bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Attention level and negative priming in hierarchical patterns1
Authors: Hibi Yuko , Takeda Yuji , Yagi Akihiro
Published: March 2003

Abstract:  This study explored object processing associated with attention level dependent on task, using a paradigm of negative priming. Participants were required to identify target characters that appeared at either the global or local level in hierarchically structured patterns. Two experiments were conducted to examine how the global and local characters were processed in the attended and unattended levels. In the results of Experiment 1, where stimuli were presented for 10 ms, negative priming was observed in a local‐directed task, but not in a global‐directed one. These results suggested that the inhibition of local characters in the unattended level did not occur during global attention. The results of Experiment 2 revealed that negative priming was observed in both global‐ and local‐directed tasks in the 500 ms presentation, showing that inhibition in the unattended level occurred. As a result, the exposure duration influences inhibition in the unattended, especially the local level. At short exposure duration, the local characters are not inhibited when one directs attention to the global characters, whereas these are inhibited at long exposure duration.
Support reciprocity and depression among elementary school and high school students1
Authors: Taniguchi Hirokazu , Ura Mitsuhiro
Published: March 2003

Abstract:  This study examined the relationship between support reciprocity in friendships and depression among elementary school and high school students, taking specific account of the quality of parent‐child relationships. The participants were 340 first‐year high school students and 317 sixth‐year elementary school students, all of whom completed questionnaires measuring levels of depression and support receiving and support giving in the relationship with their best friend. In addition, high school students answered questions about their parents’ child‐rearing attitudes. Consistent with predictions, it was shown that support reciprocity correlated significantly with lower depression among high school students but not among elementary school students. Moreover, it was found that for high school students who perceived their parents as caring and affectionate, support reciprocity related significantly to lower depression but not for those who perceived their parents as distant and dismissive.
Toward a Maya Theology of Liberation: The Reformulation of a “Traditional” Religion in the Global Context
Authors: Chiappari Christopher L.
Published: March 2003

This paper describes the theology or, more accurately, the cosmology of a particular version of Maya religion in highland Guatemala. This version is consciously drawn from the ancient Maya tradition, especially the Pop Wuj (Popol Vuh), often called the Mayan Bible, but it incorporates other ideas and elements as well, including such modern ideas as inclusivity and freedom of membership. Thus while not directly influenced by liberation theology, it offers a potential alternative to it in its synthesis of the traditional and the modern. As in most indigenous religions, it considers the natural world to be sacred, and emphasizes the strong connections between the natural and the supernatural, between earth and the cosmos, and between the living and the dead. But it also presents a moral vision and a path of liberation from the harmful trends of ecological destruction and social disintegration that are such a part of the contemporary world. Finally, although it is deeply rooted in the local, it is also oriented toward the larger world, as its message and its practice are open to anyone, irrespective of nation of origin, ethnicity, or residence.
Public Opinion on Church‐State Issues in a Changing Environment
Authors: Wilcox Clyde , Goldberg Rachel
Published: March 2003

The recent waves of Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, and other non‐Judeo‐Christian immigrants in American cities have increased religious diversity. This article examines changes in public attitudes on church‐state issues in the Washington, D.C. metro area—a region that has experienced significant religious diversification. We find that between 1993 and 2000, aggregate support for public displays of Christianity decreased in the Washington area, and support for free exercise of minority religions increased. Yet the changing structure of church‐state attitudes suggests that many residents are beginning to think of religious issues in a more polarized way.
Progress and Cumulation in the Sociology of Religion: A Symposium
Authors: Chaves Mark , Demerath N. J. , Neitz Mary Jo , Wuthnow Robert , Zald Mayer N.
Published: March 2003

Mark Chaves: Introduction to the Symposium

N.J. Demerath III: Diagnosing the Reverend Dr. Dumpty “After the Fall”

Mary Jo Neitz: Eve, Lilith, and the Sociology of Religion: Comments on Zald

Robert Wuthnow: Practice and Progress in the Study of Religion

Mayer N. Zald: Where Are We in the Sociological Study of Religion? Continuing the Conversation
The Origins of Religious Stratification in Colonial America
Authors: Pyle Ralph E. , Davidson James D.
Published: March 2003

Religious stratification occurs when religion is institutionalized in the laws and/or customs of society as a criterion for the allocation of social positions and their attendant rewards. The result is a relatively stable ranking of religious groups in terms of their access to power, privilege, and prestige. In this article, we examine the social processes that contributed to the emergence of religious stratification in colonial America. Following Weber (1946), Lenski (1966), and Noel (1968), we use a “modified fair shares” theory that highlights the importance of three contributing influences: religious prejudice, competition, and differential power. After explaining the role played by each of these factors, we document the existence and enduring nature of religious stratification in the colonies. The evidence includes data on the religious establishments that arose in some colonies, other regulations governing access to scarce resources (such as the right to vote and hold public office), and differential access to economic and political power based on religious adherence. We conclude with observations about the need for further research on religious stratification in America.
Is the Case for Social Science Laws Strengthening?
Authors: Beed Clive , Beed Cara
Published: March 2003

