bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
InSEA: A Brief History and a Vision of its Future Role
Authors: Steers John
Published: March 2003

This paper reflects on the early history of the International Society for Education through Art and the ambitious mission of the founders. An evaluation will be made of the present strengths of the Society and of some persistent weaknesses, some of which have plagued the organisation from its inception. Finally, the emerging possibilities presented by new technologies and increasing globalisation will be considered as a means of more effectively achieving InSEA's principal objectives of fostering international co‐operation and facilitating association on a world‐wide basis of all those concerned with education through art. This paper is a revised version of a lecture presented at the 30th World Congress of InSEA held in Brisbane, Australia in September 1999.
Making Movies Matter or Whatever Happened to the Sabre‐Tooth Curriculum?
Authors: Bazalgette Cary
Published: March 2003

This paper argues that media education has developed its own orthodoxies that are preventing it both from addressing the realities of the media as they exist today, and from being taken seriously by policy‐makers. The example of Making Movies Matter, the 1999 report of the Film Education Working Group, shows how a policy‐making ‘window’ can be exploited, not only to make new arguments for media education, but also to construct new frameworks for teaching and learning. The report had also provided the British Film Institute with a new agenda for UK‐wide activities designed to develop education about the moving image media. A version of this paper was originally presented at the Summit 2000 conference in Toronto, Canada, in May 2000.
Capital Adequacy, Bank Mergers, and the Medium of Payment
Authors: Grullon Gustavo , Michaely Roni , Swary Itzhak
Published: March 2003

We examine how banks' capital requirements affect the way bank mergers are financed, as well as the stock‐market reaction to the merger announcement. We find that the capital position of the acquirer is one of the two factors most strongly influencing the choice of financing method; the other is the relative size of the merging banks. The smaller the acquirer in relation to the target bank and the higher the acquirer's capital adequacy ratio, the more likely it is that the acquisition will be financed by a stock swap. The capital requirements also affect the market reaction, through their effect on the financing method choice. The value of the acquirer's equity decreases more at the time of the merger announcement if the method of payment is stock. Like prior studies, we find that the abnormal return on the target banks' stock is positive.
The Impact of Dividends, Debt and Investment on Valuation Models
Authors: Rees William P.
Published: March 2003

The reliability of a basic earnings and equity model of value is tested using 8,287 cases drawn from UK industrial and commercial firms reporting during 1987–1995. A respecification of this model is used to investigate the value relevance of dividends, capital structure and capital expenditure. Both the dividend and capital expenditure signals appear to be significant and the impact of the former is surprisingly strong. There is no convincing evidence that equity value is affected by the level of debt. Further investigation of dividends confirms that they are less influential in large firms or in firms with high return on equity.
Pacific Rim Stock Market Integration Under Different Federal Funds Rate Regimes
Authors: Cheung Daniel W.W.
Published: March 2003

This study uses Sims‐type vector autoregression technique to examine the stock markets integration among the US and four major Asian‐Pacific stock exchanges during 1993 and 1994. The two different sample periods capture the change in US monetary policy in 1994. Empirical results show that when the US was targeting the federal funds rate in 1994, the variations in US stock returns much better explain the variations of stock returns in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.
Free Cash Flow and Stockholder Gains in Going Private Transactions Revisited
Authors: Kieschnick, Jr Robert L.
Published: March 2003

Lehn and Poulsen (1983) are frequently cited as providing evidence supporting the applicability of Jensen’s (1986) ‘free cash flow’ hypothesis to going private transactions. The paper re‐examines the Lehn and Poulsen data and arrives at different inferences about the applicability of Jensen’s ‘free cash flow’ hypothesis to their sample. First, I find that neither the level of a public corporation’s pre‐transaction ‘free cash flows’ nor its prior growth rate are significant determinants of its probability of going private. Second, I find a firm’s size and its potential for reducing taxes, rather than its pre‐transaction level of ‘free cash flows’, are significant determinants of the premium paid to take it private. And finally, comparing their 1980–1983 subsample to their 1984–1987 subsample reveals that firms that went private during the 1984–1987 period demonstrate a greater incidence of prior takeover interest, lower prior tax burdens, and slower prior growth than firms that went private during the 1980–1983 period: all of which supports Kaplan and Stein’s (1993) overheated buyout market hypothesis.
The Effect of Tick Size on Price Clustering and Trading Volume
Authors: Hameed Allaudeen , Terry Eric
Published: March 2003

Proposals have been made for some stock exchanges to reduce the size of their trading tick in order to lower transactions costs and, as a result, attract more trading volume and firm listings. We investigate the impact of tick size on price clustering and trading volume when the minimum price change varies with price level. Controlling the firm specific variables, we find that a smaller trading tick tends to exacerbate price clustering. Furthermore, a reduction in tick size is more likely to increase trading volume if the shares are heavily traded. These results suggest that previous studies on other stock markets may have overstated the benefits of a smaller trading tick to traders.
Investment and Abandonment Decisions with Uncertain Price and Cost
Authors: Choi Yoon K. , Lee Seok Weon
Published: March 2003

