bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Receptive and Expressive Prosodic Ability in Children With High-Functioning Autism
Authors: Peppé Susan , McCann Joanne , Gibbon Fiona , O’Hare Anne , Rutherford Marion
Published: August 2007

Purpose

This study aimed to identify the nature and extent of receptive and expressive prosodic deficits in children with high-functioning autism (HFA).

Method

Thirty-one children with HFA, 72 typically developing controls matched on verbal mental age, and 33 adults with normal speech completed the prosody assessment procedure, Profiling Elements of Prosodic Systems in Children.

Results

Children with HFA performed significantly less well than controls on 11 of 12 prosody tasks (
p
< .005). Receptive prosodic skills showed a strong correlation (
p
< .01) with verbal mental age in both groups, and to a lesser extent with expressive prosodic skills. Receptive prosodic scores also correlated with expressive prosody scores, particularly in grammatical prosodic functions. Prosodic development in the HFA group appeared to be delayed in many aspects of prosody and deviant in some. Adults showed near-ceiling scores in all tasks.

Conclusions

The study demonstrates that receptive and expressive prosodic skills are closely associated in HFA. Receptive prosodic skills would be an appropriate focus for clinical intervention, and further investigation of prosody and the relationship between prosody and social skills is warranted.
Relations Among Socioeconomic Status, Age, and Predictors of Phonological Awareness
Authors: McDowell Kimberly D. , Lonigan Christopher J. , Goldstein Howard
Published: August 2007

Purpose

This study simultaneously examined predictors of phonological awareness within the framework of 2 theories: the phonological distinctness hypothesis and the lexical restructuring model. Additionally, age as a moderator of the relations between predictor variables and phonological awareness was examined.

Method

This cross-sectional quantitative study included a total of 700 participants between 2 and 5 years of age. Participants were identified as being from homes of lower or higher socioeconomic status (SES) based on preschool funding source, and they completed 2 measures of vocabulary, 8 measures of phonological awareness, and 2 measures of speech sound accuracy.

Results

Results indicate that SES, age, speech sound accuracy, and vocabulary each contributed unique variance to the prediction of phonological awareness. Age amplified the relations between speech sound accuracy and phonological awareness and between SES and phonological awareness but not between vocabulary and phonological awareness.

Conclusion

The current study provides further support for both the phonological distinctness hypothesis and the lexical restructuring model. Additionally, this study provides novel information regarding the role that age plays in the prediction models. Specifically, the effects of SES and speech sound accuracy on phonological awareness were amplified by age.
A Performance Curve for Assessing Change in Percentage of Consonants Correct–Revised (PCC-R)
Authors: Campbell Thomas F. , Dollaghan Christine , Janosky Janine E. , Adelson P. David
Published: August 2007

Purpose

Interpreting the rapidly changing speech skills of young children recovering from neurological injury is difficult because developmental expectations are generally available only at relatively lengthy intervals (e.g., 6 or 12 months). In this research note, the authors describe the process of generating a Percentage of Consonants Correct–Revised (PCC-R; L. D. Shriberg, D. Austin, B. A. Lewis, J. L. McSweeny, & D. L. Wilson, 1997a) performance curve and illustrate some of its applications for assessing change in performance over time.

Method

The authors compiled mean PCC-R scores from 16 samples of typically developing children (18–172 months) and used curve fitting to test more than 11,000 statistical models of monthly growth in PCC-R. They selected a parsimonious and developmentally plausible model with
R

2

= .9839 (
p
< .0005) and used it to generate the PCC-R, standard deviation, and standard error expected at each monthly age.

Results

The PCC-R performance curve distinguished among 65 children (37–57 months of age) diagnosed independently with normal or disordered speech with a high degree of success. More important, the PCC-R performance curve can be used to identify the points at which children (18–172 months) recovering from neurological injury achieve normal-range consonant production.

Conclusion

The curve-fitting approach holds promise as a means of interpreting temporal variations in speech production at a finer grain than existing normative data currently allow.
Molecular simulation of pressure-driven fluid flow in nanoporous membranes
Authors: Takaba Hiromitsu , Onumata Yasushi , Nakao Shin-ichi
Published: August 2007

An extended nonequilibrium molecular dynamics technique has been developed to investigate the transport properties of pressure-driven fluid flow in thin nanoporous membranes. Our simulation technique allows the simulation of the pressure-driven permeation of liquids through membranes while keeping a constant driving pressure using fluctuating walls. The flow of argon in the liquid state was simulated on applying an external pressure difference of 2.4×106Pa through the slitlike and cylindrical pores. The volume flux and velocity distribution in the membrane pores were examined as a function of pore size, along with the interaction with the pore walls, and these were compared with values estimated using the Hagen-Poiseuille flow. The calculated velocity strongly depends on the strength of the interaction between the fluid and the atoms in the wall when the pore size is approximately <20σ. The calculated volume flux also shows a dependence on the interaction between the fluid and the atoms in the wall. The Hagen-Poiseuille law overestimates or underestimates the flux depending on the interaction. From the analysis of calculated results, a good linear correlation between the density of the fluid in the membrane pores and the deviation of the flux estimated from the Hagen-Poiseuille flow was found. This suggests that the flux deviation in nanopore from the Hagen-Poiseuille flow can be predicted based on the fluid density in the pores.
Experimental studies of labyrinthine instabilities of miscible ferrofluids in a Hele-Shaw cell
Authors: Wen C.-Y. , Chen Ching-Yao , Kuan D.-C.
Published: August 2007

