bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In Vivo Recordings of Long-Term Potentiation and Long-Term Depression in the Dentate Gyrus of the Neonatal Rat
Authors: O'Boyle Michael P. , Do Viet , Derrick Brian E. , Claiborne Brenda J.
Published: February 2004

Previous in vitro studies demonstrated that long-term potentiation (LTP) could be elicited at medial perforant path (MPP) synapses onto hippocampal granule cells in slices from 7-day-old rats. In contrast, in vivo studies suggested that LTP at perforant path synapses could not be induced until at least days 9 or 10 and then in only a small percentage of animals. Because several characteristics of the oldest granule cells are adult-like on day 7, we re-examined the possibility of eliciting LTP in 7-day-old rats in vivo. We also recorded from 8- and 9-day-old rats to further elucidate the occurrence and magnitude of LTP in neonates. With halothane anesthesia, all animals in each age group exhibited synaptic plasticity of the excitatory postsynaptic potential following high-frequency stimulation of the MPP. In 7-day-old rats, LTP was elicited in 40% of the animals and had an average magnitude of 143%. Long-term depression (LTD) alone (magnitude of 84%) was induced in 40% of the animals, while short-term potentiation (STP) alone (magnitude of 123%) was induced in 10%. STP followed by LTD was elicited in the remaining 10%. Data were similar for all ages combined. In addition, the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist ( R,S)-3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) blocked the occurrence of LTP at each age and doubled the percentage of animals expressing LTD alone for all ages combined. These results demonstrate that tetanic stimulation can elicit LTP or LTD at MPP synapses in 7-day-old rats, supporting our premise that at least a portion of the dentate gyrus is functional at this early age.
Comparison of Memory- and Visually Guided Saccades Using Event-Related fMRI
Authors: Brown M.R.G. , DeSouza J.F.X. , Goltz H. C. , Ford K. , Menon R. S. , Goodale M. A. , Everling S.
Published: February 2004

Previous functional imaging studies have shown an increased hemodynamic signal in several cortical areas when subjects perform memory-guided saccades than that when they perform visually guided saccades using blocked trial designs. It is unknown, however, whether this difference results from sensory processes associated with stimulus presentation, from processes occurring during the delay period before saccade generation, or from an increased motor signal for memory-guided saccades. We conducted fMRI using an event-related paradigm that separated stimulus-related, delay-related, and saccade-related activity. Subjects initially fixated a central cross, whose color indicated whether the trial was a memory- or a visually guided trial. A peripheral stimulus was then flashed at one of 4 possible locations. On memory-guided trials, subjects had to remember this location for the subsequent saccade, whereas the stimulus was a distractor on visually guided trials. Fixation cross disappearance after a delay period was the signal either to generate a memory-guided saccade or to look at a visual stimulus that was flashed on visually guided trials. We found slightly greater stimulus-related activation for visually guided trials in 3 right prefrontal regions and right rostral intraparietal sulcus (IPS). Memory-guided trials evoked greater delay-related activity in right posterior inferior frontal gyrus, right medial frontal eye field, bilateral supplementary eye field, right rostral IPS, and right ventral IPS but not in middle frontal gyrus. Right precentral gyrus and right rostral IPS exhibited greater saccade-related activation on memory-guided trials. We conclude that activation differences revealed by previous blocked experiments have different sources in different areas and that cortical saccade regions exhibit delay-related activation differences.
Differential Modulation of CA1 and Dentate Gyrus Interneurons During Exploration of Novel Environments
Authors: Nitz Douglas , McNaughton Bruce
Published: February 2004

Parallel recordings of hippocampal principal cells and interneurons were obtained as rats foraged in familiar and adjacent, novel environments. Firing rates of each cell type were assessed as a function of spatial location. Many CA1 interneurons exhibited large decreases in activity in the novel compared with the familiar environment. Dentate gyrus interneurons, however, were much more likely to exhibit large increases in firing in the novel environment. Neither effect was correlated with basic interneuron discharge properties such as degree of theta modulation, baseline firing rate or degree of spatially modulated discharge. Both CA1 and dentate gyrus interneuron rate changes extended into regions of the familiar environment bordering the novel environment. Principal cells in CA1 and dentate gyrus exhibited similar patterns of place specific activity each being indicative of incorporation of novel spatial information into the spatial representation of the familiar environment. The data indicate that inhibitory networks in the CA1 and dentate gyrus areas are modulated in a divergent fashion during the acquisition of novel spatial information and that interneuron activities can be used to detect those regions of an environment subject to redistribution of principal cell spatial activity patterns.
Corticothalamic Inhibition in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus
Authors: Zhang Liming , Jones Edward G.
Published: February 2004

