, the shortage of IT workers, and the gender equity in IT. Scholarly research has pointed its finger at bias in early socialization, math anxiety, masculinity of computers, the scarcity of role models, and women’s preference for relational work. A study of students majoring in computer science and computer engineering in a minority-serving university found some additional factors such as tension between demands imposed by IT curricula and students’family and work responsibilities.
The U.S. Government Versus Alexander Graham Bell: An Important Acknowledgment for Antonio Meucci
Authors: Catania Basilio
Published: April 2003

The important trial between the U.S. government and Alexander Graham Bell began in June 1885 and ended in November 1897 with neither a winner nor a loser. The proceedings contain a large and authoritative body of evidence in the case for the priority of Antonio Meucci’s invention of the telephone. They are, however, difficult to retrieve, because they were never printed and distributed and because the typewritten or handwritten papers, which are located at the National Archives and Records Administration in the United States, are to this day unorganized and scattered in various files. The author presents some of the evidence of fundamental importance to illustrate how the history of the invention of the telephone is very faulty on this point and demands, therefore, a congruent revision.
Women in Science-Based Employment: What Makes the Difference?
Authors: Ellis Patricia
Published: April 2003

Despite 20 years of official concern, women scientists in the United Kingdom are still unrepresented in the higher echelons of U.K. science, engineering, and technology and limited in their opportunities for advancement. The author attributes this to the organization and structure of scientific work, together with male “ownership” of science (even where women are a sizeable minority), rather than to the choices women make. Conflict with childbearing and child raising is significant in science more than in law and medicine because external funding sources and large, rigid laboratory organizations disparage and hence disadvantage part-time scientists. Perception is another factor. Women scientists are not seen as equally committed to their work or as eager for advancement. Industrial employment, which should be freer of some of the problems in academic or research science, nevertheless shows restrictions on women’s advancement, too.
Information in Medical Decision Making: How Consistent Is Our Management?
Authors: Lorence Daniel P. , Spink Amanda , Jameson Robert
Published: April 2003

Background. The use of outcomes data in clinical environments requires a correspondingly greater variety of information used in decision making, the measurement of quality, and clinical performance. As information becomes integral in the decision-making process, trustworthy decision support data are required. Methods. Using data from a national census of certified health information managers, variation in automated data quality management practices was examined. Results. Relatively low overall adoption of automated data management exists in health care organizations, with significant geographic and practice setting variation. Nonuniform regional adoption of computerized data management exists, despite national mandates that promote and in some cases require uniform adoption. Overall, a significant number of respondents (42.7%) indicated that they had not adopted policies and procedures to direct the timeliness of data capture, with 57.3% having adopted such practices. Conclusions. The inconsistency of patient data policy suggests that provider organizations do not use uniform information management methods, despite growing federal mandates to do so.
The Area under an ROC Curve with Limited Information
Authors: van den Hout Wilbert B.
Published: April 2003

The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of a diagnostic test can be used as a summary measure for its discriminative ability. If only a single point of an ROC curve is available, then the entire form of the ROC curve is unknown and the area under it cannot be calculated. Assuming that the unknown ROC curve is either monotone or concave, lower and upper bounds are derived for the area. From these bounds, the minmax approximations are obtained. Compared to only assuming monotonicity, assuming that the unknown ROC curve is concave renders a higher minmax approximation for the area under it, with tighter bounds.
Does It Matter if I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student Attitudes toward Teamwork
Authors: Pfaff Elizabeth , Huddleston Patricia
Published: April 2003

The ability to work in teams is a skill that is often taught in universities to be applied in the business world. This study of junior and senior college students shows that project grades, perceived workload, time in class for project work, use of peer evaluations, and absence of a “free-rider” problem were significant predictors of attitudes toward teamwork. On the basis of their results, the authors suggest assigning a reasonable workload, allowing class time to work on projects, and using peer evaluations as strategies for improving student teamwork experiences.
Integrating Communications Skills into the Marketing Curriculum: A Case Study
Authors: Young Mark R. , Murphy J. William
Published: April 2003

