bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Which ties matter when? the contingent effects of interorganizational partnerships on IPO success
Authors: Gulati Ranjay , Higgins Monica C.
Published: December 2002

This paper investigates the contingent value of interorganizational relationships at the time of a young firm's initial public offering (IPO). We compare the signaling value to young firms of having ties with two types of interorganizational partnerships: endorsement relationships such as those with venture capital firms and investment banks, and strategic alliance partnerships. We propose that, under different equity market conditions, potential investors in an issuing firm attend to different types of uncertainty; attention to these different types of uncertainty affects investors' perceptions of the relative value of a young firm's different kinds of endorsements and partnerships and, hence, IPO success. Results from a sample of young biotechnology firms show that ties to prominent venture capital firms are particularly beneficial to IPO success during cold markets, while ties to prominent investment banks are particularly beneficial to IPO success during hot markets; a firm's strategic alliances with major pharmaceutical/health care firms did not have such contingent effects. Implications for understanding the contingent value of interorganizational ties are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Thin Film Filters for Telecom Applications
Authors: Treichel Oliver
Published: December 2002

Market forces are pushing the performance of optics to their limits. Optical components must be developed to provide the best possible combination of manufacturability, performance and price. One vital step to success in creating WDM optics lies in a discipline that is often overlooked or misunderstood – coating engineering.

A key technology for controlling light in WDM systems is the optical filter, which performs functions from simple filtering in multiplexers and demultiplexers, to more sophisticated functions in optical amplifiers, modulators and test equipment.

The basic tool of multiplexing and demultiplexing devices, thin film filters offer accurate center wavelength, broad flattop passband and high isolation from adjacent and nonadjacent channels. Thin film filters are widely used for gain flattening, band splitting, C and L band separation and combining amplifier‐pump beams.

Choosing the right thin‐film‐deposition process is essential for the efficiency and productivity of vacuum coating systems. LEYBOLD OPTICS has developed and optimized a comprehensive range of vacuum coating processes and process tools.

LEYBOLD OPTICS has been proven the ability of producing shift‐free coatings on large substrate areas by means of PIAD (Plasma Ion Assisted Deposition) in many applications over the past ten years. The low loss and stress values achieved, especially with silica and tantala films, allows besides the production of narrow band pass filters (DWDM, CWDM) also the production of gain flattening filters (GFF).

PIAD is considerably improving the properties of evaporated thin films by high energy ion bombardment during the growing of the film. PIAD allows to produce dense shift free thin films with high refractive index, good adhesion and extremely low absorption. With the Advanced Plasma Source (APS) LEYBOLD OPTICS has developed a high power plasma source for PIAD. The APS provides high ion current densities over a large surface area in a neutral plasma to produce high quality layers at a high productivity.
The need for carrying out training activities from the point of view of the large‐scale enterprises in the surface technology industry
Authors: Novello‐von Bescherer Wiebecke , Dietz Thomas
Published: December 2002

Zukunftorientierte Qualitätsproduktion in der Oberflächentechnik umfasst mehr als die exakte Erfüllung der Kundenanforderungen. In den externen Kunden‐Lieferanten‐Beziehungen sind die Mitarbeiter großer Unternehmen zunehmend als Berater ihrer Kunden gefragt, die sich mit ihrem Know‐how bereits an der Produktentwicklung beim Kunden beteiligen, um optimale Bedingungen der Oberflächenbehandlung zu gewährleisten. Damit wächst auch bei den technologischen Fach‐ und Führungskräften die Bedeutung der sozialen und methodischen Kompetenzen.

Entsprechend qualifiziertes Personal ist auf dem Arbeitsmarkt jedoch kaum zu finden. Die auf die Erbringung oberflächentechnologischer Dienstleistungen spezialisierten Unternehmen können dort selbst ihren Bedarf an rein fachlichem Know‐how nicht annähernd decken. Die Konsequenz: “Wir müssen uns die Leute selber heranziehen”. Von den Betrieben initiierte Weiterbildungsaktivitäten nehmen an Bedeutung zu, parallel wird zunehmend in Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Imagewerbung investiert.

Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine Untersuchung, die den Weiterbildungsbedarf der Großindustrie anhand von vier Fallstudien aus dem Maschinenbau, der Chemie, der Stahl‐ und Automobilindustrie charakterisiert. Die Analyse dieser Fallstudien wird durch die postalische Befragung von 28 weiteren Großunternehmen ergänzt und abgerundet.

Die Untersuchung wurde vom Institut für Wissenstransfer an der Universität Bremen (IfW) erstellt und ist Bestandteil des Projekts “Wissenstransfer Oberflächentechnik”, das im Auftrag des Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung vom VDI‐Technologiezentrum durchgeführt wird.
Property in Writing, Property on the Ground: Pigs, Horses, Land, and Citizenship in the Aftermath of Slavery, Cuba, 1880–1909
Authors: Scott Rebecca J. , Zeuske Michael
Published: December 2002

In the most literal sense, the abolition of slavery marks the moment when one human being cannot be held as property by another human being, for it ends the juridical conceit of a “person with a price.” At the same time, the aftermath of emancipation forcibly reminds us that property as a concept rests on relations among human beings, not just between people and things. The end of slavery finds former masters losing possession of persons, and former slaves acquiring it. But it also finds other resources being claimed and contested, including land, tools, and animals<\m>resources that have shaped former slaves' working lives to date, and that now shape their prospects for the future. When former slaves make claims to such resources, they may draw on an idea of customary possession, or they may assert rights to respect and remuneration. The resulting conflicts thrust into the open the links between freedom, property, and membership in the political community.
Narrative, Agency, and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland
Authors: Hearn Jonathan
Published: December 2002

It is a commonplace in the study of nationalism that the construction of national identity inevitably relies on the creation and use of narratives—part history, part myth—that imbue nations and nationalist projects with coherence and purpose. This article seeks to render this idea more complex and analytically useful by asking how such narrative discourses become connected to personal identities. Why and how do people invest themselves in nations and nationalisms? An important part of the answer lies in the ways that constructions of narrative and agency at the collective level articulate with experiences of narrative and agency at a personal level. It is our constant existential concern with power that binds together collectivities and individuals, national narratives, and life histories. We must attend to this connection in order to better understand the powerful resonances nationalist discourses often have.
James C. Scott. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven and London: Yale Agrarian Studies, Yale University Press, 1998.
Authors: Biggs Michael
Published: December 2002

James Scott is known for portraying the moral world of peasants, showing how they have resisted the encroachment of capitalism and the state. Now he investigates the other side: the experts, bureaucrats, and revolutionaries whose grandiose schemes to improve the human condition have inflicted untold misery on the twentieth century. Seeing Like a State can be read, along with Foucault's Discipline and Punish and James Ferguson's The Anti-Politics Machine, as a classic of “structural dysfunctionalism.” The point (put metaphorically) is not merely that the cure for social ills has proven inadequate<\m>but that the disease inhered in the diagnosis, and that failure will continue so long as the doctors prevail.
Michael Biggs, University of Oxford
@T2:Kerwin Lee Klein. Frontiers of Historical Imagination: Narrating the European Conquest of Native America, 1890–1990. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997, 377 pp.; Michael Leroy Oberg. Dominion and Civility: English Imperialism and Native America, 1585–1685. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999, 239 pp.
Authors: Black Liza
Published: December 2002

Historians define their jobs as the writing of history. Often, they look past their discipline to simply carry out the discipline's mandate. Yet Klein's project situates itself in the very question of disciplinarity, epistemology, and narrative. The study questions how history has been written by all sorts of professionals. The main concern of the book is to track historical treatments in general, and those of America in particular. Klein's other concern is with how history has been used and interpreted throughout the professional disciplines of literature, philosophy, and anthropology. Because of the powerful symbolism of the frontier, Klein uses this myth to explore visions of the past.
Bilingual discourse markers in Puerto Rican Spanish
Authors: TORRES LOURDES
Published: December 2002

