bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Life history characteristics and rarity of woody plants in tropical dry forest fragments of Central America
Authors: Gillespie Thomas W.
Published: July 2002

Breeding systems and dispersal mechanisms of plants (≥ 2.5 cm dbh) were examined in fragments of tropical dry forest in Central America to identify life-history characteristics associated with rarity. In particular, the richness and abundance of dioecious and mammal-dispersed trees and shrubs were examined to identify potential associations with precipitation, anthropogenic disturbance, and area. Plots totalling 1000 m2 per site were established in seven nature reserves in Costa Rica (two sites) and Nicaragua (five sites). Overall, tropical dry forests of Central America have a similar proportion of dioecious species to other lowland neotropical forests and a similar proportion of wind-dispersed plants to other tropical dry forests around the world. However, the number of dioecious and mammal-dispersed species declined with decreasing forest cover within each reserve. Although dioecious species were rare in smaller forest fragments, some of these species will not be threatened with regional extinction because they are early successional plants, they have large geographic ranges, and they are not restricted to the tropical dry forest life zone. Mammal-dispersed plants were rare in small fragments, but it is not clear whether this was due to the loss of dispersal vectors or other life-history characteristics.
Artificial intelligence and operations research: challenges and opportunities in planning and scheduling
Authors: GOMES CARLA P.
Published: July 2002

Both the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Operations Research (OR) communities are interested in developing techniques for solving hard combinatorial problems, in particular in the domain of planning and scheduling. AI approaches encompass a rich collection of knowledge representation formalisms for dealing with a wide variety of real-world problems. Some examples are constraint programming representations, logical formalisms, declarative and functional programming languages such as Prolog and Lisp, Bayesian models, rule-based formalism, etc. The downside of such rich representations is that in general they lead to intractable problems, and we therefore often cannot use such formalisms for handling realistic size problems. OR, on the other hand, has focused on more tractable representations, such as linear programming formulations. OR-based techniques have demonstrated the ability to identify optimal and locally optimal solutions for well-defined problem spaces. In general, however, OR solutions are restricted to rigid models with limited expressive power. AI techniques, on the other hand, provide richer and more flexible representations of real-world problems, supporting efficient constraint-based reasoning mechanisms as well as mixed initiative frameworks, which allow the human expertise to be in the loop. The challenge lies in providing representations that are expressive enough to describe real-world problems and at the same time guaranteeing good and fast solutions.
CODES AND CONSEQUENCES: CHOOSING LINGUISTIC VARIETIES.Carol Myers-Scotton (Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Pp. x + 219.
$24.95 paper.
Authors: Adamson H. D.
Published: July 2002

The phenomenon of styleswitching has been important in the study of L1 and L2 language
use. Labov's early studies correlated formal style with attention paid to speech, a notion
echoed in Krashen's monitor model. Giles' accommodation theory and Bell's
audience design theory claim that speakers styleswitch in order to accommodate to the speech of
their audience. Several SLA scholars have found evidence for accommodation in L2 speech as
well. Such correlational studies have been criticized for lacking a clear foundation in cognitive
theory. In this volume Myers-Scotton describes her Markedness Model (MM), which grounds
styleswitching (including codeswitching) in the cognitive theory of somatic markers (Damasio,
1994). Because speech styles are distinguished mainly by the frequency at which certain features
(such as dropping a consonant from a cluster) appear, variationists have sought to identify a
cognitive mechanism that could account for the apparent fine-tuning of feature frequencies.
However, it is not clear from the discussion in this volume whether the somatic marker
hypothesis provides such a mechanism.
INTRODUCTION
Authors: Montrul Silvina
Published: July 2002

Due to the recognition of the centrality of the lexicon for SLA theory (see the 1987 thematic
issue of SSLA, edited by Susan Gass), the last few years have witnessed an increased
interest in understanding lexical knowledge. As Gass (1999) reminded us, learning vocabulary in a
second language is a complex task that involves much more than learning sound-meaning pairings;
it also involves learning how lexical information is morphologically expressed and syntactically
constrained. The present issue provides a natural sequel to the 1999 SSLA thematic
issue, “Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition,” by addressing some of the questions
raised in that volume, in particular the questions related to the intimate relationship between
syntax and semantics at the lexical interface. This issue is devoted to the L2 acquisition of verb
meaning and argument structure crosslinguistically, and it explores in detail the nature of linguistic
systems that L2 learners acquire in this particular domain. The six central articles offer a coherent
approach to the topic, using linguistic theory to help us understand the characteristics of learner
grammars. Until recently, linguistic approaches to SLA have placed a strong emphasis on
understanding the acquisition of functional categories, for example, and the acquisition of the
lexicon has received less attention. Understanding how the lexico-syntactic interface is mentally
represented, and how it evolves during the second language acquisition process, is crucial for
developing an adequate theory of L2 knowledge in general, as well as for informing theories of
the lexicon.
THE SECOND TIME AROUND: MINIMALISM AND L2 ACQUISITION. Julia Herschensohn. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2000. Pp. xiii + 287. $65.00 cloth.
Authors: Laeufer Christiane
Published: July 2002