Explicit accreditation requirements, replicated academic research, and consistent feedback from employers, college recruiters, and alumni clearly state that communication skills are critical for the success of marketing majors. Newly proposed Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business standards for “Assurance of Learning” will reshape how business schools must explicitly specify learning goals and document how communication skills goals are being accomplished. A case study is presented of how one department used the marketing process framework to specify learning objectives and innovatively design the marketing curriculum around integrated sequenced 6-credit-hour marketing courses and concurrently taken 1-credit-hour communication modules. Specific communication objectives, curriculum coverage strategies, and course pedagogy tactics are provided along with learning goal assessment based on selection, course-embedded measures, demonstration through performance, and surveys. Suggestions for developing communication skills are provided for faculty teaching large sections and for departments regardless of size.
The Case For The Inexperienced User
Authors: Kelly Janet M. , Swindell David
Published: April 2003

Most citizen satisfaction surveys use filter questions to limit satisfaction responses to only those citizens with direct, personal experience with the service. The resulting small response set is inherently problematic, but no more so than the loss of valuable data on the expectations of service satisfaction from citizens who do not use the service. Borrowing a theoretical framework from the consumer satisfaction literature, this article identifies differences in the mean service satisfaction between inexperienced and experienced users of four common local government services (police, fire, emergency medical, and parks). The authors conclude that both experienced and inexperienced users have important information about service quality for local policy makers, especially when the satisfaction results can be disaggregated by neighborhood. Recommendations for modifying common citizen survey practice follow from the findings.
Developing a Subjective Measure of Consumer Well-Being
Authors: Lee Dong-Jin , Sirgy M. Joseph , Larsen Val , Wright Newell D.
Published: April 2003

This study develops a macro measure of consumer well-being based on the notion that consumer well-being is determined by satisfaction with the acquisition, possession, consumption, maintenance, and disposition of consumer goods and services. In a survey of 298 university students, the proposed measure was found to have predictive (nomological) validity in relation to life satisfaction for three out of its five dimensions—acquisition, possession, and consumption. In sum, satisfaction in the consumer life domain was demonstrated to be an important component of life satisfaction.
Complete Path Planning for Closed Kinematic Chains with Spherical Joints
Authors: Trinkle J.C. , Milgram R. James
Published: April 2003

We study the path planning problem, without obstacles, for closed kinematic chains with n links connected by spherical joints in space or revolute joints in the plane. The configuration space of such systems is a real algebraic variety whose structure is fully determined using techniques from algebraic geometry and differential topology. This structure is then exploited to design a complete path planning algorithm that produces a sequence of compliant moves, each of which monotonically increases the number of links in their goal configurations. The average running time of this algorithm is proportional to n3 . While less efficient than the O (n ) algorithm of Lenhart and Whitesides, our algorithm produces paths that are considerably smoother. More importantly, our analysis serves as a demonstration of how to apply advanced mathematical techniques to path planning problems.

Theoretically, our results can be extended to produce collision-free paths, paths avoiding both link—obstacle and link—link collisions. An approach to such an extension is sketched in Section 4.5, but the details are beyond the scope of this paper. Practically, link— obstacle collision avoidance will impact the complexity of our algorithm, forcing us to allow only small numbers of obstacles with “nice” geometry, such as spheres. Link—link collision avoidance appears to be considerably more complex. Despite these concerns, the global structural information obtained in this paper is fundamental to closed kinematic chains with spherical joints and can easily be incorporated into probabilistic planning algorithms that plan collision-free motions. This is also described in Section 4.5.
Velocity Dependence in the Cyclic Friction Arising with Gears
Authors: Garcia Elena , Gonzalez de Santos Pablo , Canudas de Wit Carlos
Published: April 2003

Recent research on friction in robot joints and transmission systems has considered meshing friction a position-dependent friction component. However, in this paper we show experimental evidence that meshing friction depends highly on joint speed. We identify the meshing friction in the gearboxes of a robotic leg, and we propose a new mathematical model that considers the rate dependency of meshing friction. The resulting model is validated through experimentation. Results show that meshing friction is responsible for friction torque oscillations with an amplitude up to 25 percent of the average friction torque at low speeds. Therefore, this friction component should be taken into account if an accurate friction model is desired.
Experimental Verification of Open-loop Control for an Underwater Eel-like Robot
Authors: Mcisaac Kenneth A. , Ostrowski James P.
Published: April 2003

