bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Violence and Local State Formation: A Longitudinal Case Study of Appalachian Feuding
Authors: Blee Kathleen M. , Billings Dwight B.
Published: June 2006

We investigate the causes of protracted violent conflict by examining the dynamics of a so-called family feud in one Appalachian county in the 19th century. Using data from the civil and criminal court docket and sociohistorical sources, we find that protracted local violence was neither an alternative to dispute resolution through the courts nor a simple function of economic development. Rather, feud violence reflected the social and economic relations and cleavages that accompanied local state building. We discuss the implications of these findings for a historically specific understanding of the relation between local governance and protracted disputing.
Contestation and Mutual Adjustment: The Process of Controlling Land in Yajouz, Jordan
Authors: Razzaz Omar M.
Published: June 2006

For the past two decades, land in Yajouz has been the locus of fierce contestation between the government of Jordan, the Bani Hasan tribe, and new settlers. Today, Yajouz is a peripheral urban settlement deemed illegal by the government. Three main factors have contributed to the making of Yajouz in its present form: (1) thecontestednature of claims to land; (2) thepluralityof control mechanisms and ordering of the social and the geographical space, allowing the land market to develop as a semi-autonomous social field; (3) the process of mutualadjustmentbetween state organs and the Yajouz social field, defining the security of tenure among settlers and the social functioning of law. I argue that the Yajouz market does not manifest a traditional phenomenon giving way to modernity; it is rather a modern phenomenon itself shaping and being shaped by the daily functioning of law. In this case, conflicting claims to resources have been catalysts for the development of a semi-autonomous social field, which in turn has engaged state organs in a process of mutual adjustment.
Lawyers, Mediation, and the Management of Divorce Practice
Authors: McEwen Craig A. , Mather Lynn , Maiman Richard J.
Published: June 2006

Despite a widespread assumption that divorce mediation and divorce lawyers are incompatible, lawyers do play active—if largely unexamined—roles in many mediation programs. This article reports on the work of lawyers in a state with mandatory mediation. We find that lawyers in Maine have generally embraced mediation because it helps them manage problems inherent in divorce practice. Mandated divorce mediation facilitates both settlement negotiation and trial preparation, permits client participation in decisionmaking without requiring lawyers to surrender control, provides a forum for resolving both legal and nonlegal issues, and promotes efficient case management.
Relational Practices and the Marginalization of Law: Informal Financial Practices of Small Businesses in Taiwan
Authors: Winn Jane Kaufman
Published: June 2006

This article looks at one component of Taiwan's development experience, the informal financing techniques used by small businesses, to clarify the interaction between the formal Republic of China (ROC) legal system and the network structure of Taiwanese society. The ROC legal system has supported the economic development process direcdy by regulating economic activity, and indirectly by facilitating the networks of relationships that also regulate economic activity. The relational structure of traditional, rural Chinese society has survived in a modified form in modern Taiwan, and this modern form selectively blends elements of the modern legal system, networks of relationships, and the enforcement services of organized crime. Ideas such as “legal centralism” and “legal pluralism” fail to capture the dynamic of the relationship between the ROC legal system and Taiwanese society, so the idea of “marginalization of law” is offered as a better description.
On Constructing a Science of Comparative Judicial Politics: Tate & Haynie's “Authoritarianism and the Functions of Courts”
Authors: Gillman Howard
Published: June 2006

Tate and Haynie's (1993) recent essay in these pages on the functions of courts in authoritarian regimes is evidence of an increasing interest among American political scientists in the comparative study of judicial politics. There have always been a few among us who have argued for the benefits of broadening our perspectives beyond the American judiciary. As the story goes, the effort began 30 years ago with just a handful of pioneers meeting in a Dallas hotel room to discuss ways to make comparative judicial studies a more conspicuous feature of public law scholarship among political scientists (see Abraham 1987). Over the years a fairly diverse and distinguished group of social scientists have contributed to this effort (see Tate 1987). By 1981 there was sufficient interest among scholars affiliated with the International Political Science Association to convene the Mansfield College Conference on Comparative Judicial Studies. That same year Martin Shapiro gave a boost to these effort with the publication of his influential and widely read Courts: A Comparative and Political Analysis. Still, it was not until 1987 that the first collection of essays was published on “comparative judicial systems,” and even then the papers in that volume were characterized in the subtitle as representing “challenging frontiers in conceptual and empirical analysis” (Schmidhauser 1987). Over the course of 30 years a few more pioneers were recruited, but apparently the terrain was still a frontier.
The Political Significance of Legal Ambiguity: The Case of Affirmative Action
Authors: Bybee Keith J.
Published: June 2006

