bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Global Poverty: National Accounts Based versus Survey Based Estimates
Authors: Karshenas Massoud
Published: August 2003

This article examines the dollar‐a‐day poverty estimates produced by the World Bank. It highlights the lack of consistency between average consumption and income in household surveys and national accounts data. After examining the likely sources of divergence between the two series, the author proposes a new method of estimation of poverty, based on calibrating the survey means by conditioning on national accounts aggregates. The new poverty estimates, which are consistent with national accounts data, are contrasted with the World Bank estimates. The implications of the findings for the debate on the relationship between poverty and economic growth are also briefly discussed.
Globalization and the Urban Property Boom in Metro Cebu, Philippines
Authors: Sajor Edsel E.
Published: August 2003

The hyper mobility of capital and the associated growth of international investment in real estate which occurred across the world in the late twentieth century, led to bursts of property development and market booms. This article examines how this global trend interfaced with local processes in the setting of a secondary metropolis of a developing country, in Metro Cebu, Philippines, and resulted in a property‐led development dominated by production of high‐end residential real estate commodities, the rise of a speculative land market, and a highly regressive spatial allocation. It is argued that this regressive outcome was mediated by a weak state, controlled and dominated by predatory and rent‐seeking bosses who, in Cebu in particular, are not simply representatives of the local oligarchy but are big real estate developers and brokers themselves. During the boom period, neither the middle classes, whose members were also attracted to speculative property buying, nor the low‐income and urban poor groups, who were largely hoodwinked by official rhetoric of social housing reform and by token participation, provided any significant social force to constrain the opportunism and rent‐seeking of these bosses or to challenge the pro‐growth governing agenda.
Calming the Shock Waves: Can Financial Reform Do It? (A Review Article)
Authors: Jansen Karel
Published: August 2003

Books reviewed in this article:

G. Caprio, P. Honohan and J. E. Stiglitz (eds.), Financial Liberalization, How Far, How Fast?

B. Eichengreen, Financial Crises and What to do about Them

D. Nayyar (ed.), Governing Globalization, Issues and Institutions

J. E. Stiglitz, Globalization and its Discontents

J. J. Teunissen (ed.), New Challenges of Crisis Prevention, Addressing Economic Imbalances in the North and Boom‐Bust Cycles in the South

J. Tirole, Financial Crises, Liquidity and the International Monetary System
Cross‐Generation Correlations of Union Status for Young People in Britain
Authors: Blanden Jo , Machin Stephen
Published: August 2003

This paper investigates whether young people whose fathers are union members are themselves more likely to join a union. We find that young people with unionized fathers are twice as likely to be unionized as those with non‐union fathers; this rises to three times higher for those whose fathers are active in the union. This supports the idea that socialization within the family plays a role in encouraging union membership. It is not the case that the cross‐generation correlations we observe are driven by common within‐family characteristics (like occupation, industry and political persuasion) that are strongly related to union membership.
Gender Earnings and Part‐Time Pay in Australia, 1990–1998
Authors: Preston Alison
Published: August 2003

This paper studies the effects of enterprise bargaining on the pay position of women and other target equity groups. Contrary to a priori expectations the paper shows a convergence in full‐time and part‐time gross gender pay gaps following the adoption of decentralized wage bargaining. Convergence in the latter reflects compositional (human capital) effects: the entry of less qualified and less experienced males into part‐time employment. Overall the results show a deterioration in the pay position of men employed full‐time relative to women and part‐timers (men and women) brought about by slower wage growth amongst men in full‐time employment.
The Impact of the National Minimum Wage in Small Firms
Authors: Arrowsmith James , Gilman Mark W. , Edwards Paul , Ram Monder
Published: August 2003

The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) had potentially significant implications for small firms. Orthodox economic theory predicts adverse consequences, though institutional analysis points to potential efficiency as well as fairness effects. Using longitudinal data on 55 firms, this paper examines the impact of the NMW in small firms in clothing manufacture and hotel and catering. Different patterns of adjustment were observed, explained by both size and sector characteristics. Overall, the impact of the NMW was mediated by the informality of employment relations in the small firm.
The Contribution of National Vocational Qualifications to the Growth of Skills in the UK
Authors: Grugulis Irena
Published: August 2003

This article evaluates the British system of NVQs, focusing on their capacity to increase skill levels. It reviews the way NVQs were designed and argues that they are ill‐equipped to encourage knowledge and skills, partly because they simply replicate the weaknesses which currently exist in the labour market and partly because of the focus on observed workplace behaviours. NVQs were intended to be ‘employer‐led’ and the assumptions underpinning their design are unitarist. In contrast, the German apprenticeship system is developed and implemented by pluralist consortia and results in qualifications that are far better equipped to support skill levels.
Models of the Company and the Employment Relationship
Authors: Parkinson John
Published: August 2003

