bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The NPMLE for Doubly Censored Current Status Data
Authors: Van Der Laan Mark J. , Jewell Nicholas P.
Published: March 2003

In biostatistical applications interest often focuses on the estimation of the distribution of time T between two consecutive events. If the initial event time is observed and the subsequent event time is only known to be larger or smaller than an observed point in time, then the data is described by the well understood singly censored current status model, also known as interval censored data, case I. Jewell et al. (1994) extended this current status model by allowing the initial time to be unobserved, but with its distribution over an observed interval ‘A, B’ known to be uniformly distributed; the data is referred to as doubly censored current status data. These authors used this model to handle application in AIDS partner studies focusing on the NPMLE of the distribution G of T. The model is a submodel of the current status model, but the distribution G is essentially the derivative of the distribution of interest F in the current status model. In this paper we establish that the NPMLE of G is uniformly consistent and that the resulting estimators for the n1/2‐estimable parameters are efficient. We propose an iterative weighted pool‐adjacent‐violator‐algorithm to compute the estimator. It is also shown that, without smoothness assumptions, the NPMLE of F converges at rate n−2/5 in L2‐norm while the NPMLE of F in the non‐parametric current status data model converges at rate n−1/3 in L2‐norm, which shows that there is a substantial gain in using the submodel information.
Penultimate Approximation for Hill's Estimator
Authors: Cheng S. , De Haan L.
Published: March 2003

We prove that the probability distribution of Hill's estimator can be better approximated by a series of appropriate gamma distributions than by the limiting normal distribution.
Empirical Likelihood for Censored Linear Regression
Authors: Qin Gengsheng , Jing Bing‐Yi
Published: March 2003

In this paper we investigate the empirical likelihood method in a linear regression model when the observations are subject to random censoring. An empirical likelihood ratio for the slope parameter vector is defined and it is shown that its limiting distribution is a weighted sum of independent chi‐square distributions. This reduces to the empirical likelihood to the linear regression model first studied by Owen (1991) if there is no censoring present. Some simulation studies are presented to compare the empirical likelihood method with the normal approximation based method proposed in Lai et al. (1995). It was found that the empirical likelihood method performs much better than the normal approximation method.
Markov Properties for Acyclic Directed Mixed Graphs
Authors: RICHARDSON THOMAS
Published: March 2003

We consider acyclic directed mixed graphs, in which directed edges (x→y) and bi‐directed edges (x↔y) may occur. A simple extension of Pearl'sd‐separation criterion, calledm‐separation, is applied to these graphs. We introduce a local Markov property which is equivalent to the global property resulting from them‐separation criterion for arbitrary distributions.
From Class Party to Catchall Party?: The Adaptation of the Finnish Agrarian‐Center Party
Authors: Arter David
Published: March 2003

This article seeks to apply Kirchheimer’s ‘catchall party thesis’ to the transformation of the Agrarian‐Center Party in Finland. On at least two counts this might seem a hopeless endeavor. First, Kirchheimer excluded most parties in the smaller West European democracies like Finland from his analysis on the curious grounds that they either had effective majorities or regular access to power and, therefore, had no need of catchall strategies. Second, he expressly excluded certain parties, including significantly Agrarian parties, from his purview because they were too narrowly based to become catchall parties. Kirchheimer also asserts that in general only major parties could successfully achieve a ‘life‐saving transformation.’ The Finnish Agrarian Party was certainly that. In the early 1960s, it was the largest single party, with a substantial classe gardée, and was also the pivotal party of governing coalitions. Accordingly, this article addresses three interrelated questions: a) Why did the Finnish Agrarians seek catchall status? b) What were the catchall strategies they pursued? c) Has an archetypal mass‐class party, contrary to Kirchheimer’s submission, been able to extend the basis of its support to become a catchall party? It is argued that although the Center Party today exhibits the electoral attributes of the catchall party – and is the only Finnish party really to do so – it lacks the organizational characteristics of the genre as enumerated by Kirchheimer.
Between Opinion Leadership and ‘Contract of Disagreement’: The Norwegian Labour Party and the European Issue (1988‐1994)
Authors: Saglie Jo
Published: March 2003

