bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Price Setting and Other Attempts to Control the Economy
Authors: Koops Egbert
Published: November 2016

Prices in the Roman economy were generally set by the operation of free market forces. Occasional government interventions in the form of price ceilings occurred in times of crisis, to stabilise volatile or politically important markets, or to signal moral policies. The mechanism of price formation was generally understood, but price shocks were expected to be curbed. In a similar vein, the valuation techniques developed by the Roman jurists were based on “true” prices rather than pure market prices. Even so, party autonomy in price setting was the norm. The grain market was guided to some extent for obvious political reasons, but even here there was room for private initiative. The freedom to contract was stressed as late as Diocletian, but, not much later, rampant inflation forced him to issue his edict on maximum prices, which remains an exceptional regulation in many ways.
Urban Landlords and Tenants
Authors: du Plessis Paul J.
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines legal and epigraphic sources devoted to the renting of mass housing in Rome and the other major cities of the Empire. Building on the pioneering work by Frier in 1980, it argues that the legal sources reveal a sophisticated system of subletting that was developed to accommodate the upper-class owners of these properties and left the daily management of them in the hands of venture capitalists. This was done not only to relieve these individuals of the stigma associated with commerce, but also to spread the financial risk of urban property investment among both owners and venture capitalists.
Tenure of Land and Agricultural Regulation
Authors: Kehoe Dennis P.
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines the ways in which the Roman legal authorities defined property rights over land during the Republican and Imperial periods. The focus is on how the legal definition of property rights to land affected the economic interests of key constituencies, including landowners, farm tenants and the Roman state, which derived the bulk of its revenues from taxes connected with land, and also was a significant economic actor in its own right as the pre-eminent landowner in the Roman Empire. Farm tenancy represented an institution of fundamental importance to the Roman economy. Classical Roman law defined the tenant as a short-term occupant of the land paying a cash rent. The Roman legal authorities struggled with accommodating within Roman legal norms other forms of land tenure that accorded the tenant much stronger rights than in the classical Roman farm lease. This is what this chapter sets out to survey.
Roman Law, Markets and Market Prices
Authors: de Ligt Luuk
Published: November 2016

This chapter deals with legal rules and administrative procedures relating to concrete markets. The author’s principle aim is to make sense of a limited number of juridical sources, inscriptions and literary texts referring to applications for the right to hold markets (ius nundinarum) or for the privilege of immunity (immunitas) from market-taxes. Legal rules governing markets in the abstract meaning of the term are a vast topic. Instead of attempting a general study of this type, this chapter focuses on a handful of legal arrangements that made it possible for buyers or sellers to rescind contracts of sale that had been concluded in marketplaces. Finally, some attention is given to governmental attempts to impose fixed or maximum prices.
The Scope and Function of Civil Wrongs in Roman Society
Authors: Cursi Floriana
Published: November 2016

The earliest evidence of Roman delicts is to be found in the rules of the XII Tables which introduced the first types of delict and obligation. From these rules the Roman lawyers did not develop a general law of delict governing the delictual liability. The Roman system of delicts was in fact typical: with new delicts emerging until the first century BC. Simultaneously, during the final Republican period, the praetor introduced some actions for reparation of damage, later included by Justinian in quasi delict category. But the Roman system of delicts, was too typical to ensure the total reparation of the private damages deriving from an unlawful conduct. So actio de dolo was introduced to repair the loss caused by dolus, in case of absence of any specific delictual action. This was a subsidiary remedy, which filled the gaps of the typical system of actions.
Juristic Papyrology and Roman Law
Authors: Alonso Rodríguez José Luis
Published: November 2016

This chapter deals with the place of papyrology in Roman law studies. While Theodor Mommsen is often quoted as predicting that the twentieth century would be the century of papyrology, things look different today. The publication of papyri continues at a rate of several hundreds per year, with vast amounts waiting to be published. In addition to the large mass of papyri from Egypt, a non-negligible number of documents from the Near East have come to light. Many of these texts are private legal instruments and acts of the Roman administration, including documents arising from legal proceedings. Yet these documents rarely attract the attention of Roman law scholars. As a result, the legal questions posed by the new documents often receive insufficient attention. This chapter argues for a reconsideration of this view and for a renewed focus on papyri as a source for Roman law.
Law, Business Ventures and Trade
Authors: Aubert J. J.
Published: November 2016

This chapter concentrates less on producing and distributing goods than on storing and transporting them within and across the Roman Empire. Roman law seems to have provided an adequate legal framework for activities linked with managing storage space and organising the transport of commodities over short and long distances. This is an area of law where juristic opinions can be confronted with documentary evidence such as inscriptions (leges horreorum), tablets (Puteolan archive of the Sulpicii), and papyri (maritime loans), as well as archaeological remains. Storage and transport involved capital investment and know-how, and required special attention to the nature of the goods and the activities of people as economic actors.
Roman Law and Latin Literature
Authors: Lowrie Michèle
Published: November 2016