The author reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on L1 and L2 acquisition in light of
the latest version of generative grammar, and uses the results of these studies to formulate an
approach to the acquisition of L2 grammatical competence. A certain background in generative
grammar is necessary to follow her exposition.
Article use in Spanish-speaking children with Specific Language Impairment
Authors: RESTREPO MARÍA ADELAIDA , GUTIERREZ-CLELLEN VERA F.
Published: July 2002

The current study analysed article use in Spanish-speaking children
with specific language impairment who are learning English as a second
language. The SURFACE HYPOTHESIS account of specific language impairment
was evaluated in relation to the use of articles in these children.
Language samples were obtained from 15 Spanish-speaking children
with language impairment and 15 with normal language, ages 5;0 to 7;1,
matched by age, gender, and school. The percentage of article errors was
tested between groups with a nonparametric analysis and an analysis of
covariance with mean length of terminable unit as the covariate. Results
revealed significant differences between groups on percent of article
errors with and without MLTU as the covariate. Nonparametric
statistics on percent of article error types indicated that most errors
consisted of omissions and gender agreement substitutions. As predicted
by the Surface Hypothesis, article errors were likely to occur in
unstressed definite articles, suggesting that perceptual and prosodic
processes have some impact on children's production of articles.
Processing Models for Very High Accuracy GPS Positioning
Authors: Barnes J. B. , Cross P. A.
Published: July 2002

This paper addresses two aspects of high accuracy
GPS positioning : single point positioning and
real-time kinematic positioning. In both cases, it is shown that use of
the correct models
significantly improves the quality of the resulting positions.
In the first case, emphasis is placed
on physical models, especially the satellite orbit, and in
the second case, emphasis is placed on
the stochastic model, i.e. understanding the statistics of the
GPS
observables.
Childhood foraging as regional culture: some implications for conservation policy
Authors: CHIPENIUK RAYMOND
Published: July 2002

Natural resource planning theory now accepts that laypersons may acquire scientifically correct knowledge of nature by informal means and that sense of place, or ecological identity, motivates citizens to assume personal responsibility for their own bioregion. Previous research has identified childhood foraging, that is, searching for and using wild plants and animals of distinguishable kinds, as one informal means by which citizens learn about local ecosystems, but ethnographic evidence suggests foraging may also contribute substantially to the development of ecological identity.
Does foraging reflect the ecological characteristics of local bioregions closely enough to structure ecological identity in industrial populations too? By way of addressing this question, studies were conducted to test predictions about the foraging repertoires of people growing up in two separate, but related, bioregions of Canada, centred on Niagara and Ottawa respectively. The most important of these predictions were, first, that regional patterns of foraging experience would correspond to regional ecological patterns, and second, that foraging repertoires would evince within-region similarities and between-region differences. Results confirm that the childhood foraging experience of ordinary Canadian citizens responds to important ecological parameters at the regional scale and in so doing constitutes an aspect of place-specific culture. These findings have a bearing on conservation policy, particularly for multicultural societies.
Alternative land management approaches in the highlands of south-western Saudi Arabia
Authors: SALEH MOHAMMED ABDULLAH EBEN
Published: July 2002

There is debate world-wide over urbanization, structured planning, deforestation and land management; these issues are no less important in Saudi Arabia.

State tenure of traditionally protected lands in Saudi Arabia has created gaps in the protection of the ecosystem and control of urbanization that indigenous peoples can fill. The present situation has emerged since 1932 when local control of resources was lost in the drive to unify the Kingdom politically. An alternative to the practised system of land management and planning is proposed. The alternative is that which recognizes indigenous people as potential stewards of the vernacular landscape and it may play a leading role in the conservation and management of the highlands of the south-western region of Saudi Arabia.

To strengthen the 1993 Law of Regions which aimed at improving the standard of administrative work and development in the Kingdom will require the establishment of a new relationship between indigenous people, scientists and national governmental organizations. In this, indigenous peoples should have juridical recognition and control over large areas of forests around their settlements in exchange for a commitment to conserve the ecosystem and protect biodiversity. In essence, such an outcome may offer the integration of two knowledge systems into an innovative resource-management strategy and land-conservation plans.
Environmental scientists: advocates as well?
Authors: MYERS NORMAN
Published: July 2002

What should be the response of environmental scientists when the world and the Earth appear to be heading toward exceptional crisis? Some scientists have signed up to public assertions that there indeed could be environmental Armageddon ahead (e.g. Union of Concerned Scientists 1992; US National Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of London 1992). Other scientists proclaim that our most valuable resource is not environmental well-being but professional credibility; the 'cry wolf' risk is the key determinant. Others appear to prefer to be scientists pure and simple, eschewing the policy arena, let alone the political scrum. Still others seem to think that warning of prospective crisis, even warning amongst themselves, is out of protocol's court.
Landscape analysis of jaguar (Panthera onca) habitat using sighting records in the Sierra de Tamaulipas, Mexico
Authors: ORTEGA-HUERTA MIGUEL A. , MEDLEY KIMBERLY E.
Published: July 2002

