bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
He Said, She Said
Authors: Gable Shelly L. , Reis Harry T. , Downey Geraldine
Published: December 2004

In everyday life, close relationship partners enact behaviors through which they may influence each other. To understand how these exchanges affect partners, previous research has emphasized the enactors' reports, the receivers' perceptions, or the congruence of the two. We developed a strategy based on classic signal detection theory that combined elements from these three approaches in a naturalistic daily experience study. Members of 58 heterosexual dating couples reported daily on their own behaviors and their perceptions of their partners' behaviors. Results showed that an enactor's beliefs about his or her behavior and the perceiver's interpretation combined to affect daily mood and relationship satisfaction. However, different patterns of results emerged for positive and negative behaviors, such that the enactor's perspective accounted for independent effects of negative behaviors. Results show the value of simultaneously considering the perspective of both parties in social interaction.
Models of Consistency
Authors: Legrenzi Paolo , Girotto Vittorio , Johnson-Laird P.N.
Published: December 2004

This article presents a theory of how individuals detect whether descriptions of an entity are consistent or inconsistent. The theory postulates that individuals try to construct a mental model of the entity in which all the propositions are true. If they succeed, they infer that the description is consistent; otherwise, they infer that it is inconsistent. We report three experiments that corroborated the theory. Experiment 1 confirmed that evaluating consistency is easier when an initial model suffices than when reasoners have to find an alternative model. Experiment 2 established the occurrence of illusory inferences about the properties of entities. Experiment 3 showed that the illusions correspond to mental models of the assertions, even when these models are wrong because they fail to represent what is false.
History Matters
Authors: Kunar Melina A. , Humphreys Glyn W. , Smith Kelly J.
Published: December 2004

Visual search for a conjunction target is made easier when distractor items are temporally segregated over time to produce two separate old and new groups (the new group containing the target item). The benefit of presenting half the distractors first is known as the preview effect. Recently, some researchers have argued that the preview effect occurs because new stimuli capture attention. This account was tested in the present study by using a novel “top-up” condition that exploits the fact that when previews appear only briefly before the search display, there is minimal preview benefit. We show that effects of a brief preview can be “topped up” by an earlier exposure of the same items, even when the preview disappears between its first and second presentations. This top-up effect demonstrates that the history of the old stimuli is important for the preview benefit, contrary to the account favoring onset capture. We discuss alternative accounts of how the preview benefit arises.
Ideas, bargaining and flexible policy communities: policy change and the case of the Oxford Transport Strategy
Authors: Dudley Geoffrey
Published: December 2004

Critiques of policy networks have highlighted particularly the inability of concepts such as policy communities to explain policy change. The established construction of policy community places it chiefly as a metaphor for a relatively stable network within the policy process, which emphasizes the resource dependencies between key stakeholders. Typically, a process of bargaining brings about accommodation and a state of negotiated order.

However, a key problem arises in explaining major policy change where an established policy community persists. One solution here is to appreciate that, over time, dominant ideas and associated policy meanings may shift appreciably within an otherwise durable policy community. Thus, even a seemingly insulated policy community, under certain conditions, may not be immune to idea mutation and new policy meanings. Given the central importance of policy communities, these shifts may induce significant policy change.

A case study of this type is provided by the Oxford Transport Strategy (OTS), where a dual process of change took place. On one level of analysis, a challenge to the policy community produced a typical bargaining strategy, with an emphasis on negotiated order. On another level of analysis, however, the terms of the policy debate shifted markedly, and produced a new meaning for the key concept of integrated transport within the policy community. In turn, this process induced significant policy change. The article concludes that, ironically, the survival of a policy community depends on its ability to re‐create itself by visualizing a new future.
The code of conduct against harmful tax competition: open method of coordination in disguise?
Authors: Radaelli Claudio M.
Published: December 2004

The European Union is experimenting with new, non‐binding policy instruments in business taxation, namely a voluntary code of conduct among member states against harmful tax competition. This article raises the question to what extent can the code be considered a manifestation of the open method of coordination (OMC)? Is an open method (based on guidelines, peer review, best practice, benchmarking, learning and diffusion of shared beliefs among policy‐makers) emerging as a new governance architecture in tax policy? If so, what can the code achieve in terms of policy learning and convergence? There are similarities between the code and the open method of coordination – especially with reference to guidelines, peer review, timetables and the identification of ‘worst practice’. However, the political logic of the code does not fit in well with the OMC aims of participatory governance and social learning. In terms of achievements, the code has contributed to the creation of a community of discourse and the diffusion of shared beliefs about what constitutes ‘acceptable’ and ‘harmful’ tax competition. Convergence at the level of discourse, however, should not be confused with convergence of actual tax policies in the member states.
Strawson's Anti‐Scepticism: A Critical Reconstruction
Authors: Wong Wai‐hung
Published: December 2004

