bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nutritional imbalances and infections affect the thymus: consequences on T-cell-mediated immune responses
Authors: Savino Wilson , Dardenne Mireille
Published: September 2010

The thymus gland, where T lymphocyte development occurs, is targeted in malnutrition secondary to protein energy deficiency. There is a severe thymic atrophy, resulting from massive thymocyte apoptosis (particularly affecting the immature CD4+CD8+cell subset) and decrease in cell proliferation. The thymic microenvironment (the non-lymphoid compartment that drives intrathymic T-cell development) is also affected in malnutrition: morphological changes in thymic epithelial cells were found, together with a decrease of thymic hormone production, as well as an increase of intrathymic contents of extracellular proteins. Profound changes in the thymus can also be seen in deficiencies of vitamins and trace elements. Taking Zn deficiency as an example, there is a substantial thymic atrophy. Importantly, marginal Zn deficiency in AIDS subjects, children with diarrhoea and elderly persons, significantly impairs the host's immunity, resulting in an increased risk of opportunistic infections and mortality; effects that are reversed by Zn supplementation. Thymic changes also occur in acute infectious diseases, including a severe thymic atrophy, mainly due to the depletion of CD4+CD8+thymocytes, decrease in thymocyte proliferation, in parallel to densification of the epithelial network and increase in the extracellular matrix contents, with consequent disturbances in thymocyte migration and export. In conclusion, the thymus is targeted in several conditions of malnutrition as well as in acute infections. These changes are related to the impaired peripheral immune response seen in malnourished and infected individuals. Thus, strategies inducing thymus replenishment should be considered as adjuvant therapeutics to improve immunity in malnutrition and/or acute infectious diseases.
Providing optimal nutritional support on the intensive care unit: key challenges and practical solutions
Authors: Turner Pete
Published: September 2010

Many patients in the intensive care unit are malnourished or unable to eat. Feeding them correctly has the potential to reduce morbidity and even mortality but is a very complex procedure. The inflammatory response induced by surgery, trauma or sepsis will alter metabolism, change the ability to utilise nutrients and can lead to rapid loss of lean mass. Both overfeeding and underfeeding macronutrients can be harmful but generally it would seem optimal to give less during metabolic stress and immobility and increase in recovery. Physical intolerance of feeding such as diarrhoea or delayed gastric emptying is common in the intensive care unit. Diarrhoea can be treated with fibre or peptide feeds and anti-diarrhoeal drugs; however, the use of probiotics is controversial. Gastric dysfunction problems can often be overcome with prokinetic drugs or small bowel feeding tubes. New feeds with nutrients such as n-3 fatty acids that have the potential to attenuate excessive inflammatory responses show great promise in favourably improving metabolism and substrate utilisation. The importance of changing nutrient provision according to metabolic and physical tolerance cannot be understated and although expert groups have produced many guidelines on nutritional support of the critically ill, correct interpretation and implementation can be difficult without a dedicated nutrition health care professional such as a dietitian or a multidisciplinary nutritional support team.
Informing food policy: balancing the evidence
Authors: Gill M. , Johnston K.
Published: September 2010

The paper considers some of the reasons why governments develop food policies, gives examples of what is in food policies at the Scottish and UK levels and explores ways of effectively providing balanced evidence for policy development. It discusses the challenges of exchanging knowledge between the science and policy communities, given their different languages and cultures, highlighting the need for greater mutual understanding of roles and responsibilities. It draws on experience in the Scottish Government of developing the government's ‘Recipe for Success – Scotland's National Food and Drink Policy’ through engagement with stakeholders, scientists and analysts and touches on the more complex nature of the Department for International Development's contribution to meeting the first Millennium Development Goal. It compares the need for collation and analysis of existing evidence during the development of policy, with the desirability of providing policy direction for longer-term strategic research and the challenges of connecting the policy expectations with researchable questions. The paper concludes by emphasising the need to focus research in the short-term on mitigation of climate change through decreasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production of food, while also taking an account of economic, health and broader environmental sustainability objectives. A further challenge is to communicate complexity and uncertainty in ways which enable decision-makers from the consumer to policy-makers to make informed choices. Longer-term research needs to focus on the opportunities and risks associated with adapting to climate change.
Contrasting prototypes and dimensions in the classification of personality pathology: evidence that dimensions, but not prototypes, are robust
Authors: Eaton N. R. , Krueger R. F. , South S. C. , Simms L. J. , Clark L. A.
Published: September 2010

Background

DSM-5 may mark the shift from a categorical classification of personality pathology to a dimensional system. Although dimensional and categorical conceptualizations of personality pathology are often viewed as competing, it is possible to develop categories (prototypes) from combinations of dimensions. Robust prototypes could bridge dimensions and categories within a single classification system.