The first systematic experimental studies on the labyrinthine instabilities of miscible ferrofluids in a Hele-Shaw cell are presented. Two distinct features of instabilities are observed: (i) the miscible labyrinthine fingers caused by the magnetic dipolar forces; (ii) the secondary waves dominated by the third-dimensional effects. Prominence of the labyrinthine fingers is confirmed to be affected significantly by both the magnetic field strength and the cell gap width. On the other hand, wave selection of the secondary wave numbers is mainly dominated by the gap width. The characteristic wavelength λ of the secondary waves follows a nearly linear correlation with the gap width h, which is consistent with earlier findings on the viscous fingering instability. The wavelength can be approximated as λ≈(7±1)h.
New integrable hierarchy, its parametric solutions, cuspons, one-peak solitons, and M/W-shape peak solitons
Authors: Qiao Zhijun
Published: August 2007

In this paper, we propose a new completely integrable hierarchy. Particularly in the hierarchy we draw two new soliton equations: (1) mt=12(1∕m2)xxx−12(1∕m2)x; (2) mt+mx(u2−ux2)+2m2ux=0, m=u−uxx. The first one is the second positive member in the hierarchy while the second one is the second negative member in the hierarchy. Both equations can be derived from the two-dimensional Euler equation by using the approximation procedure. All equations in the hierarchy are proven to have bi-Hamiltonian operators and Lax pairs through solving a crucial matrix equation. Moreover, we develop parametric solutions of the entire hierarchy through constructing two kinds of constraints; one is for all negative members of the hierarchy on a symplectic submanifold, and the other is for all positive members in the standard symplectic space. The most interesting things are both equations possess new type of peaked solitons—continuous and piecewise smooth “W-/M-shape peak” soliton solutions. In addition, we find new cusp solitons—cuspons for the second equation and one-single-peak solitons for the first—which are also continuous and piecewise smooth but not in the regular type ce−∣x−ct∣ (c is a constant).
Finite temperature Casimir effect for a massless fractional Klein-Gordon field with fractional Neumann conditions
Authors: Eab C. H. , Lim S. C. , Teo L. P.
Published: August 2007

This paper studies the Casimir effect due to fractional massless Klein-Gordon field confined to parallel plates. A new kind of boundary condition called fractional Neumann condition which involves vanishing fractional derivatives of the field is introduced. The fractional Neumann condition allows the interpolation of Dirichlet and Neumann conditions imposed on the two plates. There exists a transition value in the difference between the orders of the fractional Neumann conditions for which the Casimir force changes from attractive to repulsive. Low and high temperature limits of Casimir energy and pressure are obtained. For sufficiently high temperature, these quantities are dominated by terms independent of the boundary conditions. Finally, validity of the temperature inversion symmetry for various boundary conditions is discussed.
Piezo-photovoltaic coupling in CdS-based thin-film photovoltaics
Authors: Mitra M. , Drayton J. , Cooray M. L. C. , Karpov V. G. , Shvydka Diana
Published: August 2007

We report a summary of our recent study of piezo- and pyroelectricity in CdS-based photovoltaics including CdTe and CuIn(Ga)Se2 absorber devices. The strong pyro- and piezo-effects in CdS significantly affect the electric field distribution and the physics of device operations. We introduce the concept of pyro-photovoltaic coupling where the photovoltaic effect and the CdS polarization strongly depend on each other. Our quantitative modeling shows that the CdS polarization turns out to be beneficial for photovoltaic technology, making it more forgiving. Three experimental setups utilized in our work were aimed at exerting mechanical stresses corresponding to the device squeezing, bending, and flexing; we used the substrate, superstrate, and flexible substrate structures. Our understanding points at previously unexplored venues in thin-film photovoltaic technology.
Structural properties of reactively sputtered W–Si–N thin films
Authors: Vomiero A. , Boscolo Marchi E. , Quaranta A. , Della Mea G. , Brusa R. S. , Mariotto G. , Felisari L. , Frabboni S. , Tonini R. , Ottaviani G. , Mattei G. , Scandurra A. , Puglisi O.
Published: August 2007

