bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cuban Medical Internationalism and the Development of the Latin American School of Medicine
Authors: Huish Robert , Kirk John M.
Published: October 2007

In response to Hurricane Mitch (1998) in Central America, which claimed over 30,000 lives, Cuba sent medical brigades to the affected region and constructed the Latin American School of Medicine just outside Havana. This medical school offers a free six-year medical education to students from rural and marginalized communities in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the United States. This establishment is a logical continuation of a long-standing tradition of Cuban medical internationalism that emphasizes investment in human capital. This is a progressive movement not just in foreign policy but also in community medicine that has an important place in dialogues about capacity building and human security strategies for the twenty-first century.
Production Strategies and Practices in the Argentine Automotive Industry
Authors: Delfini Marcelo , Picchetti Valentina
Published: October 2007

Control in the workplace is related to the ways in which capital makes the best use of its labor force and perpetuates its own dominance and reproduction as a class. Control strategies range from coercion to consent. An examination of the control methods employed by three firms in the Argentine automotive sector points to the importance of hegemonic control, which depends on the consent of the workforce and reduces the conflict inherent in worker-management relations.
Beyond Confronting the Myth of Racial Democracy
Authors: Lebon Nathalie
Published: October 2007

Examination of current scholarship mapping the social and economic exclusion of women of African descent in Brazil reveals the important role played by Afro-Brazilian women scholars and activists in redressing the paucity, until recently, of basic data and research on this topic. It also gives rise to some initial thoughts on the national and transnational dynamics of knowledge production underlying this state of affairs. The production of knowledge on the gendered dimensions of racial exclusion has been impacted by state policy, institutional practices within academia, and the fit between the myth of racial democracy and the early second wave feminist movement's ideal of sisterhood and its Marxist-influenced focus on class. The visibility brought to racism in the region by the world conference on racism held in Durban in 2001 helped facilitate large-scale projects on the life experiences of Brazilians of African descent.
Bolivia and the Paradoxes of Democratic Consolidation
Authors: Salman Ton
Published: October 2007

In Bolivia from the 1990s on, two presidents were ousted by popular protests, and protests were rampant. The protests expressed a growing discontent not only with successive administrations and their policies but with politics itself. The polity failed to built trust in democracy, ignored or repressed protests, and thus contributed to a process of democratic “deconsolidation.” The main factors were corruption and the reluctance of the traditional political parties to discuss the neoliberal economic model. As a result, the current administration of Evo Morales faces two challenges: to change economic policies and to repair the support for democracy.
Domestic water consumption benchmark development for Hong Kong
Authors: Mui K.W. , Wong L.T. , Law L.Y.
Published: October 2007

Fresh water consumption is of primary importance to the design of water systems in sustainable buildings and various benchmarks of water consumption have been developed for the indication of building sustainability. For rating probable water consumption performance in residential buildings, simple normalization with a single parameter might not be indicative and complicated benchmarking models could impose difficulties in general adaptation. In this study, a simple benchmarking model for residential buildings was developed using Monte-Carlo simulations. The model was tested in a case study based on an existing domestic water consumption survey in which the average water consumption distribution of 60 apartments in Hong Kong was the input of the simulation model. The distribution was compared with the Hong Kong global fresh water consumption patterns to derive the water consumption benchmarks for residential buildings in the region. This simple model could be useful for benchmarking the domestic water consumptions and for promoting sustainable building practices without inclusive measurements.

Practical application: The proposed simple benchmarking model for water consumption of residential buildings could be useful for promoting sustainable building practices without inclusive measurements.
Moisture measurement in building materials: an overview of current methods and new approaches
Authors: Phillipson M.C. , Baker P.H. , Davies M. , Ye Z. , McNaughtan A. , Galbraith G.H. , McLean R.C.
Published: October 2007

The measurement of moisture in building materials has been of importance to building professionals for many years to aid them in diagnosing the nature and cause of building defects. Likewise building researchers have developed an extensive selection of measurement approaches to aid them in more detailed studies of the fundamental physical processes that underlie moisture transport. This paper reviews current moisture measurement practices within the UK, and examines the more sophisticated techniques being utilised, including three particular techniques: dual probe heat pulse method; time domain reflectometry; and more sophisticated electrical approaches. These three are currently the focus of a study to evaluate how advanced research techniques can be applied to the in-situ measurement of moisture contents in practice.

