bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Young Voters at the 2005 British General Election
Authors: PHELPS EDWARD
Published: December 2005

Pronounced declines in the number of young (non‐) voters casting their ballots in 1997 and 2001 has raised the question: are we witnessing a generational disengagement with electoral politics? It is generally understood that voter turnout is strongly related to closeness of electoral competition. This research report examines the results of the 2005 election in the context of the debate on declining youth turnout at general elections. Did a closer competition in 2005 encourage young voters back to the polls?
Farmers Stage a Comeback: But Have the Greens Sold Out?
Authors: TOKE DAVE , MCGOUGH SEAN
Published: December 2005

In 2001 farmers in the UK seemed besieged both by domestic crises and international pressures for reductions in agricultural subsidies in order to stop trade distortions which harm developing countries. However, since then cutbacks in EU farm subsidies have failed to materialise and the reformed subsidy system is now given political cover by a new alliance with environmentalists. This follows linkage of increasing proportions of farm subsidies to environmental purposes rather than agricultural production. This article questions whether the reforms will achieve cuts in agricultural overproduction. Moreover, environmentalists who have supported the reforms may be sidelining the interests of developing countries in return for environmental gains which are at best superficial and at worse totally illusory. An alternative environmental strategy is discussed.
Hedge Funds, the Deutsche Börse Affair and Predatory Anglo‐American Capitalism
Authors: WATSON MATTHEW
Published: December 2005

Boardroom trouble at Deutsche Börse, the company that operates Germany's main stock market, has recently provoked an important debate about competing capitalist models. Werner Seifert, Deutsche Börse's ousted Chief Executive, was eager to portray himself as the innocent victim of aggressive Anglo‐American investors who had bought into his company but failed to understand its traditional operating ethos. In this, he was ably supported by key figures within the ruling Social Democratic Party, who, in order to shore up the party's core support, had increasingly come to blame overseas hedge funds for the development of German corporate governance models which prioritised profits over jobs. I review the SPD's structural reading of the Deutsche Börse affair, whilst comparing it to an alternative interest‐based reading. The latter allows me to focus more closely on the issue which, more than any other, led to Seifert's downfall: his refusal to bow to the expressed interests of his own shareholders by pressing ahead, against their wishes, with a hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange. Seifert's eventual removal foreclosed the possibility of an integrated London‐Frankfurt stock market and, somewhat ironically given the SPD's response to the affair, as a consequence it also prevented the entry of London's highly capitalised institutional investors into the German market for corporate control. The actions of Deutsche Börse's overseas shareholders might still be seen as evidence of a predatory Anglo‐American capitalism. However, their successful removal of Werner Seifert may well have been responsible for temporarily keeping other financial predators at bay.
Blair's Commission for Africa: Problems and Prospects for UK Policy
Authors: WILLIAMS PAUL D.
Published: December 2005

This article examines the recommendations contained within the Commission for Africa's report Our Common Interest, and asks what they might mean for the UK's Africa policies. After discussing the choice of the Commissioners and summarising the main recommendations made in their report, the article identifies some of the central problems raised but not resolved by the Commission in the relation to issues of security, political economy and governance. The article concludes that the Commission's report raised the profile of an important set of issues but neither resolved them conceptually nor set out a persuasive plan to implement its numerous recommendations. In particular, the Commission did not convincingly explain how neo‐patrimonial regimes in Africa could be reformed to ensure that they pursue genuinely national development policies instead of the current strategies that benefit their supporters and weaken their political opponents.
John Macmurray and the‘Forgotten’Lessons on Capitalism and Community
Authors: PRIDEAUX SIMON
Published: December 2005

Tony Blair has made no secret of his admiration for the philosophical works of John Macmurray. This article shows that Blair recognises Macmurray's contribution to the understanding of the individual in society. Blair readily acknowledges Macmurray's overriding desire for philosophy to place individuals in their rightful social setting. Yet Blair views this philosophical shift as a reinforcement of modern notions of community that emphasise an obligation to others as well as to oneself. It is my contention that this may be a misreading of the specifics that lay behind the works of Macmurray. By implication, this error in understanding could have led New Labour to pursue a social policy direction that contradicts Macmurray's visions of capitalism and its effects upon human agency, behaviour, rationality and morality. Consequently, this article examines the works of Macmurray in an attempt to show that Tony Blair and New Labour are in danger of making false assumptions on how to revive a contemporary sense of community through the bedrock of a traditional family unit supported by the model of the 'rational economic man'.
The Impact of Sure Start
Authors: ORMEROD PAUL
Published: December 2005

The first report from the national Sure Start evaluation team concludes that to date not only has the Sure Start programme not been a success, but for certain groups of disadvantaged families it has led to a worse outcome. The cost to date has been £3 billion.

