bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Geometrical Based Method for Highly Complex Structured Textures Generation
Authors: Dischler Jean‐Michel , Ghazanfarpour Djamchid
Published: March 2003

Conventional 2D or 3D texturing methods do not permit an efficient simulation of highly complex structured textures like fire, fur, cotton, etc. More recent techniques, using specific kinds of 3D textures, such as hypertextures or texels based on volume rendering algorithms, are more interesting, for the simulation of such special types of textures. Unfortunately, these techniques remain still restricted because either they need a functional modelling of the object, as it is the case of hypertextures, or they are strictly limited to one specific kind of texture, as it is the case of texels.

In this paper we present a new approach for applying a wide range of very different types of highly complex structured textures (fur, fire, water drops, cotton, fume, …) on every kind of objects. This method is particularly based on the geometrical information given by a geometrical model (as the polyhedral or CSG modelling). Like hypertextures or texels, our method uses the volume density rendering, but it isfree of the serious above mentioned restrictions of these methods. In addition, it allows an easy and very intuitive control of the global geometrical shape of generated textures. Its manipulation is simple evenfor a novice user.
Bresenham's Line Generation Algorithm with Built‐in Clipping
Authors: Kuzmin Yevgeny P.
Published: March 2003

One of the most important operations in many graphical systems is the generation of a line segment. This process consists of two stages: clipping and drawing. These two stages are separated in current graphical applications. In this paper a new approach to line generation is proposed, which unifies these stages. The proposed algorithm is based on Bresenham's line generation algorithm to include necessary line clipping. The line clipping stage is an operation‐reduced, integer arithmetic only algorithm. The notion of correctness of line clipping is introduced and correctness of the proposed algorithm is shown. Complete C‐notation of the algorithm is included.
Computation of Higher Order Illumination with a Non‐Deterministic Approach
Authors: Bouatouch Kadi , Pattanaik S. N. , Zeghers Eric
Published: March 2003

In spite of the number of efforts made by the computer graphics researchers, till today the computation of view‐independent global illumination in an environment containing non‐diffusely reflecting objects is a non‐resolved problem. In general, non‐deterministic techniques seem to be capable of solving this problem. In this article we propose one such non‐deterministic method which will permit such calculation by using a combined technique of higher order function approximation and particle tracing. We have used multi‐wavelets as basis functions and have calculated the illumination function approximation coefficients by exploiting the adjointness between the radiance equation and the potential equation.
Women in the Boardroom: Evidence from Large UK Companies
Authors: Conyon Martin J. , Mallin Chris
Published: March 2003

A considerable amount of attention has recently been given to the lack of equality for women in the economic arena. Women are systematically disadvantaged in many ways in terms of pay for the same job, promotion prospects and access to the most important top jobs in the United Kingdom. In this paper we present new evidence on women participation rates in UK boardrooms. In particular, our objectives are to (i) examine the proportion of executive and non‐executive directors who are women (ii) to document the degree to which women are deployed to key boardroom committees.
The impact of board composition and ownership on the nature and outcome of UK takeovers
Authors: O’Sullivan Noel , Wong Pauline
Published: March 2003

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight on the relationship between internal governance and the nature and outcome of UK takeovers. The paper examines the impact of board composition and leadership, managerial ownership and external shareholder control on management’s attitude and eventual outcome of 331 takeover bids. We find the likelihood of a hostile reaction negatively related to the degree of managerial share ownership and positively related to target size. The likelihood of takeover success is positively related to managerial ownership. Consistent with recent research in the US, our study confirms the important role of managerial ownership in the UK takeover process.
Corporate Governance in the NHS – an Assessment of Boardroom Practice
Authors: Harrison James J. H.
Published: March 2003

Corporate governance was once something akin to a minority, even elite, interest and unlikely to ever become a feature of popular (and especially public sector) management culture. This is no longer true. This article draws upon a post reform assessment of boardroom practice in English District Health Authorities as a means of reflecting upon matters of governance and to illuminate the case for both policy and practice change. Whilst the data derive from Health Authorities, the findings have significance for the boards of other NHS bodies and a relevance to other parts of the public and not‐for‐profit sector(s) experiencing or contemplating similar changes.
Women on Canadian Corporate Boards of Directors: getting the numbers right!
Authors: Burke Ronald
Published: March 2003

This exploratory study examined predictors of the number of women serving on corporate boards of directors of Canadian companies. Company size and board size were positively and significantly correlated with number of women board members. In addition, industry sector also affected both company and board size. Implications for increasing women’s representation on corporate boards and future research suggestions are proposed.
Perspectives on Integrated Business Risk Management (BRM) and the Implications for Corporate Governance
Authors: Mackay Irene , Sweeting Robert
Published: March 2003