Strawson suggests an anti‐sceptical strategy which consists in offering good reason for ignoring scepticism rather than trying to refute it, and the reason he offers is that beliefs about the external world are indispensable to us. I give an exposition of Strawson's arguments for the indispensability thesis and explain why they are not strong enough. I then propose an argument based on some of Davidson's ideas in his theory of radical interpretation, which I think can establish the indispensability thesis. Finally, I spell out the force of Strawson's anti‐sceptical strategy by arguing that we have good reason for ignoring scepticism not only because beliefs about the world are indispensable, but also because it is irrational to have both beliefs about the world and sceptical doubts.
Social security privatisation: the lessons from the Chilean experience for other Latin American countries and the USA
Authors: Borzutzky Silvia
Published: December 2004

The purpose of this article is to analyse the economic and social implications of the privatisation of social security in Chile and to draw some lessons from the Chilean experience. The focus of the analysis is on the costs and benefits of the privatised system and its impact on social equity. Thus, the main section of the article is devoted to the analysis of the 20‐year‐old Chilean experience. This section is followed by a discussion of privatisation in other Latin American countries and the impact that World Bank's policies have had on the region. The last section looks at the lessons for the United States and argues against the establishment of a partially private plan in the USA.
Surveillance and Security: A Dodgy Relationship1
Authors: Peissl Walter
Published: December 2004

Modern societies are vulnerable. We have known this long before the attacks of 11 September 2001, but they made it clear to everyone. The second lesson learned from the attacks was that it is impossible to foresee such events. Although these attacks to the real world were “low‐tech”, now there are attempts around the globe to control especially the electronic or virtual world. However, does more surveillance really lead to more security? If so, what will be the price we have to pay?

National states try to provide their citizens with a high level of security, but the effort for better security often gets mixed up with the claim for more surveillance. This is one reason why, over the past few months, governmental activities seemed to jeopardise the internationally acknowledged fundamental right of privacy. Societal security versus personal freedom is an old and well‐known area of conflict. In the light of the incidents of 11 September 2001 some old ideas for surveillance and for measures restricting privacy got on the agenda again – and new ones keep emerging.

This article will give an overview of what happened on a governmental level after 11 September 2001 in the EU, in some EU‐member states and in the USA. Apart from political actions, we already face even direct socio‐economic implications as some anonymiser services were shut down. They empowered Internet users to protect their right of privacy, and they were the first targets of investigation and suspicion. Shutting down these services reduces the potential room for users to protect their privacy by using Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs). This is an indicator for a serious societal problem: democracy has already changed.

In the second part I will analyse the relationship between surveillance and security and I will argue that, and give reasons why, these international over‐reactions will not lead to the intended effects. Rather, they will have long‐term implications for the respective societies. So in the end this has to be acknowledged in a necessary appreciation of values.
An electrophysiological analysis of animacy effects in the processing of object relative sentences
Authors: Weckerly Jill , Kutas Marta
Published: December 2004

Event‐related brain potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate how and when a semantic factor (animacy) affects the early analysis of a difficult syntactic structure, namely, object relative sentences. We contrasted electrophysiological and behavioral responses to two object relative types that were syntactically and lexically identical and varied only in the order of the component animate and inanimate nouns [Inanimate (Animate) vs. Animate (Inanimate)]. ERPs were recorded from 40 subjects to each word of 30 I(A) and 30 A(I) sentences that occurred randomly among a set of various other sentence types read for comprehension. ERP effects to the early noun animacy manipulation were observed beginning with the initial noun and extending past the main clause verbs. We interpret the timing and multitude of electrophysiological effects, including the N400, P600, and left‐anterior negativity, as evidence that both semantic and syntactic, and perhaps other types of information, are used early during structural analysis and message‐level computations as needed for comprehension.
Insights from event‐related potentials into the temporal and hierarchical organization of the ventral and dorsal streams of the visual system in selective attention
Authors: Martín‐Loeches Manuel , Hinojosa José A. , Rubia Francisco J.
Published: December 2004

The temporal and hierarchical relationships between the dorsal and the ventral streams in selective attention are known only in relation to the use of spatial location as the attentional cue mediated by the dorsal stream. To improve this state of affairs, event‐related brain potentials were recorded while subjects attended simultaneously to motion direction (mediated by the dorsal stream) and to a property mediated by the ventral stream (color or shape). At about the same time, a selection positivity (SP) started for attention mediated by both streams. However, the SP for color and shape peaked about 60 ms later than motion SP. Subsequently, a selection negativity (SN) followed by a late positive component (LPC) were found simultaneously for attention mediated by both streams. A hierarchical relationship between the two streams was not observed, but neither SN nor LPC for one property was completely insensitive to the values of the other property.
Event‐related potential correlates of individual differences in working memory capacity
Authors: Nittono Hiroshi , Nageishi Yasuhiro , Nakajima Yoshiaki , Ullsperger Peter
Published: December 2004

