bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Parental reports of children’s biological knowledge and misconceptions
Authors: Nguyen Simone P. , Rosengren Karl S.
Published: August 2004

Children’s misconceptions about five specific biological concepts—life, aging, reproduction, illness, and death—were investigated using a parent survey. Parents of 3- to 4-year-olds ( N 1/4 125) and parents of 5- to 6-year-olds ( N 1/4 145) completed a questionnaire about their child’s knowledge and misconceptions involving these concepts. Parents reported that misconceptions were common among 3- to 6-year-olds, particularly for reproduction and death. Parents reported a greater reluctance to talk with their children about death and reproduction and also thought their children should learn about these concepts at a later age than other biological concepts. One third of the misconceptions reported by parents occurred at the boundary between different domains, where information from another domain (i.e., physics or psychology) was incorrectly associated with the biological domain. Parents of 5- to 6-year-olds reported fewer misconceptions than parents of 3- to 4-year-olds, suggesting that these misconceptions are open to change and are eventually replaced by accurate biological knowledge.
Is maternal depression related to side of infant holding?
Authors: Weatherill Robin P. , Almerigi Jason B. , Levendosky Alytia A. , Bogat G. Anne , Von Eye Alexander , Harris Lauren Julius
Published: August 2004

Studies show that 65–85% of mothers hold their infants on the left side of their own body and that this left-bias may be reduced or reversed when mothers have symptoms similar to depression or dysphoria (de Château, Holmberg, & Winberg, 1978). No studies, however, have used diagnostic criteria to assess the mother’s psychological state. The current study examined the relationship between maternal report of depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory and holding-side bias in a high-risk sample of 177 mothers participating with their infants in a larger longitudinal study of mother–infant relationships and domestic violence. Mothers classified as nondepressed showed a significant left-bias; those classified as depressed showed a nonsignificant right-bias; mothers who reported experiencing domestic violence also showed a reduced left-bias. The results are interpreted in terms of current theory and research on lateralised hemispheric activation and depression.
Naming from definition: The role of feature type and feature distinctiveness
Authors: Marques J. Frederico
Published: August 2004

The present paper evaluates the contribution of feature type and feature distinctiveness to naming of living and nonliving things using a naming from definition task. Normal subjects read verbal descriptions containing features varying in type (i.e., sensory vs. functional) and distinctiveness (i.e., distinct vs. shared) and were asked to name the concept described and to select the three features that most contributed to their answer. Main results showed that sensory features were selected more often than functional features to support naming living things and that, independent of feature type, more distinct features were selected to support naming more often than shared features. Results are discussed considering the implications for understanding naming and for neuropsychological evaluation.
Inhibition of return following instructions to remember and forget
Authors: Taylor Tracy L.
Published: August 2004

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to slowed responding to a target that appears in the same rather than in a different location as a preceding peripheral onset cue. This study examined IOR as a function of whether the peripheral onset cue was a word that participants were directed to remember or forget. Using a modified item-method directed forgetting paradigm, words appeared one at a time to the left or right, followed by a remember or forget instruction. A target dot was then presented either in the same peripheral location as the preceding word or in a different location; participants made a speeded response to localize this target. Confirming compliance with the memory instructions, recall tests that alternated with blocks of IOR trials (Experiment 1) revealed few intrusions of to-be-forgotten words, and a final recognition test (Experiments 1 and 3) revealed more hits for to-be-remembered words than for to-be-forgotten words. Reaction times to the target dot revealed greater magnitude IOR following to-be-forgotten words than following to-be-remembered words (Experiments 1 and 3). Moreover, when compared to baseline IOR values (Experiment 2), it appeared that this difference resulted from a magnification of IOR following forget instructions and a reduction in IOR following remember instructions. These results demonstrate the usefulness of IOR as an index of memorial processes and suggest that attentional orienting may play a role in the remembering and forgetting of words presented in peripheral visual locations.
Sex differences in eye gaze and symbolic cueing of attention
Authors: Bayliss Andrew P. , di Pellegrino Giuseppe , Tipper Steven P.
Published: August 2004

Observing a face with averted eyes results in a reflexive shift of attention to the gazed-at location. Here we present results that show that this effect is weaker in males than in females (Experiment 1). This result is predicted by the ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism (Baron-Cohen, 2003), which suggests that males in the normal population should display more autism-like traits than females (e.g., poor joint attention). Indeed, participants′ scores on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Stott, Bolton, & Goodyear, 2001) negatively correlated with cueing magnitude. Furthermore, exogenous orienting did not differ between the sexes in two peripheral cueing experiments (Experiments 2a and 2b). However, a final experiment showed that using non-predictive arrows instead of eyes as a central cue also revealed a large gender difference. This demonstrates that reduced orienting from central cues in males generalizes beyond gaze cues. These results show that while peripheral cueing is equivalent in the male and female brains, the attention systems of the two sexes treat noninformative symbolic cues very differently.
Prior belief and polarity in multicue learning
Authors: Evans Jonathan St. B. T. , Clibbens John , Harris Anita
Published: August 2004