The Norwegian Labour Party elite advocated European Union membership in the 1994 referendum, but the party’s members and voters were divided. This article examines the party leadership’s conflict management strategies. The possible tradeoff between, on the one hand, seeking a given policy outcome (in this case, Norwegian membership of the EU), and, on the other, maximising votes and maintaining party cohesion, is focused upon. In the 1972 referendum on Norwegian membership of the European Community, Labour had failed to achieve any of these objectives. Electoral losses and party splits were avoided in 1994, but the main policy objective – EU membership — was still not reached. It is difficult to argue, however, that the Labour elite chose one goal at the expense of the others. This case study suggests that parties may try to reconcile seemingly incompatible objectives and to avoid choosing between goals. In addition, the results underline the importance of organisational learning and indicate that the strategies of both leadership and internal opposition should be included in research on party behaviour.
From Majoritarian Democracy to Vertical Separation of Powers: Sweden and the European Union
Authors: Algotsson Karl‐Goran
Published: March 2003

The key problem in constitutional politics in the established democracies may be said to pertain to finding the right balance between majoritarian democracy, constitutionalism and effective decision making. From that perspective this essay examines the Swedish polity before and after the accession to the European Union in 1995. From 1917 onwards majoritarian democracy and parliamentarism were the praxis of the Swedish polity. But this mode of goverment was not written into the 1809 Instrument of Government, which was characterised by the separation of powers between the king and the parliament. It was first in the new Instrument of Government, adopted in 1973–74, that the praxis of majoritarian democracy and parliamentarism was codified. But in the 1990s a new form of dualism was introduced into the Swedish polity as a result of the country’s accession to the European Union. On the one hand, there is an Instrument of Government characterised by the principle of majoritarian democratic rule. On the other, accession to the EU involves a vertical separation of powers on a major scale. Two conflicting fundamental elements, majoritarian democracy and vertical separation of powers, are currently incorporated in the Swedish polity.
Public Support for Environmental Policy in Finland: Cultural Interpretations of Survey Results
Authors: Sairinen Rauno
Published: March 2003

This article studies what the Finnish people think about environmental policy and the policy instruments in use. It describes the main features of the public legitimacy of the environmental policy. The survey results are interpreted using a cultural approach, a concept of ‘veil of insignificance’ and some ideas of risk society theory. The Inglehartian theory of postmaterialist values is also discussed. The Finns actively support environmental policy when it concerns industry, businesses and landowners, but when the policy instruments interfere with people’s own lives their support decreases radically. The article argues that the reasons for these contradictory attitudes are more complex than the freerider theory supposes. According to international surveys made during the 1990s, the Finns are less concerned about environmental problems than are people in other European countries. The article argues, for cultural and historical reasons, the Finns have a strong ecological self‐identity which can in some conditions hinder the development of more ecological attitudes.
Globalisation, Marketisation and Power: The Swedish Case of Institutional Change
Authors: Svensson Torsten
Published: March 2003

Globalisation is often thought to threaten the autonomy of national policymaking and generous welfare policies. This article examines two decades of policy change in Sweden, often viewed as a prime example of a fully fledged welfare state. The analysis is focused on reforms within the welfare sector, which is compared with three other important areas – credit markets, the labour market, and infrastructure policy. These areas can all be seen as crucial aspects of the Swedish social democratic model. The findings can be summarised in three parts. First, seeing the credit–market deregulation as the first phase of the internationalisation of capital in Sweden lends some support to the idea of globalisation as the result of political decisions rather than a structural change caused by technical change. Second, during the last two decades, there have been signs of marketisation of the Swedish public sector. However, this analysis does not give support to the simple hypothesis of globalisation. There are quite large variations both between and within policy areas, variations that are not easily related to international integration. Third, marketisation involves a shift in political power. An overall effect is that the government has lost some of its former direct influence. However, behind the façade of the invisible market we find the same actors as before influencing policy. Globalisation can have tremendous effects on power. Whether or not this will be the case is first and foremost the result of political decisions and individual desires.
Alune incantations: Continuity or discontinuity in verbal art?
Authors: Florey Margaret J.
Published: March 2003

Throughout this century some Alune‐speaking villages in the eastern Indonesian province of Central Maluku have experienced rapid sociopolitical and ecological change. Concomitant with these changes, language shift from Alune to the regional Malay variety, Ambonese Malay, is also occurring. This paper draws on a corpus of 45 incantations collected in two Alune villages which have been dissimilarly affected by the processes of change. The utilisation of a limited corpus of modern incantations in one village indicates a substratum of specialised indigenous sociocultural knowledge which has persisted in that site despite language shift and sociopolitical change. Comparison between traditional and contemporary forms of this genre of verbal art reveals structural differences and the extensive use of lexical items from languages other than Alune. Despite linguistic discontinuity, the endurance of incantations in this contemporary Christian society provides some continuity with pre‐Christian Alune practices and may be viewed as a response to external events which are driving social, cultural and linguistic change.
Substrate reinforcement and dialectal differences in Melanesian Pidgin
Authors: Siegel Jeff
Published: March 2003