Mutual inhibition between the GABAergic cells of the thalamic reticular nucleus (RTN) is important in regulating oscillations in the thalamocortical network, promoting those in the spindle range of frequencies over those at lower frequencies. Excitatory inputs to the RTN from the cerebral cortex are numerically large and particularly powerful in inducing spindles. However, the extent to which corticothalamic influences can engage the inhibitory network of the RTN has not been fully explored. Focal electrical stimulation of layer VI in the barrel cortex of the mouse thalamocortical slice in vitro resulted in prominent di- or polysynaptic inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) in RTN cells under the experimental conditions used. The majority of cortically induced responses consisted of mixed PSCs in which the inhibitory component predominated or of large IPSCs alone, implying inhibition of neighboring cells by other, cortically excited RTN cells. Within the mixed PSCs, fixed and variable latency components could commonly be identified. IPSCs could be blocked by application of ionotropic glutamate receptor antagonists or of GABAA receptor antagonists, also indicating their dependence on corticothalamic excitation triggering disynaptic or polysynaptic inhibition. Spontaneous GABAA receptor-dependent IPSCs were routinely observed in the RTN and, taken together with the results of cortical stimulation, indicate the existence of a substantial network of intrareticular inhibitory connections that can be effectively recruited by the corticothalamic system. These results suggest activation of cortical excitatory inputs triggers the propagation of inhibitory currents within the RTN and support the view that activation of the RTN from the somatosensory cortex, although focused by the topography of the corticothalamic projection, is capable of disynaptically engaging the whole inhibitory network of the RTN, by local and probably by reentrant GABAA receptor–based synapses, thus spreading the corticothalamic influence throughout the RTN.
Properties of Saccadic Responses in Monkey When Multiple Competing Visual Stimuli Are Present
Authors: Arai Kuniharu , McPeek Robert M. , Keller Edward L.
Published: February 2004

Important insights into the neural organization of the saccadic system have been gained when the usually stereotyped movement trajectories of saccades have been altered by experimental manipulation. In the present study we produced trajectory variability in monkeys by using a visual search task in which both the location and color of an odd-colored target were changed randomly trial by trial, and the number of distractors was varied on each trial. We wished to determine whether increasing the number of distractors also increased the movement trajectory variation, i.e., the amount of initial directional deviation, endpoint deviation (averaging), and curvature of saccades. Overall, saccade latencies and the proportion of saccades directed to distractors decreased as the number of homogenous distractors increased. We also found that saccades have much more dispersion in their initial direction when distractors are present in comparison to the case when only a single target without distractors appears. However, initial dispersion decreases systematically as the number of distractors increases. The percentage of averaging saccades produced in the search task was not consistently dependent on the number of distractors. A significant fraction of averaging saccades still occurred for much wider spatial separations of stimuli than in previous studies using two visual stimuli with no specified target. The curvature of saccade trajectories increased dramatically when distractors were present, but the amount of curvature was not systematically affected by the number of distractors. Errors present in saccade trajectory in the search task were only poorly compensated. We conclude that these variable saccade trajectories result from incomplete or inaccurate specification of the target when competing stimuli are present and that a smaller number of more widely spread distractors facilitate saccade variability, perhaps due to the greater difficulty of target selection.
Involvement of Human Thalamic Neurons in Internally and Externally Generated Movements
Authors: MacMillan M. L. , Dostrovsky J. O. , Lozano A. M. , Hutchison W. D.
Published: February 2004

Several anatomical studies support the existence of recurrent neural pathways from cortical motor areas to the thalamus via basal ganglia and back to the cortex. Neuronal responses to internally and externally generated sequential movements have been studied in the motor and premotor cortex of monkeys, but the involvement of subcortical motor structures such as the thalamus have not been studied in monkeys or humans. We examined the activity of neurons during a sequential button press task in motor thalamus of parkinsonian as well as chronic pain patients undergoing implantation of deep brain stimulating electrodes. Single and dual microelectrode recordings were carried out during an internally generated task with a memorized sequence (MEM) and an externally driven task with the sequence given during task performance (follow). Average histograms of neuronal firing were constructed for each task and aligned with respect to visual cues (ready, go) or button presses (P1, P2, P3). Sequential movements were monitored with surface electromyography and hand accelerometry, and cell responses were divided into movement-defined epochs for ANOVA and post hoc means testing. Of 52 neurons tested, 31 were found to have task-related responses and 10 were task-selective with 4 responding preferentially to MEM and 7 responding preferentially to follow (1 was both). Complex responses were found including preparatory, delay period, and phase- and task-specific activity. These kinds of responses suggest a role of the thalamus in both internally and externally cued arms movement and provide some evidence for a role in sequential movements.
Ultrastructure of spermatogenesis in the free-living marine nematode Anticoma possjetica (Enoplida: Anticomidae)
Authors: Yushin Vladimir
Published: February 2004