This is simply the latest in a series of spectacular policy failures: for example, the Child Support Agency, family tax credits, truancy reduction, lack of literacy amongst many children, reductions in access to top universities from state schools.

Each has its own reasons for failure, but there are now so many examples in so many diverse areas that something more fundamental is going on. The problem is the increasingly complicated nature of the interventions of the social democratic state. These increase rather than reduce the probability of failure. Government still has an important role. But it should be as simple as possible.
How Color Enhances Visual Memory for Natural Scenes
Authors: Spence Ian , Wong Patrick , Rusan Maria , Rastegar Naghmeh
Published: December 2005

We offer a framework for understanding how color operates to improve visual memory for images of the natural environment, and we present an extensive data set that quantifies the contribution of color in the encoding and recognition phases. Using a continuous recognition task with colored and monochrome gray-scale images of natural scenes at short exposure durations, we found that color enhances recognition memory by conferring an advantage during encoding and by strengthening the encoding-specificity effect. Furthermore, because the pattern of performance was similar at all exposure durations, and because form and color are processed in different areas of cortex, the results imply that color must be bound as an integral part of the representation at the earliest stages of processing.
An Asymmetry Between Memory Encoding and Retrieval
Authors: Mulligan Neil W. , Lozito Jeffrey P.
Published: December 2005

Transfer-appropriate-processing accounts of memory emphasize the similarity of encoding and retrieval processes, and imply that experimental manipulations should have similar effects on encoding and retrieval. Exceptions to this expectation are thus of great interest, but extant exceptions (produced by studies using divided attention, alcohol, and benzodiazepines) are debatable, single dissociations between encoding and retrieval. The present experiments demonstrate a reversed dissociation, in which the same variable produced opposite effects when implemented at encoding and retrieval. At encoding, participants either solved anagrams of study words or read intact study words. At retrieval, participants likewise solved anagrams or read intact words prior to making recognition memory judgments. Compared with reading intact words, solving anagrams at encoding enhanced later recognition accuracy, whereas solving anagrams at test impaired accuracy. These results were obtained with old/new decisions (Experiment 1) and with confidence ratings (Experiment 2).
Alcohol and Aggression Without Consumption
Authors: Bartholow Bruce D. , Heinz Adrienne
Published: December 2005

Researchers and the lay public have long known of a link between alcohol and aggression. However, whether this link results from alcohol's pharmacological effects or is merely an artifact of the belief that alcohol has been consumed (i.e., placebo effect) has been debated. The current experiments examined the propensity for alcohol-related cues to elicit aggressive thoughts and hostile perceptions in the absence of alcohol or placebo consumption. In Experiment 1, participants made faster lexical decisions concerning aggression-related words following alcohol-related primes compared with neutral primes. In Experiment 2, participants who first were exposed to alcohol advertisements subsequently rated the behavior of a target person as more hostile than participants who initially viewed control advertisements. Furthermore, this effect was largest among participants who most strongly associated alcohol and aggression. Findings are discussed in terms of semantic network theory and links in memory between alcohol and its anticipated effects.
The Development of Implicit Attitudes
Authors: Baron Andrew Scott , Banaji Mahzarin R.
Published: December 2005

To understand the origin and development of implicit attitudes, we measured race attitudes in White American 6-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and adults by first developing a child-oriented version of the Implicit Association Test (Child IAT). Remarkably, implicit pro-White/ anti-Black bias was evident even in the youngest group, with self-reported attitudes revealing bias in the same direction. In 10-year-olds and adults, the same magnitude of implicit race bias was observed, although self-reported race attitudes became substantially less biased in older children and vanished entirely in adults, who self-reported equally favorable attitudes toward Whites and Blacks. These data are the first to show an asymmetry in the development of implicit and explicit race attitudes, with explicit attitudes becoming more egalitarian and implicit attitudes remaining stable and favoring the in-group across development. We offer a tentative suggestion that mean levels of implicit and explicit attitudes diverge around age 10.
Neural Markers of Categorization in 6-Month-Old Infants
Authors: Quinn Paul C. , Westerlund Alissa , Nelson Charles A.
Published: December 2005

Little is known of the neural processes that underlie concept-formation abilities in human infants. We investigated category-learning processes in infants both by using a common behavioral measure and by recording the brain's electrical activity (event-related potentials, or ERPs). ERPs were recorded while 6-month-olds viewed cat images during training, followed by novel cat images interspersed with novel dog images during test. The data indicate that distinct neural signals correspond with learning of a category presented during familiarization, preferential responding to a novel category, and representation of category exemplars at multiple levels of in-clusiveness. The results suggest that fundamental components of the neural architecture supporting object categorization are functional within the first half-year of postnatal life, before infants acquire language and young children engage in formal learning of semantic categories. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of category learning and development.
Rethinking Speed Theories of Cognitive Development
Authors: Cowan Nelson , Elliott Emily M. , Saults J. Scott , Nugent Lara D. , Bomb Pinky , Hismjatullina Anna
Published: December 2005

