bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Differential Preferences for Happiness: Extraversion and Trait‐Consistent Emotion Regulation
Authors: Tamir Maya
Published: February 2009

ABSTRACT
The assumption that everyone wants to be happy is prevalent among psychologists and laypeople alike. The present investigation suggests that motives for happiness are not consistent across individuals or contexts. Three studies demonstrate that preferences for happiness vary as a function of trait extraversion and situational demands. When anticipating an effortful task that requires increased motivational engagement, individuals demonstrated trait‐consistent emotional preferences. Extraverts were more likely to prefer happiness‐inducing activities, whereas introverts were less likely to prefer such activities. These differential motives were specific to preferences for happiness compared to other emotions and independent of concurrent feelings. Overall, the present findings suggest that individuals low (vs. high) in extraversion may be less motivated to increase their happiness in effortful contexts.
The Expression of Achievement Motives in Interpersonal Problems
Authors: Conroy David E. , Elliot Andrew J. , Pincus Aaron L.
Published: February 2009

ABSTRACTAchievement motivation influences self‐regulatory strategies, affective processes, and achievement outcomes, but little is known about how individual differences in achievement motivation influence interpersonal behavior. Different forms of achievement motivation are likely to influence interpersonal behavior because achievement motives are grounded in social emotions. Two studies were conducted to examine relations between achievement motives and dispositional interpersonal problems. These studies linked deficits in pride‐based need for achievement with self‐reported submission‐related interpersonal problems, and shame‐based fear of failure (FF) with both self‐ and peer‐reported interpersonal distress. The achievement motives were largely not associated with individuals' perceptions of their peers' interpersonal problems. These findings reinforce propositions that FF represents the commingling of achievement and relational concerns and suggest new mechanisms by which achievement motives may influence productivity, social success, and well‐being.
Integrating Contested Aspirations, Processes and Policy: Development as Hanging In, Stepping Up and Stepping Out
Authors: Dorward Andrew
Published: February 2009

This article proposes a dialogue around a conceptualisation of development as involving three complementary processes: ‘hanging in’, ‘stepping up’ and ‘stepping out’. These describe different types and scales of structural change in national and sub‐national societies and economies, in different sectors within these economies, and in people's evolving livelihoods. The simplicity and strong theoretical, empirical and experiential content of this make it a powerful framework both for interdisciplinary, inter‐sectoral, multi‐scale analysis of dynamic development processes, and for structuring dialogue about contested aspirations, assumptions, modalities and constraints among development analysts and stakeholders with different interests and paradigms.
Information from multiple modalities helps 5‐month‐olds learn abstract rules
Authors: Frank Michael C. , Slemmer Jonathan A. , Marcus Gary F. , Johnson Scott P.
Published: February 2009

By 7 months of age, infants are able to learn rules based on the abstract relationships between stimuli (

Marcus
et al
., 1999

), but they are better able to do so when exposed to speech than to some other classes of stimuli. In the current experiments we ask whether multimodal stimulus information will aid younger infants in identifying abstract rules. We habituated 5‐month‐olds to simple abstract patterns (ABA or ABB) instantiated in coordinated looming visual shapes and speech sounds (Experiment 1), shapes alone (Experiment 2), and speech sounds accompanied by uninformative but coordinated shapes (Experiment 3). Infants showed evidence of rule learning only in the presence of the informative multimodal cues. We hypothesize that the additional evidence present in these multimodal displays was responsible for the success of younger infants in learning rules, congruent with both a Bayesian account and with the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis.
On the role and fate of sugars in human nutrition and health. Introduction
Authors: Palou A. , Bonet M. L. , Picó C.
Published: February 2009

The recently implemented European Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods is fuelling scientific research efforts in the food and health arena. Essentially, it is now established that only claims that are scientifically substantiated will be allowed. Because this new legislation covers the idea that foods with health or nutritional claims might be perceived by consumers as having a health advantage over products without claims, it introduces a further requirement (enclosing the new concept of ‘nutrient profile’) to avoid a situation where claims could mislead consumers when trying to make healthy choices in the context of a balanced diet. Thus, only those foods having an appropriate nutrition profile (composition of different nutrients such as sugars and other substances with particularly relevant nutritional or physiological effects) will be allowed to bear claims. A scientific expert workshop was organized to critically review the available evidence behind current intake recommendations for sugars, focusing on the strength/gaps of the scientific evidence available and the identification of those fields where further research is needed. Work was distributed in the following topics covering potential effects of dietary sugars on (i) body weight control; (ii) diabetes‐insulin resistance; (iii) dental health and (iv) micronutrient dilution. New approaches, including intervention studies and the application of nutrigenomic technologies, should be undertaken and interpreted bearing in mind that foods, food components and their combinations can have both positive and negative effects on health, thus requiring benefit–risk analysis.
Trade Unions and Work‐life Balance: Changing Times in France and the UK?
Authors: Gregory Abigail , Milner Susan
Published: February 2009