The law and literature movement is less active in Roman studies than in modern national languages despite the importance of ancient Rome for subsequent traditions. This chapter hopes to spur further research by surveying a range of representative topics individually familiar to Latinists, but whose interconnections become clearer under the “law and literature” rubric. These are: discursive media; censorship; law and theatricality; educative fictions; typology, exemplarity and moral reasoning; transformations in the public sphere. The Romans perceived law’s interaction with literature in terms that range from homology, to contestation, to intimate discomfort. Both do things with stories, both serve as normative vehicles, and fiction cannot rigorously disambiguate between these discourses. The Romans, however, were acutely aware of how formal differences affected pragmatic outcomes. A strong articulation of literature as ineffective over against the law’s power emerged during the Augustan period and was formative for modern conceptualisations.
SPQR
Authors: Polo Francisco Pina
Published: November 2016

The Romans never wrote down their constitution, which made it more dynamic and flexible. The Republican institutions were the result of a long process of experimentation that lasted for centuries, but they were not immutable. Since the moment it was completed, the Roman Republican constitution was remarkably stable, a feature that helped Rome to become the great Mediterranean power. But the Romans continued introducing changes to their political institutions, in order to adapt them to the changing circumstances of Rome’s internal and foreign politics, illustrating the political pragmatism that characterised the Roman republican system. This chapter provides a survey of these developments.
Provincial Administration
Authors: Richardson John
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines the administration of the provinces of the Roman Empire from the first beginnings of Rome’s overseas power in the third and second centuries BC to the reorganisation of the provinces in the fourth century AD. Firstly it looks at the nature of a provincia in the Republican period, the use of the both ius civile and local law in the provinces and the extent and limitations of the power of the governor. Secondly it examines the roles of the emperor and imperium-holders in the period of Augustus and the first three centuries AD and the shifts in the use of local and Roman law. A third section on the reforms of Diocletian follows. Throughout the interplay between the changes in the nature of the provinciae and the types and manner of jurisdiction is explored.
Preference-Based Views of Well-Being
Authors: Bykvist Krister
Published: November 2016

This chapter deals with preference-based views of well-being, according to which well-being depends exclusively on preferences or desires. The aim is to spell out this dependency in more detail and discuss the pros and cons of these views, seen as substantive theories of well-being. In particular, it is argued that the standard formulations of preference-based views are defective, mainly because they do not pay due attention to the distinction between comparative and monadic attitudes and values. Further, it is argued that in order to find out how well these views can answer the usual complaints levelled against them, it is crucial to distinguish between object preferentialism and satisfaction preferentialism.
Mental State Approaches to Well-Being
Authors: Haybron Daniel M.
Published: November 2016

This chapter discusses the role of mental states in well-being, focusing on three types of state: pleasure, emotional well-being, and life satisfaction. Some philosophical theories, notably hedonism, take mental states to constitute the entirety of well-being, an approach that has significant attractions but also faces weighty objections. But even those who reject mental state theories of well-being should recognize that the psychological dimensions of well-being are centrally important in human life—though not always in the ways one might expect, particularly in the case of life satisfaction. A second aim of the chapter is to examine the implications of the philosophical discussion for measures of well-being, as well as the contrast between so-called hedonic and eudaimonic approaches. A brief consideration of the upshot of these reflections for policy concludes the chapter.
Subjective Well-Being in Economics
Authors: Graham Carol
Published: November 2016

Subjective well-being in economics relies on more expansive notions of utility than do conventional economics approaches and provides metrics to assess the income and nonincome dimensions of well-being. The metrics are well suited to questions where revealed preferences provide limited information, such as the welfare effects of macroeconomic arrangements individuals are powerless to change, and on behaviors that result from lack of choice or addiction and self-control problems. Current scholarship distinguishes between hedonic well-being, which encompasses daily experience and quality of life, and evaluative well-being, which encompasses well-being over the life course, including opportunity and life fulfillment (eudemonia). Some research aims to understand the causal properties of subjective well-being, and finds that higher levels are associated with better health, labor market performance, and willingness to invest in the future. Despite the contribution this approach can make and the efforts of a number of governments to utilize it, methodological challenges remain.
Equivalent Income
Authors: Fleurbaey Marc
Published: November 2016

The notion of equivalent income has been elaborated in the specialized context of comparing living standards of individuals in different situations regarding non-income attributes (household size, quality of life, market prices). It is defined as the income that would provide the same satisfaction as the current situation if the non-income attributes took particular reference values. Beyond the comparison of living standards, it deserves to be considered as a philosophically promising solution to the problem of interpersonal comparisons of well-being, for the context of social welfare evaluation. It appears indeed attractive when interpersonal comparisons are meant to respect individual preferences while focusing on objective functionings rather than subjective levels of satisfaction or happiness. In this chapter it is scrutinized and compared to alternative approaches: extended preferences, subjective well-being, capabilities.
SWB as a Measure of Individual Well-Being
Authors: Clark Andrew
Published: November 2016