The capacity of working memory has been suggested to differ among people and these differences affect performance in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. This study explored electrophysiological correlates of individual differences in working memory capacity by means of event‐related potentials. Thirty‐four healthy students performed two‐ and five‐choice reaction time tasks. In the two‐choice reaction time (2CRT) task, two digits (3 and 7) were presented visually with probabilities of .20 and .80. In the five‐choice reaction time (5CRT) task, five digits (3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) were presented equiprobably in a random order. Participants were required to press a button corresponding to each digit with a different finger. Working memory capacity of each participant was assessed by the reading span test originated by M. Daneman and P.A. Carpenter (1980). Participants with high reading span produced larger P300s than did persons with low reading span in the 5CRT task, but the difference was not significant in the 2CRT task. It had been suggested that individual differences in working memory capacity would affect initial stages of information processing as early as 300 ms after stimulus onset.
Evaluating group distributional characteristics: Why psychophysiologists should be interested in qualitative departures from the normal distribution
Authors: Riniolo Todd C. , Porges Stephen W.
Published: December 2004

Real data often do not approximate the normal distribution. Under nonnormal conditions, psychophysiologists who use parametric statistics may be testing with inadequate power and/or testing a measure of location (i.e., the mean) that does not represent the desired portion of the distribution for statistical comparison. The purpose of this paper is: first, to provide psychophysiologists with a method to investigate group distributional characteristics; second, to evaluate the distributional characteristics of heart period and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in human adults and newborns; third, to demonstrate the increased statistical power that can accompany the selection of an alternative statistical analysis for nonnormal data. Suggestions are provided on how to analyze nonnormal data.
A comparison of different time series techniques to analyze phasic coupling: A case study of cardiac and electrodermal activity
Authors: Kettunen Joni , Ravaja Niklas
Published: December 2004

This study examined the efficiency of different time series analysis techniques to extract information on the coupling of spontaneous phasic physiological responses. We compared four bivariate approaches, cross‐spectral, cross‐covariance, cross‐covariance with prewhitening, and dynamic factor analysis, in their ability to yield unbiased estimates of (a) shared variance, (b) covariance, (c) strength of relationship, and (d) interchannel time‐lag in empirical and simulated interbeat interval–electrodermal activity (IBI–EDA) time series. All methods produced similar estimates of the grand‐averaged IBI–EDA dynamics, but only the measures of covariance produced reliable and unbiased estimates of the interindividual distribution of IBI–EDA coupling. We conclude that the extraction of phasic response patterns during continuous and unrestricted experimental situations may considerably facilitate psychophysiological research.
An electrophysiological study of the locus of the interference effect in a stimulus‐response compatibility paradigm
Authors: Masaki Hiroaki , Takasawa Noriyoshi , Yamazaki Katuo
Published: December 2004

This study investigated the locus of the interference effect in a stimulus–response compatibility task using event‐related potentials (ERPs). Ten participants were instructed to respond to stimulus color with the left or right middle finger. Red or blue arrows pointed in the same direction as the response hand on congruent trials and pointed in the opposite direction on incongruent trials. Neutral trials were red or blue horizontal bars. Reaction times (RTs) to incongruent stimuli were significantly longer than RTs to congruent stimuli. The peak latency of the P300 for incongruent stimuli was significantly longer than that for congruent stimuli. In addition, onset of stimulus‐locked lateralized readiness potential (LRPs) was significantly later for incongruent stimuli than for congruent stimuli. However, electromyogram (EMG)‐locked LRPs for incongruent stimuli showed incorrect preparation. These results suggest that the interference effect might occur at the stage in which stimulus evaluation processes and response‐related processes overlap.
Memory for drawings in locations: Spatial source memory and event‐related potentials
Authors: van Petten Cyma , Senkfor Ava J. , Newberg Wendy M.
Published: December 2004

Event‐related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during recognition tasks for line drawings (items) or for both drawings and their spatial locations (sources). Recognized drawings elicited more positive ERPs than new drawings. Independent of accuracy in the spatial judgment, the old/new effect in the source recognition task was larger over the prefrontal scalp, and of longer temporal duration than in the item recognition task, suggesting that the source memory task engaged a qualitatively distinct memory process. More posterior scalp sites were sensitive to the accuracy of the source judgment, but this effect was delayed relative to the difference between studied and unstudied drawings, suggesting that source memory processes are completed after item recognition. Similarities and differences between spatial source memory and memory for conjunctions of other stimulus attributes are discussed, together with the role of prefrontal cortex in memory.
Ocular motor delayed‐response task performance among patients with schizophrenia and their biological relatives
Authors: McDowell Jennifer E. , Brenner Colleen A. , Myles‐Worsley Marina , Coon Hilary , Byerley William , Clementz Brett A.
Published: December 2004