This study examines bilingual discourse markers in a language
contact situation. The focus is on how English-dominant, bilingual,
and Spanish-dominant New York Puerto Ricans integrate
English-language discourse markers into their Spanish-language
oral narratives. The corpus comprises 60 Spanish-language oral
narratives of personal experience extracted from transcripts
of conversations with New York Puerto Ricans. After a review
of the study of discourse markers in language contact situations,
the use of English-language discourse markers is compared to
the use of Spanish-language markers in the texts. The discussion
considers the question of whether English-language discourse
markers are more profitably identified as instances of
code-switching or of borrowing. Finally, the essay explores
how bilingual speakers integrate English discourse markers in
their narratives with a pattern of usage and frequency that
varies according to language proficiency.
Angela Bartens. Ideophones and sound symbolism
in Atlantic creoles. (Suomalaisen Tiedekatemian
Toimituksia/Annales Academiae Scientiarium Fennicae. Sarja-series
Humaniora, 40.) Helsinki: Finnish Academy of Science and Letters
and Finnish Society of Science and Letters, 2000. Pp. 198.
Authors: Elders Stefan
Published: December 2002

The central claim of Ideophones and sound symbolism
in Atlantic creoles is that ideophones constitute a relevant
category in Atlantic creoles, and that they show both functional
and substantial correspondences with ideophones in African
languages. The book consists of two main parts: a critical review
of the literature on ideophones (Introduction; Chap. 1,
“Previous treatment of ideophones and sound symbolism
in the literature”; Chap. 2, “Characterization of
ideophones: towards a cross-linguistic prototype”), and
an etymological database of ideophones in the Atlantic creoles
(Chap. 3, “The use of ideophone in the Atlantic creoles
and their tentative etymologies”). Two appendices present
data sources and the approximate number of ideophones in some
languages. The study is based on the available literature,
supplemented by data on Atlantic creoles, African languages,
European languages, and two Asian languages that was obtained
either from specialists on certain languages or from first-language
speakers.
Suresh Canagarajah, Resisting linguistic
imperialism in English teaching. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1999. Pp. viii+216. Pb. $24.95.
Authors: Bhatt Rakesh M.
Published: December 2002

As eighth-grade students of English in a “periphery”
community school in India, we were assigned to discuss and to appreciate
a piece of prose, from our textbook, called “On not answering
the telephone”; it was a satirical piece demonizing telephones
because their existence and use flouted all tenets of British English
linguistic etiquette. None of us in that class had a phone in our homes,
and none of us had any desire to learn the alien etiquette. We were
interested only in learning the language to the extent that
it could help us realize our immediate and, perhaps, future
goals. This was our tacit response, and resistance, to English
linguistic imperialism: awareness of the pragmatic rewards of
English-language acquisition and use, but negation and denial
of the cultural hegemony of English. This dynamic of ideological
imposition and resistance (and appropriation) forms the core
of Canagarajah's book, Resisting linguistic imperialism
in English teaching.
Kendal King, Language revitalization processes
and prospects: Quichua in the Ecuadorian Andes. Clevedon:
Multilingual Matters, 2001. Pp. 253.
Authors: Francis Norbert
Published: December 2002

Studies of language erosion, especially erosion in the
advanced stages, are hard to do, and they do not always
make for light reading. In evaluating the findings, readers
need to maintain a healthy distance between what the evidence
actually shows and what they imagine it might show in a
hypothetical other world. For bilingual educators, for example,
understanding the course of language displacement is a part
of our work that we have tended to neglect. Kendal King's
investigation of the shift to Spanish in the Saraguro
(Quichua-speaking) communities of southern Ecuador marks another
advance in this important aspect of the study of bilingualism.
Is kinematic geometry an internalized regularity?
Authors: Todorovič Dejan
Published: December 2002

A general framework for the explanation of perceptual phenomena as internalizations of external regularities was developed by R. N. Shepard. A particular example of this framework is his account of perceived curvilinear apparent motions. This paper contains a brief summary of the relevant psychophysical data, some basic kinematical considerations and examples, and several criticisms of Shepard's account. The criticisms concern the feasibility of internalization of critical motion types, the roles of simplicity and uniqueness, the contrast between classical physics and kinematic geometry, the import of perceived path curvilinearity, and the relation of perceptual and scientific knowledge.
Shepard's Response On the possibility of universal mental laws: A reply to my critics
Authors: Shepard Roger N.
Published: December 2002