In this paper, we describe experimental work using an underwater, biomimetic, eel-like robot to verify a simplified dynamic model and open-loop control routines. We compare experimental results to previous analytically derived, but approximate expressions for proposed gaits for forward/backward swimming, circular swimming, sideways swimming and turning in place. We have developed a five-link, underwater eel-like robot, focusing on modularity, reliability and rapid prototyping, to verify our theoretical predictions. Results from open-loop experiments performed with this robot in an aquatic environment using an off-line vision system for position sensing show good agreement with theory.
A Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot: Reconfiguration Planning and Experiments
Authors: Yoshida Eiichi , Murata Satoshi , Kamimura Akiya , Tomita Kohji , Kurokawa Haruhisa , Kokaji Shigeru
Published: April 2003

In this paper we address a reconfiguration planning method for locomotion of a homogeneous modular robotic system and we conduct an experiment to verify that the planned locomotion can be realized by hardware. Our recently developed module is self-reconfigurable. A group of the modules can thus generate various three-dimensional robotic structures and motions. Although the module itself is a simple mechanism, self-reconfiguration planning for locomotion presents a computationally difficult problem due to the many combinatorial possibilities of modular configurations. In this paper, we develop a two-layered planning method for locomotion of a class of regular structures. This locomotion mode is based on multi-module blocks. The upper layer plans the overall cluster motion called flow to realize locomotion along a given desired trajectory; the lower layer determines locally cooperative module motions, called motion schemes, based on a rule database. A planning simulation demonstrates that this approach effectively solves the complicated planning problem. Besides the fundamental motion capacity of the module, the hardware feasibility of the planning locomotion is verified through a self-reconfiguration experiment using the prototype modules we have developed.
Fast and Robust: Hexapedal Robots via Shape Deposition Manufacturing
Authors: Cham Jorge G. , Bailey Sean A. , Clark Jonathan E. , Full Robert J. , Cutkosky Mark R.
Published: April 2003

Robots to date lack the robustness and performance of even the simplest animals when operating in unstructured environments. This observation has prompted an interest in biomimetic robots that take design inspiration from biology. However, even biomimetic designs are compromised by the complexity and fragility that result from using traditional engineering materials and manufacturing methods. We argue that biomimetic design must be combined with structures that mimic the way biological structures are composed, with embedded actuators and sensors and spatially-varied materials. This proposition is made possible by a layered-manufacturing technology called shape deposition manufacturing (SDM). We present a family of hexapedal robots whose functional biomimetic design is made possible by SDM's unique capabilities and whose fast (over four body-lengths per second) and robust (traversal over hip-height obstacles) performance begins to compare to that seen in nature. We describe the design and fabrication of the robots and we present the results of experiments that focus on their performance and locomotion dynamics.
The Development of Intuitive Musical Understanding: A Natural Experiment
Authors: Bamberger Jeanne
Published: April 2003

Tracing the compositional process of two musically untrained college students, this close case study demonstrates their ability to produce archetypal tonal melodies, even when working initially within the constraints of tonally and metrically ambiguous melodic materials. The two students were representative of a sample of about 75 who participated in a new approach to music fundamentals supported by a novel, interactive computer music environment. Students’ logs, including their composition sketches, decision-making, analysis of progressive modifications and completed compositions, serve as evidence and data for analysis. It is argued that, when students work at their own pace with immediate sound feedback, can modify given materials and have access to multiple representations at differing levels of detail, they are able to make explicit their intuitive criteria for compositional decision-making, as well as proposing an intuitive model of a ‘sensible tune’.
An Investigation of Members’ Roles in Wind Quintets
Authors: Ford Luan , Davidson Jane W.
Published: April 2003