We analyze firms’ investment and abandonment decisions when both output price and investment cost change stochastically. The model allows for and makes endogenous the abandonment decision, thereby incorporating irreversibility. We show that the investment trigger may be much higher than the standard net present value rule suggests even when a substantial portion of the investment cost may be recovered. Further, we argue that the correlation between output price and investment costs significantly affects the effect of irreversibility on investment behavior. Empirical implications are discussed with extensive numerical illustrations, along with an application to the banking industry.
The Impact of Ownership Structure on the Structure of Compensation Committees
Authors: Newman Harry A.
Published: March 2003

The practice of appointing insiders to the compensation committee has drawn considerable criticism since compensation committees play an important role in executive compensation decisions. This paper examines the association between the firm’s ownership structure and the decision to use insiders on the compensation committee. The paper finds that CEO stock ownership is positively related to the presence of insiders on the compensation committee whereas the stockholdings of non‐executive employees, as a group, is negatively related to the presence of insiders.
Intraday Stock Price Reactions to Interim‐Quarter versus Fourth‐Quarter Earnings Announcements
Authors: Lee Jason , Park Chul W.
Published: March 2003

This study investigates intraday patterns of quarterly return‐earnings relations. We find that fourth quarter announcements exhibit a lower earnings response coefficient but a more rapid adjustment to new equilibrium levels of prices and a higher R2 than interim quarter announcements. While prior short event window studies document that interim quarter earnings have greater explanatory power than fourth quarter earnings or annual earnings, our analysis indicates that the prior results may be driven by the use of two‐day event window that is much wider than what it takes for the market to adjust to fourth quarter announcements.
The Wealth Effect of Domestic Joint Ventures: Evidence from Taiwan
Authors: Chang Shao‐Chi , Chen Sheng‐Syan
Published: March 2003

This study presents important international evidence by examining the wealth effect of domestic joint ventures by Taiwanese firms. In opposite to United States evidence, we find that announcements of domestic joint ventures by Taiwanese firms are, on average, associated with significantly negative abnormal stock returns. We also find that the stock market response to announced domestic joint ventures is significantly positively related to the announcing firms’ investment opportunities, size of investment and debt ratio, and is significantly negatively related to the business relatedness variable. In contrast, free cash flow, firm size, relative firm size and managerial ownership are found to have no significant power in explaining the market response. Our results support the investment opportunities, synergy and complementarity hypotheses as well as a broad interpretation of the free cash flow hypothesis, but reject the absolute size, relative size and alignment‐of‐interests hypotheses. This study makes valuable contributions to the literature by providing the first direct evidence on the role of investment opportunities, synergy and alignment‐of‐interests in explaining the wealth effect of domestic joint ventures
To Be or Not Be …‘Too Late’: The Case of the Belgian Semi‐annual Earnings Announcements
Authors: Annaert Jan , De Ceuster Marc J.K. , Polfliet Ruud , Van Campenhout Geert
Published: March 2003

In this study, we demonstrate that the average reporting lag of Belgian interim reports is large but has decreased slightly over the years 1991–1998. Contrary to US findings, we show that the disclosure of interim reports containing bad (good) news is not systematically delayed (speeded up). Interim reports are value relevant since good (bad) news, according to a naïve earnings expectations model, induces positive (negative) abnormal returns. The ‘short term’ timeliness of the information disclosure, however, seems not to matter at all.
The Expected Return and Exercise Time of Merton‐style Real Options
Authors: Shackleton Mark , Wojakowski Rafal
Published: March 2003

We analyse the rate of return and expected exercise time of Merton‐style options (1973) employed in many real option situations where the possibility of exercise is both perpetual and American in nature. Using risk‐neutral and risk‐adjusted pricing techniques, Merton‐style options are shown to have an expected return that is a constant percentage of the option value and independent of the proximity to the critical exercise boundary. Merton options thus remain at the same point on the Security Market Line, unlike European options whose position and rate of return change dynamically. We also present formulae for the expected time and discounted times to exercise and analyse the dependency of these variables on volatility.
Decline or Preservation of Executive Capacity? Political and Economic Integration Revisited
Authors: Kurzer Paulette
Published: March 2003