There is increasing interest by top management in matters connected to integrated Business Risk Management (BRM). At the same time, BRM frameworks aimed at facilitating compliance with corporate governance requirements are being developed (e.g. Lipworth, 1997). This paper explores ways in which top managers in six UK companies covering the service to manufacturing sectors and ranging in size from large to small took practical steps towards understanding and implementing BRM. Approaches by managers ranged from the naive to the sophisticated. In the study one of the particular perspectives considered was the possible influence of legal considerations. In this context, one of the principal drivers to introducing BRM in the present climate of corporate accountability was found to be fear of exposure in the media for mis‐handling risks rather than concerns about the enforcement of any law.
Creating Value Through Corporate Governance
Authors: Monks Robert A.G.
Published: March 2003

Value and governance are such familiar words that we do not often enough reflect on their meanings in a specific situation. This paper will suggest:

Value is in the eye of the beholder.

The appearance of governance may be preferable to the real thing.

In order better to understand value, we will work with a simple question – is it appropriate for a global investor to purchase common shares in Volkswagen? There are many kinds of shareholder, each with distinctive interests that are not always compatible with the interests of the other investors. A global investor is typically the trustee of a pension plan with the simple obligation to collateralise the pension promise by maximising the long–term value of trust assets. The beneficiaries of pension funds are not rich people. Fluctuations in market values are no longer primarily a question as to whether rich people are a bit richer or poorer, they are a question as to whether pensions will be paid to the roughly half of the population of the OECD world who have interests in employee benefit plans. This makes investment a matter of social and political concern. At the end of our trip through the mythology and prospects for adding value to corporate enterprises through effective governance, we come to a very simple conclusion. I bastardise a celebrated principal of physics to conclude that both in science and in business a watched particle behaves differently than one that is not watched. “An observed board behaves differently” and is more likely to generate value for corporate owners.
Corporate Directing: governing, strategising and leading in action
Authors: Pye Annie
Published: March 2003

This paper elaborates the concept of corporate directing, integrating the processes of governing, strategising and leading by which small groups of people effectively “run” organisations. If governing and strategising are the warp and weft of this fabric, then leading is the textural imprint that is created through the enacting of corporate directing. Based on two ESRC–funded research projects (1987–9 and 1998–2000), it offers data on which this concept is based, drawn from large UK plcs (e.g. Prudential, Marks & Spencer) and selected institutional investors (e.g. Hermes, Philips and Drew).
General Meetings: a dispensable tool for corporate governance of listed companies?
Authors: Strätling Rebecca
Published: March 2003

The current Company Law Review by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Myners Report on Institutional Investment both identified the annual general meeting (AGM) of public companies as one of the instruments of corporate governance that seems to fail its purpose. Based on responses to the DTI's consultation document Company General Meetings and Shareholder Communication the paper explores arguments for and against AGMs and investigates proposals for the reform of AGMs.
Problem‐Driven Inventing: a Concept for Strong Solutions to Inventive Tasks
Authors: Mo¨hrle Martin , Pannenbäcker Tilo
Published: March 2003

This article presents the Concept of Problem‐Driven Inventing. It combines the application of condensed technical knowledge and special techniques for directed creativity and aims at strong solutions to inventive tasks. One core element of this concept is to work out the inherent contradiction of a company’s problem and then take it as a challenge to overcome this contradiction instead of accepting a trade‐off of contradictory requirements. To achieve this one should orientate oneself by the area of conflict between the metaphors of the ideal machine on the one hand and the fitting to economical, technological and social trends on the other hand. Several strong tools for overcoming technical and scientific contradictions complete this concept and can be supported by traditional creativity techniques. The Concept of Problem‐Driven Inventing combines various approaches: It is inspired by Altshuller’s empirical research work of the last six decades and uses the tools of his ”Theory of Inventive Problem Solving“ as well as other tools and techniques. Those tools are integrated into the modular structure of the ”Five‐Field‐Analysis“ by Müller‐Merbach. Thus, this concept puts findings of different research fields in a form that is easy to understand and which is promising to be applicable to different types of enterprises in today’s economic environment as well as to individuals. The article illustrates the Concept of Problem‐Driven Inventing by a continuous example, gives advice for its application and outlines current projects.
How Product Newness Influences ‘Learning and Probing’ and the Linearity of its Development Process
Authors: Jin Zhongqi
Published: March 2003

In this paper, the relationship between product newness and non‐linearity of new product development processes has been examined in the context of the UK’s information and communications technology industry. The results showed that new product development and implementation are contingent on the product’s newness. New product development managers should be aware of such differences in order to avoid costly iterations when they are not necessary, and accept them when they are. Such knowledge may encourage managers to consider the scope for deliberately introducing feedback/iteration processes when they lead to more effective new product development.
Managing the Innovation of a Corporate IT‐based Cable Design System
Authors: Malik Khaleel
Published: March 2003

