bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Selection and Reporting Bias in Household Surveys of Child Labor: Evidence from Tanzania
Authors: Kidolezi Yohanne N. , Holmes Jessica A. , Ñopo Hugo , Sommers Paul M.
Published: October 2007

Abstract:  Studies of child labor in developing countries have largely relied on data collected through national household surveys. But government‐sponsored household surveys are arguably prone to both sample selection bias and reporting bias. In this paper, we compare the demographic and labor market characteristics of working street children obtained from the 2000 Tanzanian Integrated Labor Force Survey, a government‐sponsored household survey, with the results obtained in a 2004 survey of working street children in the city of Mwanza in northern Tanzania. Our comparisons help illumine the potential biases introduced when child labor studies rely on household samples; specifically, we show that children in the non‐household based survey work longer hours, have lower educational attainment and suffer worse health outcomes than their counterparts in the government‐sponsored household survey. This suggests that studies based on national household surveys may significantly underestimate both the extent and the consequences of child labor.
PROXY CONSENT AND COUNTERFACTUALS
Authors: NAGASAWA YUJIN
Published: October 2007

When patients are in vegetative states and their lives are maintained by medical devices, their surrogates might offer proxy consents on their behalf in order to terminate the use of the devices. The so‐called ‘substituted judgment thesis’ has been adopted by the courts regularly in order to determine the validity of such proxy consents. The thesis purports to evaluate proxy consents by appealing to putative counterfactual truths about what the patients would choose, were they to be competent. The aim of this paper is to reveal a significant limitation of the thesis, which has hitherto been recognised only vaguely and intuitively. By appealing to the metaphysics of counterfactuals I explain how the thesis fails to determine the validity of proxy consents in a number of actual cases.
INTERNATIONAL ETHICAL REGULATIONS ON PLACEBO‐USE IN CLINICAL TRIALS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
Authors: EHNI HANS‐JÖRG , WIESING URBAN
Published: October 2007

The ethical aspects of placebo control in clinical trials have been extensively and controversially debated in the last decade. However, a thorough analytical comparison of the different existing international regulations, their terminologies and their ethical principles concerning placebo, is still missing. The central issue in the ongoing controversy is the justification of placebo‐use, if proven treatment exists. All present versions of the examined guidelines propose such justifications, but each guideline differs from the others in relevant details. Therefore the conditions justifying placebo‐use according to each guideline are the focus of our attention. We will first propose a formalized general principle that defines the ethical acceptability of placebo‐use. Then we will analyse three categories of conditions put forward by the different documents: the risk of harm or burden, compelling scientific reasons, and the availability of proven treatment. The analysis shows important normative discrepancies and contradictions between the examined guidelines. Especially striking is the fact that some guidelines allow the participants in clinical trials to be exposed to a risk of serious harm, while others do not. Finally, we try to show how the normative difference of each guideline could influence the decision of researchers or IRBs concerning the ethical acceptabililty of placebo‐use.
AUTHORITATIVE REGULATION AND THE STEM CELL DEBATE
Authors: CAPPS BENJAMIN
Published: October 2007

In this paper I argue that liberal democratic communities are justified in regulating the activities of their members because of the inevitable existence of conflicting conceptions of what is considered as morally right. This will often lead to tension and disputes, and in such circumstances, reliance on peaceful or orderly co‐existence will not normally suffice. In such pluralistic societies, the boundary between permissible and impermissible activities will be unclear; and this becomes a particular concern in controversial issues which raise specific anxieties and uncertainty. One context that has repeatedly raised issues in this regard is that of biotechnology and, in particular, the recent stem cell debate, on which this paper concentrates. While such developments have the potential to make significant improvements to therapeutic progress, we should also be sceptical because predicting the impact of these developments remains uncertain and complex.

For the sake of socio‐political stability, it will therefore be necessary to enact and enforce rules which limit these competing claims in public policy but which may not be compatible with what individual moral commitments ideally permit. One way to achieve this is to establish procedural frameworks to resolve potential disputes in the public sphere about what is right, wrong, or permissible conduct. I argue that for one to commit to authoritative regulation, an idea of harm prevention through state intervention is necessary; and that this requires optimum mechanisms of procedure which allow the individual the opportunity to compromise and yet to continue to oppose or fight for changes as demanded by his or her moral position.
RATIONALIZING VACCINE INJURY COMPENSATION
Authors: MELLO MICHELLE M.
Published: October 2007