- Spermatogenesis of the free-living marine nematode Anticoma possjetica was studied with electron microscopy. The spermatocyte cytoplasm is filled with numerous ribosomes, mitochondria, cisternae of RER and Golgi bodies. After completion of meiosis the nucleus of the spermatids is surrounded by a newly formed nuclear envelope. The first membranous organelles (MO) appear in the early spermatids, in the late spermatid they, together with mitochondria, surround the nucleus. The ribosomes, RER and Golgi bodies are concentrated inside the residual body. The nuclei of immature spermatozoa assume a bullet-like shape and are surrounded by mitochondria and a mass of MO. The mature spermatozoa possess a small anterior pseudopod anchoring them to the spermatheca wall. The spermatozoon cytoplasm is filled with densely packed MO interspersed with mitochondria. During spermatogenesis of A. possjetica, no organelles resembling the fibrous bodies (FB) found in the spermatozoa of other nematodes were observed. The ultrastructural peculiarities of spermatogenesis in A. possjetica differentiate it from many of the other nematodes studied, although important similarities with other enoplids (reconstitution of nuclear envelope) and other Enoplia (late MO formation) are present.
Experimental investigation on the effect of multiple injection strategies on emissions, noise and brake specific fuel consumption of an automotive direct injection common-rail diesel engine
Authors: Badami M , Mallamo F , Millo F , Rossi E. E.
Published: February 2004

High-pressure common-rail injection systems nowadays allow a very high degree of flexibility in the timing and quantity control of multiple injections, which can be used to obtain significant reductions in engine noise and emissions. The aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the relationship between injection strategies and the combustion and emission formation process. Some multiple injection strategies (pilot-pilot-main and pilot-main-after) have therefore been analysed to highlight their influence on the soot, NOx combustion noise and b.s.f.c. (brake specific fuel consumption) of a passenger car direct injection diesel engine prototype. Finally, the main combustion characteristics were determined, for each operating condition, on the basis of a heat release analysis and a correlation was attempted between the combustion parameters and emissions, noise and b.s.f.c.
Advances in Oral Medicine
Authors: Scully Crispian
Published: February 2004

This paper reviews some of the more important areas of oral medicine where significant advances have been made in the past decade. There have been developments in the definition of new entities causing orofacial pain, and new therapies. Oral cancer has been recognised as increasing in incidence and the genetic basis is becoming clearer, along with improvements in early diagnostic techniques and treatment. The basis of aphthae is being unravelled and new therapies are appearing. There is greater under-standing of the aetiopathogenesis and treatment of various dermatoses that present in the mouth. Treatment and prevention of leukoplakias is improving and the importance of candidosis has become evident.
Techniques Used by a Group of United Kingdom-based Dental Practitioners during
Authors: Hill Mark A , Burke FJ Trevor , Cheung Sau-Wan , Qualtrough Alison JE , Wilson Nairn HF
Published: February 2004

A number of techniques involving the use of various instruments, brushes and devices have been described for the removal of excess luting material and subsequent finishing around the margins of indirect tooth-coloured restorations. There is little information available on the clinical techniques employed by UK dental practitioners in the placement of these restorations, or on the effectiveness of these techniques. A questionnaire was designed to elicit such information. This was distributed to 500 UK-based dental practitioners. A total of 301 practitioners returned completed questionnaires, giving a response rate of 60%. The results indicated that 88% of the respondents routinely provided porcelain veneers for their patients, with 94% of these respondents indicating that they routinely prepared teeth during the provision of such restorations. A light-cured resin composite luting material was used by 29% of the respondents in placement of veneers, while 69% used a dual cured composite. Excess uncured luting material was removed by a number of methods and a variety of methods were used by respondents to finish the margins of the veneers after placement. Of the respondents 68% indicated that they routinely provided tooth-coloured inlays and onlays, with 89% indicating that they routinely used a dentine bonding system when luting their indirect tooth-coloured restorations. It is concluded that a high proportion of the practitioners surveyed were providing porcelain veneers and tooth-coloured inlays and that a wide variety of materials and finishing techniques were being used.
Pax6andEngrailed 1Regulate Two Distinct Aspects of Renshaw Cell Development
Authors: Sapir Tamar , Geiman Eric J. , Wang Zhi , Velasquez Tomoko , Mitsui Sachiko , Yoshihara Yoshihiro , Frank Eric , Alvarez Francisco J. , Goulding Martyn
Published: February 2004

Many of the interneuron cell types present in the adult spinal cord contribute to the circuits that control locomotion and posture. Little is known, however, about the embryonic origin of these cell types or the molecular mechanisms that control their differentiation. Here we provide evidence that V1 interneurons (INs), an embryonic class of interneurons that transiently express the En1 transcription factor, differentiate as local circuit inhibitory interneurons and form synapses with motor neurons. Furthermore, we show that a subset of V1 INs differentiates as Renshaw cells, the interneuronal cell type that mediates recurrent inhibition of motor neurons. We analyze the role that two V1 IN-related transcription factor genes play in Renshaw cell development.Pax6(paired box gene 6) is necessary for an early step in Renshaw cell development, whereasEngrailed 1(En1),which is genetically downstream ofPax6, regulates the formation of inhibitory synapses between Renshaw cells and motor neurons. Together, these results show thatPax6andEn1have essential roles in establishing the recurrent inhibitory circuit between motor neurons and Renshaw cells.
Nuclear Factor E2-Related Factor 2-Dependent Antioxidant Response Element Activation bytert-Butylhydroquinone and Sulforaphane Occurring Preferentially in Astrocytes Conditions Neurons against Oxidative Insult
Authors: Kraft Andrew D. , Johnson Delinda A. , Johnson Jeffrey A.
Published: February 2004