The mixed empirical findings to date have indicated that some, but not all, unions in industrialized countries are actively involved in campaigning and bargaining around work–life balance (WLB) issues, as part of a modernization agenda linked to feminization and to ‘positive flexibility’. This article seeks to identify factors that might encourage or inhibit trade unions from involvement in WLB issues, within a cross‐national comparative perspective focusing on two countries (France and the UK) that have contrasting working time regimes and approaches to WLB. It draws on original research carried out in two sectors — insurance and social work — in these two countries. The article links the emergence of union WLB programmes and bargaining agendas to gender‐equality concerns within the union and to the gender composition of the sector, as well as to the working time regime, including the mode of action, partnership being a significant corollary of WLB campaigning in the UK. We find support for the modernization thesis in the UK, particularly in the public sector, but within severe constraints defined by employer initiative.
DECENTRING POLICY NETWORKS: LESSONS AND PROSPECTS
Authors: BEVIR MARK , RICHARDS DAVID
Published: February 2009

This Conclusion reflects on the contributions the various articles in this special issue have made to decentred studies of policy networks. It concentrates on three areas: the role of meaning in action in shaping networks; new research agendas that have been potentially opened; and key theoretical debates. In considering the theoretical debates, this Conclusion considers various criticisms of the decentred approach to exploring policy networks, before offering some suggestions for those who want to undertake decentred studies of policy networks.
ON THE USE OF NARRATIVES FOR ASSESSING DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Authors: HODGETT SUSAN , DENEULIN SÉVERINE
Published: February 2009

The paper discusses the extent to which narratives enrich human development policy assessment beyond statistical data. Our arguments are divided in three parts. First, after introducing the capability approach, we examine the theoretical rationale for assessing policy beyond statistics and the relevance of narratives in policy assessment. Second, we review one major exception in policy assessment, the European Union (EU) Community Infrastructure measure. The paper theorizes interpretive approaches and the use of narratives in policy assessment. It suggests that in order for the capability approach to make a significant contribution to policy research we should explore the absolute presuppositions underpinning policy‐making, and recognize that there is no intelligible distinction between quantitative and qualitative research: both acquire meaning in terms of the social plot in which they are mobilized. Consequently, we argue that future understanding of human wellbeing must be conceptualized within a meta‐theoretic framework.
An exploration of higher level teaching assistants' perceptions of their training and development in the context of school workforce reform
Authors: BURGESS HILARY , MAYES ANN SHELTON
Published: February 2009

This paper reports on teaching assistants' perceptions of the Phase 1 Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) training programme and the match to their changing role in classroom support, and suggests resulting issues for the design and delivery of HLTA training programmes. It explores what impact undertaking the training and gaining HLTA professional status has had upon the school activities undertaken by the teaching assistants and their relationships with other members of staff within the school. Finally, it suggests emerging issues for the involvement of staff with HLTA professional status in classrooms in the context of the Schools' Workforce Reform in England.
Measures for inclusion: coping with the challenge of visual impairment and blindness in university undergraduate level language learning
Authors: ORSINI‐JONES MARINA
Published: February 2009

This paper develops from previous research (Orsini‐Jones et al., 2005) and reports on the experience of three students, two visually impaired and one blind, reading languages at Coventry University, on the adjustments made to meet their needs and on the challenges encountered on their learning journey both from their point of view and from the point of view of the staff involved. It focuses on three students' experience of their languages course and considers the challenges they met in each of their years of study. It concludes by evaluating these students' language learning journey at Coventry University, reporting on their feedback on their experience and on whether or not they feel that staff have successfully catered for their individual needs. It is argued here, as in the previous related work (Orsini‐Jones, et al., 2005) that ‘there still exists some tension between the reasonable anticipatory adjustments that lecturers can put in place and the necessary ad hoc ones that will be needed for a disabled student with very specific needs’.
Tools or crutches? Apparatus as a sense‐making aid in mathematics teaching with children with moderate learning difficulties
Authors: MOSCARDINI LIO
Published: February 2009

This paper challenges a view of concrete materials as artifacts used within a rigid instructional sequence that particular children are perceived to require or not, as the case may be. Focussing on mathematics teaching, it contends that it is more useful to consider the function of these materials as tools, artefacts used flexibly and selectively by pupils to make sense of mathematics, rather than as crutches, devices which may support procedural competency in mathematics but with no guarantees of understanding.
Using the Phono‐Graphix reading programme as a literacy support intervention strategy
Authors: SHAW MONICA , DAVIDSON MO
Published: February 2009

The study outlined here was an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of using the Phono‐Graphix reading programme with a group of four struggling readers/non‐readers. The children selected were in Primary 2 and had already had one‐and‐a‐half years of mixed reading instruction strategies – primarily Jolly Phonics with a ‘look and say’ approach. The children were taught in twice weekly ‘pull out’ sessions in addition to learning with their peers in their normal, daily classroom lessons. Results showed that they had improved in all literacy sub‐skills being assessed. Two of them also improved on standardised assessments. All children were observed to be reading (and spelling) more accurately than at the beginning of the project.
M-Estimation of Boolean Models for Particle Flow Experiments
Authors: Osborne Jason A. , Grift Tony E.
Published: February 2009