Method

To explore prototype structure and robustness, we used finite mixture modeling to identify empirically derived personality pathology prototypes within a large sample (n=8690) of individuals from four settings (clinical, college, community, and military), assessed using a dimensional measure of normal and abnormal personality traits, the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP). We then examined patterns of convergent and discriminant external validity for prototypes. Finally, we investigated the robustness of the dimensional structure of personality pathology.

Results

The resulting prototypes were meaningful (externally valid) but non-robust (sample dependent). By contrast, factor analysis revealed that the dimensional structures underlying specific traits were highly robust across samples.

Conclusions

We interpret these results as further evidence of the fundamentally dimensional nature of an empirically based classification of personality pathology.
Long-term cognitive and emotional consequences of mild traumatic brain injury
Authors: Konrad C. , Geburek A. J. , Rist F. , Blumenroth H. , Fischer B. , Husstedt I. , Arolt V. , Schiffbauer H. , Lohmann H.
Published: September 2010

Background

The objective of this study was to investigate long-term cognitive and emotional sequelae of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), as previous research has remained inconclusive with respect to their prevalence and extent.

Method

Thirty-three individuals who had sustained mTBI on average 6 years prior to the study and 33 healthy control subjects were matched according to age, gender and education. Structural brain damage at time of testing was excluded by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery was conducted to assess learning, recall, working memory, attention and executive function. Psychiatric symptoms were assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Possible negative response bias was ruled out by implementing the Word Memory Test (WMT).

Results

The mTBI individuals had significant impairments in all cognitive domains compared to the healthy control subjects. Effect sizes of cognitive deficits were medium to large, and could not be accounted for by self-perceived deficits, depression, compensation claims or negative response bias. BDI scores were significantly higher in the patient group, and three patients fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for a mild episode of major depression.

Conclusions

Primarily, well-recovered individuals who had sustained a minor trauma more than half a decade ago continue to have long-term cognitive and emotional sequelae relevant for everyday social and professional life. mTBI may lead to a lasting disruption of neurofunctional circuits not detectable by standard structural MRI and needs to be taken seriously in clinical and forensic evaluations.
Familial transmission of depression and antisocial behavior symptoms: disentangling the contribution of inherited and environmental factors and testing the mediating role of parenting
Authors: Harold G. T. , Rice F. , Hay D. F. , Boivin J. , van den Bree M. , Thapar A.
Published: September 2010

Background

Genetic and environmental influences on child psychopathology have been studied extensively through twin and adoption designs. We offer a novel methodology to examine genetic and environmental influences on the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology using a sample of parents and children conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Method

The sample included families with children born through IVF methods, who varied as to whether the child was genetically related or unrelated to the rearing mother and father (mother genetically related, n=434; mother genetically unrelated, n=127; father genetically related, n=403; father genetically unrelated, n=156). Using standardized questionnaires, mothers and fathers respectively reported on their own psychopathology (depression, aggression), their parenting behavior toward their child (warmth, hostility) and their child's psychopathology (depression, aggression). A cross-rater approach was used, where opposite parents reported on child symptoms (i.e. fathers reported on symptoms for the mother–child dyad, and vice versa).

Results

For mother–child dyads, a direct association between mother depression and child depression was observed among genetically unrelated dyads, whereas a fully mediated path was observed among genetically related dyads through mother-to-child hostility and warmth. For father–child dyads, direct and mediated pathways were observed for genetically related father–child dyads. For aggression, the direct association between parent aggression and child aggression was fully mediated by parent-to-child hostility for both groups, indicating the role of parent-to-child hostility as a risk mechanism for transmission.

Conclusions

A differential pattern of genetic and environmental mediation underlying the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology was observed among genetically related and genetically unrelated father–child and mother–child dyads.
Mechanisms of functional improvement in a 2-year trial of cognitive enhancement therapy for early schizophrenia
Authors: Eack S. M. , Pogue-Geile M. F. , Greenwald D. P. , Hogarty S. S. , Keshavan M. S.
Published: September 2010

Background

Cognitive rehabilitation has emerged as an effective treatment for addressing cognitive impairments and functional disability in schizophrenia; however, the degree to which changes in various social and non-social cognitive processes translate into improved functioning during treatment remains unclear. This research sought to identify the neurocognitive and social-cognitive mechanisms of functional improvement during a 2-year trial of cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) for early-course schizophrenia.

Method

Patients in the early course of schizophrenia were randomly assigned to CET (n=31) or an enriched supportive therapy control (n=27) and treated for up to 2 years. A comprehensive neurocognitive assessment battery and the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) were completed annually, along with measures of functioning. Mediator analyses using mixed-effects growth models were conducted to examine the effects of neurocognitive and social-cognitive improvement on functional change.

Results

Improvements over 2 years in neurocognition and the emotion management branch of the MSCEIT were found to be significantly related to improved functional outcome in early-course schizophrenia patients. Neurocognitive improvement, primarily in executive functioning, and social-cognitive change in emotion management also mediated the robust effects of CET on functioning.