Tungsten-silicon-nitrogen, W–Si–N, ternary thin films have been reactively sputter deposited from W5Si3 and WSi2 targets using several nitrogen partial pressures. The films have been thermal annealed in the 600–1000°C temperature range and a wide region of the W–Si–N ternary phase diagram has been explored by changing the N2∕Ar ratio during the deposition. Multitechnique approach was adopted for the analysis of the samples. Composition has been determined via ion beam analysis; chemical states were investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); crystalline structure was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) and surface morphology by scanning electron microscope. The films deposited in pure argon atmosphere are tungsten rich and approach the target contents as N2∕Ar ratio is varied during deposition. Tungsten enrichment in the films is caused by resputtering of silicon which can be inhibited by the formation of silicon nitride, allowing films with Si∕W ratio closer to the target compositions. The higher capability to form nitrides with silicon than with tungsten favors enhancement of nitrogen content in samples deposited from the silicon rich target (WSi2). The samples with excess nitrogen content have shown losses of this element after thermal treatment. XPS measurements show a break of W–N bonds caused by thermal instability of tungsten nitrides. TEM and XRD revealed the segregation of tungsten in form of metallic or silicide nanoclusters in samples with low nitrogen content (W58Si21N21 and W24Si42N34). High amounts of nitrogen were revealed to be highly effective in inhibiting metallic cluster coalescence. Measurements of electrical resistivity of as deposited films were performed using four point probe technique. They were found to lie in the range between 0.4 and 79mΩcm depending on sample composition.
Room-temperature ferromagnetism in n-type Cu-doped ZnO thin films
Authors: Hou D. L. , Ye X. J. , Zhao X. Y. , Meng H. J. , Zhou H. J. , Li X. L. , Zhen C. M.
Published: August 2007

A series of n-type Cu-doped ZnO thin films was prepared by magnetron sputtering. Such films have shown ferromagnetic properties at room temperature. The Cu ion is in a univalent state as identified by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The moment per Cu ion decreases as the Cu concentration increases. The largest moment about 0.52 μB∕Cu was observed for Zn0.95Cu0.05O thin film. The Curie temperature about 360 K was observed for Zn0.95Cu0.05O:N film. To explore the relationship between ferromagnetism and carrier density, nitrogen was introduced into the samples which resulted magnetization and the transition temperature decreasing. These results indicate that the electron density plays an important role in ferromagnetism.
Top-pinned soft magnetic underlayer with nano- or oriented-crystalline structure fabricated by electroless plating
Authors: Hashimoto Atsushi , Saito Shin , Takahashi Migaku , Mukai Nobuaki
Published: August 2007

To suppress both spike noise and wide adjacent track erasure for perpendicular recording media, we have proposed a soft magnetic underlayer (SUL) with the top-type pinning structure, which consists of a soft magnetic layer fabricated by plating and an antiferromagnetic layer deposited by sputtering, on an Al/NiP substrate (top-pinned plated SUL). To realize this concept, plated NiFe layers with random nano-crystalline structure and with (111) sheet texture were achieved using suitable reducers in electroless plating. Magnetic domain structures inside the whole disk for the top-pinned plated SUL prepared under various field-cool conditions reveal that the thermal stability of a single-domain state can be maintained over 130 °C even for a small antiferromagnetic layer thickness of 5 nm.
Correlation between Mn oxidation state and magnetic behavior in Mn/ZnO multilayers prepared by sputtering
Authors: Céspedes E. , Garcia-Lopez J. , García-Hernández M. , de Andrés A. , Prieto C.
Published: August 2007

Compositional, microstructural, and magnetic characterization of [ZnO(30 Å)/Mn(x)]n multilayers prepared by sputtering is presented to study the observed ferromagnetism in the Mn-ZnO system. The nominal Mn layer thickness, x, is varied from 3 to 60 Å, while the number of bilayers, n, is increased to maintain the total amount of Mn constant. Microstructure information was deduced from x-ray reflectivity, Mn oxidation state was determined by x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and magnetic properties were measured over a temperature range of 5–400 K. Magnetic behavior of these samples is found to be related to the Mn layer thickness (x). Multilayers with x≥30 Å exhibit ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature above 400 K, while mostly paramagnetic behavior is obtained for x<15 Å. Magnetic behavior is discussed in terms of electronic and structural parameters of samples. Mn-ZnO interface effect is related to the ferromagnetic order of the samples, but it is not a sufficient condition. The essential role of the Mn oxidation state in the magnetic behavior of this system is pointed out. It is shown a correlation between the obtained ferromagnetism and a Mn oxidation state close to 2+.
V
O
2
films with strong semiconductor to metal phase transition prepared by the precursor oxidation process
Authors: Gurvitch M. , Luryi S. , Polyakov A. , Shabalov A. , Dudley M. , Wang G. , Ge S. , Yakovlev V.
Published: August 2007