Stabilization of a new contact language involves a process of levelling, or the reduction of variants. One of the factors influencing which grammatical variants are retained in the process is substrate reinforcement – the existence in the substrate languages of a congruent structure with a similar function. This article illustrates substrate reinforcement in the development of the three current dialects of Melanesian Pidgin. First, evidence of earlier variability is presented and the sociolinguistic conditions that later led to greater stability are described. Second, five grammatical features that differentiate the dialects are examined. For each feature, it is shown first that at least two variants were previously in use. Then evidence is presented illustrating correspondence between the particular variant retained in the dialect and a feature of the substrate languages of that geographic area. Differing substrates reinforced different variants, and this accounts for these dialectal differences.
Code–convergent borrowing in Louisiana French
Authors: Brown Becky
Published: March 2003

The nature of lexical and structural borrowing has been at the forefront of sociolinguistic debates for many years. This study analyzes bilingual lexemes and morphemes of English–origin loanwords from a Louisiana corpus of twenty–two French/English speakers. French Louisiana, however, has been undergoing language shift from French to English for three generations and, as a consequence, language dominance is in a parallel state of shift. This competing dominance produces borrowings characterized by a range of phonological integration coupled with bound morphemes from both languages. These data suggest that examining borrowing beyond the word level reveals a highly complex interplay of often competing and overlapping grammars.
Competition and Cooperation in the Small Firm Sector
Authors: Oughton Christine , Whittam Geoff
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the nature of economies of scale in the small firm sector and aims to provide new insight into the economic efficiency of small firm industrial districts. The theoretical analysis identifies the role played by collective external economies of scale that are realised through cooperation over input activities. Using game theory it is shown that cooperation can emerge both as a result of rational profit maximising behaviour and as a result of institutional and cultural environments that encourage cooperation and trust. The implications for industrial policy are discussed in the concluding section.
Labour Quality and Wage Differentials
Authors: Giannias Dimitrios A.
Published: March 2003

This paper presents a quality theory for labour. Analytical solutions for the equilibrium demand for labour quality equation and the equilibrium wage equation are computed. Wage differentials can be explained by variations in labour quality. A method that yields consistent estimates for all the parameters of the equilibrium demand for labour quality equation, the labour quality index equation, and the equilibrium wage equation is also presented. To illustrate the methodology an application is presented that focuses on the market for seminars and the wages and quality characteristics of trainers.
Optimal Currency Areas Scottish Economic Society/Royal Bank of Scotland Annual Lecture, 1999
Authors: Buiter Willem H.
Published: March 2003

Microeconomic efficiency and market transparency argue in favour of UK membership in EMU and for Scotland’s membership in the UK monetary union and also in EMU. UK seigniorage (government revenues from money issuance) would be boosted by EMU membership. Lender of last resort arrangements would not be substantially affected by UK membership in EMU. The UK is too small and too open to be an optimal currency area. The same point applies even more emphatically to Scotland. The ‘one‐size‐fits‐all’, ‘asymmetric shocks’ and ‘cyclical divergence’ objections to UK membership are based on the misapprehension that independent national monetary policy, and the associated nominal exchange rate flexibility, can be used effectively to offset or even neutralise asymmetric shocks. This ‘fine tuning delusion’ is compounded by a failure to understand that, under a high degree of international financial integration, market‐determined exchange rates are primarily a source of shocks and instability. Instead, opponents of UK membership in EMU view exchange rate flexibility as an effective buffer for adjusting to asymmetric shocks originating elsewhere. I know of no evidence that supports such an optimistic reading of what exchange rate flexibility can deliver under conditions of very high international financial capital mobility. The economic arguments for immediate UK membership in EMU, at an appropriate entry rate, are overwhelming. Monetary union raises important constitutional and political issues. It involves a further surrender of national sovereignty to a supranational institution, the ECB/ESCB. It is essential that this transfer of national sovereignty be perceived as legitimate by those affected by it. In addition, the citizens of the UK have become accustomed to a high standard of openness and accountability of their central bank since it gained operational independence in 1997. The ECB/ESCB must be held to the same high standard, and, while there are grounds for optimism, there still is some way to go there.
Sensitivity of Willingness to Pay Estimates to the Level of Attributes in Discrete Choice Experiments
Authors: Ryan Mandy , Wordsworth Sarah
Published: March 2003