Legislation recently adopted by the United States Congress provides producers of pandemic vaccines with near‐total immunity from civil lawsuits without making individuals injured by those vaccines eligible for compensation through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The unusual decision not to provide an alternative mechanism for compensation is indicative of a broader problem of inconsistency in the American approach to vaccine‐injury compensation policy. Compensation policies have tended to reflect political pressures and economic considerations more than any cognizable set of principles. This article identifies a set of ethical principles bearing on the circumstances in which vaccine injuries should be compensated, both inside and outside public health emergencies. A series of possible bases for compensation rules, some grounded in utilitarianism and some nonconsequentialist, are discussed and evaluated. Principles of fairness and reasonableness are found to constitute the strongest bases. An ethically defensible compensation policy grounded in these principles would make a compensation fund available to all individuals with severe injuries and to individuals with less‐severe injuries whenever the vaccination was required by law or professional duty.
Contradictions between the virtual and physical high school classroom: A third‐generation Activity Theory perspective
Authors: Murphy Elizabeth , Manzanares María A. Rodríguez
Published: October 2007

This paper uses a third‐generation Activity Theory perspective to gain insight into the contradictions between the activity systems of the physical and virtual high school classroom from the perspective of teachers who had transitioned from one system to the other. Data collection relied on semi‐structured interviews conducted with e‐teachers as well as management/support personnel of an organisation charged with delivering web‐based high school courses in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Contradictions related to time and workload, physical presence, interaction and rapport building, and use of direct messaging and email. The contradictions can be explained by a difference between the mediating tools in each activity system. The absence in the virtual classroom of body language and visual presence as mediators requires e‐teachers to find new ways of interacting and building rapport and necessitates a shift from a practice of controlling to engaging students’ attention.
Measuring the quality of e‐learning
Authors: Hay David B. , Kehoe Caroline , Miquel Marc E. , Hatzipanagos Stylianos , Kinchin Ian M. , Keevil Steve F. , Lygo‐Baker Simon
Published: October 2007

This paper shows how concept mapping can be used to measure the quality of e‐learning. Six volunteers (all of them 3rd‐year medical students) took part in a programme of e‐learning designed to teach the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their understanding of MRI was measured before and after the course by the use of concept mapping. The quality of change in individuals' maps was assessed using criteria developed to distinguish between meaningful and rote‐learning outcomes. Student maps were also scored for evidence of conceptual richness and understanding. Finally, each map was compared directly with the content of the electronic teaching material.

The results show that many of the student misconceptions were put right in the course of their learning but that many of the key concepts introduced in the teaching were ignored (or sometimes learnt by rote) by the students. This was because the teaching material locked these new ideas in structures and terminology that precluded meaning‐making among non‐experts. Our data suggest that students' prior knowledge is a key determinant of meaningful learning. We suggest that this must be acknowledged if the design and use of electronic teaching material is also to be meaningful. Ultimately, measures of student learning are the only authentic indicators of the quality of teaching through technology.
Increasing interactivity in blended classrooms through a cutting‐edge mobile learning system
Authors: Shen Ruimin , Wang Minjuan , Pan Xiaoyan
Published: October 2007

Chinese classrooms, whether on school grounds or online, have long suffered from a lack of interactivity. Many online classes simply provide recorded lectures to which students listen after downloading. This format only reinforces the negative effects of passive non‐participatory learning. At the e‐Learning Lab of Shanghai Jiaotong University researchers and developers actively seek technologic interventions that can greatly increase interactivity in blended classes. They developed a cutting‐edge mobile learning system that can deliver live broadcast of real‐time classroom teaching to online students with mobile devices. Their system allows students to customise means of content‐reception, based on when and where the students are tuning in to the broadcast. The system also supports short text messaging and instant polls. Through these venues, students can ask questions and make suggestions in real time, and the instructor can address them immediately. Here we describe this system in detail, and also report results from a test implementation of the system with a blended classroom of 1000 students (250 campus and 750 online).
Does the discussion help? The impact of a formally assessed online discussion on final student results
Authors: Palmer Stuart , Holt Dale , Bray Sharyn
Published: October 2007

While there is agreement that participation in online asynchronous discussions can enhance student learning, it has also been identified that there is a need to investigate the impact of participation in online discussions on student course performance. This paper presents a case study based on an undergraduate engineering management unit employing a formally assessed online discussion area. It was observed that while many students read a significant number of discussion postings, generally, the posting of new and reply messages occurred at the minimum level required to qualify for the assignment marks. Based on correlation and multiple regression analysis, it was observed that two variables were significantly related to a student's final unit mark—prior academic ability and the number of new postings made to the online discussion. Each new posting contributed three times as much to the final unit mark as its nominal assessment value, suggesting that the work in preparing their new discussion postings assisted students in the completion of a range of assessable tasks for the unit. The number of postings read was not significantly correlated with the final unit mark, suggesting that passive lurking in this online discussion did not significantly contribute to student learning outcomes.
Student‐facilitators' roles in moderating online discussions
Authors: Wang Qiyun
Published: October 2007

