bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How brains make chaos in order to make sense of the world
Authors: Skarda Christine A. , Freeman Walter J.
Published: February 2010

Recent “connectionist” models provide a new explanatory alternative to the digital computer as a model for brain function. Evidence from our EEG research on the olfactory bulb suggests that the brain may indeed use computational mechanisms like those found in connectionist models. In the present paper we discuss our data and develop a model to describe the neural dynamics responsible for odor recognition and discrimination. The results indicate the existence of sensory- and motor-specific information in the spatial dimension of EEG activity and call for new physiological metaphors and techniques of analysis. Special emphasis is placed in our model on chaotic neural activity. We hypothesize that chaotic behavior serves as the essential ground state for the neural perceptual apparatus, and we propose a mechanism for acquiring new forms of patterned activity corresponding to new learned odors. Finally, some of the implications of our neural model for behavioral theories are briefly discussed. Our research, in concert with the connectionist work, encourages a reevaluation of explanatory models that are based only on the digital computer metaphor.
Dopamine, schizophrenia, mania, and depression: Toward a unified hypothesis of cortico-striatopallido-thalamic function
Authors: Swerdlow Neal R. , Koob George F.
Published: February 2010

Considerable evidence from preclinical and clinical investigations implicates disturbances of brain dopamine (DA) function in the pathophysiology of several psychiatric and neurologic disorders. We describe a neural model that may help organize theseindependent experimental observations. Cortical regions classically associated with the limbic system interact with infracortical structures, including the nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, and dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus. In our model, overactivity in forebrain DA systems results in the loss of lateral inhibitory interactions in the nucleus accumbens, causing disinhibition of pallidothalamic efferents; this in turn causes rapid changes and a loss of focused corticothalamic activity in cortical regions controlling cognitive and emotional processes. These effects might be manifested clinically by some symptoms of psychoses. Underactivity of forebrain DA results in excess lateral inhibition in the nucleus accumbens, causing tonic inhibition of pallidothalamic efferents; this perpetuates tonic corticothalamic activity and prevents the initiation of new activity in other critical cortical regions. These effects might be manifested clinically by some symptoms of depression. This model parallels existing explanations for the etiology of several movement disorders, and may lead to testable inferences regarding the neural substrates of specific psychopathologies.
Sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability in intellectually talented preadolescents: Their nature, effects, and possible causes
Authors: Benbow Camilla Persson
Published: February 2010

Several hundred thousand intellectually talented 12-to 13-year-olds have been tested nationwide over the past 16 years with the mathematics and verbal sections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Although no sex differences in verbal ability have been found, there have been consistent sex differences favoring males in mathematical reasoning ability, as measured by the mathematics section of the SAT (SAT-M). These differences are most pronounced at the highest levels of mathematical reasoning, they are stable over time, and they are observed in other countries as well. The sex difference in mathematical reasoning ability can predict subsequent sex differences in achievement in mathematics and science and is therefore of practical importance. To date a primarily environmental explanation for the difference in ability has not received support from the numerous studies conducted over many years by the staff of Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) and others. We have studied some of the classical environmental hypotheses: attitudes toward mathematics, perceived usefulness of mathematics, confidence, expectations/ encouragement from parents and others, sex-typing, and differential course-taking. In addition, several physiological correlates of extremely high mathematical reasoning ability have been identified (left-handedness, allergies, myopia, and perhaps bilateral representation of cognitive functions and prenatal hormonal exposure). It is therefore proposed that the sex difference in SAT-M scores among intellectually talented students, which may be related to greater male variability, results from both environmental and biological factors.
Tactical deception in primates
Authors: Whiten A. , Byrne R. W.
Published: February 2010

Tactical deception occurs when an individual is able to use an “honest” act from his normal repertoire in a different context to mislead familiar individuals. Although primates have a reputation for social skill, most primate groups are so intimate that any deception is likely to be subtle and infrequent. Published records are sparse and often anecdotal. We have solicited new records from many primatologists and searched for repeating patterns. This has revealed several different forms of deceptive tactic, which we classify in terms of the function they perform. For each class, we sketch the features of another individual's state of mind that an individual acting with deceptive intent must be able to represent, thus acting as a “natural psychologist.” Our analysis will sharpen attention to apparent taxonomic differences. Before these findings can be generalized, however, behavioral scientists must agree on some fundamental methodological and theoretical questions in the study of the evolution of social cognition.
Précis of Sensory Analysis
Authors: Laming Donald
Published: February 2010

Sensory analysis is that initial, preconscious stage of perception at which primitive features (edges, temporal discontinuities, and periodicities) are picked out from the random fluctuations that characterize the physical stimulation of sensory receptors. Sensory analysis may be studied by means of signal-detection, psychometric-function, and threshold experiments, and Sensory Analysis presents a succinct, quasi-quantitative account of the phenomena revealed thereby. This account covers all five sensory modalities, emphasising the similarities between them.