How the company is conceptualized has important implications for employees. Divergent theoretical approaches towards the company are synthesized below to form three models: the ownership, nexus of contracts, and social institution models. The first two endorse current UK corporate governance practice, in which companies are run for the ultimate benefit of their shareholders, who have the exclusive right to appoint the board. The third model questions this arrangement and, more generally, the characterization of the company as a wholly private association. The conclusion examines the implications of the third model for reform of company law and governance in the UK.
A Trade Union Congress Perspective on the Company Law Review and Corporate Governance Reform since 1997
Authors: Williamson Janet
Published: August 2003

This article examines the Company Law Review and other corporate governance reforms introduced by the Labour government since 1997. It argues that an opportunity has been missed to implement fundamental change by giving employees and other key stakeholders rights in companies equal to those of shareholders. However, reforms that aim to make the existing system work better by promoting responsible shareholder activity have been introduced, and proposals to increase company disclosure on employee and other stakeholder relationships are in the pipeline. The potential of the reforms to offer trade unions new tools for promoting workers’ interests is examined.
Shareholder Primacy and the Trajectory of UK Corporate Governance
Authors: Armour John , Deakin Simon , Konzelmann Suzanne J.
Published: August 2003

Core institutions of UK corporate governance, in particular those relating to takeovers, board structure and directors’ duties, are strongly orientated towards a norm of shareholder primacy. Beyond the core, in particular at the inter‐section of insolvency and employment law, stakeholder interests are better represented, thanks largely to European Community influence. Moreover, institutional shareholders are redirecting their investment strategies away from a focus on short‐term returns, in such a way as to favour stakeholder‐inclusive practices. We therefore suggest that the UK system is currently in a state of flux and that the debate over shareholder primacy has not been concluded.
Finance, Corporate Governance and the Management of Labour: A Conceptual and Comparative Analysis
Authors: Gospel Howard , Pendleton Andrew
Published: August 2003

This article explores links between the firm's financial structure, corporate governance, and the management of labour. It reviews various literatures, in particular drawing from financial economics and political economy, and combines these with industrial relations, and human resource management. We develop a model that identifies how financial institutions and pressures impact upon labour management. Managerial discretion is at the centre of the model, and six key influences and constraints upon management are identified. We present evidence from comparative analysis of labour management which illustrates how management decisions and practices are affected. A benefit of this approach is that it can take account of within‐country variations.
The Netherlands, the Challenge of Lijst Pim Fortuyn, and the Third Way
Authors: Bruff Ian
Published: August 2003

The shock 2002 general election result in the Netherlands has provided a wake-up call to those who believed it would withstand the Europe-wide rise of the far right more successfully than others. This article firstly investigates why Lijst Pim Fortuyn performed so well, and suggests that its popularity owes more to its anti-establishment stance than its xenophobic outlook. The second half of the article links the upheavals to normative deficiencies in the ‘third way’ framework, and concludes that a more distinctive left-of-centre agenda needs to be formulated, both in itself and in relation to containing the far right.
Mexico: New Democracy with Old Parties?
Authors: Casillas Carlos E. , Mújica Alejandro
Published: August 2003

Mexico's 2000 presidential election was one of the most important political events in the nation's contemporary history. The victory of the National Action Party (PAN) and Vicente Fox, the first ‘non-official’ candidate ever to win a Mexican presidential election, surprised both local and world observers. This article comprises four parts. Part I very briefly places the election in historical perspective. In Part II, each of the three front-runners in the contest is profiled. Part III includes a systematic analysis of the general election results by constituencies or other territorial units, and features tabulated data. Part IV addresses the development of political parties and the party system before and after the elections.
US–China Relations in the Contemporary Era: An International Political Economy Perspective
Authors: Roden Mark
Published: August 2003

The subject of US–China relations has been examined from a number of perspectives but has rarely been exposed to a critical theory approach. This article argues that US–China relations must be understood at the structural/global level as well as in terms of the interaction of political actors. In this way a broader understanding of US hegemonic power and its relation to China can be developed. This also requires moving beyond viewing the relationship in bilateral terms and taking into account the role of ideas and institutions in the international political economy (IPE).
Liberalism, Terrorism and the Politics of Fear
Authors: Sparks Chris
Published: August 2003