Schizophrenia patients and their relatives have saccadic abnormalities characterized by problems inhibiting a response. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and its associated circuitry ostensibly mediate inhibition and support correct delayed response performance. In this context, two components of delayed response task performance are of interest: memory saccade metrics and error saccades made during the delay. To evaluate these variables, an ocular motor delayed response task was presented to 23 schizophrenia patients, 25 of their first‐degree biological relatives, and 19 normal subjects. The measure that best differentiated groups was an increased frequency of error saccades generated during the delay by schizophrenia subjects and relatives. Decreased memory saccade gain also characterized patients and relatives. The similar pattern of results demonstrated by the patients with schizophrenia and their relatives suggests that performance on ocular motor delayed response tasks, either alone or in combination with other saccadic variables, may provide useful information about neural substrates associated with a liability for developing schizophrenia.
An electromyographic investigation of the effect of stimulus–response mapping on choice reaction time
Authors: Hasbroucq Thierry , Burle Borís , Akamatsu Motoyuki , Vidal Franck , Possamaï Camille‐Aimé
Published: December 2004

The activity of the agonist muscles was recorded during the performance of a two‐choice visual reaction time (RT) task in which the compatibility of the stimulus–response mapping was manipulated. Correct trials were distinguished according to whether or not the activation of the agonist of the required response was preceded by an activation of the agonist of the nonrequired response. Double activation trials were more numerous for the incompatible than for the compatible mapping. Furthermore, these trials yielded longer RTs than the single muscular activation trials. These results suggest that initial activations of nonrequired responses are more frequently aborted and corrected when the mapping is incompatible than when it is compatible. This finding supports the dimensional overlap model of stimulus–response compatibility (S. Kornblum, T. Hasbroucq, & A. Osman, 1990).
Which duration of postsaccadic slowing identifies anticipatory saccades during smooth pursuit eye movements?
Authors: Ross Randal G. , Olincy Ann , Zerbe Gary , Radant Allen
Published: December 2004

Increased frequency of anticipatory saccades during smooth pursuit eye movements is a potential marker of genetic risk for schizophrenia. Postsaccadic slowing criteria are used to separate anticipatory from other types of saccades. However, the necessary duration of slowed pursuit required to identify an anticipatory saccade remains undetermined. We explored the effect of various postsaccadic slowing duration criteria on effect size in a comparison of younger and older schizophrenic and normal adults. For large anticipatory saccades, varying the duration of postsaccadic slowing criteria did not notably change effect size. For smaller leading saccades, a limited 50‐ms duration postsaccadic slowing criterion produced the largest effect size (1.54), and maintained a similar effect size across a broad age range. Leading saccades with a limited duration postsaccadic slowing criteria are a possible marker of genetic risk for schizophrenia.
Influence of estrogen replacement therapy on cardiovascular responses to stress of healthy postmenopausal women
Authors: Matthews Karen A. , Flory Janine D. , Owens Jane F. , Harris Kelly F. , Berga Sarah L.
Published: December 2004

Two experiments were conducted to understand the influence of estrogen exposure on cardiovascular responses to acute stress measured by impedance cardiography. Study 1 compared stress responses of 29 postmenopausal women who used postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and 29 who did not use HRT. Women who did not use HRT had higher systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure responses to the tasks relative to HRT users. Study 2 compared stress responses of 38 healthy postmenopausal women not initially on HRT who were randomly assigned to transdermal estradiol or placebo treatment for 6–8 weeks. HRT assignment did not influence substantially women's cardiovascular responses to stress. Characteristics correlated with HRT use, not HRT itself, or differences in type, duration, and dosage may account for the discrepancy in results.
One‐year test–retest reliability of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) to tones of increasing intensity
Authors: Carrillo‐de‐la‐Peña María T.
Published: December 2004

The one‐year reliability of auditory evoked potential (AEP) amplitude/stimulus intensity slopes (obtained for single channels and with dipole source analysis) and the stability and criterion validity of alternative measures to the conventional AEPs augmenting/reducing (A/R) linear slope were explored in a sample of 21 psychology students. AEPs were obtained from two sequences of 288 Ss of different intensities (60, 80, 90, and 110 dB SPL), presented in four blocks of 72 tones of each intensity or in a pseudorandomized order. The Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, which has been associated to the A/R slope, was used as a criterion measure. The results supported the one‐year reliability of N1P2 slopes obtained in single channels (especially for Fz and Cz and for the random presentation of stimuli) and for dipoles obtained with brain electric source analysis (especially for the tangential dipoles). Neither of the A/R measures was significantly related to the criterion. These results support the stability of AEPs A/R, but throw serious doubts on the use of this psychophysiological phenomenon as a correlate of personality dimensions such as sensation seeking.
Laser‐evoked potentials to noxious stimulation during hypnotic analgesia and distraction of attention suggest different brain mechanisms of pain control
Authors: Friederich Marc , Trippe Ralf H. , özcan Mustafa , Weiss Thomas , Hecht Holger , Miltner Wolfgang H.R.
Published: December 2004

