bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Judges, Juries, and the History of Criminal Appeals
Authors: Berger Benjamin L.
Published: February 2011

The three articles offered in this forum on the early history of criminal appeals do us the great service of adding much of interest on this important but neglected issue in the development of Anglo–North American criminal procedure. The opaqueness of the legal history of criminal appeals stands in stark contrast to their centrality and apparent naturalness in contemporary criminal justice systems in England, Canada, and the United States. These three papers look at the period leading up to and immediately following the creation of the first formalized system of what we might call criminal appeals, the establishment of the Court of Crown Cases Reserved (CCCR) in 1848. This key period in the development of the adversary criminal trial was marked by both a concerted political effort to codify and rationalize the criminal law and by profound structural changes in the management of criminal justice.
The Blind Passenger and the Assignment Problem
Authors: WÄSTLUND JOHAN
Published: February 2011

We introduce a discrete random process which we call the passenger model, and show that it is connected to a certain random model of the assignment problem and in particular to the so-called Buck–Chan–Robbins urn process. We propose a conjecture on the distribution of the location of the minimum cost assignment in a cost matrix with zeros at specified positions and remaining entries of exponential distribution. The conjecture is consistent with earlier results on the participation probability of an individual matrix entry. We also use the passenger model to verify a conjecture by V. Dotsenko on the assignment problem.
Estimating the number of segments for improving dialogue act labelling
Authors: TAMARIT VICENT , MARTÍNEZ-HINAREJOS CARLOS-D. , BENEDÍ JOSÉ-MIGUEL
Published: February 2011

In dialogue systems it is important to label the dialogue turns with dialogue-related meaning. Each turn is usually divided into segments and these segments are labelled with dialogue acts (DAs). A DA is a representation of the functional role of the segment. Each segment is labelled with one DA, representing its role in the ongoing discourse. The sequence of DAs given a dialogue turn is used by the dialogue manager to understand the turn. Probabilistic models that perform DA labelling can be used on segmented or unsegmented turns. The last option is more likely for a practical dialogue system, but it provides poorer results. In that case, a hypothesis for the number of segments can be provided to improve the results. We propose some methods to estimate the probability of the number of segments based on the transcription of the turn. The new labelling model includes the estimation of the probability of the number of segments in the turn. We tested this new approach with two different dialogue corpora:SwitchBoardandDihana. The results show that this inclusion significantly improves the labelling accuracy.
An analysis of US greenhouse gas cap-and-trade proposals using a forward-looking economic model
Authors: GURGEL ANGELO COSTA , PALTSEV SERGEY , REILLY JOHN , METCALF GILBERT
Published: February 2011

We develop a forward-looking version of the recursive dynamic MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, and apply it to examine the economic implications of proposals in the US Congress to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We find that shocks in the consumption path are smoothed out in the forward-looking model and that the lifetime welfare cost of GHG policy is lower than in the recursive model, since the forward-looking model can fully optimize over time. The forward-looking model allows us to explore issues for which it is uniquely well suited, including revenue-recycling and early action crediting. We find capital tax recycling to be more welfare-cost reducing than labor tax recycling because of its long-term effect on economic growth. Also, there are substantial incentives for early action credits; however, when spread over the full horizon of the policy they do not have a substantial effect on lifetime welfare costs.
Release of neurotransmitters from glia
Authors: Fields R. Douglas
Published: February 2011

There is no question about the fact that astrocytes and other glial cells release neurotransmitters that activate receptors on neurons, glia and vascular cells, and that calcium is an important second messenger regulating the release. This occurs in cell culture, tissue slice and in vivo. Negative results from informative experiments designed to test the mechanism of calcium-dependent neurotransmitter release from astrocytes and the ensuing effects on synaptic transmission, have been cited as evidence calling into question whether astrocytes release neurotransmitters under normal circumstances with effects on synaptic transmission. The special feature section in this issue of Neuron Glia Biology addresses these issues and other aspects of neurotransmitter release from astrocytes in communicating with neurons and glial cells. Together these studies suggest that application of vocabulary and concepts developed for synaptic communication between neurons can lead to confusion and apparent paradoxes with respect to communication by extracellular signaling molecules released from glia in response to functional activity.
Deconstructing the dominant discourse: Chang on institutions and development
Authors: WALLIS JOHN JOSEPH
Published: February 2011

This article provides comments on the article titled ‘Institutions and Economic Development: Theory, Policy and History’ by Ha-Joon Chang.
Iberian Margin sea surface temperature during MIS 15 to 9 (580–300 ka): Glacial suborbital variability versus interglacial stability
Authors: Rodrigues T. , Voelker A. H. L. , Grimalt J. O. , Abrantes F. , Naughton F.
Published: February 2011