We report two experiments in which participants are trained using a multicue probability learning (MCPL) task, which attempts to simulate the acquisition of expert judgement by experience in the real world. Participants were asked to predict performance in certain occupations given a profile of personality test results with trial-by-trial outcome feedback. Only some cues were relevant, and the polarity of the cues (positive or negative predictors) was unspecified. In addition, 25% of random noise was added to the feedback to simulate real world uncertainty. The main factor of interest was that the role of prior belief (determined in a separate study of stereotypes) interfered with the learning process. Experiment 1 failed to find any influence of prior belief in the cues that were irrelevant to the criterion being trained. However, in Experiment 2 people learned to use the relevant cues better when their effect conformed with rather than conflicted with prior belief. Both experiments showed strong effects of cue polarity, with positive predictors much more easily learned. The results are discussed with reference to the cognitive processes involved in MCPL and closely related tasks.
Refractory effects in picture naming as assessed in a semantic blocking paradigm
Authors: Belke Eva , Meyer Antje S. , Damian Markus F.
Published: August 2004

In the cyclic semantic blocking paradigm participants repeatedly name sets of objects with semantically related names ( homogeneous sets) or unrelated names ( heterogeneous sets). The naming latencies are typically longer in related than in unrelated sets. In Experiment 1 we replicated this semantic blocking effect and demonstrated that the effect only arose after all objects of a set had been shown and named once. In Experiment 2, the objects of a set were presented simultaneously (instead of on successive trials). Evidence for semantic blocking was found in the naming latencies and in the gaze durations for the objects, which were longer in homogeneous than in heterogeneous sets. For the gaze-to-speech lag between the offset of gaze on an object and the onset of the articulation of its name, a repetition priming effect was obtained but no blocking effect. Experiment 3 showed that the blocking effect for speech onset latencies generalized to new, previously unnamed lexical items. We propose that the blocking effect is due to refractory behaviour in the semantic system.
Hearing Loss and Perceptual Effort: Downstream Effects on Older Adults’ Memory for Speech
Authors: McCoy Sandra L. , Tun Patricia A. , Cox L. Clarke , Colangelo Marianne , Stewart Raj A. , Wingfield Arthur
Published: August 2004

A group of older adults with good hearing and a group with mild-to-moderate hearing loss were tested for recall of the final three words heard in a running memory task. Near perfect recall of the final words of the three-word sets by both good- and poor-hearing participants allowed the inference that all three words had been correctly identified. Nevertheless, the poor-hearing group recalled significantly fewer of the nonfinal words than did the better hearing group. This was true even though both groups were matched for age, education, and verbal ability. Results were taken as support for an effortfulness hypothesis: the notion that the extra effort that a hearing-impaired listener must expend to achieve perceptual success comes at the cost of processing resources that might otherwise be available for encoding the speech content in memory.
The Attraction Effect in Decision Making: Superior Performance by Older Adults
Authors: Kim Sunghan , Hasher Lynn
Published: August 2004

Previous work showed that older adults' choice performance can be wiser than that of younger adults (Tentori, Osherson, Hasher, & May, 2001). We contrasted two possible interpretations: a general expertise/wisdom view that suggests that older adults are generally more skilled at making decisions than younger adults and a domain-specific expertise view that suggests that older adults are more skilled decision makers only in domains in which they have greater knowledge. These hypotheses were contrasted using attraction effect tasks in two different domains: earning extra credit in a course and grocery shopping, domains presumed to be of different levels of knowledge to younger and older adults. Older adults showed consistent choice for both domains; younger adults showed consistent choice only for the extra credit problem. Several explanations of these findings are considered, including Damasio's somatic marker theory and age differences in reliance on heuristic versus analytic styles.
Contributions of Processing Ability and Knowledge to Verbal Memory Tasks across the Adult Life-Span
Authors: Hedden Trey , Lautenschlager Gary , Park Denise C.
Published: August 2004