Psychological accounts of hypnosis have hypothesized that hypnosis and attention might share similar mechanisms and that hypnosis simply represents an extensive state of reduced attention. This assumption implies that reports of pain and electrocortical brain responses to painful stimulation should be similarly reduced when subjects are exposed to suggestions of hypnotic analgesia (HA) or requested to distract their attention from painful stimuli (distraction of attention: DA) as compared to a control condition (CC). To test this hypothesis, we recorded event‐related electrical brain potentials to noxious laser‐heat stimuli and pain reports during HA, DA, and CC from subjects highly susceptible to hypnotic suggestions. Pain reports were significantly reduced during HA and DA as compared to CC. The amplitudes of the late laser‐evoked brain potential (LEP) components N200 and P320 were also significantly smaller during DA than during CC. However, no significant difference of these late LEP amplitudes was obtained for HA as compared to CC. Results indicate that hypnotic analgesia and distraction of attention represent different mechanisms of pain control and involve different brain mechanisms.
The lateralized readiness potential and response kinetics in response‐time tasks
Authors: Mordkoff J. Toby , Grosjean Marc
Published: December 2004

Previous studies have found that the magnitude of the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) at the time of response initiation is constant across spontaneous variations in response time in both cued and uncued, speeded tasks. Other studies have found that the LRP is also unaffected by instructed changes in peak response force and time to peak force in cued, self‐paced tasks, but that the LRP is sensitive to instructed changes in force gain rate in uncued, self‐paced tasks. The present study examined the LRP in an uncued, speeded task as a function of response time and several measures of response kinetics. The magnitude of the LRP at the time of electromyographic onset was constant across spontaneous variations in all measures. The peak of the contingent negative variation did vary as a function of peak response force and integrated force to peak, but not response time. These findings support the idea that the LRP in speeded tasks is a selective, on‐line index of the preparation associated with using a particular hand, and is not an index of the elements of motor programming that determine subsequent response kinetics.
Cardiovascular and endocrine reactivity in older females: Intertask consistency
Authors: Hawkley Louise C. , Burleson Mary H. , Poehlmann Kirsten M. , Berntson Gary G. , Malarkey William B. , Cacioppo John T.
Published: December 2004

Age‐related structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular, sympathoadrenomedullary (SAM), and hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical (HPA) systems may affect the ability to reliably identify individual differences in response to stress. Heart rate, preejection period, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, respiratory rate, norepinephrine, epinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and cortisol were assessed in 64 healthy older women (mean = 67 years) in response to a mental arithmetic and public‐speaking task. All cardiovascular and endocrine measures changed significantly during the tasks. All measures were consistent across the two tasks (rss = .50 to .97). Moreover, a majority of women in this sample exhibited cross‐task consistency in the relative activation of the autonomic, SAM, and HPA systems (i.e., response profiles). Further research is recommended to examine the significance of consistent individual differences in response profile.
Music matters: Preattentive musicality of the human brain
Authors: Koelsch Stefan , Schroger Erich , Gunter Thomas C.
Published: December 2004

During listening to a musical piece, unexpected harmonies may evoke brain responses that are reflected electrically as an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) and a late frontal negativity (N5). In the present study we demonstrate that these components of the event‐related potential can be evoked preattentively, that is, even when a musical stimulus is ignored. Both ERAN and N5 differed in amplitude as a function of music‐theoretical principles. Participants had no special musical expertise; results thus provide evidence for an automatic processing of musical information in “nonmusicians.”
Cellular and mucosal immune reactions to mental and cold stress: Associations with gender and cardiovascular reactivity
Authors: Willemsen Gonneke , Carroll Douglas , Ring Christopher , Drayson Mark
Published: December 2004

To examine gender differences in immune reactions to stress and relationships between immune and cardiovascular reactivity, measures of cellular and mucosal immunity and cardiovascular activity were recorded in 77 men and 78 women at rest and in response to active (mental arithmetic) and passive (cold pressor) stress tasks. Both tasks reduced CD4+ T cells and the CD4/8 ratio. Total lymphocytes, NK cells, CD8+ T cells, and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) increased with active stress. Passive stress decreased sIgA. At rest, men had more NK cells, less CD4+ T cells, and fewer neutrophils than women. Mental stress increased sIgA in men but not women. Cardiovascular reactivity to active stress was associated with increases in NK cells. The data support the hypothesis that stress‐related increases in lymphocytes are beta‐adrenergically mediated, and suggest that the fall in CD4+ T cells may be alpha‐adrenergically driven. Mechanisms underlying sIgA reactions are more difficult to determine. Men and women differed in some cell counts, but not in reactivity, although gender influenced sIgA reactions to arithmetic.
Reduction in serum cortisol after platinum based chemotherapy for cancer: A role for the HPA axis in treatment‐related nausea?
Authors: Morrow Gary R. , Hickok Jane T. , Andrews Paul L.R. , Stern Robert M.
Published: December 2004