This article considers the impact of terror and fear on the political health of liberal democratic societies. It examines the strategic use of terror to produce a politics of fear through an exploration of current Western reactions to terrorism. The argument is developed through a presentation of a three-part map of the politics of fear constituted by the instigation of fear, the (attempted) eradication of fear and the management of fear. Central to this presentation is an analysis of the destabilising effects the introduction of terror has on civil society and government, and of the effective ways of responding to it. Running through the presentation is an analysis of the constitution of terror and fear, their relationship to each other and to the general insecurities which beset liberal democracies.
Sociability and Susceptibility to the Common Cold
Authors: Cohen Sheldon , Doyle William J. , Turner Ronald , Alper Cuneyt M. , Skoner David P.
Published: August 2003

There is considerable evidence that social relationships can influence health, but only limited evidence on the health effects of the personality characteristics that are thought to mold people's social lives. We asked whether sociability predicts resistance to infectious disease and whether this relationship is attributable to the quality and quantity of social interactions and relationships. Three hundred thirty-four volunteers completed questionnaires assessing their sociability, social networks, and social supports, and six evening interviews assessing daily interactions. They were subsequently exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and monitored to see who developed verifiable illness. Increased sociability was associated in a linear fashion with a decreased probability of developing a cold. Although sociability was associated with more and higher-quality social interactions, it predicted disease susceptibility independently of these variables. The association between sociability and disease was also independent of baseline immunity (virus-specific antibody), demographics, emotional styles, stress hormones, and health practices.
Origins of Number Sense
Authors: Lipton Jennifer S. , Spelke Elizabeth S.
Published: August 2003

Four experiments investigated infants' sensitivity to large, approximate numerosities in auditory sequences. Prior studies provided evidence that 6-month-old infants discriminate large numerosities that differ by a ratio of 2.0, but not 1.5, when presented with arrays of visual forms in which many continuous variables are controlled. The present studies used a head-turn preference procedure to test for infants' numerosity discrimination with auditory sequences designed to control for element duration, sequence duration, interelement interval, and amount of acoustic energy. Six-month-old infants discriminated 16 from 8 sounds but failed to discriminate 12 from 8 sounds, providing evidence that the same 2.0 ratio limits numerosity discrimination in auditory-temporal sequences and visual-spatial arrays. Nine-month-old infants, in contrast, successfully discriminated 12 from 8 sounds, but not 10 from 8 sounds, providing evidence that numerosity discrimination increases in precision over development, prior to the emergence of language or symbolic counting.
Attribution of Dispositional States by 12-Month-Olds
Authors: Kuhlmeier Valerie , Wynn Karen , Bloom Paul
Published: August 2003

The ability to interpret the behavior of other individuals is essential for effective social functioning. Many investigators now believe that even young infants can recognize that agents act toward goals. Here we report three experiments suggesting that 12-month-old infants not only can recognize goal-related action, but also can interpret future actions of an actor on the basis of previously witnessed behavior in another context. The possibility that this inference is made through the attribution of mental states is discussed.
Aging and Attentional Biases for Emotional Faces
Authors: Mather Mara , Carstensen Laura L.
Published: August 2003

We examined age differences in attention to and memory for faces expressing sadness, anger, and happiness. Participants saw a pair of faces, one emotional and one neutral, and then a dot probe that appeared in the location of one of the faces. In two experiments, older adults responded faster to the dot if it was presented on the same side as a neutral face than if it was presented on the same side as a negative face. Younger adults did not exhibit this attentional bias. Interactions of age and valence were also found for memory for the faces, with older adults remembering positive better than negative faces. These findings reveal that in their initial attention, older adults avoid negative information. This attentional bias is consistent with older adults' generally better emotional well-being and their tendency to remember negative less well than positive information.
Emotion and Intuition
Authors: Bolte Annette , Goschke Thomas , Kuhl Julius
Published: August 2003

We investigated effects of emotional states on the ability to make intuitive judgments about the semantic coherence of word triads. Participants were presented word triads, consisting of three clue words that either were weakly associated with a common fourth concept (coherent triads) or had no common associate (incoherent triads). In Experiment 1, participants in a neutral mood discriminated coherent and incoherent triads reliably better than chance level even if they did not consciously retrieve the solution word. In Experiment 2, the induction of a positive mood reliably improved intuitive coherence judgments, whereas participants in a negative mood performed at chance level. We conclude that positive mood potentiates spread of activation to weak or remote associates in memory, thereby improving intuitive coherence judgments. By contrast, negative mood appears to restrict spread of activation to close associates and dominant word meanings, thus impairing intuitive coherence judgments.
How Much Memory Does Oculomotor Search Have?
Authors: McCarley Jason S. , Wang Ranxiao F. , Kramer Arthur F. , Irwin David E. , Peterson Matthew S.
Published: August 2003