Researchers have suggested that developmental improvements in immediate recall stem from increases in the speed of mental processes. However, that inference has depended on evidence from correlation, regression, and structural equation modeling. We provide counter-examples in two experiments in which the speed of spoken recall was manipulated. In one experiment, second-grade children and adults recalled lists of digits more quickly than usual when the lists were presented at a rapid rate of two items per second. In a second experiment, children received lists at a rate of one item per second; half the children were trained (successfully) to speak their responses more quickly than usual, at a rate similar to adults' usual rate. Recall accuracy was completely unaffected by either of these response-speed manipulations. Thus, although response rate is a strong marker of an individual's maturational level, it does not appear to determine the accuracy of immediate recall. These results have important methodological and theoretical implications for human development.
The Development of Executive Functioning and Theory of Mind
Authors: Sabbagh Mark A. , Xu Fen , Carlson Stephanie M. , Moses Louis J. , Lee Kang
Published: December 2005

Preschoolers' theory-of-mind development follows a similar age trajectory across many cultures. To determine whether these similarities are related to similar underlying ontogenetic processes, we examined whether the relation between theory of mind and executive function commonly found among U.S. preschoolers is also present among Chinese preschoolers. Preschoolers from Beijing, China (N = 109), were administered theory-of-mind and executive-functioning tasks, and their performance was compared with that of a previously studied sample of U.S. preschoolers (N = 107). The Chinese preschoolers out-performed their U.S. counterparts on all measures of executive functioning, but were not similarly advanced in theory-of-mind reasoning. Nonetheless, individual differences in executive functioning predicted theory of mind for children in both cultures. Thus, the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind is robust across two disparate cultures. These findings shed light on why executive functioning is important for theory-of-mind development.
Purchases of Food in Youth
Authors: Epstein Leonard H. , Handley Elizabeth A. , Dearing Kelly K. , Cho David D. , Roemmich James N. , Paluch Rocco A. , Raja Samina , Pak Youngju , Spring Bonnie
Published: December 2005

One way to increase choice of healthy over unhealthy behaviors is to increase the cost of less healthy alternatives or reduce the cost of healthier alternatives. The influence of price on purchases of healthy and unhealthy foods was evaluated in two laboratory experiments. In Experiment 1, thirty-two 10- to 12-year-old youth were given $5.00 and allowed to purchase multiple portions of a healthy food (fruit or vegetable) and a less healthy food (higher-fat snack). The price of one type of food varied from $0.50 to $2.50, while the price of the other type was held at $1.00. Increasing the price of a type of food reduced purchases of that type of food, but did not lead to substitution with the alternative type of food. In Experiment 2, twenty 10- to 14-year-old youth were given $1.00, $3.00, and $5.00 to purchase healthy and unhealthy foods. The price of each food was raised and lowered by 25% and 50%. Raising the price of healthy or unhealthy foods resulted in decreased purchases of those foods, and income available interacted with price to predict the pattern of substitution of alternative foods. These results show the potential for controlled laboratory studies of price and food purchases, and show that the substitution of healthier for unhealthy food is related to available money.
Are all Communities Communities in the Mind?
Authors: Pahl Ray
Published: December 2005

Studies of community undertaken over a period of some forty-five years by the author and his colleagues are re-considered to show how the significance of ‘communities-in-the-mind’ has been inadequately appreciated. The distinction made by Clifford Geertz between ‘experience-near’ and ‘experience-distant’ is used to sharpen up certain assumptions and approaches of community sociologists, including Frankenberg. Some possible explanations for the decline in the perceived importance of comminity studies from the late 1960s are discussed in the context of the growing centrality of social class in sociological analysis in the 1970s and 1980s. Reference is made to recent research on personal communities by Liz Spencer and the author to illustrate how an ellision between ‘experience-near’ and ‘experience-distant’ approaches may be achieved. It is concluded that the imputed community-on-the-ground, often based on materialistic assumptions, should not be conceptually privileged over the real community-in-the-mind.
Studying the Particular, Illuminating the General: Community Studies and Community in Wales
Authors: Charles Nickie , Davies Charlotte Aull
Published: December 2005