This article presents new findings regarding group processes in chamber ensembles. Following work by Young and Colman, Butterworth, and Murnighan and Conlon on the string quartet, a questionnaire was distributed to wind quintets throughout the UK. A total of 55 respondents, representing 20 ensembles, participated in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed information about group formation, personnel recruitment and the use of deputies, leadership, seating positions, verbal and non-verbal communication, conflict, rehearsing and performing, audience effects, social aspects and administration. The current study focuses on the role of the horn player in the quintet and explores players’ attitudes and perceptions of their individual careers, quintet repertoire, concert promoters and string quartets as an opposing medium. Results are discussed with reference to the existing quartet studies and to social psychological theory of group dynamics.
Adolescents’ Perceptions of the Music of Male and Female Composers
Authors: North Adrian C. , Colley Ann M. , Hargreaves David J.
Published: April 2003

This study investigated gender bias in school students’ perceptions of the work of male and female composers; 153 16-19-year-olds rated six classical, New Age or jazz musical excerpts which were attributed to either male or female composers. Analyses indicated that gender stereotyping effects were overwhelmingly confined to jazz, which was also the most sex-typed genre and was perceived as more male. In the evaluations of jazz excerpts attributed to female composers there was evidence of pro-female bias by female students and anti-female bias by male students. There was also evidence that attributes associated with traditional gender stereotypes were applied differently to the same music, depending on the gender of the apparent composer.
Dermatoglyphics and the Persistence of `Mongolism'
Authors: Miller Fiona Alice
Published: April 2003

In 1961, a prestigious group of medical researchers called on their colleagues to stop using the language of `Mongolism' to describe people with what we now call `Down's syndrome' (or Trisomy 21). This call responded to new knowledge about the biological basis of Down's syndrome: rather than the product of racial degeneration, as had been hypothesized in the 19th century, the condition was the result of an extra chromosome, dubbed `21'. Yet, despite this plea, the terms `Mongol' and `Mongolism' continued in scientific use through the 1960s.

Drawing on published and archival materials, I argue that the new knowledge about chromosomes did not rupture older patterns of scientific practice or interpretation, and with them, older terminological habits. The persistence of the language of Mongolism reflects the continuity of a network of older approaches to interpreting the condition within the community of human and medical geneticists, including an enduring diagnostic and interpretive technology, dermatoglyphics. Old networks were not supplanted; they were re-aligned.
Dosage of Treatment to Sexual Offenders: Are We Overprescribing?
Authors: Mailloux Donna L. , Abracen Jeffrey , Serin Ralph , Cousineau C. , Malcolm Bruce , Looman Jan
Published: April 2003

A sample of 337 offenders who received treatment in a variety of sex offender treatment programs in the Ontario region of Correctional Service Canada between 1993 and 1998 were divided based on the highest intensity sex offender programming that they received (low, moderate, and high). The three groups were compared with reference to a variety of actuarial risk assessment measures, criminogenic factors, and the number and type of treatment programs completed. It was hypothesized that the high-intensity group would have more criminogenic risk factors, higher actuarial scores, and participate in more treatment programs than both the moderate- and low-intensity groups. The results indicate that in general, the hypotheses were supported. Nonetheless, the results suggest that the low-intensity group may be receiving too much sex offender-specific treatment.
Characteristics of Individuals Petitioned for Civil Commitment
Authors: Becker Judith V. , Stinson Jill , Tromp Shannon , Messer Gene
Published: April 2003

This article explores the demographic and criminal characteristics of a group of sex offenders currently residing in a facility for civilly committed sex offenders. Legal and clinical records were used and data coded. This sample is compared to published data on a group of civilly committed sex offenders in another state. Results indicated that there were numerous similarities and some differences between the two groups. Further research needs to be conducted on civilly committed sex offenders in other states to better understand this population.
Changing Attitudes Toward House Arrest With Electronic Monitoring: The Impact of a Single Presentation?
Authors: Gainey Randy R. , Payne Brian K.
Published: April 2003