The Sierra de Tamaulipas is a biogeographically isolated mountain system in Northern Mexico, where habitat fragmentation by land-management practices is a possible threat to wildlife conservation. As a case example, we used GIS analyses to evaluate how human activities influence the landscape structure of jaguar (Panthera onca) habitat in the region. The study: (1) ranked potential habitat based on associations between environmental attributes (topography, streams and vegetation) and the frequency distribution of jaguar sighting records; (2) classified current land cover from a 1990 Landsat-TM image and mapped the landscape structure of high potential habitat; and (3) compared the degree to which mature natural vegetation is fragmented by different types of owners. Jaguar sites showed significant associations with tropical deciduous and oak forests, and low, west or south-east slopes, between 400 and 900 m. About 52% of the high potential habitat was mapped as mature natural vegetation, which was distributed as two large patches (28% of the land area) and many small forest patches (98% at < 80 ha). The number and size-class distribution of high-potential habitat patches varied little amongst four ownership types, but the dispersed distribution of more subsistence and commercial-based owners across the landscape suggests the need for collaborative participation in a conservation plan. From our study the need to scale up from managing individual land parcels is substantiated and areas that promote regional contiguity of jaguar habitat in the Sierra de Tamaulipas are identified.
Modern technology and customary use of wildlife: the harvest of Sooty Shearwaters by Rakiura Maori as a case study
Authors: LYVER P.O'B. , MOLLER H.
Published: July 2002

Rakiura Maori (a tribe of indigenous people in New Zealand) continue a centuries-old customary use of Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus, titi, muttonbird) chicks from islands adjacent to Rakiura (Stewart Island). Some muttonbirders pluck chicks by hand, while others have recently changed to a plucking machine. We compared traditional and modern processing methods to see if new technology stands to increase the efficiency, size and cost effectiveness of harvest. On average, chicks were plucked 6 seconds quicker with a machine, which could potentially increase the catch by up to 4%. Innovation by using wax rather than water to remove down left after plucking saved muttonbirders 29–97 minutes per day, potentially allowing up to a 15% increase in the number of chicks harvested. Both wax and plucking machines increased costs, which led to a modest financial gain from using wax, but a net loss from using a plucking machine. Modern technologies have been introduced mainly for convenience and to ease labour in this customary use of wildlife. New technology may erode traditional skills, but does not necessarily pose a risk to the sustainability of a resource. Financial investment in harvest technologies might provide an incentive to increase harvest levels, but could equally provide an incentive to manage for sustainable use. Preservation lobbies are not justified in presuming that new technologies will always threaten wildlife traditionally used by indigenous people.
A foundation for machine learning in design
Authors: SIM SIANG KOK , DUFFY ALEX H.B.
Published: July 2002

This paper presents a formalism for considering
the issues of learning in design. A foundation for machine
learning in design (MLinD) is defined so as to provide
answers to basic questions on learning in design, such
as, “What types of knowledge can be learnt?”,
“How does learning occur?”, and “When
does learning occur?”. Five main elements of MLinD
are presented as the input knowledge, knowledge transformers,
output knowledge, goals/reasons for learning, and learning
triggers. Using this foundation, published systems in MLinD
were reviewed. The systematic review presents a basis for
validating the presented foundation. The paper concludes
that there is considerable work to be carried out in order
to fully formalize the foundation of MLinD.
SyDeR—System design for reusability
Authors: FELDKAMP FRANK , HEINRICH MICHAEL , MEYER-GRAMANN KLAUS DIETER
Published: July 2002

A fixed set of components with a fixed set of properties
is often regarded as a defining characteristic of configuration
design problems. In configuration design for larger and
more complex systems (e.g., street cars), however, this
often is not really true. The reason is that sometimes
the component library offers no component that meets the
actual requirements, so that a new component has to be
added to the library. In general, configuration design
for larger products must be interactive: interactive in
the sense that the user controls the configuration process
and in the sense that the phases of knowledge acquisition
and configuration are partly mixed. This paper describes
a method and a corresponding software tool (SyDeR, System
Design for Reusability) that support the interactive configuration
design of complex products, especially in the tendering
phase. It combines three different technologies:

[bull ] structural modeling of technical systems;

[bull ] a library for technical solutions, which is based
upon taxonomies and allows the reuse of the technical solutions;

[bull ] constraint techniques to propagate design decisions and
check designs for consistency to support interactive configuration
design.

This paper gives an overview of the functionality of the SyDeR
tool and describes the main ideas behind the modeling language,
which is especially oriented towards the requirements of system
design problems. It also explains how we integrated structural
modeling, taxonomies, and advanced constraint reasoning techniques
into real-world applications.
Epidemic cholera among refugees in Malawi, Africa:
treatment and transmission
Authors: SWERDLOW D. L. , MALENGA G. , BEGKOYIAN G. , NYANGULU D. , TOOLE M. , WALDMAN R. J. , PUHR D. N. D. , TAUXE R. V.
Published: July 2002