This article is inspired by Frankenberg's (1990) claim that the best way to understand general social processes is through the study of their manifestation in the details of social life. We look at how studies of community that have been carried out in Wales, particularly Village on the Border and The Family and Social Change ( Rosser and Harris, 1965 ), have accomplished this link between the particular and the general. We then consider the findings of our own research, which is a restudy of Rosser and Harris, showing how they provide a counterbalance to grand theoretical claims about the transformations that are affecting community and family life. We find that although factors such as increasing geographical mobility and women's greater participation in paid work affect people's experiences of community, people continue to place a high value on what they call communities. Such communities are spoken about and defined in different ways but all are based on local social networks of kin, neighbours and friends and/or locally-based associations. They are also gendered, with women playing a key role at both informal and formal levels of community. We suggest that the apparent resilience of local social relations evident in our research may help to explain the continued cultural and political resonance of community in Wales.
Gypsy Justice versus Gorgio Law: Interrelations of Difference
Authors: Okely Judith
Published: December 2005

Resonating with Frankenberg, this article explores the role of the individual stranger/outsider. The non-Gypsy (gorgio) individual or system is often used to settle internal disputes among Traveller-Gypsies, although rarely in the relatively benign role, as in Frankenberg's study. The outsider's system, while representing centuries of sedentarist and racist persecution, may also be open to manipulation. While popular discourse represents the Gypsies’ non-literate system as an isolate in some potential evolution, the few studies of Gypsies’ resolution of conflict have attracted attention in other disciplines because they raise questions about alternative controls and local cooperation in post-industrialist societies.

Rather than any classical contrast and comparison, the article demonstrates inter relations of differences with emphasis on agency and institutions of law enforcement as a resource. My ethnographic material emerges not from former colonies but the once centre of the British Empire. The Traveller-Gypsies also have relatively independent, appropriate means of settling conflicts. Hitherto, this detailed material from localized fieldwork rather than from afar, has been withheld for a safe passage of time. It may have become even more relevant.
Penalized Spline Models for Functional Principal Component Analysis
Authors: Yao Fang , Lee Thomas C. M.
Published: December 2005

We propose an iterative estimation procedure for performing functional principal component analysis. The procedure aims at functional or longitudinal data where the repeated measurements from the same subject are correlated. An increasingly popular smoothing approach, penalized spline regression, is used to represent the mean function. This allows straightforward incorporation of covariates and simple implementation of approximate inference procedures for coefficients. For the handling of the within-subject correlation, we develop an iterative procedure which reduces the dependence between the repeated measurements that are made for the same subject. The resulting data after iteration are theoretically shown to be asymptotically equivalent (in probability) to a set of independent data. This suggests that the general theory of penalized spline regression that has been developed for independent data can also be applied to functional data. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure is demonstrated via a simulation study and an application to yeast cell cycle gene expression data.
Model Selection and Estimation in Regression with Grouped Variables
Authors: Yuan Ming , Lin Yi
Published: December 2005

We consider the problem of selecting grouped variables (factors) for accurate prediction in regression. Such a problem arises naturally in many practical situations with the multifactor analysis-of-variance problem as the most important and well-known example. Instead of selecting factors by stepwise backward elimination, we focus on the accuracy of estimation and consider extensions of the lasso, the LARS algorithm and the non-negative garrotte for factor selection. The lasso, the LARS algorithm and the non-negative garrotte are recently proposed regression methods that can be used to select individual variables. We study and propose efficient algorithms for the extensions of these methods for factor selection and show that these extensions give superior performance to the traditional stepwise backward elimination method in factor selection problems. We study the similarities and the differences between these methods. Simulations and real examples are used to illustrate the methods.
Sufficient Dimension Reduction in Regressions Across Heterogeneous Subpopulations
Authors: Ni Liqiang , Dennis Cook R.
Published: December 2005

Sliced inverse regression is one of the widely used dimension reduction methods. Chiaromonte and co-workers extended this method to regressions with qualitative predictors and developed a method, partial sliced inverse regression, under the assumption that the covariance matrices of the continuous predictors are constant across the levels of the qualitative predictor. We extend partial sliced inverse regression by removing the restrictive homogeneous covariance condition. This extension, which significantly expands the applicability of the previous methodology, is based on a new estimation method that makes use of a non-linear least squares objective function.
Bandwidth Selection in Local Polynomial Regression Using Eigenvalues
Authors: Prewitt Kathryn , Lohr Sharon
Published: December 2005

Local polynomial regression is commonly used for estimating regression functions. In practice, however, with rough functions or sparse data, a poor choice of bandwidth can lead to unstable estimates of the function or its derivatives. We derive a new expression for the leading term of the bias by using the eigenvalues of the weighted design matrix where the bias depends on the arrangement of the X-values in the bandwidth window. We then use this result to determine a local data-driven bandwidth selection method and to provide a diagnostic for poor bandwidths that are chosen by using other methods. We show that our data-driven bandwidth is asymptotically equivalent to the optimal local bandwidth and that it performs well for relatively small samples when compared with other methods. In addition, we provide simulation results for first-derivative estimation. We illustrate its performance with data from Mars Global Surveyor.
Justice Without Borders: Human Rights Cases in U.S. Courts
Authors: DAVIS JEFFREY
Published: December 2005

