bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stimulus-dependent correlated firing in directionally selective
retinal ganglion cells
Authors: AMTHOR FRANKLIN R. , TOOTLE JOHN S. , GRZYWACZ NORBERTO M.
Published: April 2008

Synchronous spiking has been postulated to be a meta-signal in visual
cortex and other CNS loci that tags neuronal spike responses to a single
entity. In retina, however, synchronized spikes have been postulated to
arise via mechanisms that would largely preclude their carrying
such a code. One such mechanism is gap junction coupling, in which
synchronous spikes would be a by-product of lateral signal sharing.
Synchronous spikes have also been postulated to arise from common-source
inputs to retinal ganglion cells having overlapping receptive fields, and
thus code for stimulus location in the overlap area. On–Off
directionally selective ganglion cells of the rabbit retina exhibit a
highly precise tiling pattern in which gap junction coupling occurs
between some neighboring, same-preferred-direction cells. Depending on how
correlated spikes arise, and for what purpose, one could postulate that
synchronized spikes in this system (1) always arise in some subset of
same-direction cells because of gap junctions, but never in
non-same-preferred-directional cells; (2) never arise in same-directional
cells because their receptive fields do not overlap, but arise only in
different-directional cells whose receptive fields overlap, as a code for
location in the overlap region; or (3) arise in a stimulus-dependent
manner for both same- and different-preferred-direction cells for a
function similar to that postulated for neurons in visual cortex.
Simultaneous, extracellular recordings were obtained from neighboring
On–Off directionally selective (DS) ganglion cells having the same
and different preferred directions in an isolated rabbit retinal
preparation. Stimulation by large flashing spots elicited responses from
DS ganglion-cell pairs that typically showed little synchronous firing.
Movement of extended bars, however, often produced synchronous spikes in
cells having similar or orthogonal preferred directions. Surprisingly,
correlated firing could occur for the opposite contrast polarity edges of
moving stimuli when the leading edge of a sweeping bar excited the
receptive field of one cell as its trailing edge stimulated another.
Pharmacological manipulations showed that the spike synchronization is
enhanced by excitatory cholinergic amacrine-cell inputs, and reduced by
inhibitory GABAergic inputs, in a motion-specific manner. One possible
interpretation is that this synchronous firing could be a signal to higher
centers that the outputs of the two DS ganglion cells should be
“bound” together as responding to a contour of a common
object.
Retinal ganglion cell coding in simulated active vision
Authors: AMTHOR FRANKLIN R. , TOOTLE JOHN S. , GAWNE TIMOTHY J.
Published: April 2008

The image on the retina is almost never static. Eye, head, and body
movements, and externally generated motion create rapid and continual
changes in the retinal image (“active vision”). Virtually all
vision in animals such as primates, which make saccades as often as
3–4 times/s, is based on information that must be derived from
the first few hundred milliseconds after sudden, global changes in the
retinal image. These changes may be accompanied by large changes in area
mean luminance, as well as higher order image contrast statistics. This
study investigated how retinal ganglion cell responses, whose response
properties have been typically studied and defined in a stable stimulus
regime, are affected by sudden changes in mean luminance that are
characteristic of active vision. Specifically, the steady-state responses
of retinal ganglion cells to static or moving square-wave grating stimuli
were recorded in an isolated, superfused rabbit eyecup preparation and
compared to responses after saccade-like changes in luminance. The manner
of coding after luminance changes was different for different ganglion
cell classes; both suppression and enhancement of responses to patterns
following luminance changes were found. Brisk-transient Off cells
unambiguously signaled the darkening of the overall image, but were also
modulated by the subsequently appearing grating stimulus. Several types of
On-center cell behavior were observed, ranging from strong suppression of
the subsequent response by luminance changes, to strong enhancement.
Overall, most ganglion cells distinguished static patterns after a
luminance change via differences in their spike discharges nearly
as well as before, although there were clear asymmetries between the On
and Off pathways. Changes in mean luminance in some ganglion cells, such
as On–Off directionally selective ganglion cells, could create large
phase shifts in the response to patterned, moving stimuli, although these
stimuli were still detected immediately after luminance changes. The
results of this study show that the image dynamics of active vision may be
a fundamental challenge for the visual system because of strong effects on
retinal ganglion cell function. However, rapid extraction of unambiguous
information after luminance changes appears to be encoded in differences
in the spike discharges in different retinal ganglion cell classes.
Asymmetries among ganglion cell classes in sensitivity to luminance
changes may provide a basis by which some provide the
“context” for interpreting the firing of others.
Rod and cone function in coneless mice
Authors: WILLIAMS GARY A. , DAIGLE KRISTIN A. , JACOBS GERALD H.
Published: April 2008