A succinct account depends on identifying simple principles of wide generality, of which the most fundamental are that (a) sensory discriminations are differentially coupled to the physical stimuli and that (b) small stimuli are subject to a square-law transform which makes them less detectable than they would otherwise be. These two principles are established by comparisons between different configurations of two stimulus levels to be discriminated; they are realized within a simple physical-analogue model which affords certain low-level comparisons with neurophysiological observation. That physical-analogue model consists of a sequence of elementary operations on the stimulus constituting a stage of sensory processing. The concatenation of two or three stages in cascade accommodates an increased range of experimental phenomena, especially the detection of sinusoidal gratings.

This précis is organized in three parts: Part I surveys Sensory Analysis as economically as may be, beginning from the simplest, most fundamental ideas and working toward phenomena of increasing complexity. A rather shorter Part II reviews the most important alternative models addressed to some part or other of the phenomena surveyed. Finally, a very short Part III contributes some metatheoretic remarks on the function of a theory of sensory discrimination.
On the proper treatment of connectionism
Authors: Smolensky Paul
Published: February 2010

A set of hypotheses is formulated for a connectionist approach to cognitive modeling. These hypotheses are shown to be incompatible with the hypotheses underlying traditional cognitive models. The connectionist models considered are massively parallel numerical computational systems that are a kind of continuous dynamical system. The numerical variables in the system correspond semantically to fine-grained features below the level of the concepts consciously used to describe the task domain. The level of analysis is intermediate between those of symbolic cognitive models and neural models. The explanations of behavior provided are like those traditional in the physical sciences, unlike the explanations provided by symbolic models.

Higher-level analyses of these connectionist models reveal subtle relations to symbolic models. Parallel connectionist memory and linguistic processes are hypothesized to give rise to processes that are describable at a higher level as sequential rule application. At the lower level, computation has the character of massively parallel satisfaction of soft numerical constraints; at the higher level, this can lead to competence characterizable by hard rules. Performance will typically deviate from this competence since behavior is achieved not by interpreting hard rules but by satisfying soft constraints. The result is a picture in which traditional and connectionist theoretical constructs collaborate intimately to provide an understanding of cognition.
Implications of the “initial brain” concept for brain evolution in Cetacea
Authors: Glezer Ilya I. , Jacobs Myron S. , Morgane Peter J.
Published: February 2010

We review the evidence for the concept of the “initial” or prototype brain. We outline four possible modes of brain evolution suggested by our new findings on the evolutionary status of the dolphin brain. The four modes involve various forms of deviation from and conformity to the hypothesized initial brain type. These include examples of conservative evolution, progressive evolution, and combinations of the two in which features of one or the other become dominant. The four types of neocortical organization in extant mammals may be the result of selective pressures on sensory/motor systems resulting in divergent patterns of brain phylogenesis. A modular “modification/multiplication” hypothesis is proposed as a mechanism of neocortical evolution in eutherians. Representative models of the initial ancestral group of mammals include not only extant basal Insectivora but also Chiroptera; we have found that dolphins and large whales have also retained many features of the archetypal or initial brain. This group evolved from the initial mammalian stock and returned to the aquatic environment some 50 million years ago. This unique experiment of nature shows the effects of radical changes in environment on brain-body adaptations and specializations. Although the dolphin brain has certain quantitative characteristics of the evolutionary changes seen in the higher terrestrial mammals, it has also retained many of the conservative structural features of the initial brain. Its neocortical organization is accordingly different, largely in a quantitative sense, from that of terrestrial models of the initial brain such as the hedgehog.
A framework for the functional analysis of behaviour
Authors: Houston Alasdair I. , McNamara John M.
Published: February 2010

We present a general framework for analyzing the contribution to reproductive success of a behavioural action. An action may make a direct contribution to reproductive success, but even in the absence of a direct contribution it may make an indirect contribution by changing the animal's state. We consider actions over a period of time, and define a reward function that characterizes the relationship between the animal's state at the end of the period and its future reproductive success. Working back from the end of the period using dynamic programming, the optimal action as a function of state and time can be found. The procedure also yields a measure of the cost, in terms of future reproductive success, of a suboptimal action. These costs provide us with a common currency for comparing activities such as eating and drinking, or eating and hiding from predators. The costs also give an indication of the robustness of the conclusions that can be drawn from a model. We review how our framework can be used to analyze optimal foraging decisions in a stochastic environment. We also discuss the modelling of optimal daily routines and provide an illustration based on singing to attract a mate. We use the model to investigate the features that can produce a dawn song burst in birds. State is defined very broadly so that it includes the information an animal has about its environment. Thus, exploration and learning can be included within the framework.
Why are children in the same family so different from one another?
Authors: Plomin Robert , Daniels Denise
Published: February 2010

One of the most important findings that has emerged from human behavioral genetics involves the environment rather than heredity, providing the best available evidence for the importance of environmental influences on personality, psychopathology, and cognition. The research also converges on the remarkable conclusion that these environmental influences make two children in the same family as different from one another as are pairs of children selected randomly from the population.