There is much discussion about using subjective well-being measures as inputs into a social welfare function, which will tell us how well societies are doing. But we have (many) more than one measure of subjective well-being. This chapter considers examples of three of the main types (life satisfaction, affect, and eudaimonia) in three European surveys. These are quite strongly correlated with each other, and are correlated with explanatory variables in pretty much the same manner. The chapter provides an overview of a recent literature that has compared how well different subjective well-being measures predict future behavior, and addresses the issue of the temporality of well-being measures, and whether they should be analyzed ordinally or cardinally.
The Capability Approach and Well-Being Measurement for Public Policy
Authors: Alkire Sabina
Published: November 2016

This chapter presents Sen’s capability approach as a framework for well-being measurement with powerful and ongoing relevance to current work on measuring well-being in order to guide public policy. It discusses how preferences and values inform the relative weights across capabilities, then draws readers’ attention to measurement properties of multidimensional measures that have proven to be policy relevant in poverty reduction. It presents a dual-cutoff counting methodology that satisfies these properties and outlines the assumptions that must be fulfilled in order to interpret ensuing indices as measuring capability poverty. It then discusses Bhutan’s innovative extension of this methodology in the Gross National Happiness Index and reflects upon whether it might be suited to other contexts. It closes by responding at some length to relevant material in other Handbook chapters.
Individual Responsibility and Equality of Opportunity
Authors: Ferreira Francisco H. G. , Peragine Vito
Published: November 2016

Building on earlier work by political philosophers, economists have recently sought to define a concept of equity that accommodates the fairness of reward to individual responsibility and effort, while allowing for the existence of some inequalities that are unfair and should be compensated. This chapter provides a critical review of the economic literature on equality and inequality of opportunity. A simple “canonical model” of equal opportunity is proposed, and used to explore the two fundamental concepts in this (relatively) new theory of social justice: the principles of compensation and reward. Ex ante and ex post versions of the compensation principle are presented, and the tensions between them are discussed. Different approaches to the measurement of inequality of opportunity—and empirical applications—are reviewed, and implications for the measurement of poverty and of the rate of economic development are discussed.
Welfare and the Household
Authors: Chiappori Pierre-Andre
Published: November 2016

Inequality measures typically consider inequality between households, whereas one should ultimately be interested in inequality between individuals. We review some conceptual issues raised by the evaluation of intra-household inequality, in particular in the presence of public consumptions. We then describe recent theoretical and empirical advances in modelling household behavior, which are based on the collective model of household behavior. Lastly, we discuss normative issues involved, in particular when the weighting of individual welfare that is implicit in the household’s decision process is not socially optimal.
The Well-Being of Future Generations
Authors: Broome John
Published: November 2016

This chapter surveys some of the issues that arise in policymaking when the well-being of future generations must be taken into account. It considers the different sorts of discounting that may be applied to future well-being, and considers whether any of them are permissible. It next argues that policymakers cannot properly ignore the effects that different policies have on the number of future people who will come into existence. These effects are pervasive, and the chapter goes on to consider what theoretical basis is available for setting a value on them. Finally it describes the “nonidentity effect,” through which a choice of policy affects the identity of people born in the future, and examines what implications it has for intergenerational justice and for the Pareto principle.
GDP
Authors: Schreyer Paul
Published: November 2016

GDP is first and foremost a measure of economic activity and production, and distinct from a measure of welfare, even when narrowly defined as material well-being. Despite this difference, GDP and welfare are not unrelated concepts. Links include the scope of final products that enter GDP and the welfare basis of price indices that are used to compute real GDP. Further, the national accounts systematically link GDP with household consumption and income, the key determinants of average material well-being. Last, in measures of intertemporal social welfare, GDP appears through the need to account for future changes in productivity. This chapter also describes efforts to adjust GDP to gauge welfare more directly but concludes that they have not gained traction because there is no well-articulated theory that would indicate the scope and nature of the required adjustments and because GDP is tremendously useful as a measure of production that needs complementing but not substituting.
The Buzz on the Queen Bee and Other Characterizations of Women’s Intrasexual Competition at Work
Authors: Kocum Lucie , Courvoisier Delphine S. , Vernon Saundra
Published: November 2016

Competition is a normal part of working life. It is expected of both women and men as they enter the workforce, and as they ascend the corporate ladder. Interestingly, women are often vilified for engaging in competition, particularly with members of their own sex. The focus of this essay is intrasexual competition among women in the workplace. It provides a description of workplace competition and its positive and negative consequences for workers and organizations, followed by similarities and differences in women’s and men’s competitive experiences and styles. The ways zero-sum contexts such as tokenism affect social identity and give rise to the intrasexual prejudice and discrimination—most notably, the queen bee—are discussed. The essay ends with a discussion based on the authors’ experimental evidence of intragroup favoritism among women, and a growing body of work underscoring the importance of not expecting women to be allies without accompanying organizational change.
Logical Connectives
Authors: Goro Takuya
Published: November 2016