Past sea surface water conditions of the western Iberian Margin were reconstructed based on biomarker analyses of a marine deep sea core MD03‐2699 from the Estremadura Spur north off Lisbon, providing new insights into orbital and suborbital‐scale climate variability between marine isotope stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 9 (580 to 300 ka). We use biomarker‐based proxy records such as the alkenone unsaturated index to estimate sea surface temperature (SST), the total alkenone concentration to reconstruct phytoplankton productivity, and terrestrial biomarkers to evaluate the continental input. The results extend the existing biomarker record, namely the SST for the Iberian Margin, back to the sixth climatic cycle (580 ka). A general trend of stable interglacials contrasts with glacial periods and glacial inceptions which are marked by high‐frequency variability. Thus, several short‐lived climatic coolings were identified by large SST decreases, the occurrence of ice‐rafted detritus and high percentages of the tetraunsaturated alkenone C37:4. Some of these events were extremely cold and similar in their general trends to the well‐known Heinrich events of the last glaciation. We identified eight Heinrich‐type events between 580 and 300 ka. The general deglaciation pattern detected between MIS 15 and MIS 9 is similar in their general trends to that characterizing the more recent climatic cycles, i.e., marked by two coolings separated by a short warming episode which may reflect the southward, northward, and southward migration of the Polar Front.
Evidence from the Florida Straits for Younger Dryas ocean circulation changes
Authors: Lynch‐Stieglitz Jean , Schmidt Matthew W. , Curry William B.
Published: February 2011

The waters passing through the Florida Straits today reflect both the western portion of the wind‐driven subtropical gyre and the northward flow of the upper waters which cross the equator, compensating North Atlantic Deep Water export as part of the large‐scale Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It has been postulated from various lines of evidence that the overturning circulation was weaker during the Younger Dryas cold event of the last deglaciation. We show here that the contrast in the oxygen isotopic composition of benthic foraminiferal tests across the Florida Current is reduced during the Younger Dryas. This most likely reflects a decrease in the density gradient across the channel and a decrease in the vertical shear of the Florida Current. This reduced shear is consistent with the postulated reduction in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. We find that the onset of this change in density structure and flow at the start of the Younger Dryas is very abrupt, occurring in less than 70 years.
How well do mean breakthrough curves predict mixing‐controlled reactive transport?
Authors: Luo Jian , Cirpka Olaf A.
Published: February 2011

Macroscopic transport models calibrated by flux‐averaged breakthrough curves of conservative compounds do not necessarily characterize mixing well because such breakthrough curves do not provide information on fluctuations of concentration within the solute flux, which may influence mean reaction rates. We numerically examine the validity of macroscopic transport models, which are capable of describing all details of flux‐averaged breakthrough curves, for predicting a mixing‐controlled bimolecular precipitation reaction in heterogeneous media. We consider a homogeneous, isotropic medium with an elliptical, low‐permeability inclusion and random heterogeneous fields. For the single‐inclusion case, slow advection through the inclusion results in a multimodal breakthrough curve with enhanced tailing. We vary the hydraulic conductivity contrast and Peclet number to investigate the performance of a “perfect” macroscopic transport model for predicting the total precipitated mass within the domain and the peak concentration difference between the conservative and reactive cases at the outflow boundary. The results indicate that such a model may perform well in media with either very small or very high permeability contrast or at low Peclet number. In the high‐contrast case, most flow takes place in preferential flow paths, resulting in a small variance of the flux‐weighted concentration, even though the offset in the breakthrough between the slow and fast travel paths is substantial. Maximum relative errors in terms of total precipitated mass and the peak concentration difference between the conservative and reactive cases occur at intermediate permeability contrasts and large Peclet numbers. Numerical simulations on random heterogeneous fields confirm the finding of the single‐inclusion case. Thus, in cases with intermediate hydraulic conductivity contrast, making macroscopic models fit flux‐averaged concentration breakthrough curves better may not improve the prediction of mixing‐controlled reactive transport, and it becomes necessary to quantify and account for the variability of conservative concentrations in the flux in order to formulate an appropriate macroscopic transport model that predicts mixing‐controlled reactive transport.
Direction of unsaturated flow in a homogeneous and isotropic hillslope
Authors: Lu Ning , Kaya Basak Sener , Godt Jonathan W.
Published: February 2011

