bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Machine vision-based sensing for helicopter flight control
Authors: Oertel Carl-Henrik
Published: July 2002

Machine vision-based sensing enables automatic hover stabilization of helicopters. The evaluation of image data, which is produced by a camera looking straight to the ground, results in a drift free autonomous on-board position measurement system. No additional information about the appearance of the scenery seen by the camera (e.g. landmarks) is needed. The technique being applied is a combination of the 4D-approach with two dimensional template tracking of a priori unknown features.
An examination of GCSE music uptake rates
Authors: Bray David
Published: July 2002

The GCSE music examination is the principal form of accredited study for students aged 15+. (More students take the examination than previously took GCE O-level and CSE examinations combined.) For this reason the examination is generally thought of as a success. An analysis is made of uptake rates during the period 1994-8 and comparisons are made with uptake rates in other optional subjects. Based on this evidence, a suggestion is made that GCSE music is not as successful or attractive to students as is commonly thought. An assumption is made that there are factors that make this situation surprising and worth further research. Some possible reasons for the current situation are explored.
Transfer revisited: re-evaluating the non-musical potential of learning and listening to music. An overview of selected literature
Authors: Staines Richard
Published: July 2002

The claims of certain reports increasingly appearing in the media suggesting that ‘music makes kids smarter’ invite critical evaluation. Several other recent studies have been re-examining the hypothesis that musical listening and learning it using methods like Kodály's may enhance spatial reasoning and social and cognitive growth. In weaving together these interrelated themes, the intention of this article is not only to sensitise music educators to an awareness of transfer's significance and singular character, but to advise discretion in the interpretation of research results. Since the mechanisms of transfer are still not fully understood, future enquiry will have to accommodate many problems facing researchers in the field for whom the formulation of a comprehensive theory of transfer is, as yet, a distant prospect.
Symposium on Amartya Sen's philosophy: 5 Adaptive preferences and women's options
Authors: Nussbaum Martha C.
Published: July 2002

Any defense of universal norms involves drawing distinctions among the many things people actually desire. If it is to have any content at all, it will say that some objects of desire are more central than others for political purposes, more indispensable to a human being's quality of life. Any wise such approach will go even further, holding that some existing preferences are actually bad bases for social policy. The list of Central Human Capabilities that forms the core of my political project contains many functions that many people over the ages have preferred not to grant to women, either not at all, or not on a basis of equality. To insist on their centrality is thus to go against preferences that have considerable depth and breadth in traditions of male power. Moreover, the list contains many items that women over the ages have not wanted for themselves, and some that even today many women do not pursue – so in putting the list at the center of a normative political project aimed at providing the philosophical underpinning for basic political principles, we are going against not just other people's preferences about women, but, more controversially, against many preferences (or so it seems) of women about themselves and their lives. To some extent, my approach, like Sen's, avoids these problems of paternalism by insisting that the political goal is capability, not actual functioning, and by dwelling on the central importance of choice as a good. But the notion of choice and practical reason used in the list is a normative notion, emphasizing the critical activity of reason in a way that does not reflect the actual use of reason in many lives.
BAYESIAN REGRESSION ANALYSIS WITH SCALE MIXTURES OF NORMALS
Authors: Fernández Carmen , Steel Mark F.J.
Published: July 2002

This paper considers a Bayesian analysis of the
linear regression model under independent sampling from
general scale mixtures of normals. Using a common reference
prior, we investigate the validity of Bayesian inference
and the existence of posterior moments of the regression
and scale parameters. We find that whereas existence of
the posterior distribution does not depend on the choice
of the design matrix or the mixing distribution, both of
them can crucially intervene in the existence of posterior
moments. We identify some useful characteristics that allow
for an easy verification of the existence of a wide range
of moments. In addition, we provide full characterizations
under sampling from finite mixtures of normals, Pearson
VII, or certain modulated normal distributions. For empirical
applications, a numerical implementation based on the Gibbs
sampler is recommended.
A CONSISTENT TEST OF CONDITIONAL PARAMETRIC DISTRIBUTIONS
Authors: Zheng John Xu
Published: July 2002

This paper proposes a new nonparametric test for conditional
parametric distribution functions based on the first-order linear
expansion of the Kullback–Leibler information function and
the kernel estimation of the underlying distributions. The test
statistic is shown to be asymptotically distributed standard normal
under the null hypothesis that the parametric distribution is
correctly specified, whereas asymptotically rejecting the null with
probability one if the parametric distribution is misspecified. The
test is also shown to have power against any local alternatives
approaching the null at rates slower than the parametric rate
n−1/2. The finite sample performance of
the test is evaluated via a Monte Carlo simulation.
CONSISTENT MODEL SPECIFICATION TESTS
Authors: Fan Yanqin , Li Qi
Published: July 2002