This chapter reviews results from recent experimental studies on the acquisition of logical connectives. Developmental psychologists have long been interested in the development of logic in children, and recent research in this field has made great advancement by incorporating insights from theoretical linguistics. There are two important theoretical grounds that were crucial to such advancement. One is dissociation between pragmatic implicature and lexical semantics. The other is a model of semantic interaction between a logical connective and another logical word in the same sentence. Experimental results from recent studies that incorporated these insights strongly suggest that preschool children have sophisticated semantic knowledge of logical connectives, even though their behavior may sometimes deviate from adults’ behavior.
Computational Theories of Learning and Developmental Psycholinguistics
Authors: Heinz Jeffrey
Published: November 2016

There is a bright future for research which honestly integrates the insights of computational learning theories with the insights and methodologies of developmental psycholinguistics. With this aim in mind, this chapter surveys results in computational learning theory focusing on the many formal definitions of learning and the kinds of patterns which can and cannot be learned according to these definitions. The main takeaways are that the central problem of learning is generalization, that feasible learning can only occur when target classes of patterns are restricted and structured appropriately, and that debates pitting statistical learning against symbolic learning are largely misplaced since the real issue there is about which data presentations learners should succeed on.
Language Development in Children with Developmental Disorders
Authors: Zukowski Andrea
Published: November 2016

This chapter discusses a number of developmental disorders that impact language acquisition, and their possible relevance to understanding how language is typically acquired. The chapter begins with a discussion of whether language can be selectively impaired relative to general cognitive abilities, and whether it can be selectively spared. The second half of the chapter discusses how exactly language does and does not “go wrong.” The topics include the relevance of “deviance” and whether there is any evidence for it, and a discussion of the critical importance of both cross-disorder comparisons of the same linguistic phenomena, and of cross-linguistic comparisons of children with the same disorder.
Phonological Processes in Children’s Productions
Authors: Goad Heather
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines ways in which children’s phonological processes converge with and diverge from those attested in adult grammars. Processes in segmental and prosodic phonology are examined. The starting point is the formal literature, where children’s grammars are typically viewed as systems that respect the same principles and constraints as adult grammars. As children are shown to display unexpected patterns in development from the perspective of adult language typology, a central question that is addressed is whether children’s systems differ in fundamental ways from adult grammars or whether unexpected patterns in production can be explained by examining how perceptual and motor development interface with the acquisition of an adult-like phonological grammar.
Self-Regulation and Decision Making
Authors: Anderson Kristen , Briggs Kristen E. L
Published: November 2016

Adolescence involves a complex interplay of biological, cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial changes when normative transitions in self-regulation, reward sensitivity, and decision making occur. As behavioral and cognitive systems mature at differing rates in adolescence, teens may be more vulnerable to the emergence of emotional and behavioral problems in the context of greater autonomy, independence, and responsibility. Youth develop more complex association networks pertaining to alcohol and other drug use across childhood and adolescence in concert with the development of more nuanced decision-making capabilities. As such, self-regulation of alcohol and other drug use behaviors may be particularly challenging for teens. In this chapter, we review the literature on the growth of self-regulation and decision-making abilities, their influence on the initiation and maintenance of alcohol and drug use in adolescence, and potential implications for prevention and intervention.
Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī’s (d. 1635)
Authors: Bonmariage Cecile
Published: November 2016

The Shawāhid al-rubūbiyya (Divine Witnesses) presents in a concise and comprehensive way the complete cycle of Ṣadrā’s understanding of reality, from an exposition of the principles of his metaphysics, to their consequences in his comprehension of the nature of the relationship between the First Principle and what is other than him, the coming to be of this world and its finality, and human beings’ place and role in the structure of reality. This chapter explores what Ṣadrā has to say on these topics in the Shawāhid (completed with readings from the Asfār), situates Ṣadrā’s thought in its intellectual background, and introduces the readers to Ṣadrā’s method in doing philosophy.
Ibn Ṭufayl’s (d. 1185)
Authors: Kukkonen Taneli
Published: November 2016

Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān is one of the most abidingly popular works in all of Arabic literature. At once inviting and expansive, accessible and surprisingly deep, the book offers an excellent introduction to the themes of classical Arabic philosophy. What often goes unnoticed is how deliberately Ibn Ṭufayl spins his story of Ḥayy, the self-taught philosopher who grows up alone on an equatorial island. Ḥayy in fact takes the reader on a tour of the Arabic Aristotelian curriculum, with ethical and political themes following upon a comprehensive exploration of the great chain of being. Ḥayy furthermore contributes to numerous sixth-/twelfth-century debates, ranging from the role that the heart and the brain play in the organism’s life, through the weighting of immanent and transcendent factors in the process of coming-to-be, to the relationship of philosophy to revealed religion.
Introduction
Authors: El-Rouayheb Khaled , Schmidtke Sabine
Published: November 2016