The theme of the target article is that environmental differences between children in the same family (called “nonshared environment”) represent the major source of environmental variance for personality, psychopathology, and cognitive abilities. One example of the evidence that supports this conclusion involves correlations for pairs of adopted children reared in the same family from early in life. Because these children share family environment but not heredity, their correlation directly estimates the importance of shared family environment. For most psychological characteristics, correlations for adoptive “siblings” hover near zero, which implies that the relevant environmental influences are not shared by children in the same family. Although it has been thought that cognitive abilities represent an exception to this rule, recent data suggest that environmental variance that affects IQ is also of the nonshared varietyafter adolescence.

The article has three goals: (1) To describe quantitative genetic methods and research that lead to the conclusion that nonshared environment is responsible for most environmental variation relevant to psychological development, (2) to discuss specific nonshared environmental influences that have been studied to date, and (3) to consider relationships between nonshared environmental influences and behavioral differences between children in the same family. The reason for presenting this article inBBSis to draw attention to the far-reaching implications of finding that psychologically relevant environmental influences make children in a family different from, not similar to, one another.
Précis ofVaulting Ambition: Sociobiology and the Quest for Human Nature
Authors: Kitcher Philip
Published: February 2010

The debate about the credentials of sociobiology has persisted because scholars have failed to distinguish the varieties of sociobiology and because too little attention has been paid to the details of the arguments that are supposed to support the provocative claims about human social behavior. I seek to remedy both deficiencies. After analysis of the relationships among different kinds of sociobiology and contemporary evolutionary theory, I attempt to show how some of the studies of the behavior of nonhuman animals meet the methodological standards appropriate to evolutionary research. I contend that the efforts of E. O. Wilson, Richard Alexander, Charles Lumsden, and others to generate conclusions about human nature are flawed, both because they apply evolutionary ideas in an unrigorous fashion and because they use dubious assumptions to connect their evolutionary analyses with their conclusions. This contention rests on analyses of many of the major sociobiological proposals about human social behavior, including: differences in sex roles, racial hostility, homosexuality, conflict between parents and adolescent offspring, incest avoidance, the avunculate, alliances in combat, female infanticide, and gene–culture coevolution.Vaulting Ambitionthus seeks to identify what is good in sociobiology, to expose the errors of premature speculations about human nature, and to prepare the way for serious study of the evolution of human social behavior.
How adaptive behavior is produced: a perceptual-motivational alternative to response reinforcements
Authors: Bindra Dalbir
Published: February 2010

The sway that the response-reinforcement framework (Spencer, Thorndike, Hull, Skinner) has held on the behavioral sciences for nearly a hundred years is finally ending. The strength of this framework lay in providing concepts and methods for studying the effects of hedonic (reinforcing) stimuli on the repetition of specified responses acquired in instrumental training situations of various kinds. Its weakness lay in the invalidity of its central assumptions, stimulus-response association and response-reinforcement, which could not deal with motor-equivalence and flexibility (or “intelligence”) in behavior. To the four decades of incisive criticism on particular theoretical and empirical grounds, a more comprehensive challenge to the response-reinforcement framework is now added by the newer ideas about the nature of cognitive, motivational, and response-production processes that have emerged from the work of ethologists, neuroscientists, and cognitive psychologists. An alternative framework, incorporating the newer ideas, is clearly needed.

The particular framework proposed here is based on the ideas of perceptual learning of stimulus-stimulus correlations and of a motivational (rather than reinforcing) role of hedonic (incentive) stimuli. According to it, an act is produced when its act-assembly is activated by a pexgo (perceptual representation) of a certain eliciting stimulus complex (ES). When certain eliciting stimuli are correlated with incentive stimuli, they acquire motivational properties that serve to strengthen the pexgos generated by those eliciting stimuli and thereby increase the probability of activation of the corresponding act-assemblies. Motivation thus influences response production, not by directly instigating “existing” responses, but by modulating the strength of pexgos of eliciting stimuli for the succession of acts that comprise a response. Therefore, a response is always constructed afresh on the basis of current perceptions; not even a stable and stereotyped response occurs as a mere activation of a preformed motor program. The topography of any response that emerges is determined by the nature of the motivational state and the momentary spatiotemporal distribution of eliciting stimuli of changing motivational valence.