The distribution of soil moisture in a homogeneous and isotropic hillslope is a transient, variably saturated physical process controlled by rainfall characteristics, hillslope geometry, and the hydrological properties of the hillslope materials. The major driving mechanisms for moisture movement are gravity and gradients in matric potential. The latter is solely controlled by gradients of moisture content. In a homogeneous and isotropic saturated hillslope, absent a gradient in moisture content and under the driving force of gravity with a constant pressure boundary at the slope surface, flow is always in the lateral downslope direction, under either transient or steady state conditions. However, under variably saturated conditions, both gravity and moisture content gradients drive fluid motion, leading to complex flow patterns. In general, the flow field near the ground surface is variably saturated and transient, and the direction of flow could be laterally downslope, laterally upslope, or vertically downward. Previous work has suggested that prevailing rainfall conditions are sufficient to completely control these flow regimes. This work, however, shows that under time‐varying rainfall conditions, vertical, downslope, and upslope lateral flow can concurrently occur at different depths and locations within the hillslope. More importantly, we show that the state of wetting or drying in a hillslope defines the temporal and spatial regimes of flow and when and where laterally downslope and/or laterally upslope flow occurs.
Structural Holes and New Dimensions of Distance: The Spatial Configuration of the Scientific Knowledge Network of China's Optical Technology Sector
Authors: Liefner Ingo , Hennemann Stefan
Published: February 2011

This paper analyses the spatial configurations of knowledge networks and their overlap with spatial concentrations, such as urban agglomerations. It proposes a typology of spatial concentrations in knowledge networks, and uses data from academic coauthorships in the field of optical technology and complex network analysis to show how China's regions and research organisations are located in national and international knowledge exchanges. This spatial representation and analysis of a large-scale knowledge network provide an enhanced view of the quality of network structures. Access to different pools of knowledge is unevenly distributed, allowing some regions to combine knowledge and create learning opportunities that do not stem from a spatial concentration of activity in science, but rather from their positions in the network.
Being in‐between: The relevance of ethnography and auto‐ethnography for psychotherapy research
Authors: Siddique Salma
Published: February 2011

Aims: This paper proposes that ethnography and auto‐ethnography can make important contributions to counselling and psychotherapy research. Auto‐ethnography is a recent methodological approach that focuses on the subjective experiences of the researcher. It is informed by anthropology, which encourages the researcher to journey alongside the persons being observed and to make meaning of complex symbolic systems in their lives. Method: Examples from a study of therapeutic processes in a mental health setting for women are examined. Discussion: If auto‐ethnography situates the researcher with the insider's perspective and ethnography is from the outsider's perspective, the researcher is caught ‘in‐between’ these two approaches. Acknowledging the concept of ‘in‐between‐ness’ can both cause discomfort and transform the experience of all who engage in the process and enhance the quality of the research.
Self‐help strategies to reduce emotional distress: What do people do and why? A qualitative study
Authors: Marley Elizabeth
Published: February 2011

Background: Some people with psychological distress do not seek professional help but opt instead for self‐help strategies to reduce their symptoms. Little is known about these strategies. Aim: To investigate which self‐help approaches might be employed to reduce the effects of emotional distress, and the reasons for these choices. Method: Semi‐structured interviews with 11 clerical employees generated data analysed using grounded theory. Findings: Managing distress is a complex and multi‐dimensional process unique to each individual. The use of self‐help options is determined by the interconnection between the person's core beliefs, their social networks, and ideas about coping. Such beliefs may hinder help‐seeking. People tend to engage in activities that are familiar to them already, rather than attempt new ones. The purpose of self‐help strategies is to distract the person from their problems and to contribute to physical and mental well‐being. Implications for practice are discussed.
Analysis of fully-mixed finite element methods for the Stokes-Darcy coupled problem
Authors: Gatica Gabriel , Oyarzúa Ricardo , Sayas Francisco-Javier
Published: February 2011

In this paper we analyze fully-mixed finite element methods for the coupling of fluid flow with porous media flow in 2D. Flows are governed by the Stokes and Darcy equations, respectively, and the corresponding transmission conditions are given by mass conservation, balance of normal forces, and the Beavers-Joseph-Saffman law. The fully-mixed concept employed here refers to the fact that we consider dual-mixed formulations in both media, which means that the main unknowns are given by the pseudostress and the velocity in the fluid, together with the velocity and the pressure in the porous medium. In addition, the transmission conditions become essential, which leads to the introduction of the traces of the porous media pressure and the fluid velocity as the associated Lagrange multipliers. We apply the Fredholm and Babuška-Brezzi theories to derive sufficient conditions for the unique solvability of the resulting continuous and discrete formulations. In particular, we show that the existence of uniformly bounded discrete liftings of the normal traces simplifies the derivation of the corresponding stability estimates. A feasible choice of subspaces is given by Raviart-Thomas elements of lowest order and piecewise constants for the velocities and pressures, respectively, in both domains, together with continuous piecewise linear elements for the Lagrange multipliers. Finally, several numerical results illustrating the good performance of the method with these discrete spaces, and confirming the theoretical rate of convergence, are provided.
Extreme events in solutions of hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic climate models
Authors: Gibbon J. D. , Holm D. D.
Published: February 2011