Intellectual, social, managerial and technical are four commonly reported categories of facilitation in online discussions. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these four broad categories of facilitation were equally applied in online discussions and which specific skills were perceived to be more important. In this study, students were facilitators of online discussions. Each student‐facilitator led a group discussion and participated in two additional discussions moderated by other student‐facilitators. Three groups of students were selected for data collection. Results indicated that the intellectual, social and managerial categories of facilitation were highly applied, while technical facilitation was less used in the online discussions. Also, summarising discussions was perceived to be the top facilitation skill. This paper presents findings of the study and discusses issues involved in the study.
Semiparametric analysis of clustered survival data under nonparametric frailty
Authors: Naskar Malay
Published: October 2007

In this article a novel approach to analyze clustered survival data that are subject to extravariation encountered through clustering of survival times is proposed. This is accomplished by extending the Cox proportional hazard model to a frailty model where the cluster‐specific shared frailty is modeled nonparametrically. We assume a nonparametric Dirichlet process for the distribution of frailty. In such a semiparametric setup, we propose a hybrid method to draw model‐based inferences. In the framework of the proposed hybrid method, the estimation of parameters is performed by implementing Monte Carlo expected conditional maximization algorithm. A simulation study is conducted to study the efficiency of our methodology. The proposed methodology is, thereafter, illustrated by a real‐life data on recurrence time to infections in kidney patient.
Statistics for image sharpening
Authors: Grillenzoni Carlo
Published: October 2007

Sharpening filters increase the depth of digital images by adding a fraction of their gradient. This portion is tuned by a coefficient which is usually selected according to rules of thumb or subjective evaluation. This paper proposes statistical measures for designing such a parameter in a nearly automatic way, avoiding subjective evaluations. The proposed measures are based on the distance between sharpened and equalized images, which serve as an early reference, and test statistics of uniformity of the luminance histogram. More complex measures, based on the trade‐off between skewness and kurtosis, and variance and autocovariance of the sharpened image, are also studied. Numerical applications to various kinds of digital images show that the proposed measures provide similar and acceptable solutions.
Parameter Estimation for Differential Equations: a Generalized Smoothing Approach
Authors: Ramsay J. O. , Hooker G. , Campbell D. , Cao J.
Published: October 2007

We propose a new method for estimating parameters in models that are defined by a system of non-linear differential equations. Such equations represent changes in system outputs by linking the behaviour of derivatives of a process to the behaviour of the process itself. Current methods for estimating parameters in differential equations from noisy data are computationally intensive and often poorly suited to the realization of statistical objectives such as inference and interval estimation. The paper describes a new method that uses noisy measurements on a subset of variables to estimate the parameters defining a system of non-linear differential equations. The approach is based on a modification of data smoothing methods along with a generalization of profiled estimation. We derive estimates and confidence intervals, and show that these have low bias and good coverage properties respectively for data that are simulated from models in chemical engineering and neurobiology. The performance of the method is demonstrated by using real world data from chemistry and from the progress of the autoimmune disease lupus.
Measurement Error Modelling with an Approximate Instrumental Variable
Authors: Gustafson Paul
Published: October 2007

Consider using regression modelling to relate an exposure (predictor) variable to a disease outcome (response) variable. If the exposure variable is measured with error, but this error is ignored in the analysis, then misleading inferences can result. This problem is well known and has spawned a large literature on methods which adjust for measurement error in predictor variables. One theme is that the requisite assumptions about the nature of the measurement error can be stronger than what is actually known in many practical situations. In particular, the assumptions that are required to yield a model which is formally identified from the observable data can be quite strong. The paper deals with one particular strategy for measurement error modelling, namely that of seeking an instrumental variable, i.e. a covariate S which is associated with exposure and conditionally independent of the outcome given exposure. If these two conditions hold exactly, then we call S an exact instrumental variable, and an identified model results. However, the second is not checkable empirically, since the actual exposure is unobserved. In practice then, investigators typically seek a covariate which is plausibly thought to satisfy it. We study inferences which acknowledge the approximate nature of this assumption. In particular, we consider Bayesian inference with a prior distribution that posits that S is probably close to conditionally independent of outcome given exposure. We refer to this as an approximate instrumental variable assumption. Although the approximate instrumental variable assumption is more realistic for most applications, concern arises that a non-identified model may result. Thus the paper contrasts inferences arising from the approximate instrumental variable assumption with their exact instrumental variable counterparts, with particular emphasis on the benefit of basing inferences on a more realistic model versus the cost of basing inferences on a non-identified model.
Order-Free Co-Regionalized Areal Data Models with Application to Multiple-Disease Mapping
Authors: Jin Xiaoping , Banerjee Sudipto , Carlin Bradley P.
Published: October 2007