Transgenic coneless mice were initially developed to study retinal
function in the absence of cones. In coneless mice created by expressing
an attenuated diphtheria toxin under the control of flanking sequences
from the human L-cone opsin gene, a small number of cones (3–5% of
the normal complement) survive in a retina that otherwise appears
structurally quite normal. These cones predominantly (∼87% of the
total) contain UV-sensitive photopigment. ERG recordings, photoreceptor
labeling, and behavioral measurements were conducted on coneless and
wild-type mice to better understand how the nature of this alteration in
receptor complement impacts vision. Signals from the small residual
population of UV cones are readily detected in the flicker ERG where they
yield signal amplitudes at saturation that are roughly proportional to the
number of surviving cones. Behavioral measurements show that rod-based
vision in coneless mice does not differ significantly from that of
wild-type mice, nor does their rod system show any evidence of age-related
deterioration. Coneless mice are able to make accurate rod-based visual
discriminations at light levels well in excess of those required to reach
cone threshold in wild-type mice.
Salivary cortisol levels in children of low-income women with high depressive symptomatology
Authors: Fernald Lia C. H. , Burke Heather M. , Gunnar Megan R.
Published: April 2008

Children (N= 324 boys, 315 girls) between the ages of 2.5 and 6 (mean age = 3.63) were identified in a house to house survey in low-income areas (income <20th percentile nationally) of urban Mexico. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression Scale was administered to mothers of all children. Salivary cortisol samples were taken in children as a measure of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) system activity at time of arrival (baseline, Time 0), 25 min after arrival (Time 1), and 50 min after arrival (Time 2). Between Time 0 and Time 1, children were administered several cognitive tests. Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were associated with lower baseline cortisol levels in their children (p< .05), while controlling for age, gender, and time since awakening. Higher levels of maternal depressive symptoms were associated with less of an increase in salivary cortisol to the arrival of the experimenters and subsequent cognitive testing (p< .05). All results were moderated by gender, with enhanced cortisol response in girls and no response in boys. These results suggest that among very low-income families, high maternal depressive symptoms are associated with hypoactivity of the HPA system in children, particularly boys.
Gene–environment interaction between peer victimization and child aggression
Authors: Brendgen Mara , Boivin Michel , Vitaro Frank , Girard Alain , Dionne Ginette , Pérusse Daniel
Published: April 2008

Although peer victimization places children at serious risk for aggressive behavior, not all victimized children are aggressive. The diathesis–stress hypothesis of disease proposes that an environmental stressor such as peer victimization should to lead to maladjustment mostly in those individuals with preexisting genetic vulnerabilities. Accordingly, this study examined whether the link between peer victimization and child aggression is moderated by children's genetic risk for such behavior. Using a sample of 506 6-year-old twins, peer victimization was assessed through peer nominations and aggressive behavior was assessed through peer and teacher reports. Children's genetic risk for aggression was estimated as a function of their co-twin's aggression and the pair's zygosity. Genetic modeling showed that peer victimization is an environmentally driven variable that is unrelated to children's genetic disposition. Results also provided support for the notion of a gene–environment interaction between peer victimization and child's genetic risk for aggressive behavior, albeit only in girls. For boys, peer victimization was related to aggression regardless of the child's genetic risk for such behavior. Different socialization experiences in girls' compared to boys' peer groups may explain the different pattern of results for girls and boys.
Early deprivation and home basal cortisol levels: A study of internationally adopted children
Authors: Kertes Darlene A. , Gunnar Megan R. , Madsen Nicole J. , Long Jeffrey D.
Published: April 2008

Animal studies reveal that early deprivation impairs regulation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenocortical (HPA) axis, potentially increasing vulnerability to stressors throughout life. To examine early deprivation effects on basal HPA axis activity in humans, basal cortisol levels were examined in 164 internationally adopted children who had experienced varying degrees of preadoption deprivation. Duration of institutional care, age at adoption, and parent ratings of preadoption neglect indexed a latent factor ofDeprived Care.Adoption measures of height and weight standardized to World Health Organisation norms indexed a latent factor ofGrowth Delaythat was viewed as another reflection of deprivation. Cortisol samples were collected 3.3–11.6 years postadoption (Md= 7.3 years) at home on 3 days approximately 30 min after wakeup and before bedtime. Both early a.m. levels and the decrease in cortisol across the day were examined. A structural equation model revealed that preadoption Deprived Care predicted Growth Delay at adoption and Growth Delay predicted higher morning cortisol levels and a larger diurnal cortisol decrease.
Emotional difficulties in early adolescence following severe early deprivation: Findings from the English and Romanian adoptees study
Authors: Colvert Emma , Rutter Michael , Beckett Celia , Castle Jenny , Groothues Christine , Hawkins Amanda , Kreppner Jana , O'connor Thomas G. , Stevens Suzanne , Sonuga-Barke Edmund J. S.
Published: April 2008