This article takes issue with the rational/intergovernmental approach to the study of European Union and integration by examining the impact of informal (global) integration on state capacity and executive autonomy in Belgium. Although intergovernmental arrangements occasionally serve to enhance policy capacity and executive capabilities, non‐governmental dynamics, which surpass the deliberate pace of Member State bargaining, erode national decision‐making authority. In Belgium, for example, regional integration sharpened economic disparities between the language communities and gave rise to a new generation of political leaders who took advantage of European institutions to promote decentralization of state functions and to restrict central government executive autonomy.
Why Has Inflation Remained So Low After the Large Exchange Rate Depreciations of 1992?
Authors: Amitrano Alessandra , De Grauwe Paul , Tullio Giuseppe
Published: March 2003

This article explains why inflation failed to accelerate in industrial countries after the large exchange rate depreciations of 1992–93. The degree of pass‐through from exchange rate changes to inflation is assumed to depend on the degree of openness of the country, on unutilized capacity at home and abroad, on the price of oil and on the wage, fiscal and monetary policies followed by the country after devaluation. Inflation equations are then estimated for consumer and wholesale prices using pooled data referring to 80 episodes of devaluations/depreciations for seven industrial countries during the period 1966–93. The tests show that the macroeconomic policy followed by the country significantly influences the degree of pass‐through and that the 1992–93 episodes do not constitute a break with respect to previous devaluation episodes when inflation accelerated sharply.
Administering Europe?
Authors: Everson Michelle
Published: March 2003

In conditions of political and constitutional uncertainty, administrative law requires reassessment. Three analyses of the once neo‐liberal EU market (non‐majoritarian, deliberative, heterarchical) show how its evolving socialization has resulted in politically pluralist market administration. Governmental, EU and private actors all voice their views within this administrative framework, but EC law does not determine which single view is legitimate. EU administration should therefore be viewed as entailing a complex process of interest accommodation rather than the simple execution of legislative mandates. Constitutional principles to ‘civilize’ debate are needed, ensuring that EU market management is not dominated by the strongest interest.
Who Speaks for Europe? The Delegation of Trade Authority in the EU
Authors: Meunier Sophie , Kalypso Nicolaïdis
Published: March 2003

Although the Member States of the European Union (EU) have long since relinquished their power to act as autonomous actors in international trade negotiations, they have now chosen to regain some of their lost trade sovereignty. Neither the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ’s) 1994 opinion, nor the 1997 reform of the trade policy process at Amsterdam delegated full negotiating authority to the Commission over the ‘new trade issues’ of services and intellectual property. Instead, Member States settled on a hybrid form of decision‐making to enable ad hoc rather than structural delegation of competence. Was this a rollback of EU competence? If so, why has it occurred in the EU’s oldest and most successfully integrated, policy sector? A shift in the perceived trade‐off between economic interests and ideological bias on the part of key Member States can explain such a change. This article also explores the consequences for the future conduct of the EU’s trade policy and its influence in shaping the world political economy, as well as for the evolving pattern of federal allocation of jurisdiction in the EU.
Towards Convergence in Europe? Institutional Adaptation to Europeanization in Germany and Spain
Authors: Bürzel Tanja A.
Published: March 2003

A number of studies suggest that European integration impacts upon the domestic institutions of the Member States by changing the distribution of resources among domestic actors. I argue in this article that resource dependency needs to be embedded in an institutionalist understanding of Europeanization in order to explain when and how Europe affects the domestic institutions of the Member States. First, domestic institutions determine the distribution of resources among the domestic actors in a given Member State. Second, the compatibility of European and domestic institutions determines the degree to which Europeanization changes this distribution of resources and hence the degree of pressure for institutional adaptation. Third, the domestic institutional culture determines the dominant strategies of actors by which they respond to such a redistribution of resources facilitating or prohibiting institutional adaptation. I demonstrate my argument empirically by comparing the impact of Europeanization on the territorial institutions of Germany and Spain. I conclude with some considerations on whether we are likely to see convergence among the domestic institutions of the Member States.
The Adaptation of European Foreign Economic Policy: From Rome to Seattle
Authors: Young Alasdair R.
Published: March 2003

This article offers an historical institutionalist investigation of the evolution of the European Union's (EU) foreign economic policy. Its central argument is that the EU's evolving institutional framework structures the member governments' choices about co‐operating in new policy areas. Significantly, the impact of this framework has changed over time as the result of judicial interpretation, which has tended to shift authority from the Member States to the EU. This process has been particularly pronounced in European foreign economic policy, where treaty reforms have been very modest and the European Court of Justice has been very active.
Optimality and Authority: A Critique of Neoclassical Theory
Authors: Marks Gary , Hooghe Liesbet
Published: March 2003

The extent to which authority is centralized varies greatly across time and space, as the experience of Europe over the past half century illustrates. This article initiates a dialogue between two literatures: the neoclassical theory of authority and the analysis of multi‐level governance. Neoclassical theory examines the tension between the benefits of centralization and the costs of imposing uniformity across diverse territories. It implies that multi‐level governance is the optimal response to this trade‐off. This article critically examines the assumptions of neoclassical theory, and offers some building blocks for an alternative approach.
Incrementalism and Path Dependence: European Integration and Institutional Change in National Parliaments
Authors: Dimitrakopoulos Dionyssis G.
Published: March 2003