The notion that community support is critical for program success is a consistent theme in the literature on community-based corrections. Unfortunately, many citizens know very little about alternative sanctions, are misinformed about them, and do not view them favorably. At issue is whether information about alternative sanctions affects individuals’ attitudes regarding them. To address this question, students in an upper division criminal justice course were surveyed before and after a presentation on electronic monitoring. Following the presentation, students were more likely to agree that electronic monitoring is punitive and that it meets several goals of the justice system. Implications for policy makers and educators are provided.
The Politics of Traveller 'Child Begging' in Ireland
Authors: Helleiner Jane
Published: April 2003

Prompted by legislative reform with respect to 'child begging' in the Irish Children Act 2001, this article examines the history and politics of 'child begging' and other children's work among the minority population of Travelling People in Ireland. Increased official focus on Traveller 'child begging' in the 1990s, and an attempt on the part of Traveller advocates to defend related children's work from criminalization, is located within the context of economic growth, social inequality, and struggles over cultural and children's rights.
Interpreting Legitimacy
Authors: Nygren Rolf
Published: April 2003

Legitimacy has been a key concept of Western family law for hundreds of years. The test of legitimacy determined who belonged to a family and who did not. In principle, legitimacy entitled children to maintenance and inheritance from both parental sides. Illegitimacy did not unconditionally do so. This article reflects on why legitimacy appeared as a significant part of the ecclesiastical policy and legislation from the mid-twelfth century onwards and why legitimacy could remain an indispensable part of European family law for at least seven hundred years until the second half of the nineteenth century.
Conflict Or Cooperation? Old Age And Retirement In The Nordic Past
Authors: Moring Beatrice
Published: April 2003

This article analyzes the system of retirement in the Nordic countries in the past, particularly Finland. The intent is to show that the situation of the old has been grossly misrepresented in the widely cited work of David Gaunt. Contrary to his claims, the position of the old was legally speaking strong rather than weak. The notion that retirement contracts were used as insurance by parents against abuse by children will also be disputed by showing the historical, economic, and legal context of the emergence and increase in written contracts. The contract was a response to changes in legislation relating to inheritance and property transfer as well as a system of safeguarding landed property against fragmentation as demographic changes increased the pool of surviving children. It was also a way of guaranteeing a safe old age. Through examples of cases handled by church courts in seventeenth-century western Finland, the nature of intergenerational conflict is examined and measured against violence and abuse in the selfsame society between non–family members.
Globalization, Family Structure, and Declining Fertility in the Developing World
Authors: Harbison Sarah F. , Robinson Warren C.
Published: April 2003

Striking changes are occurring in family structure in the developing world, and fertility is falling due to a weakening of traditional family controls and a declining value given to procreation. A model of marriage focused on marriage as economic transaction helps explain these diverse trends. The findings reveal a serious threat to young women in such transitional societies. The declining value of their procreative power puts women at the mercy of impersonal, market-driven economic forces with which they are ill equipped to deal.
Forms of Male Domination and Female Subordination: Homeworkers versus Maquiladora Workers in Mexico
Authors: Wilson Tamar Diana
Published: April 2003

Much of what is labeled "patriarchy" in the literature on women's subordination is more accurately described as "neopatriarchy" and "phallocentrism." Neopatriarchy arises when the nuclear family replaces the extended family as the norm and the male head of household is designated as breadwinner. Phallocentrism appears when women challenge male economic domination by entering the labor force and become subordinated due primarily to their sexuality rather than due to their reproductive functions. It is argued that home-based women workers in Mexico are enmeshed in sometimes contested neopatriarchal relations, whereas maquiladora workers are in many cases "kept in place" through machismo phallocentrism on the part of managers, foremen, and male coworkers. In either case, capitalist enterprise gains a docile labor force.
Kierkegaard and Foulkes: The Advantages of Group Therapy in Treatment of Despair (... A Sickness of the Spirit, of the Self...)
Authors: Maglo Dorothy
Published: April 2003

In this article it is proposed that group therapy can be viewed as a deep-going psychotherapeutic procedure that can offer much more than the widely acknowledged forms of individual therapy, through the examination and appropriate contrasting of the philosophies of Kierkegaard, an existential philosopher, and S.H. Foulkes. Both sought ways in which individuals could free themselves from the rigid structure of their dysfunctional behaviour and develop their individuality, so that they could live in harmony with themselves and others.