Practical application: This paper reviews the current UK application of measurement techniques to assessing the moisture content of building materials. It discusses the differences between the techniques used by building professionals and building researchers, and highlights potential areas currently in development which may yield more advanced site measurement options in the future.
The psychrometric control of house dust mites: a pilot study
Authors: Ucci M. , Pretlove S.E.C. , Biddulph P. , Oreszczyn T. , Wilkinson T. , Crowther D. , Scadding G. , Hart B. , Mumovic D.
Published: October 2007

This paper describes a pilot intervention study on the effectiveness of house dust mite allergen avoidance for 12 asthmatic children (two being controls). In addition to mite allergen removal, the study included tailored advice aimed at reducing mite population growth via changes in moisture production, heating and ventilation habits. This paper focuses on the effects of this advice on household behaviour, hygrothermal conditions and mite populations. The efficacy of monitoring and modelling techniques is also discussed. The study highlighted a number of interrelated confounding factors which have to be addressed in future similar larger scale studies, but the results are promising with regards to the effectiveness of such studies.

Practical application: This study suggests that in temperate climates tailored advice on moisture production, heating and ventilation habits can lead to valuable changes in hygrothermal conditions, which in turn can result in reduced mite populations. However, pre-existing adverse building conditions may hinder such changes, and the effectiveness of tailored advice and of hygrothermal modifications is often difficult to assess. It is therefore recommended that any similar larger intervention study measures ventilation rates and adequately controls for a number of confounding variables — including the effect of changes in outdoor conditions and of the removal of existing mite populations. In this respect, hygrothermal population models can play a very useful role in the assessment of study effectiveness.
Hugo Chavez and President Bush's Credibility Gap: The Struggle Against US Democracy Promotion
Authors: Cole N. Scott
Published: October 2007

US President George W. Bush confronts a problem as he tries to promote global democracy. When he speaks about spreading freedom, many academics, world leaders, and media pundits respond that he is trying to bolster the USA's global influence. This article explores Bush's “credibility gap.” It focuses on President Bush's democracy assistance in Venezuela and how it reinforces the notion that he has a legitimacy problem. This study also identifies how President Hugo Chavez has helped widen Bush's credibility gap. Finally, by using Venezuela as a case study, this article shows that Bush's lack of legitimacy limits his ability to spread democracy.
Security Communities and Their Values: Taking Masses Seriously
Authors: Tusicisny Andrej
Published: October 2007

This article analyzes political and social values held by people in security communities (regions in which large-scale use of violence is very unlikely). Inhabitants of four security communities (in Europe, North America, South America, and South-East Asia) are generally more tolerant to out-groups than the rest of the world's population. In addition, comprehensive security communities (that is zones where not only interstate war, but also civil war, has become unthinkable) are characterized by higher interpersonal trust. The hypothesized effect of democracy, economic liberalism, and social participation was not confirmed. Going back to Deutsch's conceptualization of the security community, the article challenges assumptions frequent in the constructivist literature.
Are Levels of Democracy Affected by Mass Attitudes? Testing Attainment and Sustainment Effects on Democracy
Authors: Welzel Christian
Published: October 2007

Recent findings by Inglehart and Welzel indicate that emancipative mass attitudes show a significantly positive effect on subsequent democracy, controlling for previous democracy and a number of socio-structural and socioeconomic factors. However, on an important theoretical point these prior findings remain inconclusive: the causal mechanism of why and how emancipative mass attitudes favor democracy. This article specifies such a mechanism, arguing that emancipative attitudes motivate mass actions that demonstrate people's willingness to struggle for democratic achievements, be it to establish democracy when it is denied or to defend it when it is challenged. Based on World Values Surveys rounds two to four, the empirical analyses strongly confirm these hypotheses, supporting what has recently been introduced as an “emancipative theory of democracy.”
The Israeli—Palestinian Conflict in Israeli Elections
Authors: Shamir Michal , Shamir Jacob
Published: October 2007

The Israeli—Palestinian conflict is one of the most intractable conflicts in the world today. During the period of the 1990s and early 2000s, its salience was especially high. In this article, we explore the role of elections in the conflict, focusing on deliberation, legitimation, and representation. We analyze the five Israeli elections between 1992 and 2003. Our findings raise significant doubts as to the quality of deliberation on the conflict in these five election campaigns, and suggest that the campaigns and election interpretations did not contribute to legitimation of policy in this area beyond procedural legitimacy. Nevertheless, the elections had a major impact in molding the conflict through their role in transferring power and in producing dynamic representation. Although our focus is on a single case, this article falls within the body of empirical research about elections as instruments of democracy and their role in shaping the course of international conflicts.
Dyadic closeness in marriage: From the inside story to a conceptual model
Authors: Ben-Ari Adital , Lavee Yoav
Published: October 2007

Despite considerable attention devoted to theory and research on close relationships, the construct of dyadic closeness has remained vague. This article attempts to clarify the concept of closeness in couple relationships and presents a conceptual model of “dyadic closeness.” Qualitative analysis of detailed interviews indicates that dyadic closeness is perceived as a whole, indivisible, and rewarding experience. It may be conceptualized by three major distinctions: A relatively stable relationship trait versus a fluctuating situational state; emotional versus physical closeness; and the constructed meanings of closeness versus its expressions.
Dyadic distance: From the inside story to a conceptual model
Authors: Lavee Yoav , Ben-Ari Adital
Published: October 2007