This paper considers issues raised in the application of discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to estimating willingness to pay (WTP). The main issue addressed is the sensitivity of WTP estimates to the level of attributes. A DCE, concerned with preferences for alternative cervical screening programmes, was carried out with women in the Tayside area of Scotland. A split sample design was employed in which respondents were divided into two groups. Each group received a discrete choice questionnaire that varied with respect to the levels of three of the six attributes. The price attribute was one of the attributes that varied across questionnaires. Whilst estimated coefficients were not significantly different across five of the six attributes included in the experiment, mean WTP estimates were significantly different for four of the five welfare estimates. However, from a policy point of view, such a difference may not be important. Consideration is also given to other general methodological and policy issues that are raised when using DCEs to estimate WTP. The findings suggest the need for further research into the design and application of DCEs as a method for estimating WTP.
Asymmetric Adjustment Costs, Asymmetric Pricing and Employment: Evidence from the UK
Authors: Holly Sean , Turner Paul
Published: March 2003

This paper uses an asymmetric multivariate model to investigate asymmetries in employment and pricing behaviour by firms. This generalises the approach of Granger and Lee (1989) and also exploits the cross equation restrictions on the equations for prices and employment implied by a restricted cost function—the dual to a Cobb‐Douglas production function. Our results suggest that both prices and employment respond asymmetrically to shocks to costs and demand.
Galtonian Regression, Company Age and Job Generation 1986–95
Authors: Hart Peter E. , Oulton Nicholas
Published: March 2003

We study the growth of employment at the company level using a very large database of company accounts. More than 31 000 independent companies were studied over 1986–95, though we concentrate on the 8 103 companies which survived throughout the period. We find that smaller companies grew relatively to larger ones in each of the cyclical phases studied, 1986–89, 1989–92 and 1993–95. But their advantage diminished steadily. Despite the negative effect of size on employment growth, and downsizing amongst the largest companies, over half the net new jobs created in survivors were in companies with more than 500 employees.
Asset Markets and Endogenous Liquidity
Authors: Redding Lee , Faruqee Hamid
Published: March 2003

In financial markets characterized by imperfect depth, speculative trading will have transitory effects on the market price as market makers must be compensated for the risk of holding the asset. The number of people providing liquidity to a market will generally be endogenously determined by the quantity of liquidity demanded. This paper looks for evidence of endogenous liquidity provision in several international stock and bond markets. Evidence shows strong support for these speculative dynamics in the stock markets. The evidence for these dynamics is less striking with fixed‐income prices, consistent with the less speculative nature of these markets.
The Role of Bargaining Initiative Under no Commitment to Audit
Authors: Menichini A.
Published: March 2003

This paper addresses the issue of the optimal contract design under costly state verification and no commitment to auditing when the contract offer comes from the uninformed party. Contrary to similar frameworks and to cases where the informed party retains the bargaining power, we find that the optimal contract is characterised neither by truth telling nor by mixed strategy equilibria. Depending on endogenous revenues and observation cost, a pooling equilibrium with either deterministic or random auditing occurs.
Cabinet Formation in Coalition Systems
Authors: Carmignani Fabrizio
Published: March 2003

Theoretical and empirical issues concerning the political bargaining process over cabinet formation in coalition systems are addressed in this paper. A set of theoretical predictions is tested using a sample of 13 western European countries observed throughout the period 1950–1995. It appears that the formation delay is increasing in the degree of ideological heterogeneity of coalition partners and that the share of portfolios secured by the formateur is decreasing in the degree of complexity of the bargaining environment. A few factors affecting the degree to which the outcome of the negotiation process can be defined as balanced are also identified.
Consumption and Government Spending Substitutability Revisited: Evidence from Taiwan
Authors: Ho Tsung–wu
Published: March 2003

Bailey (1971) first documented the idea that there may be a degree of substitutability of the relationship between government spending and private consumption. In this paper, this issue is embedded in a Markov–switching framework where the relationship is subject to shifting between two different regimes. To control small–sample bias, the bootstrap maximum likelihood estimator is used. Evidence from Taiwan indicates that the crowding–in effect dominated the pre–1980 period; the substitutability dominates the post–1980 period. It renders unconvincing the Keynesian plea for expansionary fiscal policy of Taiwan since the 1980s. A Mundell–Fleming approach is proposed to explain this dating.
Making Welfare Work: The Politics of Reform
Authors: Field Frank
Published: March 2003