By suggesting that the animal learns the overlapping and nested correlations between the stimulus events that commonly occur in a given situation, and by separating what is learned from the processes of response production, the proposed perceptual-motivational framework seems capable of dealing with the problems of motor equivalence and flexibility in adaptive behavior. Some implications of this approach for further behavioral and brain research on such problems as behavior modification, learning by observation of models, analysis of causality, and search for neural substrates of learning and response production, are outlined.
On the biological basis of human laterality: I. Evidence for a maturational left–right gradient
Authors: Corballis Michael C. , Morgan Michael J.
Published: February 2010

In this paper, we consider human handedness and cerebral lateralization in a general biological context, and attempt to arrive at some conclusions common to the growth of human laterality and of other structural asymmetries. We suggest that many asymmetries appear to be under the influence of a left-right maturational gradient, which often seems to favor earlier or more rapid development on the left than on the right. If the leading side is damaged or restricted, this gradient may be reversed so that growth occurs with the opposite polarity. A mechanism of this sort appears to underlie the phenomenon ofsitus inversus viscerum et cordis, and the same principle may help explain the equipotentiality of the two sides of the human brain with respect to the representation of language in the early years of life. However we must also suppose that the leading side normally exerts an inhibitory influence on the lagging side, for otherwise one would expect language ultimately to develop in both halves of the brain. Examples of an inhibitory influence of this kind can also be found in other biological asymmetries; for instance, in the crabAlpheus heterochelis, one claw is normally greatly enlarged relative to the other, but if the larger claw is removed the smaller one is apparently released from its inhibitory influence and grows larger.

This last example is particularly interesting because it suggests a mechanism comparable to that proposed by Annett to account for the distribution of handedness in the human population. She argued, in effect, that there is a “right shift” factor among the majority of the population, but that among a minority who lack this factor handedness is determined at random. If it is supposed that cerebral lateralization is also determined at random among this recessive minority, the model can be extended to provide a reasonable fit to the data on the correlation between handedness and cerebral lateralization. However this genetic model (or any other) still fails to account for the near-binomial distribution of handedness among twins and among nontwin siblings. We suggest that right-handedness and leftcerebral dominance for language are manifestations of an underlying gradient which is probably coded in the cytoplasm rather than in the genes. We must leave open the question as to whether departures from this pattern are due to a recessive gene which effectively cancels the asymmetry to environmental influences, or to both genetic and cytoplasmic factors.
Interpersonal expectancy effects: the first 345 studies
Authors: Rosenthal Robert , Rubin Donald B.
Published: February 2010

The research area of interpersonal expectancy effects originally derived from a general consideration of the effects of experimenters on the results of their research. One of these is the expectancy effect, the tendency for experimenters to obtain results they expect, not simply because they have correctly anticipated nature's response but rather because they have helped to shape that response through their expectations. When behavioral researchers expect certain results from their human (or animal) subjects they appear unwittingly to treat them in such a way as to increase the probability that they will respond as expected.

In the first few years of research on this problem of the interpersonal (or interorganism) self-fulfilling prophecy, the “prophet” was always an experimenter and the affected phenomenon was always the behavior of an experimental subject. In more recent years, however, the research has been extended from experimenters to teachers, employers, and therapists whose expectations for their pupils, employees, and patients might also come to serve as interpersonal self-fulfilling prophecies.

Our general purpose is to summarize the results of 345 experiments investigating interpersonal expectancy effects. These studies fall into eight broad categories of research: reaction time, inkblot tests, animal learning, laboratory interviews, psychophysical judgments, learning and ability, person perception, and everyday life situations. For the entire sample of studies, as well as for each specific research area, we (1) determine the overall probability that interpersonal expectancy effects do in fact occur, (2) estimate their average magnitude so as to evaluate their substantive and methodological importance, and (3) illustrate some methods that may be useful to others wishing to summarize quantitatively entire bodies of research (a practice that is, happily, on the increase).
Cortical long-axoned cells and putative interneurons during the sleep-waking cycle
Authors: Steriade Mircea
Published: February 2010

Knowledge of the input-output characteristics of various neuronal types is a necessary first step toward an understanding of cellular events related to waking and sleep. In spite of the oversimplification involved, the dichotomy in terms of type I (long-axoned, output) neurons and type II (short-axoned, local) interneurons is helpful in functionally delineating the neuronal circuits involved in the genesis and epiphenomena of waking and sleep states. The possibility is envisaged that cortical interneurons, which are particularly related to higher neuronal activity and have been found in previous experiments to be more active during sleep than during wakefulness, might be involved in complex integrative processes occurring during certain sleep stages. Electrophysiological criteria for the identification of output cells and interneurons are developed, with emphasis on various possibilities and difficulties involved in recognizing interneurons of the mammalian brain. The high-frequency repetitive activity of interneurons is discussed, together with various possibilities of error to be avoided when interpreting data from bursting cells. Data first show opposite changes in spontaneous and evoked discharges of identified output cells versus putative interneurons recorded from motor and parietal association cortical areas in behaving monkeys and cats during wakefulness (W) compared to sleep with synchronized EEG activity (S): significantly increased rates of spontaneous firing, enhanced antidromic or synaptic responsiveness, associated with shorter periods of inhibition in type I (pyramidal tract, cortico-thalamic and cortico-pontine) cells during W versus significantly decreased frequencies of spontaneous discharge and depression of synaptically elicited reponses of type II cells during W compared to S. These findings are partly explained on the basis of recent iontophoretic studies showing that acetylcholine, viewed as a synaptic transmitter of the arousal system, excites output-type neurons and inhibits high-frequency bursting cells. Comparing W and S to the deepest stage of sleep with desynchronized EEG activity (D) in type I and type II cells revealed that: (a) the increased firing rates of output cells in D, over those in W and S, is substantially due to a tonic excitation during this state, and rapid eye movements (REMs) only contribute to the further increase of discharge frequencies; (b) in contrast, the increased rates of discharge in interneurons during D is entirely ascribable to REM-related firing. On the basis of experiments reporting that increased duration of D has beneficial effects upon retention of information acquired during W, the suggestion is made that increased firing rates of association cortical interneurons during REM epochs of D sleep are an important factor in maintaining the soundness of a memory trace.
Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?
Authors: Premack David , Woodruff Guy
Published: February 2010