Many adverse effects commonly associated with chemotherapy, such as nausea, vomiting, and fatigue, are also characteristic of adrenal insufficiency. It is conceivable that chemotherapy drugs may directly or indirectly impact the activity of the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis. We examined this conjecture by characterizing temporal changes in blood cortisol concentrations in women with ovarian carcinoma given chemotherapy. Twenty‐three chemotherapy‐naïve women with histologically confirmed ovarian cancer underwent serial blood sampling for determination of cortisol levels prior to and every hour for 6 hr following two chemotherapy treatments with cisplatin or carboplatin. Samples were also taken for 4 hr on a comparison day when all study procedures were performed except chemotherapy administration. A significant reduction in serum cortisol was found immediately following infusion of either cisplatin or carboplatin. No progressive reduction in cortisol was found over the two treatment cycles. Because the reduction in cortisol was seen only in the presence of the cytotoxic drug, it is likely that the effect of the drug is “direct” and does not involve overt psychological or circadian mechanisms. The possible role of this reduction in cortisol is discussed in relation to induction of chemotherapy‐induced nausea and vomiting.
Tracking eye fixations with electroocular and electroencephalographic recordings
Authors: Joyce Carrie A. , Gorodnitsky Irina F. , King Jonathan W. , Kutas Marta
Published: December 2004

We describe a method, based on recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye movement potentials (electrooculogram), to track where on a screen (x, y coordinates) an individual is fixating. The method makes use of an empirically derived beam‐forming filter (derived from a sequence of calibrated eye movements) to isolate eye motion from other electrophysiological and ambient electrical signals. Electrophysiological researchers may find this method a simple and inexpensive means of tracking eye movements and a useful complement to scalp recordings in studies of cognitive phenomena. The resolution is comparable to that of many commercial systems; the method can be implemented with as few as four electrodes around the eyes to complement the EEG electrodes already in use. This method may also find some specialized applications such as studying eye movements during sleep and in human–machine interfaces that make use of gaze information.
New learning, old theology: Renaissance biblical humanism, scripture, and the question of theological method
Authors: Scott Amos N.
Published: December 2004

By the end of the fifteenth century, if not already by the middle of the thirteenth century, interpretation of the Bible and the practice of theology – though in theory still interrelated – sat uncomfortably with one another. The increasing sophistication of scholastic method after the twelfth century resulted in a theology in which exegesis (and by extension, scripture on its own terms) played a role of diminishing importance. The humanists, especially the biblical humanists of the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth centuries, identified this dichotomy as deeply problematic for sacred studies and decried this state of affairs in their conflict with scholastic theologians. This essay seeks to describe concisely the method of scholastic theologians in order to understand what the biblical humanists were reacting against. The key figures for this discussion are Lorenzo Valla and Desiderius Erasmus, and attention is given both to their criticisms of scholastic method and to the alternative model they set forth. Central to the discussion of both theological models (scholastic and humanist) is the place of scripture, and the relationship between scripture and theology. The fundamental contention is that the biblical humanists were important not only for their development of the tools of grammatical‐historical exegesis, but also of an alternative model of theological method. To the extent that the Protestant Reformers continued this critique and were influenced by it in their own practice, we witness a lesserrecognized connection between the Renaissance and the Reformation. (pp. 39–54)
The crisis in Greek teaching at the University of Heidelberg around 1530
Authors: Flood John L.
Published: December 2004

The paper investigates the intellectual background to the broadside Clagred der Neün Muse oder künst vber Teütschlandt (Nuremberg, 1535) with its poem by Hans Sachs (1494–1572) in which the Nine Muses are depicted as returning to Greece, appalled by German materialism. The poem reflects a widespread malaise among German humanists, disturbed by the increasing disregard for humanistic values at German universities. This disenchantment is exemplified by the problems faced by successive teachers of Greek at Heidelberg around 1530, particularly Johannes Sinapius (1505–60). (pp. 84–95)
Classical and contemporary Italy in Roger Ascham's The Scholemaster (1570)
Authors: Ord Melanie
Published: December 2004

This article seeks to show that a consideration of the use of Italy in Roger Ascham's The Scholemaster (1570) is illuminated by a study of the structural progression of book 1 (from educational methodologies, to a declamation against courtly vices, to an objection to travel to Italy). Specifically, it argues that the final section on Italy is conceived as a threat to those pedagogical and moral ideals of order, discipline and discrimination outlined in earlier sections; and that this closing statement forcibly demonstrates, and gives particular expression to, Ascham's humanist commitment to maintaining such well‐schooled qualities against pernicious contemporary influences. Attention directed to the range of concerns addressed in the text also points to Ascham's conflicted use of Italy. For whilst his humanist educative project accompanies a concern to privilege the moral and cultural influences of classical over contemporary Italy, his national project of literary acculturation (witnessed in such things as his objection to courtly versifying) involves an attempt to conflate, rather than to distinguish, specific Italian identities.
Sub Signo Principis. Political institutions and urban configurations in early Renaissance Mantua
Authors: Lazzarini Isabella
Published: December 2004