The effectiveness of Kincaid's (1996) and McIntyre’s (1996) cases for the possibility and actual existence of laws in social science is evaluated. The ways in which Kincaid and McIntyre argue against the confounding effects of four long‐recognised barriers to the existence of social science laws are assessed. A brief review is presented first of definitions of causal (rather than regularity) laws. The four obstacles undermining causal laws are the non natural or social kind nature of the entities with which social science deals, the nature of mechanisms in social explanation, domain restrictions applying to causal explanation in social science, and the openness of the human systems encompassing socio‐economic behaviour. Against the arguments of Kincaid and McIntyre, these four issues constitute fundamental a priori problems that continue to undermine the development of laws in social science, beyond those that can be derived by common sense, and that are potentially effective for policy‐making.
Not Such a Queer Idea: Is There a Case for Same Sex Marriages?
Authors: Freeman M. D. A.
Published: March 2003

Gay marriages (as such) are not as yet allowed anywhere but the demand for them is increasing. Most countries take a liberal attitude towards marriage: few obstacles are put in its way. But objections to gay marriages continue to be raised. These objections are refuted and the case for gay marriage is assessed through the prism of various forms of liberalism. The normative argument for allowing gay marriage is shown to be both strong and consistent with many of the values upheld by the opponents of such unions.
Bodyshopping: The Case of Prostitution
Authors: Marshall S. E.
Published: March 2003

Some have argued that a proper account of prostitution shows it to be a morally neutral, commercial service ‘like any other’. This paper explores further the implications of this ‘service’ model and argues that it depends upon a weak conception of the kind of sex involved in such a practice and involves the objectification of both prostitute and customer. I argue that there is a moral view of sex which is not merely ‘romantic’, from which it is still possible to view prostitution as morally objectionable; but that, nevertheless, this perspective itself may provide for a development of the idea of a service which would justify a limited practice of prostitution. Such a practice would, however, be very different from that which supporters of the putatively morally neutral model of prostitution have in mind and would depend for its plausibility on a comparison with other forms of caring for which payment is given.
Two Kinds of Potentiality: A Critique of McGinn on the Ethics of Abortion
Authors: Jacquette Dale
Published: March 2003

In Moral Literacy, or How to Do the Right Thing, Colin McGinn proposes a consequentialist solution to the abortion dilemma. McGinn interprets moral rights and moral interests as attributable only to actually sentient beings by virtue of their ability to experience pleasure or pain. McGinn argues against the moral rights of potentially conscious human fetuses, on the grounds that the unjoined ova and spermatazoa of any fertile men and women are also potentially sentient, but we do not generally suppose that unjoined human genetic germ plasm has moral rights. I argue that McGinn’s reply equivocates between two different senses of ‘potential sentience’. I distinguish between strong and weak potentiality, or between naturally probable potentiality and merely logically possible potentiality. I agree that it is reasonable to deny that a weak or merely logically possible potentially sentient fetus that would result from any unjoined ovum and sperm has a moral right to life. But I claim that this fact does not diminish the plausibility of extending a moral right or potential moral right to life to a naturally probable potentially sentient fetus, which we have good reason to believe will actually become sentient in the natural course of things if nothing is done to prevent its normal development. I conclude that it is not merely the potentiality, but the strong potentiality of a healthy, normally developing fetus that is soon to acquire sentience, moral interests, and, on McGinn’s own terms, a moral right to life, that continues to sustain the abortion contro‐versy, even among those who also want respect a woman’s moral right to reproductive self‐determination.
Capital Punishment, Restoration and Moral Rightness
Authors: Colwell Gary
Published: March 2003

In order to show that opposition to capital punishment cannot be both moral and entirely unconditional, Hugo Bedau proposes a fantasy–world scenario in which the execution of a murderer restores his murder victim to life. Were such a world to exist, argues Bedau, the death penalty would then be morally right. The aim of this article is to show that Bedau's argument is mistaken, largely because capital punishment in his fantasy world would not be an instrument of perfect restitution, as he thinks, but instead would be an instrument of unfair restitution. Two attempts are made to repair Bedau's fantasy–world argument, but neither of them is found to be successful. Consequently his fantasy world does not successfully provide the conditions under which opposition to capital punishment morally would have to cease. However, because capital punishment is morally wrong in his fantasy world it does not follow that it is morally wrong in this world.
Learning by Design
Authors: Fraser Jemima
Published: March 2003