This article analyses the manner in which the Parliaments of France, the UK and Greece have reacted to the process of European integration. It is argued that their reactions display an incremental logic marked by slow, small and marginal changes based on existing institutional repertoires. In all three cases Parliaments have used familiar mechanisms and procedures which they have modified only marginally. This reaction was path dependent, i.e. it was consistent with long‐established patterns reflecting the subordinate position of these Parliaments within national polities.
The WTO and Food Safety Regulatory Policy Innovation in the European Union
Authors: Skogstad Grace
Published: March 2003

This article, first, weighs the impact of exogenous developments associated with the supranational regulation of food safety in the World Trade Organization (WTO) relative to internal pressures associated with food safety crises and the breakdown of the internal market on food safety regulatory reforms underway in the European Union (EU); and second, probes the capacity and propensity of the Commission to act as a policy entrepreneur, leveraging the two arenas – the domestic and global – to expedite policy reforms. It finds evidence of Commission policy entrepreneurship at home and abroad, but cautions that the former is constrained by a mediative policy style dictated by the EU's institutional and legal framework and exacerbated by food safety crises.
Challenges for Monetary Policy in Euroland
Authors: Grauwe Paul De
Published: March 2003

Despite the economic and political success of its launch, the challenges ahead for the euro are formidable. This article analyses some of these challenges, focusing particularly on the monetary policy strategy of the European Central Bank (ECB) and on the implications of enlargement of the monetary union to up to 27 Member States. The monetary policy strategy and inflation target of the ECB are criticized for being unrealistic and possibly damaging to the ECB’s credibility. It is shown that unless the mechanisms for taking interest rate decisions are rethought, there are risks that the wrong decisions will be taken after enlargement.
Risk Management in a Disaster Management Context
Authors: Salter John
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses how the adoption of a systematic risk management framework can enhance disaster management. In the analysis of risk, a focus on the interactions between sources of risk and elements at risk, rather than a pre‐occupation with hazards, adds more value to management. Vulnerability is the crucial modifier of consequences and, as such, its analysis highlights critical areas and opportunities for developing effective intervention strategies.

Risk communication processes based on community involvement need to underpin the development and application of evaluation criteria to determine which risk treatments will be implemented. Closing considerations reflect on how risk management may be used within public administration to re‐define emergency management service provision. The paper concludes that Emergency Risk Management provides a framework which, by focusing on managing community exposure to major risks, facilitates the identification and implementation of intervention options which address socially significant problems.
Organizing to Reduce the Vulnerabilities of Complexity
Authors: Perrow Charles
Published: March 2003

Complex and tightly coupled systems are inherently vulnerable to major system accidents, but some difficult structural changes can reduce their vulnerability. They can be decomposed into units that are connected by monitored links, despite the inefficiency of such decentralization. Designs can be inelegant and robust, rather than elegant and sensitive, despite this affront to engineering norms. Redundancies and all other safety measures should be designed in from the start and not added afterwards, since add‐ons are disproportionately the source of accidents. Skepticism should be structured into the organization through explicit roles and generating worst case scenarios, and sensitive channels deliberately opened to daylight and monitoring. A formal system of error feedback should be instituted with contributions rewarded. Most important of all is increasing the role of external stakeholders in accident investigations and organizational changes, thus creating a dense network of independent organizations that keeps the risky system honest. Secret organizations which gather intelligence and perform covert actions are especially vulnerable to complexity but the least likely to adapt such structural changes. Examples are provided for each of the points.
How Can Organisations Prepare for Reputational Crises?
Authors: Booth Simon A.
Published: March 2003

Most public and private organisations have assumed that they are responsible for their reputation, which they see as a key asset. In a world rapidly becoming dominated by the internet and electronic commerce, organisational control is threatened. This article develops a definition of organisational reputation and suggests how it can be nurtured. It explores the types of reputational threats that face organisations and how training may prevent or reduce the effects of reputational crises.
Cyberplagues, IT, and Security: Threat Politics in the Information Age
Authors: Eriksson Johan
Published: March 2003

The swiftness and considerable political impact of the widespread conceptualisation of IT as a security problem makes it a particularly fruitful case for analysing threat politics – how and why some threat images but not others end up on the political agenda. A conceptual framework combining theories of framing, securitisation, agenda setting and policy diffusion is developed, which is applied to the case of IT security policy in Sweden. The analysis emphasises the impact of the end of the Cold War, the uncertainty following the breakthrough of the information age, the tradition of focusing on information and technological development in military affairs, the adaptability to ‘widened security thinking’ within the military‐bureaucratic establishment, and the lack of opposition to the securitisation of IT.
Decision Support Tools for Urban Contingency Policy. A Scenario Approach to Risk Management of the Vesuvio Area in Naples, Italy
Authors: Torrieri Francesca , Concilio Grazia , Nijkamp Peter
Published: March 2003