Initially, this paper reviews the mathematical issues surrounding hydrostatic primitive equations (HPEs) and non-hydrostatic primitive equations (NPEs) that have been used extensively in numerical weather prediction and climate modelling. A new impetus has been provided by a recent proof of the existence and uniqueness of solutions of viscous HPEs on a cylinder with Neumann-like boundary conditions on the top and bottom. In contrast, the regularity of solutions of NPEs remains an open question. With this HPE regularity result in mind, the second issue examined in this paper is whether extreme events are allowed to arise spontaneously in their solutions. Such events could include, for example, the sudden appearance and disappearance of locally intense fronts that do not involve deep convection. Analytical methods are used to show that for viscous HPEs, the creation of small-scale structures is allowed locally in space and time at sizes that scale inversely with the Reynolds number.
A short proof of the Buchstaber–Rees theorem
Authors: Khudaverdian H. M. , Voronov Th. Th.
Published: February 2011

We give a short proof of the Buchstaber–Rees theorem concerning symmetric powers. The proof is based on the notion of a formal characteristic function of a linear map of algebras.
Mutation-periodic quivers, integrable maps and associated Poisson algebras
Authors: Fordy Allan P.
Published: February 2011

We consider a class of map, recently derived in the context of cluster mutation. In this paper, we start with a brief review of the quiver context, but then move onto a discussion of a related Poisson bracket, along with the Poisson algebra of a special family of functions associated with these maps. A bi-Hamiltonian structure is derived and used to construct a sequence of Poisson-commuting functions and hence show complete integrability. Canonical coordinates are derived, with the map now being a canonical transformation with a sequence of commuting invariant functions. Compatibility of a pair of these functions gives rise to Liouville’s equation and the map plays the role of a Bäcklund transformation.
The fascinating world of the Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation: an overview
Authors: Lakshmanan M.
Published: February 2011

The Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert (LLG) equation is a fascinating nonlinear evolution equation both from mathematical and physical points of view. It is related to the dynamics of several important physical systems such as ferromagnets, vortex filaments, moving space curves, etc. and has intimate connections with many of the well-known integrable soliton equations, including nonlinear Schrödinger and sine-Gordon equations. It can admit very many dynamical structures including spin waves, elliptic function waves, solitons, dromions, vortices, spatio-temporal patterns, chaos, etc. depending on the physical and spin dimensions and the nature of interactions. An exciting recent development is that the spin torque effect in nanoferromagnets is described by a generalization of the LLG equation that forms a basic dynamical equation in the field of spintronics. This article will briefly review these developments as a tribute to Robin Bullough who was a great admirer of the LLG equation.
Correlation functions for a strongly coupled boson system and plane partitions
Authors: Bogoliubov Nikolay , Timonen Jussi
Published: February 2011

A quantum phase model is introduced as a limit for very strong interactions of a strongly correlatedq-boson hopping model. The exact solution of the phase model is reviewed, and solutions are also provided for two correlation functions of the model. Explicit expressions, including both amplitude and scaling exponent, are derived for these correlation functions in the low temperature limit. The amplitudes were found to be related to the number of plane partitions contained in boxes of finite size.
Nonlinear theory of slow light
Authors: Rybin Andrei , Timonen Jussi
Published: February 2011

In the framework of the nonlinear
Λ
model, propagation of solitons was analysed in atomic vapours and Bose–Einstein condensates. The complicated nonlinear interplay between fast and slow-light solitons in a
Λ
-type medium was shown to facilitate control of its optical transparency and formation of optical gates. An exact analytical description was given for the deceleration, stopping and revival of slow-light solitons in the experimentally relevant non-adiabatic regime. A stopping slow-light soliton imprints a localized immobile polarization pattern in the medium, which, as explicitly demonstrated here, can be used as a bit of readable optical memory. The whole process can be controlled with the background field and an auxiliary laser field. The latter regulates the signal velocity, while the slow-light soliton can be stopped by switching off the former. The location and shape of the imprinted memory bit were also determined. With few assumptions characteristic of slow light, the
Λ
model was reduced to a simpler nonlinear model that also describes two-dimensional dilatonic gravity. Exact solutions could now be derived also in the presence of relaxation. Spontaneous decay of the upper atomic level was found to be strongly suppressed, and the spatial form of the decelerating slow-light soliton was preserved, even if the optical relaxation time was much shorter than the typical time scale of the soliton. The effective relaxation coefficient of the slow-light soliton was significantly smaller than that of an arbitrary optical pulse. Such features are obviously of great importance when this kind of system is applied, in practice, to information processing. A number of experimentally observable properties of the solutions reported were found to be in good agreement with recent experimental results, and a few suggestions are also made for future experiments.
Non-relativistic and relativistic scattering by short-range potentials
Authors: Arnbak H. , Christiansen P. L. , Gaididei Yu. B.
Published: February 2011