This study investigated the relationships of processing capacity and knowledge to memory measures that varied in retrieval difficulty and reliance on verbal knowledge in an adult life-span sample ( N = 341). It was hypothesized that processing ability (speed and working memory) would have the strongest relationship to tasks requiring active retrieval and that knowledge (vocabulary ability) would be related to verbal fluency and cued recall, as participants relied upon verbal knowledge to retrieve category items (fluency) or develop associations (cued recall). Measurement and structural equation models were developed for the entire sample and separately for younger (aged 20–54 years, n = 168) and older (aged 55–92 years, n = 173) subgroups. In accordance with the hypotheses, processing ability was found to be most highly related to free recall, with additional significant relationships to cued recall, verbal fluency, and recognition. Knowledge was found to be significantly related only to verbal fluency and to cued recall. Moreover, knowledge was more important for older than for younger adults in mediating variance in cued recall, suggesting that older adults may use age-related increases in knowledge to partially compensate for processing declines when environmental support is available in memory tasks.
Searching from the Top Down: Ageing and Attentional Guidance during Singleton Detection
Authors: Whiting Wythe L. , Madden David J. , Pierce Thomas W. , Allen Philip A.
Published: August 2004

Previous investigations of adult age differences in visual search suggest that an age-related decline may exist in attentional processes dependent on the observer's knowledge of task-relevant features (top-down processing). The present experiments were conducted to examine age-related changes in top-down attentional guidance during a highly efficient form of search, singleton detection. In Experiment 1 reaction times to detect targets were lower when target features were constant (feature condition) than when target features were allowed to vary between trials (mixed condition), and this reaction time benefit was similar for younger and older adults. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated possible interactions between top-down and bottom-up (stimulus-driven) processes. Experiment 2 demonstrated that search times for both age groups could be improved when targets varied on an additional feature from distractors (double-feature condition) but only when top-down control was available (feature search). In Experiment 3, the availability of top-down guidance enabled both younger and older adults to override the distracting effects of a noninformative spatial location cue. These findings indicate that top-down attentional control mechanisms interact with bottom-up processes to guide search for targets, and that in the context of singleton detection these mechanisms of top-down control are preserved for older adults.
Ageing and Switching of the Focus of Attention in Working Memory: Results from a Modified N-Back Task
Authors: Verhaeghen Paul , Basak Chandramallika
Published: August 2004

We conducted two experiments using a modified version of the N-Back task. For younger adults, there was an abrupt increase in reaction time of about 250 ms in passing from N = 1 to N > 1, indicating a cost associated with switching of the focus of attention within working memory. Response time costs remained constant over the range N = 2 to N = 5. Accuracy declined steadily over the full range of N (Experiment 1). Focus switch costs did not interact with either working memory updating (Experiment 1), or global task switching (Experiment 2). There were no age differences in RT costs once general slowing was taken into account, but there was a larger focus-switch-related accuracy cost in older adults than in younger adults. No age sensitivity was found for either updating or global task switching. The results suggest (a) that focus switching is a cognitive primitive, distinct from task switching and updating, and (b) that focus switching shows a specific age-related deficit in the accuracy domain.
Episodic temporal generalization: A developmental study
Authors: McCormack T. , Wearden J. H. , Smith M. C. , Brown G. D.A.
Published: August 2004

Groups of 5-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and adults completed either an episodic temporal generalization task, in which no stimuli were repeated, or a repeated standard temporal generalization task, in which there was a fixed standard that was repeated on every trial. Significant developmental improvements were found on both tasks. In both tasks, gradients of performance over two different stimulus ranges superimposed well when plotted on the same relative scale. Performance was similar for the adults and 10-year-olds across tasks, but the 5-year-olds performed better on the repeated standard task. These findings suggest that perceptual processes are a source of scalar variability in timing, and that there are developmental changes in levels of such variability.
Exploring trial-by-trial modulations of the Simon effect
Authors: Wühr Peter , Ansorge Ulrich
Published: August 2004

The present study investigates sequential modulations of the Simon effect. The Simon effect involves faster responses to spatially corresponding than to noncorresponding stimuli, even when stimulus position is irrelevant. Recently, the Simon effect has been shown to decrease or to disappear after noncorresponding predecessor trials. Possible explanations for these sequential modulations include (a) the gating of position-based response activation (conflict monitoring), (b) repetition or alternation effects, and (c) the interaction between feature integration (binding) processes and stimulus-response (S-R) correspondence. Three experiments tested different predictions of these models by comparing Simon effects after neutral trials with those after corresponding and noncorresponding trials, respectively, and by varying the stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) between and within experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed large Simon effects after corresponding trials, intermediate Simon effects after neutral trials, and small (or no) Simon effects after noncorresponding trials. Moreover, some systematic effects of S-R repetitions and S-R alternations were observed. Finally, the sequential modulations were maximal at short SOAs and decreased with increasing SOA, but still occurred at an SOA of 6 seconds. The results seem to exclude repetition or alternation effects as the main cause of sequential modulations of the Simon effect, but both conflict monitoring and binding may contribute to these effects.
How Far Offshore? Monaco as a Financial Centre
Authors: Donaghy Matthew , Clarke Michael
Published: August 2004