Contingency management, in particular the management of unanticipated events outside the control of an ordinary planning system has, in the last 50 years, become an important and frequently debated issue in the scientific literature on complex systems management under risk conditions. The urban system can be regarded as such an open complex system where external events, not always foreseeable with a closed system’s model, may strongly impact on the internal dynamics of an urban area. Conventionally, planning the future presupposes collecting information and analyzing it rationally in order to control for unexpected contingency events. But it is an important question in the field of urban planning how proper strategies can be developed to deal with external uncertainty and shocks that transcend the imagination of policy‐makers. How should decision‐makers respond to such unforeseen jumps in a system? The aim of this article is to present and apply a new scientific decision support method based on the future studies literature, with the aim to help decision‐makers in the strategic management of uncertainty and risk in order ‘to anticipate the extraordinary events correctly in order to act more effectively’ (Godet, 1987). In particular, we here deploy the scenario methodology in combination with multicriteria analysis and fuzzy set theory, as a useful learning tool for the governance of complex dynamic systems. In current debates on policy‐makers’ possible reactions to uncertainty (e.g., in the context of sustainability strategies), very often the socalled ‘no regret’ principle is advocated. The validity of this approach is tested, in the context of the present article, on real‐world threats in the Vesuvio volcanic area in the vicinity of the densely populated city of Naples, Italy. Four different policy scenarios are developed with the purpose to examine, control and reduce the risk for the people concerned in case of a future volcanic eruption and to lay, at the same time, the foundation for a drastic rehabilitation of the entire metropolitan area.
The genetic aetiology of childhood depression: a review
Authors: Rice Frances , Harold Gordon , Thapar Anita
Published: March 2003

Background: We review the evidence for the familiality of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the genetic aetiology of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Methods: Databases and reference lists were searched for family, twin and adoption studies of childhood MDD and childhood depressive symptoms. Data from independent family studies that fulfilled specified inclusion criteria were pooled and odds ratios were calculated for top‐down and bottom‐up family studies. Results: Estimates of familial risk differ by control group and by study design (odds ratio range 1.70, 3.98). Twin studies show that depressive symptoms in young people are heritable although rater and measurement issues are important. Adoption studies show little evidence for a genetic influence on depressive symptoms. Conclusions: MDD in young people is familial although control group and study design affect the magnitude of the familial risk. Estimates of heritability from twin and adoption studies vary widely and few firm conclusions can be made regarding the genetic aetiology of depressive symptoms in childhood. Areas that require future work include the examination of rater effects, measurement issues, the effects of age and comorbidity and reasons for the discrepancy between twin and adoption findings.
Psychosocial adjustment in siblings of children with autism
Authors: Kaminsky Laura , Dewey Deborah
Published: March 2003

Background: This study investigated psychosocial adjustment in siblings of children with autism compared to siblings of children with Down syndrome and siblings of normally developing children. In addition, the relationships between feelings of loneliness, social support and psychosocial adjustment, and the influence of gender and family size on psychological adjustment were examined. Methods: Ninety siblings (30 per group) between the ages of 8 and 18 and one parent of each child participated in this study. Results: Results indicated that siblings of children with autism, as well as comparison siblings, were well adjusted and reported low levels of loneliness. Siblings of children with autism also reported that they received high levels of social support in their lives. Conclusions: Large family size appears to facilitate healthy adjustment in siblings of children with autism.
The heritability of depressive symptoms: multiple informants and multiple measures
Authors: Happonen Minna , Pulkkinen Lea , Kaprio Jaakko , Van der Meere Jaap , Viken Richard J. , Rose Richard J.
Published: March 2003

Background: Earlier research suggests large rater differences in heritability estimates of children's depressive symptoms in the context of significant age and sex‐limitation effects. Methods: With data from an ongoing, population‐based twin‐family study, we estimated genetic and environmental influences on children's depression with models allowing for sex‐specific effects. Our assessments of twins included self‐reports and ratings made by their classmate peers, their parents and their teachers, allowing estimates of genetic and environmental effects with data from different informants. Model‐fitting used maximum likelihood estimation of log‐transformed data from a sample of 1,366 11‐ and 12‐year‐old twin pairs. Results: Estimates of additive genetic effects were significant for both boys and girls across all four informants, and, standardized to reflect the percentage of phenotypic variance accounted for, those estimates ranged from .28 to .71. Significant effects from common environmental sources were found in ratings of teachers and parents, where, typically, one individual rated both co‐twins, but neither in peer nominations nor self‐ratings. The correlation of teacher and parent ratings was modest, and bivariate model‐fitting found no correlation in either genetic or shared environmental effects between teacher and parental ratings. At this young age, sex‐limitation effects were found only in teacher ratings, where genetic effects were greater in girls than in boys. Conclusions: Results underscore the utility of using multiple informants to measure children's behavior and provide a foundation for follow‐up of these twins in later adolescence.
Young adult academic outcomes in a longitudinal sample of early identified language impaired and control children
Authors: Young Arlene R. , Beitchman Joseph H. , Johnson Carla , Douglas Lori , Atkinson Leslie , Escobar Michael , Wilson Beth
Published: March 2003