We describe a relatively simple, reliable, and reproducible preparation technique, the precursor oxidation process, for making VO2 films with strong semiconductor-to-metal phase transition. Sputter-deposited metal precursor V films were oxidized in situ in the deposition chamber for 2.5–7h at 370–415°C in 0.2Torr O2 to form 22–220nm VO2. The strength [resistivity ratio, RR=ρS∕ρM] and sharpness (hysteresis width ΔTC) of T-dependent semiconductor-to-metal hysteretic phase transition in VO2 were our most immediate and relevant quality indicators. In 200-nm-range films, the process was optimized to yield RR=(1–2)×103, ΔTC∼11°C and absolute resistivity in a semiconducting phase ρS=0.4±0.2Ωm, close to resistivity in bulk single crystals of VO2. Films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy, and found to be polycrystalline single-phase VO2. We also measured optical reflectivity RT(λ) from 200to1100nm, and Rλ(T) from 20to100°C. RT(λ) measured in thin-film interference structures allowed us to calculate the index of refraction in the two phases, which agrees well with the published data and, together with structural measurements, confirms that our films are essentially pure VO2. The limited study of these films in terms of stability, aging, lithographic processing, and thermal cycling shows that they can be used in applications.
Spin-polarized transport of electrons from polycrystalline Fe3O4 to amorphous Si
Authors: Zhao L. B. , Mi W. B. , Jiang E. Y. , Bai H. L.
Published: August 2007

Polycrystalline Fe3O4∕amorphous Si heterostructure was prepared by facing-target sputtering and its microstructure and electrical transport properties were studied. The polycrystalline Fe3O4 layer was grown in column structure. The electrical transport mechanism across the disordered interface between polycrystalline Fe3O4 and amorphous Si layers is tunneling above the Verwey temperature [Nature (London) 144, 327 (1939)] of 120K. Nonlinear I-V characteristics of the Schottky diode reveal thermionic emission∕diffusion mechanism below the Verwey temperature, and Schottky barrier height is 0.27eV, calculated by a standard theory of thermionic emission∕diffusion. Based on a simplified band structure, the spin polarization of the polycrystalline Fe3O4 layer was determined to be ∼45%.
Plastic flow in bulk metallic glasses: Effect of strain rate
Authors: Yang Fuqian
Published: August 2007

An analysis is presented for the onset of plastic deformation in bulk metallic glasses. It is based on the hyperbolic sine flow law and the introduction of a parameter describing the density of flow units over shear plane. The resistance to the onset of the plastic flow in bulk metallic glasses is found to follow the Mohr-Coulomb-like dependence on effective normal stress and depend on strain rate. A semianalytical relation is established between the nominal serrated size and the serrated stress for serrated flow present in uniaxial tests when subjected to constant strain rates. The analysis is in good accord with experimental results reported in literature.
Exile Meets Homeland: Politics, Performance, and Authenticity in the Tibetan Diaspora
Authors: Yeh Emily T
Published: August 2007

Tibetans are often imagined as authentic, pure, and geographically undifferentiated, but Tibetan identity formation is, in fact, varied and deeply inflected by national location and transnational trajectories. In this paper I examine the frictions of encounter between three groups of Tibetans who arrived in the USA around the same time, but who differ in their relationships to the homeland. The numerically dominant group consists of refugees who left Tibet in 1959 and of exiles born in South Asia; second are Tibetans who left Tibet after the 1980s for India and Nepal; and third are those whose routes have taken them from Tibet directly to the United States. Whereas the cultural authority claimed by long-term exiles derives from the notion of preserving tradition outside of Tibet, that of Tibetans from Tibet is based on their embodied knowledge of the actual place of the homeland. Their struggles over authenticity, which play out in everyday practices such as language use and embodied reactions to staged performances of ‘traditional culture’, call for an understanding of diaspora without guarantees. In this paper I use habitus as an analytic for exploring the ways in which identity is inscribed on and read off of bodies, and the political stakes of everyday practices that produce fractures and fault lines.
The Space between Us: Opening Remarks on the Concept of Dwelling
Authors: Harrison Paul
Published: August 2007

Somewhat surprisingly the concept of dwelling remains largely unconsidered within contemporary geographical thought. Despite signs of a renewed interest in the term it remains all but bereft of a sustained critical appraisal and as a consequence firmly tied to the name and writing of Martin Heidegger. The aim of this paper is to begin to open the concept up beyond this attachment and to provide a rationale for its reassessment. Through a double reading of dwelling, once via Heidegger and again via Emmanuel Levinas, I offer a twofold consideration of how the concept can be assembled, orientated, and organised. Where Heidegger organises and articulates the concept around an enclosed figure being-at-home-in-the-world for Levinas dwelling gains its significance from a constitutive openness to the incoming of the other. These are two accounts, then, which differ radically in their apprehension of the concept and in the unfolding of its implications but which agree on the central importance of the concept in the determination, figuring, and phrasing of subjectivity, sociality, and signification. Ultimately, what emerges from these opening remarks is a depiction of two attempts to make thought respond to and reckon with the event of space: two attempts to bring to thought the space between us.
The NGOization of Space: Dilemmas of Social Change, Planning Policy, and the Israeli Public Sphere
Authors: Yacobi Haim
Published: August 2007