Managing new Information Technology innovations requires an understanding of factors that influence organisational choice. When large firms invest in new IT applications such as Computer Aided Design, there is reason to doubt that they adequately understand user needs. Empirical investigation in a UK cables producing Multinational Company highlights the practical challenges faced by such designers, when designing bespoke systems technologies. In addition to understanding end market requirements, it is imperative to understand existing organisational practices and constraints. Evidence from this in‐depth innovation study points to the need to develop integrative theoretical accounts, which include insights from the innovation adoption process as well as the innovation design process.
An Eco‐innovation Case Study of Domestic Dishwashing through the Application of TRIZ Tools
Authors: Jones Elies , Mann Darrell , Harrison Dr David , Stanton Professor Neville
Published: March 2003

The benefits of applying a structured method such as TRIZ (Teoriya Resheniya Izobretatelskikh Zadatch: the Russian theory of inventive problem solving) to Eco‐innovation are examined through use of two problem‐solving tools from TRIZ in an Eco‐innovation case study. A novel problem hierarchy model has been integrated to help identify the systems and sub‐systems level innovations required for Eco‐innovation. The benefits and shortcomings of the TRIZ tools, and the potential contribution of the problem hierarchy model in the innovation process are discussed.
Innovation through Strategic Community Management: The Case of NTT DoCoMo and the Mobile Internet Revolution
Authors: Kodama Mitsuru
Published: March 2003

This paper describes strategic community management that can be implemented by large established companies through the creation of a variety of strategic business communities. The paper focuses in particular on the case of NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan’s largest mobile telecommunications carrier, which has utilized strategic community management principles in their efforts to cultivate and expand the mobile Internet market in Japan over roughly the past two years.

This paper also deals with the development of an emerging mobile Internet market spawned by the creation of strategic communities supported by strategic communities which consist of informal in‐house organizations and diverse strategic heterogeneous alliances with outside firms including customers, and elucidates strategic community management as an effective methodology aimed at strategic innovation conducted by major enterprises.
In Search of Organisational Creativity: The Role of Knowledge Management
Authors: Haapasalo Harri , Kess Pekka
Published: March 2003

Contemporary management theories lead to systematic practices that appear to limit the creative capacity of any given organisation. Often there is a closed system paradigm, when in reality organisations are open systems. A desire to seek a rational way of operating is not necessarily negative, but gives priority to mechanisms and results over processes or contents. Drawing on practical experiences in architectural design within the construction industry, we point to approaches that inhibit the emergence of creativity in an organisation, and which can be harmful from the business point of view in the long run. It is suggested that one way to overcome these difficulties lies in improvements in knowledge management.
Knowledge Exchange in Strategic Alliances: Learning in Tension
Authors: Hermens Antoine
Published: March 2003

The proliferation of corporate strategic alliances is explained by the opportunities this provides for the exchange of knowledge and more rapid learning than any other factor. Exploiting complementarities among products and services, strategic alliances enable value creation by capturing the benefits from leveraging knowledge, and discovering complementarities among technologies, and among the activities of the participants. This paper explores the relevance of factors, which may influence the relationship involving the imbalances of internal tensions and alliance instabilities. It is assumed that the objective in a strategic alliance partnership is to maintain the collaborative relationship and to prevent unplanned alliance dissolution. Factors such as availability of resources, bargaining power, alliance type, alliances with specific goals and stages of industry life cycles, and changing market conditions can influence internal tensions and therefore alliance stability. This article argues that alliance partners should balance the conflicting forces to maintain the collaborative knowledge creating and learning relationship.
Types and Timing of Inter–organizational Communication in New Product Development
Authors: Hummel Marjan , Van Rossum Wouter , Omta Onno , Verkerke Gijsbertus , Rakhorst Gerhard
Published: March 2003

Managing the communication between the participants involved in inter–organizational product development is complex. The traditional models of new product development are not sufficient to gain insight in effective management practices in this respect. Our study explored the inter–organizational communication in a research and development project. Our results confirm Gersick’s model that looks upon new product development as being punctuated by periods of rapid change. In these periods, including the start–up, explorative prototype stage, and completion of the project, inter–organizational communication is essential about design objectives and project planning, contextual factors and the required resources, skills and knowledge.
Design of a Research Performance Measurement System: The Case of NIAB
Authors: Visser Steven , Kerssens–van Drongelen Inge , De Weerd–Nederhof Petra C. , Reeves James
Published: March 2003