In 1980 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals broke with years of legal tradition and ruled that human rights victims could sue their oppressors in federal court—even if the alleged violations occurred outside the country. This court based the extension of its authority on a provision of the 1789 Judiciary Act now referred to as the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA). ATCA cases present a unique opportunity to study judicial behavior in the face of separation of powers interests, traditions of judicial restraint, sovereign immunity defenses, and an active internationalist movement to extend human rights guarantees worldwide. Combining legal analysis with quantitative methodology, I find that U.S. federal courts are slowly accepting an internationalist approach to human rights, and that interest groups are largely driving this transformation. Sovereignty concerns and judicial ideology are not conditioning case outcomes, but party resources and separation of powers issues are.
Does Government Spending Crowd in Private Consumption? Theory and Empirical Evidence for the Euro Area*
Authors: Coenen Günter , Straub Roland
Published: December 2005

In this paper, we revisit the effects of government spending shocks on private consumption which have been at centre stage of the macroeconomic policy debate for quite a long time. We conduct our analysis in an estimated model of the euro area, which is representative of a new generation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models usable for quantitative policy analysis. We show that the inclusion of non‐Ricardian households, which simply consume their current disposable income, is in general conducive to raising the level of consumption in response to government spending shocks when compared with a benchmark specification without non‐Ricardian households. However, we find that there is only a fairly small chance that government spending shocks crowd in consumption, mainly because the estimated share of non‐Ricardian households is relatively low, but also because of the large negative wealth effect induced by the highly persistent nature of government spending shocks.
Prognostic Factors, Disability, and Functional Status among Patients in a Headache Specialty Practice
Authors: Coeytaux RR , Spierings ELH
Published: December 2005

The objective of this study was to identify prognostic factors and assess functional status over time among patients in a headache specialty practice. Study questionnaires were mailed to 599 patients who previously presented to a headache specialty practice. Outcome measures included headache frequency, the Headache Impact Test (HIT) and the SF-36 Health Survey. Completed surveys were received from 333 respondents (56%). Thirty-five respondents (11%) had HIT scores in the ‘little or no impact’ range at follow-up and 191 (57%) had HIT scores in the ‘severe impact’ range. A diagnosis of migraine at baseline was an independent predictor of elevated HIT scores at follow-up, but gender, age, age at headache onset, daily headache at baseline, and time to follow-up did not predict poor prognosis. A subset of headache patients continue to experience marked disability and impaired functional status, months to years after presenting for headache specialty care. A diagnosis of migraine at the time of presentation may predict prognosis, but additional cohort studies with careful attention to baseline variables are needed to help identify other prognostic factors.
Effects of Oestrogen on Trigeminal Ganglia in Culture: Implications for Hormonal Effects on Migraine
Authors: Puri V , Puri S , Svojanovsky SR , Mathur S , Macgregor RR , Klein RM , Welch KMA , Berman NEJ
Published: December 2005

Although migraine is more common in women than men and often linked to the menstrual cycle, few studies have investigated the biological basis of hormonal influences on the trigeminovascular system. In the present study we investigated the effect of physiological levels (10-9 M) oestrogen on female rat trigeminal ganglia in vitro. Immunocytochemical analysis demonstrated the presence of oestrogen receptor-alpha in a predominantly cytoplasmic location and in neurites. Microarray analysis demonstrated that oestrogen treatment regulates several genes with potential relevance to menstrual migraine. The genes that were upregulated included synapsin-2, endothelin receptor type B, activity and neurotransmitter-induced early gene 7 (ania-7), phosphoserine aminotransferase, MHC-1b, and ERK-1. Down-regulated genes included IL-R1, bradykinin B2 receptor, N- tropomodulin, CCL20, GABA transporter protein, fetal intestinal lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, carcinoembryonic antigen-related protein, zinc finger protein 36, epsin 1 and cysteine string protein. Protein activity assays demonstrated that exposure of the cultured neurons to oestrogen leads to activation of ERK, which has been linked to inflammatory pain. Immunocytochemistry demonstrated that activated ERK was present in neurons containing peripherin, a marker of nociceptive neurons. Several of the genes in the present study may provide potential targets for understanding the association of oestrogen with migraine and other hormone- related orofacial pain.
Maternal depression, child frontal asymmetry, and child affective behavior as factors in child behavior problems
Authors: Forbes Erika E. , Shaw Daniel S. , Fox Nathan A. , Cohn Jeffrey F. , Silk Jennifer S. , Kovacs Maria
Published: December 2005

Background:  Despite findings that parent depression increases children's risk for internalizing and externalizing problems, little is known about other factors that combine with parent depression to contribute to behavior problems.