The study of Islamic philosophy has recently entered a new and exciting phase. Both the received canon of Islamic philosophers and the grand narrative of the course of Islamic philosophy are in the process of being radically questioned and revised. The bulk of twentieth-century Western scholarship on Arabic or Islamic philosophy focused on the period from the ninth century to the twelfth. It is a measure of the transformation that is currently underway in the field that the present Handbook gives roughly equal weight to every century from the ninth to the twentieth. Moreover, its entries are work-centered rather than person- or theme-centered.
Al-Fārābī’s (d. 950)
Authors: Janos Damien
Published: November 2016

This chapter examines al-Fārābī’s (d. 950 CE) treatise On the One and Oneness (Kitāb al-wāḥid wa-l-waḥda), a work that focuses exclusively on the metaphysical themes of unity and multiplicity, and which represents one of the master’s less well-known and studied works. After some general observations concerning the treatise’s contents, structure, and style, the present chapter addresses some specific metaphysical and theological implications this work has in the context of al-Fārābī’s philosophy. It shows that On the One and Oneness is aligned with al-Fārābī’s other works and thoroughly inscribed within his metaphysical program and that its main purpose was to provide a theoretical framework and elucidation for concepts lying at the core of his cosmological and theological system. Accordingly, the treatise reveals its true purpose and scope only if it is read in light of al-Fārābī’s more descriptive theological and cosmological works, such as The Principles of Existents (Kitāb Mabādiʾ al-mawjūdāt).
Historical Change in Signed Languages
Authors: Wilcox Sherman , Occhino Corrine
Published: November 2016

Signed languages are natural human languages used by deaf people around the world as their primary language. This chapter explores the linguistic study of signed language, their linguistic properties, and aspects of their genetic and historical relationships. The chapter focuses on historical change that has occurred in signed languages, showing that the same linguistic processes that contribute to historical change in spoken languages, such as lexicalization, grammaticization, and semantic change, contribute to historical change in signed languages. Historical influences unique to signed languages, such as the educational approach of borrowing and adapting signs and an effort to create a system of representing the surrounding spoken/written language and of the incorporation of lexicalized fingerspelling are also discussed.
Social Network Analysis and Its Contribution to Research on Crime and Criminal Justice
Authors: Bouchard Martin , Malm Aili
Published: November 2016

This chapter discusses how the development of network analysis techniques has affected research on crime and the practice of crime control over the past two decades. It describes the contributions of network analysis to criminological research, including the new questions that network analysis techniques allowed criminologists to address, the old questions that have been addressed more adequately, and the novel evidence these techniques yielded. The ways in which network analysis been used by the police and other practitioners in their efforts to prevent and control crime is reviewed, as well as the limitations of network data in understanding crime patterns.
“In the Minds of Men . . .”: Social Representations of War and Military Intervention
Authors: Cohrs J. Christopher , O'Dwyer Emma
Published: November 2016

This chapter reviews research on representations of war and military intervention, primarily situated in two different social psychological research traditions: individual attitudes and social representations. The former has approached the object of investigation by studying the cognitive and affective correlates, more general predictors, and behavioral consequences of individuals’ support (vs. rejection) of war or military intervention. The latter focuses to a greater extent on contextual and historical processes that influence the social meanings attached to war and military intervention; in this approach attitudes are just one (evaluative) component of social representations—and differences between individuals and groups may be attributed to the various functions social representations fulfill. We thus adopt the broader social representations approach. Based on this, the chapter closes by drawing implications for strategies to change individual attitudes, as well as representations of war and military interventions, and by offering questions for future research.
Setting the Record “Straight”: Communicating Findings from Social Science Research on Sexual Orientation to the Courts
Authors: Herek Gregory M.
Published: November 2016

This chapter describes some of the ways in which social science knowledge about sexual orientation and sexual stigma has been applied to social justice issues through federal and state courts. The chapter draws examples from the author’s experiences as an expert witness in cases such as Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the landmark 2010 federal case that ultimately overturned Proposition 8, California’s voter-enacted constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples. The chapter also provides some general background information on what being an expert witness in cases such as Perry entails. Suggestions are offered for social scientists who wish to communicate empirical research findings to the courts, legislators, and policymakers.
Suicide
Authors: Michaels Matthew S. , Chu Carol , Joiner Thomas E.
Published: November 2016