During the past 20 years, the American politics of race has been characterized by fundamental disagreements over the legitimacy of racial preferences. I trace the development of these disagreements within the Supreme Court's jurisprudence of affirmative action. I argue that the content and endurance of the Court's ambiguous jurisprudence stems from the particular politics of constitutional adjudication. More specifically, I argue that the overarching task of the modern Court is to justify its actions against a baseline of interest-group politics. The uncertain logic of affirmative action creates a position for the Court within the group process, meeting the judicial challenge of self-justification even as it leaves the ultimate validity of racial preferences open to question.
Pre-Trial Bargaining and Litigation: The Search for Fairness and Efficiency
Authors: Howard Robert M. , Chard Richard E. , Kaji Joel T. , Davis Jeffrey
Published: June 2006

The formal literature on pre-trial bargaining offers considerable insight on how different bargaining procedures asymmetric information affect efficiency. Less attention has been paid to fairness, despite the fact that fairness is an essential component of any system of justice. We address this state of affairs by analyzing the equilibria of a pre-trial bargaining model for both fairness and efficiency. This analysis involves ascertaining whether fair and efficient equilibria are possible and whether they occur for common parameter values, and characterizing their behavioral and distributional properties. We conclude that fairness is a paramount concern to litigants and society and that fair and efficient equilibria are possible.
Making Connections: Law and Society Researchers and Their Subjects
Authors: Engel David M.
Published: June 2006

This essay explores the theme of the 1998 annual meeting of the Law and Society Association: “Making Connections across Disciplines, Theories, and Methods,” focusing in particular on the connections between researcher and subject and between researcher and researcher. The essay discusses three recent articles, by Joseph Sanders and V. Lee Hamilton, by Barbara Yngvesson, and by Margaret Montoya. These articles illustrate recent creative efforts by law and society researchers to forge new kinds of connections to their subjects. The articles also illustrate fundamentally different conceptions of the role of the researcher and of the methodologies on which sociolegal studies might be based. These differing conceptions are considered as part of a more general argument that epistemological contradictions are an essential part of our efforts to apprehend the world we seek to describe. They connect law and society researchers to one another and ensure the vitality of our field.
Competing Narratives in a Judicial Retention Election: Feminism versus Judicial Independence
Authors: Olson Susan M. , Batjer Christina
Published: June 2006

Feminists' opposition to a state trial judge in a retention election provided an opportunity to explore important issues about legal consciousness and differences between negative and affirmative resistance. Three questions about legal consciousness and resistance are addressed: What effect does an encounter with an allegedly bad judge have on people's legal consciousness? Under what circumstances will people engage in negative or affirmative resistance against a legal encounter they perceive as unjust? What instrumental effects on institutional practices and what constitutive effects on legal consciousness can such resistance have? The article draws on narrative analysis to explore the conditions for transformation of legal consciousness and mobilization of political action in a judicial retention election.
After the “Social Meaning Turn”: Implications for Research Design and Methods of Proof in Contemporary Criminal Law Policy Analysis
Authors: Harcourt Bernard E.
Published: June 2006

The social norm movement in criminal justice has received a lot of attention in academic and public policy circles. This essay critically examines social norm writings and explores some of the implications for methods of proof and research design in the social sciences. In the process, the essay offers an alternative theoretical approach. This alternative focuses on the multiple ways in which the social meaning of practices (such as juvenile gun possession, gang membership, or disorderly conduct) and the social meaning of policing techniques (such as juvenile snitching policies, youth curfews, or order-maintenance policing) may shape us as contemporary subjects of society. This alternative theoretical approach has its own important implications for methods of proof and research design, and the essay develops these implications into a four-prong research agenda.
Framing the Field of Law's Disciplinary Encounters: A Historical Narrative
Authors: Tomlins Christopher
Published: June 2006

In this article I address the historical interrelationship of law and social science. I explore the separation of “law” and “social science” during the later 19th century, examine their relationship over the next 50 years, and finally take up their more elaborate post-World War II interaction, culminating in the birth and development of the law and society movement. The narrative focuses on two realms of encounter, the intellectual and the institutional, or “spatial,” and in the latter case on two particular locales—the academy and the state. Histories of the interaction of law and social science have mostly pursued its academic aspect, resulting in a history of encounters expressed primarily as pedagogical disputes. But encounters between law and the social science disciplines are also competitions between distinct languages of state formation. Moments of encounter are moments of rivalry in the state, not simply in the common room. Mostly, I conclude, law wins.
EducatingHomo Economicus: Cautionary Notes on the New Behavioral Law and Economics Movement
Authors: Rostain Tanina
Published: June 2006