Probability models are proposed for passage time data collected in experiments with a device that was designed to measure particle flow during aerial application of fertilizer. Maximum likelihood estimation of flow intensity is reviewed for the simple linear Boolean model, which arises with the assumption that each particle requires the same known passage time. M-estimation is developed for a generalization of the model in which passage times behave as a random sample from a distribution with a known mean. The generalized model improves the fit in these experiments. An estimator of total particle flow is constructed by conditioning on lengths of multiparticle clumps.
BETWEEN WARRIORS AND CHAMPIONS: WARFARE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE LATER PREHISTORY OF THE NORTH‐WESTERN IBERIAN PENINSULA1
Authors: GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA FRANCISCO JAVIER
Published: February 2009

This article explores changes in the ‘art of warfare’ among societies in the north‐western Iberian Peninsula in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. These changes are interpreted as a manifestation of the transformation experienced by societies living in the region first from ‘warrior societies’ to ‘societies with warriors’ at the end of the Bronze Age and then back to ‘warrior societies’ in the Late Iron Age. Evidence of individual combat as a manifestation of ‘societies with warriors’ is analysed in the broader context of Indo‐European and ethnographical examples. It reflects societies in which there were groups specialized in warfare and represents the establishment, in the region, of an Indo‐European warrior ideology.
PLATO: PROTAGORAS, trans. with Notes by C. C. W. Taylor
Authors: Mcknight C. J.
Published: February 2009

PLATO: PROTAGORAS, trans, with Notes by C. C. W. Taylor. Clarendon Press: O.U.P., 1976. vii+230 pp. £7.50 cloth, £3.75 paper.
PLATO'S UNIVERSE by Gregory Vlastos
Authors: Smith Richard N. W.
Published: February 2009

PLATO'S UNIVERSE by Gregory Vlastos. Clarendon Press: O.U.P., 1975. xiii+130 pp. £3.75.
PLATO ON KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY by Nicholas P. White
Authors: Robinson Richard
Published: February 2009

PLATO ON KNOWLEDGE AND REALITY by Nicholas P. White. Hackett Publ. Co., 1976. xvii+254 pp. $25 cloth, $9.75 paper.
THINKING AND DOING: The Philosophical Foundations of Institutions, by Hector‐Neri Castañeda
Authors: Raz J.
Published: February 2009

THINKING AND DOING: The Philosophical Foundations of Institutions, by Hector‐Neri Castañeda. Reidel, 1975. xxviii+366 pp. Gld. 110 or $39.50.
REASON AND ARGUMENT by P. T. Geach
Authors: Tiles J. E. , Tiles Mary
Published: February 2009

REASON AND ARGUMENT by P. T. Geach. Blackwell, 1977. xi + 99 pp. £4 cloth, £ 1.75 paper.
TOLERATION by Preston King
Authors: Frey R. G.
Published: February 2009

TOLERATION by Preston King. Allen & Unwin, 1976. 239 pp. £6.95.
ANALYSIS AND METAPHYSICS: Essays in Honor of R. M. Chisholm, edited by Keith Lehrer
Authors: Mcqueen Donald
Published: February 2009

ANALYSIS AND METAPHYSICS: Essays in Honor of R. M. Chisholm, edited by Keith Lehrer. Reidel, 1975. x+317 pp. Gld. 110 or $39.50.
SOCIAL JUSTICE by David Miller
Authors: Cottingham John
Published: February 2009

SOCIAL JUSTICE by Davild Miller. Clarendon Press: O.U.P., 1976. viii+367pp. £8.50.
Adult cervicocerebral artery dissection: a single‐center study of 301 Finnish patients
Authors: Metso T. M. , Metso A. J. , Salonen O. , Haapaniemi E. , Putaala J. , Artto V. , Helenius J. , Kaste M. , Tatlisumak T.
Published: February 2009

Background and purpose:  There are only few small studies assessing potential risk factors, comorbidity, and prognostic factors in adult spontaneous cervicocerebral artery dissection (CAD).

Methods:  We conducted a retrospective, hospital‐based analysis on the prognostic factors and association of CAD with vascular risk factors in 301 consecutive Finnish patients, diagnosed from 1994 to 2007.

Results:  Two thirds of the patients were men (68%). Women were younger than men. Migraine (36% of all patients), especially with visual aura (63% of all migraineurs), and smoking were more common in patients with CAD compared with the general Finnish population. At 3 months, 247 (83%) patients reached a favorable outcome. Occlusion of the dissected artery, internal carotid artery dissection (ICAD), and recent infection in infarction patients were associated with a poorer outcome. ICAD patients had less often brain infarction, but the strokes they had were more severe. Seven (2.3%) patients died during the follow‐up (mean 4.0 years, 1186 patient years). Six (2%) patients had verified CAD recurrence.