The paper analyses the urban transformation of Mantua during the fifteenth century, a particularly significant period for the passage from the medieval signoria to the Renaissance principality under Gonzaga rule. If we consider the overall image of a city to be the result of a long‐term interaction between urban spaces and power, we must analyse the convergences and divergences between the prince's monumental enterprises and the daily and collective answer of urban élites. The evolution of family structures and the residential choices that result from their development during the Quattrocento demonstrate that the transformation of Mantua's urban spaces and their social uses was perceptible but slow: urban development was not the result of a single and authoritative enterprise imposed by the princes and abstractly conceived, but, rather, a collective transformation of the city.
The enigmatic eminence of Cardinal Sigismondo Gonzaga
Authors: Chambers D. S.
Published: December 2004

The paper stresses the ambiguity of much of the available information about Sigismondo Gonzaga (1469–1525), his personality, cultural interests, and political importance. It concentrates upon his role as a cardinal under Julius II (d. 1513) in Rome, where he faced financial problems, and then as cardinal legate in the Marche, though he was repeatedly recalled to Mantua to assist his brother marquis Francesco and his consort Isabella d'Este. Stress is placed on Sigismondo's role in Julius II's military campaigns, on his building activity in Macerata, on his geniality, and on the ill‐health (for which there are no proven links with depravity) that caused his retirement to Mantua in 1513.
The nature of commitment: Vincenzo Gonzaga's patronage strategies in the wake of the fall of Ferrara
Authors: MacNeil Anne
Published: December 2004

By the end of duke Vincenzo Gonzaga's reign in 1612, he had created in Mantua a unique and unrivalled centre of music theatre. The Mantuan musical and theatrical scene in the first decades of the seventeenth century eclipsed the metamorphic grandeur of the Medici and Valois courts with an aesthetic intensity born of Virgilian pastoralism and the rhetorical immediacy of the Heroides. Virgilian pastoral combined with the educational system established at Ferrara by Guarino Guarini to create a style of theatre that reached outside the bounds of static Olympian tableaux to enact living, coherent plots wherein shepherds, shepherdesses, and lovers expressed the limits of human emotion. The integration of music, rhetoric, and drama in Mantuan spectacles — an integration that came to fruition only in compositions of the seconda practica, where the dramatic moment governed the sound of the music as well as the words — resulted from the unique conf luence of people whom Vincenzo Gonzaga drew to his court in the wake of the devolution of Ferrara. By making citizens of his prized actors and musicians, Vincenzo Gonzaga established the historic moment in which the creation of a radically new style of music theatre could unfold.
Corruption, Reform, and Virtue Ethics
Authors: Lynch Thomas D. , Lynch Cynthia E.
Published: December 2004

Books reviewed in this article:

Gerald E. Caiden, O.P. Dwivedi, and Joseph Jabbra (eds.), Where Corruption Lies

Susan Rose‐Ackerman, Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences, and Reform

Peter Kobrak, Cozy Politics: Political Parties, Campaign Finance, and Compromised Governance

Raymond J. Devettere, Introduction to Virtue Ethics: Insights of the Ancient Greeks
On the Limitations of Redundancies in the Improvement of System Reliability
Authors: Paté‐Cornell M. Elisabeth , Dillon Robin L. , Guikema Seth D.
Published: December 2004

Some program managers share a common belief that adding a redundant component to a system reduces the probability of failure by half. This is true only if the failures of the redundant components are independent events, which is rarely the case. For example, the redundant components may be subjected to the same external loads. There is, however, in general a decrease in the failure probability of the system. Nonetheless, the redundant element comes at a cost, even if it is less than that of developing the first one when both are based on the same design. Identical parts save the most in terms of design costs, but are subjected to common failure modes from possible design errors that limit the effectiveness of the redundancy. In the development of critical systems, managers thus need to decide if the costs of a parallel system are justified by the increase in the system's reliability. NASA, for example, has used redundant spacecraft to increase the chances of mission success, which worked well in the cases of the Viking and Voyager missions. These two successes, however, do not guarantee future ones. We present here a risk analysis framework accounting for dependencies to support the decision to launch at the same time a twin mission of identical spacecraft, given incremental costs and risk‐reduction benefits of the second one. We illustrate this analytical approach with the case of the Mars Exploration Rovers launched by NASA in 2003, for which we had performed this assessment in 2001.
The Spectrum of Cutaneous Lymphomas in Patients Less than 20 Years of Age
Authors: Fink‐Puches Regina , Chott Andreas , Ardigó Marco , Simonitsch Ingrid , Ferrara Gerardo , Kerl Helmut , Cerroni Lorenzo
Published: December 2004