The article explores how partners in intimate relationships experience and construct the meaning of dyadic distance. It challenges the common notions that closeness and distance are two poles of a continuum and that distance can be defined as the absence of closeness. Analyses are based on detailed semistructured interviews that produce a conceptual model of dyadic distance as it relates to the overall perception of the marital relationship. The conceptual model evolved from the first-order meaning (participants' primary and immediate responses) and second-order meaning (authors' inductive conceptualization based on participant accounts of their experiences) of dyadic distance in intimate relationships.
Disclosures of maternal HIV infection to seronegative children: A literature review
Authors: Hawk Skyler T.
Published: October 2007

Mothers living with HIV/AIDS face the challenge of disclosing their illness to their uninfected children. This literature review devotes specific attention to rates and predictors of maternal disclosure, justifications for (non)disclosure, how mothers plan and execute disclosures, and postdisclosure adjustment in families. Although no research has conclusively shown that maternal disclosures are detrimental to children's wellbeing, findings on adjustment may differ depending on child age and whether mothers or children are the informants in research. Suggestions for further studies include the implications of mothers' specific communication strategies; age-related differences in, and adjustment to, disclosures; differentiating between short- and long-term functioning; and the further development of structured interventions to aid mothers and their families in both the pre- and postdisclosure period.
Support concordance among couples coping with cancer: Relationship, individual, and situational factors
Authors: Norton Tina R. , Manne Sharon L.
Published: October 2007

This study examined support concordance (i.e., the extent to which spouses agreed that supportive and unsupportive behaviors occurred) and the relationship, individual, and situational factors that influenced it. Cancer patients and their spouses (N = 239 couples) indicated how often spouses provided supportive and unsupportive behaviors. Couples had high agreement and showed greater concordance on unsupportive behaviors than supportive behaviors. Marital quality was associated with greater support concordance. Neither length of marriage nor psychological distress was related to support concordance. In terms of affiliative need, only spouses' need for attention was related to lower support concordance. Contrary to prediction, greater patient physical impairment was not significantly related to concordance for supportive behaviors but was related to lower concordance for unsupportive behaviors.
The role of stress in divorce: A three-nation retrospective study
Authors: Bodenmann Guy , Charvoz Linda , Bradbury Thomas N. , Bertoni Anna , Iafrate Raffaella , Giuliani Christina , Banse Rainer , Behling Jenny
Published: October 2007

Drawing upon earlier models of stress and divorce, this retrospective study investigates how divorced individuals appraise the role of stress in their divorce. Data from divorced individuals (N = 662) from Germany, Italy, and Switzerland suggest that low commitment and deficits in interpersonal competencies (communication, problem solving, coping) are more likely than stress to be perceived as reasons for divorce. However, when considering everyday stresses, participants reported trivial daily events to be one of the main reasons contributing to their decision to divorce. Although general stress level did not influence individuals' decision to divorce, most participants considered the accumulation of everyday stresses as a central trigger for divorce. Future research should investigate the process of divorce, particularly in relation to commitment and interpersonal competencies.
Social systems and personal reactions to threats of war and terror
Authors: Shamai Michal , Kimhi Shaul , Enosh Guy
Published: October 2007

This study examines the impact of social systems (i.e., marital quality, significant others' stress and community resilience) on individual reactions to the threat of war and terror resulting from Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Quantitative results (N = 992) revealed that proximity to the threat of war influenced marital quality, community resilience, life satisfaction, and stress among significant others. Three social system variables mediate these relationships. Qualitative analysis (N = 50 couples) highlights the role of social variables in personal reaction to stress. Differences emerged, however, in the perceived direction of the causal effects. Similarities and differences between the methodologies are discussed, and theoretical models are suggested to explain the results.
Assessing sex differences and similarities in mate preferences: Above and beyond demand characteristics
Authors: Evans Kristen , Brase Gary L.
Published: October 2007

Prior experiments documenting gender differences in mate preferences have relied on directive questions (e.g., “How important is physical attractiveness?”), which are susceptible to demand characteristics. To assess this potential confound, this study assessed mate preferences using indirect, openended questions, with anonymous computer administration and designated (same- or opposite-sex) targets. The frequency with which participants noted traits reflected key gender differences predicted by evolutionary accounts; evaluations of men focused more on ambitiousness, whereas evaluations of women focused more on attractiveness. The number of attractiveness comments was also greater, however, if the rated target was of the opposite sex. Kindness and intelligence comments did not show strong gender differences, although kindness-related comments were very frequent overall and particularly frequent from women participants.
The war on human trafficking in the Caribbean
Authors: Kempadoo Kamala
Published: October 2007

