bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The North Staffordshire Suicide Study: a
case–control study of suicide in one health district
Authors: BOARDMAN A. P. , GRIMBALDESTON A. H. , HANDLEY C. , JONES P. W. , WILLMOTT S.
Published: July 2002

Background. The aim of the study was to identify sociodemographic
and clinical risk factors for
death from suicide and undetermined injury in residents of one health district.

Method. Data were collected on all cases of suicide (ICD-9
E950–959) and undetermined injury
(ICD-9 E980–989) for residents in North Staffordshire Health District
between 1991 and 1995.
Controls, identified from the Coroner's inquest register, who died
from other causes, were matched
for age and sex.

Results. Two hundred and twelve pairs of cases and matched
controls were identified. Multivariate
analysis (conditional logistic regression) showed that the risk of death
due to suicide and
undetermined death was associated with: recent separation, relationship
difficulties, experience of
financial difficulties, history of past criminal charges or contact with
the police, a past history of
deliberate self-harm, being on psychotropic medication at the time of death
and a diagnosis of
bipolar affective disorder. For sociodemographic variables, a univariate
analysis found associations
between the cases and being separated, living alone, having a past history
of criminal charges and
unemployment. Cases were more likely to have a psychiatric disorder, past
history of deliberate self-harm
and a past history of psychiatric contact for themselves or a family member.
Controls were
more likely to have a current medical disorder. Cases were more likely
than controls to be on any
form of medication at the time of death and to have received a prescription
for psychotropic or non-psychotropic
medication in the week and month before death. Cases were more likely than
controls
to have had contact with medical services in the week and month before
death, with the general
practitioner in the week before death and with psychiatric services at
any time in the year before
death. Strong associations were found between suicide and undetermined
injury and life events such
as recent separation and bereavement, and financial and relationship difficulties.

Conclusions. The study provides an analytical investigation
utilizing a dead control group, data
gathered from several sources and adequate numbers of cases. It confirms
many of the risk factors
identified in other studies and highlights the high proportion of suicides
who have been in recent
contact with the criminal justice system or have been prescribed medication
shortly before death.
Prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide attempts
in nine countries
Authors: WEISSMAN M. M. , BLAND R. C. , CANINO G. J. , GREENWALD S. , HWU H.-G. , JOYCE P. R. , KARAM E. G. , LEE C.-K. , LELLOUCH J. , LEPINE J.-P. , NEWMAN S. C. , RUBIO-STIPEC M. , WELLS J. E. , WICKRAMARATNE P. J. , WITTCHEN H.-U. , YEH E.-K.
Published: July 2002

Background. There are few cross-national comparisons of
the rates of suicide ideation and attempts
across diverse countries. Nine independently conducted epidemiological
surveys using similar
diagnostic assessment and criteria provided an opportunity to obtain that
data.

Methods. Suicide ideation and attempts were assessed on the
Diagnostic Interview Schedule in over
40000 subjects drawn from the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France,
West Germany,
Lebanon, Taiwan, Korea and New Zealand.

Results. The lifetime prevalence rates/100 for suicide
ideation ranged from 2·09 (Beirut) to 18·51
(Christchurch, New Zealand). Lifetime prevalence rates/100 for suicide
attempts ranged from 0·72
(Beirut) to 5·93 (Puerto Rico). Females as compared to males had
only marginally higher rates of
suicidal ideation in most countries, reaching a two-fold increase in Taiwan.
Females as compared
to males had more consistently higher rates for suicide attempts, reaching
a two- to three-fold
increase in most countries. Suicide ideation and attempts in most countries
were associated with
being currently divorced/separated as compared to currently married.

Conclusions. While the rates of suicide ideation varied widely
by country, the rates of suicide
attempts were more consistent across most countries. The variations were
only partly explained by
variation in rates of psychiatric disorders, divorce or separation among
countries and are probably
due to cultural features that we do not, as yet, understand.
Do general practitioners' attitudes towards
depression predict their clinical behaviour?
Authors: DOWRICK C. , GASK L. , PERRY R. , DIXON C. , USHERWOOD T.
Published: July 2002

Background. GPs' attitudes towards depression vary, as do their abilities to detect and manage it
effectively. Associations between attitudes and clinical behaviour have not yet been demonstrated
directly. We tested two hypotheses: (1) that questionnaire measures of GPs' confidence in
identifying depression predict their ability to identify depression in their patients; and (2) that GPs
who prefer antidepressants prescribe more than those who prefer psychotherapy.

Methods. Forty GPs in Liverpool and Manchester completed the Depression Attitude Questionnaire
(DAQ) and were asked for prescribing (PACT) information. Attender surveys using the
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), in combination with GP ratings of patients' psychological
status, generated indices for GPs' case identification, bias and accuracy. We tested associations
between these indices and the four DAQ components, in particular GPs' confidence in diagnosis,
across a total of 1436 patients. We also compared the DAQ component on attitudes to treatment
with relevant PACT data.