Between 23 August and 15 December 1990 an epidemic of cholera affected
Mozambican
refugees in Malawi causing 1931 cases (attack rate=2·4%); 86% of
patients had arrived in
Malawi <3 months before illness onset. There were 68 deaths
(case-fatality rate=3·5%);
most deaths (63%) occurred within 24 h of hospital admission which may
have indicated
delayed presentation to health facilities and inadequate early rehydration.
Mortality was higher
in children <4 years old and febrile deaths may have been associated with
prolonged IV use.
Significant risk factors for illness (P<0·05) in two
case-control studies included drinking river
water (odds ratio [OR]=3·0); placing hands into stored
household drinking water (OR=6·0);
and among those without adequate firewood to reheat food, eating
leftover cooked peas (OR=8·0). Toxigenic V. cholerae O1,
serotype Inaba, was isolated from patients and stored household
water. The rapidity with which newly arrived refugees became infected
precluded effective use
of a cholera vaccine to prevent cases unless vaccination had occurred
immediately upon camp
arrival. Improved access to treatment and care of paediatric patients,
and increased use of oral
rehydration therapy, could decrease mortality. Preventing future cholera
outbreaks in Africa
will depend on interrupting both waterborne and foodborne transmission
of this pathogen.
The relationship between abnormalities detected in live lambs

on farms and those detected at post mortem meat inspection
Authors: GREEN L. E. , BERRIATUA E. , MORGAN K. L.
Published: July 2002

A prospective longitudinal study of diseases of lambs born in December

and January and

housed through to slaughter was carried out on three flocks (A, B and C)

between 1989 and

1991. In the first year of the investigation (1989–90) three cohorts

of approximately 80 lambs

were examined in detail on a regular (weekly or fortnightly) basis. This

involved over 2000

examinations and at least one clinical abnormality was observed in each

lamb. In the second

year (1990–1) the farmers were asked to present sick lambs for

treatment on the farm. Farmers

from flocks A and B participated in this part of the study; a total of

97/1295 lambs that were slaughtered received at least one treatment.

The carcases and visceral organs of lambs from each flock were observed

after slaughter.

There was no association between the abnormalities observed during

routine examination of

the cohort lambs (year 1) and those observed at post mortem meat inspection.

However, in

year 2, in lambs from flock A, there was a significant association between

lambs treated for

arthritis or pneumonia on the farm and the presence of arthritic or

pleuritic lesions,

respectively, post mortem. In both years of the study lambs which were

older when slaughtered

were significantly more likely to have pleuritic, pneumonic or arthritic

lesions at meat inspection.

It was concluded that routine examination of groups of lambs is an

inefficient and possibly

ineffective method to identify lambs with lesions at slaughter. However,

lambs which have been

treated for disease, and the older lambs in a flock, had an increased

prevalence of lesions post

mortem and hence more detailed inspection of these animals would

increase the efficiency of meat inspection.
Present characteristics of symptomatic amebiasis due to

Entamoeba histolytica in the east-southeast area of Tokyo
Authors: OHNISHI K. , MURATA M.
Published: July 2002

Admitted medical records, from January 1988 to December 1995, of

28 symptomatic amebic patients who lived in the east-southeast area of
Tokyo were

studied retrospectively, in order to

find the present characteristics of symptomatic amebiasis due to

Entamoeba histolytica in this

area. Categorized by disease, there were 14 cases of colitis, 9 cases

of liver abscess, 4 cases of

colitis with liver abscess, and 1 case of liver abscess with brain

abscess. Patients consisted of 26

Japanese males, 0 Japanese females, 1 non-Japanese male and 1 non-Japanese

female. The

mean age of colitis patients and liver abscess patients was 55·4

years old and 41·3 years old,

respectively. The presumed place of contraction was Japan in 64% of

the patients. Forty-eight

percent of male patients indicated that they engaged in homosexual or

bisexual practices, and

36% of male patients who denied such sexual practices or did not answer

the question had no

history of marriage. Positive rate of serum titre for Treponema

pallidum hemagglutination test

(TPHA) and human immunodeficiency virus antibody was 42·9% and 0%,

respectively. Sixty-seven percent of TPHA-positive patients indicated that

they engaged in male homosexual or

bisexual practices. Zymodeme patterns of E. histolytica isolated

from 4 colitis patients were

XIV in 1 case and II in 3 cases. Symptomatic amebiasis in the

east-southeast area of Tokyo is a

disease which predominantly afflicts males, especially those in their

middle age, and most

patients contract the disease in Japan. The high rates of patients who

engaged in male

homosexual or bisexual practices and the high rates of patients with

positive TPHA suggest

that amebiasis is likely to be sexually transmitted disease in homosexual
and

bisexual men in

the east-southeast area of Tokyo, and zymodeme II may be the predominant
type in

symptomatic amebic colitis in this area.
Epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae infections at the
Edinburgh City Hospital: 1980–95
Authors: KALIMA P. , EMMANUEL F. X. S. , RIORDAN T.
Published: July 2002