This paper offers a critical analysis of the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that deal with planning policy in general and in Israel in particular. The inherent dilemmas of the different NGOs' tactics and strategies in reshaping the public sphere are examined, based on a critical reading of Habermas's conceptualization of the public sphere. The main objective of this paper is to investigate to what extent, and under which conditions, the NGOization of space—that is, the growing number of nongovernmental actors that deal with the production of space both politically and tangibly—has been able to achieve strategic goals which may lead towards social change.
Indicators as a Governmental Technology? The Lessons of Community-Based Sustainability Indicator Projects
Authors: Rydin Yvonne
Published: August 2007

There has been much interest in the neo-Foucauldian framework of governmentality as a way of understanding contemporary policy processes. In this paper I examine evidence from a case study of local sustainability indicators in the light of this framework. The role of indicators as a potential governmental technology is addressed, covering issues of their ability to objectify sustainability the scope for altered subjectivities, their positioning within central–local government relations, and the construction and responsibilisation of communities, particularly in urban regeneration contexts. I conclude that the use of indicators at the community level may tell us more about central–local relations within contemporary governance than about the construction of subjects and objects to enable governance with regard to sustainable development.
Primary cilia mediate mechanosensing in bone cells by a calcium-independent mechanism
Authors: Malone Amanda M. D. , Anderson Charles T. , Tummala Padmaja , Kwon Ronald Y. , Johnston Tyler R. , Stearns Tim , Jacobs Christopher R.
Published: August 2007

Primary cilia are sensory organelles that translate extracellular chemical and mechanical cues into cellular responses. Bone is an exquisitely mechanosensitive organ, and its homeostasis depends on the ability of bone cells to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. One such stimulus is dynamic fluid flow, which triggers biochemical and transcriptional changes in bone cells by an unknown mechanism. Here we report that bone cells possess primary cilia that project from the cell surface and deflect during fluid flow and that these primary cilia are required for osteogenic and bone resorptive responses to dynamic fluid flow. We also show that, unlike in kidney cells, primary cilia in bone translate fluid flow into cellular responses in bone cells independently of Ca
2+
flux and stretch-activated ion channels. These results suggest that primary cilia might regulate homeostasis in diverse tissues by allowing mechanical signals to alter cellular activity via tissue-specific pathways. Our identification of a mechanism for mechanotransduction in bone could lead to therapeutic approaches for combating bone loss due to osteoporosis and disuse.
Decreased expression of Krüppel-like factors in memory B cells induces the rapid response typical of secondary antibody responses
Authors: Good Kim L. , Tangye Stuart G.
Published: August 2007

Secondary antibody responses are characterized by the rapid kinetics of the responding cells, including the production of larger amounts of serum Ig compared with the primary response. Memory B cells, which are responsible for this phenomenon, undergo greater proliferation and differentiation into Ig-secreting plasma cells than naïve B cells. We have found that memory cells rapidly enter cell division, irrespective of extrinsic stimuli. Microarray analysis of human splenic B cells revealed that naïve cells express higher levels than memory B cells ofKrüppel-like factor(KLF)4,KLF9, andpromyelocytic leukemia zinc finger(PLZF), transcription factors important in maintaining cellular quiescence. These genes were down-regulated after activation through CD40 and the B cell receptor. Enforced expression ofKLF4,KLF9, andPLZFin memory B cells delayed their entry into division and reduced the number of proliferating cells, such that the behavior of transfected memory cells resembled that of naïve B cells. Thus, the accelerated response of memory B cells correlates with reduced expression of KLF4, KLF9, and PLZF and the subsequent regulatory effects they exert on the cell cycle.
Ionization chambers
Authors: Schrader H
Published: August 2007

The equipment, working principles, performance and disturbing effects of re-entrant (or 4π) pressurized ionization-chamber measuring systems for activity determinations of photon-emitting radionuclide sources are described. Important features of these systems are the measuring geometry—generally reproducible and repeatable, ‘stable’ measurement conditions and instrument response, in particular linearity with varying activity. Properties of the current-measuring electronics are also considered. Basic equations for instrument calibrations and related uncertainties are given. A few applications, particularly half-life measurements, are represented. Finally, the bibliography of publications during the past ten years is reviewed.
Low-level gamma-ray spectrometry using Ge-detectors
Authors: Hult Mikael
Published: August 2007

The technological advances that have taken place during the past 45 years in the fabrication of high purity germanium crystals have had a significant impact on low-level gamma-ray spectrometry. Today, Ge-detectors with high purity Ge-crystals of 2 kg are readily available and detectors with crystals up to 5 kg can be produced. Use of large area crystals results in high detection efficiencies, which can serve to reduce detection limits or to make faster measurements of low activity samples possible. The second major development that has contributed to lowering detection limits has been research on identifying and reducing the background components in gamma-ray spectrometry systems. This paper deals with the major technical factors affecting the performance of low-background HPGe-detectors and provides an overview of the major areas of application.
A periodic pattern of SNPs in the human genome
Authors: Madsen Bo Eskerod , Villesen Palle , Wiuf Carsten
Published: August 2007