The Scottish National Guidelines on the Curriculum recommend that young people take advantage of the many learning opportunities outside school. Museums and art galleries are rising to this challenge and preparing displays that allow pupils to learn directly through a variety of interactive devices. The most successful results are achieved when the people concerned ‐ designer, educator and curator work as a team. Glasgow Museums has had a Museum Education Service since 1941. In recent years the museum has begun to recognise the important role that the education staff can make to the design of exhibitions. This article outlines some of the most successful partnerships
Narrowing the Scope of Myths: Observations on Teaching the Sense and Sensibility of Art in Primary Education
Authors: Clarke Robert
Published: March 2003

This paper discusses a belief that the informing spirit of art and the complexities in interpreting artistic intentions and traditions are being glossed and over simplified in an effort to make art ‘accessible to the non–specialist primary teacher.’ Much recent literature appears long on eulogy and short on pedagogy. And while there is undoubtedly a special need for pragmatic and realistic strategies to implement attainment target two, there is a danger of seriously compromising the educative value of art if sight is lost of the diverse and sometimes irreconcilable complexities of artistic intentions viewed across time, space and culture.
Exploring the Relationship Between Knowledge and Power in the Spanish National Curriculum for Visual Arts
Authors: Rifà Montse , Hernández Fernando
Published: March 2003

The main goal of this research is to raise some issues about what is considered school knowledge in the Spanish national curriculum, as well as to make explicit the curriculum discourses of the relationship between knowledge and power. This means that the observation, distribution and production of knowledge at schools implies and generates specific forms of power, understanding at the same time, power as a producer of social identity [Popkewitz, 1994]. The paper focuses on a case study at one school and explores the relationship between knowledge and power in the art education curriculum. This approach is founded on Foucault [1969], and the works of Ball [1993] and Popkewitz [1994], towards a sociology of curriculum studies or what is known as the New Sociology of Education.
When a Culture Takes a Trip: Evidence of Heritage and Enculturation in Early Conceptions of Art
Authors: Kindler Anna M. , Darras Bernard , Shiang Kuo Ann Cheng
Published: March 2003

This study in social cognition has been focused on exploration of ways in which cultural contexts shape formation of knowledge about art in early childhood years. Focusing of the connotative rather than denotative meanings of the term art, this study was designed to examine how this concept functions in a variety of cultural contexts. The method of structured interviews was used to elicit answers of four‐ and five‐year‐old children in Canada, France, and Taiwan to questions regarding the nature of art and its salient characteristics. In particular, this study addressed questions about portability of culture and the effects of heritage and enculturation in the formation of social knowledge among individuals whose cultural identity is negotiated in the context of a ‘transplanted’ culture. Responses of francophone children in the Canadian province of Quebec were contrasted with those of their French counterparts, as well as their Canadian peers from European ancestry other than French living in the province of British Columbia. Similarly, responses of interviewees in Taiwan, ROC were compared to the reported beliefs about art of young Chinese‐Canadians. The results of this study bring support to the theory of modified cultural pluralism that emphasizes the interplay between the original cultural beliefs and values and those prevalent in the societies that become new home for a transplanted culture. Implications of the study findings to art education are discussed. Research reported in this paper has been supported by a grant from the Social Studies and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the France‐Canada Accord.
Spaces of Mediation: Excavating Art's Boundaries
Authors: Dean Fiona
Published: March 2003

Ideas of social responsibility and exploring art's place in society are widespread and prevalent. Access, community, participation, empowerment are words that appear with increasing frequency within disparate discourses. From Glasgow's successful bid to be UK City of Architecture and Design 1999, [1] to lottery guidelines [2] and policy research [3], there appears to be a preoccupation with such terminology. However, does this demonstrate a true desire to find a point of mediation between discourses, between one place or one group and another? Do projects establish sustainability in the relationships that are built up between apparently disparate elements or are these terms linked mainly to high profile events that intervene, then move on, leaving people with little more than a memory of the encounter? This paper proposes that in order to shift the topography of art practice – the where, how and on whose terms it occurs – spaces and forms of mediation have to reconstruct the very sub structure on which they are founded.
Specialist Art and Design Courses at 16+: Restriction or Liberation?
Authors: Finch Sari
Published: March 2003

Recent educational reorganisation of further education has highlighted once again the issue of how we should educate our sixteen year olds for a career in art and design. Trends have alternated between vocational or general art education both being largely driven by industrial and economic need. The paper examines whether one or both approaches are most suitable for 16+ learners and evaluates some initial findings.
The Equal Bid Principle: An Analysis of the Thirteenth Council Takeover Directive of the European Union
Authors: Bergström Clas , Högfeldt Peter
Published: March 2003