In psychology, as in physics, principles approach universality only if formulated at a sufficiently abstract level. Among the most fundamental principles are those of generalization and inductive inference and those of perceptual and mental transformation. With respect to their appropriate abstract representational space, the former principles are well formulated as (Bayesian) integration over suitable (e.g., connected) subsets of points in the space, and the latter as geodesic (hence, least-time) paths between points in the space. Critics sometimes insufficiently appreciate the following: (a) Generality requires such abstraction. (b) Perceptual principles are not themselves given in sensory input. (c) Principles of learning are not themselves learned. (d) Though all such principles are somehow instantiated in the brain, their ultimate, nonarbitrary source must be sought in the regularities of the world – including those reflecting abstract mathematical principles (e.g., of group theory and symmetry). New light may thus be shed on the cognitive grounds of science and ethics.
Exhuming similarity
Authors: Gentner Dedre
Published: December 2002

Tenenbaum and Griffiths' paper attempts to subsume theories of similarity – including spatial models, featural models, and structure-mapping models – into a framework based on Bayesian generalization. But in so doing it misses significant phenomena of comparison. It would be more fruitful to examine how comparison processes suggest hypotheses than to try to derive similarity from Bayesian reasoning. [Shepard; Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
The mathematics of symmetry does not provide an appropriate model for the human understanding of elementary motions
Authors: Pani John R.
Published: December 2002

Shepard's article presents an impressive application of the mathematics of symmetry to the understanding of motion. However, there are basic psychological phenomena that the model does not handle well. These include the importance of the orientations of rotational motions to salient reference systems for the understanding of the motions. An alternative model of the understanding of rotations is sketched. [Shepard]
Context effects equally applicable in generalization and similarity
Authors: Pothos Emmanuel M.
Published: December 2002

Shepard's theoretical analysis of generalization is assumed to enable an objective measure of the relation between objects, an assumption taken on board by Tenenbaum & Griffiths. I argue that context effects apply to generalization in the same way as they apply to similarity. Thus, the need to extend Shepard's formalism in a way that incorporates context effects should be acknowledged. [Shepard; Tenenbaum & Griffiths]
What's in a structure?
Authors: Whitmyer Virgil
Published: December 2002

Shepard's general approach provides little specific information about the implementation of laws in brains. Theories that turn on an isomorphism between some domain and the brain, of which Shepard's is one, do not provide specific detail about the implementation of the structures they propose. But such detail is a necessary part in an explanation of mind. [Shepard]
Regularities in motion: Apparent, real and internalized
Authors: Schwartz Robert
Published: December 2002

By and large the commentators express reservations similar to my own concerning Shepard's position. Some focus on the issue of ecological validity, others are skeptical of Shepard's evolutionary thesis. The assumptions and reasons for their criticisms, however, are not always ones I fully accept. In addition, several commentators, although rejecting Shepard's particular claims, support his overall approach. They offer models for motion perception and for phenomena in other domains that they feel are amenable to treatment along Shepard's lines. I examine the pros and cons of the commentators' analyses of Shepard. I also briefly evaluate aspects of their alternative proposals.
Long-term language attainment of bilingual immigrants: Predictive variables and language group differences
Authors: JIA GISELA , AARONSON DORIS , WU YANHONG
Published: December 2002

This study examined the variables related to US immigrants' long-term attainment in English, their second language (L2), and their native language (L1). For 44 Mandarin–English bilinguals, with increasing age of arrival (AOA) in the United States, their accuracy in L2 grammaticality judgment tasks decreased and accuracy in an L1 grammaticality judgment task increased. Moreover, both AOA in the United States and mothers' English proficiency uniquely predicted a significant proportion of the variance for bilinguals' L2 proficiency. Finally, as a group, 72 speakers of three Asian languages showed lower levels of L2 proficiency and stronger AOA effects on the task performance than 32 speakers of six European languages. These differences in language proficiency were associated with differences in language use, language learning motivation, and cultural identification between the two groups. These findings suggest that L2 acquisition in the immigration setting is a complicated process involving the dynamic interactions of multiple variables.
Syllable frequency effects on phonological short-term
memory tasks
Authors: NIMMO LISA M. , ROODENRYS STEVEN
Published: December 2002