At NIAB, a UK based company that provides research, services and information to the agricultural and food sector, a system has been designed that helps to assess and manage the growing research programme of the company. Since the company was ‘privatised’ four years ago, research activities have increased and moved away from solely applied research to a mix of applied and more fundamental research. Being a key element of the new developed company strategy, research now plays an increasing important role in broadening the scope of the company and keeping current services competitive by driving innovation. All research at NIAB is externally funded. In this paper we report on the process to design NIAB’s performance measurement system, for which the Performance measurement system Systematic Design Approach was used. The design process was started with an elaborate structured problem analysis of the research process and its inter and extra–organisational context. Based upon this analysis, firstly a conceptual and secondly a detail design of a performance measurement system was made. To maximise the leverage from research, the system has been designed to optimise the value delivered to the funder as well as the value delivered to internal customers in the form of knowledge that drives innovation.
Aging, Memory, and Comprehension
Authors: Radvansky Gabriel A.
Published: March 2003

There are changes in the ability to comprehend and remember information with aging. In general, older adults perform more poorly than younger adults at tasks that require knowledge of the information that was actually encountered. However, they can perform as well as or better than younger adults at tasks involving more global levels of understanding, such as in the use ofinformation in a situation model. This increased emphasis on situation models may serve to compensate for deficits at lower levels of processing and may be achieved through more focused selection of situation-defining information, increased dependence on schemas, and a broader generation and use of inferences.
The Development of Infant Memory
Authors: Rovee-Collier Carolyn
Published: March 2003

Over the first year and a half of life, the duration of memory becomes progressively longer, the specificity of the cues required for recognition progressively decreases after short test delays, and the latency of priming progressively decreases to the adult level. The memory dissociations of very young infants on recognition and priming tasks, which presumably tap different memory systems, are also identical to those of adults. These parallels suggest that both memory systems are present very early in development instead of emerging hierarchically over the 1st year, as previously thought. Finally, even young infants can remember an event over the entire “infantile amnesia” period if they are periodically exposed to appropriate nonverbal reminders. In short, the same fundamental mechanisms appear to underlie memory processing in infants and adults.
The Motivations to Volunteer
Authors: Clary E. Gil , Snyder Mark
Published: March 2003

Why do significant numbers of people engage in the unpaid helping activities known as volunteerism? Drawing on functional theorizing about the reasons, purposes, and motivations underlying human behavior, we have identified six personal and social functions potentially served by volunteering. In addition to developing an inventory to assess these motivational functions, our program of research has explored the role of motivation in the processes of volunteerism, especially decisions about becoming a volunteer in the first place and decisions about continuing to volunteer.
Time to Death and Cognitive Performance
Authors: Small Brent J. , Bäckman Lars
Published: March 2003

Research suggests that there is an accelerated decline in cognitive functioning that is related to proximity to death among older adults. Although there is mounting evidence for the presence of such terminal deficits, several issues remain unresolved. These include whether the effects are more prevalent among young-old (65 75 years) than old-old (75+ years) adults, whether all cognitive abilities are equally affected by impending mortality, whether the presence of chronic illness or the specific cause of death modifies the magnitude of the observed deficits, and whether the source (or sources) of mortality-related cognitive deficits can be identified. The current review addresses each of these issues, and provides suggestions regarding avenues of future research.
Neurobehavioral Changes in Adolescence
Authors: Spear Linda Patia
Published: March 2003

Adolescents across a variety of species exhibit age-specific behavioral characteristics that may have evolved to help them attain the necessary skills for independence. These adolescent-related characteristics, such as an increase in risk taking, may be promoted less by the hormonal changes of puberty than by developmental events occurring in brain. Among the prominent brain transformations of adolescence are alterations in the prefrontal cortex, limbic brain areas, and their dopamine input, systems that are sensitive to stressors and form part of the neural circuitry modulating the motivational value of drugs and other reinforcing stimuli. Such developmental transformations of the adolescent brain may predispose adolescents to behave in particular ways and make them particularly likely to initiate use of alcohol and other drugs.
The False-Hope Syndrome
Authors: Polivy Janet , Herman C. Peter
Published: March 2003

Why do people persist in attempting to change themselves, despite repeated failure? Self-change is often perceived as unrealistically easy to achieve, in an unreasonably short period of time. Moreover, embarking on self-change attempts induces feelings of control and optimism that supersede the lessons of prior experience. Finally, people tend to expect an unrealistically high payoff from successful selfchange. Some sorts of selfchange are feasible, but we must learn to distinguish between realistic and unrealistic self-change goals, between confidence and overconfidence. Overconfidence breeds false hope, which engenders inflated expectations of success and eventually the misery of defeat.
Neuroimaging of Priming: New Perspectives on Implicit and Explicit Memory
Authors: Schacter Daniel L. , Badgaiyan Rajendra D.
Published: March 2003