This paper analyzes the economic consequences of a proposal from the EU Commission: The Amended Proposal for a Thirteenth Council Directive on Company Law, Concerning Takeover and Other General Bids (1990). By implementing the Equal Bid Principle, the Directive enforces a potential bidder to extend the same tender offer price to all shareholders. The paper demonstrates that it is likely that the effect of the Equal Bid Principle is directly opposed to the declared goal of protecting the economic interests of shareholders in the target company. Moreover, it tends towards a direction opposite to the declared goal of stimulating corporate acquisitions.
Value Under Active and Passive Debt Management Policy
Authors: Appleyard Tony , Dobbs Ian M.
Published: March 2003

The relationship between debt policy and valuation has been extensively analysed in the finance literature; within a Modigliani‐Miller framework, the consensus is that valuation is affected by whether debt is managed actively or passively, and that for finite projects with time varying risky cash flows, it is appropriate to use a weighted average discount rate for valuation only if it is assumed that debt is actively managed. In this paper, the relationship between debt policy and valuation is re‐examined. In particular, it is shown that, under one of the most plausible forms of passive debt policy, valuation using a simple weighted average discount rate is in fact possible.
The Impact of Portfolio Diversification on Trading Rules Profits: Some Evidence for UK Share Portfolios
Authors: Chelley‐Steeley Patricia L. , Steeley James M.
Published: March 2003

This paper demonstrates how the autocorrelation structure of UK portfolio returns is linked to dynamic interrelationships among the component securities of that portfolio. Moreover, portfolio return autocorrelation is shown to be an increasing function of the number of securities in the portfolio. Since the security interrelationships seemed to be more a product of their history of non‐synchronous trading than of systematic industry‐related phenomena, it should not be possible to exploit the high levels of return persistence using trading rules. We show that rules designed to exploit this portfolio autocorrelation structure do not produce economic profits.
Relation Between Predisclosure Information Asymmetry and Trading Volume Reaction Around Quarterly Earnings Announcements
Authors: Lobo Gerald J. , Tung Samuel
Published: March 2003

This study investigates the effects of differences in predisclosure information asymmetry on trading volume reaction during quarterly earnings announcements. The analyses show that trading volume reaction to quarterly earnings announcements is positively related to the level of predisclosure information asymmetry and to the magnitude of the price reaction to the announcements. These results are consistent with Kim and Verrecchia's (1991a) theoretical trading volume proposition, and with Atiase and Bamber's (1994) tests of the proposition based on annual earnings announcements. This study also provides evidence on the relation of predisclosure information asymmetry and trading volume before and after quarterly earnings announcements.
The Information Content of Defence Documents in UK Hostile Takeover Bids
Authors: Cooke T. E. , Luther R. G. , Pearson B. R.
Published: March 2003

This study examines the defence documents of 79 hostile take‐over bids of publicly quoted companies in the UK during the period 1988–1990 using logit regression and discriminant analysis to determine if any of the 41 identified characteristics of the defence document and seven continuous control variables lead to a higher or lower probability of a successful defence. The study finds that managers in target companies are unable to introduce new information in their defence documents that materially affects the outcome of a bid. This suggests that managers may advise shareholders to reject a bid for other reasons, such as to drive up the offer price.
Accounting Policy Choice: The Relationship Between Corporate Tax Burdens and Company Size
Authors: Holland Kevin
Published: March 2003

Whilst there have been a number of papers that test the Watts and Zimmerman positive accounting hypotheses in a UK setting, no similar test has been made of the size effect using corporate tax burdens as a proxy for political costs. Using data for 5,998 year‐ends from 1968 to 1993 this paper finds that: during 1968–79 there is evidence of a size effect; in a number of years a negative association between firm size and tax burden exists; and of the five industry categories examined, the ‘mineral extractive’ industry had the highest tax burden throughout the period 1968–1979.
Robust Estimation of Beta Coefficients: Evidence from a Small Stock Market
Authors: Bowie David C. , Bradfield David J.
Published: March 2003

In this paper we demonstrate that robust estimators improve the reliability of estimates of beta coefficients on small, thinly traded stock markets. We outline several different types of robust and bounded influence regression estimators and assess them using a jackknife methodology on data from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The empirical evidence confirms the hypothesis that robust estimators are more efficient than least squares estimators and indicates that least squares estimators may over‐estimate systematic risk in some cases.
Major World Equity Market Interdependence a Decade After the 1987 Crash: Evidence From Cross Spectral Analysis
Authors: Smith Kenneth L.
Published: March 2003