We present data on pneumococcal isolates collected from deep and superficial sites over a 16-year period at the Edinburgh City Hospital. The 10 most frequent serotypes overall were 6, 19,
11, 9, 3, 14, 1, 15 and 18 in children and 19, 23, 6, 6, 9, 11, 3, 15, 14, 22 and 4 in adults.
Over 88% (2588/2932, 88·3%) of these pneumococci were of serotypes represented in the 23-valent polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccine. Within the 20–45 years age group, 228/434
(52·5%) of specimens were from HIV-infected individuals. The isolations showed a seasonal
distribution with peaks in February and troughs in September. The annual numbers of blood
culture isolates showed an upward trend. Recurrent isolations were more frequent in HIV-infected individuals (49/132, 37%) than in non-HIV-infected individuals (218/2421, 9·9%)
(relative risk = 5·05, 95% confidence interval, 3·46–7·03). The prevalence of resistance to
penicillin and erythromycin was lower than that reported in other parts of the UK.
Leptospiral infection among primitive tribes of Andaman and
Nicobar Islands
Authors: SEHGAL S. C. , VIJAYACHARI P. , MURHEKAR M. V. , SUGUNAN A. P. , SHARMA S. , SINGH S. S.
Published: July 2002

The Andaman islands were known to be endemic for leptospirosis during the early part of the
century. Later, for about six decades no information about the status of the disease in these
islands was available. In the late 1980s leptospirosis reappeared among the settler population
and several outbreaks have been reported with high case fatality rates. Besides settlers, these
islands are the home of six primitive tribes of which two are still hostile. These tribes have
ample exposure to environment conducive for transmission of leptospirosis. Since no
information about the level of endemicity of the disease among the tribes is available, a
seroprevalence study was carried out among all the accessible tribes of the islands. A total of
1557 serum samples from four of the tribes were collected and examined for presence of
antileptospiral antibodies using Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) employing 10
serogroups as antigens. An overall seropositivity rate of 19·1% was observed with the highest
rate of 53·5% among the Shompens. The seropositivity rates in the other tribes were 16·4%
among Nicobarese, 22·2% among the Onges and 14·8% among the Great Andamanese. All of
the tribes except the Onges showed a similar pattern of change in the seroprevalence rates with
age. The prevalence rates were rising from low values among children to reach a peak in those
aged 21–40 years and then declined. Among Onges the seroprevalence rates continued to rise
beyond 40 years. In all the tribes, seroprevalence rates were found to be significantly higher
among the males. The commonest serogroups encountered were Australis followed by
Grippotyphosa, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Pomona and Canicola.
Prevalence of Cowdria ruminantium infection in Amblyomma
hebraeum ticks from heartwater-endemic areas of Zimbabwe
Authors: PETER T. F. , PERRY B. D. , O'CALLAGHAN C. J. , MEDLEY G. F. , MLAMBO G. , BARBET A. F. , MAHAN S. M.
Published: July 2002

Analysis of the transmission dynamics of Cowdria ruminantium, the tick-borne rickettsial agent
of heartwater in ruminants, requires accurate measures of infection in vector populations. To
obtain these, Amblyomma hebraeum ticks were collected at two heartwater-endemic locations in
the lowveld and highveld regions of Zimbabwe and assessed for C. ruminantium infection with
specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA probe detection assays. At the lowveld site,
11·2% (50/446) of adult ticks and 8·5% (23/271) of nymphs carried C. ruminantium, as
detected by PCR. At the highveld site, the prevalence of infection in adult ticks was 10·2%
(40/392). DNA probe analysis revealed that most infections at both sites were of low intensity;
only 9% and 23% of all nymph and adult tick infections, respectively, were greater than 70000
organisms, the detection limit of the DNA probe. However, the majority (70%) of probe-
detectable adult tick infections were high, between 107 and 109 organisms/tick, while those
within nymphs were lower, between 105 and 106 organisms/tick.
A community outbreak of hepatitis A in a religious
community in Indiana: failure of immune serum globulin to
prevent the spread of infection
Authors: ASZKENASY O. M.
Published: July 2002

An outbreak of hepatitis A occurred in a religious community in Indiana, USA. Sixty-nine
cases were ascertained among the 4466 residents over a year, and the highest attack rate was in
children. The management of the outbreak included the widespread use of prophylactic
immune serum globulin (ISG). Despite this, further cases occurred. To guide further ISG
administration, a survey was undertaken to ascertain what proportion remained susceptible to
HAV infection. From a random sample of 600 people in the affected community 440 saliva
specimens (73%) were obtained. Of these, 12·5% were found to be immune (95% confidence
intervals from 9–16%). No changes were made to the ISG administration policy. There was no
evidence to suggest that administration of ISG had any effect on the duration of the outbreak.
There was a low rate of symptomatic infection among young children (less than 10 years); as
ISG does not prevent the spread of the virus its use is not recommended in future outbreak
situations.
Invasive Haemophilus influenzae disease in adults
Authors: SARANGI J. , CARTWRIGHT K. , STUART J. , BROOKES S. , MORRIS R. , SLACK M.
Published: July 2002