Research has demonstrated that oculomotor visual search is guided by memory for which items or locations within a display have already been inspected. In the study reported here, we used a gaze-contingent search paradigm to examine properties of this memory. Data revealed a memory buffer for search history of three to four items. This buffer was effected in part by a space-based trace attached to a location independently of whether the object that had been seen at that position remained visible, and was subject to interference from other stimuli seen in the course of a trial.
Motion Onset Captures Attention
Authors: Abrams Richard A. , Christ Shawn E.
Published: August 2003

Although visual motion may seem salient, motion per se does not automatically attract attention. We show here, however, that the onset of motion does indeed attract attention. In three experiments, subjects identified target letters in displays that contained targets and distractors. There was no advantage for moving letters among static ones, but there was an advantage for objects that had recently started to move despite the fact that the motion was uninformative. If some additional time was allowed to elapse after motion onset, inhibition of return slowed responding to the item that had started to move—a further sign that the motion onset had captured attention. Finally, detection of target letters was found to be independent of the number of distractors in the display if the target had undergone motion onset, also indicative of attentional capture. We discuss the adaptive significance of sensitivity to onsets in the presence of a relative insensitivity to ongoing motion.
The Neural Reality of Syntactic Transformations
Authors: Ben-Shachar Michal , Hendler Talma , Kahn Itamar , Ben-Bashat Dafna , Grodzinsky Yosef
Published: August 2003

The functional anatomy of syntactic transformations, a major computational operation invoked in sentence processing, was identified through a functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation. A grammaticality judgment task was used, presented through a novel hidden-blocks design. Subjects listened to transformational and non-transformational sentences in which a host of other complexity generators (number of words, prepositions, embeddings, etc.) were kept constant. A series of analyses revealed that the neural processing of transformations is localizable, evoking a highly lateralized and localized activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's region) and bilateral activation in the posterior superior temporal sulcus. The pattern of activation associated with transformational analysis was distinct from the one observed in neighboring regions, and anatomically separable from the effects of verb complexity, which yielded significant activation in the left posterior superior temporal sulcus. Taken together with neuropsychological evidence, these results uncover the neural reality of syntactic transformations.
Antigravity Hills are Visual Illusions
Authors: Bressan Paola , Garlaschelli Luigi , Barracano Monica
Published: August 2003

Antigravity hills, also known as spook hills or magnetic hills, are natural places where cars put into neutral are seen to move uphill on a slightly sloping road, apparently defying the law of gravity. We show that these effects, popularly attributed to gravitational anomalies, are in fact visual illusions. We re-created all the known types of antigravity spots in our laboratory using tabletop models; the number of visible stretches of road, their slant, and the height of the visible horizon were systematically varied in four experiments. We conclude that antigravity-hill effects follow from a misperception of the eye level relative to gravity, caused by the presence of either contextual inclines or a false horizon line.
The Ecology of Eating
Authors: Rozin Paul , Kabnick Kimberly , Pete Erin , Fischler Claude , Shields Christy
Published: August 2003

Part of the “French paradox” can be explained by the fact that the French eat less than Americans. We document that French portion sizes are smaller in comparable restaurants, in the sizes of individual portions of foods (but not other items) in supermarkets, in portions specified in cookbooks, and in the prominence of “all you can eat” restaurants in dining guides. We also present data, from observations at McDonald's, that the French take longer to eat than Americans. Our results suggest that in the domain of eating, and more generally, more attention should be paid to ecological factors, even though their mechanism of operation is transparent, and hence less revealing of fundamental psychological processes. Ironically, although the French eat less than Americans, they seem to eat for a longer period of time, and hence have more food experience. The French can have their cake and eat it as well.
Confidence, Not Consistency, Characterizes Flashbulb Memories
Authors: Talarico Jennifer M. , Rubin David C.
Published: August 2003

On September 12, 2001, 54 Duke students recorded their memory of first hearing about the terrorist attacks of September 11 and of a recent everyday event. They were tested again either 1, 6, or 32 weeks later. Consistency for the flashbulb and everyday memories did not differ, in both cases declining over time. However, ratings of vividness, recollection, and belief in the accuracy of memory declined only for everyday memories. Initial visceral emotion ratings correlated with later belief in accuracy, but not consistency, for flashbulb memories. Initial visceral emotion ratings predicted later posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Flashbulb memories are not special in their accuracy, as previously claimed, but only in their perceived accuracy.
Eye Movements and Problem Solving
Authors: Grant Elizabeth R. , Spivey Michael J.
Published: August 2003