Conclusions

Improvements in neurocognition and social cognition that result from cognitive rehabilitation are both significant mediators of functional improvement in early-course schizophrenia. Cognitive rehabilitation programs for schizophrenia may need to target deficits in both social and non-social cognition to achieve an optimal functional response.
A cross-ethnic comparison on incidence of suicide
Authors: Liu I. C. , Liao S. F. , Lee W. C. , Kao C. Y. , Jenkins R. , Cheng A. T. A.
Published: September 2010

Background

Suicide rates vary widely across nations and ethnic groups. This study aims to explore potential factors contributing to inter-ethnic differences in suicide rates.

Method

Study subjects came from a case-control psychological autopsy study conducted in Taiwan, including 116 consecutive suicides from two aboriginal groups and Taiwanese Han; 113 of them each matched with two living controls. Gender-, age- and method-specific suicide rates, population attributable fraction (PAF) of suicide for five major risk factors, help-seeking before suicide and emergency medical aid after suicide were compared between the three ethnic groups.

Results

One aboriginal group (the Atayal) had significantly higher adjusted rate ratios (RR) of suicide than the other aboriginal group (the Ami) [RR 0.20, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.12–0.34] and the Han (RR 0.26, 95% CI 0.16–0.40). Such differences can be explained by higher PAFs of suicide for three major risk factors (substance dependence, PAF 47.6%, 95% CI 25.5–64.2; emotionally unstable personality disorder, PAF 52.7%, 95% CI 32.8–69.0; family history of suicidal behaviour, PAF 43.5%, 95% CI 23.2–60.2) in this group than in the other two groups. This higher suicide rate was substantially reduced from 68.2/100 000 per year to 9.1/100 000 per year, comparable with the other two groups, after stepwise removal of the effects of these three risk factors. Suicide rates by self-poisoning were also significantly higher in this group than in the other two groups.

Conclusions

Higher rates of specific risk factors and use of highly lethal pesticides for suicide contributed to the higher suicide rate in one ethnic group in Taiwan. These findings have implications for developing ethnicity-relevant suicide prevention strategies.
Intellectual functioning and the long-term course of schizophrenia-spectrum illness
Authors: Carter J. W. , Parnas J. , Urfer-Parnas A. , Watson J. , Mednick S. A.
Published: September 2010

Background

Recent neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia, together with substantial evidence of neurocognitive dysfunction among people with schizophrenia, have led to a widespread view that general cognitive deficits are a central aspect of schizophrenic pathology. However, the temporal relationships between intellectual functioning and schizophrenia-spectrum illness remain unclear.

Method

Longitudinal data from the Copenhagen High-Risk Project (CHRP) were used to evaluate the importance of intellectual functioning in the prediction of diagnostic and functional outcomes associated with the schizophrenia spectrum. The effect of spectrum illness on intellectual and educational performance was also evaluated. The sample consisted of 311 Danish participants: 99 at low risk, 155 at high risk, and 57 at super-high risk for schizophrenia. Participants were given intellectual [Weschler's Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)/Weschler's Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)] assessments at mean ages of 15 and 24 years, and diagnostic and functional assessments at mean ages 24 and 42 years.

Results

Intellectual functioning was found to have no predictive relationship to later psychosis or spectrum personality, and minimal to no direct relationship to later measures of work/independent living, psychiatric treatment, and overall severity. No decline in intellectual functioning was associated with either psychosis or spectrum personality.

Conclusions

These largely negative findings are discussed in the light of strong predictive relationships existing between genetic risk, diagnosis and functional outcomes. The pattern of predictive relationships suggests that overall cognitive functioning may play less of a role in schizophrenia-spectrum pathology than is widely believed, at least among populations with an evident family history of schizophrenia.
Risk factors, pre-morbid functioning and episode correlates of neurological soft signs in drug-naive patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders
Authors: Peralta V. , de Jalón E. G. , Campos M. S. , Basterra V. , Sanchez-Torres A. , Cuesta M. J.
Published: September 2010

Background

There is a lack of consistent evidence regarding associations of neurological soft signs (NSS) with illness-related variables in schizophrenia. This study examined NSS in first-episode psychotic patients with respect to their factor structure and associations with risk factors, pre-morbid characteristics, psychopathology and spontaneous extrapyramidal syndromes.

Method

First-episode, drug-naive patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (n=177) were assessed for NSS using the Neurological Evaluation Scale, and its 26 constituting items were factor analysed. The identified neurological dimensions were then entered into hierarchical regression models as outcome dependent variables of a set of predictors including risk factors (familial loading for schizophrenia, obstetric complications), pre-morbid characteristics (neurodevelopmental delay, symptoms of attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder, pre-morbid functioning), psychopathological domains (reality distortion, disorganization, negative symptoms, mania, depression, catatonia) and spontaneous extrapyramidal syndromes (parkinsonism, dyskinesia, akathisia).