We reviewed retrospectively all invasive Haemophilus influenzae (Hi) infections in adults
ascertained from reference laboratory records and notifications from five NHS regions over the
5 years from 1 October 1990, a period encompassing the introduction of routine Hib childhood
immunization (October 1992). A total of 446 cases were identified, a rate of 0·73 infections per
105 adults per annum. Though numbers of Hib infections in adults fell after the introduction
of Hib vaccines for children (P = 0·035), and there was no increase in infections caused by
other capsulated Hi serotypes, total numbers of invasive Hi infections increased due to a large
rise in infections caused by non-capsulated Hi (ncHi) strains (P = 0·0067). There was an
unexpectedly low rate of infections in those aged 75 years or more (P < 0·0001). The
commonest clinical presentations were pneumonia with bacteraemia (227/350, 65%) and
bacteraemia alone (62/350, 18%) and the highest rates of disease were in the 65–74 years age
group (P < 0·0001). Clinical presentation was not influenced by the capsulation status of the
invading Hi strain. 103/350 cases (29%) died within 1 month, and 207/350 (59%) within 6
months of their Hi infection. Case fatality rates were high in all age groups. Pre-existing
diseases were noted in 220/350 cases and were associated with a higher case fatality rate (82%
vs. 21%, P < 0·0001). After the introduction of Hib immunization in children, invasive Hib
infections in unimmunized adults also declined, but the overall rate of invasive Hi disease in
adults increased, with most infections now caused by non-capsulated strains. Physicians and
microbiologists should be aware of the changing epidemiology, the high associated mortality
and high risk of underlying disease. Invasive haemophilus infections in adults should be
investigated and treated aggressively.
Georgian harmonic clusters:
phonetic cues to phonological representation
Authors: Chitoran Ioana
Published: July 2002

Georgian, a South Caucasian language belonging to the Kartvelian
family,
is characterised by the ability of its consonants to combine in extensive
clusters. Among the possible combinations are a series of two-member
clusters which are argued to behave phonologically as single segments
(Tschenkeli 1958, Vogt 1958, 1971, Aronson 1982, 1991, Deprez 1988 and
others). They are known as ‘harmonic’ clusters, because the
laryngeal
quality is constant across the cluster. Its two members are both voiced
([dg bg dγ bγ]), both aspirated
([thkh tshkh
thχ tshχ]) or both ejective
([t'k' ts'k' p'k' t'q' ts'q']).
They can occur either word-initially or in word-medial
position. Harmonic clusters do not contrast with identical sequences of
segments, except for sequences formed at the junction of two words.
There is no evidence that across word boundaries harmonic clusters are
derived by some sort of restructuring.

The purpose of the present study is to review the phonological
arguments brought in the literature in favour of treating harmonic clusters
as single segments, and to look for acoustic evidence that would motivate
the distinction made between harmonic clusters behaving as single
segments, on the one hand, and simple sequences of consonants, on the
other hand. The study uses phonetic data to address the issue of
phonological representation. If the difference between a harmonic cluster
and a simple sequence of segments is present in the phonology, then it
should ideally also be visible in the acoustic signal, for example in the
presence or absence of a release burst, or in timing differences, as
suggested by previous studies of complex vs. simple segments in
various
languages (Maddieson & Ladefoged 1989, Maddieson 1989, 1990). The
results show that the treatment of Georgian harmonic clusters as complex
segments is not supported by the acoustic data.

The paper is organised as follows: § 2 presents the phonological
behaviour of consonant clusters in Georgian, § 3 reviews phonetic
evidence
for complex segments, and spells out the predictions made by the present
study. The acoustic study is described in § 4, followed by the presentation
and discussion of results in § 5. The conclusions and areas for further
study are presented in § 6.
Behavioral disinhibition and the development of substance-use disorders: Findings from the
Minnesota Twin Family Study
Authors: IACONO WILLIAM G. , CARLSON SCOTT R. , TAYLOR JEANETTE , ELKINS IRENE J. , MCGUE MATT
Published: July 2002

One variant of substance-use disorder is characterized by behavioral disinhibition. In this
report, we martial evidence for a model for the development of this variant. We hypothesize that
genetic liability for this variant is reflected in a spectrum of risk indicators linked to the inability
or unwillingness to inhibit behavioral impulses. Included in this spectrum are personality traits
suggesting low constraint, and externalizing psychopathology, including conduct, oppositional
defiant, and attention-deficit disorder in children and antisocial personality disorder and behavior
in adults. We further hypothesize that these individual differences in behavioral disinhibition are
manifestations of underlying central nervous system processes associated with various
psychophysiological anomalies, some of which may index genetic risk for substance abuse.
Support for the model is derived from the analysis of findings from the Minnesota Twin Family
Study, an epidemiological investigation of approximately 2,700 adolescent twins and their
parents.
Effective and microscopic contact angles in thin film dynamics
Authors: BERTSCH MICHIEL , DAL PASSO ROBERTA , DAVIS STEPHEN H. , GIACOMELLI LORENZO
Published: July 2002

We introduce and analyse a class of quasi-self-similar solutions of the thin film equation to
describe the dynamics of expanding liquid films on a solid surface. Using these solutions as
intermediate asymptotics profiles, we obtain a quantitative expression for the shape of the film
and a relation between the speed of the contact line and the macroscopic and microscopic
contact angles.
The asymptotic behaviour of Ramanujan's
integral and its application to two-dimensional
diffusion-like equations
Authors: LLEWELLYN SMITH STEFAN G.
Published: July 2002