An individual has a theory of mind if he imputes mental states to himself and others. A system of inferences of this kind is properly viewed as a theory because such states are not directly observable, and the system can be used to make predictions about the behavior of others. As to the mental states the chimpanzee may infer, consider those inferred by our own species, for example, purpose or intention, as well as knowledge, belief, thinking, doubt, guessing, pretending, liking, and so forth. To determine whether or not the chimpanzee infers states of this kind, we showed an adult chimpanzee a series of videotaped scenes of a human actor struggling with a variety of problems. Some problems were simple, involving inaccessible food – bananas vertically or horizontally out of reach, behind a box, and so forth – as in the original Kohler problems; others were more complex, involving an actor unable to extricate himself from a locked cage, shivering because of a malfunctioning heater, or unable to play a phonograph because it was unplugged. With each videotape the chimpanzee was given several photographs, one a solution to the problem, such as a stick for the inaccessible bananas, a key for the locked up actor, a lit wick for the malfunctioning heater. The chimpanzee's consistent choice of the correct photographs can be understood by assuming that the animal recognized the videotape as representing a problem, understood the actor's purpose, and chose alternatives compatible with that purpose.
Linguistically mediated tool use and exchange by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Authors: Savage-Rumbaugh E. Sue , Rumbaugh Duane M. , Boysen Sally
Published: February 2010

Two chimpanzees have demonstrated the ability to learn to use graphic symbols to ask one another for tools needed to obtain food. The chimps readily attended to and complied with one another's requests by selecting the appropriate tool from six distinct alternatives. They then shared the food obtained by this means and readily reversed the roles of tool requester and tool provider. Their joint accuracy was 92%, even when human experimenters were absent from the room. When they were prevented from using the graphic system (by deactivation of their keyboards), joint accuracy dropped to 10%, even though the animals could still see and hear one another and could gesture or vocalize freely. The acquisition of tool names revealed that words are at first closely and concretely linked to function, and hence that the traditional object-naming paradigm alone is a comparatively difficult starting point for the chimpanzee.

This work has demonstrated that two chimpanzees have been able to comprehend the symbolic and communicative function of the symbols they use. The results raise questions concerning chimpanzee research employing other kinds of symbolic communication systems. Apparently there is little evidence, apart from anecdote or uncontrolled tests, demonstrating that either Washoe or Sarah (chimps in other investigator's projects) has fully comprehended the symbolic nature and the communicative potential of their respective gestural and graphic token symbol systems.
‘A Woman's Kingdom’: Minister of Culture Furtseva and Censorship in the Post-Stalinist Russian Theatre
Authors: Senelick Laurence
Published: February 2010

The late 1960s and early 1970s are known as a period of rebellion and turbulence in the Soviet Russian theatre. Dynamic directors such as Georgy Tovstonogov, Anatoly Efros, Oleg Efremov, and Yury Lyubimov, with varying degrees of acceptance by the authorities, revolutionized the staging of classics and inspired a number of new works based on the realities of everyday life. Less well known is that this activity took place during the regime of Elena Furtseva (1910–74), first as a member of the Presidium, then as Minister of Culture. Furtseva is a paradoxical figure: the very model of a line-toeing Party member, she also used her femininity to advance her career. Uncultivated in the arts and ruled by her personal taste, she alternately bullied and coddled the artists she was supposed to control. Although Furtseva's influence was ever present from the Khrushchev era to the early Brezhnev years, she is rarely mentioned in Western accounts of Soviet theatre, and this sketch of her career is the first in English. The author, Laurence Senelick, is Fletcher Professor of Drama and Oratory at Tufts University. His books include The Chekhov Theatre: a Century of Plays in Performance (1997) and A Historical Dictionary of Russian Theatre (2007). Several of his articles have appeared in Theatre Quarterly and New Theatre Quarterly, the most recent being an article on Michael Chekhov in NTQ 99.
Narrative Role-Play in Twentieth-Century German Cabaret and Political ‘Song Theatre’
Authors: Robb David
Published: February 2010