The study assessed conduct and emotional difficulties in a group of Romanian adoptees at age 11, and serves as a follow-up to assessments made when the children were 6 years old. It was found that there was a significant increase in emotional difficulties, but not conduct problems, for the Romanian sample since age 6. It was also found that emotional difficulty was significantly more prevalent at age 11 in the Romanian group than in a within-UK adoptee group. Emotional difficulties in the Romanian adoptee group were found to be significantly and strongly related to previous deprivation-specific problems (disinhibited attachment, cognitive impairment, inattention/overactivity and quasi-autism); however, the presence of such early problems did not account fully for the onset of later emotional problems. Five contrasting hypotheses concerning possible mediators for later onset of emotional difficulties for the Romanian group were examined. No links were found to duration of deprivation or other deprivation-related indices, stresses/difficulties in the postadoption family environment, or educational attainment and self-esteem. There was some evidence that emotion recognition might play a role in the emergence of these problems, but other measures of social competence and theory of mind showed no associations with the onset of emotional problems.
Substance use and related behaviors among suburban late adolescents: The importance of perceived parent containment
Authors: Luthar Suniya S. , Goldstein Adam S.
Published: April 2008

This study builds upon prior findings of elevated substance use among suburban high school students, examining the ramifications of different parenting dimensions on substance use and related behaviors. The sample consisted of 258 11th graders in an affluent suburban community. Parenting predictors considered included those well-studied previously such as monitoring and closeness, as well as two newer dimensions: perceivedcontainment(stringency of anticipated reactions in reaction to negative behaviors) and perceivedcommitment(e.g., helping the child despite other commitments). Outcomes included self-reported substance use, delinquency, and rule breaking, as well as teacher-rated inattentiveness and school grades. Findings showed elevated substance use among these 17-year-olds compared with national norms, especially among girls. Of the parent predictors, significant unique links with multiple outcomes were found for parents' knowledge of their children's activities and perceived parental containment (stringent repercussions) in reaction to the children's substance use. Notably, students reported that their parents were much more tolerant of their substance use than of other problem behaviors such as rudeness to adults and minor acts of delinquency. Results are discussed along with the implications for practice and research.
Female and male antisocial trajectories: From childhood origins to adult outcomes
Authors: Odgers Candice L. , Moffitt Terrie E. , Broadbent Jonathan M. , Dickson Nigel , Hancox Robert J. , Harrington Honalee , Poulton Richie , Sears Malcolm R. , Thomson W. Murray , Caspi Avshalom
Published: April 2008

This article reports on the childhood origins and adult outcomes of female versus male antisocial behavior trajectories in the Dunedin longitudinal study. Four antisocial behavior trajectory groups were identified among females and males using general growth mixture modeling and included life-course persistent (LCP), adolescent-onset, childhood-limited, and low trajectory groups. During childhood, both LCP females and males were characterized by social, familial and neurodevelopmental risk factors, whereas those on the adolescent-onset pathway were not. At age 32, women and men on the LCP pathway were engaging in serious violence and experiencing significant mental health, physical health, and economic problems. Females and males on the adolescent-onset pathway were also experiencing difficulties at age 32, although to a lesser extent. Although more males than females followed the LCP trajectory, findings support similarities across gender with respect to developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior and their associated childhood origins and adult consequences. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
Parents of Unhappy Poets: Fiduciary Responsibility and Genetic
Enhancements
Authors: SCHONFELD TOBY
Published: April 2008

“What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound
anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and
cries pass over them they sound like beautiful
music.” These opening lines from Kierkegaard's
Either/Or signify a tragic state of affairs
because the poet brings joy to others and yet experiences no joy
himself. In a similar vein, consider the child prodigy—Bobby
Fischer, Shirley Temple, Mozart. Although there is no question that
these children were gifted, there is some debate about how happy their
childhoods were. There are benefits to just “being a kid,”
and it is not clear that these individuals had that opportunity.
Women's Right to Choose Rationally: Genetic Information,
Embryo Selection, and Genetic Manipulation
Authors: CHAMBERS JEAN E.
Published: April 2008

Margaret Brazier has argued that, in the literature on reproductive
technology, women's “right” to reproduce is
privileged, pushed, and subordinated to patriarchal values in such a
way that it amounts to women's old “duty” to
reproduce, dressed up in modern guise. I agree that there
are patriarchal assumptions made in discussions of whether women have a
right to select which embryos to implant or which fetuses to carry to
term. Forcing ourselves to see women as active, rational decisionmakers
tends to counteract any lingering patriarchal assumptions. But rational
decisionmaking requires information. Voting wisely requires information
about the candidates. Taking women's reproductive rights seriously
means taking seriously women's need for relevant information to
make rational decisions, including decisions about which embryos to
implant or alter. I argue that preimplantation genetic profiles and
prenatal test information should be made available to prospective
parents, especially prospective mothers, unless doing so threatens to
harm the resulting child or the larger society in specifiable and
important ways.
Research Ethics and the Precautionary Principle: Marching toward
Environmental Decay
Authors: MONTAGUE PETER
Published: April 2008