Binding of the transcription factor nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) to the antioxidant response element (ARE) in neural cells results in the induction of a battery of genes that can coordinate a protective response against a variety of oxidative stressors. In this study,tert-butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) and sulforaphane were used as activators of this pathway. Consistent with previous studies, treatment of primary cortical cultures from ARE reporter mice revealed selective promoter activity in astrocytes. This activation protected neurons from hydrogen peroxide and nonexcitotoxic glutamate toxicity. tBHQ treatment of cultures from Nrf2 knock-out animals resulted in neither ARE activation nor neuroprotection. By reintroducing Nrf2 via infection with a replication-deficient adenovirus (ad), both the genetic response and neuroprotection were rescued. Conversely, infection with adenovirus encoding dominant-negative (DN) Nrf2 (ad-DN-Nrf2) or pretreatment with the selective phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase inhibitor LY294002 inhibited the tBHQ-mediated promoter response and corresponding neuroprotection. Interestingly, the adenoviral infection showed a high selectivity for astrocytes over neurons. In an attempt to reveal some of the cell type-specific changes resulting from ARE activation, cultures were infected with adenovirus encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) (ad-GFP) or ad-DN-Nrf2 (containing GFP) before tBHQ treatment. A glia-enriched population of GFP-infected cells was then isolated from a population of uninfected neurons using cell-sorting technology. Microarray analysis was used to evaluate potential glial versus neuron-specific contributions to the neuroprotective effects of ARE activation and Nrf2 dependence. Strikingly, the change in neuronal gene expression after tBHQ treatment was dependent on Nrf2 activity in the astrocytes. This suggests that Nrf2-dependent genetic changes alter neuron–glia interactions resulting in neuroprotection.
Efficacy of Rehabilitative Experience Declines with Time after Focal Ischemic Brain Injury
Authors: Biernaskie Jeff , Chernenko Garry , Corbett Dale
Published: February 2004

To maximize the effectiveness of rehabilitative therapies after stroke, it is critical to determine when the brain is most responsive (i.e., plastic) to sensorimotor experience after injury and to focus such efforts within this period. Here, we compared the efficacy of 5 weeks of enriched rehabilitation (ER) initiated at 5 d (ER5), ER14, or ER30 after focal ischemia, as judged by functional outcome and neuromorphological change. ER5 provided marked improvement in skilled forelimb reaching ability and ladder-rung- and narrow-beam-walking tasks and attenuated the stroke-induced reliance on the unaffected forepaw for postural support. ER14 provided improvement to a somewhat lesser extent, whereas recovery was diminished after ER30 such that motor function did not differ from ischemic animals exposed to social housing.

To examine potential neural substrates of the improved function, we examined dendritic morphology in the undamaged motor cortex because our previous work (Biernaskie and Corbett, 2001) suggested that recovery was associated with enhanced dendritic growth in this region. ER5 increased the number of branches and complexity of layer V neurons compared with both social housing and control animals. Dendritic arbor after ER14 (although increased) and ER30 did not differ from those exposed to social housing. These data suggest that the poststroke brain displays heightened sensitivity to rehabilitative experience early after the stroke but declines with time. These findings have important implications for rehabilitation of stroke patients, many of whom experience considerable delays before therapy is initiated.
Regulation of Dopamine D1 Receptor Function by Physical Interaction with the NMDA Receptors
Authors: Pei Lin , Lee Frank J. S. , Moszczynska Anna , Vukusic Brian , Liu Fang
Published: February 2004

Functional interactions between dopamine D1-like receptors and NMDA subtype glutamate receptors have been implicated in the maintenance of normal brain activity and neurological dysfunction. Although modulation of NMDA receptor functions by D1 receptor activation has been the subject of extensive investigation, little is known as to how the activation of NMDA receptors alters D1 function. Here we report that NMDA receptors regulate D1 receptor function via a direct protein–protein interaction mediated by the carboxyl tail regions of both receptors. In both cotransfected cells and cultured hippocampal neurons the activation of NMDA receptors increases the number of D1 receptors on the plasma membrane surface and enhances D1 receptor-mediated cAMP accumulation via a SNARE-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, overexpression of mini-genes encoding either NR1 or D1 carboxyl tail fragments disrupts the D1–NR1 direct protein–protein interaction and abolishes NMDA-induced changes in both D1 cell surface expression and D1-mediated cAMP accumulation. Our results demonstrate that the D1–NR1 physical interaction enables NMDA receptors to increase plasma membrane insertion of D1 receptors and provides a novel mechanism by which the activation of NMDA receptors upregulates D1 receptor function. Understanding the molecular mechanisms by which D1 and NMDA receptors functionally interact may provide insight toward elucidating the molecular neurobiological mechanisms involved in many neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia.
Ca2+Syntillas, Miniature Ca2+Release Events in Terminals of Hypothalamic Neurons, Are Increased in Frequency by Depolarization in the Absence of Ca2+Influx
Authors: De Crescenzo Valérie , ZhuGe Ronghua , Velázquez-Marrero Cristina , Lifshitz Lawrence M. , Custer Edward , Carmichael Jeffrey , Lai F. Anthony , Tuft Richard A. , Fogarty Kevin E. , Lemos José R. , Walsh John V.
Published: February 2004