Conclusions:  This study provides evidence for the association of CAD with male sex, and possible association with smoking and migraine. Occlusion of the dissected artery, ICAD, and infection appear to be associated with poorer outcome.
Increase in NADPH-Diaphorase-Positive and Neuronal NO Synthase Immunoreactive Neurons in the Rat Spinal Trigeminal Nucleus Following Infusion of a NO Donor—Evidence for a Feed-Forward Process in NO Production Involved in Trigeminal Nociception
Authors: Schlechtweg PM , Röder J , Fischer MJM , Neuhuber W , Messlinger K
Published: February 2009

Nitric oxide (NO) donors, which cause delayed headaches in migraineurs, have been shown to activate central trigeminal neurons with meningeal afferent input in animal experiments. Previous reports indicate that this response may be due to up-regulation of NO-producing cells in the trigeminal brainstem. To investigate this phenomenon further, we determined nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-containing neurons in the rat spinal trigeminal nucleus (STN), the projection site of nociceptive trigeminal afferents, following infusion of the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP). Barbiturate anaesthetized rats were infused intravenously with SNP (50 μg/kg) or vehicle for 20 min or 2 h, and after periods of 3–8 h fixed by perfusion. Cryostat sections of the medulla oblongata containing the caudal STN were histochemically processed for detection of nicotineamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-diaphorase or immunohistochemically stained for NOS isoforms and examined by light and fluorescence microscopy. The number of neurons positive for these markers was determined. Various forms of neurons positive for NADPH-diaphorase or immunoreactive to neuronal NOS (nNOS) were found in superficial and deep laminae of the STN caudalis and around the central canal. Neurons were not immunopositive for endothelial (eNOS) or inducible (iNOS) NOS isoforms. The number of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons increased time dependently after SNP infusion by a factor of more than two. Likewise, the number of nNOS-immunopositive neurons was increased after SNP compared with vehicle infusion. Around the central canal the number of NADPH-diaphorase-positive neurons was slightly increased and the number of nNOS+ neurons not changed after SNP treatment. NO donors increase the number of neurons that produce NO in the STN, possibly by induction of nNOS expression. Increased NO production may facilitate neurotransmitter release and promote nociceptive transmission in the STN. This mechanism may explain the delayed increase in neuronal activity and headache after infusion of NO donors.
Blastocyst environment and its influence on offspring cardiovascular health: the heart of the matter
Authors: Watkins Adam J. , Fleming Tom P.
Published: February 2009

The development of adult‐onset diseases such as type II diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease is traditionally attributed to adult lifestyle characteristics such as a lack of physical exercise, poor diet and smoking. However, evidence from both human and animal model studies has demonstrated that environmental factors such as an imbalance or reduction in maternal nutrition during gestation can have adverse effects on offspring metabolism and cardiovascular health. The severity and nature of the phenotypic changes induced in offspring is influenced by the period of gestation manipulated. In particular, the mammalian preimplantation embryo in different animal models displays particular sensitivity to environmental factors, eitherin vivo(maternal diet) orin vitro(embryo culture) that is associated with the onset of cardiovascular dysfunction in adult life. The detailed mechanisms by which environmental conditions can alter postnatal cardiovascular physiology are poorly understood. However, various factors including endothelial function, vascular responsiveness, the renin‐angiotensin system, kidney structure and early postnatal growth dynamics have all been recognize as potential contributors. Here, we review the relationship between preimplantation embryo environment and postnatal cardiovascular disease risk, and consider biochemical, molecular, genetic and physiological pathways implicated in this association.
Oxygen as modulator of trophoblast invasion
Authors: Huppertz Berthold , Gauster Martin , Orendi Kristina , König Julia , Moser Gerit
Published: February 2009

At the time of blastocyst implantation the uterine spiral arteries have already undergone morphological changes in the absence of any extravillous trophoblast invasion. Only 2 weeks after implantation, extravillous trophoblast cells develop and come into first contact with decidual tissues. Invading through the decidual interstitium, extravillous trophoblasts potentially reach and transform spiral arteries into uteroplacental arteries. Spiral arterial erosion starts at about mid‐first trimester, whereas flow of maternal blood into the intervillous space is continuously established only at the beginning of the second trimester. One key regulator of the number of extravillous trophoblasts is oxygen. The steep gradient in oxygen concentration within the first trimester placenta is diminished with the onset of maternal blood flow. This gradient is used by the trophoblast to generate a large number of invasive cells to adapt the arterial vasculature in the placental bed to the growing needs of the fetus. Changes in oxygen concentrations or other factors leading to alterations in the rates of proliferation and/or apoptosis of extravillous trophoblast clearly impact on the remodelling of the vessels. The respective consequences of a failure in trophoblast invasion are growth restrictions of the baby and perhaps other pregnancy complications.
Dynamics of Mara–Serengeti ungulates in relation to land use changes
Authors: Ogutu J. O. , Piepho H.‐P. , Dublin H. T. , Bhola N. , Reid R. S.
Published: February 2009