Priming refers to a change in the ability to identify or produce an item as a consequence of a specific prior encounter. Priming has been studied extensively in cognitive studies of healthy volunteers, neuropsychological investigations of brain-damaged patients, and, more recently, studies using modern functional neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. We review recent neuroimaging studies that have converged upon the conclusion that priming is reliably accompanied by decreased activity in a variety of brain regions. The establishment of this cortical signature of priming is beginning to generate new hypotheses concerning the relation between priming and explicit retrieval, which we illustrate by considering recent experiments on within- and cross-modality priming.
Stress and Immunity: Age Enhances the Risks
Authors: Kiecolt-Glaser Janice K. , Glaser Ronald
Published: March 2003

A competent immune response is central to good health. There is good evidence that both aging and psychological stress can dysregulate immune function, resulting in changes in various aspects of the immune response that are large enough to have consequences for health. Older adults appear to show even greater immunological impairments associated with stress or depression than younger adults. Thus, the data suggest that aging interacts with stress and depression to enhance risks for morbidity and mortality among older adults.
If the Television Program Bleeds, Memory for the Advertisement Recedes
Authors: Bushman Brad J. , Phillips Colleen M.
Published: March 2003

In public surveys, the most common complaint about television is the amount of violence depicted on the screen. More than half the programs shown on television are violent, and hundreds of studies have shown that viewing TV violence causes an increase in societal violence. Nevertheless, advertisers continue to sponsor violent programs. For an advertisement to be effective, people should be able to remember the brand advertised and the message in the advertisement. This article reviews the effect of TV violence on memory for ads. A meta-analysis integrating the results from 12 studies involving more than 1,700 participants shows that TV violence impairs memory for ads. The impairment occurs for males and females, for children and adults, and for people who like and do not like to watch TV violence. These results suggest that sponsoring violent programs might not be a profitable venture for advertisers.
Psychoneuroimmunology
Authors: Ader Robert
Published: March 2003

Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the relationships among behavioral, neural and endocrine, and immune processes. Bidirectional pathways connect the brain and the immune system and provide the foundation for neural, endocrine, and behavioral effects on immunity. Examples of such effects are conditioned and stress-induced changes in immune function and in susceptibility to immunologically mediated diseases. These data indicate that researchers should no longer study the immune system as if it functioned independently of other systems in the body. Changes in immune function are hypothesized to mediate the effects of psychological factors on the development of some diseases, and research strategies for studying the clinical significance of behaviorally induced changes in immune function are suggested.
Contrasting Acquisition-Focused and Performance-Focused Models of Acquired Behavior
Authors: Miller Ralph R. , Escobar Martha
Published: March 2003

What is encoded during a learning experience? In a learning situation, a training (acquisition) phase is often followed by a test phase. Acquisition-focused models (most associative models) emphasize information processing that occurs during training and assume that only summary statistics (associative values) are retained to influence behavior during testing. Performance-focused models (a k a “computational” models) emphasize information processing that occurs at test and often assume fairly comprehensive memory of prior experiences. In this article, we contrast these two families of models. We note that neither family can claim unique support from the various learning phenomena commonly cited as favoring one or the other position. Within each family, there are highly diverse models that preclude blanket generalizations. However, the acquisition-focused view that subjects retain only summary statistics suggests unrealistically impoverished memories relative to the fairly veridical memories that clearly are formed. But this oversimplifying assumption of acquisition-focused associative theories is exactly what has made them superior to performance-focused models to date in stimulating research.
Bilingual Language Mixing: Why Do Bilinguals Code-Switch?
Authors: Heredia Roberto R. , Altarriba Jeanette
Published: March 2003

Bilingual speakers often code-switch from one language to another, especially when both languages are used in the environment. This article explores the potential theoretical explanations for this language behavior, the costs and benefits associated with language switching, and the role of language dominance in the direction of the switch. In short, code switching follows functional and grammatical principles and is a complex, rule-governed phenomenon. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the psycholinguistics of code switching, research is needed to examine the cognitive mechanisms underlying the bilingual's ability to integrate and separate two languages during the communicative process.
Gender Differences in Depression
Authors: Nolen-Hoeksema Susan
Published: March 2003

From early adolescence through adulthood, women are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Many different explanations for this gender difference in depression have been offered, but none seems to fully explain it. Recent research has focused on gender differences in stress responses, and in exposure to certain stressors. I review this research and describe how gender differences in stress experiences and stress reactivity may interact to create women's greater vulnerability to depression.
How Do People Process Health Information? Applications in an Age of Individualized Communication
Authors: Kreuter Matthew W. , Holt Cheryl L.
Published: March 2003