Legal scholars have recently been extolling the explanatory potential of behavioral law and economics. This new scholarship seeks to marry insights from traditional microeconomics with findings from the behavioral sciences to produce a descriptively accurate and predictively powerful account of human motivation and decisionmaking to put in the service of legal policy. I examine the claims being made on behalf of this new approach. I argue that legal scholars cannot simply use behavioral science in the place of standard microeconomics. More specifically, I argue that once empirical findings are incorporated into legal policy analysis, it becomes necessary to forsake aspirations of broad generalizability and predictive determinacy. I conclude that legal policies and initiatives need to be informed by a modest conception of social science. Such a conception acknowledges the limitation of social science knowledge and recognizes that strong causal explanations of human behavior cannot be permitted to supplant normative debate.
Bureaucratization and Social Control: Historical Foundations of International Police Cooperation
Authors: Deflem Mathieu
Published: June 2006

I employ a theoretical framework developed on the basis of the writings of Max Weber to analyze historical developments in the formation of international police organizations. I rely on a comparative analysis of selected cases of international police networks and centrally focus on the most famous and enduring of such structures, the International Criminal Police Commission, the forerunner of the organization since 1956 known as “Interpol.” Using a Weberian perspective of bureaucratization, I maintain that the formation of international police organizations was historically made possible when public police institutions were sufficiently detached from the political centers of their respective states to function autonomously as expert bureaucracies. Under such circumstances of institutional autonomy, police bureaucracies fostered practices of collaboration across the borders of their respective national jurisdictions because and when they were motivated by a professionally defined interest in the fight against international crime. In conclusion to this analysis, I argue for the value of sociological perspectives of social control that are not reductionist, but that instead bring out the specific socially and sociologically significant dimensions of control mechanisms.
Representing Homeless Families: Repeat Player Implementation Strategies
Authors: Harris Beth
Published: June 2006

The leverage provided by litigation depends on its strategic combination with inputs at other levels. The question then is whether the organization of the profession permits lawyers to develop and employ skills at these other levels. (Galanter 1974:151)

Without any ability to pose a credible political threat, poverty lawyers have become adept at squeezing resources out of hostile agencies and legislative bodies at all levels of government. (Diller 1995:1427)

In mounting reform suits, Legal Services lawyers are not properly understood as autonomous, outside agents attempting to impose rationality on the administration of public welfare services over the opposition of a universally hostile state. (Katz 1984:189)

In 1974, Marc Galanter examined the strategic role of public interest lawyers in helping the “have nots” come out ahead in the legal system. Galanter argued that, to become agents for social change, lawyers must recognize that their role as advocates extends beyond the courtroom into the implementation process (Galanter 1974:151). This article analyzes the efforts of one group of public interest lawyers—those working in Legal Services agencies dedicated to law reform—to influence the implementation of redistributive programs for a particular group of “have nots”: homeless families or those on the brink of losing their housing. Based on my studies, I argue that by skillfully combining adversarial legal tactics with collaboration, poverty lawyers can transform judicial decisions into “symbolic resources” to leverage the implementation of redistributive remedies. When the reform lawyers have the authority to participate in the process of administrative rule making during the implementation process, they can reshape the norms and organizational infrastructures within state agencies.
Farther Along
Authors: Galanter Marc
Published: June 2006

The universal spirit of Laws, in all countries is to favor the strong in opposition to the weak, and to assist those who have possessions against those who have none. This inconveniency is inevitable, and without exception.

Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762)

The “Haves” paper was written in a different age. Its core was composed in the fall of 1970 when I was a fellow at the Yale Law School's remarkably fruitful soft-money Program in Law and Modernization. This was before the ascent of law and economics, before the emergence of critical legal studies and its progeny, before the promotion of alternative dispute resolution, before the arrival of the new legal journalism and the informational opening of legal world in 1979. The Law and Society Association, founded in 1964, was largely a support group dedicated to publishing the Law & Society Review (then in volume 5) and had not yet held a national meeting.
Law, Democracy, and Domination: Law and Society Research as Critical Scholarship
Authors: Nelson Robert L.
Published: June 2006

It is an instructive irony that Frank Munger delivered his Presidential Address in Miami Beach. As someone who was there on Memorial Day weekend of 2000, I can report that at the time of the address there was more than the usual contrast between setting and substance. Munger issued his call for connecting law and society research to the real world of struggle and politics in the cool, windowless expanse of a plush convention-hotel ballroom. The response of the audience was polite, if not inspired. In sharp contrast, immediately outside the hotel, the hot and humid streets of South Beach buzzed and blared with a Hip Hop convention that had drawn masses of young people from around the country. This was an audience that really was turned on to the message of its leaders.
Safe and Sound Judgment
Authors: Atlas Mark
Published: June 2006

Many points raised by Dr. Evan J. Ringquist's response in this issue already are addressed in my article, so readers should simply review its relevant portions. Just as he indicated that space constraints limited his response, I am limited to focusing on his comments that are less fully addressed in my article.
Blood Money, New Money, and the Moral Economy of Tort Law in Action
Authors: Baker Tom
Published: June 2006