Results. The DAQ assessment of GPs' ability to identify cases of depression bore no relationship
to their observed ability, as measured by accuracy, bias, or identification indices. However, there
were significant associations between observed diagnostic ability and: preference for psychotherapy;
ease in managing depression; and, belief in successful treatment. PACT data were available for 26
(65%) GPs. There was an association between preference for antidepressants and prescription of
SSRIs (rs 0·3981, P < 0·044), but not for overall antidepressant or tricyclic prescribing, or for dose
of dothiepin.

Conclusions. The DAQ measure of ease of identification is not valid when compared to actual
clinical practice. The ability of GPs to identify depression may not be an independent variable, but
may rather reflect other beliefs, attitudes and skills. This has considerable implications for
educational interventions in primary care.
Six-month and 12-month mental health outcome of
medical and surgical patients admitted to general
hospital
Authors: BALESTRIERI M. , BISOFFI G. , DE FRANCESCO M. , ERIDANI B. , MARTUCCI M. , TANSELLA M.
Published: July 2002

Background. We have recently reported a two-phase study on psychiatric morbidity in a sample of
general hospital patients. This paper reports the results of the 6-month and 12-month follow-up of
these patients.

Methods. The screening questionnaire was the GHQ-12. The main diagnostic instrument used in
the second phase was the CIDI-PHC. All patients who had been interviewed with CIDI-PHC
(N = 363) were followed-up and the baseline assessment was compared with the scoring on
questionnaires administered in the 6-month postal enquiry and with the psychopathological status
at 12-month, elicited with a telephone structured interview.

Results. Sixty-two and 87% of patients completed the 6- and 12-month follow-up assessment
respectively. The first follow-up indicated no significant decrease in the level of symptoms. The 12-month follow-up interview showed that 23% of males and 40% of females had poor/mostly poor
mental health. The logistic model showed that females with a definite ICD-10 diagnosis, admitted
to a medical department, who had consumed psychotropic drugs in the previous year, had the most
unfavourable outcome. The risk of a poor/mostly poor outcome steadily increased with the severity
of the psychopathology during hospitalization.

Conclusion. In medical and surgical general hospital patients the risk factors associated with a poor
mental health outcome are similar to those found in primary care patients. Greater attention should
be paid in assessing routinely mental health status of general hospital patients during hospitalization.
Information processing deficits in relatives of manic depressive patients
Authors: PIERSON A. , JOUVENT R. , QUINTIN P. , PEREZ-DIAZ F. , LEBOYER M.
Published: July 2002

Background. The importance of genetic factors in the aetiology of manic-depressive illness (MDI)
has been repeatedly confirmed and indicators of vulnerability to the illness in families with affective
disorders are needed. Abnormal event-related potentials (ERP) may be markers of genetic
vulnerability to mental illness. Long latency and low amplitude of P300 have consistently been
reported in schizophrenic patients and their relatives. A few studies have also shown P300 deficits
in MDI patients, but no ERP study has been performed on their relatives.

Methods. ERPs were recorded during an auditory oddball task in 19 relatives belonging to families
with two or more bipolar patients and in controls with no familial or personal history of affective
disorders. The relatives were selected as having no affective disorders on a lifetime basis, but eight
had an anxiety disorder.

Results. In all relatives, a lower P300 amplitude and a longer P300 latency was found, with much
longer reaction time and post-N200 duration till button-press than controls. A lack of P300
amplitude dominance in the right hemisphere was also found in relatives in comparison with
controls. There also appeared to be a frontal predominance of ERP abnormalities in relatives.

Conclusion. We report the first evidence of deficits in reaction time and in P300 amplitude and
latency, and a lack of P300 right-sided dominance, in relatives of manic-depressive patients. This
pattern may constitute an endophenotypic marker of manic-depressive disorder.
The genetic aetiology of somatic distress
Authors: GILLESPIE N. A. , ZHU G. , HEATH A. C. , HICKIE I. B. , MARTIN N. G.
Published: July 2002

Background. Somatoform disorders such as neurasthenia and chronic fatigue syndrome are characterized by a combination of prolonged mental and physical fatigue. This study aimed to investigate the heritability of somatic distress and determine whether this dimension is aetiologically distinct from measures of depression and anxiety.

Method. Measures of anxiety, depression, phobic anxiety, somatic distress and sleep difficulty were administered in a self-report questionnaire to a community-based sample of 3469 Australian twin individuals aged 18 to 28 years. Factor analysis using a Promax rotation, produced four factors: depression, phobic anxiety, somatic distress and sleep disturbance. Multivariate and univariate genetic analyses of the raw categorical data scores for depression, phobic anxiety and depression were then analysed in Mx1.47.