I recently read through the most recent 24 issues of
Environmental Health Perspectives—the National
Institutes of Health journal of, among other issues, scientific
research into how environmental contaminants impact animal and human
health. It is a catalog of horrors from a public health perspective.
Fish and frogs with their sex scrambled; deformed frogs with altered
hormone levels in their blood; a nearly threefold increase in birth
defects among Minnesota farm children exposed to pesticides; 2,4-D
exposure reducing hormone levels in men; insignificant levels of four
environmental chemicals adding up to a significant dose; a third study
reconfirming a 50% sperm decline in U.S. men, 1934–1996;
phthalates elevated in the blood of Puerto Rican girls developing
breasts before they are 8; some 6,000 chemicals declared candidates for
study as hormone disrupters (selected by computer from a universe of
58,000 chemicals for “most” of which we have “no
biologic data”); children living near incinerators having delayed
sexual development; hypospadias linked to organochlorine levels in the
blood of mink, otter, and polar bears; and “No living organism
may be considered DDT-free.” Nothing definitive, but it all
suggests that things are tending in a direction that is perfectly
awful.
Abstracts of Note: The Bioethics Literature
Authors: Iserson Kenneth V.
Published: April 2008

This section is meant to be a mutual effort. If you find an article you
think should be abstracted in this section, do not be bashful—submit
it for consideration to feature editor Kenneth V. Iserson care of CQ. If
you do not like the editorial comments, this will give you an opportunity
to respond in the letters section. Your input is desired and anticipated.
Ethical Dilemmas in Long-Term Care (Facilitator's
Edition), by Janine M. Idziak. Dubuque, Iowa: Simon & Kolz
Publishing, 2000. 261 pp. $182.50.
Authors: Hilliard Bryan
Published: April 2008

Only within the past decade or so have medical ethicists, healthcare
policy analysts, and politicians devoted significant time and energy to
the myriad issues and problems facing the elderly. Careful
consideration has revealed multiple concerns over the treatment of the
elderly by families, healthcare providers, government agencies, and
facility administrators and staff. One particularly troublesome area of
concern involves nursing home placement and care. Dramatic stories
sometimes rise to the level of national attention and scrutiny. We hear
and read accounts of elder abuse by nursing home staff, indifference by
nursing home administrators, disagreements over whether to initiate or
withdraw a particular life-sustaining treatment, pain management
protocols, physician-assisted suicide, and the issuing and honoring of
DNR orders. But then these stories, as well as the ethical and policy
debates they engender, are soon forgotten by the general public.
Stories often not heard at all involve the everyday, mundane problems
and dilemmas faced by nursing home residents. These problems include
roommate selection, waiting lists, privacy surrounding grooming and
sexual relations, scheduling of meals and sleeping, confidentiality of
medical conditions, freedom to walk around the facility or take trips
outside the facility, and use of mechanical and chemical restraints. In
one sense, these issues are more problematic and more intractable than
those represented in dramatic but fleeting news accounts. What is
gradually becoming obvious to many is that the problems faced by the
elderly in long-term care—whether these problems are remarkable
or mundane, rare or frequent—deserve sustained, careful
attention.
2005 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference Track
Summaries: Track Six: Service Learning
Authors: Mathews-Gardner Lanethea , Fitzgerald Keith , Gitelson Alan R.
Published: April 2008

Service learning is most often touted as a vehicle for creating and
reinforcing civic-minded citizens and generating democratic
responsibility among our students while serving and empowering
communities. Equally as important, service learning is pedagogy.
Service learning track participants discussed ways to develop the
best practices and pedagogies, focusing on both the outcomes we hope
to achieve through a variety of applications of service learning,
and on the necessary components—or ingredients—that comprise service
learning as a method of instruction. Papers covered a broad range of
inter-related themes including service learning at large research
universities, research-as-service projects, the impact of service
learning on student health, the challenges inherent in assessing
active forms of learning, and engaging youth with political humor.
Participants were equally as diverse and included faculty and
administrators from large universities, liberal arts colleges,
community colleges, and public high schools.
2005 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference Track
Summaries: Track Seven: Student Assessment/Learning
Outcomes
Authors: Allen Neal , Deardorff Michelle D. , Hamann Kerstin , Reilly David , Rublee Maria Rost
Published: April 2008

At the first APSA Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) in 2004, 11
professors and graduate students gathered to discuss and evaluate
the role of assessment in political science. Excited by the impact
of assessment in their classrooms and departments, the working group
concluded their session with a declaration of the positive role
assessment could have in the discipline and an articulated concern
that APSA needs to “play a greater role in assessment.” At the 2005
conference, 32 faculty and graduate students again gathered to
discuss “Student Assessment and Learning Outcomes.” Six of us
bridged both years' experiences. While the 2005 participants were
less unified, the discussion and debates that emerged built upon the
discoveries of year one and attempted to expand the conversation
from among the converted to the wider discipline.
2005 APSA Teaching and Learning Conference Track
Summaries: Track Eight: Technology
Authors: Forren John P. , Trudeau Robert
Published: April 2008

Recognizing the central role that technology now plays in political
science education, organizers dedicated Track Eight of the 2005
Teaching and Learning Conference to an in-depth exploration of how
technology impacts pedagogy and learning. During the three-day
workshop, 30 track participants from throughout the discipline
shared a wide range of experiences and ideas about how instructional
technologies might help improve student learning and engagement.
Track discussions ranged widely, covering the use of technology in
diverse settings ranging from small seminars and discussion groups
to large introductory lectures and distance learning courses. Along
the way, presenters highlighted a number of normative concerns
raised by technology use in teaching as well as a range of practical
challenges often faced by faculty using technology in the field.
The “No” Vote in the French and Dutch Referenda on the EU
Constitution: A Spillover of Consequences for the Wider
Europe
Authors: Stefanova Boyka
Published: April 2008