One of the most creative communicative strategies of German twentieth-century political song has been narrative role-play. From the songs of Kurt Tucholsky and Walter Mehring in Weimar cabaret during the 1920s to the dramatic monologues of Franz Josef Degenhardt in the 1960s and beyond, singers have assumed identifiable roles to parody the language, mannerisms, and characteristics of known establishment social types. Role play has also been evident in the narrative identities constructed by singers and performers, either by means of literary association or by association with certain political ideas or stances, as in the case of Ernst Busch embodying the proletarian worker. This article examines different types of role-play, including that of Hans-Eckard Wenzel and Steffen Mensching who, in their 1980s performances, assumed the ironic masks of clowns, with which they projected an alternative ‘carnival’ vision of society in the German Democratic Republic. David Robb is Senior Lecturer in German at Queen's University of Belfast. He is an experienced songwriter and performing musician, the author of Zwei Clowns im Lande des verlorenen Lachens: das Liedertheater Wenzel & Mensching (1998) and the editor of Protest Song in East and West Germany since the 1960s (2007).
Theatre in Britain during the Second World War
Authors: Heinrich Anselm
Published: February 2010

In this article Anselm Heinrich argues for a renewed interest in and critical investigation of theatre in Britain during the Second World War, a period neglected by researchers despite the radical changes in the cultural landscape instigated during the war. Concentrating on CEMA (the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts) and the introduction of subsidies, the author discusses and evaluates the importance and effects of state intervention in the arts, with a particular focus on the demands put on theatre and its role in society in relation to propaganda, nation-building, and education. Anselm Heinrich is Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of Entertainment, Education, Propaganda: Regional Theatres in Germany and Britain between 1918 and 1945 (2007), and with Kate Newey and Jeffrey Richards has co-edited a collection of essays on Ruskin, the Theatre, and Victorian Visual Culture (2009). Other research interests include émigrés from Nazi-occupied Europe, contemporary German theatre and drama, and national theatres.
ON THE (UN)-AMBIGUITY OF ADJECTIVAL MODIFICATION IN SPANISH DETERMINER PHRASES
Authors: Rothman Jason , Judy Tiffany , Guijarro-Fuentes Pedro , Pires Acrisio
Published: February 2010

This study contributes to a central debate within contemporary generative second language (L2) theorizing: the extent to which adult learners are (un)able to acquire new functional features that result in a L2 grammar that is mentally structured like the native target (see White, 2003). The adult acquisition of L2 nominal phi-features is explored, with focus on the syntactic and semantic reflexes in the related domain of adjective placement in two experimental groups: English-speaking intermediate (n= 21) and advanced (n= 24) learners of Spanish, as compared to a native-speaker control group (n= 15). Results show that, on some of the tasks, the intermediate L2 learners appear to have acquired the syntactic properties of the Spanish determiner phrase but, on other tasks, to show some delay with the semantic reflexes of prenominal and postnominal adjectives. Crucially, however, our data demonstrate full convergence by all advanced learners and thus provide evidence in contra the predictions of representational deficit accounts (e.g., Hawkins & Chan, 1997; Hawkins & Franceschina, 2004; Hawkins & Hattori, 2006).
CROSSLANGUAGE LEXICAL ACTIVATION
Authors: Qasem Mousa , Foote Rebecca
Published: February 2010

This study tested the predictions of the revised hierarchical (RHM) and morphological decomposition (MDM) models with Arabic-English bilinguals. The RHM (Kroll & Stewart, 1994) predicts that the amount of activation of first language translation equivalents is negatively correlated with second language (L2) proficiency. The MDM (Frost, Forster, & Deutsch, 1997) claims that in nonconcatenative languages, including Arabic, activation spreads by morphological identity rather than orthographic similarity. To test these two models, native speakers of Arabic at two levels of English L2 proficiency completed a translation recognition task. In the critical conditions, the Arabic word was not the correct translation of the English word (shoulder-katif) but was orthographically related (shoulder-kahf“cave”), morphologically related but semantically opaque (shoulder-takaatuf“unity”), or semantically related (shoulder-raqaba“neck”). Results show more morphological- than orthographic-form interference for all participants, in line with the MDM. Contrary to the RHM, however, both proficiency groups experienced interference in the semantic condition as well as in the form conditions.
Drift of large tabular icebergs in response to atmospheric surface pressure gradients, an observational study
Authors: Turnbull Ian D.
Published: February 2010