Welfare reform, if it is to be successful in the longer–term, needs to be based on a carefully thought out political strategy. The new political arithmetic, where the poor are an electoral minority, and many working class voters have rising aspirations, requires welfare reform to appeal to the interests of the majority. While welfare reform similarly must work with rather than against the grain of human nature, self–interest has to be harnessed in a way which builds an inclusive programme. The Government’s drive towards ever greater means–tested provision looks good in year one. The penalties means–tests impose on working, saving and honesty become apparent only later with an ever–growing proportion of the population having to think about how best to work this system. Equally importantly, this drive to even greater means–tested dependency is set to blow apart some of the key characteristics which underpin a common citizenship.
Immigration and the Trade of Provinces
Authors: Wagner Don , Head Keith , Ries John
Published: March 2003

A link between immigration, imports, and exports has been found by a number of papers that have used the gravity equation to analyze bilateral trade patterns. We discuss what this research implies about the mechanisms through which immigrants expand trade and identify strengths and weakness of the various approaches. This paper also contributes to this literature by estimating immigrant effects for Canada using cross‐province variation in international trade and immigration patterns. We derive an alternative functional form capturing the relationship between immigration and trade based on the proposition that immigrants use their connections and superior ‘market intelligence’ to exploit trade opportunities that non‐immigrants do not access. We find that the average new immigrant expands exports to his/her native country by $312 and expands imports by $944.
Local Economic Development and Post‐Apartheid Reconstruction in South Africa
Authors: Rogerson C.M.
Published: March 2003

The application of Local Economic Development (LED) planning has been little investigated in the developing world context. In this paper, LED strategies in South Africa are investigated in order to examine the emergence, contemporary directions and problems of entrepreneurial LED strategies across urban South Africa reconstruction. The origins and spread of local authority involvement in LED are analysed in both the international and national contexts. The various LED approaches presently being pursued in South African cities are reviewed and critically discussed in terms of four themes: (1) cities as centres of production; (2) cities as centres of consumption; (3) cities as centres of decision‐making; and (4) cities and government surplus. The conclusion evaluates the current directions and problems of local government initiatives for LED in post‐apartheid reconstruction and points to the danger of “place wars” as a result of a trend towards the imitation of development projects.
Houses and Residential Neighbourhoods as Work Places in Urban Areas: The Case of Selected Low Income Residential Areas in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (Gama), Ghana
Authors: Yankson Paul W.K.
Published: March 2003

House‐based enterprises (HBEs) as well as small enterprises located in residential neighbourhoods are common to all urban areas of developing countries, especially low‐income residential neighbourhoods. In Accra, the capital city of Ghana, there is an increasing use of houses and residential neighbourhoods as places of work. A survey of small‐scale production and service‐oriented enterprises located in three low income residential areas in Accra examines three issues: space use, growth patterns, and health and environmental effects. The study found that although HBEs derived some advantages from being sited in houses and in residential neighbourhoods, half of the sampled operators would have preferred to locate their business outside the residential neighbourhood in order to attract more customers, overcome the problem of inadequate workspace and to expand their enterprises. Most of the sampled enterprises had no appreciable growth over time. Enterprises had unintended negative health and environmental consequences on the operators, their workers and also on the house and residential environment in general. These effects tended to compound the already serious household environmental conditions in low‐income residential neighbourhoods. The paper offers some suggestions to improve the accommodation of HBEs in order to promote business growth and ultimately to reduce the health and environmental impacts.
State versus Capital: The Regulation of the Vietnamese Foreign Sector
Authors: Dixon Chris
Published: March 2003

The debate over globalisation and the state has been sharpened by the emergence of such transitional economies as China and Vietnam. These states have become the subject of considerable attention, both in terms of the form that production is taking and the manner in which they interact with international capital. In both cases, interaction with international capital and the establishment of elements of the market economy have taken place under the auspices of highly centralised single party states. The resulting approach to the forces of economic globalisation has been both highly interventionist and, at times, extremely heavy‐handed. As such, both countries may be seen as being seriously out of step with the advocates of liberalisation and economic globalisation. This paper seeks to further the understanding of the position of such states through an examination of Vietnam at two levels: first, through an overview of the distinctive and changing nature of the interaction and, second, through an examination of the nature and consequences of the differential treatment of labour and capital for foreign companies operating in Vietnam.
Application of the USLE in a Savannah Environment: Comparative Experiences from East and West Africa
Authors: Mati B.M. , Veihe A.
Published: March 2003