With the ready availability of spatial databases and geographical information system software, statisticians are increasingly encountering multivariate modelling settings featuring associations of more than one type: spatial associations between data locations and associations between the variables within the locations. Although flexible modelling of multivariate point-referenced data has recently been addressed by using a linear model of co-regionalization, existing methods for multivariate areal data typically suffer from unnecessary restrictions on the covariance structure or undesirable dependence on the conditioning order of the variables. We propose a class of Bayesian hierarchical models for multivariate areal data that avoids these restrictions, permitting flexible and order-free modelling of correlations both between variables and across areal units. Our framework encompasses a rich class of multivariate conditionally autoregressive models that are computationally feasible via modern Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. We illustrate the strengths of our approach over existing models by using simulation studies and also offer a real data application involving annual lung, larynx and oesophageal cancer death-rates in Minnesota counties between 1990 and 2000.
Statistical Classification with Missing Covariates
Authors: Mojirsheibani Majid , Montazeri Zahra
Published: October 2007

Some results related to statistical classification in the presence of missing covariates are presented. We derive representations for the best (Bayes) classifier when some of the covariates can be missing; this is done without imposing any assumptions on the underlying missing probability mechanism. Furthermore, without assuming any missingness-at-random type of conditions, we also construct Bayes consistent classifiers that do not require any imputation-based techniques. Both parametric and non-parametric situations are considered but the emphasis is on the latter. In addition to simple missingness patterns, we also consider the full Swiss cheese model, where the missing covariates can be anywhere. Both mechanics and the theoretical validity of our results are discussed.
Non-Parametric Regression Estimation from Data Contaminated by a Mixture of Berkson and Classical Errors
Authors: Carroll Raymond J. , Delaigle Aurore , Hall Peter
Published: October 2007

Estimation of a regression function is a well-known problem in the context of errors in variables, where the explanatory variable is observed with random noise. This noise can be of two types, which are known as classical or Berkson, and it is common to assume that the error is purely of one of these two types. In practice, however, there are many situations where the explanatory variable is contaminated by a mixture of the two errors. In such instances, the Berkson component typically arises because the variable of interest is not directly available and can only be assessed through a proxy, whereas the inaccuracy that is related to the observation of the latter causes an error of classical type. We propose a non-parametric estimator of a regression function from data that are contaminated by a mixture of the two errors. We prove consistency of our estimator, derive rates of convergence and suggest a data-driven implementation. Finite sample performance is illustrated via simulated and real data examples.
Semiparametric Estimation of Treatment Effects Given Base-Line Covariates on an Outcome Measured After a Post-Randomization Event Occurs
Authors: Jemiai Yannis , Rotnitzky Andrea , Shepherd Bryan E. , Gilbert Peter B.
Published: October 2007

We consider estimation, from a double-blind randomized trial, of treatment effect within levels of base-line covariates on an outcome that is measured after a post-treatment event E has occurred in the subpopulation 𝒫E,E that would experience event E regardless of treatment. Specifically, we consider estimation of the parameters γ indexing models for the outcome mean conditional on treatment and base-line covariates in the subpopulation 𝒫E,E. Such parameters are not identified from randomized trial data but become identified if additionally it is assumed that the subpopulation 𝒫E,E of subjects that would experience event E under the second treatment but not under the first is empty and a parametric model for the conditional probability that a subject experiences event E if assigned to the first treatment given that the subject would experience the event if assigned to the second treatment, his or her outcome under the second treatment and his or her pretreatment covariates. We develop a class of estimating equations whose solutions comprise, up to asymptotic equivalence, all consistent and asymptotically normal estimators of γ under these two assumptions. In addition, we derive a locally semiparametric efficient estimator of γ. We apply our methods to estimate the effect on mean viral load of vaccine versus placebo after infection with human immunodeficiency virus (the event E) in a placebo-controlled randomized acquired immune deficiency syndrome vaccine trial.
A New Test for the Parametric Form of the Variance Function in Non-Parametric Regression
Authors: Dette Holger , Neumeyer Natalie , Keilegom Ingrid Van
Published: October 2007

In the common non-parametric regression model the problem of testing for the parametric form of the conditional variance is considered. A stochastic process based on the difference between the empirical processes that are obtained from the standardized non-parametric residuals under the null hypothesis (of a specific parametric form of the variance function) and the alternative is introduced and its weak convergence established. This result is used for the construction of a Kolmogorov–Smirnov and a Cramér–von Mises type of statistic for testing the parametric form of the conditional variance. The consistency of a bootstrap approximation is established, and the finite sample properties of this approximation are investigated by means of a simulation study. In particular the new procedure is compared with some of the currently available methods for this problem.
The Turing Test as Interactive Proof
Authors: Shieber Stuart M.
Published: October 2007