Advances in computer technology have made it possible to customize communication, including health-education materials, to the specific needs and interests of any individual. Studies show that individually tailored health-education materials are more effective than generic materials in promoting changes in a variety of health-related behaviors. Theory and research in information processing provide an explanation for why such materials are effective. This article discusses current research on how individuals process tailored health information, and discusses directions for future research in this area.
Cognitive Biases and Emotional Wisdom in the Evolution of Conflict Between the Sexes
Authors: Buss David M.
Published: March 2003

Two recent theories within evolutionary psychology have produced novel insights into conflict between the sexes. According to error management theory (EMT), asymmetries over evolutionary time in the cost-benefit consequences of specific social inferences have produced predictable cognitive biases. Women, for example, appear to underinfer commitment in response to signals of resource display. Men often overinfer a woman's sexual desire when she merely smiles at or casually touches them. These inferential biases, according to EMT, represent functional adaptations rather than markers of irrationality in information processing. According to strategic interference theory, certain “negative emotions' function to motivate action to reduce conflict produced by impediments to preferred social strategies. Emotions such as jealousy and anger, rather than reducing rationality, may embody inherited ancestral wisdom functional in dealing with interference inflicted by other individuals. These evolution-based theories have produced novel empirical discoveries and challenge traditional theories anchored in the premise that cognitive biases and negative emotions necessarily lead to irrationality.
Mere Exposure: A Gateway to the Subliminal
Authors: Zajonc R.B.
Published: March 2003

In the mere-repeated-exposure paradigm, an individual is repeatedly exposed to a particular stimulus object, and the researcher records the individual's emerging preference for that object. Vast literature on the mere-repeated-exposure effect shows it to be a robust phenomenon that cannot be explained by an appeal to recognition memory or perceptual fluency. The effect has been demonstrated across cultures, species, and diverse stimulus domains. It has been obtained even when the stimuli exposed are not accessible to the participants’ awareness, and even prenatally. The repeated-exposure paradigm can be regarded as a form of classical conditioning if we assume that the absence of aversive events constitutes the unconditioned stimulus. Empirical research shows that a benign experience of repetition can in and of itself enhance positive affect, and that such affect can become attached not only to stimuli that have been exposed but also to similar stimuli that have not been previously exposed, and to totally distinct stimuli as well. Implications for affect as a fundamental and independent process are discussed in the light of neuroanatomical evidence.
Connecting the Many Levels and Facets of Cognitive Aging
Authors: Li Shu-Chen
Published: March 2003

Basic cognitive mechanisms, such as the abilities to briefly maintain, focus, and process information, decline with age. Related fields of cognitive aging research have been advancing rapidly, but mostly independently, at the biological, information processing, and behavioral levels. To facilitate integration, this article reviews research on cognitive aging at the different levels, and describes a recent integrative theory postulating that aging-related deficiencies in neurotransmission cause increased noise in information processing and less distinctive cortical representation, which in turn lead to cognitive deficits. Aging-related attenuation of catecholaminergic modulation can be modeled by lowering a neural network parameter to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of information processing. The performance of such models is consistent with benchmark phenomena observed in humans, ranging from age differences in learning rate, asymptotic performance, and interference susceptibility to intra- and interindividual variability and ability dedifferentiation. Although the details of the conjectured sequence of effects linking neuromodulation to cognitive aging deficits await further empirical validation, cross-level theorizing of the kind illustrated here could foster the coevolution of related fields through cross-level data synthesis and hypothesis testing.
Perceptual Grouping: It's Later Than You Think
Authors: Palmer Stephen E.
Published: March 2003

Recent research on perceptual grouping is described with particular emphasis on the level at which grouping factors operate. Contrary to the standard view of grouping as an early, two-dimensional, image-based process, experimental results show that it is strongly influenced by binocular depth perception, lightness constancy, amodal completion, and illusory figures. Such findings imply that at least some grouping processes operate at the level of conscious perception rather than the retinal image. Whether classical grouping processes also operate at an early, preconstancy level is an important, but currently unanswered question.
The fluidity of barbarian identity: the ethnogenesis of Alemanni and Suebi, AD 200–500
Authors: Hummer Hans J.
Published: March 2003

This article argues against the romantic notion that barbarian peoples organized themselves around internal identities which persisted essentially unchanged over centuries. The Alemanni comprised an amalgam of constituent groups whose identities and behaviour fluctuated according to situation and context. This loose association of groups was transformed into a more cohesively organized gentile configuration during the migration period, when Alemannic and Suebic elements formed a common Alemannic identity.
Review article: What’s new in early medieval burial archaeology?
Authors: Dickinson Tania M.
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

John Hines, Karen Høilund Nielsen and Frank Siegmund (eds), The Pace of Change. Studies in Early–Medieval Chronology.