The use of empirical models for predicting erosion hazard in Africa is widespread. One of the most commonly used models is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). This paper explores the applicability of the USLE in the East and West African Savannah environments, using both primary and secondary data. The results show that the USLE can be applied to Savannah conditions if some level of instrumentation is provided to enable model calibration and validation. The rainfall erosivity factor (R) is one variable which is calculated differently in both the East and the West African Savannah, reflecting differences in the storm characteristics between the two regions. The soil erodibility factor (K) is applied to cultivated soils with relatively high organic matter but does not adequately predict soil loss if the soils have large quantities of stone cover or if they exhibit surface sealing properties. The topographic factors (LS) are transferable, but in some parts of the Savannah, very steep slopes are cultivated, limiting the accuracy of the LS factor. The crop and management factor (C) is applicable for single stand crops, but more studies are required to develop C factors for multiple cropping and rangelands as these are more prevalent in the Savannah. The conservation practices factors (P) as described in the USLE routines do not adequately cater for soil conservation structures found in Africa, such as trash lines and stone lines. Thus, local indices need to be developed. In general, the USLE tends to underestimate soil erosion in East Africa while overestimating it in the West African Savannah. User‐friendly Geographical Information Systems (GIS) applications that depict the uncertainty of model estimates should be explored in the future.
Competitive Adjustment and Advancement in Global Commodity Chains II: The Case of the Singapore Garment Industry
Authors: Grunsven Leo van , Smakman Floor
Published: March 2003

This is the second part of a contribution to the debate on the possibilities of leveraging economic globalisation — through incorporation in international production networks and global commodity chains (GCCs) — as a strategy for developing countries to industrialise and advance their position in the world economy. In the first part, we analysed the experience of the East Asian apparel industry and addressed the issues of sustaining positions, upgrading to more rewarding roles, and advancing to less dependent positions within production networks and GCCs. We developed an analytical framework at both the firm and industry levels, and subsequently identified alternative firm‐ and industry‐level strategies and trajectories. The present paper deals with these issues in the context of the Singapore apparel industry. Based on extensive empirical research, we demonstrate that although the East Asian experience of upgrading and repositioning within the GCC is to some extent emulated in the case of the Singapore apparel industry, the outcomes have been less favourable in terms of the depth, extent and strength of these trajectories. The differing outcomes can be explained in terms of different (systemic) conditions in the Singapore business environment, including the agency of local players, the geography of sourcing networks, and the role of the state and prevailing business attitudes. Our conclusions merit continued attention in both research and policy circles on the development of capabilities at the firm level, and the role of local business and institutional environments in local industry development processes under globalisation.
Evaluating the Characteristics of the Meander Belt Soils of the Niger Delta, Southeastern Nigeria
Authors: Kamalu O.J. , Isirimah N.O. , Ugwa I.K. , Orimoloye J.R.
Published: March 2003

The morphological, physical, chemical and pedological properties of eight pedons representative of the four physiographic units in the Meander Belt of the Niger Delta were studied. The soils were classified and the constraints to their agricultural and engineering uses evaluated. The soils were generally poorly drained, having an Aquic moisture regime, mottles and Fe and Mn concretions. They belong to the Entisol and Inceptisol USDA soil taxonomy orders. Soil textures were generally clayey, except for the pedons of the levee crest with sandy loam textures. Bulk density, particle density and total porosity were generally low. Total nitrogen and available phosphorus were also low. The cation exchange capacity (CEC) and base saturation were high. Organic matter was low to moderate. Total elements of the clay were generally high. The soils have poor physical conditions. The high clay content, and the presence of 2:1 lattice clay minerals could account for the deterioration of the major east‐west interstate road linking southeast and southwest Nigeria that passes through the area. Optimum use of the soils for agriculture would depend on good land evaluation and efficient soil water management.
Security of Attachment as a Predictor of Symbolic and Mentalising Abilities: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Meins Elizabeth , Fernyhough Charles , Russell James , Clark‐Carter David
Published: March 2003