Localized, brief Ca2+transients (Ca2+syntillas) caused by release from intracellular stores were found in isolated nerve terminals from magnocellular hypothalamic neurons and examined quantitatively using a signal mass approach to Ca2+imaging. Ca2+syntillas (scintilla,L., spark, from a synaptic structure, a nerve terminal) are caused by release of ∼250,000 Ca ions on average by a Ca2+flux lasting on the order of tens of milliseconds and occur spontaneously at a membrane potential of –80 mV. Syntillas are unaffected by removal of extracellular Ca2+, are mediated by ryanodine receptors (RyRs) and are increased in frequency, in the absence of extracellular Ca2+, by physiological levels of depolarization. This represents the first direct demonstration of mobilization of Ca2+from intracellular stores in neurons by depolarization without Ca2+influx. The regulation of syntillas by depolarization provides a new link between neuronal activity and cytosolic [Ca2+] in nerve terminals.
Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2002: Going Separate Ways
Authors: Buszynski Leszek
Published: February 2004

Russia's President Putin strengthened the presidency over the legislature, where he undermined the position of the Communists, a move that may facilitate economic reforms. He also moved against the oligarchs who control much of the economy. Putin has made the economy his main priority, but the trends are not optimistic, and a long-term improvement cannot be predicted yet. In terms of foreign policy, Putin's turn to the West in 2001 in response to the threat of international terrorism allowed the U.S. a role in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Russia's influence over these areas is waning, as they go their separate ways.
Singapore in 2002: Economic Lassitude and Threats to Security
Authors: Case William
Published: February 2004

During 2002, Singapore's government attempted to stimulate political life by encouraging debate among its backbenchers in parliament. It took steps also to revive economic competitiveness, adjusting tax incentives and targeting new industries. And it tried to perpetuate security, setting up a range of new agencies through which to deal with terrorist threats.
Bangladesh in 2002: Imperiled Democracy
Authors: Jahan Rounaq
Published: February 2004

The year did not bring any improvement in the way government and politics function in Bangladesh. Murder, intimidation, suppression, and harassment of political opponents worsened the atmosphere of vendetta and violence that has marked the country's politics in the past few decades. To tackle the deteriorating law and order situation, the government called in the army in October. The administration appeared to be adrift, caught in factional feuds within the ruling coalition. There were also signs of dynastic succession within the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party. The economy did not register any significant improvements. Relations with Pakistan improved but Indo-Bangladesh relations hit their lowest point in decades. Citizen disenchantment with political leaders continued to grow.
Taiwan in 2002: Another Year of Political Droughts and Typhoons
Authors: Rigger Shelley
Published: February 2004

Taiwan's streak of bad luck continued in 2002, as economic and political stagnation plagued the island. Cross-strait relations suffered from President Chen Shui-bian's mid-summer reference to "a country on each side of the Strait," although Beijing's sense that the long-term prospects for unification are improving permitted a moderate response. Taiwan's domestic political scene was troubled by partisan divisions and disagreements over how best to manage an economic recession, now in its third year. By any measure—economic, political, or diplomatic—Taiwan's misfortunes abated only slightly in 2002, while confidence in leaders and institutions continued to sink. The stock market hovered near record lows, while unemployment rates approached record highs. Overall, Taiwan's political and economic performance remains so deficient that scholars and citizens alike are questioning whether Taiwan's poorly designed institutions can weather the relentless storms battering the island.
South Korea in 2002: Multiple Political Dramas
Authors: Lee Hong Yung
Published: February 2004

This article analyzes how political actors maneuvered and counter-maneuvered in South Korea in 2002, developing political strategy and exploiting national issues in order to position themselves for the presidential election of December 19, which dominated Korean politics throughout the year. Since public opinion polling conducted regularly by major news media had to a great extent shaped important decisions of all aspirants for daekwon (big power), the analysis focuses on explaining how the popularity of Lee Hoi-chang, Roh Moo-hyun, and Chung Mong-jun fluctuated, and how Roh finally won the presidential election.
Playing By the Rules in Korea: Lessons Learned in the North-South Economic Engagement
Authors: Tait Richard
Published: February 2004

This paper identifies common problems and solutions South Korean firms experience in engaging with North Korean entities. Korean government and commercial entities on both sides of the 38th parallel are guilty of engaging in economic policies and exchange that do not promote North Korea's productive and responsible introduction into world trade circles. U.S. and South Korean investment now that encourages North Korea to play by the rules of capitalist market exchange will pay off in inexpensive security guarantees much later down the road.
Japan's Response to Terror: Dispatching the SDF to the Arabian Sea
Authors: Midford Paul
Published: February 2004