Recent evidence suggests that phonological short-term memory (STM) tasks are influenced by both lexical and sublexical factors inherent in the selection and construction of the stimuli to be recalled. This study examined whether long-term memory (LTM) influences STM at a sublexical level by investigating whether the frequency with which one-syllable nonwords occur in polysyllabic words influences recall accuracy on two phonological STM tasks, nonword repetition and serial recall. The results showed that recall accuracy increases when the stimuli to be recalled consist of one-syllable nonwords that occur often in polysyllabic English words. This result is consistent with the notion that LTM facilitates phonological STM at both a lexical and sublexical level. Implications for models of verbal STM are discussed.
A laser experiment for studying radiative shocks in astrophysics
Authors: FLEURY X. , BOUQUET S. , STEHLÉ C. , KOENIG M. , BATANI D. , BENUZZI-MOUNAIX A. , CHIÈZE J.-P. , GRANDJOUAN N. , GRENIER J. , HALL T. , HENRY E. , LAFON J.-P. , LEYGNAC S. , MALKA V. , MARCHET B. , MERDJI H. , MICHAUT C. , THAIS F.
Published: December 2002

In this article, we present a laboratory astrophysics experiment
on radiative shocks and its interpretation using simple modelization.
The experiment is performed with a 100-J laser (pulse duration of about
0.5 ns) which irradiates a 1-mm3 xenon gas-filled cell.
Descriptions of both the experiment and the associated diagnostics
are given. The apparition of a radiation precursor in the unshocked
material is evidenced from interferometry diagrams. A model
including self-similar solutions and numerical ones is derived
and fairly good agreements are obtained between the theoretical
and the experimental results.
On the effects of strong ionization in medium-order harmonic
generation
Authors: BELLINI M. , CORSI C. , GAMBINO M.C.
Published: December 2002

Strong ionization of the gas medium has significant effects
in the process of medium-order harmonic generation. The combined
effect of neutral atom depletion and defocusing of the pump
beam due to the intensity-dependent density of free electrons,
significantly modifies the conversion characteristics and
efficiency. For moderate harmonic orders, the yield is optimized
for well-defined values of the pump laser intensity that do
not depend on the order or on the focusing geometry, but only
on the ionization potential of the gas. In particular focusing
conditions, the ionization-induced defocusing can effectively
guide the pump beam along channels of optimum intensity, thus
enhancing the overall conversion efficiency. We demonstrate
that a very simple model is able to reproduce all our experimental
results in a surprisingly good way.
Recent advances in laser–plasma experiments using foams
Authors: HALL TOM , BATANI DIMITRI , NAZAROV WIGEN , KOENIG MICHEL , BENUZZI ALESSANDRA
Published: December 2002

The paper discusses recent advances in the use of foams in
laser–plasma experiments, concerning in particular: (1)
the use of foam in order to get an efficient smoothing of laser
energy deposition, (2) the problem of hydrodynamics of layered
foam-payload targets, (3) the use of foam for shock pressure
amplification in equation-of-state experiments, (4) the study
of the equation of state of foams in the Megabar regime, and
(5) the use of foams for astrophysics relevant experiments,
here in particular shock acceleration experiments.
GENES, JUSTICE, AND OBLIGATIONS TO FUTURE PEOPLE
Authors: Kamm F.M.
Published: December 2002