We point out the close relationship between the integrated
conditional moment tests in Bierens (1982, Journal
of Econometrics 20, 105–134) and Bierens and
Ploberger (1997, Econometrica 65, 1129–1152)
with the complex-valued exponential weight function and
the kernel-based tests in Härdle and Mammen (1993,
Annals of Statistics 21, 1926–1947), Li
and Wang (1998, Journal of Econometrics 87, 145–165),
and Zheng (1996, Journal of Econometrics 75, 263–289).
It is well established that the integrated conditional
moment tests of Bierens (1982) and Bierens and Ploberger
(1997) are more powerful than kernel-based nonparametric
tests against Pitman local alternatives. In this paper
we analyze the power properties of the kernel-based tests
and the integrated conditional moment tests for a sequence
of “singular” local alternatives, and show
that the kernel-based tests can be more powerful than the
integrated conditional moment tests for these “singular”
local alternatives. These results suggest that integrated
conditional moment tests and kernel-based tests should
be viewed as complements to each other. Results from a
simulation study are in agreement with the theoretical
results.
RESEARCH IN ECONOMETRIC THEORY: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE
PRODUCTIVITY RANKINGS
Authors: Cribari-Neto Francisco , Jensen Mark J. , Novo Álvaro A.
Published: July 2002

We rank institutions and researchers based on a
standardized page count of their econometric theory publications
over the last 11 years (1986–1996) in 11 economics
and statistics journals. Our ranking criteria differ from
those employed by Hall (1987, Econometric Theory
3, 171–194; 1990, Econometric Theory 6,
1–16) and Baltagi (1998, Econometric Theory
14, 1–43). We weight the standardized page count
of a publication by the publishing journal's “impact
factor,” which measures a journal's impact on
the profession. We also depart from the previous rankings
by focusing only on publications in theoretical econometrics.
Our rankings reveal Yale University to be the leading academic
institution, enjoying a large lead over the other top institutions:
University of Chicago, M.I.T., and London School of Economics.
Our rankings also reveal that Peter Phillips and Donald
Andrews (both affiliated with Yale University) are the
leading researchers in theoretical econometrics. We also
provide rankings of countries and Ph.D. programs.
Effects of seasonal drought on gap and understorey seedlings in a Bolivian moist forest
Authors: Poorter Lourens , Hayashida-Oliver Yáskara
Published: July 2002

In tropical moist forests, length of the dry period may have a profound influence on leaf dynamics, plant growth and survival. To evaluate the role of light and water availability on seedling performance, a 1-y experiment was carried out in a tropical moist forest in the Bolivian Amazon in which seedlings of three tree species (Brosimum lactescens, Cedrela odorata and Schizolobium amazonicum) were planted in gaps and the understorey. Variation in length of the dry period was simulated by subjecting part of the seedlings to a water treatment at the end of the dry period. Gaps and understorey had a similar soil moisture content, which varied between 39% in the wet season and 16% in the dry season. Height and leaf growth rates were higher in gap compared to understorey plants, and in the wet compared to the dry season. A high growth during the wet season provided gap plants with a decisive size advantage over understorey plants during the dry season. Their larger root system allowed gap plants to explore a larger surface area and deeper soil layers for water. Consequently, gap plants of Cedrela experienced a shorter deciduous period (22 d) compared to understorey plants (61 d). Watering at the end of the dry season cued the flushing of new leaves by Cedrela, although it did not lead to a higher plant growth.
Fruit and flower phenology at two sites in Kibale National Park, Uganda
Authors: Chapman C. A. , Wrangham R. W. , Chapman L. J. , Kennard D. K. , Zanne A. E.
Published: July 2002

Examination of phenological patterns of tropical trees at different temporal and spatial scales can elucidate biotic and abiotic factors that correlate with fruiting, flowering and/or leaf set patterns. In this study, 3793 trees from 104 species in Kibale National Park, Uganda were monitored. The trees were selected from two sites (Kanyawara and Ngogo) separated by 10 km. Trees were monitored monthly to document community-wide and population-level fruiting and flowering patterns for a maximum of 76 mo. Analysis of two sites over a number of years permitted examination of generalities of patterns found on smaller spatial and temporal scales. Spectral analysis indicated that community-level flowering and fruiting at Kanyawara exhibited regular annual peaks, although the flowering peaks were of shorter duration. At Ngogo, community-level flowering also displayed regular annual peaks, but fruiting had an irregular pattern with no distinct peaks. The abundance of fruiting trees at Kanyawara was negatively related to the minimum temperature in the previous season (3–7 mo prior). Since fruiting tended to peak when the first wet season of the year was ending and the dry season was beginning, this suggests that the minimum temperature in the previous dry season is important in determining how many individuals fruit. Flowering at Kanyawara peaked immediately after the maximum annual period of high irradiance. Within-species synchronization was evident in the flowering for all species examined at Ngogo and for 64% of those at Kanyawara. Fruiting was synchronous within species for 64% of the species at both sites. Despite this general community-level synchronization, the months of peak fruiting and flowering for some species varied markedly among years. Furthermore, for a number of species the timing of fruiting or flowering events differed between Kanyawara and Ngogo. For some species, trends that were suggested from one year of data were not supported when additional years were considered. Although these two sites are close together, share many of the same species, and experience similar climatic regimes, many phenological patterns were site-dependent.
Seasonal movements of giraffes in Niger
Authors: Pendu Yvonnick Le , Ciofolo Isabelle
Published: July 2002