This article reports the results of a qualitative study of personal injury lawyers in Connecticut. Building on the results of an earlier study of lawyers in Florida, “Transforming Punishment Into Compensation: In the Shadow of Punitive Damages” (Baker 1998), the Connecticut study describes and explores the implications of professional norms and practices that govern tort settlement behavior. In particular, it examines the moral and practical barriers to collecting “blood money” (money from individual defendants, as opposed to liability insurance companies), as well as explanations for victims' apparent ability to partially trump the claims of subrogating workers' compensation and health insurance carriers. The results pose a challenge to the conventional understanding that tort law in action is a simpler, more streamlined version of tort law on the books. In addition, the results suggest that compensation and retribution figure far more prominently in tort law in action than does the deterrence emphasized in much of the theoretical and doctrinal literature.
The Changing Character of Lawyers' Work: Chicago in 1975 and 1995
Authors: Heinz John P. , Nelson Robert L. , Laumann Edward O. , Michelson Ethan
Published: June 2006

This article compares findings from two surveys of Chicago lawyers, the first conducted in 1975 and the second in 1995. The earlier study indicated that the Chicago bar was then divided into two broad sectors or “hemispheres,” one serving large corporations and similar organizations and the other serving individuals and small businesses. Analyses of the structure of co-practice of the fields of law indicate that the hemispheres are now less distinct. The fields are less tightly connected and less clearly organized—they became more highly specialized during the intervening 20 years and are now organized in smaller clusters. Clear indications of continuing separation of work by client type remain, however. Estimates of the amount of lawyers' time devoted to each field in 1975 and 1995 indicate that corporate practice fields now consume a larger share of Chicago lawyers' attention, while fields such as probate receive a declining percentage. Growth is most pronounced in the litigation fields, especially in business litigation. The organizational contexts within which law is practiced both reflect and contribute to these changes. The scale of those organizations has increased greatly, and the allocation of work within them has been divided along substantive, doctrinal lines. As a result, there is a greater disaggregation of work and workgroups within the profession today.
Law and (Norms of) Order in the Inner City
Authors: Meares Tracey L. , Kahan Dan M.
Published: June 2006

This article surveys recent works that seek to enrich criminal law policy analysis by incorporating social norms. The article does not purport to adduce the “true” or even the “best” definition of “social norms”; rather it breaks that term down into a cluster of related concepts that are frequently subsumed within it, including “social organization,” “social meaning,” and “social influence.” The motivation for grouping these concepts together, moreover, is as much political as conceptual. Using a pragmatic standard of assessment, the article uses the social norms literature to identify a host of politically feasible law enforcement policies—from curfews to gang-loitering laws to order-maintenance policing to reverse stings—that deter as well or better than severe prison sentences but that avoid the destructive effect of those sentences on inner-city communities.
Ordering Principles: The Adjudication of Criminal Cases in Puritan Massachusetts, 1629-1650
Authors: Schweber Howard
Published: June 2006

In this article I review court records from the early period of settlement in Puritan Massachusetts (1629–50). The study avoids the great controversies of the day, focusing instead on the patterns that appear in the adjudication of a great number of cases over time. In the first part of the study, a quantitative analysis is performed on a data set comprising crimes (the independent variable) and punishments, evaluated according to an ordinally ranked scale of severity. In the second part, I review the records in detail and suggest conclusions concerning the purposes of punishment and the organizing concepts that are shown to have governed the adjudication of cases in the early Massachusetts courts. The study finds that over a period of decades and a large number of cases (N=793), the actions perceived to be necessary for the restoration of communal order dictated the severity of punishment imposed. I argue that this pattern demonstrates impressive fidelity to the doctrinal principles that served as the public legitimating principles for these courts. These findings, in turn, encourage us to question accounts that purport to show that these principles were merely veils for religious, economic, or social aggrandizement, particularly when such accounts are based on interpretations of individual cases or events.
Copying letters to patients: the view of patients and health professionals
Authors: Harris Claire , Boaden Ruth
Published: June 2006

Objective: Government policies and initiatives in England have promoted the involvement of patients in the management of their own health care. Copying clinical letters to patients may improve patients' understanding of their health and the care they receive. Although the National Health Service (NHS) Plan describes copying letters to patients as a 'right', the process of copying letters to patients remains an example of good practice rather than a requirement. We review the literature to explore whether letters should be copied to patients and in what circumstances.

Methods: Review of published literature and evidence from 12 pilot projects funded by the Department of Health (DH) for and against copying letters to patients from the perspective of patients and health professionals.