The development of symbolic and mentalising abilities was examined in 33 children whose security of attachment had been assessed in infancy. It was found that securely attached children: (i) were better able to incorporate an experimenter’s play suggestions into their sequences of symbolic play at 31 months; and (ii) performed better on a version of Wimmer and Perner’s (1983) unexpected transfer task at age 4. There was also evidence of superior mentalising abilities among the secure group at age 5, despite no group differences being found in general cognitive ability. We suggest that these security‐related differences might be related to mothers’ propensity to treat their securely attached children as individuals with minds. In support of this hypothesis, mothers in the secure group adopted more sensitive tutoring strategies, and were more likely to describe their children in terms of their mental characteristics. Possible developmental pathways linking security of attachment in infancy with subsequent development were investigated using path analyses.
Family Background in Relation to Deceptive Ability and Understanding of the Mind
Authors: Cole Kristina , Mitchell Peter
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this study was to determine whether social factors might be linked with the development of certain aspects of deception. Fifty‐seven children aged between 4 and 5 years were assessed for their ability to be convincing in an act of deception (expressive deception) and also for their understanding that minds are susceptible to deception (theory of mind). The mothers of 34 of the children completed a questionnaire which provided information on socio‐economic status, parenting style, parental stress and family structure. The results revealed significant associations with family background and deceptive ability. Stepwise multiple regression analyses, controlling for age, identified socio‐economic status as a predictor of understanding that the mind is susceptible to deception (theory of mind). In contrast, single parent stress emerged as the major predictor of variance in expressive deception. Deceptive socialisation practices specific to single parents were considered. Implications for the dissimilar developmental pathways of theory of mind and expressive performance in deception are discussed.
Linkages between Children’s Beliefs about the Legitimacy of Aggression and Their Behavior
Authors: Erdley Cynthia A. , Asher Steven R.
Published: March 2003

The purposes of this study were to learn whether children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression can be reliably assessed and whether these beliefs relate to children’s everyday social behavior with peers, as well as their responses to hypothetical ambiguous provocation situations. Fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students (n = 781) responded to a 16‐item questionnaire designed to measure children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression. Children’s behavioral orientation was assessed using two methods: (1) children’s responses to ten hypothetical situations involving ambiguous provocation, and (2) peer evaluations of children’s aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behavior. Results indicated that children’s beliefs about the legitimacy of aggression were reliably measured. Furthermore, results from both measures of behavioral style showed that children who believed strongly in the legitimacy of aggression were more aggressive, less withdrawn, and less prosocial. The findings suggest that one focus of efforts to decrease children’s aggression should be the modification of their beliefs about the legitimacy of aggressive actions.
Attachment in the Indonesian Caregiving Context
Authors: Zevalkink Jolien , Riksen‐Walraven J. Marianne , Van Lieshout Cornelis F.M.
Published: March 2003

The quality of the mother‐child attachment relationship, the quality of support mothers provide to their children, and characteristics of the caregiving context were examined in 46 Indonesian mother‐child dyads. The distribution of attachment patterns, as assessed with the Strange Situation, showed the proportion of children classified as secure and insecure‐disorganized to be comparable to the global distribution as reported in two meta‐analyses. An over‐representation of resistant children was found within the insecure group, which was comparable to the distribution in Japanese samples. The quality of maternal support, measured in two settings, was highest for secure dyads and lowest for insecure‐disorganized dyads. Contextual characteristics were not found to differentiate secure from insecure dyads but were found to discriminate between different types of insecure attachment.
Understanding Feelings and Coping with Emotional Situations: A Comparison of Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Preschoolers
Authors: Smith Maureen , Walden Tedra
Published: March 2003

The effects of maltreatment on childen’s emotion knowledge (e.g., recognition of facial cues for happy, sad, mad, scared, and surprised expressions), parent‐ and teacher‐rated social and expressive behavior (e.g., aspects of emotion regulation such as emotional intensity, regulation of emotionally‐driven behavior, and classroom social competence with peers such as conflict management), and hypothetical social problem‐solving skills were examined in a sample of 45 preschool‐aged, predominantly African‐American preschoolers. Comparisons between maltreated, high‐risk, and low‐risk groups revealed no reliable differences in emotion knowledge, but several significant differences in hypothetical social problem‐solving skills and in parent‐ and teacher‐rated social and expressive behavior. Specifically, maltreated children were rated high on negative emotionality and emotional support‐seeking at school, and they were rated low on support‐seeking at home, instrumental action at home, problem‐focused social problem‐solving strategies, and conflict management. In general, teachers rated maltreated children as the least competent, low‐risk children as intermediate, and high‐risk children as the most competent.
Infant‐Mother Attachment at One Year Predicts Children’s Understanding of Mixed Emotions at Six Years
Authors: Steele Howard , Steele Miriam , Croft Carla , Fonagy Peter
Published: March 2003