Results

Five neurological domains were identified: sequencing, release signs, sensory integration, abnormal movements and coordination. Multivariate analyses showed independent associations (p<0.01) of sequencing with familial liability to schizophrenia, deterioration of pre-morbid adjustment and parkinsonism; release signs with obstetric complications, catatonic symptoms and parkinsonism; sensory integration with familial liability to schizophrenia; abnormal movements with familial liability to schizophrenia, obstetric complications, parkinsonism and dyskinesia; and coordination with neurodevelopmental delay. The empirically derived factors explained additional variance over and above that explained by subscale scores across the examined variables.

Conclusions

Familial liability to schizophrenia, obstetric complications, neurodevelopmental delay, deterioration in pre-morbid functioning and observable motor disorders appear to contribute independently to domains of neurological dysfunction. The findings support a neurodevelopmental model of NSS in schizophrenia.
Immigrant students' development of musical agency – exploring democracy in music education
Authors: Karlsen Sidsel , Westerlund Heidi
Published: September 2010

In this article, we argue that the musical schooling of immigrant students could be seen as forming a healthy test for any educational context in terms of how democracy is enacted. We engage in a discussion linking music education, agency, pluralism and democracy. In our theoretical reconstruction of multicultural music education we first make a review on how music education literature has approached the cultural and musical schooling of immigrant students. We then attend to sociological theories to discuss why development of musical agency may be of particular importance to first generation immigrant students and how agency-enhancing music education may be connected to the development of sound democratic practices in the 21st century schooling.
Getting ‘Capital’ in the music world: musicians’ learning experiences and working lives
Authors: Coulson Susan
Published: September 2010

This paper discusses an exploration of the working lives of musicians working in a range of musical genres in the North East of England, revealing the factors that contribute to their ability to obtain a musical livelihood. These factors can be understood in terms of various forms of social, cultural and symbolic ‘capital’ (Bourdieu, 1986), which musicians amass throughout their lives, from early childhood and family influences to starting out in the music world and beyond. The accrual of such ‘musical capital’ is shown to be associated with the quality of musicians’ learning experiences and the findings are offered as having potential relevance to music education policy and practice. It is concluded that a wider range of teaching methods, including the recognition of different types of music and ability, could encourage more young people to remain involved in music learning and give musicians clearer signposts for embarking on a career in music.
Craft, process and art: Teaching and learning music composition in higher education
Authors: Lupton Mandy , Bruce Christine
Published: September 2010

This paper explores models of teaching and learning music composition in higher education. It analyses the pedagogical approaches apparent in the literature on teaching and learning composition in schools and universities, and introduces a teaching model as: learning from the masters; mastery of techniques; exploring ideas; and developing voice. It then presents a learning model developed from a qualitative study into students’ experiences of learning composition at university as: craft, process and art. The relationship between the students’ experiences and the pedagogical model is examined. Finally, the implications for composition curricula in higher education are presented.
Musical elements and subject knowledge in primary school student teachers: lessons from a five-year longitudinal study
Authors: Beauchamp Gary
Published: September 2010

The introduction of a National Curriculum to England and Wales in 1988 provided the first compulsory framework for music education. Writing in 1996, Mills suggested that in ten years time the impact of this change would result in primary school student teachers needing refreshment, and not development, of their musical knowledge. This five-year study examines primary school student teacher's knowledge of the musical elements as they entered the one year Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course in one institution. The results suggest that some elements as defined by the relevant national curricula (duration, pace, pitch and silence) do indeed need only refreshment, but others (timbre, texture, dynamics, structure) need significant development in schools and in training courses.
John Paynter, 1931–2010: an appreciation
Authors: Spencer Piers
Published: September 2010

John Paynter's death this year has deprived British music education of its most inspirational advocate during the second half of the 20th century. John's teaching in primary and secondary schools during the 1950s played a major role in shaping his vision of music at the heart of the curriculum. With his ear for an apt phrase, John loved to quote American novelist Toni Morrison's description of the wonderful presence and power of music as ‘a way of being in the world’. During the 1960s, John trained teachers in colleges in Liverpool and Chichester, before joining the innovative music department at the University of York, where he remained until his retirement in 1997. It was with the publication in 1970 of Sound and Silence that his years of pioneering work with children and older students came to fruition and the force and originality of his ideas about music education made their first big impact.
Multifractal analysis for Bedford–McMullen carpets
Authors: JORDAN THOMAS , RAMS MICHAL
Published: September 2010

In this paper we compute the multifractal analysis for local dimensions of Bernoulli measures supported on the self-affine carpets introduced by Bedford–McMullen. This extends the work of King where the multifractal analysis is computed with strong additional separation assumptions.
The influence of lexical aspect and input frequency in the L2 French of adult beginners
Authors: Thomas Anita
Published: September 2010