Methods:  As part of a longitudinal, interdisciplinary study on childhood‐onset depression (COD), we examined the association of mother history of COD, child frontal electroencephalogram asymmetry, and affective behavior with children's concurrent behavior problems.

Results:  Children in the COD group had higher anxious/depressed and aggressive problems than did children in the control group, but this was qualified by a COD‐by‐asymmetry interaction effect. For COD but not control children, left frontal asymmetry was associated with both anxious/depressed and aggressive child problems. Children with left frontal asymmetry and low affect regulation behavior had higher anxious/depressed problems than did those with high affect regulation behavior. Boys with left frontal asymmetry had higher aggressive problems than did those with right frontal asymmetry.

Conclusions:  In children of mothers with COD, physiological and behavioral indices of affect regulation may constitute risks for behavior problems.
Population and service characteristics of youth with schizophrenia‐spectrum diagnoses in the Hawaii system of care
Authors: Schiffman Jason , Daleiden Eric L.
Published: December 2005

Background:  Population and service characteristics were compared for youth (age 0–18 years) with and without schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders, who received public mental health services in Hawaii's comprehensive system of care between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001.

Methods:  Electronic records of youth with a diagnosis in the schizophrenia‐spectrum (n = 71) were compared to all other youth (n = 13,904) who received services with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, comorbidity, type of service, and service cost.

Results:  The schizophrenia‐spectrum group had higher Asian representation, greater comorbidity, and was more likely to receive restrictive services for a higher average annual expense. When restrictive services were provided, they were of similar duration and intensity across groups. Almost all youth received less intensive services, but the schizophrenia‐spectrum group received a higher frequency or longer duration of such services.

Conclusions:  Although youth with schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders were uncommon, collectively they represented a distinct population with above average service consumption. Future monitoring of interventions and outcomes may help develop systematic and effective treatment strategies for youth with schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders.
Attention development in 10‐month‐old infants selected by the WILSTAAR screen for pre‐language difficulties
Authors: James‐Roberts Ian St , Alston Enid
Published: December 2005

Background:  WILSTAAR comprises a programme for identifying and treating 8–10‐month‐old infants who are at risk of language and cognitive difficulties. It has been adopted by health trusts, and included in Sure Start intervention schemes, throughout the UK. This study addresses one of the main queries raised by critics of the programme, by providing evidence about the psychological abilities of infants who fail the WILSTAAR screening assessment.

Methods:  Thirty 10‐month‐old infants who failed the screen (‘at‐risk’ infants) and 30 gender‐ and age‐matched infants who passed the screen (‘not‐at‐risk’ infants) were assessed using a standard, validated measure of attention, the Distractibility Task.

Results:  The at‐risk infants were found to have poorer focused attention, and were more distractible, than the not‐at‐risk infants. The not‐at‐risk infants were quicker in deducing that distractor slides included in the task were of little importance, spent more sustained periods of time in focused attention on toy play, and were quicker in learning to use the information available in the task.

Conclusions:  The findings contribute to knowledge about infants’ psychological development and provide partial support for the thinking underlying WILSTAAR. Evidence was found to support concerns about the accuracy of the WILSTAAR screening assessment, and issues about the trade‐off between assessment age and the inclusion of WILSTAAR in routine services are discussed.
Infant motor development is associated with adult cognitive categorisation in a longitudinal birth cohort study
Authors: Murray G.K. , Veijola J. , Moilanen K. , Miettunen J. , Glahn D.C. , Cannon T.D. , Jones P.B. , Isohanni M.
Published: December 2005

Background:  The relationship between the age of reaching infant developmental milestones and later intellectual function within the normal population remains unresolved. We hypothesised that the age of learning to stand in infancy would be associated with adult executive function and that the association would be apparent throughout the range of abilities, rather than confined to extremes.

Methods:  The Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort is based upon 12,058 live‐born children in a geographic and temporally defined population. Information on age at learning to stand without support was obtained at one year. At age 33–35 a random sample of 104 subjects underwent a neuropsychological test battery including tests of executive function (cognitive categorisation), visuo‐spatial memory, verbal learning and visual object learning. We investigated associations between developmental data and adult neuropsychological test scores.

Results:  There was a significant linear relationship between age of learning to stand and adult categorisation: the earlier the attainment of the milestone, the better was the categorisation. No such relationships were observed between infant neurodevelopment and adult cognition in other neuropsychological domains.

Conclusion:  Even within the normal range of development, early development in the gross motor domain is associated with better adult executive function (in tests of categorisation). Investigation of the determinants and sequelae of normal neural development will facilitate research into a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Predictors of parent training efficacy for child externalizing behavior problems – a meta‐analytic review
Authors: Reyno Sandra M. , McGrath Patrick J.
Published: December 2005

Background:  The differential effectiveness of parent training has led researchers to examine a variety of child, parent, and familial variables that may predict treatment response. Studies have identified a diverse set of child, parent psychological/behavioral and demographic variables that are associated with treatment outcome and dropout.