Animal population dynamics can be driven by changing climatic forcing, shifting habitat conditions, trophic interactions and anthropogenic influences. To understand these influences, we analyzed trends in populations of seven ungulate species counted during 15 years (1989–2003) of monthly monitoring using vehicle ground counts in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Abundance of six species declined markedly and persistently throughout the reserve during this period. The declines were contemporaneous with progressive habitat deterioration due to changing land use in pastoral ranches bordering the reserve, habitat desiccation due to rising temperatures, recurrent severe droughts and an exceptional ENSO flood in 1997–1998. The effect of progressive habitat deterioration was accentuated by illicit harvest, competition with livestock and elevated predation. After factoring out the influence of rainfall, ungulate populations declined more markedly in sections of the reserve experiencing greater livestock incursions and poaching. The declines were significantly correlated with increasing number of settlements and people in the pastoral ranches for five species. Heightened predation following a crash in the buffalo Syncerus caffer population during a severe drought in 1993 had little support as the primary cause of the declines.
Rivers as barriers for high elevation amphibians: a phylogeographic analysis of the alpine stream frog of the Hengduan Mountains
Authors: Li R. , Chen W. , Tu L. , Fu J.
Published: February 2009

At high altitude, rivers may function as barriers for amphibians. We examined 21 populations of Scutiger boulengeri from the Hengduan Mountains with 1038 base pairs of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. The haplotypes of S. boulengeri formed three clades on the gene tree, and each clade was restricted to one mountain ridge separated by two major river systems, the Yalong River and the Dadu River. The vicariant pattern of the gene tree suggests that these rivers functioned as effective barriers during population differentiation. On the other hand, mountain ridges may have facilitated amphibian movement. Populations within the uninterrupted mountain ranges of clades II and III, revealed little genetic structure. The northern clade I, harboured a substantial amount of genetic variation, which might be the consequence of the rugged terrain and heterogeneous habitat of this area. Furthermore, one outgroup species, Scutiger glandulatus, formed the fourth clade and nested within S. boulengeri, suggesting that S. boulengeri is likely a paraphyletic species or a species complex.
Genetic differentiation within the inbred C57BL/6J mouse strain
Authors: Niu Y. , Liang S.
Published: February 2009

The C57BL/6J (B6) inbred mouse strain is commonly used in biomedical researches. However, some unexpected inconsistency was reported compared with previous studies, and in most cases, it can be attributed to environmental, epigenetic or stochastic differences. The goal of this study was to investigate the genetic stability of the B6 strain maintained in different breeders. B6 mice purchased from five Chinese commercial breeders were examined, and mitochondrial D‐loop sequence and 18 microsatellite loci were genotyped. There is no difference in the D‐loop sequences, but variations exist in the nucleic microsatellite markers. Combining the data from MGI_4.01, a significant divergence is observed among those mice. The present study indicates that different B6 mice share the common maternal lineage and are still inbred in each breeder, but subline divergence occurs.
Modelling species distribution in complex environments: an evaluation of predictive ability and reliability in five shorebird species
Authors: Heinänen Stefan , Von Numers Mikael
Published: February 2009

Aim  Many wader populations around the world are declining as a consequence of habitat degradation or loss. It is therefore important to identify species‐specific habitat demands accurately and to define the important factors explaining species distribution, in order to develop tools that can be used in conservation planning. The aim of this study is to create reliable, functional and ecologically interpretable predictive distribution models for five breeding wader species.

Location  The archipelago of SW Finland in the Baltic Sea.

Methods  We used multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) to create single‐species and multiresponse distribution models based on 525 study islands and 12 abiotic and biotic environmental variables. Model evaluation was carried out on independent data not used in model building (100 + 116 islands). The models were tested for discrimination with receiver‐operating characteristic statistics and for calibration with Millers calibration statistics (MCS).

Results  The single‐species models for the turnstone (Arenaria interpres), redshank (Tringa totanus) and oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) showed good predictive abilities, regarding both discrimination and calibration, when evaluated on independent data. The multiresponse models for the less prevalent species, common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) and the common ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) had better discriminative abilities than the single‐species models. The most influential predictor overall was occurrence of small larids. Exposure, area of forest and low and flat areas were also important, as well as shore habitats.

Main conclusions  We found that the ability of MARS to fit non‐linear and multiresponse models makes it a useful method to quantitatively relate species occurrence to environmental characteristics of a complex environment.
A comparison of the Goldmann applanation and non‐contact (Keeler Pulsair EasyEye) tonometers and the effect of central corneal thickness in indigenous African eyes
Authors: Babalola O. E. , Kehinde A. V. , Iloegbunam A. C. , Akinbinu T. , Moghalu C. , Onuoha I.
Published: February 2009

The Keeler Pulsair EasyEye non‐contact tonometer (NCT) was introduced into practice at Rachel Eye Center Abuja, Nigeria, where the patients are indigenous Africans. This was compared to the ‘gold standard’ Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT) to determine if the instrument was accurate in Africans, with particular reference to the influence of central corneal thickness (CCT).

Patients and methods:  174 eyes of 88 patients were analysed. Pachymetry was performed using Sonomed PacScan AP300, and GAT with the Haag Streit R‐900. Pachymetric corrections of NCT (NCTc) and GAT (GATc) were carried out with the Sonomed algorithm. Pearson’s correlation r, linear regression analysis, Student t‐test and Bland–Altman analysis were used to compare the instruments.