In this essay, I shall discuss ethical issues that arise with
our increasing ability to affect the genetic makeup of the human
population. These effects can be produced directly by altering
the genotype (through germ-line or somatic changes), or indirectly
by aborting, not conceiving, or treating individuals because of their
genetic makeup in ways made possible by genetic pharmacology. I shall
refer to all of these sorts of procedures collectively as the
Procedures. Some of the ethical issues the Procedures raise
are old, arising quite generally when we can affect the well-being
of people, even in the absence of the ability to affect them
in the ways just described. My examination of these issues is
prompted by the recent at-length discussion of them, From
Chance to Choice (henceforth CC), by Allen Buchanan,
Dan Brock, Norman Daniels, and Daniel Wikler.
A RANDOMIZED TRIAL TO MEASURE THE OPTIMAL ROLE OF THE PHARMACIST IN PROMOTING EVIDENCE-BASED ANTIBIOTIC USE IN ACUTE CARE HOSPITALS
Authors: Dranitsaris George , Spizzirri Diana , Pitre Monique , McGeer Allison
Published: December 2002

Background: There is a considerable gap between randomized clinical trials and implementing the results into practice. This is particularly relevant in the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in hospitals. Hospital pharmacists can be effective vehicles for bridging this gap and promoting evidence-based medicine. To determine the most effective way of using the pharmacist in this role, a prospective cefotaxime intervention study was conducted with randomization incorporated into the design as well as patient-related therapeutic outcomes.

Methods: A total of 323 patients who were prescribed cefotaxime were randomized into an intervention or nonintervention group where only the former was challenged by pharmacists for inappropriate cefotaxime usage relative to hospital guidelines. The primary outcome was the appropriateness of cefotaxime prescribing between groups. Logistic regression analysis was then used to identify factors that were associated with successful clinical response.

Results: Overall, 94% of orders in the intervention group met cefotaxime dosage criteria compared with 86% in the control group (p = .018). However, there was no impact with respect to promoting cefotaxime use for an appropriate indication (81% vs. 80%; p = .67). There was a trend for improved clinical outcomes in patients who received cefotaxime within hospital guidelines (OR = 1.73; p = .31).

Conclusions: The pharmacist as a vehicle for promoting the appropriate use of broad-spectrum antibiotics in the acute care hospital setting can improve the dosing of such agents. However, several barriers to optimizing the impact of the pharmacist were implied by the data. Removing these barriers could increase the pharmacists' utility as an agent for improved patient care.
ELEMENTS FOR ASSESSMENT OF TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS
Authors: Ohinmaa Arto , Hailey David , Roine Risto
Published: December 2002

Objectives: As an initiative of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment, an approach to assessment of telemedicine applications was prepared to assist decision makers who are considering introduction and use of this technology.

Methods: Review and commentary drawing on published assessment frameworks and reports of primary evaluations of telemedicine, with particular reference to experience in Finland and Canada.

Results: Elements of the approach included development of a business case (considering population and services, personnel and consumers, delivery arrangements, specifications and costs); subsequent evaluation of the telemedicine application; and follow-up (covering the domains of technical assessment, effectiveness, user assessment of the technology, costs of telemedicine, trials, economic evaluation methods, and sensitivity analysis).

Conclusions: Decision makers should link introduction of new and often costly technology to appraisal of its feasibility, followed by evaluation of the application, including longer term consideration of its sustainability and impact on the healthcare system. As the effectiveness and efficiency of telemedicine applications will often be strongly influenced by local issues, results of assessments may not be generalizable.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE UTILIZATION OF SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS
Authors: Dobbins Maureen , Cockerill Rhonda , Barnsley Jan
Published: December 2002

Objective: To determine the extent to which public health decision makers used five systematic reviews to make policy decisions, and to determine which characteristics predict their use.

Methods: This cross-sectional follow-up study of public health decision makers in Ontario collected primary data using a telephone survey and a short, self-administered organizational demographics questionnaire completed by the administrative assistant for each Medical Officer of Health. Independent variables included characteristics of the innovation, organization, environment, and individual. Data were entered into a computerized database developed specifically for this study, and multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted.

Results: The participation rate was very high, with 85% of public health units and 96% of available decision makers completing the survey. In addition, 63% of respondents stated they had used at least one of the systematic reviews in the previous 2 years to make a decision. The most important predictors of use were one's position, expecting to use a review in the future, and perceptions that the reviews were easy to use and that they overcame the barrier of limited critical appraisal skills.