Catherine E. Karkov, Kelley M. Wickham–Crowley and Bailey K. Young (eds), Spaces of the Living and the Dead: An Archaeological Dialogue.

Sam Lucy, The Early Anglo–Saxon Cemeteries of East Yorkshire. An Analysis and Reinterpretation.

Elizabeth O’Brien, Post–Roman Britain to Anglo–Saxon England: Burial Practices Reviewed.

Nick Stoodley, The Spindle and the Spear. A Critical Enquiry into the Construction and Meaning of Gender in the Early Anglo–Saxon Burial Rite.
Port reform without tears – the New Zealand experience
Authors: Trebeck David
Published: March 2003

New Zealan?s port reforms in 1989 and 1990 were part of a wider programme of economic reform. The paper analyses their effects, concluding that there have been substantial benefits in terms of improved port performance which have helped New Zealand exporters and the economy generally.
Making water competition a reality
Authors: Jones Alan
Published: March 2003

Following a decade since privatisation during which attempts at introducing competition for water services have been slow and somewhat ineffective, the government is now carrying out a review. Large‐volume users have a thirst for water competition brought about by competition in other utilities. The economic regulator needs to allow a new contestable market for industrial water services to develop whilst major structural and legislative changes to facilitate competition are contemplated.
Making consumers ‘Kings of the NHS’
Authors: Gage Heather , Rickman Neil
Published: March 2003

On announcing a consultation exercise about how new money for the NHS should be used, the Health Secretary declared he wanted an NHS ‘where the consumer is king’. Empowerment of consumers requires that they have choice. The institutional arrangements in the NHS do not facilitate this.
The Postal Services Act 2000: competition is coming
Authors: Senior Ian
Published: March 2003

In The Postal Service: Competition or Monopoly (IEA, 1970), I argued that the Post Office's monopoly of the letter should be removed. Thirty years later, an Act has been passed setting up a regulatory body with powers to do just that. PostComm will need to ensure the continuation of the universal postal service. To avoid market distortions, the Post Office will need to keep separate accounts for its services and to eliminate its historical internal cross‐subsidies. All operators, including the Post Office, with licences to provide postal services may be required to take account of the needs of the disabled, and other disadvantaged groups. The counters network may be subsidised by the DTI. It now remains to be seen whether PostComm has the will and the muscle to open up the postal market to effective competition.
Violence: the disease and the vaccine
Authors: Jasay Anthony de
Published: March 2003

With the rise of political correctness has come a condemnation of all violence. Individuals have been discouraged from deterring violence by threatening violence. Thus society's spontaneous reactions to violent attacks on the civil order have been repressed and official law enforcement is unable to cope with the consequences.
The staggering costs of drug criminalisation
Authors: Mishan E. J.
Published: March 2003

The cost of maintaining the current illegalisation of narcotics far exceeds the public's perception while, in contrast, the damage to society that would follow from their legalisation is grossly exaggerated. Using economic and other relevant research, estimates are made in this article of the spread of drug addiction and the increase in crime that are likely to follow the decriminalisation of drugs; estimates that reveal an overwhelming case for their decriminalisation.
Food prices and the standard of living in London in the ‘century of revolution’, 1580‐1700
Authors: Boulton Jeremy
Published: March 2003

This article presents a new price series for seventeenth‐century London and uses the data to construct the first cost of living index for the capital for that period. Comparison with the Phelps Brown Hopkins (PBH) series suggests that although short‐term variations were very similar, there is some suggestion that prices in London were more inflationary after the middle of the seventeenth century than in the PBH series. A new London real wage series, also presented, is consequently less buoyant than that constructed by PBH for their southern building craftsmen.
Patterns of morbidity in late medieval England: a sample from Westminster Abbey
Authors: Harver Barbara , Oeppen Jim
Published: March 2003

A comparison between secular hospitals and monastic infirmaries introduces a discussion of the duration and seasonality of the illnesses of the monks of Westminster in two periods: 1297/8 to 1354/5 and 1381/2 to 1416/17. A change in the duration of illnesses is related to change in the conventions of treatment after the Black Death of 1348/9. The resemblance between the seasonal pattern of morbidity in this sample and that of mortality among male adults in the early modern period is discussed. It is suggested that the latter pattern may extend into the late middle ages.
Entitlements, destitution, and emigration in the 1930s Singapore great depression
Authors: Huff W.G.
Published: March 2003