Encouraged by the US, the Caribbean is being drawn into a global panic over human trafficking, leading to greater policing and surveillance of migrant women and the sex trade. Drawing on colonial precedents, the moral outrage about women trafficked into prostitution, embodied in legislation such as the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, obscures the deeper causes of exploitation and oppression and leads to the demonisation of those in undocumented, hyper-exploited labour forces. Moreover, the false equation of trafficking with prostitution renders sexual labour as coerced labour and, as such, misrepresents sexual agency.
Multiracialism as more than the sum of ethnicities
Authors: Abraham Sara
Published: October 2007

How can we define a multiracial unity, and what does it mean in practice? Our understanding of it needs to go beyond notions of cultural and group rights, to embrace the challenges such unity has posed to the postcolonial status quo in the Anglophone Caribbean. The active creation of multiracial unity in specific political struggles has had a liberatory impact, but we also need to go beyond this to look at it vis-à-vis human relations more generally.
Haiti and America Latina: it is as it always was
Authors: Pina Kevin
Published: October 2007

The Bush administration's forced removal of democratically elected Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, while a power-sharing deal with his political opposition was being brokered in 2004, resulted in the country's expulsion from the Caribbean Community and was condemned by the African Union. The installation of the US-backed replacement government of Gerard Latortue has resulted in the rape, torture and false imprisonment of thousands of ordinary Haitians. The only Latin American country to condemn the US's action in Haiti, however, has been Venezuela. Other countries and organisations like the Organization of American States (OAS) have been bought over with a massive programme of civilian and military funding by the US.
Small farming and radical imaginations in the Caribbean today
Authors: Weis Tony
Published: October 2007

Forged and still scarred by slavery, Caribbean agricultural landscapes are now being made redundant in an era of global market integration. The demise of preferential trade agreements is exposing the uncompetitiveness of the plantation sector while small farmers, still largely confined to marginal positions within highly inequitable landscapes, are being pushed into a new vulnerability by market integration, as rising food imports flood local markets. Unfortunately, political attention continues to revolve around the ailing plantation sector. In contrast, it is argued here that the current crisis of Caribbean agriculture contains a historic opportunity for restructuring in the interests of the region's small farmers and that, in the process, the sector could be helped to gain a new vitality.
A Caribbean common law
Authors: Robinson Tracy
Published: October 2007

The recent establishment of a Caribbean Court of Justice prompts reflection on the nature of legal regionalism in the Caribbean. This commentary explores the development of a regional identity around a shared legal system and the concept of `West Indian law', describing the forces underlying these processes and their contradictions.
Survival stories: challenges facing youth in Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Hosein Gabrielle Jamela
Published: October 2007

While marginalisation is a term usually used to refer to the experience of young Caribbean men, it is women who are the poorest and most economically exploited. Youth activists in Trinidad are primarily focused on sexual and reproductive health issues but do not generally address issues to do with women's rights and equity, while feminist organisations focus on personal issues and do not make links with the wider political context. At the moment, it is the land rights movements and particularly the opposition to the construction of aluminium smelters that offer the best hope for politicising, empowering and uniting young men and women in the Caribbean.
Development, change and society: an interview with Kari Levitt
Authors: Austin David
Published: October 2007

In this wide-ranging interview, the renowned development economist Kari Polanyi Levitt reflects on the nature of social transformation in the English-speaking Caribbean and the cultural conditions that would facilitate it. Describing her long-standing collaboration with Lloyd Best and the innovative work on Caribbean economies that they undertook, she indicates both the continuities with the past and the more recent obstacles to the achievement of social and economic justice thrown up by globalisation. In this, she shows how concepts and understanding of what development means have shifted, from a process that, despite shortcomings, entailed some notion of public betterment to one in which the dictates of neoliberalism are paramount — with disastrous social effects.
The coloniality of citizenship in the contemporary Anglophone Caribbean
Authors: Kamugisha Aaron
Published: October 2007

A common theme to the political crisis of the contemporary Anglophone Caribbean is the denial of full citizenship to many persons in the nation state — not primarily in a legal sense but in the variety of practices, tropes of belonging and identity concerns that frustrate and deny the aspirations of many Caribbean people. This `coloniality of citizenship' is a complex amalgam of elite domination, neoliberalism and the legacy of colonial authoritarianism. Independence from British rule did not bring with it a break from existing forms of citizenship and middle-class nationalism left intact the underlying racial order. The consolidation of elite models of development and their concomitant exploitations can be seen in the Caribbean tourism industry, which demands sexual caricatures of the Caribbean similar to those of the colonial project. It can be observed, also, in the Caribbean state's patriarchal and heteronormative policing of gender and sexuality, carried out without any apparent awareness of the colonial provenances of such practices.
Between the devil and the deep blue sea: mercantilism and free trade
Authors: Green Cecilia A.
Published: October 2007