Results. Univariate genetic analysis revealed that an additive genetic and non-shared environmental (AE) model best explained individual differences in depression and phobic anxiety scores, for male and female twins alike, but could not resolve whether additive genes or shared environment were responsible for significant familial aggregation in somatic distress. However, multivariate genetic analysis showed that an additive genetic and non-shared environment (AE) model best explained the covariation between the three factors. Furthermore, 33% of the genetic variance in somatic distress was due to specific gene action unrelated to depression or phobic anxiety. In addition, 74% of the individual environmental influence on somatic distress was also unrelated to depression or phobic anxiety.

Conclusion. These results support previous findings that somatic symptoms are relatively aetiologically distinct both genetically and environmentally from symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The genetic epidemiology of parental discipline
Authors: WADE TRACEY D. , KENDLER KENNETH S.
Published: July 2002

Background. Previous studies of parental discipline have identified little influence of heritability on
parental control, and some influence of gene–environment correlations, shared environment and
child temperament.

Method. Using interview data from 2003 female twins from a population-based twin registry and
1472 of their parents, we examined reports of parental discipline from four perspectives: (1) father
and mother reporting separately on the type of discipline they provided for their offspring; (2) each
twin reporting on the type of discipline they received from their parents; (3) each parent reporting
on the discipline provided by their spouse; and, (4) each twin reporting on the discipline they
provided for their own offspring. Using factor analysis and univariate structural equation
modelling, we examined the structure of parental discipline, and the genetic and environmental
influences thereon.

Results. The seven discipline items yielded two factors, physical discipline and limit setting, which
were moderately positively correlated. Parents perceived discipline as largely a common
environmental experience for the twins, whereas the twins indicated that discipline was influenced
by unique environmental factors and the genotype of the child. Twins as parents indicated no
influence of shared environment on discipline, with the majority of influence accounted for by non-
shared environment and parental genotype.

Conclusions. Parents recall providing similar discipline to their children, whereas children emphasize
the differences in parental discipline. Sources of individual variation in parental discipline vary
according to which family member report is examined. In total, parental discipline is partially
influenced by the genotype of both the parent and child, and by environmental factors shared by
the twins and unique to the individual.
Prevalence, 20-month incidence and outcome of
unipolar depressive disorders in a community sample
of adolescents
Authors: OLDEHINKEL A. J. , WITTCHEN H.-U. , SCHUSTER P.
Published: July 2002

Background. This article presents prospective longitudinal findings on prevalence, incidence,
patterns of change and stability of depressive disorders in a community sample of 1228 adolescents.

Methods. Data were collected at baseline and follow-up (20 months later) in a representative
population sample of 1228 adolescents, aged 14–17 at baseline. Diagnostic assessment was based on
the Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI).

Results. The overall cumulative lifetime incidence of any depressive condition was 20·0% (major
depressive disorder (MDD), 12·2%; dysthymia, 3·5%; subthreshold MDD, 6·3%), of which about
one-third were incident depressions in the period between baseline and follow-up. Depressive
disorders rarely started before the age of 13. Females were about twice as likely as males to develop
a depressive disorder. Overall, the 20-month outcome of baseline depression was unfavourable.
Dysthymia had the poorest outcome of all, with a complete remission rate of only 33% versus 43%
for MDD and 54% for subthreshold MDD. Dysthymia also had the highest number of depressive
episodes, and most psychosocial impairment and suicidal behavioural during follow-up. Treatment
rates were low (8–23%). Subthreshold MDD associated with considerable impairment had an
almost identical course and outcome as threshold MDD.

Conclusions. DSM-IV MDD and dysthymia are rare before the age of 13, but frequent during
adolescence, with an estimated lifetime cumulative incidence of 14%. Only a minority of these
disorders in adolescence is treated, and more than half of them persist or remit only partly.
Typologies of anxiety, depression and somatization
symptoms among primary care attenders with no
formal mental disorder
Authors: PICCINELLI M. , RUCCI P. , ÜSTÜN B. , SIMON G.
Published: July 2002

Background. Typologies of anxiety, depression and somatization symptoms were investigated in
individuals with no formal mental disorders, making no a priori assumptions about symptom
distribution and inter-relationship.

Method. The subjects were 1617 adult primary care attenders from the WHO Collaborative Project
on Psychological Problems in General Health Care, with at least three symptoms of anxiety,
depression and/or somatization, but with no formal ICD-10 disorders. Analyses were based on the
grade of membership model, a multivariate statistical procedure exploring indistinct boundaries
between disease categories and preserving the heterogeneity of clinical picture within each category.

Results. Six prototype categories (or pure types) best described the structure of symptoms included
in analyses. Pure type I included the full set of somatization symptoms. Pure type II was
characterized by most anxiety and depression symptoms. Pure type III resembled generalized
anxiety disorder. Pure type IV consisted of individuals reporting sporadic symptoms of anxiety,
depression or somatization. Pure type V defined individuals with sleep problems. Finally, pure type
VI was characterized by anxiety symptoms, including panic-like symptoms.