Results: Patients generally find copies of letters beneficial, and tend to be more satisfied with their consultation and report benefits in terms of involvement in their own health care when letters are copied. Health professionals generally have concerns about the relative benefits to the patient and remain concerned about the resource implications of copying letters.

Conclusions: On balance, the limited evidence on copying clinical letters to patients favours copying letters, or at least offering copies, although health professionals are less keen than patients.
Ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and consultation rates in New Zealand general practice
Authors:   Health Utilisation Research Alliance (HURA)
Published: June 2006

Objectives: To explore the relationship between ethnicity, socioeconomic deprivation and utilization of general practice.

Methods: Data routinely collected by New Zealand general practices in 2001 were analysed using generalized linear regression.

Results: The mean number of doctor consultations for registered individuals was 3.7 and the median 2. After adjusting for age, gender and area socioeconomic deprivation, people from Maori, Pacific, Asian and other-unspecified ethnic groups consulted general practitioners at similar rates or less frequently than European people. There was a significant positive trend between increasing deprivation and increasing rates of general practitioner (GP) consultation. The most-deprived groups had an approximately 30% higher rate of consultation than the least-deprived groups. There was a significant negative trend between nurse consultations and deprivation, with people from the most-deprived groups having a 29% lower frequency of nurse consultation. There was a different pattern of doctor consultation in the under-six age group, where a higher rate of patient subsidy was available, suggesting cost may be a barrier to doctor consultation for other age groups.

Conclusions: In the general practices, in this study, the increasing rate of doctor consultations with increasing socioeconomic deprivation is consistent with increased need. However, the fact that adjusted Maori and Pacific utilization rates were not higher than those for people of European ethnic identity is a cause for concern in light of evidence that Maori health status is poorer than European, even after adjusting for deprivation. Further research is required to explore potential barriers to general practice consultation.
Attempts to Standardise Vibration Measurements in a Single-Grip Harvester
Authors: Burström Lage , Nordfjell Tomas , Wästerlund Iwan , Tabell Lisa
Published: June 2006

Forest harvesters are machines used for felling, delimbing, cross cutting, and sorting of trees in the Nordic countries. During these operations, the operators are exposed to vibration generated from the working process. This study measures the transmission of vibration from the crane to the cabin and to the driver's seat in a harvester during delimbing and felling with varying angles between the crane and machine. Moreover, this study suggests a way to conduct these measurements with a repeatable method. The vibration levels decreased in each step in the vibration chain “crane foot — cabin floor — seat”; less than 10% of the vibration reached the seat pad. The angle between the crane and machine had only minor effects on the transmission. The experimental method used for measuring the vibration seems to give a good opportunity to conduct standardised measurements for different work elements.
Effect of pH and Fulvic Acid on the Sorption and Diffusion of Europium Ions in Compacted Bentonite as Studied by the Capillary Method
Authors: Wang X. , Chen C. , Yu S. , Zhou X. , Xu D. , Ren A.
Published: June 2006

The effect of pH and fulvic acid on the diffusion and sorption of Eu(III) ions in compacted bentonite (ρb = 1120 ± 20 kg/m3) was studied via an “in-diffusion” method at an ionic strength of 0.1 M NaClO4. The results (Kd values derived from the first slice and theoretical calculations, apparent and effective diffusion coefficients, i.e. Da and De) derived from the capillary method were in good agreement with data obtained under similar conditions quoted in the literature and indicated that the diffusion and sorption of Eu(III) ions in compacted bentonite was dependent on the pH value. In the presence of fulvic acid (FA), EuIII–FA complexes were formed at the surface of the compacted bentonite. Hence, the presence of FA led to a reduction in the diffusion of Eu(III) ions in compacted bentonite. It may be concluded that humic substances act as a significant sink for Eu(III) ions in compacted bentonite. The value of Da derived experimentally was used to simulate the diffusion of Eu(III) ions in compacted bentonite, the results indicating that several metres of compacted bentonite would be sufficient to prevent the diffusion of Eu(III) ions from a repository to the natural environment.
Bilinear Dynamics of SDOF Concrete Structures under Sinusoidal Loading
Authors: Pandey Umesh Kumar , Benipal Gurmail S.
Published: June 2006

Concrete structures are cracked in tension at working loads. The opening and closing of the existing cracks during load variations renders these structures nonlinear elastic. Under proportional load variations and for single loads, these structures exhibit bilinear mechanical response in the form of discontinuity at origin in their load displacement relations. The typical values of bilinearity ratio, i. e., the ratio of the two values of stiffness, of common reinforced concrete beams range up to 10. In this paper, the dynamic response of concrete structures under working loads has been studied by modeling them as damped single-degree-of-freedom bilinear systems under the action of sinusoidal forcing function. Using the available techniques of bilinear dynamic analysis of moored buoys developed by Thompson and coworkers, concrete structures has been shown to exhibit sub-harmonic resonance response and extreme sensitivity to initial conditions leading to chaos. The limitations of the current practice of dynamic analysis have been exposed and the practical relevance of the work done has been discussed.
A Review of Researches on Ground-Borne Vibrations Due to Moving Trains via Underground Tunnels
Authors: Yang Y. B. , Hsu L. C.
Published: June 2006