In 1950, Alan Turing proposed his eponymous test based on indistinguishability of verbal behavior as a replacement for the question “Can machines think?” Since then, two mutually contradictory but well‐founded attitudes towards the Turing Test have arisen in the philosophical literature. On the one hand is the attitude that has become philosophical conventional wisdom, viz., that the Turing Test is hopelessly flawed as a sufficient condition for intelligence, while on the other hand is the overwhelming sense that were a machine to pass a real live full‐fledged Turing Test, it would be a sign of nothing but our orneriness to deny it the attribution of intelligence. The arguments against the sufficiency of the Turing Test for determining intelligence rely on showing that some extra conditions are logically necessary for intelligence beyond the behavioral properties exhibited by an agent under a Turing Test. Therefore, it cannot follow logically from passing a Turing Test that the agent is intelligent. I argue that these extra conditions can be revealed by the Turing Test, so long as we allow a very slight weakening of the criterion from one of logical proof to one of statistical proof under weak realizability assumptions. The argument depends on the notion of interactive proof developed in theoretical computer science, along with some simple physical facts that constrain the information capacity of agents. Crucially, the weakening is so slight as to make no conceivable difference from a practical standpoint. Thus, the Gordian knot between the two opposing views of the sufficiency of the Turing Test can be cut.
Being Emotional about the Past: On the Nature and Role of Past‐Directed Emotions*
Authors: Debus Dorothea
Published: October 2007

We sometimes experience emotions which are directed at past events (or situations) which we witnessed at the time when they occurred (or obtained). The present paper explores the role which such “autobiographically past‐directed emotions” (or “APD‐emotions”) play in a subject's mental life. A defender of the “Memory‐Claim” holds that an APD‐emotion is amemory, namely a memory of the emotion which the subject experienced at the time when the event originally occurred (or the situation obtained) towards which the APD‐emotion is directed. On this view, APD‐emotions might play an important role in our acquiring knowledge about our own past emotions, which renders the view rather attractive. However, as I show in the present paper, none of the various possible versions of the Memory‐Claim are tenable. This leaves us with the “Universal‐New‐Emotion‐Claim”, according to which all APD‐emotions are new emotional responses to the past events (or situations) towards which the relevant APD‐emotions are directed. Further consideration of the “Universal‐New‐Emotion‐Claim” shows that while APD‐emotions do not play the epistemological role they could have played had some version of the Memory‐Claim turned out to be true, a subject's APD‐emotions nevertheless do play a vital role in a subject's mental life: they help the subject to develop a balanced sense of self.
Usury legislation, cash, and credit: the development of the female investor in the late Tudor and Stuart periods1
Authors: SPICKSLEY JUDITH
Published: October 2007

This article uses testamentary evidence from Lincoln diocesan court between the 1570s and the 1690s to examine links between inheritance, a rise in money‐lending amongst single women, and an increase in the proportion of women that never married. Two trends emerge: first, more fathers after the 1570s chose to bequeath cash to their daughters; second, they were more likely to restrict access to this portion by age rather than marriage. Assisted by a softening of attitudes towards interest‐bearing lending, these changes offered some single women a measure of financial independence that may have impacted on their marriage decisions.
Contract Damages, Corrective Justice and Punishment
Authors: Lee Pey‐Woan
Published: October 2007

This article re‐examines the established principle that contract damages compensate but do not punish from the theoretical perspective of corrective justice and, in particular, the version advocated by Professor Ernest Weinrib. Weinrib argues that corrective justice affirms the traditional view that contract damages should be circumscribed by compensatory functions, and the notion of punitive damages is inconsistent with the structure of corrective justice and hence contractual rights. The correctness of this conclusion depends, however, on what is understood by punishment. This article argues that punishment is not necessarily explicable only as a form of state punishment, but may (adopting the retributive idea of punishment expounded by Jane Hampton) also be understood as a form of correlatively‐structured response that redresses the moral injury inflicted by one's conduct on another. If that is the case, punitive damages for breach of contract may be justified even within the framework of corrective justice.
Rethinking Product Liability: A Missing Element in the European Commission's Third Review of the European Product Liability Directive
Authors: Fairgrieve Duncan , Howells Geraint
Published: October 2007

The paper uses the opportunity afforded by the European Commission's Third Report of the Product Liability Directive to assess the present state of product liability in Europe. It notes that despite the maximal harmonisation character of the Directive there is a risk of divergence between Member States on key issues including the core concept of defectiveness. The Commission seems at times confused (for example, as regards the relationship between defect and fault liability) and more often complacent about the risks of divergence; but this sits uneasily with the espousal of maximal harmonisation. Ultimately there may be a need for a rethinking of product liability to ensure greater clarity as regards the underlying rationale supporting strict liability. This seems unlikely to materialise in the near future and so at the very least the Commission should act to clarify some core concepts that are proving difficult to interpret for the courts.
Dallapiccola's Early Synthesis: No. 1, ‘Vespro, Tutto Riporti’, from Cinque Frammenti di Saffo
Authors: Earle Ben
Published: October 2007