Method:  The parent training literature was examined to isolate child, parent, and family variables that predict response to parent training for child externalizing behavior problems. A literature review was conducted spanning articles published from 1980 to 2004 of indicated prevention (children with symptoms) and treatment (children with diagnosis) studies. Meta‐analyses were conducted to determine standardized effect sizes associated with the identified predictors.

Results:  Many of the predictors of treatment response examined in this meta‐analysis resulted in moderate standardized effect sizes when study results were subjected to meta‐analytic procedures (i.e., low education/occupation, more severe child behavior problems pretreatment, maternal psychopathology). Only low family income resulted in a large standardized effect size. Predictors of drop‐out resulted in standardized effect sizes in the small or insubstantial range.

Conclusions:  Response to parent training is often influenced by variables not directly involving the child, with socioeconomic status and maternal mental health being particularly salient factors.
Rodney Hilton (1916–2002): In Memoriam
Authors: BYRES TERENCE J.
Published: December 2005

This essay is written in memory of Rodney Hilton (1916–2002), who died on 7 June 2002. He was one of the towering historians of medieval England. Along with the Russian scholar, E. A. Kosminsky, of a previous generation of historians, he provided a formidable Marxist treatment of English feudalism, at once empirically rich, through extensive archival research, and theoretically informed. His work, while displaying a particular vision of the nature of feudal society, and embracing certain recurring themes, is broad in its scope and varied in the issues it covers. The essay is offered as a tribute to the particular tradition of Marxist historical scholarship represented by him, and which he did so much to foster. A brief account of his career and writing is given. There is, in the present issue, a companion essay in which his views on peasant differentiation and the transition to capitalism in England are considered at length.
The Philippine Land Reform in Comparative Perspective: Some Conceptual and Methodological Implications
Authors: BORRAS SATURNINO M.
Published: December 2005

Using empirical evidence from the Philippine land reform (1972–2005), this paper examines land reform theory and practice, and argues that convention has a priori excluded a significant portion of actually existing land‐based production and distribution relationships, while it has inadvertently included in its definition and analysis land transfers that do not constitute real redistributive reform. This problematic framing of ‘exclusion–inclusion’ has led to incorrect accounting and analysis of the nature, scope, pace and direction of change/reform that have occurred (or not) in the agrarian structure of a particular setting. This problem has prevented the emergence of nuanced comparative land reform studies, with possible further implications for studies that attempt to trace causal relationships between land redistribution and agrarian transformation.
Market Coordination and Social Differentiation: A Comparison of Cotton‐Producing Households in Tanzania and Zimbabwe
Authors: LARSEN MARIANNE NYLANDSTED
Published: December 2005

This paper compares findings from farm surveys conducted in Zimbabwe and Tanzania in 2001. It sets out to answer why some cotton‐producing households generate comparatively higher levels of total cotton output, and conversely why some households generate lower output. In the Tanzanian sample, variations in respondents’ cotton sales revolve entirely around respondents’ access to cropping land and possession of draught power, while observed differences in the Zimbabwean case are based on a combination of ownership‐related assets and respondents’ access to manufactured inputs. At the same time, the extent of differences in volumes of cotton sales between the top and bottom quintiles is significantly higher in the Tanzanian survey than in the Zimbabwean one. This pattern becomes even more evident when comparing the performance of the bottom quintiles in the two samples. Against this background, the paper suggests that successful forms of market coordination may not only contribute to better ‘system performance’ but also to fewer differences between cotton‐producing households in terms of cotton output and to higher incomes from cotton production.
Oral treatment and in vitro incubation with fructose modify vascular prostanoid production in the rat
Authors: Peredo H. A. , Mayer M. A. , Rodríguez Fermepín M. , Grinspon D. , Puyó A. M.
Published: December 2005

1 In the rat, a fructose‐enriched diet induces hyperglycaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, insulin resistance and hypertension; a model which resembles the human metabolic syndrome.

2 Prostanoids, metabolites of arachidonic acid, include vasoactive substances synthesized and released from the vascular wall that have been implicated in the increase of peripheral resistance, one of the mechanisms involved in the fructose‐induced hypertension.

3 The aim of the present study was to: (i) analyse the effects of the in vitro incubation with fructose on the production and release of prostanoids in rat thoracic aorta and in rat mesenteric bed and (ii) compare the effects of incubation with those of the in vivo acute and chronic treatment of rats with fructose and with the combination of both in vivo and in vitro procedures.

4 Blood pressure, glycaemia and triglyceridaemia were significantly elevated in both 4‐ and 22‐week fructose‐treated groups. Meanwhile, body and heart weight as well as insulinaemia were similar between experimental animals and controls.