Offshore financial centres (OFCs) are often characterised as the clearest expressions of global markets, as autonomous entities operating outside the regulatory controls of nation states. Research on the small but expanding OFC of Monaco, however, shows that relationships with major onshore states, namely France, can be quite close, and complex. This article outlines the distinctive onshore influences, what we term ‘onshore patronage’, which underpin the development of OFCs. Using the lens of an emerging bank confidentiality law in Monaco, it is revealed that France has by no means been an innocent by-stander in Monaco's offshore development. Such an approach has wider theoretical implications for the way we conceptualise the political dimensions of global offshore markets, for political structures can be seen to propel as well as constrain such markets.
Public Disclosure of the Sweatshop Practices of American Multinational Garment/Shoe Makers/Retailers: Impacts on Their Stock Prices
Authors: Rock Michael T.
Published: August 2004

The anti-sweatshop movement burst in the American public's consciousness in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, an eclectic group of 43 American NGOs and a growing number of international organizations were engaged in the movement. But, as yet, there are no rigorous empirical studies of the impact of anti-sweatshop actions on those firms accused of relying on sweated labor. This paper addresses this lacuna by using the event study technique to empirically assess the impact of public disclosure of firms' sweatshop practices on their stock prices. The paper finds that public disclosure does indeed cause firms' stock prices to fall, sometimes substantially. This, no doubt, explains the rush by these firms to voluntary codes of conduct. The paper also shows that stock prices have reacted positively (and substantially) to the actions taken by one firm, Reebok, to adopt anti-sweatshop practices. These findings appear to confirm the wisdom of the public disclosure strategies used by the movement to get firms to change behavior. But because of the potential for voluntary codes of conduct to result in opportunistic behavior, the paper concludes by arguing that public disclosure will only really work if carried out by independent third party auditors.
Private Investment in Emerging Markets Telecommunications Infrastructure: Global Trends, National Policies, Firm Strategies
Authors: Doh Jonathan P. , Teegen Hildy J.
Published: August 2004

This paper describes the global trends, national policies, and firm strategies associated with the rapid growth in private investment in emerging markets telecommunications infrastructure during the 1990s. We discuss the recent wave of private investment in all sectors of emerging markets infrastructure, and identify the principal forces driving change in telecommunications. We draw on a specialized database of 554 telecommunications infrastructure projects in 96 developing countries, and report on trends by region, country, and principal investing firm. We find that the largest projects involve multiple partners, stages, and contingencies, and that the duration of the ‘liberalization lag’ between the privatisation of the state-owned monopoly and the subsequent opening of the market emerges as a critical element in the success of reform schemes. We draw lessons for governments and investors participating in telecommunications reform, and other infrastructure sectors just now beginning the process of liberalization.
SMEs in the New Economy — Evidence from Selected Italian Districts
Authors: Piscitello Lucia , Sgobbi Francesca
Published: August 2004

The paper investigates SMEs' responses to the challenges posed by the new economy, i.e. the joint action of the increasing globalisation and the diffusion of ICTs. Indeed, while on the one hand the new economy may weaken the traditional obstacles to the transformation of SMEs into global players, on the other, it may also confront SMEs with new obstacles and threats.

The present paper provides empirical evidence on these issues by analysing the behaviour of 277 SMEs located in two of the largest Italian industrial districts. The empirical findings (i) show the existence of differentiated behavioural patterns in approaching ICTs and e-business applications; (ii) suggest that, at the firm level, the attitude towards ICTs and e-business reflects the company strategy in facing global competition.
BlastAlign: a program that usesblastto align problematic nucleotide sequences
Authors: Belshaw Robert , Katzourakis Aris
Published: August 2004

Summary:  BlastAlign uses NCBI blastn to build a multiple nucleotide alignment and is intended for use with sequences that have large indels or are otherwise difficult to align globally. The program builds a matrix representing regions of homology along the sequences, from which it selects the ‘most representative’ sequence and then extracts the blastn query-anchored multiple alignment for this sequence. The matrix is printed and allows subgroups to be identified visually and an option allows other sequences to be used as the ‘most representative’. The program contains elements of both Perl and Python and will run on UNIX (including Mac OSX) and DOS. An additional Perl program BlastAlignP uses tblastn to align nucleotide sequences to a single amino acid sequence, thus allowing an open reading frame to be maintained in the resulting multiple alignment.