Taking the work of radical dependency theorist Clive Thomas as its starting point, this article examines the structural effects on Caribbean economies of capitalist globalisation, neoliberal `adjustment' programmes and the imposition of `free market' rules of trade. It looks at the interplay between the powerful corporations and nation states and asks whether the region's `underdevelopment' is a product of its comparatively small size or of its colonial history. Arguing that the latter was the principal factor, it analyses both the sugar and the banana industries in terms of their forced accommodation to the dictates of imperialism, to provide lessons for the present.
Guyanese Amerindian epistemology: the gift from a pacifist insurgence
Authors: Mentore George
Published: October 2007

This article introduces the idea that Amerindian modes of knowledge are intellectual strategies for defeating racism in Guyana. It is suggested that coming to terms with radically different concepts of time and space provides the means for understanding viable alternatives of social being. The current invisibility of, or deleterious prejudice against, indigenous Amerindian renderings of social being serve merely as opportunities lost to a postcolonial state, which might otherwise apply new forms of power and polity and offer these to both the nation and the global community. The familiar use of essentialism or, even, of multivocality, which some indigenous peoples have to implement to combat racism, is not good politics, it is argued. Indeed, providing the means for identifying and sympathetically understanding the different modes of knowing the world is good political action.
Red Thread: the politics of hope in Guyana
Authors: Trotz Alissa
Published: October 2007

Reflecting on the work of the Red Thread Women's Development Organisation in Guyana, which has over two decades' worth of experience in grassroots organising, the author explores what autonomy and connection might mean for poor women. Forging a multiracial unity, while confronting and working through disparities in power among women, is regarded as integral to the struggle for freedom. Initiatives undertaken by Red Thread, such as a time-use survey which allowed women to define and make visible their work, are located within a wider notion of transnational solidarity and mutual support.
Initial Reliability and Validity of the BASC-2, SRP, College Version
Authors: Nowinski Lisa A. , Furlong Michael J. , Rahban Roxanna , Smith Steven R.
Published: October 2007

With the growing number of college students seeking mental health services, it is imperative to have accurate assessment tools. One new measure, the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2, Self-Report of Personality, College Version (SRP-CV), has yet to be independently researched. This study examines the test—retest reliability of the SRP-CV. Convergent and discriminant validity are explored through multivariate analyses. Results indicate that the SRP-CV shows strong temporal stability. Several of the SRP-CV scales also correlate highly with other well-researched self-report measures. Overall, the SRP-CV shows promise as a multidimensional measure of behavior and personality. It makes a unique contribution to the arsenal of self-report measures currently available to clinicians working with the college population.
A Developmental Re-Forming of the Phases of Meaning in Transformational Learning
Authors: Erickson Diane M.
Published: October 2007

In this study of peer instructors in three Learning in Retirement Programs, the constructivist elements embedded in Mezirow's theory of transformational learning are examined at the theoretical intersections of transformational learning and developmental constructivism, specifically the work of Robert Kegan, resulting in a suggested developmental reforming of the phases of meaning in transformational learning.
Wrapping the Curriculum Around Their Lives: Using a Culturally Relevant Curriculum With African American Adult Women
Authors: Sealey-Ruiz Yolanda
Published: October 2007

This study examines how African American adult female students respond to a culturally relevant curriculum. Research confirms that adults enter college classrooms with a variety of experiences that they value and experiences to which they wish to connect. Black female students in particular possess knowledge unique to their positionality in American society, and they want to apply this knowledge to what they are learning. A curriculum that speaks to their personal experiences and ways of knowing can be a bridge to connect what they want and need to learn. Three themes emerged from this study involving Black women and culturally relevant curriculum: language validation, the fostering of positive self and group identity, and self-affirmation or affirmation of goals. The study's findings reveal that the approach of integrating students' experiences as an explicit part of the learning agenda encourages them to participate to the fullest extent in their own education.
What Do You Mean By “Authentic”? A Comparative Review of the Literature On Conceptions of Authenticity in Teaching
Authors: Kreber Carolin , Klampfleitner Monika , McCune Velda , Bayne Sian , Knottenbelt Miesbeth
Published: October 2007