The large-time behaviour of a large class of solutions to the two-dimensional linear diffusion
equation in situations with radial symmetry is governed by the function known as Ramanujan's
integral. This is also true when the diffusion coefficient is complex, which corresponds to
Schrödinger's equation. We examine the asymptotic expansion of Ramanujan's integral for
large values of its argument over the whole complex plane by considering the analytic
continuation of Ramanujan's integral to the left half-plane. The resulting expansions are
compared to accurate numerical computations of the integral. The large-time behaviour
derived from Ramanujan's integral of the solution to the diffusion equation outside a cylinder
is not valid far from the domain boundary. A simple method based on matched asymptotic
expansions is outlined to calculate the solution at large times and distances: the resulting
form of the solution combines the inverse logarithmic decay in time typical of Ramanujan's
integral with spatial dependence on the usual similarity variable for the diffusion equation.
Rehabilitation in long-term care
Authors: Bowman Clive , Easton Paul
Published: July 2002

Geriatric medicine emerged from long-term care championed by Marjory Warren and contemporaries, who focused attention on the opportunities and rewards of assessing, treating and, in particular, rehabilitating older people resident in institutional care. Then as now, people in long-term care were generally beyond the remit of hospital medicine. From this rehabilitative initiative in long-term care, geriatric medicine has continually developed and in the process has become increasingly divorced from its roots. The present evolutionary state of the specialty could be summarized by the goals of concentrating on the early detection, treatment and rehabilitation of acute and chronic ill health, in an attempt to improve quality of life and reduce dependency.
Parkinson’s disease
Authors: Macphee Graeme JA , Stewart David A
Published: July 2002

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder affecting at least 120 000 persons in the UK today. Age is the most potent risk factor. With the rising numbers of elderly, PD will become an increasingly important cause of disability and mortality. This has significant implications for health planning.

In recent years, there has been growing emphasis on the key role of the specialist clinic, interdisciplinary team and the PD specialist nurse in the management of the condition, as well as recognition that quality of life for people with PD and their carers relates to more than motor disability and disease severity. Appropriate care planning requires skilled assessment, and a new paradigm, incorporating four progressive clinical management stages (diagnosis, stable maintenance stage, complex stage and palliative stage) may be useful. The importance of all these aspects to successful holistic management of PD should be emphasized but is beyond the scope of this review, as is diagnosis, which is the subject of a separate contribution.
Respiratory rehabilitation in chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease: summary of a systematic overview of the literature
Authors: Lacasse Yves , Goldstein Roger S , Guyatt Gordon H
Published: July 2002

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fifth leading
cause of mortality in the USA. For 1984 to 1993, among
Canadian seniors aged over 65, COPD was the fourth cause of mortality
in men and the seventh in women. Though the underlying
pathology is initially confined to the lungs, the associated physical
deconditioning and the emotional responses to chronic respiratory
disease contribute greatly to the resulting morbidity. Increased
shortness of breath leads to inactivity and consequent
cardiorespiratory and muscular deconditioning, which in turn leads to
further inactivity, social isolation, fear of dyspnoea and
depression. Respiratory rehabilitation may offer a way to break this vicious circle.
Assessment of older people in the community: lessons from Britain’s ‘75-and-over checks’
Authors: Iliffe Steve , Gould Mari , Wallace Paul
Published: July 2002

Research carried out in the 1950s and early 1960s indicated that there was considerable unmet need amongst older people in Britain. This work prompted research into ways of meeting the health care needs of older people, a task made more important by the aging of the population at the end of this century. This focus resulted in the introduction in 1990 of a nationwide health assessment programme for older people, as a contractual obligation for general practitioners. The programme, the first in the world, remains in force but is widely ignored. This paper describes:
Environmental Ethics and Medical Ethics: Some Implications
for End-of-Life Care, Part II
Authors: CARRICK PAUL
Published: July 2002

In Part 1 of this essay, I raised the following question:
How would our care of the dying patient change if environmentally
inspired theories of ethics, like deep ecology, were imported
into current Western norms of patient care?
Autocorrelation and the Enumeration of Strings Avoiding a Fixed String
Authors: ERIKSSON KIMMO
Published: July 2002

Considering strings over a finite alphabet [Ascr ], say that a

string is w-avoiding if it does not contain w as a

substring. It is known that the number

aw(n) of w-avoiding

strings of length n depends only on the

autocorrelation of w as defined by

Guibas–Odlyzko. We give a simple criterion on the

autocorrelations of w and w′ for determining

whether aw(n) >

aw′(n) for all large

enough n.
A Grötzsch-Type Theorem for List Colourings with Impropriety One
Authors: šKREKOVSKI R.
Published: July 2002

A graph G is m-choosable with impropriety d, or simply
(m, d)*-choosable, if, for every list
assignment L, where [mid ]L(v)[mid ][ges ]m
for every v∈V(G), there exists an L-colouring of
G such that each vertex of G has at most d
neighbours coloured with the same colour as
itself. We prove a Grötzsch-type theorem for list colourings with impropriety one, that is,
the (3, 1)*-choosability for triangle-free planar graphs; in the proof the method of
extending a precolouring of a 4- or 5-cycle is used.
Changes in the pelvic floor following childbirth
Authors: Chaliha C , Sultan AH , Stanton SL
Published: July 2002