Availability: It is freely available at http://www.bio.ic.ac.uk/research/belshaw/BlastAlign.tar and at http://evolve.zoo.ox.ac.uk/software/blastalign

Contact:  r.belshaw@imperial.ac.uk
A smart place in the sun: future‐proofing the Queensland Government Libraries Consortium
Authors: Sayers Richard
Published: August 2004

The Queensland Government Libraries Consortium can claim to be one of Australia's more successful special library consortia in recent years, with a stable core membership of 14 library services, and combined savings to the Queensland Government of over A$1M in the 2002‐2003 financial year. This paper identifies critical success factors for the consortium to date, and looks to present and future challenges at a time when no organisation can afford to take continued existence, let alone success, for granted. In 2002, consortium members began looking strategically at how their organisation should be working to future‐proof services, and expertise. This process of internal review is still very much a work in progress, and continues to pose as many questions as it answers. It has, however, focused the attention on four issues of critical concern to the consortium: corporate governance, size, scope of functions, and recognition. Solutions implemented to date may serve as useful case studies for other consortia.
Economic and Legal Issues in Reducing the Eurosystem's Excess of International Reserves
Authors: Badinger Harald , Dutzler Barbara
Published: August 2004

Economic studies suggest that the Eurosystem's international reserves ($370 billion) could be reduced by up to half of its existing level. The article discusses the likely size and distribution of excess reserves and proposals for their uses. Small economic gains can be expected from a reserve reduction, as well as an elimination of incompatibilities and conflicts of interest between the conduct of monetary and investment policy. A careful and co‐ordinated reserve reduction would pose no threat to financial stability, making it also admissible from a legal perspective against the background of Art. 31 of the ESCB (European System of Central Banks) Statute. Finally, transferring reserves as an extraordinary gain to the government does not constitute monetary financing as prohibited by Art. 101 EC Treaty.
The Logic of Access to the European Parliament: Business Lobbying in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Authors: Bouwen Pieter
Published: August 2004

This article is an attempt to test empirically a theory of access that investigates the logic behind the lobbying behaviour of business interests in the European Parliament. The theoretical framework tries to explain the degree of access of different organizational forms of business interest representation (companies, associations and consultants) to the supranational assembly in terms of a theory of the supply and demand of ‘access goods’. On the basis of 14 exploratory and 27 semi‐structured interviews, the hypotheses are checked in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament. Surprisingly, European and national associations enjoy a similar degree of access to the Parliament. Individual companies and consultants have a much lower degree of access than the two collective forms of interest representation. In the conclusion, these results are analysed in the light of the existing literature on party cohesion and coalition formation in the European Parliament.
The Nice Treaty and Voting Rules in the Council: A Reply to Moberg (2002)
Authors: Hosli Madeleine O. , Machover Moshé
Published: August 2004

This response to Moberg (2002) demonstrates that some of his figures and calculations require more thorough analysis. His dismissal of the risk of inertia in the Council after enlargement, his measurement of blocking power of individual EU states and his figures on relative under‐ and over‐representation of EU states in the Council are disputed. The article pleads for a dialogue between academics and practitioners in order to avoid random outcomes and ad hoc deals, such as those resulting from the political bargaining during the 2000 Nice summit meeting. Sound expert advice on voting rules and their effects is desirable for achieving more transparent, equitable and sensible institutional solutions, and allocation of voting weights and seats in the EU Council and Parliament.
Conditionality and Compliance in the EU's Eastward Enlargement: Regional Policy and the Reform of Sub‐national Government
Authors: Hughes James , Sasse Gwendolyn , Gordon Claire
Published: August 2004

Studies of EU conditionality assume one basic premise: that it exists and works because there is a power asymmetry which enables the Commission to impose the adoption of the acquis on the CEECs as a precondition of their entry to the Union. Thus this literature posits that there are clear causal relationships in the use of conditionality to ensure policy or institutional outcomes. Existing studies of enlargement conditionality analyse its correlation with macro‐level democratization and marketization. This article, however, takes a policy‐tracking approach to analyse how conditionality was actually put into operation in policy‐making and institution‐building in the fields of regional policy and regionalization in the CEECs. The research draws on interviews conducted with officials in the Commission and in CEEC delegations in Brussels to illustrate the views of key actors, and to examine the interactions between the Commission and the candidate countries. By studying the policy process, the article demonstrates the fluid nature of conditionality, the inconsistencies in its application by the Commission over time, and the weakness of a clear‐cut causal relationship between conditionality and outcome in this policy area. By charting the changes in the Commission's approach over time, and illustrating the diverse responses of the CEECs, this study confirms the need for a more nuanced approach to the concept of EU conditionality, and argues for a logic of differentiation in the study of its impact on the CEECs.
Completing the Maastricht Contract: Institutional Handicraft and the Transition to European Monetary Union
Authors: Leblond Patrick
Published: August 2004