Results:  Mean NCT readings were similar (17.36 mmHg) to mean GAT (17.42 mmHg; p = 0.769). GAT/NCT correlation coefficient, r, was 0.883 as compared with 0.868 for GATc/NCTc. The linear regression equation was GAT = 2.79 + 0.84*NCT (r2 = 0.78). Forty‐five per cent of differences were within 1 mmHg, while 79% were within 3 mmHg. This was similar to findings in some studies on Caucasians. Bland–Altman analysis however suggested that the spread of differences was wider than in those studies. Outliers (differences more than 5 mmHg) sometimes reflected difficulties encountered with GAT in routine practice. Mean CCT was 537.9 μm, (S.D. 38.4, 95% confidence interval 532.1–543.7 μm) and CCT appeared lower than in Caucasians. Both GAT and NCT IOP tended to rise with increasing CCT but NCT had a greater tendency to do so. Regression analysis suggested that NCT IOP increased by 0.6 mmHg for every 10 μm increase in CCT, compared to 0.4 mmHg for GAT. Thirty‐eight per cent of the patients preferred NCT as opposed to 25% GAT.

Conclusions:  The Keeler Pulsair EasyEye gives reliable measurements of IOP in African eyes but is significantly affected by CCT. Particularly in borderline cases where management decisions have to be taken, it may be necessary to have pachymetric corrections based on an NCT algorithm, which appears steeper than the GAT algorithm.
Height, weight, body mass index and ocular biometry in patients with sickle cell disease
Authors: Osuobeni Ebi Peter , Okpala Iheanyi , Williamson Tom H. , Thomas Peter
Published: February 2009

Purpose:  To investigate the effects of physical size on refractive error and the dimensions of optical components in sickle cell disease (SCD).

Methods:  The design was cross sectional. Height and weight of adult patients suffering from SCD were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT), vitreous chamber depth (VCD) and axial length (AL) were measured using A‐scan ultrasonography. Corneal radius of curvature (CR) was measured using a keratometer. Non‐cycloplegic refractive error was determined subjectively.

Results:  Subjects with SC genotype were significantly taller than those with SS genotype. In the unadjusted data, height was correlated with VCD [p = 0.02, 0.44 mm deeper per 10 cm increase in height, 95% CI (0.65, 8.25)] and AL [p = 0.03, 0.42 mm longer for every 10 cm increase in height, 95%CI (0.49, 7.99)]. The relationship between height, VCD and AL was absent after adjustment for age, gender, genotype and weight. BMI (kg m−2) was correlated with AL/CR ratio in both unadjusted (p = 0.04, −0.10 decrease per 1 kg m−2, 95% CI (−0.018, −0.001) and adjusted data (p = 0.05, −0.10 decrease per 10 kg m−2, 95% CI (−0.0189, 0.0001). Refractive error was not related to height, weight or BMI.

Conclusions:  Physical size does not affect refractive error or optical components in adult patients with SCD.
Accommodation modulates the individual difference between objective and subjective measures of the final convergence step response
Authors: Jainta S. , Hoormann J. , Jaschinski W.
Published: February 2009

Measuring vergence eye movements with dichoptic nonius lines (subjectively) usually leads to an overestimation of the vergence state after a step response: a subjective vergence overestimation (SVO). We tried to reduce this SVO by presenting a vergence stimulus that decoupled vergence and accommodation during the step response, i.e. reduced the degree of ‘forced vergence’. In a mirror‐stereoscope, we estimated convergence step responses with nonius lines presented at 1000 ms after a disparity step‐stimulus and compared it to objective recordings (EyeLink II;n = 6). We presented a vertical line, a cross/rectangle stimulus and a difference‐of‐gaussians (DOG) pattern. For 180 min arc step stimuli, the subjective measures revealed a larger final vergence response than the objective measure; for the vertical line this SVO was 20 min arc, while it was significantly smaller for the DOG (12 min arc). For 60 min arc step‐responses, no overestimation was observed. Additionally, we measured accommodation, which changed more for the DOG‐pattern compared with the line‐stimulus; this relative increase correlated with the corresponding relative change of SVO (r = 0.77). Both findings (i.e. no overestimation for small steps and a weaker one for the DOG‐pattern) reflect lesser conflicting demand on accommodation and vergence under ‘forced‐vergence’ viewing; consequently, sensory compensation is reduced and subjective and objective measures of vergence step responses tend to agree.
Revisiting frontiers as transitional spaces in Thailand
Authors: HIRSCH PHILIP
Published: February 2009

This paper explores the notion of frontiers as ‘in‐between’ spaces that define particular transitions. Three contexts of frontier and their rapidly changing nature form the basis of the analysis. Agricultural frontiers (typically between farmland and forest) are defined by new relations of production and interplays between conservation, shifting modes of agriculture and natural resource use and management. Peri‐urban frontiers (between countryside and city) are taken beyond their desakota/chaan‐meuang locations to a more generic interplay between urbanity and rurality in defining livelihood and identity. National frontiers (between nation states with sharply different political and economic conditions) are transcended from above in the form of new regionalisms, and, from below, in migrations and other transboundary influences and flows. The paper proposes the frontier as both a spatial and temporal heuristic for understanding development and associated societal transitions in Thailand.
Presentational state power: temporal and spatial influences over asylum sector decisionmakers
Authors: Gill Nick
Published: February 2009