Overt visual attention during diagram-based problem solving, as measured by eye movements, has been used in numerous studies to reveal critical aspects of the problem-solving process that traditional measures like solution time and accuracy cannot address. In Experiment 1, we used this methodology to show that particular fixation patterns correlate with success in solving the tumor-and-lasers radiation problem. Given this correlation between attention to a particular diagram feature and problem-solving insight, we investigated participants' cognitive sensitivity to perceptual changes in that diagram feature. In Experiment 2, we found that perceptually highlighting the critical diagram component, identified in Experiment 1, significantly increased the frequency of correct solutions. Taking a situated perspective on cognition, we suggest that environmentally controlled perceptual properties can guide attention and eye movements in ways that assist in developing problem-solving insights that dramatically improve reasoning.
Gesturing and Naming
Authors: Bub Daniel N. , Masson Michael E.J. , Bukach Cindy M.
Published: August 2003

Studies using functional imaging show reliable activation of premotor cortex when observers view manipulable objects. This result has led to the view that knowledge of object function, particularly the actions associated with the typical use of objects, may play a causal role in object identification. To obtain relevant evidence regarding this causal role, we asked subjects to learn gesture-color associations and then attempt to identify objects presented in colors denoting functional gestures that were congruent or incongruent with the objects' use. A strong congruency effect was observed when subjects gestured the use of an object, but not when they named an object. We conclude that our procedure constitutes a sensitive measure of the recruitment and causal role of functional knowledge and that this recruitment is not present during object naming. Preliminary evidence, however, indicates that gestures evoked by the volumetric shape of an object do contribute to object naming.
Sleep Deprivation Influences Some but Not All Processes of Supervisory Attention
Authors: Jennings J.R. , Monk T.H. , van der Molen M.W.
Published: August 2003

Does one night of sleep deprivation alter processes of supervisory attention in general or only a specific subset of such processes? Twenty college-aged volunteers, half female, performed a choice reaction time task. A cue indicated that compatible (e.g., right button, right-pointing arrow) or incompatible (e.g., left button, right-pointing arrow) responses were to be given to a stimulus that followed 50 or 500 ms later. The paradigm assessed response inhibition, task-shifting skill, and task strategy—processes inherent in supervisory attention. Performance, along with heart rate, was assessed for 12 hr following normal sleep or a night of complete sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation altered neither preparation for task shifting nor response inhibition. The ability to use preparatory bias to speed performance did decrease with sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation appears to selectively affect this supervisory attention process, which is perceived as an active effort to cope with a challenging task.
From What to Where
Authors: Humphreys Glyn W. , Riddoch M. Jane
Published: August 2003

Three experiments examined nonspatial extinction in G.K., a patient with bilateral parietal damage. Experiment 1 demonstrated nonspatial extinction (poor detection of a weak relative to a stronger perceptual group), even when the stronger group was less complex than the weaker group. Experiment 2 showed improved report of a letter falling at the location of the stronger group, but explicit judgments of the location of the letter were at chance. Experiment 3 replicated the object-cuing benefit, though G.K. could not discriminate whether a letter fell at the same location as the stronger perceptual group. The data indicate coupling between object- and space-based attention, so that spatial attention is drawn to the location occupied by the winner of object-based competition for selection. In this case, what cues where. This coupling operates implicitly, even when explicit location judgments are impaired.
Expertise in Tactile Pattern Recognition
Authors: Behrmann Marlene , Ewell Catherine
Published: August 2003

This article explores expertise in tactile object recognition. In one study, participants were trained to differing degrees of accuracy on tactile identification of two-dimensional patterns. Recognition of these patterns, of inverted versions of these patterns, and of sub-parts of these patterns was then tested. The inversion effect (better recognition of upright than inverted patterns) and the part-whole effect (better recognition of the whole than a part pattern), traditionally considered signatures of visual expertise, were observed for tactile experts but not for novices. In a second study, participants were trained as visual or tactile experts and then tested in the trained and nontrained modalities. Whereas expertise effects were observed in the modality of training, cross-modal transfer was asymmetric; visual experts showed generalization to haptic recognition, but tactile experts did not show generalization to visual recognition. Tactile expertise is not obviously attributable to visual mediation and emerges from domain-general principles that operate independently of modality.
Global Transsaccadic Change Blindness During Scene Perception
Authors: Henderson John M. , Hollingworth Andrew
Published: August 2003

Each time the eyes are spatially reoriented via a saccadic eye movement, the image falling on the retina changes. How visually specific are the representations that are functional across saccades during active scene perception? This question was investigated with a saccade-contingent display-change paradigm in which pictures of complex real-world scenes were globally changed in real time during eye movements. The global changes were effected by presenting each scene as an alternating set of scene strips and occluding gray bars, and by reversing the strips and bars during specific saccades. The results from two experiments demonstrated a global transsaccadic change-blindness effect, suggesting that point-by-point visual representations are not functional across saccades during complex scene perception.
Attentive Tracking of Objects Versus Substances
Authors: vanMarle Kristy , Scholl Brian J.
Published: August 2003