Relativistic and non-relativistic scattering by short-range potentials is investigated for selected problems. Scattering by the
δ
′ potential in the Schrödinger equation and
δ
potentials in the Dirac equation must be solved by regularization, efficiently carried out by a perturbation technique involving a stretched variable. Asymmetric regularizations yield non-unique scattering coefficients. Resonant penetration through the potentials is found. Approximative Schrödinger equations in the non-relativistic limit are discussed in detail.
Memories of Hirota’s method: application to the reduced Maxwell–Bloch system in the early 1970s
Authors: Caudrey P. J.
Published: February 2011

Who remembers ‘Hirota’s method’? In the early days of solitons, although the Korteweg–de Vries equation had been solved by the ‘inverse scattering method’ most solutions to integrable non-linear equations were found by simpler more direct methods. Outstanding among these was a method due mainly to Hirota, which involved casting the equation into a ‘bilinear form’ and then applying intelligent guesswork. In this paper, I shall take a journey down memory lane, looking again at this method.
Evolution of culture-dependent discriminate sociality: a gene–culture coevolutionary model
Authors: Ihara Yasuo
Published: February 2011

Animals behave cooperatively towards certain conspecifics while being indifferent or even hostile to others. The distinction is made primarily according to kinship as predicted by the kin selection theory. With regards to humans, however, this is not always the case; in particular, humans sometimes exhibit a discriminate sociality on the basis of culturally transmitted traits, such as personal ornaments, languages, rituals, etc. This paper explores the possibility that the human faculty of cultural transmission and resultant cultural variation among individuals may have facilitated the evolution of discriminate sociality in humans. To this end, a gene–culture coevolutionary model is developed focusing on competition over control of resource as a context in which discriminate sociality may have evolved. Specifically, two types of culture-dependent discriminate sociality are considered: ingroup favouritism, with ingroup and outgroup being distinguished by the presence or absence of a cultural trait; and prestige hierarchies, with the prestige being conferred on the bearer of a cultural trait. The model specifies the conditions under which emergence and evolutionary stability of the two types of discriminate sociality are promoted by the presence of cultural variation among individuals.
Runaway cultural niche construction
Authors: Rendell Luke , Fogarty Laurel , Laland Kevin N.
Published: February 2011

Cultural niche construction is a uniquely potent source of selection on human populations, and a major cause of recent human evolution. Previous theoretical analyses have not, however, explored the local effects of cultural niche construction. Here, we use spatially explicit coevolutionary models to investigate how cultural processes could drive selection on human genes by modifying local resources. We show that cultural learning, expressed in local niche construction, can trigger a process with dynamics that resemble runaway sexual selection. Under a broad range of conditions, cultural niche-constructing practices generate selection for gene-based traits and hitchhike to fixation through the build up of statistical associations between practice and trait. This process can occur even when the cultural practice is costly, or is subject to counteracting transmission biases, or the genetic trait is selected against. Under some conditions a secondary hitchhiking occurs, through which genetic variants that enhance the capability for cultural learning are also favoured by similar dynamics. We suggest that runaway cultural niche construction could have played an important role in human evolution, helping to explain why humans are simultaneously the species with the largest relative brain size, the most potent capacity for niche construction and the greatest reliance on culture.
Adaptation and niche construction in human prehistory: a case study from the southern Scandinavian Late Glacial
Authors: Riede Felix
Published: February 2011