Suicide represents a growing public issue that involves great emotional cost and loss of life. This chapter provides an academic overview of the topic of suicide. Methods of classification and definitional issues are discussed. Epidemiological trends in rates of suicide and suicide attempts are well established and are reported. The phenomenology of suicidal behavior represents an under-studied area and there is discussion of the few studies that exist and possibilities for future investigations in this area. Next, the etiology of suicide in the context of current suicide theory, including the interpersonal theory of suicide, is discussed. This essay concludes with a practical discussion of clinical risk assessment for suicidal behavior and future recommendations for research.
Validation of a scaling law for the coronal magnetic field strength and loop length of solar and stellar flares
Authors: Namekata Kosuke , Sakaue Takahito , Watanabe Kyoko , Asai Ayumi , Shibata Kazunari
Published: November 2016

Shibata and Yokoyama (1999, ApJ, 526, L49; 2002, ApJ, 577, 422) proposed a method of estimating the coronal magnetic field strength (B) and magnetic loop length (L) of solar and stellar flares, on the basis of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the magnetic reconnection model. Using the scaling law provided by Shibata and Yokoyama (1999, ApJ, 526, L49; 2002, ApJ, 577, 422), we obtain B and L as functions of the emission measure (EM = n2L3) and temperature (T) at the flare peak. Here, n is the coronal electron density of the flares. This scaling law enables the estimation of B and L for unresolved stellar flares from the observable physical quantities EM and T, which is helpful for studying stellar surface activities. To apply this scaling law to stellar flares, we discuss its validity for spatially resolved solar flares. Quantities EM and T are calculated from GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) soft X-ray flux data, and B and L are theoretically estimated using the scaling law. For the same flare events, B and L were also observationally estimated with images taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Magnetogram and Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 94 Å pass band. As expected, a positive correlation was found between the theoretically and observationally estimated values. We interpret this result as indirect evidence that flares are caused by magnetic reconnection. Moreover, this analysis makes us confident about the validity of applying this scaling law to stellar flares as well as solar flares.
Parent Support Programs and Coping Mechanisms in NICU Parents
Authors: Huenink Ellen , Porterfield Susan
Published: November 2016

Background:

Many neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) parents experience emotional distress leading to adverse infant outcomes. Parents may not cope positively in stressful situations, and support programs often are underutilized.

Purpose:

To determine coping mechanisms utilized by NICU parents, and types of support programs parents are likely to attend. To determine whether sociodemographic and length-of-stay differences impact coping mechanisms utilized, and types of support programs preferred.

Methods:

A correlational cross-sectional survey design was used. The 28-item Brief COPE tool, questions about demographics and preferred support program styles, was distributed to a convenience sample of NICU parents in a level IV NICU in the southeastern United States.

Results:

One hundred one NICU parents used coping mechanisms, with acceptance emotional support, active coping, positive reframing, religion, planning, and instrumental support being the most common. Preferred support classes were infant development and talking with other NICU parents. Caucasians more commonly coped using active coping, planning, emotional support, acceptance, instrumental support, and venting compared with other races. Women utilized self-blame coping mechanisms more often compared with men. Younger parents were more likely to use venting and denial coping mechanisms. Parents with a shorter stay utilized self-distraction coping and preferred the class of talking with other parents.

Implications for Practice:

Support program preference, type of coping mechanism utilized, and sociodemographic factors may be used to guide the creation of NICU support programs.

Implications for Research:

Additional studies are needed to determine whether support program offering according to preferences and sociodemographic characteristics increases attendance and decreases emotional distress.
The Use of Quick Response Codes for Teaching Pharmacology to College Nursing Students in Taiwan
Authors: Lin Kai-Yin , Yang Yi-Chen , Lai Chin-Yuan
Published: November 2016

The major goal of this study was to explore students’ viewpoint toward the use of quick response codes in the pharmacology course in Taiwan. A total of 102 students were invited and agreed to take part in this project. The results indicated that a majority of students considered quick response codes easy to use and helpful with learning in a pharmacology course.
Development of an e-Learning Research Module Using Multimedia Instruction Approach
Authors: Kowitlawakul Yanika , Chan Moon Fai , Tan Sharon Swee Lin , Soong Alan Swee Kit , Chan Sally Wai Chi
Published: November 2016

Students nowadays feel more comfortable with new technologies, which increase their motivation and, as a result, improve their academic performance. In the last two decades, the use of information communication technology has been increasing in many disciplines in higher education. Online learning or e-learning has been used and integrated into the curriculum around the world. A team of nursing faculty and educational technology specialists have developed an e-learning research module and integrate it into the nursing curriculum. The aim was to assist master of nursing and postgraduate nursing students in developing their research knowledge before and throughout their enrollment in the research course. This e-learning module includes interactive multimedia such as audiovisual presentation, graphical theme, animation, case-based learning, and pretest and posttest for each topic area. The module focuses on three main topic areas: (1) basic research principles (for review), (2) quantitative method, and (3) qualitative method. The e-learning module is an innovative use of the information and communication technology to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in a local context. This article discusses the development journey, piloting process, including the variety of evaluation perspectives, and the ways in which the results influenced the e-learning resource before its wider distribution.
Glaucoma Diagnostic Capability of Global and Regional Measurements of Isolated Ganglion Cell Layer and Inner Plexiform Layer
Authors: Chien Jason L. , Ghassibi Mark P. , Patthanathamrongkasem Thipnapa , Abumasmah Ramiz , Rosman Michael S. , Skaat Alon , Tello Celso , Liebmann Jeffrey M. , Ritch Robert , Park Sung Chul
Published: November 2016