Recent Italian commentary on the twelve‐note music of Luigi Dallapiccola (1904–75) has tended to reject the characteristic image of this composer's work that was established during his lifetime. Notions of a ‘typically Italian lyricism’ or a ‘Mediterranean serialism’ have been jettisoned in favour of an emphasis on the neo‐Webernian ‘rigour’ of his technique. Such revisionism is misguided. Not only does this new approach exhibit a narrow formalism, but it also downplays the very elements that have granted Dallapiccola's twelve‐note music its special position on the periphery of the twentieth‐century repertory. By means of detailed analysis of Dallapiccola's first fully dodecaphonic work, the first of the Cinque frammenti di Saffo (1942), this article mounts a defence of the old critical line. Rather than merely highlighting instances of serial ‘rigour’, the aim is to provide an appreciation of the richness and complexity of the synthesis of stylistic, technical and expressive elements in Dallapiccola's music of this period.
‘AsylumGained’? AspectsofMeaninginThomasAdès'sAsyla
Authors: Venn Edward
Published: October 2007

Critical commentary on Thomas Adès's orchestral pieceAsyla(1997) has so far chosen to concentrate on the implications of the work's ambivalent title. The present article seeks to explore the nature of this reception history in greater depth, in particular the way thatAsylahas been represented through the medium of television. Employing strategies outlined in Nicholas Cook's work on musical multimedia, this form of visual mediation is combined with the music ofAsylain order to fashion a coherent hermeneutic paradigm. Concerned to question the purpose of any univocal interpretation, however, a formalist reading of the work's finale then proceeds to invert the relationship between primary and secondary analytical perspectives, an approach which reveals the value of an expanded semantic field.
Co‐operatingContinuities in theMusic ofThomasAdès
Authors: Roeder John
Published: October 2007

Jonathan Kramer defined postmodern music as an ironic, fragmentary mix of past and present compositional procedures embodying multiple temporal dimensions. Recent theorising grounded in phenomenological and cognitive‐scientific accounts of musical experience suggests that it may be possible to develop a more insightful interpretative perspective by extending Kramer's notions of ‘direction’, ‘linearity’, ‘narrative’ and ‘motion’ to more fundamental concepts of continuity, beginning and ending. With respect to the search for a coherent analytical method, the music of the acclaimed young British composer Thomas Adès merits special attention, in part due to the consistency with which his work employs elemental continuities, but also on account of the variety of temporalities that he composes from them. The present survey aims to explore the means by which these continuities are made apparent, at the same time showing how they are obliged to co‐operate in order to articulate and direct time in characteristically postmodern ways. Excerpts are examined from a range of pieces, includingTraced Overhead,ArcadianaandAsyla. These analyses illustrate the paradoxical nature of postmodern musical time, in which linearity can be understood to emerge from locally various periodicities and trends.
Starting in the Middle: Auxiliary Cadences in the Beatles’ Songs
Authors: Wagner Naphtali
Published: October 2007

Establishment of the opening tonic is one of the structural foundations of orthodox tonal practice regardless of period or genre. While this principle was almost always honoured, historically speaking, throughout the eighteenth century, nineteenth‐century composers sometimes chose to deviate from it, as did the Beatles in the rather different context of twentieth‐century popular song. The present discussion of non‐tonic beginnings in the music of the Beatles is based primarily on the Schenkerian concept of the auxiliary cadence. In the first instance, it explores the nature of such cadences located either at the opening of a song, or at the beginning of one of its inner subdivisions. In addition to illuminating the functional significance of the absent tonic, the commentary also proceeds to evaluate its purpose as a rhetorical device intended to amplify the meaning of the sung text. During the course of the narrative, a number of important distinctions are drawn between auxiliary progressions and regressions, open and closed auxiliary units, and short‐range and long‐range auxiliary progressions. Among the various songs examined in some detail are: ‘She Loves You’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I’ll Follow the Sun’, ‘Help!’, ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘I Am the Walrus’, ‘Hello Goodbye’ and ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’.
Subjectivity and theConstruction ofEmotion in theMusic ofBjörk
Authors: Dibben Nicola
Published: October 2007

A commonly held reception theory for popular song is that it constitutes an expression of emotional experience belonging either to the performer(s), to the listener, or to a virtual third person. Drawing on the belief that music is capable of affording subject positions on behalf of its listeners, the present article argues that organised sound is not only capable of representing or embodying a pre‐existent affective experience, but that it contributes uniquely to the idea of what emotion is and of how it is perceived. In this respect music can be understood as participating in the cultural construction of feeling that has helped to shape the identity of the modern Western subject. Two tracks by Björk are presented as case study illustrations of this thesis: ‘Unison’ (Vespertine2001) and the music video ‘Jóga’ (Volumen1999). Thus Björk's music, along with the discursive media surrounding it, is shown to rely upon a distinctive expressive vocabulary aimed at communicating a particular kind of embodied subjectivity.
Postdural Puncture Headache is a Risk Factor for New Postdural Puncture Headache
Authors: Amorim JA , Valença MM
Published: October 2007