Background: The long‐term academic consequences of childhood language impairment are both theoretically and clinically important. An unbiased appraisal of these outcomes, however, requires carefully designed, longitudinal research. Method: A group of children first identified as having speech and/or language impairment in a community‐based, longitudinal study at 5 years of age and matched controls were re‐examined during young adulthood (age 19). A comprehensive battery of speech and language, cognitive and achievement tests, psychiatric interviews, and questionnaires were completed by subjects, their parents and teachers. Results: While children with early speech problems showed only a few academic differences from controls in young adulthood, early language impaired (LI) young adults lagged significantly behind controls in all areas of academic achievement, even after controlling for intelligence. Further, rates of learning disabilities (LD) were significantly higher in the LI group than both the controls and community base rates. Concurrent individual difference variables, including phonological awareness, naming speed for digits, non‐verbal IQ, verbal working memory, and executive function, all contributed unique variance to achievement in specific areas. Conclusion: Early LI rather than speech impairment is clearly associated with continued academic difficulties into adulthood. These results speak to the need for intensive, early intervention for LI youngsters.
The influence of children's self‐report trait anxiety and depression on visual search for emotional faces
Authors: Hadwin Julie A. , Donnelly Nick , French Christopher C. , Richards Anne , Watts Antonia , Daley Dave
Published: March 2003

Background: This study presents two experiments that investigated the relationship between7‐ and 10‐year‐olds’ levels of self‐report trait anxiety and depression and their visual search for threatening (angry faces) and non‐threatening (happy and neutral faces) stimuli.

Method: In both experiments a visual search paradigm was used to measure participants’ reaction times to detect the presence or absence of angry, happy or neutral schematic faces (Experiment 1) or cartoon drawings (Experiment 2). On target present trials, a target face was displayed alongside three, five or seven distractor items. On target absent trials all items were distractors.

Results: Both experiments demonstrated that on target absent (but not present) trials, increased levels of anxiety produced significantly faster search times in the angry face condition, but not in the neutral condition. In Experiment 2 there was some trend towards significance between anxiety and searches for happy faces in absent trials. There were no effects of depression on search times in any condition.

Conclusion: The results support previous work highlighting a specific link between anxiety and attention to threat in childhood.
Nationalism without a nation: the rise and fall of Zulu nationalism in South Africa’s transition to democracy, 1975–99
Authors: Piper Laurence
Published: March 2003

During South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy the most virulent opposition to change came from Zulu nationalism. Post‐apartheid, however, Zulu nationalism has largely waned. This is because Zulu nationalism was instrumentally invoked and jettisoned by the Inkatha Freedom Party. Beginning in 1975, Inkatha embraced a ‘third way’ resistance politics between ‘acquiescence’ in apartheid and ‘impossible’ militant resistance. It was only later that Inkatha turned to Zuluness when it was out‐competed by the ANC and allies, first over the leadership of resistance politics and secondly during the transition. After 1994 the inclusion of the IFP in democratic government made old strategies redundant and thus it abandoned Zulu nationalism. Moreover, while a widespread sense of Zuluness exists, the meanings attached to it vary to the extent that the Zulu nation cannot exist. Thus the Zulu nationalism of the transition was an elite‐driven political nationalism prosecuted without a popularly imagined Zulu nation.
Turkish ultra–nationalists under review: a study of the Nationalist Action Party
Authors: Arikan E. Burak
Published: March 2003

This article aims to study the phenomenon of the Turkish National Party (MHP) by reference to the ongoing theoretical debates on the subject of extreme right–wing parties. This is instrumental in finding out whether the MHP displays similar characteristics to its counterparts in Europe, and whether it is an extreme right, a fascist or a centre–right party. The primary hypothesis of this article is that the MHP features many similarities with its European counterparts and hence, is a member of the European extreme right–wing family. In order to test this hypothesis, firstly the historical development of the MHP is clarified. Secondly, the contemporary debates in the study of the extreme right–wing family and different approaches to it are presented. Finally, based on the common characteristics of the extreme right–wing parties in general, the aforementioned hypothesis is tested and verified. The main contention of this article is that the MHP shows all the characteristics of a European extreme right–wing party.
Event–related potential assessment of information processing after closed head injury
Authors: Duncan Connie C. , Kosmidis Mary H. , Mirsky Allan F.
Published: March 2003