This article presents a study of the variation found in the oral production of verbs in L2 French by adult beginners with Swedish as L1. The study deals with the production of the two main forms of regular verbs in spoken French, a short form /parl/ and a long form /parle/, in present-tense and infinitive contexts. Learners at beginner stages use these two forms invariantly in both finite and non-finite contexts. The aim of this study is to investigate the choice of the invariant forms made by the learners. This is done by testing the influence of lexical aspect and input frequency. The investigation is made with concrete data from input sources. The results from both a free production task and an imitation test suggest that input frequency contributes more significantly than lexical aspect, although both factors overlap for most of the studied verbs.
A study of Swedish speakers' learning of Chinese noun classifiers
Authors: Gao Helena H.
Published: September 2010

Chinese noun classifiers are an obligatory category associated with nouns. Studies have shown that achieving a full understanding and good mastery of Chinese noun classifiers is difficult for both young and adult L2 learners. This study examines the learning strategies used by 30 Swedish adults for a period of two months. Their learning results are compared to 30 bilingual children's production of Chinese noun classifiers. The adult learners exhibit a normal top–down learning fashion, in which they fail to acquire the complex semantic and cognitive meanings embedded in the classifiers. The children, on the other hand, apply cognitive strategies with a bottom–up approach. The adults’ learning of classifiers lags surprisingly far behind their general level of Chinese proficiency. This study can be used as a reference for future studies on the conceptual and cognitive aspects of Chinese language acquisition by speakers whose native languages are not classifier languages.
The clause-initial position in L2 Swedish declaratives: Word order variation and discourse pragmatics
Authors: Bohnacker Ute
Published: September 2010

In a recent study of the clause-initial position in verb-second declaratives (the prefield), Bohnacker & Rosén (2008) found significant differences between native Swedish and German concerning the frequencies with which constituents occurred in the prefield, as well as qualitative differences concerning the mapping of information structure and linear word order: Swedish exhibited a stronger tendency than German to place new information, the so-called rheme, later in the clause. Swedish-speaking learners of German transferred these patterns from their L1 to German. Their sentences were syntactically well-formed but had Swedish-style prefield frequencies and a strong pattern of Rheme Later, which native Germans perceive as unidiomatic, as an acceptability judgment and a rewrite-L2texts task showed. The present study extends Bohnacker & Rosén's work in three ways. Learners of the reverse language combination (L1 German, L2 Swedish) are investigated to see whether similar phenomena also manifest themselves there. Secondly, written and oral data from highly advanced learners are examined to see whether the learners’ persistent problems can be overcome by extensive immersion (3, 6 and 9 years of L2 exposure). Thirdly, besides investigating theme–rheme (old vs. new information), some consideration is given to another information-structural level, background vs. focus. The learners are found to overuse the prefield at first, with non-Swedish, German-style frequency patterns (e.g. low proportions of clause-initial expletives and high proportions of clause-initial rhematic elements). This is interpreted as evidence for L1 transfer of information-structural or discourse-pragmatic preferences. After 6 and 9 years, a substantial increase in clause-initial expletive subjects, clefts and lightweight given elements is indicative of development towards the target. The findings are related to current generative theorizing on the syntax-pragmatics interface, where it is often maintained that the integration of multiple types of information is one of the hardest areas for L2 learners to master.
COMPLEXITY, INTERACTION, AND EPISTEMOLOGY: MIXTECS, ZAPOTECS, AND OLMECS IN EARLY FORMATIVE MESOAMERICA
Authors: Blomster Jeffrey P.
Published: September 2010

Interaction between the Gulf Coast Olmecs and various regions of Early Formative Mesoamerica remains debated and poorly understood. In Oaxaca, models have been dominated by neoevolutionary epistemology; interaction between the Valley of Oaxaca and San Lorenzo has been characterized by emulation or peer polity models. Data from the Valley of Oaxaca, the Nochixtlán Valley, and the Gulf Coast demonstrate that San Lorenzo was at a different level of sociopolitical complexity than its contemporaries. Previous comparisons between Olmec-style pottery in the Gulf Coast and Valley of Oaxaca are found to be problematic, and have led to the impression that Oaxaca villagers produced more of this pottery than did the Olmecs. Neutron activation analysis demonstrates the Gulf Coast Olmecs exported ceramics to Mixtecs and Zapotecs in Oaxaca, while receiving few if any pots in return, suggesting that new models and theoretical perspectives must be applied to understanding the relationships between Oaxacan chiefdoms and the nascent Olmec state at San Lorenzo. An agency perspective explores what Mixtec, Zapotec, and Olmec groups may have taken from these interactions and relationships and acknowledges both local and Gulf Coast understandings of “Olmec.” Such relationships may be characterized more by acquisition between regions, with San Lorenzo as a superordinate center.
CULTURAL IMPERATIVES IN CLAY: EARLY OLMEC CARVED POTTERY FROM SAN LORENZO AND CANTÓN CORRALITO
Authors: Cheetham David
Published: September 2010