Conclusions. These findings provide support to the existence of a mixed anxiety–depression
category crossing the diagnostic boundaries of current anxiety and depression disorders. Moreover,
criteria of anxiety and somatization disorders may be re-examined to assess whether lower
diagnostic thresholds can be identified that both preserve the symptom profile and clinical features
of current diagnostic categories and allow for a better characterization of individuals with
substantial psychopathology though not meeting the high symptom thresholds required for a
diagnosis of formal mental disorders.
Infant suffering: a response to Chignell
Authors: BASINGER DAVID
Published: July 2002

In a recent article in this journal Andrew Chignell assesses attempts by
Marilyn McCord Adams and Eleonore Stump to resolve the problem that infant
suffering poses for theistic belief, concluding that while the theodicy of each is
inadequate in its current form, both can be satisfactorily amended. I argue that (1)
Chignell fails to show that the theodicy of either Adams or Stump is inadequate and
that (2) since Chignell's revisions are based on assumptions about God and evil held
by few, such revisions are of little value as responses to the actual challenge infant
suffering poses for theistic belief.
The Age-Orientation of Social Policy Regimes in OECD Countries
Authors: LYNCH JULIA
Published: July 2002

This article presents a series of measures of the extent to which social
policies in twenty-one OECD countries are oriented towards the support
of elderly (over 65 or in formal retirement) and non-elderly (under 65
and not retired) population groups. Employing breakdowns by age in
spending on social insurance, education and health, tax expenditures on
welfare substituting goods, and housing policy outcomes, this article
shows that countries tend to demonstrate a consistent age-orientation
across a variety of policy areas and instruments. After correcting for the
demographic structure of the population, Greece, Japan, Italy, Spain and
the United States have the most elderly-oriented social policy regimes,
while the Netherlands, Ireland, Canada and the Nordic countries have a
more age-neutral repertoire of social policies. In identifying the age-orientation
of social policy as a dimension of distributive politics that is
not captured by other welfare state typologies, this article suggests the
need to develop new accounts of the development of welfare states that
include the dimension of age.
Universality or Selectivity in Income Support to Older
People? A comparative assessment of the issues
Authors: SHAVER SHEILA
Published: July 2002

This article reviews the issues involved in policy choices with
respect to
universality and selectivity in income support to older people. It considers

four questions: the practical meaning of universality and selectivity in
the
income support systems of various countries, the effectiveness of universal

and selective arrangements in the alleviation of poverty among this
group, the role of universal and selective arrangements in redistributing

income among elderly people and the relative generosity of universal and

selective arrangements. The article draws on data from the ‘second
wave’
of the Luxembourg Income Study for six countries: Australia, (West)
Germany, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States,
concerning the incomes of elderly couples and single (non-married)
women. It concludes that while selective income support arrangements
achieve greater redistribution in favour of low income elderly people for

the same expenditure than do universal ones, selective arrangements do

not necessarily perform better in other respects, and, in particular, are

associated with low levels of benefit income.
Origins and Destinations – Social Security Claimant Dynamics
Authors: NOBLE MICHAEL , CHEUNG SIN YI , SMITH GEORGE
Published: July 2002

This article briefly reviews American and British literature on
welfare
dynamics and examines the concepts of welfare dependency and ‘dependency

culture’ with particular reference to lone parents. Using UK benefit

data sets, the welfare dynamics of lone mothers are examined to explore

the extent to which they inform the debates. Evidence from Housing
Benefits data show that even over a relatively short time period, there
is
significant turnover in the benefits-dependent lone parent population
with movement in and out of income support as well as movement into
other family structures. Younger lone parents and owner-occupiers tend

to leave the data set while older lone parents and council tenants are

most likely to stay. Some owner-occupier lone parents may be relatively

well off and on income support for a relatively short time between separation

and a financial settlement being reached. They may also represent a
more highly educated and highly skilled group with easier access to the

labour market than renters. Any policy moves paralleling those in the
United States to time limit benefit will disproportionately affect older
lone
parents.
Experimental modification of P50 suppression
Authors: Yee Cindy M. , White Patricia M.
Published: July 2002

White and Yee (1997) found that normal suppression of the P50 component of the event‐related potential was disrupted during a paired‐click paradigm when nonpsychiatric subjects performed mental arithmetic (MA) problems aloud, concurrently with the presentation of auditory stimuli. In fact, the degree of disruption reflected in the P50 suppression ratio fell within the range that is typically observed in schizophrenia patients. The present study was conducted to clarify the processes that might underlie the apparent disruption of P50 suppression during performance of an oral MA task. Participants completed a series of tasks designed to examine the impact of competing cognitive activity, competing auditory stimulation, muscle activity, and acute psychological stress on P50 amplitude and P50 suppression. Results suggested that psychological stress and heightened facial muscle activity may exert modulatory effects on P50 suppression.
An investigation of the auditory streaming effect using event‐related brain potentials
Authors: Sussman Elyse , Ritter Walter , Vaughan Herbert G.
Published: July 2002