Ground-borne vibrations resulting from the railway traffic have become an important environmental issue which has aroused a great deal of public attention. In this paper, a survey of the researches conducted on the problem of vibrations resulting from trains moving in underground tunnels is presented. The major concerns of this paper include the statement of the problem, the evaluation criteria for ground-borne vibrations used by various countries, a review of the state-of-the-art researches using various approaches, and a summary of the isolation methods for reducing the ground-borne vibrations. Only the papers that are readily available to the writers are reviewed herein. It is expected that researches on ground-borne vibrations will continue to grow in the years to come, due to the construction of underground railways in major cities all over the world. There exists a need to develop reliable and efficient techniques suitable for practicing engineers in the simulation of building vibrations caused by trains moving through the tunnels.
Worst-Case Analysis for Earthquake Energy Input Rate in SDOF and MDOF Structures
Authors: Takewaki Izuru
Published: June 2006

Possible realization of earthquake ground motion and its effects on structures are very uncertain even with the accumulated knowledge. It is therefore desirable to develop a robust structural design method taking into account these uncertainties. Under these circumstances worst excitation approaches have been proven to be promising. A new worst-case analysis method is developed here in which the mean value of the earthquake energy input rate is chosen as a measure of criticality. The concepts of statistical input energy and statistical input rate are new directions. The non-stationary ground motion is described as a uniformly modulated nonstationary random process. The power and the intensity of the input ground motion are bounded and the worst excitation is found under these restrictions. The key for solving the problem is the interchange of the order of the double maximization procedures with respect to time and to the power spectral density function. It is further shown that the formulation in single-degree-of-freedom models can be extended to multi-degree-of-freedom models with proportional damping. Examples for a specific envelope function of the non-stationary ground motion are presented in single and multi-degree-of-freedom models for demonstrating the validity of the method.
Measuring Outcomes of Swimmers' Non-Regulation during Practice: Relationships between Self-Report, Coaches' Judgments, and Video-Observation
Authors: Young Bradley W. , Starkes Janet L.
Published: June 2006

The purpose of this investigation was to further validate measures for three behavioral items that coaches claimed to reflect outcomes of non-regulation by swimmers during training. Measures for 33 competitive swimmers were collected for behaviors that reflected a lack of motivation to comply with a coach's full training volume prescription in (1) warm-up, and in the (2) remaining workout, as well for (3) the off-task durations of swimmers in warm-up. Measures were collected concurrently via self-report and video-observation at nine practices across five weeks of training. Coaches rated swimmers for levels of (a) on-task behavior in warm-up, and (b) initiative, motivation and discipline in the workout. Self-reported and observed measures were separately contrasted with low and high motivation groups, based on coach ratings. Results showed that when coaches rated swimmers low on self-regulated behaviors the swimmers had in fact completed less of the prescribed swim volume. Likewise, swimmers who spent a lot of time out-of-stroke in warm-up were not self-regulated, according to coach ratings. In a supplementary analysis, self-reported measures for missed volume during warm-up were contrasted with veridical measures obtained by video observation for a sub-set of 16 swimmers. Findings indicated that self-report at the end of workout was inaccurate and/or biased due to distorted memory processes and self-presentation influences. Discussion focused on the future use of valid and observable measures representing outcomes of non-regulation in applied sport intervention research.
Identifying and Assessing Depression in Prelingually Deaf People: A Literature Review
Authors: Connolly Claire M , Rose John , Austen Sally
Published: June 2006

Identifying and assessing depression is essential to ensuring access to appropriate treatment and services. Unfortunately, limited literature exists on identifying and assessing depression in prelingually deaf people. In a literature review, the authors critically examined relevant published studies. The earliest reported information on depression in deaf people was found in historical studies that descriptively evaluated specialist psychiatric services for deaf people. These studies did not accurately reflect the prevalence of depression; reasons for this are discussed. Issues regarding assessment of depression in deaf people, such as communication, use of interpreters, and use of standardized assessments, are examined. Studies that have attempted to overcome these challenges are reviewed, including studies using modified versions of written questionnaires designed for hearing people and studies in which standardized questionnaires were translated and administered in sign. Advantages and disadvantages of different methods are highlighted; recommendations for future research are made.
Teacher Quality: A Comparison of National Board-Certified and Non-Board-Certified Teachers of Deaf Students
Authors: Scheetz Nanci A , Martin David S
Published: June 2006