The aim of this study was to determine if patients with a previous history of postdural puncture headache (PDPH) might be prone to a new episode after spinal anaesthesia. Consecutive patients ( n = 258) who had had surgery under spinal anaesthesia were studied. Of 42 patients with a previous history of PDPH, eight (19.0±) developed a new PDPH episode; whereas out of 216 without a previous history of PDPH, only 15 (6.9±) presented with PDPH. Previous PDPH history indicates a higher chance of a new episode of PDPH after spinal anaesthesia. Women are more susceptible to such recurrences.
The third in the shadow of the fourth
Authors: Ulanov Ann Belford
Published: October 2007

Abstract:  The notion of the third in recent years is seen by noted psychoanalysts as the locus of healing. Jung explored the third beginning in 1916 in a way strikingly postmodern in its implications for clinical work and for understanding reality. This article1 proposes that we cannot see the third except in the shadow of the fourth, and attempts to describe what the fourth is. The fourth remains shadowy (suggesting two meanings of shadow); it is only known by living it, for we are part of the larger reality it discloses. In experiencing this fourth, we are led to develop whatever we each leave out. Hence the aliveness of the fourth engenders a new kind of consciousness of the bigger surround, the moreness of reality as a whole that includes and transcends the psyche.
Casper or ‘the cabinet of horrors’
Authors: Cavalli Alessandra
Published: October 2007

Abstract:  This paper is an account of a four‐times‐a‐week analysis with a very deprived, feral‐like child. The author, who has come to understand feral children as very deprived children, turns to an historical account written in 1826 by Anselm von Feuerbach, the jurist who was asked to make enquiries into the identity of a savage and mysterious boy, Kaspar Hauser. The author describes how she has made use of the observations and thoughts of Anselm von Feurbach in her attempts to process her own thoughts and reflections around the unfolding clinical material and how the exploration of the differences and similarities between Casper and Kaspar Hauser helped her to gradually grasp the psychological essence of the patient. The question of an appropriate reading of the clinical material for theoretical purposes remains open.
Species characteristics associated with extinction vulnerability and nestedness rankings of birds in tropical forest fragments
Authors: Feeley K. J. , Gillespie T. W. , Lebbin D. J. , Walter H. S.
Published: October 2007

Following habitat fragmentation, species are predicted to go locally extinct from remnant patches in a predictable order due to differential extinction vulnerabilities. This selective species loss will result in nested distributions of species such that species found in depauperate patches will also tend to be found in larger, more speciose patches. Therefore, it should be possible to determine the relationship between species‐specific characteristics and extinction vulnerability by comparing the order in which species are nested [i.e. nestedness ranking (NR)] with various natural history characteristics available from the literature and/or collected in the field. In this study, we investigate the relationship between the NRs of 41 resident forest‐interior bird species inhabiting recently isolated landbridge islands in Lago Guri, Venezuela, with a large number of natural history characteristics collected from the literature (regional abundance, body length, habitat specificity, trophic guild, sensitivity to disturbance, range size) and from the field (local population density). In a comparison of the best regression models generated using just variables available through the literature (i.e. no local population density) with the best model generated using all possible variables, we found that the inclusion of field‐based data significantly improved the amount of variation explained. The best overall model (r2=0.40, P<0.001) included body size, habitat specificity, zoogeographic distribution (a measure of range size) and local population density as predictors of NR. Understanding the factors that influence extinction vulnerability has important implications for conservation and could be used to help direct management efforts.
Prevalence of undiagnosed autoimmune rheumatic diseases in the first trimester of pregnancy. Results of a two‐steps strategy using a self‐administered questionnaire and autoantibody testing
Authors: Spinillo A , Beneventi F , Epis OM , Montanari L , Mammoliti D , Ramoni V , Di Silverio E , Alpini C , Caporali R , Montecucco C
Published: October 2007

Objective  To evaluate the prevalence of undiagnosed rheumatic diseases in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Design  We screened for rheumatic diseases in 1210 consecutive pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy using a 10‐item questionnaire.

Setting  A university hospital in northern Italy.

Population  One hundred and thirty‐seven (11.3%) women who answered positively to at least one question constituted the cases and were compared with 107 negative controls.

Methods  Cases and controls were tested for rheumatic autoantibodies (antinuclear antibody, anti‐double‐stranded DNA, anti‐extractable nuclear antigen, anticardiolipin antibody, anti‐β2‐glycoprotein I antibodies and lupus anticoagulant) and were evaluated by a rheumatologist for a definite diagnosis of rheumatic disease.