Previous analyses of forced migration have drawn attention to the increasing discretion held by asylum sector decisionmakers. According to these accounts, as the state reacts to the political risks associated with asylum migration control, responsibility for forced migration management is increasingly transferred onto a range of intermediate actors, between state and society, including local government employees, asylum interviewers, immigration judges and security staff. Yet little research has directly addressed these intermediaries’ collective experiences and the influences to which they are subject. The article therefore focuses attention explicitly upon the nominal conduct of this increasingly authorised, discretionary and highly heterogeneous population. Drawing upon 37 interviews across four sites at which asylum sector intermediaries have significant and increasing discretion over asylum seekers’ experiences, the findings demonstrate the importance of institutionalised timing and spacing for the determination of their volitional conduct. The timing and spacing of government institutions are important, not only through their influence over asylum seekers directly, but also because they present asylum seekers to those with discretionary authority in ways that are conducive to exclusionary uses of this authority.
Securities Laws, Disclosure, and National Capital Markets in the Age of Financial Globalization
Authors: STULZ RENÉ M.
Published: February 2009

As barriers to international investment fall and technology improves, the cost advantages for a firm's securities to trade publicly in the country in which that firm is located and for that country to have a market for publicly traded securities distinct from the capital markets of other countries will progressively disappear. Securities laws remain an important determinant of whether and where securities are issued, how they are valued, who owns them, and where they trade. I show that there is a demand from entrepreneurs for mechanisms that allow them to commit to credible disclosure because disclosure helps reduce agency costs. Under some circumstances, mandatory disclosure through securities laws can help satisfy that demand, but only provided investors or the state can act on the information disclosed and the laws cannot be weakened ex post too much through lobbying by corporate insiders. With financial globalization, national disclosure laws can have wide‐ranging effects on a country's welfare, on firms and on investor portfolios, including the extent to which share holdings reveal a home bias. In equilibrium, if firms can choose the securities laws they are subject to when they go public, some firms will choose stronger securities laws than those of the country in which they are located and some firms will do the opposite.
Palaeo‐ice streams and the subglacial landscape mosaic of the North American mid‐continental prairies
Authors: ROSS MARTIN , CAMPBELL JANET E. , PARENT MICHEL , ADAMS ROBERTA S.
Published: February 2009

The analysis of the glacial landscape of southern Saskatchewan (Canada) through multiple data sets (e.g. digital elevation model, till compositional data) has revealed previously unrecognized subglacial sediment–landform assemblages. A southwest‐trending corridor of mega‐scale till lineations (Maskwa corridor) bounded on each side by hummocky terrain extends from the Canadian Shield to southwestern Saskatchewan. This landform assemblage is clearly cross‐cut by a broad south to southeast trending corridor (Buffalo corridor) consisting of subparallel curvilinear till ridges. The carbonate content of the surface till is spatially consistent within these assemblages, suggesting a strong sediment–landform relationship. The two corridors are interpreted as the product of palaeo‐ice streams. The Maskwa palaeo‐ice stream flowed up the regional slope and across preglacial valleys, indicating it was thick and stable. Narrow dispersal trains extending across as well as down‐glacier from the Athabasca Basin suggest that the Maskwa palaeo‐ice stream extended far into the ice sheet across contrasting shield and platform terrains. In comparison, the Buffalo palaeo‐ice stream was thinner and largely controlled by subglacial geology and topography. Its catchments were located at the Canadian Shield boundary and the system was oriented along‐slope. It experienced lateral shifts and it was fed by a network of tributaries. The glacial dynamics shift from the Maskwa to the Buffalo system occurred at about 13.5 14C kyr BP. The Buffalo system later evolved into thin outlet lobes until final deglaciation of the area. The proposed model has implications for ice‐sheet reconstruction and the assessment of till properties in the prairies and in similar terrains.
Recruitment of Hornbill‐Dispersed Trees in Hunted and Logged Forests of the Indian Eastern Himalaya
Authors: SETHI PIA , HOWE HENRY F.
Published: February 2009