While ocean current and winds certainly play a major role in guiding the trajectories of free-floating icebergs, the direct effect of atmospheric surface pressure gradients can also have an important influence on the trajectories of large icebergs whose horizontal dimensions are sufficiently great to span synoptic systems. This effect is examined as a way of understanding why icebergs B15A, B15J, B15K, and C16 became “trapped” in a limited region immediately north of Ross Island for a period of several years, without being grounded. This limited region is otherwise flushed annually by summer surface winds and currents; thus the delay of the northward drift of the large icebergs (particularly B15A and B15J) defied expectation. The best explanation for this unexpected iceberg behaviour is that the large volcanic massifs on Ross Island create a quasi-permanent surface pressure anomaly patterned as a dipole, with high pressure in the area upwind of the island (an area appropriately called Windless Bight), and low pressure in the downwind area of the iceberg parking lot. The surface pressure regime experienced by two icebergs B15A and B15K is estimated using Automatic Weather Station observations and Global Positioning System receivers deployed on their surfaces to explain why they remained trapped. Breakdown of the atmospheric pressure gradients allowed them to eventually escape from the region to the north-west.
WDM and Directed Star Arboricity
Authors: AMINI OMID , HAVET FRÉDÉRIC , HUC FLORIAN , THOMASSÉ STÉPHAN
Published: February 2010

A digraph is m-labelled if every arc is labelled by an integer in {1, . . ., m}. Motivated by wavelength assignment for multicasts in optical networks, we introduce and study n-fibre colourings of labelled digraphs. These are colourings of the arcs of D such that at each vertex v, and for each colour α, in(v, α) + out(v, α) ≤ n with in(v, α) the number of arcs coloured α entering v and out(v, α) the number of labels l such that there is at least one arc of label l leaving v and coloured with α. The problem is to find the minimum number of colours λn(D) such that the m-labelled digraph D has an n-fibre colouring. In the particular case when D is 1-labelled, λ1(D) is called the directed star arboricity of D, and is denoted by dst(D). We first show that dst(D) ≤ 2Δ−(D)+1, and conjecture that if Δ−(D) ≥ 2, then dst(D) ≤ 2Δ−(D). We also prove that for a subcubic digraph D, then dst(D) ≤ 3, and that if Δ+(D), Δ−(D) ≤ 2, then dst(D) ≤ 4. Finally, we study λn(m, k) = max{λn(D) | D is m-labelled and Δ−(D) ≤ k}. We show that if m ≥ n, then $\ds \bigl\lceil\frac{m}{n}\bigl\lceil \frac{k}{n}\bigr\rceil + \frac{k}{n} \bigr\rceil\leq \lambda_n(m, k) \leq\bigl\lceil\frac{m}{n}\bigl\lceil \frac{k}{n}\bigr\rceil + \frac{k}{n} \bigr\rceil + C \frac{m^2\log k}{n}$ for some constant C. We conjecture that the lower bound should be the correct value of λn(m, k).
A SELF-REGULAR NEWTON BASED ALGORITHM FOR LINEAR OPTIMIZATION
Authors: SALAHI M.
Published: February 2010

In this paper, using the framework of self-regularity, we propose a hybrid adaptive algorithm for the linear optimization problem. If the current iterates are far from a central path, the algorithm employs a self-regular search direction, otherwise the classical Newton search direction is employed. This feature of the algorithm allows us to prove a worst case iteration bound. Our result matches the best iteration bound obtained by the pure self-regular approach and improves on the worst case iteration bound of the classical algorithm.
Charles Ives at ‘Christo's Gates’
Authors: VON GLAHN DENISE
Published: February 2010

Throughout its 150-year history New York City's Central Park has inspired writers, painters, poets, and musicians. In 1906 Charles Ives was moved by its rich soundscape to compose his orchestral pieceCentral Park in the Dark; nearly one hundred years later, in 2005, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude unfurled 7500 saffron-coloured cloth panels for a sixteen-day installation at the park. Although separated by a century, these artworks appear similarly preoccupied with the construction, manipulation, and perception of nature and place, honouring and celebrating the park as a naturalistic setting, while also acknowledging it as a fabricated entity, shaped by human interactions, and as an ongoing cultural project. The present article suggests parallels between Ives's construction of the park in sound, and ‘Christo's Gates’, as the installation became known – parallels that suggest the continuing resonance of Ives's musical contemplation, as well as the issues that occupied its composer as the Gilded Age gave way to the progressive era.
A Composite Approach to Ives's ‘Cage’
Authors: MURPHY SCOTT
Published: February 2010

Larry Starr's analysis of Charles Ives's ‘The Cage’, in his bookA Union of Diversities, contrasts with most readings of the song in that he focuses on how the points of congruence between the highly dissimilar vocal and piano parts form a ‘powerful unity’. However, he provides no specific analytical method for examining this unity more closely. This study offers one such method for ‘The Cage’, revealing a path within a virtual, bounded space that correlates with some of the syntactic and semantic aspects of the song's text. These syntactic correlations also hold true in a similar passage in Ives's song ‘Majority’.
The Establishment of the Virtual Performance Space in Rock
Authors: MOORE ALLAN F. , DOCKWRAY RUTH
Published: February 2010