Portable “Olmec-style” objects appeared in several regions of Mesoamerica near the end of the second millenniumb.c., most frequently in the form of ceramic figurines and carved-incised pottery vessels. The origins of this early Olmec style and significance of its distribution are vigorously debated, with the role of the Gulf Coast Olmec archaeological culture and its largest center, San Lorenzo, especially controversial with respect to both issues. While recent chemical compositional analyses show that Olmec-style pots were exported from the Gulf Coast to several other regions of Mesoamerica, in each place beyond the Gulf Coast they are vastly outnumbered by locally-made versions that may or may not be faithful to Gulf Olmec stylistic canons based on vessel forms, technical style of manufacture, and design criteria. The extent of stylistic conformity between pots made in the Gulf Coast and distant regions has direct implications in terms of the geographic origin, apprenticeship, and cultural membership (innate ethnicity) of the potters who made the vessels. I consider these issues by comparing the designs and forms of excised (Calzadas Carved) pottery made at San Lorenzo and Cantón Corralito, a possible settlement enclave of Gulf Olmec peoples located in the Mazatan zone of Pacific Coastal Chiapas some 450 km from San Lorenzo.
BEING “OLMEC” IN EARLY FORMATIVE PERIOD HONDURAS
Authors: Joyce Rosemary A. , Henderson John S.
Published: September 2010

Practices and features that many researchers have identified as “Olmec,” even when found outside of the Gulf Coast of Mexico, supposed by some to be the heartland of an Olmec culture, are often a minority within local assemblages with vast differences in style and form. This is the case in Honduras, where objects identified as “Olmec” were clearly locally made. Thus they cannot be explained simply in terms of the import to Honduras of “Olmec” objects made elsewhere. This paper seeks to address the question, “what did it mean to the inhabitants of Formative period Mesoamerican villages to make and use objects whose stylistic features made them stand out as different from others in their own communities?” Drawing on data from original fieldwork at multiple sites in Honduras and reanalysis of museum collections, this paper proposes a model for understanding this phenomenon rooted in social theories of materiality, the phenomenological experience of personhood, and the creation of identity through entanglement with things.
A SAN LORENZO PHASE HOUSEHOLD ASSEMBLAGE FROM EL REMOLINO, VERACRUZ
Authors: Wendt Carl J.
Published: September 2010

While scholars actively search for material and symbolic indications of Olmec influence outside the Gulf Coast, few have taken a close look at the variation and intricacies of Early Formative period material culture within the Gulf Coast region. The increasing body of data on houses in the Olmec heartland is beginning to allow comparisons and new kinds of analyses not previously possible in Olmec studies. Excavated materials from San Lorenzo phase (1200–900b.c., radiocarbon years; 1400–1000b.c.) households at El Remolino in the San Lorenzo region are analyzed in a preliminary attempt to evaluate the particulars of a San Lorenzo Olmec domestic assemblage in order to provide a baseline for future research. I compare quantities of different artifact classes, vessel forms, vessel orifice diameters, and pottery decoration to arrive at an understanding of a modest Olmec household inventory. Through this analysis, I argue that several of the San Lorenzo horizon markers cited as evidence of Olmec influence or migration elsewhere in Mesoamerica are quite rare in the Olmec heartland itself. Both Calzadas Carved and Limón Carved-Incised pottery decorations1occur only in minute quantities (<1%) in the Remolino (and San Lorenzo) assemblage, and hollow white-ware figurines are entirely absent at this nonelite context. Except for its location 5 km from San Lorenzo, El Remolino would not qualify as an Olmec site based on the lack of artifact markers emphasized by archaeologists working outside of the Gulf Coast. I argue that we need a better idea of the range of Gulf Coast Olmec variation before we delve too far into discussions of Gulf Coast influence.
OLMEC GREENSTONE IN EARLY FORMATIVE MESOAMERICA: EXCHANGE AND PROCESS OF PRODUCTION
Authors: Jaime-Riverón Olaf
Published: September 2010

The earliest uses of Olmec greenstone (jadeite, greenstone, schist, green quartz, and others) accelerated the interregional exchange of technology and raw materials. These relationships provoked asymmetry between polities of different parts of Mesoamerica and within Olmec sites. There were stronger relationships between the Gulf Coast and Chiapas. In general terms, greenstone artifacts display an evolutionary process similar to ceramics and basalt sculpture in the emergence of complex society during terminal Early Formative times. This paper focuses on the exchange of technological choices and asymmetry between Gulf Coast of Mexico and the rest of Mesoamerica.
ONSET OF THE EARLY CLASSIC PERIOD IN THE SOUTHERN MAYA LOWLANDS: NEW EVIDENCE FROM PUNTA DE CHIMINO, GUATEMALA
Authors: Bachand Bruce R.
Published: September 2010