The last population of giraffes in west Africa lives in Niger in an unprotected Sahelian region inhabited by farmers and herders. The spatial behaviour of each individual of the population (n = 63) was studied by direct observation during 15 mo. Two-thirds of the population were resident in the tiger bush in the rainy season and in the nearby area of Harikanassou, a sandy agricultural region, in the dry season. Rainy season and dry season home ranges were mutually exclusive and individual home ranges were overlapping when considering one season (rainy season: 84%; dry season: 67%). The mean size of the seasonal home ranges of these resident giraffes during the dry season (90.7 km2) was twice the mean size during the rainy season (46.6 km2). A third of the population moved 80 to 200 km in three directions, and two giraffes from an isolated group from Mali moved 300 km along the Niger River. Long distance movements of such length have never been reported before, and several explanations are proposed: previous distribution, social transmission, hydrographic network and food availability, poaching events. The giraffes in Niger do not avoid rural communities; indeed, they live in densely populated regions. Furthermore, their movements, synchronized with human activities in these regions, are representative of life conditions in the Sahel.
Infant feeding practices and infant mortality in England, 1900–1919
Authors: FILDES VALERIE
Published: July 2002

Studies of infant mortality in both historical and modern populations
from around the world have shown that the most important single factor
affecting the infant mortality rate (IMR) is the way in which babies are
fed. When methods of infant feeding are unsatisfactory or dangerous,
mortality is high; when improvements are made in feeding practices,
mortality falls, often dramatically, in a short period of time. The degree
to which changes in infant feeding alone can affect IMRs depends on
other factors in the population concerned, primarily the health and
nutritional status of the mother; sanitary conditions both within the
household and in the surrounding environment; levels of endemic and
epidemic diseases; the degree of wealth, education and sophistication of
the population; and, if women are employed outside the home, the
provision made for infant feeding and care by the child's family and
by
society.

This article examines infant feeding practices in England during the
first
two decades of the twentieth century, arguably the most important 20
years in the fall in that nation's IMR between 1870 and 1920. The
1900s
and 1910s saw many major changes in the ways in which infants were fed
in all sections of society. Instigated by government, local Medical Officers
of Health and their staff and voluntary organizations, the effect of the
infant welfare movement in England in this period was that infants and
their mothers were significantly better fed, cared for and able to resist
disease in 1919 than in 1900.
Applying integer programming to AI planning
Authors: VOSSEN THOMAS , BALL MICHAEL , LOTEM AMNON , NAU DANA
Published: July 2002

Despite the historical difference in focus between AI planning techniques and Integer Programming (IP) techniques, recent research has shown that IP techniques show significant promise in their ability to solve AI planning problems. This paper provides approaches to encode AI planning problems as IP problems, describes some of the more significant issues that arise in using IP for AI planning, and discusses promising directions for future research.
L2 ACQUISITION OF JAPANESE UNACCUSATIVE VERBS
Authors: Hirakawa Makiko
Published: July 2002

This paper reports on an experimental study that investigates the acquisition of Japanese
unaccusative verbs by English-speaking learners. Following Levin and Rappaport Hovav (1995),
it is assumed that unaccusativity is syntactically represented but semantically determined. The
experiment is devised specifically to examine whether L2 learners are sensitive to syntactic and
semantic properties associated with unaccusative verbs in Japanese, which contrast with the
properties of unergative verbs. In particular, the experiment involved picture tasks with two
structures: the takusan construction as a syntactic test and the -teiru
construction as a semantic test. Overall results of the experiment show that L2 learners generally
know the properties investigated; that is, that subjects of unaccusative verbs originate in object
position, and semantic notions such as telicity and change of state are
aspects of meaning relevant to the classification of unaccusativity in Japanese. Based on these
results, it is argued that the mapping of verb arguments to syntactic positions is not random, but
rule governed, for most of the L2 learners in the present study.
LEXICAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE ACQUISITION OF SPLIT INTRANSITIVITY
Authors: Sorace Antonella , Shomura Yoko
Published: July 2002

This study investigates the acquisition of the unaccusative-unergative distinction in L2
Japanese by English learners. The aim is to establish whether learners of Japanese are sensitive to
the lexical-semantic characteristics of verbs in similar ways as learners of Romance languages who
were found to follow the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy (Sorace, 1993a, 1995a). Two groups of
learners participated in the study, one consisting of learners who had not had any previous
exposure to Japanese outside the classroom, and the other consisting of learners at the end of a
9-month period of continuous stay in Japan. A control group of native Japanese speakers also
took part in the experiment. Subjects were tested on their knowledge of the different behavior of
unaccusative and unergative verbs with respect to quantifier floating (Miyagawa, 1989); the
native group was also tested on Case drop (Kageyama, 1993). The results show that both the
native and the nonnative speakers are conditioned by the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy in their
judgments on unergative verbs; however, their judgments on unaccusative verbs do not pattern
according to the predictions. It is argued that this difference stems from the ambiguity of the
Japanese input on unaccusative verbs, which are characterized by syntactic optionality.
TEACHING AND LEARNING IRISH IN PRIMARY SCHOOL: A REVIEW OF
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT. John Harris and Lelia Murtagh. Dublin:
Instituid Teangeolaiochta Eireann, 1999. Pp. 515. Ir £8 paper.
Authors: Regan Vera
Published: July 2002