Abstract:  Cutaneous lymphomas are rare in young patients and are mostly represented by mycosis fungoides and its variants and CD30+ lymphoproliferative disorders (lymphomatoid papulosis [LYP] and anaplastic large T‐cell lymphoma). We report our observations in a series of 69 patients less than 20 years of age who presented either with primary cutaneous lymphoma (n = 62) or with secondary manifestations of extracutaneous disease (n = 7). Clinicopathologic features permitted classification of the cases into the following diagnostic categories: mycosis fungoides (n = 24, all primary cutaneous), anaplastic large T‐cell lymphoma (n = 13, all primary cutaneous), LYP (n = 11, all primary cutaneous), subcutaneous “panniculitis‐like” T‐cell lymphoma (n = 1, primary cutaneous), small‐medium pleomorphic T‐cell lymphoma (n = 2, all primary cutaneous), natural killer (NK)/T‐cell lymphoma, nasal‐type (n = 1, secondary cutaneous), follicle center cell lymphoma (n = 1, primary cutaneous), marginal zone B‐cell lymphoma (n = 7, all primary cutaneous), B‐lymphoblastic lymphomas (n = 6, 3 primary and 3 secondary cutaneous), specific cutaneous manifestations of Hodgkin disease (n = 1, secondary cutaneous), and acute myeloid leukemia (n = 2, both secondary cutaneous). Cutaneous lymphoma in children should be differentiated from benign skin disorders that may simulate them. In particular, mycosis fungoides and LYP in this age group may present with clinicopathologic features reminiscent of inflammatory disorders such as pityriasis alba, vitiligo, pityriasis rosea, and pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta. Even in secondary cutaneous lymphomas, skin manifestations may be the first sign of the systemic disease, and a diagnosis may be achieved on examination of histopathologic specimens of a cutaneous lesion. Our study illustrates the wide spectrum of cutaneous lymphomas and leukemias in patients less than 20 years of age and underlines the need for proper interpretation of these lesions by dermatologists and dermatopathologists.
An Infantile Cushing Syndrome Due to Misuse of Topical Steroid
Authors: Şiklar Zeynep , Bostanci İlknur , Atli Özlem , Dallar Yıldız
Published: December 2004

Abstract:  Chronic low‐dose exogenous steroid therapy in children can result in hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis dysfunction. However, the development of Cushing syndrome from topical steroid therapy is unusual. A 9‐month‐old girl with a diagnosis of Cushing syndrome caused by long‐term topical clobetasol propionate application was evaluated. The patient was found to have severe adrenal suppression. Limiting the use of steroid‐containing drugs, prescription of less potent agents, especially during infancy, and warning of parents about potential side effects are very important.
Bacterial challenge stimulates innate immune responses in extra‐embryonic tissues of tobacco hornworm eggs
Authors: Gorman M. J. , Kankanala P. , Kanost M. R.
Published: December 2004

Innate immunity protects juvenile and adult vertebrates and invertebrates against potential pathogens; however, it is unknown when developing embryos become immune competent and just how they are guarded from infection. To address these questions, we studied the effect of immune challenge on early stage eggs of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. We detected many immune‐related proteins and mRNAs in naive eggs. Upon immune challenge, antimicrobial protein genes were up‐regulated, and antibacterial activity increased. Antimicrobial protein mRNAs and lysozyme were present in the extra‐embryonic tissues of immune‐challenged eggs; in addition, melanization in response to bacteria occurred in the yolk but not embryonic tissues. We conclude that the extra‐embryonic tissues of early stage M. sexta eggs are immune competent and likely protect the developing embryo from infection. We suggest that innate immune responses of extra‐embryonic tissues may be a common mechanism for protecting early embryos.
Cycloheximide inhibits root water flow and stomatal conductance in aspen (Populus tremuloides) seedlings
Authors: VOICU M. C. , ZWIAZEK J. J.
Published: December 2004

Aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) roots were treated with cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, to examine the role of protein synthesis in root water transport and plant water relations. Within less than 30 min following root application, cycloheximide inhibited steady‐state root water flow rates and 1 h after the application of 1 mm cycloheximide, root hydraulic conductivity had decreased by 85% compared with control roots. However, stomatal conductance showed a significant inhibition only after 2 h following cycloheximide treatment. The reduction in root hydraulic conductivity was accompanied by an almost three‐fold increase in the apoplastic water flow ratio as determined by the trisodium 3‐hydroxy‐5,8,10‐pyrenesulphonate tracer dye. Cycloheximide‐treated roots showed a decrease in the immunostaining intensity of a 32 kDa microsomal protein band that immunoreacted with the AnthPIP1; 1 antibody suggesting a decrease in the membrane aquaporin expression. These changes occurred without severe metabolic disruptions as measured by root respiration. The results point to the importance of protein‐mediated transport in roots and the rapidity of response suggests that protein synthesis may be used as a principal regulatory mechanism in root water transport in aspen.