The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe is widely regarded
as a turning point in the history of European integration. It was
designed to reconcile two key dimensions of the European
construction: the deepening of integration and the need to ensure
the democratic character of the European Union (EU). The
Constitution provides for the convergence of the model of regional
integration and that of democratic government. It contains
simplified legal instruments and procedures which enhance the status
of the Union as a political system. The open deliberations on the
constitutional text and its ratification through popular referenda
or parliamentary endorsement extend democratic principles and
procedures typical of domestic politics to regional integration.
Europe's Blues: Theoretical Soul-Searching after the Rejection of the European Constitution
Authors: Hooghe Liesbet , Marks Gary
Published: April 2008

The Spanish, French, Dutch, and Luxembourg referenda on the Constitutional Treaty are the latest, but certainly not the last, flashpoints in a contentious European Union. The era in which EU politics was determined by national and European elites ended about 15 years ago. With the Maastricht Accord of 1991, decision making on European integration entered the contentious world of party competition, elections, and referenda.
What You Use Matters: Coding Protest Data
Authors: Nam Taehyun
Published: April 2008

Data matter. Protest data are no exception. Not all datasets are
equal, nor do all have equal validity and reliability. Thus far,
there has been no serious debate regarding the quality of protest
datasets. Increasing attention to protest studies suggests that now
is the time to talk about the sine qua non for
growing knowledge in this sub-field of comparative politics. In this
paper I emphasize the importance of the underlying data sources. In
particular, I argue that protest datasets should be drawn from many
sources, particularly as many local sources as possible, in order to
provide accurate and meaningful data. To support this contention, I
first discuss traditional protest datasets and their limitations and
provide suggestions about how to overcome these limitations. Second,
I explain an alternative type of dataset coding and its
characteristics. And finally, I use statistical tests to illustrate
the importance of local sources. I give
my sincere and deep thanks to Erik S. Herron and Ronald A.
Francisco for reviewing drafts of this paper and giving me
indispensable comments and continuous encouragements. I would
also like to thank Elizabeth Collins and Omur Yilmaz who edited
drafts of this manuscript. My appreciation also goes to
anonymous reviews of this paper and the editors of PS:
Political Science and Politics. I would like to
thank my late farther, Ki-Dae whose love and support were simply
endless. I'll share any compliment with them, but only I will
take responsibility for any error.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei, Vox Sagittae
Authors: Maltzman Forrest , Schwartzberg Melissa , Sigelman Lee
Published: April 2008

On April 19, 2005, after just four rounds of voting, the College of
Cardinals announced that 78-year-old Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had
been selected as the new pope. This announcement startled many. To
be sure, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith for nearly a quarter of a century Ratzinger had helped select
the vast majority of the cardinals who gathered to choose a
successor to John Paul II, so his selection as pope could be seen as
fulfillment of a simple quid pro quo. Even so, it
had been widely speculated that Ratzinger's conservative beliefs
would spark passionate opposition among the electors and that his
age and reputed poor health would also work against him (Novak 2005).
Success in Graduate School and After: Survey Results from
the Midwest Region, Part III
Authors: Hesli Vicki L. , DeLaat Jacqueline , Youde Jeremy , Mendez Jeanette , Lee Sang-shin
Published: April 2008

Ph.D.-granting institutions want students to complete their doctoral
degrees. Most graduate departments in political science focus their
training on preparing students to pursue academic careers. We
provide valid and reliable empirical data about the factors that
affect students' prospects for successfully completing political
science doctoral degrees and finding academic jobs. Because National
Science Foundation data (2002, Table 53) reveal significant
differences in the number of doctoral degrees awarded to women
compared with men, we test a series of hypotheses based on the
existing literature that may account for these differences. Our
paper applies knowledge gained from previous studies, such as in the
area of mentoring (Wasby 2001; Andersen 2001; Benesh
2001), to explain observed gender differences in doctoral
degree completion and success in gaining academic employment
thereafter. The research was
commissioned and funded by the Executive Council of the Midwest
Political Science Association; additional funding was provided
by the department of political science at the University of
Iowa. Barbara Burrell of Northern Illinois University oversaw
the data collection for round two of the panel study. Kimberly
M. Lewis of the University of Iowa provided research
assistance.
Partial Online Instruction and Gender-based Differences
in Learning: A Quasi-Experimental Study of American
Government
Authors: Wilson Bruce M. , Pollock Philip H. , Hamann Kerstin
Published: April 2008