5 In aortae, 4 weeks of Fructose treatment did not modify the prostanoid pattern release, but in vitro incubation decreased prostacyclin (PGI2) production. However, after 22 weeks, fructose treatment and incubation exerted the same effect.

6 In mesenteric bed, after 4 weeks, the incubation and the combination of both procedures reduced the release of the vasodilators PGI2 and PGE2, while fructose treatment only diminished the PGE2 release. On the contrary, the production of the vasoconstrictor thromboxane A2 (TXA2) was enhanced by incubation and both the procedures. After 22 weeks, fructose treatment increased PGI2 release, while it was reduced by incubation. The combination of both did not modify this peripheral resistance when compared with controls. Finally, incubation of tissues from treated rats increased the release of the vasoconstrictors, PGF2α and TXA2.

7 In conclusion, the mesenteric bed, a resistance vascular bed, seems to be more sensitive than the aorta, a conductance vessel, to the effects of fructose on prostanoid production. This difference could be related to a more relevant role of resistance vessels in the regulation of peripheral resistance and consequently of blood pressure. The observed effects should contribute to a shift in the balance of the release of prostanoid in favour of vasoconstrictor metabolites. This phenomenon could be related to an increase in the peripheral resistance and the mild hypertension observed in the fructose‐treated rats.
Maximal oxygen uptake at the same fat‐free mass is greater in men than women
Authors: Davis James A. , Wilson Lori D. , Caiozzo Vincent J. , Storer Thomas W. , Pham Patrick H.
Published: December 2005

Maximal oxygen uptake (V̄O2max) is commonly divided by body mass or fat‐free mass (body mass minus fat mass) in order to make it size independent so that comparisons among persons of different size can be made. However, numerous studies have shown that the ratio created is not size‐independent. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) allows a dependent variable to be compared between groups at a common value of a covariate. The purpose of this study was to compare V̄O2max at the same fat‐free mass (FFM) in 230 sedentary subjects (half men) who ranged in age from 20 to 70 years. The subjects underwent maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing on a cycle ergometer as ventilation and the expired gas fractions were being measured. Two ANCOVA models were evaluated. The dependent variable, fixed factor and covariate(s) in the linear model were V̄O2max, sex and FFM, respectively. The corresponding terms in the log‐linear model were ln V̄O2max, sex, and ln FFM and age. Sex made a significant contribution to both models. In the linear model, the mean V̄O2max at the same FFM was 27% higher in men (2444 versus 1929 ml min−1; P<0·001). In the log‐linear model, the corresponding value at the same FFM and age was 32% higher in men (2368 versus 1794 ml min−1; P<0·001). The goodness of fit indices of squared multiple correlation coefficient and standard error of estimate were significantly better for the log‐linear model. We conclude that V̄O2max at the same FFM is considerably higher in men than in women who have a sedentary lifestyle.
Refractive group differences in accommodation microfluctuations with changing accommodation stimulus
Authors: Day Mhairi , Strang Niall C. , Seidel Dirk , Gray Lyle S. , Mallen Edward A. H.
Published: December 2005

Purpose:  Microfluctuations of accommodation are known to increase in magnitude with increasing accommodation stimulus. Reduced sensitivity to blur in myopic subjects could also lead to increases in the magnitude of the microfluctuations. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of variations in accommodation stimulus upon the microfluctuations in different refractive groups.

Methods:  Thirty‐six subjects were divided into three groups depending upon their refractive error and age of onset of their myopia; 12 emmetropes (EMMs), 12 early onset myopes (EOMs) and 12 late‐onset myopes (LOMs). Steady‐state accommodation responses were recorded continuously for 2 min using the Shin‐Nippon SRW‐5000 autorefractor at a sampling rate of 52 Hz while viewing targets at accommodation stimuli levels of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 D in a Badal (+5 D) optical system.

Results:  The EMMs and EOMs showed systematic increases in the root mean square (r.m.s.) value of the microfluctuations with increasing accommodation stimulus. In contrast, no systematic variation with accommodation stimulus was found for the LOMs. Power spectrum analysis demonstrated that increases in the size of the microfluctuations were mediated by increases in the power of the low frequency components of the accommodation response.

Conclusions:  The magnitude of the microfluctuations in the EMMs and EOMs may be influenced primarily by accommodation response‐induced zonular relaxation effects or to changes in the physical properties of the accommodation plant with increasing accommodation response. The LOMs may have an increased baseline neural blur threshold, which appears to modulate the magnitude of the accommodative microfluctuations for low accommodation levels. At higher accommodation demands, the changes in the physical properties of the accommodation plant or the zonular relaxation effects appear to exceed the blur threshold, and the known association between microfluctuations and accommodation stimulus level is restored.