This paper asks why it was much easier for Japan to dispatch its military overseas after 9-11 than it had been during the 1990 Gulf crisis, when similar plans failed due to overwhelming opposition. While several factors in Japanese domestic politics, including the astronomical popularity and hawkishness of Prime Minister Koizumi, played an important role, a significant reduction in Asian gaiatsu on Japan to not send its military overseas played a bigger role. This reduction in Asian gaiatsu resulted from Japan's decade-long effort to build up a reassuring track record of benign overseas deployments for non-combat missions. While Japan must continue to pursue historical reassurance regarding its Pacific War role, the demonstration effect of continued benign overseas deployments is likely to be of greater importance for encouraging Asian acceptance of a larger Japanese military role.
The Role of NGOs in Political Elections in South Korea: The Case of the Citizens' Alliance for the 2000 General Election
Authors: Shin Eui Hang
Published: February 2004

The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the role of civic organizations in political processes in South Korea. More specifically, this article examines the impact of the blacklisting of candidates by the Citizens' Alliance for the 2000 General Election (CAGE) on the outcomes of the National Assembly election of April 13, 2000. I discuss the relationship between the characteristics of political systems and political culture and the emergence of civic organizations. I analyze the effects of CAGE's blacklisting of politicians on the nomination processes of candidates by major political parties. I also discuss the long-term effects of CAGE on the political system.
HONG KONG HAZE
Authors: Stern Rachel E.
Published: February 2004

Preliminary data show that Hong Kong's poor suffer increased exposure to air pollution. People in lower-class areas may be up to five times as likely to be hospitalized for respiratory illness as their counterparts in high-income areas. In addition, variation in household income may explain up to 60% of Air Pollution Index (API) variation between districts. Despite this, air pollution has not been seen as a class issue because of the invisibility of Hong Kong's poor, the nature of environmental activism, and a relative lack of class tensions.

Two of Asia's most significant trends are deepening income inequality and increasing environmental degradation. Yet, these two trends are often examined separately, as parts of entirely different spheres. Using air pollution in Hong Kong as a case study, this article argues that environmental issues and social class are intimately intertwined. Environmental burdens, such as air pollution, disproportionately affect the poor. Social class—who is generating pollution and who is affected—also determines how environmental issues are perceived and addressed. However, little combined analysis of social class and the environment exists outside the United States. Hong Kong's struggle to improve air quality in the post-handover period provides an unusual opportunity to examine the relationship between social class and the environment in Asia.
Virgo, Coniunx, Mater:The Wrath of Seneca's Medea
Authors: Guastella Gianni
Published: February 2004

Seneca's Medea carries out a plan of revenge that follows a retaliation mechanism inspired both by fury and by an established principle of reciprocity. This principle follows the rules, described in Seneca'sDe ira, of revenge aroused by anger. Medea had earlier been guilty of crimes against her own family, in order to assist Jason; she now maintains that she has fallen victim to the very same offenses. Therefore she now resolves to perpetrate similar crimes upon the husband who has decided to leave her. In retaliation for the loss of her father's kingdom, of her brother Absyrtus, and of her own virginity she now kills Creon and his daughter, as well as her own children. Medea can thus create a fictitious link between the parts of her identity (her life as a virgo and her life as a rejected coniunx/mater) that have been thrown into disarray by her separation from Jason. In fact, the crimes she commits as a wife, in order to get rid of Jason, are just the inexorable consequence of the crimes she had committed as a girl, in order to join him. The separation which thus comes about conforms to the rules of a normal Roman divorce: the wife leaves her husband's home as well as her children, but her dowry is returned to her. Towards the end of the tragedy, Medea goes so far as to say that she has retrieved the "dowry" of crimes she paid in order to become Jason's wife, since she has recovered her father's kingdom, her brother, and her virginity as well. This is no more than a wild illusion, but in considering its elaborate rhetorical form we gain an idea of the kind of balance which is the aim of Seneca's Medea as she accomplishes her revenge.
Is Job Discrimination Dead?
Authors: Herring Cedric
Published: February 2004

Political and legal debate in recent years has focused on whether discrimination in favor of African Americans is justified. What receives less attention is that employment discrimination against African Americans, though illegal, is still alive and well in America.
Abortion Talk in Germany and the United States: Why Rights Explanations are Wrong
Authors: Ferree Myra Marx , Gamson William A. , Gerhards Jurgen , Rucht Dieter
Published: February 2004

The American debate over abortion is unusually volatile—but not because Americans pit the rights of women against those of fetuses. Americans actually invoke the issue of rights less often than do the far less confrontational Germans. What makes the American debate so rancorous?
American Cronyism: How Executive Networks Inflated the Corporate Bubble
Authors: Davis Gerald F.
Published: February 2004

“Shareholder value” was the sacred mantra of American business in the 1990s. But creating shareholder value can be a fickle undertaking and corporate executives often followed the lead of their colleagues. The result was a contagion of questionable business practices that resulted in the creation of a corporate bubble—and its implosion.
Designing Technology for Domestic Spaces: A Kitchen Manifesto
Authors: Bell Genevieve , Kaye Joseph
Published: February 2004