College teachers are increasingly using instructional technology to
supplement or substitute for face-to-face instruction. The
incentives and arguments for doing so are many, including
facilitation of higher education for non-traditional students and
changing student demographics, skill building to improve student
preparation for workplaces that are likely to use computer
technology, space restrictions in universities with growing
enrollment, the opportunities that Internet classrooms provide for
organizing and monitoring student work and assignments, and so on.
However, little is known about how online instruction affects the
learner. Online instruction is, in many ways, fundamentally
different from face-to-face instruction (see, for example, Lee 2003; McCormack and
Jones 1998; Palloff and Pratt
1999). For instance, instructors are unlikely to simply
post their lecture notes online in the hope that the students will
read, take notes, memorize, and retain the information, which would
be the closest equivalent to a traditional lecture classroom.
Consequently, it cannot be assumed that different instructional
modes (such as lectures or online instruction) necessarily have the
same learner outcomes. This lack of knowledge concerning the effects
of online instruction on learner outcomes also extends to the
question of gender equality. Authors
are listed in reverse alphabetical order. We gratefully
acknowledge financial support for both the redesign and the
evaluation of the course from the Pew Learning and Technology
Program, Center for Academic Transformation, Pew Grant Program
in Course Redesign.
Why Bother? Because Peer-to-Peer Programs Can Mobilize
Young Voters
Authors: Shea Daniel M. , Harris Rebecca
Published: April 2008

Many assume that young Americans are apathetic, self-absorbed, and
indifferent to civic matters. It is a turned-off generation, we are
told. But nothing could be further from the truth. A host of data
suggests young Americans give their energy, time, and money to their
schools, community, and nation. A recent report by the Center for
Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE),
for example, suggests young Americans volunteer at higher rates than
do older Americans (Lopez 2003). The frequency of pitching-in has
also increased: In 1990 some 65% of college freshman reported
volunteering in high school, and by 2003 that figure had risen to
83%. Rates of volunteer work for those under 25 are now twice as
high as for those over 55. Perhaps this is the
activist generation.
Real Success with a Virtual Exchange: The German and
American Politics Electronic Classroom
Authors: Olsen Jonathan , Zimmer Annette , Behr Markus
Published: April 2008

As several recent articles in PS have noted, study
abroad remains one of the most important and vital ways to make the
international relations and comparative politics classroom more
active, participatory, and experiential (Thies 2005; Bowman and
Jennings 2005). Along with various pedagogical techniques (such as
simulations, film, and Internet and web-based technologies)
increasingly used by political science instructors to enhance the
learning environment, the study abroad experience helps bring the
world into the classroom because it can connect directly and
experientially with students. Studies have shown that studying
abroad increases students' cross-cultural abilities and global
understanding, skills particularly relevant to comparative politics
and international relations courses (Kitsantas 2004; Hopkins 1999).
Indeed, because of study abroad's value as one component in active,
student-centered learning, as early as 1991 the APSA Task Force on
Political Science, in the so-called Wahlke Report, made the
recommendation that political science departments should strive to
increase the number of their students who participate in study
abroad programs of some kind, a recommendation echoed again recently
by several higher education panels (Wahlke 1991; Bollag 2003).
2005 Workshop for Department Chairs—Chairs and the Law:
Legal Issues Facing Department Chairs
Authors: Mezey Susan Gluck , Khalid Hisham , Marshall Dale Rogers , Goldenberg Edie
Published: April 2008

The 2005 Workshop for Department Chairs was dedicated to discussing
the legal issues that face department chairs. Themes included sexual
and racial harassment, tenure, and hiring. APSA's Departmental
Services Committee (DSC) sponsored the workshop and Edie N.
Goldenberg (University of Michigan), a member of the DSC, moderated
the panel. American University Counsel Hisham Khalid, Loyola
University Chicago's Susan Gluck Mezey, and retired Wheaton College
President Dale Rogers Marshall were also part of the panel. The
Workshop drew 75 attendees to hear the four presentations and to
consider how to deal with legal issues. The 2006 Workshop for
Department Chairs is “Planning for Assessment & Accountability
Issues”—more information will follow in the coming months.
Robert Paul Boynton
Authors: Cleary Robert E. , Wright Deil S.
Published: April 2008

Robert Paul Boynton (universally known as Bob) died of cancer on
November 4, 2005, at age 78. Bob was a collegial colleague,
constructive collaborator, compassionate confidante, and consummate
cosmopolitan. These alliterative categories attempt to capture the
primary qualities of Bob's 50 years of scholarly public life. The
designations, however, fall woefully short of encompassing what he
contributed to numerous university, association, community,
national, and international settings. In those contexts his
personal, intellectual, and humane character and skills stimulated
good will as well as good learning.
Response to Kay Lehman Schlozman
Authors: Bennett Stephen Earl
Published: April 2008

Professor Schlozman feels that unless one also assesses three long
memos that accompanied the report by the APSA's Task Force on
Inequality and American Democracy, one should refrain from
commenting. She accuses me in my response to the Task Force reports
(Bennett 2006) of “not bother[ing] to
read the full materials on which … [I comment]” (Schlozman 2006, 55). Schlozman indicates she'd be
“interested in … [my] reactions to the whole report instead of an
abbreviated version” (55). Since she asks, here goes.
Making International Collaboration Work: An Update from
the French Politics Group of APSA
Authors: Appleton Andrew , Mazur Amy
Published: April 2008