When the Maastricht Treaty on European Union was finally ratified in 1993, many EU observers and participants expressed serious doubts that economic and monetary union (EMU) would ever take place. Nevertheless, five years later EMU took flight, on 1 January 1999, as planned. It is this puzzle that this article seeks to explain. It does so by focusing on how EU institutions completed the incomplete contract agreed by the Member States at Maastricht.
European Identities and the EU – The Ties that Bind the Peoples of Europe
Authors: Mayer Franz C. , Palmowski Jan
Published: August 2004

This article addresses a crucial issue underlying enlargement and constitutional reform: the ways in which the EU has come to relate to a common European identity. The discussion problematizes the concept of identity in order to distinguish between different types of identities. It proposes that, while a meaningful common European historical identification barely exists, European identities have come to be expressed first and foremost through EU institutions and EU law. The best way for EU institutions, and the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, to respond to and promote such identifications are through enhancing distinctive common citizenship rights and strengthening Europe's supranational institutions.
The Political Economy of Multi‐tiered Regulation in Europe
Authors: Nicolaides Phedon
Published: August 2004

The European Union (EU) faces a problem of uneven implementation of its rules by national authorities. Agreement on common rules at the Community level does not necessarily translate into commitment by national authorities to apply those rules coherently and effectively. The EU has responded to this problem by making its rules more detailed, and by empowering the Commission to monitor decisions of national regulatory authorities (NRAs). A ‘multi‐tiered’ system of regulation has emerged in the EU. On the basis of a model of delegated implementation responsibility in the context of economic integration, this article examines how NRAs may be made more accountable. The model suggests that the delegation problem is actually worse, as NRAs tend to act asymmetrically. However, this asymmetry also offers a tool for controlling NRAs through benchmarking. The advantage of this is that it allows NRAs to retain a considerable degree of decision‐making autonomy. Although recently introduced EU rules and procedures promote co‐operation between NRAs, the problem with this approach is that the pivotal position of the Commission may lead to excessively homogeneous regulation across Member States. This defeats the purpose of endowing NRAs with decision‐making discretion in the first place. A more explicit process of comparing and evaluating the actions and performance of NRAs avoids this problem.
Europeanization, Conditionality and Domestic Change: The Twinning Exercise and Administrative Reform in Romania
Authors: Papadimitriou Dimitris , Phinnemore David
Published: August 2004

A key requirement of the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs) that wish to join the EU is that they develop the administrative capacity to implement effectively the acquis communautaire. The ‘twinning’ programme is designed to assist in this process. Drawing on experiences in Romania, and linking these to debates on Europeanization, this article argues that the success of twinning to date is related to the design of the programme, institutional fluidity and politicization within central administration, the individual agency and the reform commitment of those hosting twinning projects.
A Two‐Tier or Multi‐Tier Europe? Assessing the Innovation Capacities of Central and East European Countries in the Enlarged EU
Authors: Radosevic Slavo
Published: August 2004

This article assesses the innovation capacities of the candidate central and east European countries (CEECs) and the countries of the EU by using a new framework for measuring national innovation capacity (NIC), based on 25 indicators. Based on regression and cluster analysis the article shows that NIC in the enlarged EU does not follow a simple east–west divide. The wider Europe is structured into three groups of countries, and CEECs fall into two, the less‐developed and medium‐developed EU groups. NICs in the enlarged EU are assessed across four dimensions of capacity: absorptive, R&D, diffusion and demand. In each of these dimensions a two‐ to three‐tiering of countries is observed, which goes beyond a simple east–west pattern. The results of this assessment have important implications for new Member States and candidate countries, as well as for the EU policy towards structural assistance.
‘Hardware, Software or Network Connection?’ Theorizing Crisis in the UK Next Steps Agencies?
Authors: Gains Francesca
Published: August 2004

This paper explores the literature theorizing institutional crises by examining the policy problems faced by the UK's Child Support Agency and Prison Service Agency in the mid 1990s. In both these cases the ‘hardware’ (delivery through agencies), and the ‘software’ (policy saliency) were linked to their difficulties. However, these policy areas can be contrasted with the Benefits Agency, another highly salient policy area where no crisis occurred. This paper argues that it was neither the ‘hardware’ nor the ‘software’ but the way in which the bureaucratic networks surrounding these agencies operated that explains why the policy process was difficult. In concluding, the relevance of the network concept to the crisis literature is examined, illuminating the role that networks play in promoting or preventing institutional crisis as well as the research questions that arise if network relations are considered alongside a broader understanding of the dynamics of institutional crisis.
Whatever Happened to Stakeholding?
Authors: Prabhakar Rajiv
Published: August 2004