Recent research in vision science, infant cognition, and word learning suggests a special role for the processing of discrete objects. But what counts as an object? Answers to this question often depend on contrasting object-based processing with the processing of spatial areas or unbound visual features. In infant cognition and word learning, though, another salient contrast has been between rigid cohesive objects and nonsolid substances. Whereas objects may move from one location to another, a nonsolid substance must pour from one location to another. In the study reported here, we explored whether attentive tracking processes are sensitive to dynamic information of this type. Using a multiple-object tracking task, we found that subjects could easily track four items in a display of eight identical unpredictably moving entities that moved as discrete objects from one location to another, but could not track similar entities that noncohesively “poured” from one location to another—even when the items in both conditions followed the same trajectories at the same speeds. Other conditions revealed that this inability to track multiple “substances” stemmed not from violations of rigidity or cohesiveness per se, because subjects were able to track multiple noncohesive collections and multiple nonrigid deforming objects. Rather, the impairment was due to the dynamic extension and contraction during the substancelike motion, which rendered the location of the entity ambiguous. These results demonstrate a convergence between processes of midlevel adult vision and infant cognition, and in general help to clarify what can count as a persisting dynamic object of attention.
Superstitious Perceptions Reveal Properties of Internal Representations
Authors: Gosselin Frédéric , Schyns Philippe G.
Published: August 2003

Everyone has seen a human face in a cloud, a pebble, or blots on a wall. Evidence of superstitious perceptions has been documented since classical antiquity, but has received little scientific attention. In the study reported here, we used superstitious perceptions in a new principled method to reveal the properties of unobservable object representations in memory. We stimulated the visual system with unstructured white noise. Observers firmly believed that they perceived the letter S in Experiment 1 and a smile on a face in Experiment 2. Using reverse correlation and computational analyses, we rendered the memory representations underlying these superstitious perceptions.
The Role of Perceptual Load in Processing Distractor Faces
Authors: Lavie Nilli , Ro Tony , Russell Charlotte
Published: August 2003

It has been established that successful ignoring of irrelevant distractors depends on the extent to which the current task loads attention. However, the previous load studies have typically employed neutral distractor stimuli (e.g., letters). In the experiments reported here, we examined whether the perception of irrelevant distractor faces would show the same effects. We manipulated attentional load in a relevant task of name search by varying the search set size and found that whereas congruency effects from meaningful nonface distractors were eliminated by higher search load, interference from distractor faces was entirely unaffected by search load. These results support the idea that face processing may be mandatory and generalize the load theory to the processing of meaningful and more complex nonface distractors.
Psychological Defense in Anticipation of Anxiety
Authors: Greenberg Jeff , Martens Andy , Jonas Eva , Eisenstadt Donna , Pyszczynski Tom , Solomon Sheldon
Published: August 2003

A large body of research has shown that when people are reminded of their mortality, their defense of their cultural worldview intensifies. Although some psychological defenses seem to be instigated by negative affective responses to threat, mortality salience does not appear to arouse such affect. Terror management theory posits that the potential to experience anxiety, rather than the actual experience of anxiety, underlies these effects of mortality salience. If this is correct, then mortality-salience effects should be reduced when participants believe they are not capable of reacting to the reminder of mortality with anxiety. In a test of this hypothesis, participants consumed a placebo purported to either block anxiety or enhance memory. Then we manipulated mortality salience, and participants evaluated pro- and anti-American essays as a measure of worldview defense. Although mortality salience intensified worldview defense in the memory-enhancer condition, this effect was completely eliminated in the anxiety-blocker condition. The results suggest that some psychological defenses serve to avert the experience of anxiety rather than to ameliorate actually experienced anxiety.
What to Do on Spring Break?
Authors: Wirtz Derrick , Kruger Justin , Scollon Christie Napa , Diener Ed
Published: August 2003

When individuals choose future activities on the basis of their past experiences, what guides those choices? The present study compared students' predicted, on-line, and remembered spring-break experiences, as well as the influence of these factors on students' desire to take a similar vacation in the future. Predicted and remembered experiences were both more positive—and, paradoxically, more negative—than on-line experiences. Of key importance, path analyses revealed that remembered experience, but neither on-line nor anticipated experience, directly predicted the desire to repeat the experience. These results suggest that although on-line measures may be superior to retrospective measures for approximating objective experience, retrospective measures may be superior for predicting choice.
Stereoscopic Surface Interpolation Supports Lightness Constancy
Authors: Wilcox Laurie M. , Duke Philip A.
Published: August 2003