“Authenticity in teaching” has been recognized as an important yet under-researched phenomenon. To gain greater insight into the meaning of authenticity in teaching in adult and higher education settings, the authors delved into some of the philosophical and educational literature on authenticity, giving particular attention, but not confining their review, to the work of Taylor, Heidegger, and Noddings. This study is one of “making sense of authenticity in teaching” in light of the conceptions of authenticity underlying the reviewed texts. Authenticity in teaching emerged as a multidimensional phenomenon, and the findings are presented in the form of multiple features associated with it. Inspired by Taylor's concept of horizons of significance and Palmer's notion of the subject-centered classroom, the authors further propose that one dimension of authenticity in teaching relates to educators' care for the subject matter and thus engaging students in genuine dialogue around ideas that matter.
University Extension and Social Change: Positioning a University of the People in Saskatchewan
Authors: McLean Scott
Published: October 2007

There are two predominant interpretations of the history of Canadian university extension. The “liberal or institutional” perspective argues that extension has been a means for universities to disseminate resources, foster progress in society, and meet the learning needs of individuals. The “critical or nostalgic” perspective claims that university extension once resisted dominant forms of power relations but now supports such relations. This article challenges these two interpretations through exploring the sociological concepts of subjection and modes of production and through presenting a historical case study of extension at one Canadian university. The article narrates the evolution of official claims made regarding extension at the University of Saskatchewan from 1908 to 2007 and argues that this evolution was influenced by changes to the mode of production in the province. This argument encourages adult educators with interests beyond university extension to reflect on their agency as scholars and practitioners.
Topical Review: Neurobiology of Specific Language Impairment
Authors: Webster Richard I. , Shevell Michael I.
Published: October 2007

This review summarizes what is known about the neurobiology of specific language impairment. Despite its name, specific language impairment is frequently not specific. It is common to find associated impairments in motor skills, cognitive function, attention, and reading in children who meet criteria for specific language impairment. There is evidence that limitation in phonologic working memory may be a core deficit in specific language impairment. Both genetic and environmental factors have been shown to be important etiologic factors in specific language impairment. Structural neuroimaging studies suggest that atypical patterns of asymmetry of language cortex, white-matter abnormalities, and cortical dysplasia may be associated with specific language impairment. Abnormalities in the later stages of auditory processing have been demonstrated using auditory event-related potentials. Functional neuroimaging may cast further light on the neurobiology of specific language impairment and serve as a means of developing and evaluating therapy. A better understanding of the neurobiology of specific language impairment is critical for the rational development of therapeutic strategies to treat this common disorder. ( J Child Neurol 2004;19:471—481).
Topical Review: Neurocysticercosis in Children
Authors: Singhi Pratibha , Singhi Sunit
Published: October 2007

Neurocysticercosis is a major cause of neurologic disease worldwide. The clinical presentations are pleomorphic depending on the stage and location of cysts in the nervous system. Most children (> 80%) present with seizures, particularly partial seizures; headache and vomiting are seen in about a third of cases. Diagnosis is made by either computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging. Single enhancing lesions are the most common finding. Visualization of a scolex confirms the diagnosis. Some cases have multiple cysts; the “starry-sky” appearance in cases with innumerable cysts is characteristic. Most children require anticonvulsants. Corticosteroids are indicated in those with cerebral edema. The efficacy of cysticidal therapy continues to be debated. Controlled studies suggest that cysticidal therapy helps in increased and faster resolution of CT lesions, but there is no conclusive evidence that it improves long-term seizure control. The prognosis in cases with single lesions is good; seizure control is achieved with a single anticonvulsant, and the recurrence rate is low. Children with multiple lesions have recurrent seizures. Extraparenchymal neurocysticercosis is rare in children and carries a poor prognosis. Neurocysticercosis must be considered in the differential diagnosis of seizures and a wide variety of neurologic disorders, particularly in endemic areas. ( J Child Neurol 2004;19:482—492).
Neonatal Arterial Ischemic Stroke and Cerebral Sinovenous Thrombosis Are More Commonly Diagnosed in Boys
Authors: Golomb Meredith R. , Dick Paul T. , MacGregor Daune L. , Curtis Rosalind , Sofronas Marianne , deVeber Gabrielle A.
Published: October 2007