This volume is an extremely comprehensive research report. It speaks principally to language
planning, language policy bodies, and curriculum development units in Ireland, as well as to
teachers of Irish in primary schools. Although it targets a quite specific audience, it has many
elements of interest to policymakers internationally, especially in relation to minority languages,
and to researchers in SLA interested in areas such as bilingualism, immersion, the role of
instruction, and input in the classroom.
AHISTORICITY REVISITED
Authors: Gass Susan , Fleck Catherine , Leder Nevin , Svetics Ildiko
Published: July 2002

In our reply to Margaret Thomas's article “Programmatic
ahistoricity in second language acquisition theory,” we first review pertinent literature,
concluding that historical awareness is evident in SLA, though it is not as far-reaching as
Thomas would like it to be. We then argue that the attitude of most scholars in SLA toward the
past is reasonable given that no significant work in SLA from antiquity has been
discovered—by Thomas or anyone else—and that if such work exists Thomas has
the burden to bring it to light before declaring the field guilty of ahistoricity. We consider various
ways to define the field of SLA, arguing that it should be defined theoretically first, and
historically second. We claim that the point at which SLA separated itself from language
teaching is a logical point from which to date the beginnings of SLA as a true discipline. We
consider and reject Thomas's comparison of SLA and its history to various other scientific
disciplines and their histories, arguing that these disciplines have true milestones to point to in
the distant past, whereas SLA does not. Although we agree with Thomas that a general
awareness of the history of philosophy and science is beneficial for scholars in all fields, we
make a sharp division between that history and the history of SLA proper. We conclude by
arguing that respect for the field of SLA can come only through sound scientific progress, not by
appeals to history.
LEARNING TO SEE: TEACHING AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AS A
SECOND LANGUAGE (2nd ed.).Sherman Wilcox and Phyllis Perrin
Wilcox. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 1997. Pp. x + 145. $19.95
cloth.
Authors: Reagan Timothy
Published: July 2002

American Sign Language (ASL), both as the focus of scholarly study and as an
increasingly popular foreign-language option for many secondary and university level
students, has made remarkable strides during recent years. With respect to the linguistics of
ASL, there has been a veritable revolution in our understanding of the nature, structure, and
complexity of the language since the publication of William Stokoe's landmark
Sign Language Structure in 1960. Works on both theoretical aspects of the
linguistics of
ASL and on the sociolinguistics of the Deaf community now abound, and the overall quality of
such works is impressively high. Also widely available now are textbooks designed to teach
ASL as a second language. Such textbooks vary dramatically in quality, ranging from
phrasebook and lexical guides to very thorough and up-to-date works focusing on
communicative competence in ASL.
TOWARD A NEW NATIVISM
Authors: O'Grady William
Published: July 2002

The field of language acquisition is divided over the question of whether the inborn
mechanisms underlying linguistic development include actual grammatical categories and
principles or are of a more general character. Recent proposals suggest a possible convergence of
views on this matter, with implications for the study of both first language acquisition and
second language learning. This paper explores this possibility by examining the evolution of
grammatical nativism with particular emphasis on a radical shift in the generality of the inborn
principles that have been posited in recent work. The nature and implications of this shift are
illustrated with the help of developmental data involving gap-containing structures in first and
second language acquisition.
Phonological priming in children's picture naming
Authors: BROOKS PATRICIA J. , MACWHINNEY BRIAN
Published: July 2002

Two experiments examined phonological priming in children and
adults, using a cross-modal picture-word interference task. Pictures of
familiar objects were presented on a computer screen, while interfering
words (IWs) were presented over headphones. In terms of their relation
to target pictures, IWs were either phonologically related, unrelated,
neutral (the word go), or identical. Ninety children (30 aged 4;11 to
5;11, 30 aged 6;11 to 7;11, and 30 aged 9;5 to 11;9) and 30 adults were
instructed to name the pictures as quickly as possible while ignoring the
IWs. In Experiment 1, related IWs shared onset consonants with the
names of the pictures. Across ages, participants named pictures faster
with related IWs than with unrelated IWs. In Experiment 2, related
IWs rhymed with the targets. Here, only the youngest children (five to
seven-year-olds) named pictures faster with related IWs than with
unrelated IWs. The results indicate that priming effects reach a peak
during a time when articulatory information is being consolidated in the
output phonological buffer. The disappearance of the rhyme priming
effect with age may reflect the gradual emergence of the onset as an
organizing structure in speech production. This increased prominence
of the onset can be viewed as one component of a just-in-time,
incrementalist approach to speech production that allows adults to speak
more fluently than children.
A production limitation in syllable number: a
longitudinal study of one child's early vocabulary
Authors: JOHNSON JACQUELINE S. , LEWIS LAWRENCE B. , HOGAN JAY C.
Published: July 2002