Desecration of Punta de Chimino's ceremonial precinct arounda.d.430 was associated with the appearance of green Pachuca obsidian, pyrite mirror fragments, dart points, a Tikal-style vessel cache, and a peculiar grave with Mexican semblances. A structurally housed Protoclassic stela was removed in an apparent fire ritual and monumental masks adorning the E-Group range building were effaced in a termination rite involving large quantities of refuse. Disuse of the E-Group range building and unfinished refurbishment of the observatory pyramid suggest the site was promptly deserted. The forsaking of this time-honored ceremonial place coincided with reduced settlement in the Petexbatun region and abandonment of the nearby Pasión centers of Ceibal, Itzan, and Chaak Ak'al. Punta de Chimino's findings shed further light on these abandonments, suggesting that they were triggered by amplified central lowland involvement in Pasión River affairs by the end of the fourth centurya.d.
POLITICAL STRUCTURE, MILITARY TRAINING, AND IDEOLOGY AT CHICHEN ITZA
Authors: Baudez Claude-François , Latsanopoulos Nicolas
Published: September 2010

According to our reconstruction of the sociopolitics of tenth-century Chichen Itza, the polity was ruled by a paramount king who identified himself with the sun. A high priest, the second-ranking figure, stood by the king's side. A political and military elite, with an S-shaped serpent as its emblem, shared power with these top figures. Finally, the whole community of warriors was treated as a collective corps with important religious and political responsibilities. The iconography of the Temple of the Wall Panels depicts the initiation of jaguar knights by a warrior figure designated as Serpent Jaguar. The same individual, also represented and designated on the slab covering the cache buried in the upper temple, was assisted or controlled by personages who ranked above him. The panels illustrate the destiny of the jaguar-warriors after their glorious death, first as they accompany the rising sun and, later, as they transform themselves into birds. This interpretation appears very close to the destiny of the dead Aztec warriors as recounted by Sahagún and other chroniclers. The butterfly/bird theme, associated with warriors, indicates that similar beliefs were current at Teotihuacan. The Temple of the Wall Panels, too small to be atelpochcalliwas probably a house used by warriors, as indicated by its images and its distinctive architecture, which are shared at the same site by the Temple of the Warriors.
Swedish Milk, a Swedish Duty: Dairy Marketing in the 1920s and 1930s
Authors: MARTIIN CARIN
Published: September 2010

On basis of the argument ‘Better milk – increased consumption’ the Swedish association, ‘The Milk Propaganda’, managed to frame a milk marketing project in which economic interests were intertwined with references to public health and the survival of the Swedish countryside. The very idea of marketing milk, building on its quality and health, was presented as mutually beneficial for producers and consumers, and for the entire Swedish society. In the 1920s and 30s the project was visible through posters, a journal, milk restaurants and school campaigns. The story includes fascinating encounters between rurality and urbanity, materialised through milk. During the economic crisis around 1930 milk marketing became aggressive and consumers were urged to consume as much dairy produce as possible in order to fulfil their national duty to help save farmers and the countryside.
The Country, the City, and Visions of Modernity in 1930s China
Authors: LYNCH CATHERINE
Published: September 2010

The 1930s saw new research and extended debates over the nature of the countryside in China and its socio-economic and historical role. Those on different sides of these debates, many drawing on historical materialism, tended to recreate modernist assumptions. These included assumptions that history was unilinear, and that what was Western was also modern, universal, urban, and objective, while what was not Western was traditional, local, rural, and subjective. The modern nation state, made up of modern citizens, was the outcome of, and the active subject in, a progressive history.

Yet other approaches, focusing on the role of the countryside in China's development, challenged not only aspects of modernity but the assumptions in which the debates were couched. The philosopher and social activist Liang Shuming (1893–1988) focused on the countryside as the creative field in China. He envisioned a new form of community that, instead of the state, would be the active locus for change. Liang's new, village communities would draw on but not reproduce cultural traditions across a ruptured history and form the basis of a non-capitalist industrialisation. Rather than appropriate the dominant image of modernity, Liang revisited its basic assumptions. In so doing, he generated fresh visions, opening up a different set of possibilities and recasting the relation of the country to the city, the nation and the future.
Editorial: Rurality, Modernity and National Identity between the Wars
Authors: BURCHARDT JEREMY
Published: September 2010