Abstract:  Hunting of hornbills by tribal communities is widespread in logged foothill forests of the Indian Eastern Himalaya. We investigated whether the decline of hornbills has affected the dispersal and recruitment of 3 large‐seeded tree species. We hypothesized that 2 low‐fecundity tree species, Chisocheton paniculatus and Dysoxylum binectariferum (Meliaceae) bearing arillate fruits, are more dispersal limited than a prolifically fruiting drupaceous tree Polyalthia simiarum (Annonaceae), which has potential dispersers other than hornbills. We estimated the abundance of large avian frugivores during the fruiting season along transects in 2 protected and 2 disturbed forests. We compared recruitment of the tree species near (<10 m) and far (10–40 m) from parent trees at protected and disturbed sites. Median abundance of Great (Buceros bicornis), Wreathed (Aceros undulatus), and Oriental Pied Hornbills (Anthracoceros albirostris) were significantly lower in disturbed forests, but sites did not differ in abundances of the Mountain Imperial Pigeon (Ducula badia). Overall, tree species showed more severely depressed recruitment of seedlings (77% fewer) and juveniles (69% fewer) in disturbed than in protected forests. In disturbed forests, 93% fewer seedlings of C. paniculatus were beyond parental crowns, and a high number of all seedlings (42%) accumulated directly under reproductive adults. In contrast, D. binectariferum and P. simiarum were recruitment rather than dispersal limited, with fewer dispersed seedlings surviving in disturbed than in protected forests. Results are consistent with the idea that disturbance disrupts mutualisms between hornbills and some large‐seeded food plants, with the caveat that role redundancy within even small and specialized disperser assemblages renders other tree species less vulnerable to loss of regular dispersal agents.
Evidence for melt migration enhancing recrystallization of metastable assemblages in mafic lower crust, Fiordland, New Zealand
Authors: DACZKO N. R. , HALPIN J. A.
Published: February 2009

A major arc batholith, the Western Fiordland Orthogneiss (WFO) in Fiordland, New Zealand, exhibits irregular, spatially restricted centimetre‐scale recrystallization from two‐pyroxene hornblende granulite to garnet granulite flanking felsic dykes. At Lake Grave, northern Fiordland, the composition and texture of narrow (<10–20 mm across) felsic dykes that cut the orthogneiss are consistent with an igneous origin and injection of melt to form orthogneiss migmatite. New U–Pb geochronology suggests that the injection of dykes and migmatization occurred at c. 115 Ma, during the later stages of arc magmatism. Recrystallization to garnet granulite is promoted by volatile extraction from the host two‐pyroxene hornblende granulite via adjacent dykes and the patchy development of garnet granulite is left as a marker adjacent to the melt migration path. New mineral equilibria modelling suggests that a two‐pyroxene hornblende assemblage is stable at <11 kbar, whereas a garnet granulite assemblage is stable at >12 kbar, suggesting that garnet granulite may have formed with <5 km crustal loading of the batholith. Although the garnet granulite assemblages signify that the WFO experienced high‐P conditions, the very local nature of these textures indicates widespread metastability (>90%) of the two‐pyroxene hornblende granulite assemblages. These results indicate the strongly metastable nature of assemblages in mafic lower arc crust during deep burial and demonstrate that the degree of reaction in the case of Fiordland is related to interaction with migrating melts.
A thermodynamic model for titanium and ferric iron solution in biotite
Authors: TAJČMANOVÁ L. , CONNOLLY J. A. D. , CESARE B.
Published: February 2009

Recent crystallographic data indicate that in biotite Ti orders preferentially onto the M2 octahedral site rather than onto the M1 site as assumed in previous solution models for K2O–FeO–MgO–Al2O3–SiO2–H2O–TiO2–O2 (KFMASHTO) biotite. In view of these data, we reformulate and reparameterize former biotite solution models. Our reparameterization takes into account Fe–Mg order–disorder and ferric iron contents of natural biotite as well as both natural and experimental observations on biotite Ti‐content over a wide range of physicochemical conditions. In comparison with previous biotite models, the new model reproduces the Ti‐content and stability field of biotite as constrained by experiments with significantly better accuracy. The predictive power of the model is tested by comparison with petrologically well‐characterized natural samples of SiO2‐saturated and SiO2‐undersaturated rocks that were not used in the parameterization. In all these tests, the reformulated model performs well.
Critical evaluation of informed consent forms for adult and minor aged whole blood donation used by United States blood centers
Authors: Shaz Beth H. , Demmons Derrick G. , Hillyer Christopher D.
Published: February 2009

BACKGROUND: Blood donation is a medical procedure with attendant risks, and thus blood donors should undergo acceptable informed consent. There are no guidelines for the informed consent forms (ICFs) for whole blood donors or for parental consent forms (PCFs) for minor age blood donors. The goal of the study was to determine if the majority of the generally accepted elements of informed consent are provided to volunteer allogeneic whole blood donors in the United States.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: ICFs and PCFs along with their accompanying general information forms (GIFs) from nonmilitary blood collection establishments for allogeneic whole blood donation were collected throughout the United States and scored using a system based on the essential elements of informed consent derived from guidelines of consent for research subjects. The overall score for each ICF and PCF was obtained.

RESULTS: Twenty‐one ICFs and 37 PCFs from 48 states representing major collection centers within the United States were scored. The mean score for the common essential elements ICFs was 35 percent (range, 10%‐80%) and for PCFs was 46 percent (range, 10%‐90%).

CONCLUSION: None of the whole blood allogeneic donation informed consents surveyed contained all the common essential or specific blood donation information desired. There is a need for national guidelines for the informed consent process for both the donor and the parent of a minor to ensure adequate information is specified.