Analysis of the spatial elements of popular music recordings can be made by way of the ‘sound-box’, a concept that acknowledges the way sound sources are perceived to exist in four dimensions: laterality, register, prominence, and temporal continuity. By late 1972 producers working across a range of styles and in different geographical locations had adopted a normative positioning of sound sources across these dimensions. In 1965 no such norm existed. This article contextualizes the notion of the sound-box within academic discourse on popular music and explores the methodology employed by a research project that addressed the gradual coming-into-existence of the norm, which the project defined as thediagonal mix. A taxonomy of types of mix is offered, and a chronology of the adoption of the diagonal mix in rock is presented.
Tide gauge and GPS measurements of crustal motion and sea level rise along the eastern margin of Adria
Authors: Buble G. , Bennett R. A. , Hreinsdóttir S.
Published: February 2010

We use observations from tide gauges and colocated continuous GPS (CGPS) stations to investigate crustal deformation and sea level changes along the eastern margin of the Adriatic Sea. We develop a new method to separate common‐mode relative sea level from spatially variable signals. Precise vertical crustal motions determined by CGPS allow us to further separate relative sea level into absolute sea level changes and crustal motions with respect to a local Central Mediterranean–fixed GPS‐defined reference frame. From the tide gauge data, we find fairly uniform relative sea level rise along the coast, with mean rate of 0.84 ± 0.04 mm/yr and weighted RMS variation about this mean of 0.2 mm/yr. This rate is a factor of 2–4 lower than estimates for global average sea level rise. In contrast, vertical motion of coastal rocks determined by CGPS vary appreciably from an average of −1.7 ± 0.4 mm/yr in southern Adria to 0.0 ± 0.4 mm/yr in northern Adria. This difference in crustal motion between the northern and southern regions is independent of our ability to separate sea level from crustal motion, and may be explained by crustal strain associated with an active thrust fault accommodating southern Adria microplate convergence with Eurasia. Enigmatically, the combination of tide gauge and CGPS measurements shows that absolute sea level relative to the GPS‐determined reference frame varies by as much as ∼1.8 mm/yr along the Croatian coast in such a way that the relative sea level remains roughly constant. There are several potential explanations for this result deriving from ocean, atmosphere, and solid Earth dynamics.
Direct measurements of the CO2 flux over the ocean: Development of a novel method
Authors: Prytherch John , Yelland Margaret J. , Pascal Robin W. , Moat Bengamin I. , Skjelvan Ingunn , Neill Craig C.
Published: February 2010

Over the ocean, eddy correlation measurements of the air‐sea CO2 flux obtained with open‐path sensors have typically been an order of magnitude larger than those estimated by other techniques or sensors. It is shown here that this discrepancy is due to cross sensitivity to water vapor fluctuations: a novel correction procedure is demonstrated, tested against an independent data set and proved to be robust. After correction, the observed gas transfer velocities are in reasonable agreement with published values obtained using closed‐path sensors or by tracer techniques. Data from open‐path sensors may now be used for air‐sea CO2 flux estimation, greatly increasing the information available on air‐sea gas transfer velocity.
Self‐consistent modeling of equatorial dawn density depletions with SAMI3
Authors: Huba J. D. , Joyce G. , Krall J. , Siefring C. L. , Bernhardt P. A.
Published: February 2010

Large‐scale, dawn density depletions in the equatorial ionosphere have been observed by instruments on the STPSat1 and CHAMP satellites. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) ionosphere model SAMI3 (Sami3 is Also a Model of the Ionosphere) is used to study this new phenomenon using a self‐consistent electric field. Two empirical Horizontal Wind Models (HWM) are used in the simulation study: HWM93 and HWM07. Dawn density depletions are found using HWM07 but not with HWM93. The cause of the depletions is a post‐midnight enhancement of the eastward electric field that generates an upward plasma drift. This drift lifts low density plasma to high altitudes (i.e., ∼600 km). We compare our model results to remote sensing data and to in situ satellite data.
A robust increase in the eddy length scale in the simulation of future climates
Authors: Kidston J. , Dean S. M. , Renwick J. A. , Vallis G. K.
Published: February 2010

Output from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Phase 3 are analysed. It is shown that for the ‘A2’ business as usual scenario, every model exhibits an increase in the eddy length scale in the future compared with the simulation of 20th Century climate. The increase in length scale is on the order of 5% by the end of the 21st century, and the Southern Hemisphere exhibits a larger increase than the Northern Hemisphere. The inter‐model variability in the increase in the eddy length scale is correlated with the variability in the increase in dry static stability at 700 hPa. Inspection of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data indicates that the eddy length scale in the Southern Hemisphere may have increased in recent decades.