The study was designed to identify specific components of teacher excellence, focusing initially on the characteristics of the small number of teachers of the deaf who are certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), then comparing those with the characteristics of other teachers identified as master teachers by university faculty in teacher preparation in deafness. Classroom observation, written lesson plans, teacher questionnaires on beliefs, and content analysis of interactive electronic focus groups were used to compare the two groups of teachers. Results indicated similarities between Board-certified and non–Board-certified master teachers in regard to teacher behaviors and commitment to well-founded pedagogical principles. Differences were found in classroom priorities and in the greater level of interconnectivity expressed by Board-certified teachers as the result of becoming Board certified. Recommendations are made for preparing teachers of deaf students.
Deaf Children and Bullying: Directions for Future Research
Authors: Weiner Mary Thelma , Miller Margery
Published: June 2006

U.S. schools are currently addressing bullying and its effects on children. Bullying is characterized as repetitive verbal teasing, threatening, physical intimidation, demeaning others, violent acts, torture, and other forms of verbal and physical aggression (Smith & Sharp, 1994a). Little is known about bullying and its impact on deaf children. Measures to describe and quantify bullying factors in this population should be developed and validated that address characteristics of deaf victims and bullies, various types of school settings deaf children attend, bullying dynamics that may be unique to this population and its peers, and other environmental factors. The presence of disabilities besides deafness, social support systems of deaf children and their families, sociocultural background, degree of hearing loss, parental educational levels and occupations, socioeconomic status, and linguistic backgrounds should also be considered. This discussion highlights issues and precautions concerning future directions for studying bullying with deaf children.
Dead Man's Town: "Born in the U.S.A.," Social History, and Working-Class Identity
Authors: Cowie Jefferson R , Boehm Lauren
Published: June 2006

This essay analyzes Bruce Springsteen's 1984 hit song "Born in the U.S.A." as a history and commentary on working-class identity. The article discusses the song's narrative elements and its oppositional chorus as they each relate to the social, economic, political, and cultural history of post-Vietnam America. Beginning with an overview of white, male working-class political identity since the 1930s, the essay then turns to the era covered by the song itself—the 1970s and early 1980s. Three main themes are then explored through an intertextual analysis. First is the unique musical structure of song—the anthemic chorus contrasted with the verses' desperate narrative. The tension between the two is foundational for any understanding of the song's poetics. Next is the Vietnam/hometown metonymy, in which it is argued that the Vietnam War serves as a collection of symbols relating not simply to the war itself but to the social and economic siege of American blue-collar communities. Finally, the essay turns directly to the song's theme of economic devastation, which uproots the material basis of working-class identity only to replant it in the acidic soil of nationalism. A close reading of these themes—and the cultural and political forces that gave rise to them—points toward an understanding of both working-class identity and community under siege in what can best be understood as a guerrilla war at home and abroad. Springsteen reveals blue-collar America separated from an economic identity, sheltered only by the empty shell of a failed social patriotism, contained in a hometown under attack, and fighting in little but isolation and silence. The economic foundations of the industrial working class were disappearing, the politics that once offered some protection had all but disappeared, and what remained was a deafening but hollow national pride—"Born in the USA." The essay concludes with a brief exploration of the ways in which the themes of the song reverberate well into twenty-first century.
Tertullian's Scriptural Exegesis in de praescriptione haereticorum
Authors: Dunn Geoffrey D.
Published: June 2006

Tertullian's de praescriptione haereticorum is one of his most important treatises with regard to the exegesis of Scripture. However, the hermeneutical principles he presented in it were not part of a systematic and theoretical overview. They were specific to one context: what it was that could distinguish proper from heretical use of the Scriptures. For Tertullian, one could judge the validity of a scriptural interpretation by its conformity with the regula fidei. A rhetorical reading of de praescriptione haereticorum will reveal much about the way in which Tertullian approached the Scriptures and will confirm the contextual nature of the arguments within it.
Moral, Ascetic, and Ritual Dimensions to Law-Observance in Aphrahat's Demonstrations
Authors: Lehto Adam
Published: June 2006

Writing to counter the critique of a much larger Jewish community, and to instruct fellow ascetics in their chosen path, the fourth-century Syriac author Aphrahat develops a notion of law-observance that serves both ends: God's law of righteousness, which is more fundamental than the Mosaic law, has been summed up in Christ's teaching on love for God and neighbor; but a commitment to this way of love also calls for ascetic renunciation. In addition, the few references to ritual should be understood, like Aphrahat's teaching on ascetic practice, as an attempt to bring this area of Christian life under the all-embracing imperative of following the law of righteousness with a pure heart.
Openness, Economic Reforms, and Poverty: Globalization in Developing Countries
Authors: Figini Paolo , Santarelli Enrico
Published: June 2006