There is uncertainty concerning the extent to which the auditory streaming effect is a function of attentive or preattentive mechanisms. The mismatch negativity (MMN), which indexes preattentive acoustic processing, was used to probe whether the segregation associated with the streaming effect occurs preattentively. In Experiment 1, alternating high and low tones were presented at fast and slow paces while subjects ignored the stimuli. At the slow pace, tones were heard as alternating high and low pitches, and no MMN was elicited. At the fast pace a streaming effect was induced and an MMN was observed for the low stream, indicating a preattentive locus for the streaming effect. The high deviant did not elicit an MMN. MMNs were obtained to both the high and low deviants when the interval between the across‐stream deviance was lengthened to more than 250 ms in Experiment 2, indicating that the MMN system is susceptible to processing constraints.
The rationality debate from the perspective of cognitive-experiential self-theory
Authors: Epstein Seymour
Published: July 2002

A problem with Stanovich & West's inference that there a nonintellectual processing system independent from an intellectual one from data in which they partialled out global intelligence is that they may have controlled for the wrong kind of intellectual intelligence. Research on cognitive-experiential self-theory over the past two decades provides much stronger support for two independent processing systems.
Extending the model: Pavlovian social learning
Authors: Fragaszy Dorothy M.
Published: July 2002

Domjan et al.'s model of how Pavlovian processes regulate social interaction can be extended to social learning, where an individual learns about the value of events, objects, or actions from information provided by another. The conditioned properties of a particular social partner, following from a history of interactions with that partner, can modulate the efficiency and specificity of social learning.
Localism as a first step toward symbolic representation
Authors: Hummel John E.
Published: July 2002

Page argues convincingly for several important properties of localist representations in connectionist models of cognition. I argue that another important property of localist representations is that they serve as the starting point for connectionist representations of symbolic (relational) structures because they express meaningful properties independent of one another and their relations.
Central inhibitory dysfunctions: Mechanisms and clinical implications
Authors: Wiesenfeld-Hallin Z. , Aldskogius H. , Grant G. , Hao J.-X. , Hökfelt T. , Xu X.-J.
Published: July 2002

Injury to the central or peripheral nervous system is often
associated with persistent pain. After ischemic injury to the spinal
cord, rats develop severe mechanical allodynia-like symptoms,
expressed as a pain-like response to innocuous stimuli. In its
short-lasting phase the allodynia can be relieved with the
γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-B receptor agonist baclofen, which
also reverses the hyperexcitability of dorsal horn interneurons to
mechanical stimuli. Furthermore, there is a reduction in GABA
immunoreactivity in the dorsal horn of allodynic rats. Clinical
neuropathic pain of peripheral and central origin often cannot
be relieved by opiates at doses that do not cause side effects.
The loss of sensitivity to opiates may be associated with the
up-regulation of endogenous antiopioid substances, such as the
neuropeptide cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK and its receptor (CCK-R)
protein is normally not detectable in rat dorsal root ganglion cells.
After peripheral nerve section, both CCK and CCK-R are up-regulated
in the dorsal root ganglia. Furthermore, CI 988, an antagonist of the
CCK-B receptor, chronically coadministered with morphine, reduces
autotomy, a behavior that may be a sign of neuropathic pain following
peripheral nerve section. Thus, opiate insensitivity may be due to
the release of CCK from injured primary afferents. Similarly, in the
chronic phase of the spinal ischemic model of central pain, the
allodynia-like symptom is not relieved by systemic morphine, but
is significantly reversed by the CCK-B antagonist. Consequently,
up-regulation of CCK and CCK-R in the CNS may also underlie opiate
drug insensitivity following CNS injury. Thus, dysfunction of
central inhibition involving GABA and endogenous opioids may be
a factor underlying the development of sensory abnormalities
and/or pain following injury to neural tissue.
Charting speech with bats without requiring maps
Authors: Kanwal Jagmeet S.
Published: July 2002

The effort to understand speech perception on the basis of
relationships between acoustic parameters of speech sounds is to be
recommended. Neural specializations (combination-sensitivity) for
echolocation, communication, and sound localization probably
constitute the common mechanisms of vertebrate auditory processing
and may be essential for speech production as well as perception.
There is, however, no need for meaningful maps.
Toward a cognitive neuroscience of language
Authors: Pulvermüller Friedemann
Published: July 2002

In this response to multidisciplinary commentaries on the
target article, “Words in the brain's language,”
additional features of the cell-assembly model are reviewed, as
demanded by some of the commentators. Subsequently, methodological
considerations on how to perform additional tests of neurobiological
language models as well as a discussion of recent data from
neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and other behavioral studies
in speakers of spoken and sign languages follow. Special emphasis is
put on the explanatory power of the cell-assembly model regarding
neuropsychological double dissociations. Future perspectives on neural
network simulations, neuronal mechanisms of syntax and semantics,
and the interaction of attention mechanisms and cell assemblies are
pointed out in the final paragraphs.
Bilingualism, writing, and metalinguistic awareness: Oral–literate interactions
between first and second languages
Authors: FRANCIS NORBERT
Published: July 2002