The niche construction model postulates that human bio-social evolution is composed of three inheritance domains, genetic, cultural and ecological, linked by feedback selection. This paper argues that many kinds of archaeological data can serve as proxies for human niche construction processes, and presents a method for investigating specific niche construction hypotheses. To illustrate this method, the repeated emergence of specialized reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) hunting/herding economies during the Late Palaeolithic (ca14.7–11.5 kyr BP) in southern Scandinavia is analysed from a niche construction/triple-inheritance perspective. This economic relationship resulted in the eventual domestication ofRangifer. The hypothesis of whether domestication was achieved as early as the Late Palaeolithic, and whether this required the use of domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) as hunting, herding or transport aids, is tested via a comparative analysis using material culture-based phylogenies and ecological datasets in relation to demographic/genetic proxies. Only weak evidence for sustained niche construction behaviours by prehistoric hunter–gatherer in southern Scandinavia is found, but this study nonetheless provides interesting insights into the likely processes of dog and reindeer domestication, and into processes of adaptation in Late Glacial foragers.
Evolution of lactase persistence: an example of human niche construction
Authors: Gerbault Pascale , Liebert Anke , Itan Yuval , Powell Adam , Currat Mathias , Burger Joachim , Swallow Dallas M. , Thomas Mark G.
Published: February 2011

Niche construction is the process by which organisms construct important components of their local environment in ways that introduce novel selection pressures. Lactase persistence is one of the clearest examples of niche construction in humans. Lactase is the enzyme responsible for the digestion of the milk sugar lactose and its production decreases after the weaning phase in most mammals, including most humans. Some humans, however, continue to produce lactase throughout adulthood, a trait known as lactase persistence. In European populations, a single mutation (−13910*T) explains the distribution of the phenotype, whereas several mutations are associated with it in Africa and the Middle East. Current estimates for the age of lactase persistence-associated alleles bracket those for the origins of animal domestication and the culturally transmitted practice of dairying. We report new data on the distribution of−13910*Tand summarize genetic studies on the diversity of lactase persistence worldwide. We review relevant archaeological data and describe three simulation studies that have shed light on the evolution of this trait in Europe. These studies illustrate how genetic and archaeological information can be integrated to bring new insights to the origins and spread of lactase persistence. Finally, we discuss possible improvements to these models.
From hominins to humans: howsapiensbecame behaviourally modern
Authors: Sterelny Kim
Published: February 2011

This paper contributes to a debate in the palaeoarchaeological community about the major time-lag between the origin of anatomically modern humans and the appearance of typically human cultural behaviour. Why did humans take so long—at least 100 000 years—to become ‘behaviourally modern’? The transition is often explained as a change in the intrinsic cognitive competence of modern humans: often in terms of a new capacity for symbolic thought, or the final perfection of language. These cognitive breakthrough models are not satisfactory, for they fail to explain the uneven palaeoanthropological record of human competence. Many supposed signature capacities appear (and then disappear) before the supposed cognitive breakthrough; many of the signature capacities disappear again after the breakthrough. So, instead of seeing behavioural modernity as a simple reflection of a new kind of mind, this paper presents a niche construction conceptual model of behavioural modernity. Humans became behaviourally modern when they could reliably transmit accumulated informational capital to the next generation, and transmit it with sufficient precision for innovations to be preserved and accumulated. In turn, the reliable accumulation of culture depends on the construction of learning environments, not just intrinsic cognitive machinery. I argue that the model is (i) evolutionarily plausible: the elements of the model can be assembled incrementally, without implausible selective scenarios; (ii) the model coheres with the broad palaeoarchaeological record; (iii) the model is anthropologically and ethnographically plausible; and (iv) the model is testable, though only in coarse, preliminary ways.
The influence of social niche on cultural niche construction: modelling changes in belief about marriage form in Taiwan
Authors: Lipatov Mikhail , Brown Melissa J. , Feldman Marcus W.
Published: February 2011

With introduction of social niche effects into a model of cultural change, the frequency of a practice cannot predict the frequency of its underlying belief. The combination of a general model with empirical data from a specific case illustrates the importance of collaboration between modellers and field researchers, and identifies the type of quantitative data necessary for analysing case studies. Demographic data from colonial-period household registers in Taiwan document a shift in marriage form within 40 years, from a mixture of uxorilocal marriages and virilocal marriages to the latter's dominance. Ethnographic data indicate marriage-related beliefs, costs, ethnic effects and colonial policies as well as the importance of horizontal cultural transmission. We present a formal model for the effects of moral beliefs about marriage and a population economic index on the decline of uxorilocal marriage. We integrate empirical marriage rates and an estimated economic index to produce five projections of the historical frequencies of one belief. These projections demonstrate how economic development may affect a cultural niche. They also indicate the need for future research on the relationship between wealth and cultural variability, the motivational force of cultural versus social factors, and the process of cultural niche construction.
Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus
Authors: Kendal Jeremy , Tehrani Jamshid J. , Odling-Smee John
Published: February 2011

Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by addingecological inheritance, comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene–culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.
Foraging and farming as niche construction: stable and unstable adaptations
Authors: Rowley-Conwy Peter , Layton Robert
Published: February 2011