The present paper reports on the phonological form of one child's
productive vocabulary from age 0;10 to 1;8 with primary focus on his
production of multisyllabic targets. A large percentage of his multisyllabic
vocabulary was produced as one syllable until the age of 1;6.
This limitation was not due to a tendency to extract only single syllables
from the speech stream, but rather due primarily to a limitation on
production. While some portion of his one-syllable productions could be
interpreted as the result of single syllable extraction, a sizeable portion
affirmed that he extracted the target size correctly by his inclusion of first
and final target phonemes in his productions (e.g. [po] for piano and
[kiz] for candies). The resolution of this limitation coincides with his
move toward two-word speech. We conclude that there is a developmental and
perhaps maturational limitation in the capacity to carry
out the processes underlying word and sentence production.
Singularities of ruled surfaces in ℝ3
Authors: IZUMIYA SHYUICHI , TAKEUCHI NOBUKO
Published: July 2002

We study singularities of ruled surfaces in ℝ3. The main result asserts that only
cross-caps appear as singularities for generic ruled surfaces.
On twistor harmonic surfaces in the complex projective plane
Authors: CASTRO ILDEFONSO , URBANO FRANCISCO
Published: July 2002

We completely classify all the twistor harmonic (non-minimal) Lagrangian
immersions of compact surfaces in the complex projective plane
[Copf ]ℙ2, i.e. those
Lagrangian immersions such that their twistor lifts to the twistor space
over
[Copf ]ℙ2 are harmonic maps.
[Lscr ]0-equivalence of maps
Authors: GAFFNEY TERENCE
Published: July 2002

We use the theory of the integral closure of an ideal to study the equivalence of
map-germs under C0 coordinate changes in the target. We also derive a
formula for the number of double points of a map germ from Cn
→ C2n in terms of the Segre
number of dimension 0 of an ideal associated to the double point locus of f, and the
number of Whitney umbrellas of the composition of f with a generic projection to
C2n−1.
Cultural Frictions: John Romeril's The Floating World
Authors: Gilbert Helen
Published: July 2002

Hailed as an ‘unruly masterpiece’, John Romeril's The Floating World is one of the few ‘new wave’ Australian plays representing Australians and their Asian ‘others’ to be restaged periodically since its première in 1974. Paying particular attention to productions of the play that have used Japanese theatre forms such as kabuki and bunraku, this article focuses primarily on the ways in which the spectacle of race has been coded performatively by different directorial approaches, and how various significations of race have been interpreted by the critical establishment. The fascinating stage history of The Floating World is treated as a barometer of Australian theatre's response to the challenge of representing cultural conflict, during a period marked by public debate about the desirability, and inevitability, of Australia's political, economic and cultural ‘enmeshment’ with Asia.
Feedback from Users of Electronic Chart
Technology
Authors: Edmonds David
Published: July 2002

This paper was presented at the Third Electronic Chart Technology
Conference,
SASMEX International, Brighton, 22–23 April 1998.

Electronic Chart Systems have been used by mariners across the entire
user spectrum without
official standards or specifications for 10 years. In the last three years,
the debate has centred
on chart data and the merits of differing cartographic technologies. There
is little new that
can be said for or against raster or vector technologies except what actual
users might say
to support the requirements of their day-to-day operations. Today, we approach
a new stage
as ENCs start to become available but only for limited areas. This in turn
means that ENCs
are capable of supporting the only approved electronic chart system, ECDIS,
in a limited
way. There is an urgent need for alternatives to ECDIS to cover those areas
where ENCs will
continue to be unavailable for the foreseeable future. This paper therefore
summarizes a
feedback from users of RCDS and ECDIS-type systems to demonstrate the benefits
which
can be secured from official recognition of RCDS systems as the legal equivalent
of paper
chart navigation.
Deforestation in the Dominican Republic: a village-level view
Authors: BROTHERS TIMOTHY S.
Published: July 2002

Deforestation is still rapid in some parts of the Caribbean, though it has attracted much less attention than deforestation in mainland Latin America. This paper examines the history and causes of the recent rapid deforestation of a lowland karst region of the Dominican Republic in the light of models derived from studies in Central America and the Amazon. Investigation was limited to the vicinity of a single village (Los Limones). Information was drawn from interviews, questionnaires and ground reconnaissance, in addition to archival information and aerial photographs. Deforestation at Los Limones involved many of the same elements seen in mainland deforestation, including construction of access roads, spontaneous agricultural colonization, and pasture conversion, but it followed no single mainland model. Logging, not normally emphasized as a cause of Latin American deforestation, played an important role in opening up the forest to agricultural settlement. Pasture conversion was not a matter of aggregation of large ranches by wealthy absentee landowners, as in the Amazon, but apparently a local response to the economic and ecological advantages of cattle raising. Government actions strongly influenced deforestation, but not via colonization schemes or economic subsidies for cattle ranching; the rhythm of deforestation at Los Limones was tied to the monopolistic practices of the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and the social disorganization following his assassination. The national government in fact bears the primary responsibility for deforestation of Los Haitises, a conclusion that contradicts the government's own suggestion that the destruction was largely carried out by poor farmers. Prospects for rehabilitation of the deforested area are gloomy because of the extent of ecological damage and the continued adversarial relationship between the government and the rural population.
A social and environmental evaluation of fuel-efficient cook-stoves and conservation in Uganda
Authors: WALLMO KRISTY , JACOBSON SUSAN K.
Published: July 2002