This article reports on an investigation of the development of literacy, bilingualism, and
metalinguistic awareness. The particular context of the study (high levels of bilingualism among
school-age children) and the particular language contact situation (an indigenous language) offer
a vantage point on the interaction between language learning and metalinguistic awareness and
take into account the sociolinguistic imbalances that characterize bilingual communities of this
type. The subjects who participated in the study were speakers of Spanish and Náhuatl
from Central Mexico. Assessments of metalinguistic awareness related to different aspects of the
children's consciousness of the languages they spoke or understood were compared to a
series of assessments of reading comprehension, writing, and oral narrative in both languages.
Findings suggest directions for further research along the following lines: metalinguistic
awareness is related to different aspects of literacy development in different ways, the key
variables being the degree of decontextualization and expressive versus receptive language
tasks.
Random iteration of Möbius transformations and Furstenberg's theorem
Authors: AMBROLADZE AMIRAN , WALLIN HANS
Published: July 2002

Let $Y_1, Y_2, \dots$ be a sequence of independent random maps, identically distributed with respect to a probability measure $\mu$ on $SL(2,R)$. A (deep) theorem of Furstenberg gives abstract conditions under which for almost every such sequence the orbit of a non-zero initial point in $R^2$ tends to infinity exponentially fast. In the present paper we translate this statement into the set-up of Möbius transformations on the upper half-plane and provide a very explicit way to determine whether or not the required conditions are satisfied.
Regularity of the Anosov splitting II
Authors: HASSELBLATT BORIS
Published: July 2002

We present an optimal result for the regularity of the
invariant distributions of an Anosov system in terms of
expansion and contraction rates. Compared to earlier results
it avoids an ‘infinitesimal loss’ in the Hölder exponent.
Sums of Cantor sets
Authors: CABRELLI CARLOS A. , HARE KATHRYN E. , MOLTER URSULA M.
Published: July 2002

We find conditions on the ratios of dissection of a Cantor set so that the
group it generates under addition has positive Lebesgue measure. In
particular, we answer affirmatively a special case of a conjecture posed by
J. Palis.
The number of stable periodic solutions of time-dependent Hamiltonian systems with one degree of freedom
Authors: ORTEGA RAFAEL
Published: July 2002

Let $F:{\Bbb R}^2 \to {\Bbb R}^2$ be a mapping that is analytic and area preserving. If $F\neq \hbox{\it identity}$, then every stable fixed point is isolated.

This result can be applied to prove that the number of stable periodic solutions of a fixed period of certain Hamiltonian systems is finite.
The behavior of Bernoulli shifts relative to their factors
Authors: HOFFMAN CHRISTOPHER
Published: July 2002

We present numerous examples of ways that a Bernoulli shift can behave relative to a family of factors. This shows the similarities between the properties which collections of ergodic transformations can have and the behavior of a Bernoulli shift relative to a collection of its factors. For example, we construct a family of factors of a Bernoulli shift which have the same entropy, and any extension of one of these factors has more entropy, yet no two of these factors sit the same. This is the relative analog of Ornstein and Shields uncountable collection of nonisomorphic $K$ transformations of the same entropy. We are able to construct relative analogs of almost all the zero entropy counter-examples constructed by Rudolph (1979), as well as the $K$ counterexamples constructed by Hoffman (1997). This paper provides a solution to a problem posed by Ornstein (1975).
National Adaptation to European Integration: The Importance of Institutional Veto Points
Authors: Haverland Markus
Published: July 2002

The repercussions of European integration on national policymaking have increasingly drawn scholarly attention, yet, the determinants of national adaptation to the European Union are still poorly understood. This article takes issue with evolving arguments which grant crucial importance to the “goodness of fit” between European provisions and national rules and practices for explaining the degree of national adjustment to European requirements. In the case of the implementation of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the country with the greatest misfit, the United Kingdom, adapted more successfully than the country which only needed incremental adjustments, Germany. The German record was also worse than the Dutch, despite the higher adaptation pressure of the latter. The case study suggests that the number of institutional veto points that central governments has to face when imposing European provisions on their constituencies, ultimately tend to shape the pace and quality of implementation, regardless of differential degrees in the goodness of fit.
Moral dilemmas and the management of private residential homes: the impact of care in the community reforms in the UK
Authors: ANDREWS GAVIN J. , PHILLIPS DAVID R.
Published: July 2002