This paper addresses a key issue in the current debate on economic development: the impact of globalization on poverty. After having discussed the problems related to the definition and measurement of both poverty and globalization, we perform a panel analysis which adds to recent literature by explicitly considering relative poverty and by conducting robustness analysis with respect to data, sources and dimensions of globalization. As far as absolute poverty is concerned, both trade openness and the "size of the government" seem to be associated with lower poverty levels. Conversely, financial openness is not linked to more poverty. With respect to relative poverty, trade openness does not affect it significantly, while weak evidence suggests that financial openness and policies aimed at reducing the size of the public intervention in the economy are linked to higher relative poverty.
Export Performance of Bangladesh's Fisheries Sector
Authors: Hossain Md. Belayet
Published: June 2006

The paper attempts to evaluate the performance of export of Bangladesh's fisheries sector to identify its strengths and weaknesses. Simpson Index, RCA, RSCA, regression techniques etc. have been used to evaluate the performance. Fish export shows an increasing role in the economy in many respects. However, it lacks diversification and concentrates only in the category of shrimp. The country also has formidable comparative advantage. But she does not get her due price in the world market. Policy incentives can play a significant role to increase fish export. Bangladesh must introduce quality assurance system based on HACCP to comply with the SPS and TBT measures in order to boost her fish export.
An Empirical Investigation of Budget and Trade Deficits: The Case of Nigeria
Authors: Onafowora Olugbenga A , Owoye Oluwole
Published: June 2006

This paper uses cointegration and vector error-correction techniques, Granger-causality tests and, generalized impulse response analysis to examine the "twin deficits" phenomenon in Nigeria - a small open but oil dependent economy in Africa. We find evidence of positive relationship between trade and budget deficits in both the short- and long-run. This finding supports the conventional Keynesian twin deficits proposition and refutes the Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis. Contrary to the conventional proposition that budget deficits cause trade deficits, our results indicate unidirectional causality from trade deficits to budget deficits for Nigeria. An implicit policy implication of our findings is that attempts to reduce budget deficits in Nigeria must begin with reductions in trade deficits which could be achieved through indirect monetary channels.
A Usage-based Approach to Spanish Verbs of 'Becoming'
Authors: Bybee Joan L , Eddington David
Published: June 2006

A usage-based analysis of four constructions in Spanish, each with a different verb meaning 'become' used with an animate subject and an adjective, provides evidence for exemplar representations of constructions, with analogy to these representations accounting for productive use. We analyze 423 tokens from spoken and written corpora, which we take to represent a subset of a speaker's experience with these constructions. The analysis, based on token frequency and semantic similarity, leads to the organization of tokens with two of the verbs into dense clusters of semantically related adjectives centered on a high-frequency exemplar. The other two verbs are used with more diverse sets of adjectives. We supplement the initial analysis with an experiment in which speakers were asked to rate the semantic similarity of pairs of adjectives. When subjected to multidimensional scaling, the results of the experiment support the initial analysis. We argue that novel instances of verb + adjective sequences are based on analogies to previous experience and not on rules that refer to abstract features. In a second experiment, speakers judged the acceptability of sentences taken from the corpora; the results showed that high-frequency expressions and expressions semantically similar to the high-frequency ones lead to an expression being judged more acceptable. Overall the results support exemplar representations, which are heavily based on usage experience.
Redefining the Ethics of Adoption, Race, Gender, and Class
Authors: Patton-Imani Sandra
Published: June 2006

When I was a child, I had a book called The Chosen Baby. Originally written in 1939 by Valentina Wasson, the edition I was given had been revised and updated in 1950 (Wasson 1939). It is the book I, as an adoptee, was given to understand adoption— my origins. It is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Brown, who had everything they could ask for, except one thing—they needed a baby to make their happiness complete (Patton 2000).
The Voice of the Petitioner: The Experiences of Gay and Lesbian Parents in Successful Second-Parent Adoption Proceedings
Authors: Connolly Catherine
Published: June 2006

Gays and lesbians have recently turned to the courts and the law for recognition of their families. Some of the most successful cases are those won by a gay or lesbian “second-parent” of a child whose biological or legally adoptive parent is his or her partner. The court opinions granting these second-parent adoptions have often portrayed these petitioners as similar to an idealized heterosexual family unit, albeit with two same-sex parents. In this study, 20 parents who successfully pursued a second-parent adoption were interviewed to examine their experiences with the legal system. Results indicate that these petitioners did not envision themselves as similar to heterosexual families and resisted attempts by state actors who tried to formulate them as such. The literature on legal consciousness and pragmatism is used to analyze the respondents' experiences.