A significant factor contributing to deforestation is the expanding human populations' increasing demands on forests and forest products. In many areas, rural households rely solely on fuelwood collected from the forest for their domestic energy supply. Fuel-saving stoves, or improved cook-stoves, have been introduced to reduce fuelwood consumption and thus alleviate deforestation, but there is frequently little or no formal monitoring and evaluation of programmes; their success as both a development and a resource-conservation tool is therefore undetermined. A programme was implemented in communities surrounding two national parks in western Uganda to compare domestic fuelwood consumption of an improved cook-stove and the traditional cooking fire, and assess the attitudes of stove users and non-users towards the improved stove and resource conservation. A kitchen performance test conducted in 100 households in Kiziba, Kahangi and Matayisa/Bundinyama parishes showed that fuelwood consumption did not differ significantly between improved and traditional stoves under actual field conditions. Household surveys showed that respondents in all three parishes had positive perceptions of the improved cook-stove. Perceived advantages of the improved stove included the ability to cook more than one item at once, fuelwood savings, quick cooking, and smoke/accident reduction. Many problems cited with the stove were technical, such as chimney malfunctions and pot-holes being too large or small to accommodate cooking pots. Cost of the stove was the primary reason for non-adoption. Improved-stove users were more concerned with forest conservation than were non-users. The need for monitoring and evaluation of improved-stove programmes is strongly indicated if they are to continue to be implemented as tools for resource conservation.
Impacts of aquaculture on the management of estuaries in India
Authors: BHATTA RAMACHANDRA , BHAT MAHADEV
Published: July 2002

The emergence of commercial aquaculture in estuaries along the coast of Karnataka, India, has resulted in the breakdown of traditional methods of resource management and adverse impacts on the coastal environment. Based on field survey, personal discussions and published literature, we analyzed the evolution of different market (economic), traditional, and regulatory institutions governing the use of estuarine resources in the study area over the last three decades, and identified the environmental and social impacts of this evolution. In the past, informal associations of farmers in the estuarine floodplains had managed lands for raising crops and brackish-water fish in a sustainable way. In recent years, under economic and political pressures, landowners leased their lands to commercial shrimp-producers. A rapid growth in the production of commercial shrimp, employment of unsustainable production technologies, and laxity in environmental regulation have caused negative ecological and economic impacts on communities dependent on estuarine resources. Through a recent order from the Indian Supreme Court, environmentalists and the affected communities have sought to ban commercial aquaculture in ecologically-sensitive areas. While this court order awaits implementation, several policy options are here suggested for local, state and central governments in India in order to protect the estuarine environment.
Vegetation change in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve (Lower Volga Delta, Russia) in relation to Caspian Sea level fluctuation
Authors: BALDINA E.A. , DE LEEUW J. , GORBUNOV A.K. , LABUTINA I.A. , ZHIVOGLIAD A.F. , KOOISTRA J.F.
Published: July 2002

During the twentieth century the level of the Caspian Sea dropped from -26 m (1930) to -29 m (1977) below global sea level and subsequently rose again to -26.66 m in 1996. We aimed to describe responses of the vegetation in the lower Volga Delta to these substantial sea-level changes using an analysis of historic vegetation maps produced by aerial photography and satellite imagery.

The sea level drop in the earlier part of the century was followed by rapid progression of the vegetation. The subsequent rapid sea-level rise in the 1980s did however not result in similarly rapid regression of the vegetation. This partial irreversibility of the vegetation response to sea-level change is explained by the wide flooding tolerance of the major emergent species, namely Phragmites australis. Floating vegetation increased in extent, most likely due to the increased availability of more favourable conditions, particularly for Nelumbo nucifera, a tropical plant reaching its northernmost distribution in the Volga Delta. This species increased in distribution from 3.5 ha in the 1930s throughout the entire Volga Delta to several thousands of hectares in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve alone in the 1980s. The reported sea-level changes swept the ecosystems in the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve back and forth within the Reserve boundaries. At longer time scales, ten-fold greater sea-level change has been reported. The ecosystems for which the Reserve is renowned might be pushed completely out of the Reserve under these conditions. We therefore question whether the current Reserve will be sufficiently large to guarantee conservation of the biota in the lower Volga Delta at longer time scales.
Project management and management of design: Teaching and
tools
Authors: LITTLE PATRICK
Published: July 2002

While there are many project management tools and
software packages available, these are not widely used
in the design curriculum at colleges and universities.
This may reflect some of the differences between conventional
projects and design activities. In particular, the open-ended
nature of design activities and the need to clarify the
client's intention may lead to the conclusion that
conventional project management tools are only useful for
the most routine activities in the design process. It is
suggested that there is a market for a new set of tools
for teaching the management of design. These tools should
incorporate the most useful of the current management tools
and integrate them with some of the requirements of effective
design, including support for clarification of objectives,
functional analysis, and generation and evaluation of alternatives.
Reality brings excitement to engineering education
Authors: LEIFER LARRY , SHEPPARD SHERI
Published: July 2002