Purpose:

To compare glaucoma diagnostic capability of global/regional macular layer parameters in different-sized grids.

Materials and Methods:

Serial horizontal spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans of macula were obtained. Automated macular grids with diameters of 3, 3.45, and 6 mm were used. For each grid, 10 parameters (total volume; average thicknesses in 9 regions) were obtained for 5 layers: macular retinal nerve fiber layer (mRNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL), inner plexiform layer (IPL), ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL; GCL+IPL), and ganglion cell complex (GCC; mRNFL+GCL+IPL).

Results:

Sixty-nine normal eyes (69 subjects) and 87 glaucomatous eyes (87 patients) were included. For the total volume parameter, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs) in 6-mm grid were larger than the AUCs in 3- and 3.45-mm grids for GCL, GCC, GCIPL, and mRNFL (all P<0.020). For the average thickness parameters, the best AUC in 6-mm grid (T2 region for GCL, IPL, and GCIPL; I2 region for mRNFL and GCC) was greater than the best AUC in 3-mm grid for GCL, GCC, and mRNFL (P<0.045). The AUC of GCL volume (0.920) was similar to those of GCC (0.920) and GCIPL (0.909) volume. The AUC of GCL T2 region thickness (0.942) was similar to those of GCC I2 region (0.942) and GCIPL T2 region (0.934) thickness.

Conclusions:

Isolated macular GCL appears to be as good as GCC and GCIPL in glaucoma diagnosis, while IPL does not. Larger macular grids may be better at detecting glaucoma. Each layer has a characteristic region with the best glaucoma diagnostic capability.
Vision-related Quality of Life in Korean Glaucoma Patients
Authors: Sung Kyung Rim , Chun Yeoun Sook , Park Chan Kee , Kim Hwang Ki , Yoo Chungkwon , Kim Yong Yeon , Park Ki Ho , Kim Chan Yun , Choi Kyu-Ryong , Lee Kyoo Won , Han Seungbong , Kim Chang-sik
Published: November 2016

Purpose of the Study:

The purpose of the study was to evaluate vision-related quality of life in Korean glaucoma patients and to explore the associated factors.

Methods:

A total of 907 glaucoma patients were recruited from the prospectively designed LIGHT (Life quality of the glaucoma patient who underwent treatment) study organized by the Korean Glaucoma Society. Basic questionnaire that included items related to socioeconomic status, comorbidity, and lifestyle, and the validated Korean version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) were collected. The Rasch score, a logit-based interval scale estimate to summarizing the NEI VFQ-25 responses, was calculated. The univariate and multivariable regression models were used to evaluate associations between the Rasch score and variables.

Results:

The mean patient age was 58.1±14.1 years, visual field mean deviation (VF MD) of the better and worse eyes was −4.92±6.14 and −9.77±8.31 dB, binocular-integrated VF (IVF) MD was −3.55±5.31 dB, respectively. The lower NEI VFQ-25 Rasch score showed a significant association with the presence of other ocular diseases (P=0.020), a high school level of education or less [vs. university (P=0.006), vs. graduate school or higher (P=0.019)], an anxious personality [vs. a moderate personality (P<0.001), vs. a relaxed personality (P<0.001)], the number of glaucoma medications in use (P=0.049), worse eye visual acuity (P<0.001), and IVF MD (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

Visual function parameters are important for the vision-related quality of life of Korean glaucoma patients, notably for worse eye visual acuity and IVF MD. However, social factors, self-assessed personality, and treatment-related issues are also substantial predictors of overall life quality.
Applying “Lasso” Regression to Predict Future Glaucomatous Visual Field Progression in the Central 10 Degrees
Authors: Fujino Yuri , Murata Hiroshi , Mayama Chihiro , Matsuo Hiroshi , Asaoka Ryo
Published: November 2016

Purpose of the Study:

We recently reported that it is beneficial to apply least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) regression to predict future 24-2 visual field (VF) progression. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the usefulness of Lasso regression to predict VF progression in the central 10 degrees (10-2) in glaucoma patients.