The risk factors for arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis in neonates are not well understood. We looked at gender, birthweight, and gestational age in neonates with arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis to see if there were trends suggesting that these were risk factors. We identified neonates with a gestational age at birth ≥ 36 weeks and a diagnosis of arterial ischemic stroke or cerebral sinovenous thrombosis made by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging during the neonatal period from a consecutive cohort study of children with arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis in Ontario. Data on gender, birthweight, and gestational age were obtained by health record review. Sixty-six children with neonatal arterial ischemic stroke were identified. Forty-one (62.1%; 95% CI 49.3—73.8%) were male. Thirty-two children with neonatal cerebral sinovenous thrombosis were identified. Twenty-five (78.1%; 95% CI 60.0—90.7%) were male. One male child was identified with both arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis. There was a trend toward higher than average birthweights among neonates with arterial ischemic stroke and a trend toward older gestational age in female neonates with arterial ischemic stroke. Our data suggest that neonatal arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis are more commonly diagnosed in boys. The slightly larger size of male neonates may be contributory in arterial ischemic stroke. It is not known whether boys are at higher risk of developing arterial ischemic stroke and cerebral sinovenous thrombosis or are simply more likely to present with symptoms resulting in diagnosis. These issues need further study. ( J Child Neurol 2004;19:493—497).
Study of Attentional Processes in Children With Idiopathic Epilepsy by Conners' Continuous Performance Test
Authors: Borgatti Renato , Piccinelli Paolo , Montirosso Rosario , Donati Gemma , Rampani Alessandra , Molteni Laura , Tofani Annalisa , Nicoli Francesca , Zucca Claudio , Bresolin Nereo , Balottin Umberto
Published: October 2007

Before starting antiepilepsy therapy (T1) and after 1 year (T2), 19 children (7 female) affected by focal or generalized idiopathic epilepsy were considered with the aim of studying attention performance. All of the children received a neurological examination and clinical interview, electroencephalography (EEG) in wakefulness or sleep, and a standardized computerized measure of attention (Conners' Continuous Performance Test). At T1, 21% of the patients showed a specific attention disorder, and their percentage rose to 42% after 1 year, despite complete control of seizures. The prognosis was strongly correlated with (1) the presence of active seizures for a period of over 6 months, (2) the persistence of specific interictal abnormalities on an electroencephalogram at T2, and (3) the presence of emotional and behavioral disorders at the diagnosis of epilepsy. Our results confirm that attention disorders are frequent in children with idiopathic epilepsy. The Conners' Continuous Performance Test has proven useful both for diagnosis and follow-up over time. ( J Child Neurol 2004;19:509—515).
Cerebral Sinovenous Thrombosis in Children: Another Reason to Treat Iron Deficiency Anemia
Authors: Benedict Susan L. , Bonkowsky Joshua L. , Thompson Joel A. , Van Orman Colin B. , Boyer Richard S. , Bale James F. , Filloux Francis M.
Published: October 2007

Iron deficiency anemia is a rare cause of cerebral sinovenous thrombosis in children. We report three cases of cerebral sinovenous thrombosis and iron deficiency anemia treated at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, between 1998 and 2001. The children were 9, 19, and 27 months old at the time of admission. Hemoglobin levels ranged from 6.6 to 7.0 g/dL, mean corpuscular volume levels from 45 to 56 fL, and platelet counts from 248,000 to 586,000/μL. Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance venography revealed thrombosis of the straight sinus and internal cerebral veins in all three children, with the addition of the vein of Galen, left transverse and sigmoid sinuses, and upper left internal jugular vein in one child. Recovery ranged from excellent to poor in 3 months to 3 years of follow-up. Four additional cases, ages 6 to 22 months, were found in the English-language literature. Evaluation for prothrombotic disorders was negative in all children, including the current cases. Treatments have included thrombectomy, corticosteroids, mannitol, heparin, low-molecular-weight heparin, warfarin, aspirin, blood transfusion, and iron supplementation, but there is no consensus regarding therapy, other than to correct the anemia and treat iron deficiency. Iron deficiency anemia, a preventable cause of cerebral sinovenous thrombosis, deserves consideration when cerebral sinovenous thrombosis is detected in young children. ( J Child Neurol 2004;19:526—531).
Energy Sharing for Swarms Modeled on the Common Vampire Bat
Authors: Witkowski Mark
Published: October 2007

This article reports on observations arising from the use of a simulator in the conteXt of energy sharing (trophallaXis) that might be applied to swarms or communities of energy critical robots. Using food-sharing behavior reported for the common vampire bat species Desmodus rotundus, it is presumed that such robots would gather naturally occurring but limited fuel materials and convert them to energy as required. Energy sharing can bring substantial benefits to the group as a whole in situations where suitable materials are encountered unevenly by members of the population, in a manner insufficient to guarantee the continuing survival of any individual. Using the simulator the survivability of groups is investigated under various regimes, including sharing and non-sharing, the effects of energy dependents, group size and non-sharing defaulters. The role of reciprocation in feeding is also considered.
Gender-Related Differences in Apoptotic Pathways After Neonatal Cerebral Ischemia
Authors: Renolleau Sylvain , Fau Sebastien , Charriaut-Marlangue Christiane
Published: October 2007