With five years of experience under our collective belt, the French
Politics Group (FPG) (a related group of the APSA) has moved into a
new phase of network development and international collaboration
across North America, Europe, and other continents. The goal of this
article is to map out these networking efforts, to present the
ingredients for our success, and, in so doing, provide some possible
avenues of collaboration for other APSA members to consider in their
own efforts to develop international work groups and networks.
Response to Stephen Earl Bennett
Authors: Fiorina Morris , Jacobs Lawrence , Page Benjamin , Schlozman Kay , Skocpol Theda , Verba Sidney
Published: April 2008

We are gratified that Prof. Bennett has now read the full Task Force
on Inequality and American Democracy report that he critiqued in the
January 2006 issue of PS, but we find his response
puzzling. He characterizes our report as “illustrative of many
political scientists' left-wing tilt” and buttresses his assertion,
not by analyzing the report itself, but by referring to studies of
the political leanings of college faculty. Clearly, the test of our
heavily annotated work—the bottom line of which is that “there are
no easy conclusions when it comes to changing inequality of
political voice” (APSA Task Force 2004, 35)—is whether we have been
faithful to the relevant scholarly research. Since Bennett provides
no evidence to the contrary, we leave it to the reader to decide who
is driven by ideological, rather than scholarly, concern.
Woodrow Jones, Jr.
Authors: Hurley Patricia , Meier Kenneth , Rice Mitchell
Published: April 2008

Woodrow Jones, Jr., professor of political science at Texas A&M
University passed away on November 22, 2005, after a long battle
with heart disease. Born in McKenzie, Tennessee, on February 28,
1947, he received his B.A. in political science from the University
of New Mexico in 1969 and went on to earn an M.A. and Ph.D. in
political science from the University of Oregon in 1974 and an
M.P.H. from the University of Texas School of Public Health in
1981.
Black Ethnicity, Black Community, and Political
Solidarity among African Americans and Black
Immigrants
Authors: Hackshaw Alana
Published: April 2008

Ethnic differences based on national origin are often undistinguished
within the Black community in the United States. The assumption of a
singular Black ethnicity (or the notion that all Blacks in the U.S.
identify their origins within the U.S.) defines the majority of
scholarly work on Black political identity and political behavior.
However, the growing visibility of Black immigrant communities in
major metropolitan areas of the U.S. raises the following question
for scholars of immigration and race politics: What are the
political implications of ethnic diversity within the Black
community?
Lester G. Seligman
Authors: Covington Cary R. , Quirk Paul J.
Published: April 2008

Lester G. Seligman, professor emeritus of political science at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, died November 2, 2004,
in Urbana, Illinois. He had a distinguished academic career, making
major contributions to the study of political leadership and
especially the U.S. presidency, and played a leadership role in the
profession as well. He was widely admired, not only for the
excellence of his teaching and research, but also for his
indefatigable optimism, good humor, and generous spirit.
Turning Theory to Practice: A Political Scientist Tackles
the Hill
Authors: Crespin Michael H.
Published: April 2008

When I first learned that I would be spending most of my final year
in graduate school working on Capitol Hill as an APSA Congressional
Fellow, I really did not know what to expect—other than that I
needed to hurry up and finish my dissertation! Since most of my
training was empirical in nature, with a smattering of formal theory
here and there, the one thing I knew for certain was that I was in
for a novel experience. After all, there are few substitutes for
acting as a participant observer to uncover a different perspective
on a subject. I want to thank Charles
Bullock, Jeff Jenkins and especially Dave Rohde for helping me
get into the Fellowship Program.
“THE GREATEST WONDER OF THE WORLD”: BRUNEL'S TUNNEL AND THE MEANINGS OF UNDERGROUND LONDON
Authors: Pike David L.
Published: April 2008

THE EAST END OF LONDONwas not a common destination for the upper- or middle-class sightseer in the early nineteenth century. The requisite steamer ride down the Thames from London Bridge for the excursion out of the city to Greenwich would show, along the way, in the words of one tourist, “The Custom House and the Tower, the only prominent objects rising out of the dreary range of shabbiness which stretches along close to the water's edge” (Hawthorne 232–33). There was one exception to the habit of overlooking the East End: a significant proportion of the twenty-four million persons who passed through the Thames Tunnel between Wapping and Rotherhithe from 1827 to 1865 had indeed made the eastward excursion expressly for that purpose. Essential viewing at the time but little studied since, the history of the Thames Tunnel indicates the stakes and the consequences of remapping the urban topography of London during the era when middle-class tourism was being invented. Comprised of two 1200-foot-long arched passageways joined by a wall of open arches in an overall brickworked space of 22 1/2 feet high by 38 feet wide (Bobrick 58), the Tunnel was unique among the obligatory sights of the city in that it was also a practical thoroughfare employed as such almost wholly by the working classes. It was open twenty-four hours a day, and, as one visitor noted, it offered the unusual experience of emerging “in the midst of one of the most unintelligible, forlorn, and forsaken districts of London or the world” (Catlin 2: 112–13; qtd. in Altick 373), the docklands and slums of the East End. Through a half-century as a symbolic hub of London life from the years of its design and excavation (1824–43) to its conversion to a railway tunnel on the East London Line in 1869, the Thames Tunnel mobilized the tensions in the modernizing city between technological progress and social repression into a dense network of underground myths.
SPECTACULAR DECEPTIONS: CLOSETS, SECRETS, AND IDENTITY IN WILKIE COLLINS'SPOOR MISS FINCH
Authors: Gladden Samuel Lyndon
Published: April 2008