Several studies have focused on the pre‐ post‐October 1987 crash. Results indicate that major market equity correlations rose during the crash period. Cross spectral analysis is applied to six of the G‐7 markets to determine whether frequency domain correlations have increased post‐crash relative to the pre‐crash period. The results indicate that correlations have increased for most of the markets studied. Most striking are the increased post‐crash correlations among the three European markets, in light of the European Union. Additional evidence shows mixed results regarding frequency domain phase leads among the markets.
Survey and Market‐based Evidence of Industry‐dependence in Analysts’ Preferences Between the Dividend Yield and Price‐earnings Ratio Valuation Models
Authors: Barker Richard G.
Published: March 2003

Prior research has shown that analysts’ preferred valuation models are the price‐earnings (PE) ratio and the dividend yield. This paper presents strong evidence that the relative importance of these two models varies according to stock market sector. Companies in the services, industrials and consumer goods sectors are shown to be ‘PE‐valued’ while financials and utilities companies are shown to be ‘yield‐valued’. These findings are derived from survey research and then tested in a market‐based model. This use of independent, mutually reinforcing research methods contributes to the robustness of the findings.
Ex Ante Incentives for Earnings Management and the Informativeness of Earnings
Authors: Christensen Theodore E. , Hoyt Robert E. , Paterson Jeffrey S.
Published: March 2003

This study examines the relation between ex ante incentives of insurance managers to engage in earnings management to meet regulatory standards and the informativeness of earnings. This study extends prior research by simultaneously examining the effects of earnings management and uncertainty about earnings as suggested by Collins and DeAngelo (1990) and Imhoff and Lobo (1992). Results from a sample of 375 quarterly earnings announcements of 41 property and liability insurers during the period 1989 to 1992 support the hypothesis that when managers' incentives for earnings management are high, earnings announcements are less informative to investors (even after controlling for uncertainty associated with exposure to large‐scale catastrophes). Robustness tests suggest that our results are not attributable to firm size, time period effects, firm effects, accounting estimation error, or financial distress risk. These results are consistent with investors using publicly available information to predict P‐L insurance managers' ex ante incentives to manage earnings to meet regulatory standards, and that they use this information in forming their beliefs about earnings quality.
The Components of Accounting Ratios as Co‐integrated Variables
Authors: Whittington Geoffrey , Tippett Mark
Published: March 2003

Time series of accounting variables may often be non‐stationary, i.e. they have a unit root, as in the common example of a random walk. This can lead to spurious results in time series regression analysis which uses such variables. The problem is overcome if the variables are co‐integrated. This paper examines and tests the proposition that, where the variables are expressed in logarithmic form, calculating a ratio may capture the effects of co‐integration. Thus, accounting ratios (calculated in logarithmic form) might be stationary, and therefore exempt from the econometric pathology associated with their component variables.
The Implications of Dispersion in Analysts' Earnings Forecasts for Future ROE and Future Returns
Authors: Han Bong H. , Manry David
Published: March 2003

Dispersion in analysts' forecasts is empirically evaluated by associating dispersion with a firm's future accounting rate of return‐on‐equity (ROE) and future returns. Forecast dispersion is significantly and negatively associated with future ROE, consistent with the notion that firm disclosures and analysts' information acquisition efforts increase as firm prospects improve. Forecast dispersion is negatively associated with future returns. This appears due to the implications of dispersion for future ROE, and suggests that the market does not immediately assimilate the information contained in forecast dispersion. Dispersion also conveys information about firm‐specific risk not captured by beta and firm size.
New Firm Survival: The Effects of Start‐up Characteristics
Authors: Huyhebaert Nancy , Gaeremynck Ann , Roodhooft Filip , Van de Gucht Linda M..
Published: March 2003

This paper empirically examines the influence of operating activities and financial and investment decisions in the start‐up year on post‐entry survival, taking industry effects into account. Compared to traditional financial ratios, we find that funds flow measures are superior in identifying those start‐up characteristics that are related to subsequent failure. In the first year, failed firms typically generate less cash flows, incur higher labour expenses, use more trade credit and financial debt, limit inventories and are cash constrained. Surprisingly, industry effects do not have a significant impact. From these results, we draw conclusions for public policy.
The Market Valuation and Trading Volume Effects of the Creation of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund on Property‐liability Insurers
Authors: Pacini Carl , Marlett David C.
Published: March 2003

The Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund was officially created in November, 1993. This study analyzes investor reactions during the creation of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. We find significant share price reactions for four of six legislative events consistent with the predictions of the theory outlined. We use both a generalized least squares portfolio approach and Corrado's (1989) rank statistic, a nonparametric event study methodology, to arrive at our findings. Empirical analysis of trading volume corroborates the findings involving share price reactions. We also find that the market is able to discriminate between property‐liability insurers on the basis of hurricane exposure and firm size.
On the Asymmetric Recognition of Good and Bad News in France, Germany and the United Kingdom
Authors: Giner Begoña , Rees William
Published: March 2003