The human visual system has a remarkable ability to construct surface representations from sparse stereoscopic, as well as texture and motion, information. In impoverished displays where few points are used to define regions in depth, the brain often interpolates depth estimates across intervening blank regions to create a compelling sense of a solid surface. The set of experiments described here examined stereoscopic interpolation using a novel technique based on lightness constancy. The effectiveness of this method is notable because it stands as the only technique to date that unequivocally examines the perception of interpolated surfaces, and not surfaces inferred subjectively from depth information in the stimulus. Further, these data support the growing evidence that a primary function of the stereoscopic system is to define three-dimensional surface structure.
Classification of Discrete Symmetries of Ordinary Differential Equations
Authors: Laine‐Pearson F. E. , Hydon P. E.
Published: August 2003

A simple method for determining all discrete point symmetries of a given differential equation has been developed recently. The method uses constant matrices that represent inequivalent automorphisms of the Lie algebra spanned by the Lie point symmetry generators. It may be difficult to obtain these matrices if there are three or more independent generators, because the matrix elements are determined by a large system of algebraic equations. This paper contains a classification of the automorphisms that can occur in the calculation of discrete symmetries of scalar ordinary differential equations, up to equivalence under real point transformations. (The results are also applicable to many partial differential equations.) Where these automorphisms can be realized as point transformations, we list all inequivalent realizations. By using this classification as a look‐up table, readers can calculate the discrete point symmetries of a given ordinary differential equation with very little effort.
Modulations of Deep Water Waves and Spectral Filtering
Authors: Kliakhandler I. L.
Published: August 2003

Modulations of deep water waves are studied by a new formalism of spectral filtering. For single‐mode dynamics, spectral filtering results in computable equations, which are counterpart to the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equations. An essential feature of new equations is that bandwidth limitation is decoupled from small‐amplitude assumption. The filtered equations have a substantially broader range of validity than the NLS equations, and may be viewed as intermediate between the NLS and Zakharov equations. The new single‐mode equations reproduce exactly the conditions for nonlinear four‐wave resonance (“figure 8” of Phillips [1]) even for bandwidths greater than unity. Sideband instability for uniform Stokes waves is limited to finite bandwidths only, and agrees well with exact results of McLean [2].
Linearizable Hierarchies of Evolution Equations in (1+1) Dimensions
Authors: Euler M. , Euler N. , Petersson N.
Published: August 2003

In our article [1], “A tree of linearisable second‐order evolution equations by generalised hodograph transformations” we present a class of linearizable (C‐integrable) second‐order evolution equations in (1+1) dimensions, using a generalized hodograph transformation. We report here the complete set of recursion operators for this class and present the resulting linearizable (C‐integrable) hierarchies in (1+1) dimensions. The autonomous class of linearizable hierarchies are extended further by considering the equations in potential form followed by the pure hodograph transformation.
Infinite Interval Problems Modeling Phenomena Which Arise in the Theory of Plasma and Electrical Potential Theory
Authors: Agarwal R. P. , O'Regan D.
Published: August 2003

An upper and lower solution approach is presented for boundary value problems on the infinite interval. In particular, our theory includes a discussion of a problem which arises in the study of plasma physics, and a problem which arises in determining the electrical potential in an isolated neutral atom.
Continuous Families of Embedded Solitons in the Third‐Order Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation
Authors: Yang J. , Akylas T. R.
Published: August 2003

The nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a third‐order dispersive term is considered. Infinite families of embedded solitons, parameterized by the propagation velocity, are found through a gauge transformation. By applying this transformation, an embedded soliton can acquire any velocity above a certain threshold value. It is also shown that these families of embedded solitons are linearly stable, but nonlinearly semi‐stable.
Paratactic conjunctions in creole speakers' and ESL learners' academic writing
Authors: Clachar Arlene
Published: August 2003

Second‐language‐writing research which examines ESL learners' transfer of speech‐typical registers into their academic written discourse is predicated on a “native speaker of English/nonnative speaker or ESL learner” dichotomy which appears to exclude speakers for whom standard English is a second dialect, namely, speakers of Caribbean Creole English. This study addresses the shortcomings of this strict native speaker/nonnative speaker (ESL) dichotomy by examining the extent to which creole‐English students grapple with the unfamiliar registers of academic written discourse as is reflected in their transfer of speech‐typical conjunctions (what will be referred to as paratactic conjunctions) into their writing. By comparing creole‐English students with ESL students, the study reveals that the writing challenges of learners of standard English as a second dialect are quite distinct from those of ESL learners. The study submits that the creole‐English‐speaking learners may be drawing more on paratactic conjunction function than their ESL counterparts because of the constant bidirectional shifting between the creole and standard English along the creole continuum and because of the similarity of creole and standard English vocabulary and the dissimilarity of their grammar systems – a phenomenon likely to mask the distinction between the conjunction system of the creole (which occurs only in the oral mode) and the conjunction system of standard English (which occurs in writing). Therefore, the “generic” notion of “ESL learner” to include all but native speakers of standard English seems to disguise the complex differences between learners of standard English as a second dialect and ESL learners regarding literacy challenges.
Phonetic stress in Indian English vs. American English
Authors: Wiltshire Caroline , Moon Russell
Published: August 2003