By surveying a filtered, high-quality set of SNPs in the human genome, we have found that SNPs positioned 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 bp apart are more frequent than SNPs positioned 3, 5, 7, or 9 bp apart. The observed pattern is not restricted to genomic regions that are known to cause sequencing or alignment errors, for example, transposable elements (SINE, LINE, and LTR), tandem repeats, and large duplicated regions. However, we found that the pattern is almost entirely confined to what we define as “periodic DNA.” Periodic DNA is a genomic region with a high degree of periodicity in nucleotide usage. It turned out that periodic DNA is mainly small regions (average length 16.9 bp), widely distributed in the genome. Furthermore, periodic DNA has a 1.8 times higher SNP density than the rest of the genome and SNPs inside periodic DNA have a significantly higher genotyping error rate than SNPs outside periodic DNA. Our results suggest that not all SNPs in the human genome are created by independent single nucleotide mutations, and that care should be taken in analysis of SNPs from periodic DNA. The latter may have important consequences for SNP and association studies.
French Christianity
Authors: Bernanos Georges
Published: August 2007

The more I get on in years, the more certain I am that a Christian is nothing without Christ, even from a purely human point of view; that the unimaginable gift, which we have received without having in any way deserved, has this terrible counterpart that in betraying it we fall lower than the most inferior men, becoming monsters in the etymological sense of the word. If Christians felt this fearful truth profoundly they would no longer be tempted to despise the sceptics and to divide mankind into two parts, the Good and the Bad, placing themselves, of course, among the former. They would understand that the amazing privilege which has been bestowed upon them forbids them setting themselves up too easily as judges of those to whom it has been denied. They would especially refrain from having those disinherited brothers butchered by machine-guns, on the excuse of honouring Good, and of suffering with Christ on the Cross.

The great unhappiness of this world, the great tragedy of this world is not that there are atheists, but that we are such indifferent Christians; for I am more and more convinced that it is we who are sending the world to perdition, that it is we who are attracting to it the lightning of the Wrath of God. What a folly to pretend to justify ourselves by proudly boasting that we alone are in possession of the truth, of the whole and living truth, of the kind which can liberate and save, while it remains impotent in our hands, or while we remain pitifully on the defensive behind a sort of Maginot line spiked high with prohibitions and inhibitions, as if we had nothing better to do than to guard the Law, whereas our natural and spiritual vocation is to fulfil it.
‘The Great Pity’ of France
Authors: Norman George
Published: August 2007

Maurice Barrés, that great Frenchman whom the Church buried as a Catholic although he had not officially returned to her fold, had written of ‘The Great Pity of the churches of France.’ It was at the time of Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes’s iniquitous anti-clerical laws for which France is paying with her heart’s blood to-day.

How many Catholic hearts are now again aching for the great pity of the Church of France ! Not that, as yet, the iron heel of anti-Christ is pressed home on that Church. Hitler has had, so far, to restrain the tactics of open persecution so long followed in Catholic Germany and that have reached their unashamedly sadistic peak in Poland. But it seems as if the great Catholic renaissance operative in all ranks, those of the intelligenzia and of Labour alike, had availed nothing for the salvation of Church or country.
Canon Law in the Church of England
Authors: Pilkington Ronald
Published: August 2007

The newspapers, some months ago, announced and commented on the proposal to revise the canon law of the Church of England, and a handsome volume was produced by the Commission appointed in 1939 by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. It was published by the S.P.C.K. in 1947, and contains, together with a number of very scholarly introductory articles, the draft of a proposed scheme of ‘The constitutions and canons ecclesiastical of the Church of England, 194—, with annotations’.

This publication is of the greatest interest, not only to members of the Church of England, but to all students of canon law, who cannot but welcome the perfecting of ecclesiastical discipline, wherever it may be, and the reading of these proposed canons will most certainly evoke in every canonist’s breast sentiments of sincere admiration, of puzzled wonder, or of charitable disapproval, as the case may be. Therefore, it should cause no offence if, in a review like Blackfriars, we take the liberty of putting on paper some observations which it has occurred to us to make when running through this interesting document. This we do in no spirit of carping criticism, but with the sincere desire of contributing something objective, and possibly constructive, to this important undertaking.
History and the Catholic Student
Authors: Nicholl Donald
Published: August 2007

There are few places in England where it is so easy to lose events as it is in Oxford; and there are few times in Oxford when it is so easy for events to be washed over by the term as in summer, when the river and the parks claim all who have not already been absorbed into political meetings or into polite afternoon tea with the man one knew in Colombo and whom one expected—even, possibly, hoped—never to see again. Yet there is one event, in particular, which it would be well to rescue from the spate of term’s activities, for in it were embodied many of the virtues which our own age has neglected, the virtues of stabilitas, of patience and of the unhurried building for a time beyond the span of our own individual lives. We refer to three farewell lectures delivered by the Regius Professor of Modern History, Powicke, in which he dealt with the movements in the Oxford history school over the fifty years of his association with it.