In this paper, we argue that in order to create spaces and technologies that people will want to use you need to disarticulate the domestic from the digital. One way to do this involves complicating our understanding of the kitchen, moving beyond seeing it as a collection of wires, appliances and internet points to thinking about it as a space in which people really live. To accomplish this end, we unpack the imagining of the smart house, thereby creating a context and genealogy within which current and past research can be rendered intelligible. The trajectory from the display houses of tomorrow to the current narratives about smart houses is one that ultimately conflates the domestic with the industrial, and leaves little room to imagine real lives within those engineered confines. The "smart kitchen" is, in turn, embedded within the smart house and also presupposes a digital lifestyle. Throughout this paper, we draw on research conducted by researchers at MIT's Media Lab and Intel's Corporate Technology Group.
Spanish Thistle-Bloom Cheese
Authors: Tovar Rosa
Published: February 2004

The most common coagulant used in cheese-making is an enzyme found in the stomachs of cows, sheep and goats. This fascinating article explores an alternative coagulant, thistle bloom, and the historical, religious and geographical reasons for its existence. These cheeses, smooth and creamy, can still be found in pockets of the Iberian Peninsula, Mallorca and the village of Gua on the island of Gran Canaria. The production of these cheeses is small and although some have achieved the status of "denomincin de origen" (denomination of origin), along with other fine foodstuffs, some varieties have disappeared due in part to the strict hygiene rules of the European Union and the reliability and convenience of synthetic and animal enzymes.
Berney's Mystery of Living and Other Nineteenth-Century Cooking Magazines
Authors: Longone Jan
Published: February 2004

Nineteenth-century American culinary and gastronomic magazines are an important resource for interested scholars. Unfortunately most are little known and somewhat elusive. In this article, we introduce and briefly describe ten such journals: Berney's Mystery of Living (1868); The Table (1873); American Cookery (1876); The Caterer (Philadelphia 1882); The Cooking Club (1895); Table Talk (1886); Hotel Monthly (1893); What To Eat (1896); Boston Cooking-School Magazine (1896); and The Caterer (San Francisco 1891).
Just Like Home: "Home Cooking" and the Domestication of the American Restaurant
Authors: Barbas Samantha
Published: February 2004

Between 1910 and 1930, urbanization, changing gender roles, and increased culinary standardization and commercialization led Americans to lament the demise of home cooking. Gone, they claimed, were large country kitchens, run by full-time housewives,serving home-baked bread and made from scratch pies. In a successful publicity campaign in the 1920s, the restaurant industry capitalized on this discontent by promising to restore to the nation a sense of nineteenth-century domesticity. With hearty foods,matronly servers, and cozy d'cor, they recreated the aura of a nostalgic premodern kitchenthe very institution that they had helped to destroy. In the 1930s and 40s,restaurants would continue to attract patrons by promising to revitalize traditional gender roles and domestic relationships. In one of the great ironies of the modern social experience, Americans were lured into restaurants by promises of home.
In Search of Dido
Authors: Schmalfeldt Janet
Published: February 2004

As an introduction to ground-bass techniques, and as one of the great moments in operatic literature, Dido's Lament, from Henry Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, has long been a favored topic in academic courses on both the history and the analysis of Western tonal music. This essay approaches an analysis of the Lament from literary and recent historical perspectives. It returns to Virgil's Aeneid in search of the Dido who served as the starting point for so many subsequent characterizations of her, including Purcell's and his librettist Nahum Tate's. The analysis considers specifically musical means through which Purcell and Tate restore to Dido the nobility and greatness of spirit she manifests when we first meet her in Virgil's tale.
Tapping to Ragtime: Cues to Pulse Finding
Authors: Snyder Joel , Krumhansl Carol L.
Published: February 2004

Two experiments investigated cues to pulse finding using a relatively unconstrained, naturalistic paradigm. Participants tapped what they felt was a comfortable pulse on a keyboard playing a percussive sound. The stimulus materials were based on ragtime excerpts, played metronomically (i.e., without expressive timing or tempo variation). The first experiment, with 8 musically experienced and 8 musically inexperienced subjects, played each excerpt in two versions: a pitch-varied version (the original excerpt) and a monotonic version (with all tones changed to middle C) that was designed to remove all melodic and harmonic cues to pulse. Neither the absence of pitch information nor musical experience significantly affected performance. The second experiment tested 12 musically experienced subjects on shorter excerpts from the same ragtime pieces. Full (right-hand and left-hand parts together) and right-hand-only versions of the excerpts were each played in pitch-varied and monotonic versions. Removing the left-hand part significantly affected tapping performance on a number of measures, causing a lower percentage of tapping on the downbeat, more off-beat taps, more aperiodic taps, more switches between tapping modes, a higher variability of the intertap interval, and larger deviations from the beat. As a whole, these indicate a negative effect of removing the left-hand part. Again, differences between pitch-varied and monotonic versions were generally small. Analysis of the music revealed the following cues to pulse finding: a predictable alternating bass pattern in the left-hand part and a majority of notes on metrically strong positions in both the right-hand and left-hand parts. These results suggest that, for piano ragtime music, temporal cues are prominently available for finding and following the pulse and that pulse finding is largely independent of pitch information. Implications of the experimental measures and music-analytic techniques for models of pulse perception are considered.
Asymmetries in the Discrimination of Musical Intervals: Going Out-of-Tune Is More Noticeable Than Going In-Tune
Authors: Schellenberg E. Glenn
Published: February 2004