Main outcome measures  Prevalence of undiagnosed rheumatic disease in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Results  The overall rate of positivity to the antibodies tested was 43.1% (59/137) among cases and 9.3% (10/107) in the controls (P < 0.001). A definitive diagnosis of rheumatic disease was made in 35 cases (25.5%) and in none of the controls (P <0.001). In stepwise logistic regression analysis, photosensitivity (adjusted OR 5.72; 95% CI 2.38–13.8), erythema or malar rash (adjusted OR 3.91; 95% CI 1.53–10) and history of two or more miscarriages (adjusted OR 5.6; 95% CI 1.55–20.6) were independent predictors of a definitive diagnosis of rheumatic disease (area under receiving operator curve = 0.814; 95% CI 0.76–0.86). Birthweight was lower (3180 g ± 475 compared with 3340 g ± 452, P= 0.008), and overall serious pregnancy complications (miscarriage, fetal growth restriction, delivery before 34 weeks of pregnancy and severe pre‐eclampsia) were higher among cases (12/137) than controls (2/107) (adjusted OR 5.60; 95% CI 1.29–24.3; P= 0.021).

Conclusions  A two‐step screening process with a self‐administered questionnaire proved to be a useful method to screen for undiagnosed rheumatic diseases during the first trimester of pregnancy.
Weight gain restriction for obese pregnant women: a case–control intervention study
Authors: Claesson I‐M , Sydsjö G , Brynhildsen J , Cedergren M , Jeppsson A , Nyström F , Sydsjö A , Josefsson A
Published: October 2007

Objective  To minimise obese women’s total weight gain during pregnancy to less than 7 kg and to investigate the delivery and neonatal outcome.

Design  A prospective case–control intervention study.

Setting  Antenatal care clinics in the southeast region of Sweden.

Population  One hundred fifty‐five pregnant women in an index group and one hundred ninety‐three women in a control group.

Methods  An intervention programme with weekly motivational talks and aqua aerobic classes for obese pregnant women.

Main outcome measures  Weight gain in kilograms, delivery and neonatal outcome.

Results  The index group had a significantly lower weight gain during pregnancy compared with the control group (P < 0.001). The women in the index group weighed less at the postnatal check‐up compared with the weight registered in early pregnancy (P < 0.001). The percentage of women in the index group who gained less than 7 kg was greater than that of women in the control group who gained less than 7 kg (P= 0.003). The percentage of nulliparous women in this group was greater than that in the control group (P= 0.018). In addition, the women in the index group had a significantly lower body mass index at the postnatal check‐up, compared with the control group (P < 0.001). There were no differences between the index group and the control group regarding birthweight, gestational age and mode of delivery.

Conclusion  The intervention programme was effective in controlling weight gain during pregnancy and did not affect delivery or neonatal outcome.
Comparison of the long‐term effects of simple total abdominal hysterectomy with transcervical endometrial resection on urinary incontinence
Authors: Allahdin S , Harrild K , Warraich QA , Bain C
Published: October 2007

Objective  To test the hypothesis that the hospital referral rate for urinary incontinence (UI) symptoms, within 10 years of a simple total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) for dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB), would differ to that after a transcervical resection of the endometrium (TCRE).

Design  Retrospective case note review.

Setting  Teaching hospital in north east Scotland.

Population  All women who had a TAH (316) or a TCRE (229) for DUB, during the period from 1 January 1990 to 31 December 1994, who had never been referred for symptoms of UI prior to their operation.

Methods  Independent t tests, Mann–Whitney U tests and Chi‐squared tests were used to compare the two study groups in terms of demographic details and outcome measures. Newcombe’s method for the comparison of two unpaired proportions was used to calculate 95% CIs for the differences in outcome measures between the two operations. Logistic regression was conducted to investigate associations with hospital referral for UI.

Main outcome measures  Hospital referral for UI at 10 years follow up.

Results  There were significantly more hospital referrals for UI in the TAH group compared with the TCRE group (46 [15%] versus 16 [7%]; OR 2.27, 95% CI 1.25–4.12). More women were referred for urological investigations after a TAH than after a TCRE (39 [12%] versus 13 [6%], 95% CI for the difference in proportions 2–11%). A higher, but statistically nonsignificant, proportion of women had objectively demonstrated UI after a TAH than after a TCRE (25 [8%] versus 10 [4%], 95% CI for the difference in proportions −1 to 8%). There were a greater number of hospital referrals for treatment of UI in the TAH group (36, 11%) than in the TCRE group (12, 5%), 95% CI for the difference in proportions (1–11%). After adjusting for age, weight, smoking status and mode of delivery, the increased rate of hospital referral for UI after TAH remained, with an odds ratio of 2.31, 95% CI 1.24–4.30.

Conclusions  TAH is associated with a significantly increased incidence of hospital referral for UI, urological investigations and treatment for UI at 10 years of follow up compared with TCRE.