LARGELY OVERLOOKEDin Collins scholarship, the 1872 novelPoor Miss Finch: A Domestic Storydescribes the complicated relationships between a young blind woman, Lucilla Finch, and twin brothers, Oscar and Nugent Dubourg. Lucilla's blindness results in her aversion to dark colors, and as she and Oscar fall in love, he must deploy a series of elaborate deceptions in a desperate attempt to keep from her his own dark secret–that his skin has been turned blue by medication prescribed for his epileptic condition. Following an extraordinary operation, Lucilla's eyesight begins to return, and Oscar's carefully guarded secret of blueness threatens to destroy their relationship. The plot ofPoor Miss Finchexplores the ways in which Oscar hides his blueness from Lucilla as well as the duplicitous function of his twin, Nugent, who stands in for Oscar as Lucilla begins to regain her sight. At every turn,Poor Miss Finchmines issues of identity and investigates the ways in which identity becomes withheld and disclosed–closeted and uncloseted–through a series of spectacular deceptions that enable the keeping of secrets.
KING SOLOMON'S MINES?: AFRICAN JEWRY, BRITISH IMPERIALISM, AND H. RIDER HAGGARD'S DIAMONDS
Authors: Kaufman Heidi
Published: April 2008

IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES(1885), H. Rider Haggard describes the journey of three robust English men who successfully penetrate a sexualized landscape in southern Africa, depicted as both the body of the long-dead Queen of Sheba and that of her contemporary, King Solomon. The three English adventurers, led by the narrator Allan Quatermain, climb “Sheba's breasts” (26; ch. 2), traverse her torso, and arrive finally at the location where diamonds are stored inside her cavernous body, in the space Haggard calls “King Solomon's treasure chamber” (27; ch. 2). Narrative desire and the mystery of the Jewish patriarch's ancient empire propel these men through a series of male bonding adventures that lead to their arrival and conquest of the famed mines, where they pocket diamonds “as large as pigeon-eggs” (225; ch. 17) and plot their escape from what they fear may be a sealed cave.
MORPHINE-ADDICTED DOCTORS, THE ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER, AND EMBATTLED MEDICAL AUTHORITY
Authors: Milligan Barry
Published: April 2008

IN1883, the American physician J. B. Mattison made the startling announcement that the majority of American morphine habitues were doctors and suggested that between thirty and forty percent of medical professionals were addicted (23). By 1909, an English addiction specialist had broadened the context and seemingly raised the ante, claiming “that the proportion of medical addicts to the total of cases is in some statistics as high as ninety per cent., and that one-fifth of the mortality in the profession is said to be caused by morphinism” (Jennings,The Morphia Habitv). Looking back in 1924, the German psychopharmacologist Louis Lewin referred to a “statistical table of [morphine] addicts, including all countries of the world,” which “gave 40.4 per cent doctors, 10.0 per cent doctors' wives” (54). Of course, all these data are somewhat questionable since reliable measures would have been all but impossible to obtain and the proportions surely varied over the periods and areas in question. But we can reasonably deduce at least this much: medical professionals were consistently the most prominent demographic group among morphine addicts in the developed western world after the middle of the nineteenth century.
THE CASE OF “JENNY”: DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND THE CENSORSHIP DIALECTIC
Authors: Marshik Celia
Published: April 2008

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTIand his artistic circle are emerging as privileged sites of modernist genesis. Studies by Jessica Feldman (Victorian Modernism: Pragmatism and the Varieties of Aesthetic Experience) and Allison Pease (Modernism, Mass Culture, and the Aesthetics of Obscenity) include Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne, respectively, in their reassessments of modernism. In a complementary move, Jerome McGann argues inDante Gabriel Rossetti and the Game That Must Be Lostthat Rossetti's art anticipates Imagism (44) and is characterized by a “hyper-realism that anticipates certain Postmodern styles” (32). Such work implicitly questions, in Feldman's words, the narratives of “strife, loss, [and] rupture” (4) that have been told about modernism's relationship with its predecessors. By linking nineteenth- and twentieth-century artists in a historical trajectory of aesthetic change, as Pease does, or by effacing the historical through a “web” of Victorian modernism, as Feldman does, it becomes possible to see new relations among authors previously separated by critical practice. Rossetti and associates enjoy a new spotlight as they become modern through their aesthetic productions and domestic arrangements.