We investigate whether accounting systems recognise bad news more promptly in earnings than good news, where news is proxied by changes in share price. The analysis is based on a sample of firm/years drawn from France, Germany, and the UK during 1990 to 1998. These three countries are the originators of three distinct legal traditions. Previous studies have argued that asymmetric recognition, one manifestation of conservative accounting, is sensitive to legal background and history. We find that in all three countries the contemporaneous association between earnings and returns is much stronger for bad news (i.e. when price changes are negative) than for good news, and although the results are strongest for the UK, and then France, the inter‐country differences are not statistically significant. The stronger reaction to bad news is more pronounced for firms with relatively low capitalisation. We also find that the relative persistence of profits and losses are consistent with asymmetric recognition in France and the UK, but not in Germany, and that the more timely recognition of bad news is maintained even when we control for earnings persistence. When we extend the model to include price changes from previous periods, we see that the stronger reaction to bad news decays over time. The results from this model also suggest that ‘pervasive’ conservatism, unrelated to news, is observed in Germany and France, but the UK results are consistent with optimism. Although asymmetric recognition is generally strongest in the UK and weakest in Germany, and this broadly conforms to our expectations, the differences are less clear than the results from earlier periods.
Intangible Assets and Firms' Disclosures: An Empirical Investigation
Authors: Gelb David S.
Published: March 2003

This study examines how research and development (R&38;D) and advertising expenditures affect firms' disclosures. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) mandate that these expenditures be immediately expensed in financial reports, despite the fact that they often benefit the firm for longer periods. Prior studies find, however, that investors consider intangible assets in their valuation of firms. These studies argue that current GAAP, by not recognizing the value generated by these assets, severely impairs the usefulness of accounting reports. I investigate if firms with higher levels of R&38;D and advertising expenditures place greater reliance on voluntary, and therefore more flexible, disclosures such as voluntary publications and investor relations. Using analysts' ratings of firms' disclosures, I find that firms with higher levels of intangible assets are more likely to receive significantly higher ratings for their investor relations programs or voluntary publications than for their annual reports. These findings suggest that firms with higher levels of intangible assets emphasize supplemental disclosures because mandated accounting disclosures inadequately present their financial performance. These results have important policy implications for regulators and investors since they indicate that voluntary disclosures, which are unregulated and unaudited, are an important means of disclosure for these firms.
Becoming a ‘Living Institution’: The Evolution of the European Court of Auditors
Authors: Laffan Brigid
Published: March 2003

This article analyses the evolution of the European Court of Auditors, the Union’s newest institution, from the perspective of historical institutionalism. The main claim in the article is that the Court of Auditors had to strive to become a living institution, to find its place in the Union’s order, in an incremental fashion. The manner in which it developed norms and procedures for auditing are probed, in addition to its search for co‐operative relations with other EU institutions. The Court of Auditors became more embedded in the Union system as financial management assumed greater salience on the Union agenda, which in turn led to enhanced status and competences for the Court of Auditors.
The ‘Protective Union’; Change and Continuity in Migration Law and Policy in Post‐Amsterdam Europe
Authors: Kostakopoulou Theodora
Published: March 2003

The partial Communautarization of the Third Pillar of the Treaty on European Union will enable the Community to expand its so far modest acquis in migration‐related issues, but it has also opened the way for the installation of exclusive categories and the security paradigm which characterized the Third Pillar within the body of Community law. Unless active intervention by the Commission and the European Court of Justice subvert structural determinants and the logic of securitization, Communautarization offers the Member States the opportunity to reinforce their restrictive and law‐enforcement approach to migration flows, and to construct new forms of power which do not only increase their regulatory capacity within a geographically contained structure, but also enable them to impose their security agenda beyond the confines of the Union.
Reconstructing Aggregate Euro‐zone Data
Authors: Beyer Andreas , Doornik Jurgen A. , Hendry David F.
Published: March 2003

Reconstructing historical euro‐zone data by aggregation across individual countries is problematic because of past exchange rate changes. The approach here avoids such distortions, yet aggregates exactly when exchange rates are fixed. This is achieved by aggregating weighted within‐country growth rates to obtain euro‐zone growth rates, then cumulating this euro‐zone growth rate to obtain aggregate levels. The aggregate implicit deflator then coincides with the implicit deflator of the aggregate nominal and real data. Sub‐aggregates also aggregate correctly, both regionally and temporally, as well as, e.g., monetary sub‐aggregates. The resulting euro‐zone data over the previous two decades are compared with other approaches.
Choosing the Regime: Macroeconomic Effects of UK Entry into EMU
Authors: Barrell Ray , Dury Karen
Published: March 2003