We evaluated alterations in information processing after closed head injury as a function of task demands and stimulus modality. Visual and auditory discrimination tasks were administered to 11 survivors of a head injury and 16 matched healthy controls. In auditory tasks, compared with controls, the survivors had smaller N100s, smaller and later N200s, a more posterior scalp distribution of N200, and longer P300 and response latencies. Auditory N200 and P300 correlated highly with duration of unconsciousness. In contrast, in visual tasks, only a reduced N200 in the survivors differentiated the groups. Our results indicate that processing of auditory stimuli, including the perception and discrimination of stimulus features and the evaluation and categorization of stimuli, may be impaired after head trauma. Visual sensory processing may be spared, but higher–order visual processing involved in stimulus classification may be compromised.
Convergent and divergent effects of odors and emotions in depression
Authors: Pause Bettina M. , Raack Ninja , Sojka Bernfried , Göder Robert , Aldenhoff Josef B. , Ferstl Roman
Published: March 2003

The aim of the present study was to investigate the similarities and differences in the olfactory and visual processing of emotional stimuli in healthy subjects and in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Twenty‐five inpatients were investigated after admission to the psychiatric clinic. Fifteen of them participated a second time, shortly before their discharge from the hospital. A group of healthy subjects, matched according to age and sex, served as a control. Chemsosensory event‐related potentials (CSERPs) were recorded using the constant flow method. In addition, event‐related potentials (ERPs), in response to colors and emotional slides, were obtained to control modality and emotion‐specific effects. The subjects' task was to discriminate the colors (red/yellow) and odors (phenyl‐ethylalcohol=rose/isobutyraldehyde=rotten butter) according to their quality and to judge the valence of the emotional slides (IAPS slides). The EEG was recorded from 32 scalp locations. At the beginning of the therapy, visual stimulus processing was attenuated in depressive subjects at a relatively late processing level (reduced amplitudes of the P3 and pSW in response to colors and emotional slides), whereas olfactory stimulus processing had already been affected at an early level (reduced amplitudes of the P2 and P3‐1 peaks in MDD patients). However, after successful medical treatment, ERPs did not differentiate between depressive patients and healthy controls. We discuss whether functional deviations within the primary olfactory cortex are responsible for the lower olfactory sensitivity, as well as for the altered emotional stimulus processing in MDD patients.
Reasons and Justifications for Considering Pregnancy Among Women Living With Hiv/Aids
Authors: Siegel Karolynn , Schrimshaw Eric W.
Published: March 2003

Despite the risks associated with pregnancy, available data suggest that HIV-infected women are no less likely to become pregnant than uninfected women. To understand HIV-infected women's reasons for wanting to have a child, focused interviews were conducted with a predominantly minority sample of 51 HIV-infected women in New York City. They were noted to actively weigh both the potential risks and benefits of their pregnancy decisions. Women reported three major reasons for wanting a child: (1) her husband/boyfriend really wants children, (2) having missed out on raising her other children, and (3) believing that a child would make her feel complete, fulfilled, and happy. Women also reported several justifications that they believed offset the risks of pregnancy, including: (1) other HIV-infected women were having healthy babies, (2) feeling optimistic about having a healthy baby due to the prophylactic effects of AZT (zidovudine), (3) having faith that God will protect the child, (4) being young and “healthy” will prevent transmission, and (5) feeling that she is better able to raise a child now. These findings suggest that to make fully informed pregnancy decisions, women should be encouraged to explore their reasons for wanting pregnancy, as well as discuss the potential risks.
Ambivalent Sexism and the Dumb Blonde: Men's and Women's Reactions to Sexist Jokes
Authors: Greenwood Dara , Isbell Linda M.
Published: March 2003

This article examines the relationship between gender, hostile sexism, benevolent sexism and reactions to a seemingly innocuous genre of sexist humor, the dumb blonde joke. After hearing an audiotaped conversation in which two students swapped dumb blonde jokes, participants high in hostile sexism rated the jokes as more amusing and less offensive than those low in hostile sexism. Among individuals low in hostile sexism, however, benevolent sexism interacted with gender. Specifically, men high in benevolent sexism found the jokes significantly more amusing and less offensive than either women in the same group or men low in both hostile and benevolent sexism. This study replicates and extends previous research examining the relationship between hostile sexism and the enjoyment of sexist humor, and underscores the possibility that benevolent sexism may represent qualitatively distinct attitudes for men and women.
A Weighted Pseudo‐potential Approach to Values for TU‐games
Authors: Driessen Theo S. H. , Radzik Tadeusz
Published: March 2003