A recent article in World Englishes (Pickering and Wiltshire, 2000) suggests that one difference between Indian English (IE) and American English (AE) varieties is the phonetic realization of prominence. In IE, the syllable considered prominent by Pickering and Wiltshire falls in pitch, while the amplitude changes little. In this study, we show that the results of Pickering and Wiltshire (2000) may be due to a misinterpretation of the positioning of stress in IE. We show that by considering the louder syllable to be the stressed one, IE stress correlates differ in magnitude but not in direction from AE. However, our results confirm Pickering and Wiltshire's in that the phonetic correlates of AE and IE stressed syllables do differ; furthermore, the position of stress may differ, and hence the potential for communication problems between speakers of different varieties remains.
Reported dialogue and pragmatic particles in the narratives of preadolescents
Authors: Levey Stephen
Published: August 2003

This research report examines variation in the quotative system of a group of 23 preadolescents. It explores how variation in reported speech is used particularly by female speakers in their creation of performed narratives, which communicate affective involvement with retold events, and simultaneously seek the engagement of addressees who are invited by way of dramatized recounts to vicariously re‐experience significant episodes in the past. Variation in the use of specific quotative forms is linked to differences in the narrative styles of preadolescent girls and boys. Furthermore, distributional differences between girls' and boys' use of certain pragmatic particles which can be used to negotiate interpersonal alignments and mark assumptions of shared knowledge and experience, furnish compelling additional evidence of different orientations towards the construction of narrative recounts. The findings suggest that the girls and boys in this study access discourse features in varying frequencies and that these differences are arguably bound up with aspects of gender identity.
HOW TO TALK TO YOURSELF OR KRIPKE's WITTGENSTEIN's SOLITARY LANGUAGE ARGUMENT AND WHY IT FAILS
Authors: Max Knorpp William
Published: August 2003

Abstract:  In Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, Kripke's Wittgenstein argues that it is possible for individuals in communities to speak a language and otherwise follow rules, but impossible for a single, conceptually isolated individual to do so. I show that the roots of the argument lie in his general account of the legitimacy of practices, and that he actually argues for two distinct conclusions: (a) solitary individuals cannot have useful practices of rule‐following and (b) solitary individuals cannot place substantive restrictions on their own behavior. I show that if it is, in fact, possible for individuals in communities to use language and follow rules, then both of Kripke's Wittgenstein's anti‐solitary language arguments fails; and, furthermore, that his general account not only fails to exclude the possibility of solitary language‐use and rule‐following, it actually guarantees their possibility.
THE MORAL PERSPECTIVE OF HUMILITY
Authors: Kupfer Joseph
Published: August 2003

Abstract: Philosophers have been troubled by the apparent tension between humility and knowledge of one's excellence. However, humility is compatible with knowledge of one's merit because of the moral perspective in which humility is embedded. The perspective has four dimensions: radical dependence, moral comparison with other people, moral ideals, and objective valuation of things in the world. Recourse to this moral perspective also enables clarification of the relationship between humility and other virtues; what is wrong with arrogance; the role of belief of God in humility; and the difference between being humbled and being humiliated.
WHAT IS TOKEN PHYSICALISM?
Authors: Latham Noa
Published: August 2003

Abstract: This paper investigates the thesis of token physicalism by examining what kinds of particulars there are and what it is for such particulars to be physical. It concludes that there is no coherent thesis of token physicalism that is strictly stronger than substance physicalism and strictly weaker than property physicalism on one or another of its interpretations, and spells out the implications of this for the project of defining minimal physicalism. In the course of the discussion the paper offers interpretations of the views of Davidson and Fodor and argues for an asymmetry between the concepts of the mental and the physical.
PROBABILITY AND DEFEATERS
Authors: Plantinga Alvin
Published: August 2003

Abstract: Branden Fitelson and Elliott Sober raise several objections to my evolutionary argument against naturalism; I reply to four of them.
SOME ADVICE FOR MORAL PSYCHOLOGISTS
Authors: Wiland Eric
Published: August 2003

Abstract: Recently, philosophers have employed the notion of advice to tackle a variety of philosophical problems. In particular, Michael Smith and Nomy Arpaly have in different ways related the notion of advice to the notion of a reason for action. Here I argue that both accounts are flawed, because each operates with a simplistic picture of the way advice works. I conclude that it would be wise to take more time to analyze what advice is and how it in fact works, before putting it to particular philosophical uses.