The intellectual content and social activity of
engineering product development are a constant source of
surprise, excitement, and challenge for engineers. When
our students experience product-based-learning (PBL), they
experience this excitement (Brereton et al., 1995). They
also have fun and perform beyond the limits required for
simple grades. We, their teachers, experience these things
too. Why, then, are so few students and faculty getting
the PBL message? How, then, can we put the excitement back
in engineering education? In part, we think this is because
of three persistent mistakes in engineering education:

1. We focus on individual students.

2. We focus on engineering analysis versus communication
between engineers.

3. We fail to integrate thinking skills in engineering
science and engineering practice.
Conceptual modelling for configuration: A description logic-based
approach
Authors: McGUINNESS DEBORAH L. , WRIGHT JON R.
Published: July 2002

Representing objects and their interactions can
be quite challenging when an application requires many
complicated, interconnected objects that are restricted
in how they can be instantiated. In this paper, we present
our approach to conceptual modelling. We have used this
approach with success in a number of applications, the
largest of which is the PROSE family of configurators.
PROSE was first deployed in 1990 and has been used to configure
over 4 billion dollars worth of AT&T and Lucent telecommunications
equipment. We will discuss our approach to conceptual modelling,
which is based on knowledge representation, show how it
meets our representation and reasoning needs, and then
discuss the relative merits of the approach.2
The prevalence and clonal diversity of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in Kuwait
Authors: AHMED K. , MARTINEZ G. , WILSON S. , YOSHIDA R. , DHAR R. , MOKADDAS E. , KOHNO S. , ROTIMI V. O. , NAGATAKE T.
Published: July 2002

Penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae (PRSP) is widespread all over the world, including
countries previously free of PRSP. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence, the
common serotypes and the clonality of PRSP isolated over a period of 1 year, from various
clinical samples from three major hospitals in Kuwait. Strains were identified by standard
methods and their antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the agar dilution method. The
clonality of the isolates was determined by repetitive extragenic palindromic
sequence–polymerase chain reaction (REP–PCR) genomic profiling and pulsed field gel
electrophoresis (PFGE). Serotyping was done by Quellung reaction using specific antisera. We
found that 55% of the S. pneumoniae were resistant to penicillin (46% and 9% exhibited
intermediate and full resistance, respectively). Nearly 41% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, 9% to cefotaxime and ceftriaxone, 15% to amoxycillin-clavulanate, 17% to
cefuroxime, 77% to cefaclor, and 14% to clindamycin. The commonest serotypes among the
PRSPs were 6A, 6B, 14, 19F, 23F and nontypable. PFGE and REP–PCR patterns showed a
large diversity of genetic clones of the PRSP. Serotypes 6B, 14, 19F and 23F were more
clonally related than the others. Our data showed that the prevalence of PRSP was high, the
serotypes were diversified and different genetic clones make up the population of circulating
PRSP in Kuwait.
Investigation of an outbreak of ciprofloxacin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae using a simplified opa-typing method
Authors: PALMER H. M. , LEEMING J. P. , TURNER A.
Published: July 2002

Ciprofloxacin-resistant gonococci have been isolated from patients in the United Kingdom since 1993. Until recently, evidence has suggested that the majority of infections are not endemic but have been acquired abroad. In October 1999, increasing numbers of ciprofloxacin resistant isolates of the non-requiring auxotype were reported in Oldham and Rochdale (Northwest England). These and similar isolates from elsewhere in England and Wales were genetically characterized using a simplified opa-typing method (a non-radioactive PCR–RFLP method targeting the opa family of genes). Of 73 isolates studied, 24 had unique opa-types (10 from infections acquired abroad), whilst the remaining 49 were indistinguishable (none were known to be acquired abroad). This cluster included 31 isolates from Oldham and Rochdale, 16 from elsewhere in the north of England, and 2 from Southern England and South Wales with known epidemiological links to cases from Manchester and Rochdale respectively. This study illustrates the potential for spread of an antibiotic resistant clone of N. gonorrhoeae both locally and nationally and demonstrates that endemic acquisition of ciprofloxacin-resistant gonococci is now a significant problem in the United Kingdom.
A fifteen month study of Escherichia coli

O157:H7 in a dairy herd
Authors: MECHIE S. C. , CHAPMAN P. A. , SIDDONS C. A.
Published: July 2002

A dairy herd associated with Escherichia coli O157

infection in humans was studied for the 15 months following the

outbreak to examine seasonal, age and management factors affecting

faecal excretion of the organism and to determine the mode and

frequency of milk contamination with the organism. Between May 1993

and July 1994, 28 visits were made to the farm to collect a total of

3593 rectal swabs from cows, heifers and calves and 329 milk samples.

E. coli O157:H7 was isolated from 153 (4·3%)

of 3593 bovine rectal swabs. The maximum prevalence at any one visit

was 14% in lactating cows, 40% in non-lactating cows, 56% in calves

and 68% in heifers. The prevalence in lactating cows, which was

significantly lower than in the other groups, peaked during

May–July 1993 and again briefly after the cattle were housed

during November 1993 and then again during May 1994. Excretion rates

of E. coli O157:H7 in lactating cows were highest

during the first month after calving, falling during lactation and

rising to another peak at 7 months postpartum. Between November 1993

and May 1994 there was no evidence of excretion in any group.