In 1996 Tony Blair declared in a speech in Singapore that stakeholding would define New Labour's programme in office. This speech provoked much interest in the UK among a centre‐left keen to forge a ‘third way’ alternative to state‐centred social democracy and free markets. Conservative politicians, however, subjected New Labour to a barrage of criticisms. Startled by the scale of the negative reaction, Blair stopped referring to stakeholding. A common judgement is that stakeholding got no further than the starting block. This paper challenges this, contending that the progress of stakeholding has not in fact been halted under New Labour. Policies such as Network Rail, foundation hospitals and the Child Trust Fund indicate that stakeholding remains a part of New Labour's approach. Recognizing the stakeholder dimension to policy is important because it opens up a new front in the reform of public services in Britain.
The Politics of Food Regulation and Reform in Ireland
Authors: Taylor George , Millar Michelle
Published: August 2004

Amid a period of increasing political anxiety generated by the BSE crisis, the Irish Government sought to replace a confusing medley of food regulations with a single agency responsible for regulating food from the ‘farm to the fork’. Presented as a radical departure from a regime previously discredited, its remit would be to redefine the relationship between risk assessment, management and communication. In this context, the paper puts forward three principal arguments. First, that while the Minister for Health and Children was keen to extol both the scientific credentials of the agency, and the importance of shifting regulatory responsibility from the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) to the Department of Health and Children (DOHC), what remains novel is the manner in which reform has managed to retain political access for influential agri‐business interests. Second, that any reform undertaken should be fully cognisant of the international agreements between the European Union and the World Trade Organisation which extended further a free market in food trade. The agency's institutional architecture therefore was framed with the intention of restoring market confidence without threatening the habitat of those multi‐national companies that occupy this arena. Finally, that the role of science (and risk) in food regulation has altered. Rather than perform the task of sustaining order through responsible government, science now participates in (re)constituting order through the market.
Governance and Interpretation: What are the Implications of Postfoundationalism?
Authors: Bevir Mark
Published: August 2004

Interpretive approaches to governance include poststructuralism, constructivist institutionalism, practical philosophy and democratic pluralism. All of these interpretive approaches share a focus on meanings, sympathy for bottom‐up studies and an emphasis on contingency. All of them also confront theoretical issues that have arisen from the postfoundational turn within philosophy: they face questions about the nature of the meanings we study, the possibilities for recentring given an emphasis on diversity and the normative and policy implications of their approach. Although poststructuralists have made the running in addressing these questions, their answers are ambiguous or even misleading: they often appear, in particular, mistakenly to renounce situated agency along with autonomy. This essay seeks to provide alternative answers to these theoretical questions and thereby to provide a more robust theoretical framework for interpretive approaches to governance.
Governance Structures and Political Processes in a Public System: Lessons from Quebec
Authors: Contandriopoulos Damien , Denis Jean‐Louis , Langley Ann , Valette Annick
Published: August 2004

Debates about the form and nature of changes in the management of public systems have for some time now been articulated under the theme of governance. All definitions of governance are related to the problems of securing convergence among a diversity of actors and organizations, of redistributing power in an organizational or social field characterized by a high level of heterogeneity and of gaining sufficient legitimacy to act in the name of the collectivity. This paper concentrates on the dynamics involved in the emergence of new governing capabilities in public systems. More precisely we study the implementation of regionalization policies in the health care field (in this case of Canada) conceived as one major attempt to renew the governance structures in a large public system.

Our study draws on the comparative analysis of empirical regulation in three health regions as contrasted with three ideal type models of governance in regionalized systems. The first model is inspired by an economic approach to organizational behaviour and focuses on mandate‐giving, execution and control. The second model is based on a political interpretation of behaviours and focuses on negotiation processes between actors. Finally, the third model is based on the theory of deliberation as well as the institutional school of policy analysis and focuses on direct public participation in public affairs. Evidence for this article is primarily derived from interviews with key informants and documentary analysis.

Our analysis shows that none of the three models is sufficient in itself to grant regional structures the authority and legitimacy they need to create added value in terms of regulation that could ensure their survival. Regional Boards are thus forced by environmental constraints to conceive and implement original mixes of these models. The two predominant logics in regional action are inspired by the first two models although the last one also has an influence. Overall, our study also suggests that the implementation of new sources of governing authorities in a public system is rather fragile because of dependence on existing institutions. Clearly, the attempt to modify the dynamics of governance in a given system must be conceived as a political exercise and not just as a technical problem consisting of the rational adjustment of policy instruments.
Health Service Organization in the UK: a Political Economy Approach
Authors: Greener Ian
Published: August 2004