Methods:

Series of 10 VFs (Humphrey Field Analyzer 10-2 SITA-standard) from each of 149 eyes in 110 open angle glaucoma patients, obtained over 5.7±1.4 years (mean±SD) were investigated. Mean deviation values of the 10th VF were predicted using varying numbers of VFs (ranging from the first to third VFs to the first to ninth VFs), applying ordinary least square regression (OLSLR) and Lasso regression. Absolute prediction errors were then compared.

Results:

With OLSLR, prediction error varied between 5.4±5.0 (using first to third VFs) and 1.1±1.6 dB (using first to ninth VFs). Significantly smaller prediction errors were obtained with Lasso regression, in particular with small numbers of VFs (from 2.1±2.8: first to third VFs, to 1.0±1.6 dB: first to ninth VFs). A large λ value, which is an index showing the degree of penalty in Lasso regression, was observed when a small number of VFs were used for prediction.

Conclusion:

Mean deviation prediction using OLSLR with a small number of VFs resulted in large prediction errors. It was useful to apply Lasso regression when predicting future progression of the central 10 degrees, compared to OLSLR.
Comparison of Anterior Chamber Parameters in Patients With Plateau Iris Configuration and Pupillary Block Using ASOCT
Authors: Moghimi Sasan , Kiaroudi Mohammadyaser , Coh Paul , Li Yingjie , He Mingguang , Lin Shan C.
Published: November 2016

Purpose:

To quantitatively analyze the anterior chamber parameters in patients with pupillary block (PB) and plateau iris configuration (PIC) using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT).

Patients and Methods:

In this cross-sectional study, nonglaucomatous subjects consecutively recruited and a total of 212 eyes divided into 3 groups of PIC (31 eyes), PB (60 eyes), and open angles (121 eyes) based on gonioscopic and ultrasound biomicroscopy findings. All patients underwent ASOCT imaging and A-scan biometry of both eyes. Anterior chamber depth (ACD), anterior chamber area (ACA), iris thickness (IT), iris curvature, lens vault (LV), anterior vault, and angle parameters including angle opening distance, and trabecular iris space area were measured in qualified images using the Zhongshan Angle Assessment Program, and compared using linear mixed model. The data from 1 eye of each subject were used for final analysis.

Results:

Mean age was 64.5±12.1, 64.8±10.5, and 62.3±9.2 years for PB, PIC, and open angle eyes, respectively (P=0.26). There was no significant difference in angle parameters (angle opening distance and trabecular iris space area at 250, 500, and 750 µm from sclera spur), anterior segment parameters (ACD and ACA), iris area, iris curvature, and LV between PB and PIC groups. PIC eyes had greater IT at 750 µm from sclera spur than the PB group (P=0.05). Normal eyes had greater ACD, ACA, and anterior chamber width, and angle parameters and lesser LV and iris curvature than the other 2 groups.

Conclusions:

ASOCT parameters are not significantly different between PB and PIC eyes. PIC eyes may have greater IT at its base.
Congenital Paradoxical Lower Eyelid Retraction With Upgaze due to an Anomalous Extraocular Muscle
Authors: Richardson Daniel R. , Gadzala Laura A. , Bonsall Dean J. , Hogg Jeffery P. , Williams H. James , Nguyen John
Published: November 2016

Congenital anomalous orbital structures are rare and associated with strabismus, globe retraction, and dystopia. The authors present a case of congenital paradoxical right lower eyelid retraction with upgaze due to an anomalous extraocular muscle in a 17-year-old, healthy, female patient. Orbital computed tomography showed an intraconal, inferolateral soft-tissue band extending from the orbital apex to the inferior oblique muscle and lower eyelid. There was resolution of lower eyelid retraction and exposure symptoms after resection of the anterior portion of the fibromuscular band from the lower eyelid retractors and eyelid elevation with ear cartilage. To the authors’ knowledge, this case is the first to report anomalous orbital structure as a rare cause of congenital paradoxical lower eyelid retraction, which can be improved with resection.
Systemic Allergic Response in the Setting of a Metallic Intraorbital Foreign Body With Intraoperative Magnet-Assisted Retrieval
Authors: Cole Scott C. , Eftekhari Kian , Anderson Richard L. , Oberg Thomas J.
Published: November 2016

A 12-year-old boy with a past medical history of nickel allergy was referred to our service after sustaining an air rifle injury with a retained BB in his left inferior orbit. On examination, he had a palpable orbital mass and systemic urticaria. Plain films demonstrated a spherical metallic foreign body adjacent to the left inferior orbital rim. Given his worsening systemic reaction despite oral antihistamine therapy, decision was made to remove the foreign body. In the operating room, the Allergan Magna Finder—a prepackaged, sterile device normally used for retrieval of a port used in tissue expansion surgery—was placed over the inferior conjunctiva of the lower eyelid. With the magnet holding gentle anterior traction on the foreign body, it was easily dissected and removed. The patient tolerated the procedure well, and had rapid resolution of his systemic allergic response following removal of the BB.