It is only in the last decade that increasing recognition has been given to the impact of childbirth on the physical and psychological wellbeing of a woman. The fall in maternal mortality coupled with a rise in female life expectancy (80 years in the UK) have served to focus attention on quality of life. Childbirth has been implicated as a major aetiological factor in pelvic floor and perineal trauma.
Can alcohol retain the reproductive and genetic potential of sperm nuclei? Chromosome analysis of mouse spermatozoa stored in alcohol
Authors: Tateno Hiroyuki , Wakayama Teruhiko , Ward W. Steven , Yanagimachi R.
Published: July 2002

Alcohol is known to preserve genomic DNA and the primary structure of sperm protamines. To determine whether alcohol can retain the genetic and reproductive potential of mammalian sperm nuclei, mature mouse spermatozoa were stored in 70% ethanol or propanol for up to 2 months before injection into oocytes. Live offspring were obtained after injection of spermatozoa stored in 70% ethanol for 1 day at -20 °C. About 20% of the spermatozoa stored under this condition had normal chromosomes. The remaining 80% of spermatozoa and all the spermatozoa stored in 70% ethanol for 2 months had structurally aberrant chromosomes, and none could support the development of normal embryos. High concentrations of alcohol do not alter the primary structure of either DNA or small-molecular-weight protamines. However, alcohol may modify protamine—protamine or protamine—DNA interactions in a manner that results in the induction of DNA strand breaks during sperm chromatin decondensation within the oocyte. The limited success in obtaining normal offspring with ethanol-stored spermatozoa is encouraging. It may be possible to overcome these problems and develop a simple method for preserving mammalian spermatozoa without freezing.
The kinetics of oocyte activation and dynamics of polar body formation in Calomys musculinus and Calomys laucha (Rodentia–Sigmodontinae)
Authors: Lasserre Andrea , Cebral Elisa , Vitullo Alfredo D.
Published: July 2002

The objective of this study was to determine whether Calomys laucha and Calomys musculinus super-ovulated oocytes undergo parthenogenetic activation following activation stimuli. Cumulus-intact or denuded oocytes were treated with medium containing ethanol (7%), medium containing strontium chloride, or medium alone. They were then incubated for 6–8 h to allow for activation. A group of oocytes was fixed immediately after maturation to serve as a control. The nuclear status of the oocytes was examined after staining with Hoechst 33342, to determine the timing of pronuclear progression from metaphase II to anaphase II or telophase II or to the pronuclear stage. The proportion of oocytes that underwent activation was higher for oocytes treated with ethanol or strontium chloride than in those incubated in medium alone, for the two species studied (p < 0.001). There was little evidence of spontaneous activation occurring in oocytes during the treatments. Most of the activated oocytes contained a single haploid pronucleus, but it was possible to find immediate cleavage and two pronuclei. The different classes of activated oocytes were cultured for 5 days. The type of activating treatment had a marked effect on the ability of the resulting C. musculinus and C. laucha parthenogenetic embryos to develop to the preimplantation stages. Incubation with ethanol produced only 8-cell embryos while the embryos induced with strontium chloride reached the blastocyst stage. This is the first report of parthenogenesis in C. musculinus and C. laucha. The ability of strontium ions to induce matured secondary oocytes to initiate parthenogenesis and obtain further development of Calomys provides opportunities to use Calomys oocytes in vitro and, therefore, to study the genetics, cell biology and virology of development.
How to judge the quality and value of weather forecast products
Authors: Thornes John E , Stephenson David B
Published: July 2002

In order to decide whether or not a weather service supplier is giving good value for money we need to monitor the quality of the forecasts and the use that is made of the forecasts to estimate their value. A number of verification statistics are examined to measure the quality of forecasts –including Miss Rate, False Alarm Rate, the Peirce Skill Score and the Odds Ratio Skill Score –and a means of testing the significance of these values is presented. In order to assess the economic value of the forecasts a value index is suggested that takes into account the cost‐loss ratio and forecast errors. It is suggested that a combination of these quality and value statistics could be used by weather forecast customers to choose the best forecast provider and to set limits for performance related contracts. Copyright © 2001 Royal Meteorological Society
An examination of regional cerebral blood flow during object
naming tasks
Authors: Zelkowicz Benjamin J. , Herbster Amy N. , Nebes Robert D. , Mintun Mark A. , Becker and James T.
Published: July 2002

The purpose of this study was to examine regional
cerebral blood flow using positron emission tomography
(PET) during the performance of tasks related to visual
confrontation naming. Ten healthy, young participants were
scanned twice in each of 5 conditions; blood flow was measured
using standard PET [15O]-water technology.
Two major findings have replicated previous studies. First,
the naming of visually presented objects, whether covert
or overt, requires a region of the left inferior cortex
including the fusiform gyrus. Second, during overt naming,
there is an increase in activity in the inferior or frontal
cortex and insula as a consequence of generating speech
code. These data are consistent with other studies demonstrating
the importance of the inferior temporal regions for semantic
processing, and the frontal cortex for word form generation.
(JINS, 1998, 4, 160–166.)