This paper revisits Harrison and Wood's (1999) account of health service organizational design in the UK to bring that account up to date. It also attempts to broaden it through an increased use of the political economy perspective it incorporated. As a consequence, the paper presents a number of alternative findings to Harrison and Wood, reconsidering their analysis of organization from ‘blueprint’ to ‘design’, and finding that Jessop's framework, utilizing the movement from the Keynesian Welfare National State toward the Schumpeterian Workfare Postnational Regime (Jessop 1999), is more appropriate in explaining the reasons underpinning change in health services in the UK, and also in demonstrating their likely future direction.
Public Administration Research in Norway: Organization theory, institutionalism and empirical studies in a democratic context
Authors: Christensen Tom , Lægreid Per
Published: August 2004

This article gives a broad overview of Norwegian research on public administration over the past 40 years. The main picture that emerges is that a Norwegian public administration built primarily on Webernian principles has lost some but not all these original properties. It describes a research tradition based on organizational theory and democratic theory. It also paints a picture of public administration as integrated into a complex network of domestic political institutions, public agencies, organized interests and clients, as well as extensive European and international networks. It shows how a strong theoretical tradition, based on bounded rationality, is supplemented by different types of institutional theories and increased theoretical pluralism. Finally, the paper underlines the importance of considering public administration not simply from an internal technical viewpoint, but of placing the discipline in a wider political and democratic context.
Public Administration in Norway: a rejoinder
Authors: Hernes Hans‐Kristian
Published: August 2004

Public administration studies have had a prominent role in Norwegian political science. Here, I argue for a revitalization of its role based on what gave it prominence – the merger of the rather opposite traditions of organization theory and democratic theory. A new merger between the two, i.e. by bringing discussions of democracy back in, is necessary to understand and discuss principally prominent changes in Norwegian politics and administration where the role of democratic decision making has been reduced. Also, a merger will contribute to the development of new theoretical insights in the current debate over ‘governance’. As it is a goal for public administration to study the whole pattern of the political system it is further argued for a revitalization of the study of the role of interests outside the state, and for a fusion of the separte tables of studies of different levels in politics and administration.
Assessing Member States’ Management of Eu Finances: an Empirical Analysis of the Annual Reports of the European Court of Auditors, 1996–2001
Authors: Groenendijk Nico S.
Published: August 2004

The aim of this article is to gain some understanding of the way the European Court of Auditors (ECA) assesses European Union (EU) member states’ performances in managing EU finances. To this end the ECA's annual reports for 1996–2001 have been analysed.

We find that the information provided in the ECA annual reports is somewhat unsystematic, which is the result of the ECA's approach to auditing and its working methods. A review of the literature, as well as our own empirical analysis, allows us to conclude that the ECA does not in fact live up to its own mission of providing relevant, objective reports. Our analysis suggests, for instance, that there is some ambiguity within the ECA due to differences in audit traditions within the EU. Improvements could be made by reducing the number of ECA members to three or five, by (further) integrating the traditional ECA audit and the audit within the framework of the statement of assurance, and by further integrating internal and external budgetary control within the EU.
Archetype Transition in the German Health Service? The Attempted Modernization of Hospitals in a North German State
Authors: Dent Mike , Howorth Chris , Mueller Frank , Preuschoft Claudia
Published: August 2004

In this paper, we argue that, rather than aiming at universal contingency relationships, archetype theory needs to go down a path where ‘local variants’ can be discovered and understood by relating them to their organizational and institutional context(s). The case study of a public sector hospital group in a North German state (Hamburg) is drawn on here to elaborate the argument. We found evidence for a change from a Public Sector hospital archetype to a Public Hospital Corporation archetype. Drawing on this model permits us to explore the impact of the introduction of new forms of public management organization and the implications the managerial ideology underpinning this may have for the professional organization. The study explores the consequences of the innovations for professional/managerial relations. We also suggest that the ‘archetype’ approach may be particularly useful for the comparative study of organizations. This is particularly pertinent given the different – corporatist – organization of the German health care system and its different approach to public sector reform to that of the Anglo‐American and Scandinavian systems where the ‘archetypal’ approach has so far been applied.
Multiple Voices of Modernization: Some Methodological Implications
Authors: Enticott Gareth
Published: August 2004

This paper systematically examines intra‐organizational consensus of perceptions of managerial reform in local government in the UK. The paper questions the role of ‘elite surveys’ in public sector evaluation research by exploring the extent to which multiple informants agree on the expected impacts of Best Value. Results from a survey of 978 local government officers in 80 local authorities indicate modest levels of consensus. These findings suggest that single respondent surveys are likely to produce unreliable data and misrepresent the impact of public sector policy reforms. Rather than rely on the perceptions of one respondent it is argued that multiple respondent surveys should be employed if rigorous and reliable data are to be used in providing evidence‐based policy recommendations for reform in public sector organizations.