All forager (or hunter–gatherer) societies construct niches, many of them actively by the concentration of wild plants into useful stands, small-scale cultivation, burning of natural vegetation to encourage useful species, and various forms of hunting, collectively termed ‘low-level food production’. Many such niches are stable and can continue indefinitely, because forager populations are usually stable. Some are unstable, but these usually transform into other foraging niches, not geographically expansive farming niches. The Epipalaeolithic (final hunter–gatherer) niche in the Near East was complex but stable, with a relatively high population density, until destabilized by an abrupt climatic change. The niche was unintentionally transformed into an agricultural one, due to chance genetic and behavioural attributes of some wild plant and animal species. The agricultural niche could be exported with modifications over much of the Old World. This was driven by massive population increase and had huge impacts on local people, animals and plants wherever the farming niche was carried. Farming niches in some areas may temporarily come close to stability, but the history of the last 11 000 years does not suggest that agriculture is an effective strategy for achieving demographic and political stability in the world's farming populations.
Niche construction on Bali: the gods of the countryside
Authors: Lansing J. Stephen , Fox Karyn M.
Published: February 2011

Human niche construction encompasses both purely biological phenomena, such as the evolution of lactose tolerance, and dual inheritance theory, which investigates the transmission of cultural information. But does niche construction help to explain phenomena in which conscious intention also plays a role? The creation of the engineered landscape of Balinese rice terraces offers a test case. Population genetic analysis and archaeological evidence are used to investigate whether this phenomenon emerged historically from trial and error by generations of farmers, or alternatively was designed by Bali's rulers. In light of strong support for the former hypothesis, two models are developed to explore the emergence of functional structure at both local and global scales. As time goes forward and selected patterns of irrigation schedules are implemented, local variation in rice harvests influences future decisions by the farmers, creating a coupled human–natural system governed by feedback from the environment. This mathematical analysis received a measure of empirical support when government agricultural policies severed the local feedback channels, resulting in the almost instantaneous collapse of rice harvests. The historical process of niche construction may also have included an evolution of religious consciousness, reflected in the beliefs and practices of the water temple cult.
Property and wealth inequality as cultural niche construction
Authors: Shennan Stephen
Published: February 2011

In contrast to other approaches, evolutionary perspectives on understanding the power and wealth inequalities in human societies view wealth and power not as ends in themselves but as proximate goals that contribute to the ultimate Darwinian goal of achieving reproductive success. The most successful means of achieving it in specific times and places depend on local conditions and these have changed in the course of human history, to such an extent that strategies focused on the maintenance and increase of wealth can even be more successful in reproductive terms than strategies directed at maximizing reproductive success in the short term. This paper argues that a major factor leading to such changes is a shift in the nature of inter-generational wealth transfers from relatively intangible to material property resources and the opportunities these provided for massively increased inequality. This shift can be seen as a process of niche construction related to the increasing importance of fixed and defensible resources in many societies after the end of the last Ice Age. It is suggested that, despite problems of inference, the evidence of the archaeological record can be used to throw light on these processes in specific places and times.
Gene–culture coevolution and the nature of human sociality
Authors: Gintis Herbert
Published: February 2011

Human characteristics are the product of gene–culture coevolution, which is an evolutionary dynamic involving the interaction of genes and culture over long time periods. Gene–culture coevolution is a special case of niche construction. Gene–culture coevolution is responsible for human other-regarding preferences, a taste for fairness, the capacity to empathize and salience of morality and character virtues.
Can food be addictive? Public health and policy implications
Authors: Gearhardt Ashley N. , Grilo Carlos M. , DiLeone Ralph J. , Brownell Kelly D. , Potenza Marc N.
Published: February 2011

Aims  Data suggest that hyperpalatable foods may be capable of triggering an addictive process. Although the addictive potential of foods continues to be debated, important lessons learned in reducing the health and economic consequences of drug addiction may be especially useful in combating food‐related problems.

Methods  In the current paper, we review the potential application of policy and public health approaches that have been effective in reducing the impact of addictive substances to food‐related problems.

Results  Corporate responsibility, public health approaches, environmental change and global efforts all warrant strong consideration in reducing obesity and diet‐related disease.

Conclusions  Although there exist important differences between foods and addictive drugs, ignoring analogous neural and behavioral effects of foods and drugs of abuse may result in increased food‐related disease and associated social and economic burdens. Public health interventions that have been effective in reducing the impact of addictive drugs may have a role in targeting obesity and related diseases.
Pill content, dose and resulting plasma concentrations of 3,4‐methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in recreational ‘ecstasy’ users
Authors: Morefield Kate M. , Keane Michael , Felgate Peter , White Jason M. , Irvine Rodney J.
Published: February 2011

Aims  To improve our understanding of the pharmacology of ‘ecstasy’ in recreational environments; in particular, to describe the composition of ecstasy pills, patterns of ecstasy use and the relationship between dose of 3,4‐methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and resulting plasma concentrations.