Private residential care homes in the United Kingdom have undergone a
variety of management changes in recent years, many resulting from the
impacts of national policy changes. During the 1980s, the private residential
sector for older persons enjoyed substantial financial support for the care of
residents. However, since the 1990 National Health Service and Care in the
Community Act was implemented in 1993, homes have had to compete
with each other in a market, for a finite number of clients funded by
limited local budgets held by local authority purchasers. Based on a three-stage quasi-longitudinal survey of over 100 residential care homes in one
county, this paper considers changes in the overall size and structure of a local
sector and discusses the specific management strategies that have been
adopted by proprietors. The withdrawal of guaranteed state support has
impacted heavily on residential home businesses. Indeed, many homes have
multiple vacancies and have been facing financial hardships. The paper
concludes with a discussion of the ethical and moral issues associated with
certain management decisions and their possible effects on residents.
Contemporary capitalism, globalization, regionalization and the persistence of national variation
Authors: HAY COLIN
Published: July 2002

The literatures on globalization and regionalization on the one hand, and on the institutional distinctiveness of national capitalisms on the other, seem to pull in very different directions. Nonetheless, an increasing number of international and comparative political economists sensitive to the institutional and cultural variability of contemporary capitalism identify tendencies towards convergence—often towards an Anglo-US model of deregulated neoliberal capitalism. In this article I critically review the literature on convergence, difference and divergence in the global political economy, differentiating between neoclassical and institutionalist perspectives. Resisting arguments which posit a natural selection process initiated by untrammelled free market competition and free capital mobility, I identify the contingent, political and frequently coercive nature of the convergence process. This is illustrated through a discussion of regional selection mechanisms in the context of European Monetary Union and the East Asian financial crisis. In so far as evolutionary selection mechanisms can be identified in the European context, selecting for a more residual social model, these are more a product of the contingent process of European economic integration than they are a necessary consequence of globalization. Moreover, in so far as similarly convergent processes can be identified in contemporary East Asia, they are less a product of globalization than of the ‘predatory neoliberalism’ of a beleagured Washington Consensus.
The potentials of Enlightenment
Authors: HALLIDAY FRED
Published: July 2002

The greatest works
of political and social theory are often the shortest, and none more so than the
text of Immanuel Kant, Idea for a Universal History, written just over
two hundred years ago in 1784: it is all of thirteen pages long, and advances a
thesis that should concern us all. In essence, it argues that history can, and to
some degree does, move in a progressive direction—one in which the domestic
organisation of states on an increasingly legal, constitutional, basis will lead
to greater cooperation between states and ultimately to some form of world
government. Kant's hope was ‘that after many reformative revolutions,
a universal cosmopolitan condition, which Nature has as her ultimate purpose,
will come into being as the womb wherein all the original capacities of the human
race can develop’. There are many readings of Professor Kant, not least when this text
is combined with others. Yet to put it in modern terms, not entirely traducing his
meaning, his work can be read as envisaging a world of constitutional regimes and
liberal democracies, one that will be without war. This is a bold thesis with
many unproven assumptions: but it is not entirely implausible, on either
theoretical or historical grounds. Abused as it may have been by the twin menaces
of a modish post-1989 triumphalism, and a postmodernist pessimism, it nonetheless
sets us a goal that can, and should, command attention. Two centuries later, the
goals of Enlightenment, and a measured concept of progress, retain an, albeit
chastened, validity in international as in domestic affairs.
Harold Innis and the Empire of Speed
Authors: DEIBERT RONALD J.
Published: July 2002

Increasingly, International Relations (IR) theorists are drawing inspiration from a broad range of theorists outside the discipline. One thinks of the introduction of Antonio Gramsci's writings to IR theorists by Robert Cox, for example, and the ‘school’ that has developed in its wake. Similarly, the works of Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault, and Jurgen Habermas are all relatively familiar to most IR theorists not because of their writings on world politics per se, but because they were imported into the field by roving theorists. Many others of varying success could be cited as well. Such cross-disciplinary excursions are important because they inject vitality into a field that – in the opinion of some at least—is in need of rejuvenation in the face of contemporary changes. In this paper, I elaborate on the work of the Canadian communications theorist Harold Innis, situating his work within contemporary IR theory while underlining his historicism, holism, and attention to time-space biases.
CF-LIPS: A new approach to LIPS spectra analysis
Authors: CIUCCI A. , PALLESCHI V. , RASTELLI S. , SALVETTI A. , SINGH D.P. , TOGNONI E.
Published: July 2002

The usual technique of the laser induced plasma
spectroscopy (LIPS) spectra analysis relies on the use
of calibration curves for quantitative measurements of
plasma composition. However, LIPS calibration curves strongly
depend on the material composition (the so-called matrix
effect); thus, this standard approach to the LIPS spectra
analysis is inadequate when precise information on unknown
samples composition is required. In this paper we present
a new procedure, based on LIPS, for calibration-free quantitative
elemental analysis of materials. The new procedure, based
on an algorithm developed and patented by IFAM-CNR, allows
the overcoming of the matrix effect, yielding precise and
accurate quantitative results without the need of calibration
curves.
Point-to-Point trajectory planning of flexible redundant robot manipulators using genetic algorithms
Authors: Yue Shigang , Henrich Dominik , Xu W. L. , Tso S. K.
Published: July 2002