Data from the six‐year follow up of a longitudinal study investigating intergenerational patterns of attachment and the effects of early relationships upon subsequent social, emotional and cognitive development are presented. Around the time of their sixth birthday, 63 children participated in an affect understanding task, involving cartoon diagrams depicting social and emotional dilemmas. As predicted, performance on this task, assessed in terms of mixed‐emotion understanding, was predicted by security of the infant‐mother attachment relationship (as assessed in the Strange Situation at one‐year) and security or autonomy in the mother’s representations of, and reflections upon, her attachment history (as assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview of AAI–during pregnancy) prior to the child’s birth. Regression analyses suggested that the infant‐mother attachment data significantly enhanced the prediction of an advanced understanding of mixed emotions at six‐years, even after controlling for variations in the children’s age at time of testing, as well as child and parent verbal skills. The inclusion of earlier assessments of the child‐father Strange Situation assessment (at 18‐months) did not enhance the model; nor did the attachment status of the mothers or fathers as observed in their prenatal AAIs. Discussion concerns the contributions of early attachment processes, including family conflict, to the ability to verbally express an understanding of mixed emotions in a task depicting hypothetical social and emotional dilemmas.
Peer Estimates of School‐Aged Boys' and Girls'Aggression to Same‐ and Cross‐Sex Targets
Authors: Russell Alan , Owens Laurence
Published: March 2003

Research comparing boys' and girls' aggression has typically focused on the overall amount of aggression using a within‐sex design. Less attention has been given to differences in children's aggression according to the sex of the target. In the research reported here, boys' and girls' amount and style of aggression were compared for same‐ and cross‐sex targets. A peer estimation procedure was used with children in Grades 2, 6, 9, and 11. Physical, verbal, and indirect aggression were studied. Although there were some differences according to Grade level, both the amount and style of aggression for boys and for girls differed as a function of the sex of target, with cross‐sex aggression generally falling between the amount and style of boys ‐to‐boys and girls‐to‐girls aggression. The results draw attention to the possible separate nature of the cross‐sex context, and highlight the importance of taking into account the target of aggression when investigating differences in aggression between boys and girls.
Social‐emotional Classroom Climate in Child Care, Child‐Teacher Relationships and Children’s Second Grade Peer Relations
Authors: Howes Carollee
Published: March 2003

We used a five‐year longitudinal study of children’s teacher‐child relationships and social‐emotional competence to examine the relative contributions of preschool social‐emotional climate and early individual child‐teacher relationships and behavior problems in predicting second grade social competence with peers. Three hundred and seven children (152 girls) had complete second grade data on peer social competence. We used the Peer Play Scale to measure the climate of peer social competence in preschool classrooms. We used the Classroom Behavior Inventory to measure behavior problems and the Student‐Teacher Relationship Scale to measure child‐teacher relationship quality at both the classroom and individual level. Children’s second grade social competence with peers could be predicted by preschool classroom social‐emotional climate, four‐year‐old behavior problems and child‐teacher relationship quality, and contemporary child‐teacher relationship quality. The particular pattern of these predictors differed by aspect of social competence with peers.
Emotion Regulation in Low‐income Preschoolers
Authors: Garner Pamela W. , Spears Floyd M.
Published: March 2003

The present study was concerned with identifying the causes of low‐income preschoolers’ negative emotions and their most common regulation responses. The relations of family socialization practices and temperament to the children’s emotion regulation skills were also examined. Ninety predominantly minority low‐income preschoolers (46 boys) and their mothers participated. During visits to the children’s preschools, observers watched for expressions of anger and sadness, and recorded the causes of the displays and the children’s reactions. Mothers reported on their emotion socialization and discipline practices and their children’s temperament. Although the children expressed more anger than sadness, they used more constructive reactions in response to sadness and more non‐constructive reactions in response to anger. Maternal reports of appropriate family emotion were associated with low levels of non‐constructive regulation responses to anger and sadness whereas reports of inconsistent parental discipline were generally associated with non‐constructive regulation responses. All in all, the findings of this study are in accord with findings on middle‐income children and indicate that low‐ and middle‐income children are more alike than different with regard to the regulation of negative emotion in the peer environment.
Theory of Mind and Peer Rejection at School
Authors: Badenes Lidón Villanueva , Clemente Estevan Rosa Ana , García Bacete Francisco J.
Published: March 2003

Little research into children’s theory of mind has focused on links with social deficits, with exception of research into the rare condition of autism. However, other studies have analysed theory of mind ability in less severe and less rare social deficits, such as children with conduct disorders or bullying at school. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how social experiences within the peer system are linked to understanding of mind, adopting a sociocultural view of theory of mind development. Peer‐rejected children, 4–6 years old, lacking positive social experiences with their peers, are compared with popular and average children in theory of mind tasks performance. Results showed that peer‐rejected children presented a similar performance to average children in all theory of mind tasks, with the exception of some figurative language tasks (White Lie), and the presence of socio cognitive aggressive biases. It cannot be said from these results that peer rejected children showed a deficit in the ability of mentalizing. However, a kind of theory of ‘nasty minds’ may be present in these rejected children.