The articles in this special issue ofRural Historyaddress aspects of the multifaceted and often very intense relationship between rurality, modernity and national identity in the 1920s and 1930s. They derive from a conference organised in January 2007 by the Interwar Rural History Research Group. The conference, ‘Rethinking the Rural: Land and Nation in the 1920s and 1930s’ brought together forty-nine papers on fifteen different countries and concluded with a plenary session in which it became clear that there were some striking commonalities to the interwar experiences of the countries in question. In particular, the three-way relationship between the countryside, modernisation and national identity seemed to be prominent almost everywhere. Bound up with these was the rise of international trade and its close corollary, the agricultural depression, which affected rural areas on a literally global scale. While there were also some intriguing and unexpected differences between countries, the broad context seemed to be similar enough that it would be fruitful to collect those papers that related most closely to these core themes and publish them together. In this editorial, I will briefly outline the articles that follow, pick out what seem to me the most interesting connections, and then consider some of the wider questions this raises.
Seed mortality in the soil is related to seed coat thickness
Authors: Gardarin Antoine , Dürr Carolyne , Mannino Maria R. , Busset Hugues , Colbach Nathalie
Published: September 2010

Models that quantify the effects of cropping systems on weed dynamics are useful tools for testing innovative cropping systems. In these models, seed mortality in the soil is a key parameter to account for the cumulated effect of cropping systems over time via the soil seed-bank. Since seed mortality is difficult to measure, our objective was to develop a method to estimate it from easily accessible information. Seeds of 13 weed species were buried 30 cm deep in fields and were recovered regularly for 2 years to measure their viability. Seed mass, dimensions, shape, and protein and lipid contents as well as coat thickness were measured. To estimate seed mortality of species not included in the study, we searched for relationships between mortality rates and seed traits. Seed viability mainly decreased during the second year of burial, with mortality rates ranging from 0.01 to 0.63 seeds·seeds− 1·year− 1, depending on the species. Seed mortality decreased with increasing seed coat thickness. No correlation was found with other measured traits or with seed persistence data in the literature. These results were confirmed when the effects of phylogenetic relatedness with phylogenetically independent contrasts were included. The thickness of the seed coat, which varied between 17 and 231 μm over the range of species studied, can protect the seed from external attacks in the soil and slow down seed decay. This trait can be easily measured via X-ray images and could be used to estimate the seed mortality rate for a wider range of species.
The origin of life from primordial planets
Authors: Gibson Carl H. , Schild Rudolph E. , Wickramasinghe N. Chandra
Published: September 2010

The origin of life and the origin of the Universe are among the most important problems of science and they might be inextricably linked. Hydro-gravitational-dynamics cosmology predicts hydrogen–helium gas planets in clumps as the dark matter of galaxies, with millions of planets per star. This unexpected prediction is supported by quasar microlensing of a galaxy and a flood of new data from space telescopes. Supernovae from stellar over-accretion of planets produce the chemicals (C, N, O, P, etc.) and abundant liquid-water domains required for first life and the means for wide scattering of life prototypes. Life originated following the plasma-to-gas transition between 2 and 20 Myr after the big bang, while planetary core oceans were between critical and freezing temperatures, and interchanges of material between planets constituted essentially a cosmological primordial soup. Images from optical, radio and infrared space telescopes suggest life on Earth was neither first nor inevitable.
Aggression
Authors: Petermann Franz , Petermann Ulrike
Published: September 2010

Bei aggressiven Verhalten im Kindes- und Jugendalter handelt es sich um eine besonders häufig auftretende und stabile Problematik. Entwicklungsmodelle aggressiven Verhaltens tragen dazu bei, dass Erscheinungsformen, komorbide Störungen und Verläufe präziser eingeordnet und fundierte Behandlungsprognosen erstellt werden können. Evidenzbasierte Präventions- und Behandlungsprogramme liegen altersspezifisch ausgestaltet vor. Aggressives Verhalten und die in der Regel auftretenden komorbiden Störungen stellen die höchsten Anforderungen an die Behandlung, wobei Therapieansätze langfristig und komplex (unter Einbezug des sozialen Umfeldes des Kindes) angelegt sein müssen.
How to Perform Idiographic and a Combination of Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches
Authors: Schmidt Michaela , Perels Franziska , Schmitz Bernhard
Published: September 2010

The aim of the study is to combine and compare person-oriented and nomothetic approaches to analyze longitudinal data with time series analyses and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Based on the evaluation of an intervention study both approaches were used to compare individual and group data. In this study, a training was implemented to foster students’ self-regulation and selected results were presented at the individual and group level for the variables planning and motivation. To analyze data with time series analysis, cross-correlations and trend analyses were conducted. Cross-correlations revealed similar results on the aggregated and individual level whereas trend analysis indicated different results of these two levels. Results of HLM analyses for longitudinal data suggested that students’ motivation has more influence than the type of training group on students’ planning. The findings demonstrate that individual and group-level results differ and that both methods have different focuses. This means that it is useful to combine time series analyses and HLM approaches when analyzing longitudinal data.