This paper provides a twofold generalization of the well‐known characterization of the Shapley value for TU‐games as the discrete gradient of a so‐called potential function. On the one hand the potential approach is extended to the so‐called weighted pseudo‐potential approach in the sense that the extended representation may incorporate, besides a fraction of the discrete gradient, a fraction of the underlying pseudo‐potential function itself, as well as a fraction of the average of all the components of the gradient. On the other hand the paper fully characterizes the class of values for TU‐games that admit a weighted pseudo‐potential representation. Besides two individual constraints, these values have to be efficient, symmetric, and linear. The theory developed is illustrated by several examples of such values and their weighted pseudo‐potential representations are discussed.
Multivariate Analysis and Rough Sets: Two Approaches for Software‐quality Analysis
Authors: Meskens Nadine , Levecq Philippe , Lebon Florence
Published: March 2003

Computer programs are becoming more and more complex and voluminous in most firms. This raises the cost of maintenance. To minimize this cost, qualities must be given to computer programs that assure them good evolution, i.e., reliability, efficiency, flexibility, conformity, etc. This cost minimization must be preceded by a diagnosis that recommend a set of renovation actions to be undertaken in order to improve the software quality. The objective of this study is to associate a set of renovation action to each profile’s program expressed in terms of metrics. To do this, two approaches are taken. First, a multivariate analysis is used to allocate each program to a predefined category reflecting the diagnosis of the program’s health. Second, we try to work out a diagnosis of the health of these programs by developing a quality model composed of a set of decision rules supporting software quality improvement decisions. We have finally implemented this set of rules in the form of an expert system tool to allow the classification of new programs by the decision‐maker.
An improved direct labeling method for the max–flow min–cut computation in large hypergraphs and applications
Authors: Pistorius Joachim , Minoux Michel
Published: March 2003

Algorithms described so far to solve the maximum flow problem on hypergraphs first necessitate the transformation of these hypergraphs into directed graphs. The resulting maximum flow problem is then solved by standard algorithms. This paper describes a new method that solves the maximum flow problem directly on hypergraphs, leading to both reduced run time and lower memory requirements. We compare our approach with a state–of–the–art algorithm that uses a transformation of the hypergraph into a directed graph and an augmenting path algorithm to compute the maximum flow on this directed graph: the run–time complexity as well as the memory space complexity are reduced by a constant factor. Experimental results on large hypergraphs from VLSI applications show that the run time is reduced, on average, by a factor approximately 2, while memory occupation is reduced, on average, by a factor of 10. This improvement is particularly interesting for very large instances, to be solved in practical applications.
Forty Years of IFORS
Authors: Rand Graham K.
Published: March 2003

In 1999 IFORS (The International Federation of Operational Research Societies) celebrated forty years since its formation. A previous article explained how IFORS came into being following the first international conference in Operational Research, and examined the foundations that were laid in the years leading up to its first General Meeting, held at the second international conference. Here, the growth of IFORS and the establishment of regional groups, people involved in IFORS, presidents and secretaries, main activities of IFORS, conferences, publications, and support for developing countries, the financial aspects, kindred societies, in particular AGIFORS, and IFORS involvement in FIACC are discussed.
Optimal Disclosure Policy in Oligopoly Markets
Authors: Pae Suil
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the private and social optimality of full disclosure of private information in a two‐period oligopoly model. An incumbent firm is privately informed about the market demand and its production cost after operating as a monopolist in the first period, and then competes against an entrant in the second period. Two main results are derived. First, it is shown that the incumbent is best off by pre‐committing to disclose both the demand and cost information. By disclosing full information, the incumbent nullifies its self‐defeating intertemporal incentives, which arise whenever it has private information about the market demand, its cost efficiency, or both. In addition, the equilibrium output variance is the largest under full disclosure, which benefits the incumbent ex ante. Second, the paper shows that the incumbent’s full disclosure of the demand and cost information may or may not be desirable from a social efficiency standpoint. In particular, the correlation between the firms’ production costs is crucial to the rank of disclosure policies in terms of their impact on social efficiency.
Order Imbalance on Ex‐Dividend Days
Authors: Jakob Keith , Ma Tongshu
Published: March 2003

In this article we test an alternative to the tax‐based explanation for why prices decline on ex‐dividend days by an amount less than the dividend. We examine whether there is order imbalance on cum‐ and ex‐dividend days. We find that on ex‐dividend days, there are more buys than sells in the number of orders, but not in the number of shares ordered, and the imbalance in the number of orders is limited to small orders. We find that the difference between the dividend amount and the ex‐dividend‐day price drop is significantly related to the magnitude of the buy‐sell order imbalance. We find no order imbalance on cum‐dividend days in either the number of orders or the number of shares ordered.