Listeners were tested on their ability to discriminate "standard" and "comparison" pure-tone musical intervals that differed in size by 20 cents (1/ 5 of an equal-tempered semitone). Some of the intervals were prototypic, equal-tempered perfect fifths (exactly 7 semitones, or 700 cents). Others were mistuned to various degrees (660, 680, 720, or 740 cents). The intervals were melodic (sequential) in Experiments 1 and 2 and harmonic (simultaneous) in Experiment 3. Performance was neither enhanced nor impaired in comparisons that included the prototype. In other words, no "perceptual magnet" or "perceptual anchor" effects were observed. Nonetheless, performance was markedly asymmetric. Regardless of listeners' musical expertise, discrimination was superior when the standard interval was more accurately tuned than the comparison interval (e.g., 700- cent standard, 680-cent comparison), compared with when the comparison was more accurately tuned than the standard (e.g., 680-cent standard, 700-cent comparison).
Musical Forces, Melodic Expectation, and Jazz Melody
Authors: Larson Steve
Published: February 2004

I review the theoretical and experimental literature on musical forces and melodic expectation, showing important connections between that work and the work of leading jazz theorists. I then show how ideas derived from that work may help us understand a few passages of recorded jazz. The examples include two compositions (the "heads" to Charlie Parker's "Confirmation" and Toshiko Akiyoshi's "I Ain't Gonna Ask No More") and a few improvised passages (by Bill Evans and Charlie Parker). Viewing these examples in terms of what cognitive science tells us about melodic expectation clarifies their rhetorical and gestural "meanings." Furthermore, these same examples can help us test those same theories of melodic expectation—multiple regression analysis of the frequency with which certain patterns are completed within these same examples provides an empirical test of assertions derived from the literature reviewed.
Cognitive Constraints on Metric Systems: Some Observations and Hypotheses
Authors: London Justin
Published: February 2004

This paper is a music-theoretic discussion of various studies on rhythmic perception and performance and their ramifications for discussions of musical meter. Meter is defined as a stable and recurring pattern of hierarchically structured temporal expectations. Metrical patterns, although related to the pattern of interonset intervals present in the musical surface, are distinct from that pattern. Studies of subjective rhythmization, spontaneous tempo, pulse perception, durational discrimination, and so forth are discussed with respect to their implications for meter. Not only do there seem to be upper and lower bounds for musical meter (from ≅100 ms to ≅6 s, depending on context), but there also appear to be important thresholds within this range (around 200–250 ms, 500–700 ms, and 1.5–2.0 s). Interactions between beats (i.e., interonset intervals between expectancies occurring at the rate perceived as the tactus), beat subdivision, and changes in tempo are discussed, and it is hypothesized that beat perception may require (at least potentially) the perception of a concomitant level of subdivision. The interactions between beat interonset interval, subdivision interonset interval, and various thresholds may also explain (in part) some of the differences in the expressive and/or motional character of rhythmic figures (duplets versus triplets) at different tempos. Last, a broader discussion of systematic relationships in larger metrical systems with respect to tempo is given. It is shown that the choice of tempo systematically constrains the number and kind of metric patterns that are available to the listener.
Timing of Ornaments in the Theme from Beethoven's Paisiello Variations: Empirical Data and a Model
Authors: Timmers Renee , Ashley Richard , Desain Peter , Honing Henkjan , Windsor W. Luke
Published: February 2004

Musicians have to make many interpretive decisions when performing a piece. For example, the grace note, a one-note musical ornament, has no precise duration written in the score; it has to steal its duration from either the preceding or following melody notes. This study addressed several empirical questions: What duration are grace notes given? Does this vary depending upon musical context or individual preferences? And, are the durations of grace notes taken from the preceding or subsequent melody note, or is time added? In an experiment, 16 professional pianists performed three musical fragments (from a Beethoven theme) "with" and "without" grace notes in seven different tempi. The timing of the grace notes was found not to be proportional to changes in global tempo for most, but not all performers, which replicates findings in earlier studies. In the majority of cases, increases in bar duration were matched by relative increases in grace-note duration that were smaller than predicted by a proportional tempo model, with a minority of subjects performing grace notes with fixed duration over tempo. In most cases, grace-note duration was "stolen" from the preceding melody note, with a small contribution from the following (main) note and with minimal disturbance to local tempo. Conversely, where grace notes were played as appoggiatura, the main source of their duration was the main note. The type of grace note performed depended both on its musical context and on individual differences between performers. A model of grace-note duration is proposed to account for these results.