Eighty-seven (74%) of the animals which excreted E. coli

O157:H7 did so on only one occasion but 23 (32%) of 73 cows

and heifers and 7 (16%) of 44 calves which excreted the organism did

so on more than one occasion. E. coli O157:H7 was not

isolated from milk taken from the bulk tank but it was isolated from

individual milk samples (one milk jar and one fore-milk) from two

animals previously shown to be faecal excretors of the organism. All

isolates of E. coli O157:H7 obtained were of the same

phage type, toxin genotype and plasmid profile.
Persistence of Escherichia coli O157[ratio ]H7 in dairy cattle
and

the dairy farm environment
Authors: RAHN K. , RENWICK S. A. , JOHNSON R. P. , WILSON J. B. , CLARKE R. C. , ALVES D. , McEWEN S. , LIOR H. , SPIKA J.
Published: July 2002

The persistence of Escherichia coli O157[ratio ]H7 in cattle

and the farm environment was

investigated on eight Ontario dairy farms positive for E. coli

O157[ratio ]H7 in a longitudinal study

commenced one year previously. Faecal samples from cows, calves, humans,

cats, rodents, wild

birds, a composite fly sample and numerous composite and individual

environmental samples

were cultured and tested for verotoxin-producing E. coli

(VTEC). VTEC isolates were

serotyped and E. coli O157[ratio ]H7 isolates were phage typed.

E. coli O157[ratio ]H7 phage type 34 was

isolated from one calf on each of two farms. The same phage type had

been isolated on one of

these farms 12 months earlier. Most E. coli O157[ratio ]H7-positive

animals and farms became

culture-negative within 2 and 3 months, respectively. E. coli
O157[ratio ]H7

was not isolated from

any environmental samples, although evidence of VTEC was found in

composite samples from

calf feeders (19·1%), calf barn surfaces (18%), cow feeders

(14·9%), flies (12·5%), cow barn

surfaces (11·3%), and individual milk filters (12·5%). VTEC
belonging

to 21 non-O157

serotypes were isolated from 24 cows (8·2%), 21 calves (18·3%),
2

cow feeder samples (3·0%),

and 1 calf feeder sample (4·8%). Shedding of E. coli O157[ratio ]H7

by infected dairy cattle appears

to be transient and persistence of E. coli O157[ratio ]H7 was

not demonstrated from the farm environment sites tested.
The 1993 dengue 2 epidemic in Charters Towers,
North Queensland: clinical features and public health impact
Authors: McBRIDE W. J. H. , MULLNER H. , LaBROOY J. T. , WRONSKI I.
Published: July 2002

In 1993 an epidemic caused by dengue virus type 2 occurred in several
North Queensland
population centres. Charters Towers, estimated population 10000, had 155
officially notified
cases. An analysis of symptoms was undertaken using a random sample of
1000 residents to
determine specificity of symptoms, the subclinical infection rate,
and to establish the true extent
of the epidemic. Retrospective diagnoses of dengue fever were based on
the presence of both
serum dengue 2 neutralizing antibody and presence of symptoms. An estimated
20% of the
population had dengue fever. The rate of subclinical infections in
this epidemic was 14·6%.
There were no symptoms that were specific for dengue fever. Bleeding occurred
more
frequently in people who recalled a previous dengue infection during a
dengue 1 epidemic 12
years earlier (55·6% vs. 16·8%, P=0·003).
Surveillance
for future epidemics should be based
on serological and virological confirmation of dengue virus infection amongst
symptomatic
patient.
Detection of viruses and body fluids which may contain
viruses in the domestic environment
Authors: BELLAMY K. , LABAN K. L. , BARRETT K. E. , TALBOT D. C. S.
Published: July 2002

The domestic environment was investigated for the presence of viruses
and body fluids that
may contain viruses. A range of surfaces in 39 homes (17 visited on 2 occasions)
were sampled
by swabbing and analysed using cell culture, reverse transcription polymerase
chain reaction
for enteroviral RNA, haemoglobin as a marker for blood, amylase as an indicator
of urine,
saliva and sweat, and protein as an indicator of general hygiene. Haemoglobin
was found on
1·9% of surfaces sampled and of the positive samples 30% were from
articles frequently
handled. Amylase (>5 U/l) was found in 29·3% of samples tested.
Protein was found in
97·8% of samples tested. Enteroviral RNA, indicating the presence
of virus, was detected in 3
out of 448 samples tested; they were from a tap handle, telephone handpiece
and a toilet bowl.
No viruses were isolated in cell culture, however significant problems
were encountered with
bacterial and fungal contamination. This work demonstrates that only testing
environmental
samples for bacteria and ATP may not give a total view of the microbiological
problem in the
home. A range of test methods is useful to gain a broad view of the problems
of hygiene in
the home and to allow comparative studies of specific areas such as the
kitchen and bathroom.