This article uses an entitlements approach to analyse the divergent impacts of the 1930s great depression on the diverse population groups of Singapore and its Malay Peninsula hinterland. Contrary to a revisionist argument in the literature that the depression had comparatively little effect on South‐east Asia, Singapore was considerably affected. This arose more from the externality of migration of unemployed hinterland workers to the city than from a shift in the terms of trade against Singapore producers. Only the ‘safety valve' of mass emigration, promoted by colonial policy, enabled Singapore to escape the depression with a sharp, if relatively brief, drop in welfare and serious distress for its inhabitants.
French unemployment: a transatlantic perspective
Authors: Cohen Daniel , Lefranc Arnaud , Saint-Paul Gilles
Published: March 2003

French unemployment Why France and the USA are alike

The paper compares the French and US labour markets. It shows that differences in unemployment rates are especially acute for young and old workers, but appear to be negligible for middle-aged workers. All French workers, however, experience job flows that are quite distinct from their American counterparts as they are exposed to long spells of infrequent unemployment, which is the opposite to the US case. Critical differences across ages and skills regarding the patterns of exit from and entry into employment are also displayed. The paper dispels the view that these differences originate from the behaviour of the unemployed (or the set of institutions that guide their decisions), and that this is new to the French labour market.

— Daniel Cohen, Arnaud Lefranc and Gilles Saint-Paul
Separation and Hedging Results with State‐Contingent Production
Authors: James Robert G. , Quiggan John
Published: March 2003

A state‐contingent model of production under uncertainty is developed and compared with more traditional models of production under uncertainty. Producer behaviour with both production and price risk, in the presence and in the absence of futures and forward markets, is analysed in this state‐contingent framework. Conditions for the optimal hedge to be positive or negative are derived. We also show that, under plausible conditions, a risk‐averse producer facing price uncertainty and the ability to hedge price risk will never willingly adopt a non‐stochastic technology. New separation results, which hold in the presence of both price and production risk, are then developed. These separation results generalize Townsend’s spanning results by reducing the number of necessary forward markets by one.
Tagging and Taxing: The Optimal Use of Categorical and Income Information in Designing Tax/Transfer Schemes
Authors: Immonen Ritva , Kanbur Ravi , Keen Michael , Tuomala Matti
Published: March 2003

This paper explores aspects of the optimal design of tax/transfer schemes that involve elements of both ‘tagging’ (the use of categorical benefits) and ‘means‐testing’ (income‐relation of benefits). Simulations suggest a striking qualitative dissimilarity between the group‐specific schedules optimally imposed on poorer and richer groups: broadly speaking, the optimal marginal tax rate is decreasing in income among the latter but increasing among the former. This latter observation, potentially important for policy, runs counter to the conventional wisdom from previous simulations. The reconciliation, we argue, lies in the role played in optimal tax design by the revenue constraint.
Risk, Optimal Government Finance and Monetary Policies in a Growing Economy
Authors: Grinols Earl L. , Turnovsky Stephen J.
Published: March 2003

Optimal tax and monetary policies in a stochastic monetary growth model are investigated. Our findings are of three general types. First, both capital income taxes and monetary growth are shown to influence the economy through effective risk‐adjusted measures, expressed as a linear function of their respective means and variances. Second, two stochastic neutrality results relating to money and bonds, the two nominal assets in the economy, are identified. Third, optimal policy rules relating to taxes, bond finance and money creation are characterized. An essential component of optimal financial policy is a risk‐adjusted balanced budget.
Small Firms, Contracting‐out, Computers and Wage Inequality: Evidence from UK Manufacturing
Authors: Heskel Jonathan
Published: March 2003

What demand‐side and institutional factors raised the skilled wage premium over the 1980s in UK manufacturing? Using a panel of 80 industries over 1980–9, we find that (1) the average skill premium rose by around 13 percentage points; (2) computer introduction explains around 50% of thisrise; (3) the growth in small firms and in contracting‐out together explain around 20% of the rise; and (4) the fall in unionization explains around 15% of the rise.
Willingness to Move for Work and Unemployment Duration in Spain
Authors: Ahn Namkee , De La Rica Sara , Ugidos Arantza
Published: March 2003

This paper examines unemployed workers' willingness to move for work and its relationship to their unemployment duration in Spain. We use a hypothetical question in the Spanish Labour Force Survey: ‘Would you accept a job offer which implied a change of residence?’ The main finding is that, while family responsibility, age and education are important in determining individuals’ migration willingness, the duration of unemployment does not show any significant effect, even after controlling for unobserved fixed individual heterogeneity. However, the significant improvement in migration willingness after the exhaustion of unemployment benefits (or when other household members become unemployed) suggests that economic incentives could play an important role in increasing worker mobility. We also find that job‐finding probability is significantly higher among those with positive migration attitudes than among others.Universidad del País Vasco