Design, setting and participants  A naturalistic observational study of 56 experienced ‘ecstasy’ users in recreational settings in Australia.

Measurements  Drug use patterns (number of pills consumed, other drugs consumed). drug content of pills and resultant plasma concentrations of MDMA and related drugs were assessed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

Findings  Ecstasy pills generally contained MDMA, but this was often combined with other drugs such as 3,4‐methylendioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) and methamphetamine. The dose of MDMA per pill ranged from 0 to 245 mg and users consumed from one‐half to five pills, with the total dose consumed ranging up to 280 mg. Plasma concentrations of MDMA increased with number of pills consumed and cumulative MDMA dose. Use of larger numbers of pills was associated with extended exposure to the drug.

Conclusions  MDMA is the major active drug in ecstasy pills, but there is a high degree of variation in doses. Use of multiple pills over the course of one session is common and results in a sustained increase in MDMA plasma concentrations over a number of hours. This is likely to lead to a much greater exposure of the brain to MDMA than would be predicted from controlled single‐dose pharmacokinetic studies.
Employment‐based reinforcement of adherence to depot naltrexone in unemployed opioid‐dependent adults: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Everly Jeffrey J. , DeFulio Anthony , Koffarnus Mikhail N. , Leoutsakos Jeannie‐Marie S. , Donlin Wendy D. , Aklin Will M. , Umbricht Annie , Fingerhood Michael , Bigelow George E. , Silverman Kenneth
Published: February 2011

Aims  Naltrexone can be used to treat opioid dependence, but patients refuse to take it. Extended‐release depot formulations may improve adherence, but long‐term adherence rates to depot naltrexone are not known. This study determined long‐term rates of adherence to depot naltrexone and whether employment‐based reinforcement can improve adherence.

Design  Participants who were inducted onto oral naltrexone were assigned randomly to contingency (n = 18) or prescription (n = 17) groups. Participants were offered six depot naltrexone injections and invited to work at the therapeutic workplace on week days for 26 weeks, where they earned stipends for participating in job skills training. Contingency participants were required to accept naltrexone injections to maintain workplace access and to maintain maximum pay. Prescription participants could work independently of whether they accepted injections.

Setting  The therapeutic workplace, a model employment‐based intervention for drug addiction and unemployment.

Participants  Opioid‐dependent unemployed adults.

Measurements  Depot naltrexone injections accepted and opiate‐negative urine samples.

Findings  Contingency participants accepted significantly more naltrexone injections than prescription participants (81% versus 42%), and were more likely to accept all injections (66% versus 35%). At monthly assessments (with missing urine samples imputed as positive), the groups provided similar percentages of samples negative for opiates (74% versus 62%) and for cocaine (56% versus 54%). Opiate‐positive samples were more likely when samples were also positive for cocaine.

Conclusions  Employment‐based reinforcement can maintain adherence to depot naltrexone. Future research should determine whether persistent cocaine use compromises naltrexone's effect on opiate use. Workplaces may be useful for promoting sustained adherence to depot naltrexone.
Deviant socialization mediates transmissible and contextual risk on cannabis use disorder development: a prospective study
Authors: Tarter Ralph E. , Fishbein Diana , Kirisci Levent , Mezzich Ada , Ridenour Ty , Vanyukov Michael
Published: February 2011

Aims  This study examined the contribution of transmissible risk, in conjunction with family and peer contextual factors during childhood and adolescence, on the development of cannabis use disorder in adulthood.

Design  The family high‐risk design was used to recruit proband fathers with and without substance use disorder and track their sons longitudinally from late childhood to adulthood.

Setting  The families were recruited under the aegis of the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Participants  The oldest son in the family was studied at ages 10–12, 16, 19 and 22 years.

Measurements  The transmissible liability index (TLI), along with measures of quality of the parent–child relationship, cooperative behavior at home, social attitudes and peer milieu were administered to model the developmental pathway to cannabis use disorder.

Findings  Affiliation with socially deviant peers and harboring non‐normative attitudes (age 16) mediate the association between transmissible risk for substance use disorder (SUD) (age 10–12) and use of illegal drugs (age 19), leading to cannabis use disorder (age 22).

Conclusions  Deviant socialization resulting from transmissible risk and poor parent–child relationship is integral to development of cannabis use disorder in young adulthood.