The UK's decision on EMU membership depends in part on its effects on the economy. The UK targets inflation, and this involves some ‘price level drift’, whilst the ECB emphasizes price stability and would plan to reverse the drift in the price level caused by external shocks such as an increase in the oil price. We discuss the foundations of the ECB policy in German Ordoliberalism. The regimes are then compared over the future using a large macro model (NiGEM) which includes descriptions of all the European economies. It is repeatedly subject to historically representative shocks. The effects of these shocks are compared with the UK in and out of EMU.
Analysing European Integration: Reflecting on the English School
Authors: Diez Thomas , Whitman Richard
Published: March 2003

The English School of international relations has rarely been used to analyse European integration. But, as we argue in this article, there may be considerable value in adding the English School to the canon of approaches to European integration studies in order to contextualize European integration both historically and internationally. The concepts of international society, world society and empire in particular may be used to reconfigure the current debate about the nature of EU governance and to compare the EU to other regional international systems, as well as to reconceptualize the EU’s international role, and in particular the EU’s power to influence affairs beyond its formal membership borders. Conversely, analysing the EU with the help of these English School concepts may also help to refine the latter in the current attempts to reinvigorate the English School as a research programme.
The Commission and the Poverty Programmes
Authors: Bauer Michael W.
Published: March 2003

The principal–agent model (PAM) has produced valid hypotheses for conceptualizing actor relationships, but its disadvantage — as an economic concept transferred from the field of industrial organization and the theory of the firm to that of European integration — is often overlooked. This article argues that, when applying the concept, researchers interested in the empirical analysis of the EU policy process should be aware of some sensitive points concerning both ‘internal’ consistency and ‘external’ theoretical constraints. Drawing on a case study of the EU poverty programmes, three behavioural patterns —‘discourse framing’, ‘lobby sponsoring’ and ‘stretching’— are identified. These all indicate how the uncritical use of PAM may lead to faulty judgements about the actual degree of Commission autonomy in EU public policy–making.
Maastricht’s Fiscal Rules at Ten: An Assessment
Authors: Buti Marco , Giudice Gabriele
Published: March 2003

The Maastricht Treaty is ten years old. Its fiscal rules played a key role in kickstarting and sustaining the budgetary retrenchment efforts in European Union countries in the run–up to economic and monetary union (EMU). The experience of the Maastricht–induced fiscal consolidation shows that the political economy dimension of the rules is key to their success. It remains to be seen whether the stability and growth pact — which aims to lock EMU members into a permanent fiscal discipline commitment while allowing for flexibility to cushion cyclical fluctuations — will work. In order to succeed in this undertaking, EU governments and institutions have to tackle a number of open issues in the implementation of the pact while recreating the political drive which made Maastricht a success.
Risky Information: Social Limits to Risk Management
Authors: Mascini Peter
Published: March 2003

This article demonstrates that systematic biases occur in (near‐)accident reporting. This conclusion is based on a quantitative document analysis of 208 reports recently written by employees of an industrial company. The effectiveness of accident reporting, as an instrument for risk management, is hampered because employees take the relationship with their colleagues into account when reporting. The way of reporting proves to vary with the horizontal and vertical relational distance of the reporting employee to the person who is held responsible for the reported event. These findings support the Normal Accident Theory and weaken the empirical basis of the High Reliability Theory.
Two‐Thousand‐N: An IT Odyssey
Authors: Rochlin Gene I.
Published: March 2003

Over the past few years, incidents and accidents that resulted directly from information technology failures have been noticed only by a small circle of analysts. Whatever the outcome when the clock strikes the first second of the year 2000, the Y2K ‘crisis’ has brought to general attention the vulnerabilities and dependencies of large, complex technical systems that depend largely, or in some cases entirely, on computers and networks for their operation. Moreover, the transition has only just begun. Over the next few years, many other industries, markets, bureaus, and regulatory and safety systems will transform their mode of operation to large, integrated systemic dependencies on IT; others will become increasingly dependent upon the reliable performance of other IT systems such as global positioning satellites or the Internet over which they have at best limited control. Where such operations are safety critical, as they are for air traffic control, economically critical, as they are for international financial transactions, individually critical, as they are for hospital and biomedical systems, or, finally, critical for those agencies and institutions whose primary goal is intervention, mitigation, or crisis management, surprises can be rapid, extensive, and interconnected to a degree that will in itself be surprising. This article uses some historical cases to explore the possible range of future crises and contingencies that might ensue.
Managing Scientific Uncertainty in Environmental Health: The Example of Electric and Magnetic Fields
Authors: Lambrozo Jacques , Lynch Catherine G.
Published: March 2003