Many central nervous system (CNS) diseases display sexual dimorphism, specifically a predilection for one gender or a gender-dependent response to treatment. Exposure to circulating sex steroids is felt to be a chief contributor to this phenomenon. However, CNS diseases of childhood and of the elderly also demonstrate gender predominance and/or sexual dimorphism response to therapies. In this short update, we provide information concerning one of the most interesting new emerging concepts related to the influence of the sex in the pathogenesis of developmental brain injuries leading to different levels of neuroprotection between genders after cerebral hypoxia-ischemia or ischemia. NEUROSCIENTIST 14(1):46—52, 2008. DOI: 10.1177/1073858407308889
Encephalization, Emergent Properties, and Psychiatry: A Minicolumnar Perspective
Authors: Casanova Manuel F. , Tillquist Christopher R.
Published: October 2007

The focus of the authors' attention is the consequence of brain growth understood in terms of the development of networks of cortical cell minicolumns, the elemental information-processing units of the brain. The authors view cortical growth, encephalization, and the emergence of higher cognitive functions in humans as the consequence of an increase in the number of minicolumns and their connections. Encephalization has proceeded via weak linkages of canonical circuits, which facilitate the emergence of novel cortical functions. In addition to reframing the evolution of mind, this perspective provides a conceptual framework for a better understanding of the origin and maladaptive nature of certain psychiatric conditions. NEUROSCIENTIST 14(1):101—118, 2008. DOI: 10.1177/1073858407309091
Making Meaning of Relationships
Authors: Chung Donna
Published: October 2007

This article discusses young women's experiences and understandings of dating and dating violence. The findings are drawn from research interviews with young women, aged 14 to 18 years, in Adelaide, South Australia. The study uses an analysis of the micro practices of gender relations and dating relationships discussed in young women's interviews to illuminate gendered power relations and practices of dating violence. The implications of young women's understandings of dating violence for education and intervention programs are discussed.
Predicting Americans’ Exposure to Political Talk Radio in 1996, 1998, and 2000
Authors: Bennett Stephen Earl
Published: October 2007

This article draws on the 1996-2000 National Election Studies to look at the size of political talk radio’s audience and to identify the factors predicting exposure. Interest in politics and distrust of mainstream media predict listening in every year. Other factors such as age, gender, race, partisanship, and ideology are significant predictors in one or two years but not others. Exposure to mainstream media outlets, education, and income are not significant predictors. This study updates research on exposure to political talk radio, particularly at a time when these shows’ audiences may be shrinking.
Political Scientists as Color Commentators
Authors: Brewer Paul R. , Sigelman Lee
Published: October 2007

The prevalence of the “game frame” in media coverage of politics is well known. We seek to broaden our understanding of the media’s use of this frame by examining expert commentary on political campaigns quoted in stories in major U.S. newspapers. Content analysis of quotations from the experts in question, political scientists, establishes that the game frame pervades their statements. Thus, political science commentary reinforces the dominant frame within media campaign coverage, rather than providing alternative perspectives on campaigns. The predominance of the game frame in political scientists’ quoted comments in newspaper stories appears to be a result of two sets of forces: selection biases and a preoccupation with the game among scholars themselves.
A Hierarchy of Innocence
Authors: Moeller Susan D.
Published: October 2007

The shift in warfare and in geopolitics since the Cold War has made it difficult for Americans to identify the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in international affairs. The “Evil Empire” is no longer reflexively the Soviet Union or its proxies, for example. Without a clear sense of who needs protection, the media and other political actors have tried to identify who is innocent. In many cases, children have been portrayed as the only “pure” victims. For many conflicts and crises, children, seen generically, have filled up the American empathy vacuum—that void that used to be taken up by the Natan Sharanskys, the Alexander Solzhenitsyns, the Jacobo Timmermans, the Nelson Mandelas: men, typically, who stood for the values of democracy, equality, and freedom. Now, often, conflicts are depicted in the media less as political confrontations than as brutal and ideologically senseless battles, and how better to communicate that than to show a damaged child?
The Press and Reform in Japan
Authors: Krauss Ellis S. , Lambert Priscilla
Published: October 2007

What political role does the Japanese press play? How does it cover important political issues and events? The common answers in the literature offer two very different views: the press as a “watchdog” for the public and a force of opposition to the dominant ruling party or the Japanese press as a “lapdog,” subserviently reporting whatever officials dictate. We examine the Asahi newspaper’s coverage of two critical issues in a decade of enormous political upheaval: political reform from 1992 to 1994 and administrative reform from 1995 to 1997.An analysis of the patterns of coverage for all the articles during these periods and an examination of agenda setting, bias, and objectivity in a random sample of articles reveals that neither of the extreme characterizations of the press fits. Rather, the press plays a combination of roles: It is frequently the passive transmitter of information for agenda-setting officials, but it occasionally exhibits a pro-reform bias and tries to set the agenda in specific and limited ways. The authors conclude with a discussion of why these patterns of coverage emerge and why these overdrawn and distorted images of the Japanese press still exist.