There was much in the lectures of direct and immediate interest to the Catholic student—even to those who did not sit on the south side of Balliol hall, and were thus unable to let their gaze wander occasionally to where the late afternoon sun lit up the portrait of Manning, giving a radiance to the ascetic countenance of the Cardinal, whose benediction, it is not entirely fanciful to suppose, was granted both to the lecturer and to his audience.
The Liturgical Movement: Right and Wrong Directions—II
Authors: Cloud Duncan
Published: August 2007

In my first article I offered some reasons for thinking that the concept of modelling modern liturgies on some pattern formed in the distant past is one which has begun to outlive its usefulness. However, if we turn from Rome and the documents produced by the Consilium there to the actual areas of concern or experiment, we find a potentially far more fruitful situation. Two groups of people seem to be most interested in the changing shape of liturgy: those who love the Roman rite and wish to see it preserved in more or less its present form and those who feel that a new creation is required if we are to have forms of worship apt for the needs of contemporary man. To be sure, the habit of accepting whatever comes from above is ingrained in the Catholic and a large number of the faithful will certainly make the best of whatever is offered liturgically, as they have done in the past, but the two groups I have mentioned are the only ones whose response to liturgical change is not basically passive; each can put up a good case and it is around their needs as worshipping members of the people of God that two types of liturgy will crystallize. Such a polarization is something which we shall have to accept; we must give up the desire to enforce upon all our fellow Catholics a type of worship which at a given moment happens to suit us personally. We must also realize that the two concepts of worship involved are not susceptible of the kind of superficial reconciliation provided by the ICEL translation of the Canon.
The Power for Change in the Church; An Ecumenical Reflection
Authors: Allchin A. M.
Published: August 2007

‘There are, I conceive, two strains of description, by no means obviously identical, yet both alike true, which may be applied to the Papal action as a whole. The Pope, it may be said, adopted in effect no new decision; he only made articulate what the whole previous history and circumstances implied; he only formally expressed as conclusion, what was unmistakably contained, on their most natural interpretation, within the premises. This is true. But that it should be true is the heart of the pathos. It is the very admirableness of the protagonist, it is the moral excellence of his purposes coupled with what seems the inexorableness of a perverse setting of pre-assumptions or pre-conditions, which is the familiar secret of living tragedy. For on the other hand, it would be no less true to pronounce of the Papal action as a whole, that, basing itself upon the lines of a warped continuity of tradition and theory, it re-affirmed every disproportion of the older conception, reemphasized every externalizing and materializing tendency, . . . At a moment singularly rich with possibilities for the future, it made after all no new effort; it saw no glimpse of newly harmonizing or interpretative insight; it simply sank back—as it were exhausted and defeated—within the rigidities which had suited, which perhaps had sufficed for, a cruder and rigider age.’

No, not a rather rhetorical reflection on the events surrounding the publication of Humanae Vitae, simply the reaction of the Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology in the University of Oxford in 1897 to an earlier papal encyclical, Apostolicae Curae.
Adam and Innocence: Two Books from the Catholic New Left
Authors: David Julian
Published: August 2007

The chief moral impact of the Slant group, personally encountered, is that they believe in argument. They believe, with Aquinas, that truth is commensurate with the human intellect, and not, as some believe and most of us half believe, something fundamentally alien to it, approached only through organic imagery, mystery, silence and so on. In practice this means that Slant will argue relentlessly on long after the uncommitted liberal (that ubiquitous figure) has come to a halt, because he has arrived at the edge of his intuition, or is satisfied with some bit of poetic imagery that has floated up, or is merely tired and wants to go to sleep.

Two books from the Slant group illustrate the opposing sides of this enthusiastic belief in the mind. One of them is disastrous; for at its worst it can result in an over-confidence so appalling in its naiveté and so inhuman in its anger that the uncommitted liberal might be forgiven for ceasing to read further. Thus Neil Middleton solemnly points out Descartes’ ‘mistakes’, as if the whole Cartesian experience could be exposed as a false turning in the mind of Descartes. Thus he comments on a not-negligible passage from Catherine of Genoa: ‘although it is possible in this, as in every other case, (my italics) to show how wrong the author is. . . .’
The Intelligible and The Absurd
Authors: Tugwell Simon
Published: August 2007

I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.

e. e. cummings

There are many points of view from which one might enjoy pondering the intelligible and the absurd. I am going to tackle absurdity in three ways: as (a) the residue left in reality after intelligibility has been exhausted; (b) the complement of intelligibility; and (c) as a mode of intelligibility (which is one of the absurdest words in the language, when you come to look at it).

Although no doubt it raises all sorts of problems to talk like this, it does seem that one can meaningfully say that there is a certain intelligibility built into reality. This would appear to be involved in any doctrine of creation, whether Platonist or otherwise.

To start with ‘otherwise’: in English we more naturally talk of people understanding one another, than of understanding nonpersonal objects, trees for instance; as against Platonist thought, where the object of intellection is generally non-personal.