The paper focuses on the problem of point-to-point trajectory planning for flexible redundant robot manipulators (FRM) in joint space. Compared with irredundant flexible manipulators, a FRM possesses additional possibilities during point-to-point trajectory planning due to its kinematics redundancy. A trajectory planning method to minimize vibration and/or executing time of a point-to-point motion is presented for FRMs based on Genetic Algorithms (GAs). Kinematics redundancy is integrated into the
presented method as planning variables. Quadrinomial and quintic polynomial are used to describe the segments that connect the initial, intermediate, and final points in joint space. The trajectory planning of FRM is formulated as a problem of optimization with constraints.
A planar FRM with three flexible links is used in simulation. Case studies show that the method is applicable.
Development of a non-contact end effector for robotic
handling of non-rigid materials
Authors: Erzincanli F. , Sharp J. M.
Published: July 2002

This paper identifies the need for a new range of end effectors suitable
for non-rigid products and introduces a novel non-contact gripping device. The
end effector operates on the principle of generating a high-speed flow between
the end effector and product surface thereby creating a vacuum which levitates
the product. The lifting forces and conditions are theoretically discussed. The
experimental results are presented using the end effector that has been operated
to lift non-rigid food materials such as jelly blocks.
Jamming conditions for multiple peg-in-hole assemblies
Authors: Sathirakul Korntham , Sturges Robert H.
Published: July 2002

Reliable flexible assembly workstations depend ultimately on the physics of assembly tasks performed. Multiple-peg insertions, as a practical assembly class, is complicated by the large number and kind of interaction between mating parts.

In this article, geometric and quasi-static analyses of multiple-peg insertions are presented. First, a possible contact-state enumeration, geometric conditions for each contact-state, and the force-moment equations for static-equilibrium states of two
dimensional dual-peg insertions are derived. The jamming diagrams and the taxonomy of dual-peg insertions are obtained. Then, an experiment to verify the analysis is presented.
A flexure-based gripper for small-scale manipulation
Authors: Goldfarb Michael , Celanovic Nikola
Published: July 2002

A small-scale flexure-based gripper was designed for manipulation tasks requiring precision position and force control. The gripper is actuated by a piezoelectric ceramic stack actuator and utilizes strain gages to measure both the gripping force and displacement. The position and force bandwidths were designed for ten Hertz and one hundred Hertz, respectively, in order to afford human-based teleoperative transparency. The gripper serves effectively as a one degree-of-freedom investigation of compliant mechanism design for position and force controlled micromanipulation. Data is presented that characterizes the microgripper performance under both pure position and pure force control, followed by a discussion of the attributes and limitations of flexure-based design.
NONPARAMETRIC SIGNIFICANCE TESTING
Authors: Lavergne Pascal , Vuong Quang
Published: July 2002

A procedure for testing the significance of a subset
of explanatory variables in a nonparametric regression
is proposed. Our test statistic uses the kernel method.
Under the null hypothesis of no effect of the variables
under test, we show that our test statistic has an nhp2/2 standard
normal limiting distribution, where p2
is the dimension of the complete set of regressors. Our test
is one-sided, consistent against all alternatives and detects
local alternatives approaching the null at rate slower than
n−1/2h−p2/4.
Our Monte-Carlo experiments indicate that it outperforms the
test proposed by Fan and Li (1996, Econometrica 64,
865–890).
REVISING BELIEFS IN NONIDENTIFIED MODELS
Authors: Poirier Dale J.
Published: July 2002

A Bayesian analysis of a nonidentified model is
always possible if a proper prior on all the parameters
is specified. There is, however, no Bayesian free lunch.
The “price” is that there exist quantities
about which the data are uninformative, i.e., their marginal
prior and posterior distributions are identical. In the
case of improper priors the analysis is problematic—resulting
posteriors can be improper. This study investigates both
proper and improper cases through a series of examples.
Tree spatial patterns in three contrasting plots of a southern Indian tropical moist evergreen forest
Authors: PÉLISSIER RAPHAËL
Published: July 2002

In a primary dense moist evergreen forest of southern India, spatial patterns of trees ≥30 cm gbh were investigated from three contrasting 0.4-ha plots that differed in topography and amount of disturbance due to treefall. Exploratory data analysis is based on second-order neighbourhood and pair-correlation statistics used to describe the degree of clustering/regularity in patterns of all trees, and the degree of attraction/repulsion between young trees and adults. Stochastic simulations from the Markov point process models are then used to fit spatial interaction models. The results show that spatial patterns can be related to particular dynamic processes which depend on both exogenous and endogenous factors: on steep slopes disturbed by many treefalls, spatial pattern displays large clusters which can be interpreted as within-gap regeneration stages of various ages, while in areas undisturbed over a long period, interactions between young trees and adults give rise to spatial patterns consistent with substitution dynamic processes implying standing mortality rather than treefalls. Characterizing forest dynamics through spatial patterns of trees opens up the possibility of mapping structural units that might be considered as elementary functional patches of the forest mosaic.