Over the past thirty years, the Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) health issue has raised public concern, received media attention, created electric utilities and government agencies awareness, and led to an important effort of scientific investigation. It has been an exemplary experience in managing different aspects of a complex environmental health problem through research, information, and communication. In this article, the historical context and the various approaches to the problem will be described. We will identify the effective rules that were followed and helped to manage the risks and to prevent a public health crisis.
Avoiding War, Inviting Defeat: The Srebrenica Crisis, July 1995
Authors: Honig Jan Willem
Published: March 2003

The key contention of the article is that management of the July 1995 Srebrenica crisis (that led to the massacre of an estimated 7,000 Muslim men by Serb forces) failed because of an unwillingness by the international community to use force. As Srebrenica is in critical ways a crisis typical of peace support operations, this is a lesson that applies to such operations in general. It is also a lesson that goes against the standard crisis management literature which, having grown up under the shadow of the Cold War, saw the avoidance of the use of force as the main objective. The use of force, however, is plagued by difficulties which make contemporary crisis management more complex than in the Cold War. The number of actors involved means a far‐reaching dispersal of authority and decision‐making powers. Further complications are confused moral agendas, competing bureaucratic interests and limited national interests. One critical factor, highlighted particularly by Srebrenica, was a deep‐seated misunderstanding of the nature of contemporary conflict and the efficacy of the use of limited force.
From One Crisis to the Other: The Shift of Research Interests in France
Authors: Gilbert Claude
Published: March 2003

The key to effective crisis management lies not so much with the writing of detailed manuals (that have a low likelihood of being used, and an even lower likelihood of being useful) and practising location evacuations as with structured and continuous learning processes designed to equip key managers with the capabilities, flexibility and confidence to deal with sudden and unexpected problems/events – or shifts in public perception of any such problems/events.
Energy compensation in young children who fail to thrive
Authors: Kasese‐Hara Mambwe , Wright Charlotte , Drewett Robert
Published: March 2003

Background: Failure to thrive is generally attributed to undernutrition, but little is known about the appetite or eating behaviour of children with the condition. The hypothesis that young children who fail to thrive lack a normal sensitivity to internal hunger or satiation cues was tested in this study using an energy compensation procedure. Method: Twenty‐seven children under assessment by a community‐based service for failure to thrive, with weight gain in the lowest 5% for their age, were studied at one year of age with 26 controls of the same age and sex with normal weight gain, resident in the same local geographical area. Test meals were given in the child's own home on two separate days. The test meals were preceded by either a high energy (402 kJ) drink, or by a low energy (1 kJ) drink on a control day. The order was randomised, and the study conducted double blind, without the experimenter or the mother knowing which drink was which. Energy intake at the test meal was measured. Results: There was no significant difference in the birth weight of the children in the two groups but by the time of the test the cases weighed significantly less than controls, with mean (SD) weight 9.06 (1.05) kg and 11.59 (1.59) kg respectively. In relation to the British Growth Reference for weight this is a difference of 2.2 SD. Mean (SD) energy intake at the meal on the control day was significantly lower in the case children than the controls (FTT 687.5 (334.3) kJ; controls 1065.9 (431.8) kJ; p < .001). After the high energy drink, controls reduced their energy intake at the meal by a mean (SD) –257.3 (383.3) kJ while the cases showed a slight average increase of +78.1 (365.9) kJ; t=3.26, df 51, p < .001. Per kJ of the pre‐load, the average change was −1.18 kJ in controls and +0.80 kJ in cases. Conclusions: The controls compensated as expected for their high energy load at the subsequent meal, but the case children did not, showing that they lack the normal responses to internal hunger/satiation cues. High energy snacks may improve the nutritional status of children who fail to thrive.
Auditory event–related potentials in humans and rats: Effects of task manipulation
Authors: Sambeth Anke , Maes J. H. R. , Luijtelaar Gilles Van , Molenkamp Ingeborg B. S. , Jongsma Marijtje L. A. , Rijn Clementina M. Van
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this study was to compare components of the rat and human auditory event–related potential (ERP) as generated in active oddball and passive single–stimulus tasks. The rats were trained to discriminate between target and standard stimuli in an oddball task, whereas the human subjects received instructions. Task effects on various ERP components were found in both species. Interestingly, effects on the P3 component were similar in the species with regard to amplitude: Target stimuli elicited a higher amplitude in the oddball task than did standard stimuli. This might indicate that the P3 shares the same characteristics between species. However, the first four components occurred 1.82 times earlier in rats than in humans, expecting a P3 of about 200 ms in rats. The P3 in rats appeared at 380 ms. We conclude that either the relation between human and rat peak latencies is not linear, or the P3 in rats is not the equivalent of the human P3.