Understanding each other means, let us say, being on each other’s wavelength, speaking the same language, and so on. It has something to do with the old definition of friendship as idem sentire and so on. I see what you mean’ does not merely indicate that I, with my inner eye, perceive your meaning; it also suggests that with my outer eye I see things from your point of view, with your perspective: we share for a while a common vision.
On the Notion of Institution
Authors: Beattie John
Published: August 2007

In his ‘Reflections on the February Editorial’ (New Blackfriars, April, 1967) Father Cornelius Ernst suggested that in the context of ecclesiological analysis the notion of institution should not be restricted to ‘its narrower, governmental sense’ of legitimated offices and procedures which, however initiated, are formally constituted, but might be more usefully employed in the wider sense of the term ‘familiar to sociologists and social anthropologists’. If I have understood him correctly, his argument is that to confine the term to formally ‘instituted’ institutions, while denying it to ways of thought and action which although equally established as usages have not been established formally, is to lend countenance to dubious oppositions between the formal and explicit on the one hand, and the informal and implicit on the other. As an example of such an opposition he cites that between ‘institutional Church’ and ‘persons’. He suggests that if such distinctions as this are taken as expressing fundamental dichotomies, they may entail ‘damaging oversimplification’.

In the context of this interesting theme, a brief and inevitably cursory note by a social anthropologist on some of the ways in which the notions of institution and institutionalization have been used in his field may be of some small value.
Scientific Reactions to ‘Humanae Vitae’: Some preliminary comments and questions
Authors: Hodgson P. E.
Published: August 2007

The evident concern of Pope Paul VI for the sufferings of mankind, his tireless labours for peace, and his willingness to adopt new initiatives have won him admiration and a respectful hearing far beyond the bounds of the Christian communion. The recent encyclical Humanae Vitae has attracted the attention of many scientists, partly because it is relevant to the population problem and partly because it contains a section specifically addressed to them. Many scientific periodicals concerned with science and human affairs have therefore devoted leading editorials to the encyclical, and many other scientists have commented on it in articles and letters.

Scientists are well aware that the population problem has arisen largely as a result of their work. Advances in medical science have decreased infant mortality, eliminated many killer diseases and increased the average life span, so that populations hitherto static or increasing slowly have begun to increase rapidly, thus outrunning available food supplies and leading to widespread poverty and malnutrition. This is an agonizing situation that cannot be ignored and indeed all those who struggle to solve it are following the command of Christ to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty and clothe the naked. Familiar with the properties of the exponential function, scientists know that the only way to solve the problem, and to avert catastrophic famines in the next decades, is to find some way of regulating births. To be effective, the method chosen must be usable by poor, simple and illiterate people.
Authority and Democracy—II
Authors: Hay David
Published: August 2007

A democratic Church? Last month, in the first part of this article, I discussed certain studies on attitudes to authority and the psychological components of such responses. My point was that awareness of the psychological mechanisms which may underly some of the antagonisms in the Church can perhaps help to ameliorate them. There is however a further and more fundamental question to be raised concerning the structure of the institutional Church. On the one hand its hierarchical organization has the advantages of apparent historical continuity, the visible demonstration of unity and the fact that it is congenial to a considerable proportion of its membership, on the other hand its very attractiveness to people of authoritarian personality has its dangers. People so attracted may try to mould it in their own image, as indeed seems so have happened from time to time in history, so that their preoccupations almost reverse the emphasis of Christ’s teaching on the spontaneous exchange of love.

At this point it is worth recalling the outcome of Lewin, Lippitt and White’s experiment, where spontaneous and mature behaviour was a feature of the democratic group rather than the autocratic group. It may seem facile to draw comparisons between the behaviour of groups of small boys and behaviour within vast and complex organizations like the Church. Furthermore, evidence has been cited that the cultural predispositions of some nations and the personality characteristics of some people mean that they may actively prefer the autocratic situation.

However, a lot of evidence has been accumulating in a variety of disciplines to show that in large organizations as well as small,
Liberation and Contemplativity
Authors: Kerr Fergus
Published: August 2007

This is the second stage of an attempt to make a fresh assessment of the foundations of Christian morality, or of Catholic moral theology, in the light of the ideas of some of the thinkers who are concerned with the possibility of an alternative society. We who are committed to living and thinking eschatologically are bound to be interested in every serious endeavour to transcend the existing state of things. This paper will try to bring out the analogy between Marcuse and Heidegger.

1 —Repression and Liberation

Herbert Marcuse’s work stands well outside the ordinary Anglo- American framework of academic social and political philosophy. The reason for this is no doubt that he belongs to a tradition in which the impact of Hegel has been undergone and assimilated. What this amounts to, as we should see, is that he can take for grant ed, in his philosophizing, the intimations about the nature of man and of meaning which we associate with the Romantic movement. This has become part of our common consciousness too, but on the whole extra-philosophically. Indeed, the specifying difference between English and continental philosophies at the present time is not so much to do with technique and approach as with acceptance or rejection of the Romantic idea of man.

It is instructive to reflect on the divided response to Marcuse's work. He is the most widely discussed thinker among the opponents of our way of life in America today. On the Old Left (orthodox communist Marxists and such-like) he meets with unanimous hostility: he is condemned as a defeatist, a pessimist, who thinks not scientifically but poetically.