Conclusions: Utilization of the systematic reviews in Ontario was very high. The utilization rates found in this study were significantly higher than those reported in previous utilization studies. One's position was found to be the strongest predictor of use, identifying program managers and directors as the most appropriate audience for systematic reviews.
NICE LESSONS TO BE LEARNED
Authors: Farmer Jane , Chesson Rosemary
Published: December 2002

Objectives: This study examined users' perceptions of the role and value of the Scottish Health Purchasing Information Centre (SHPIC) from 1995 to 1998.

Methods: Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather data from Scottish GP fundholders and health board managers at two stages.

Results: Initially, purchasers sought help in identifying the most relevant information. By 1997, while some appreciated the clinical and cost-effectiveness information produced, others were critical of lack of timely production and apparent lack of cooperation between agencies.

Conclusions: New U.K. agencies can learn from SHPIC's problems, specifically in producing clear, coordinated, timely, independent, and well-marketed information with implementation strategies.

Policy Implications: It is important to evaluate the impact of agencies to produce and disseminate evidence-based information, even if this has to be done pragmatically rather than as an outcomes-based assessment. Evidence from evaluations can inform direction and strategy for existing and new agencies.
USING FULL PROBABILITY MODELS TO COMPUTE PROBABILITIES OF ACTUAL INTEREST TO DECISION MAKERS
Authors: Harrell Frank E. , Shih Ya-Chen Tina
Published: December 2002

The objective of this paper is to illustrate the advantages of the Bayesian approach in quantifying, presenting, and reporting scientific evidence and in assisting decision making. Three basic components in the Bayesian framework are the prior distribution, likelihood function, and posterior distribution. The prior distribution describes analysts' belief a priori; the likelihood function captures how data modify the prior knowledge; and the posterior distribution synthesizes both prior and likelihood information. The Bayesian approach treats the parameters of interest as random variables, uses the entire posterior distribution to quantify the evidence, and reports evidence in a “probabilistic” manner. Two clinical examples are used to demonstrate the value of the Bayesian approach to decision makers. Using either an uninformative or a skeptical prior distribution, these examples show that the Bayesian methods allow calculations of probabilities that are usually of more interest to decision makers, e.g., the probability that treatment A is similar to treatment B, the probability that treatment A is at least 5% better than treatment B, and the probability that treatment A is not within the “similarity region” of treatment B, etc. In addition, the Bayesian approach can deal with multiple endpoints more easily than the classic approach. For example, if decision makers wish to examine mortality and cost jointly, the Bayesian method can report the probability that a treatment achieves at least 2% mortality reduction and less than $20,000 increase in costs. In conclusion, probabilities computed from the Bayesian approach provide more relevant information to decision makers and are easier to interpret.
ANALYZING DIFFERENCES IN THE COSTS OF TREATMENT ACROSS CENTERS WITHIN ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS
Authors: Coyle Douglas , Drummond Michael F.
Published: December 2002

Objectives: Assessments of health technologies increasingly include economic evaluations conducted alongside clinical trials. One particular concern with economic evaluations conducted alongside clinical trials is the generalizability of results from one setting to another. Much of the focus relating to this topic has been on the generalizability of results between countries. However, the characteristics of clinical trial design require further consideration of the generalizability of cost data between centers within a single country, which could be important in decisions about adoption of the new technology.

Methods: We used data from a multicenter clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom to assess the degree of variation in costs between patients and between treatment centers and the determinants of the degree of such variation.

Results: The variation between patients was statistically significant for both the experimental and conventional treatments. However, the degree of variation between centers was only statistically significant for the experimental treatment. Such variation appeared to be a result of hospital practice, such as payment mechanisms for staff and provision of hostel accommodation, rather than variations in physical resource use or substantive differences in cost structure.

Conclusions: Multicenter economic evaluations are necessary for determining the variations in hospital practice and characteristics that can in turn determine the generalizability of study results to other settings. Such analyses can identify issues that may be important in adopting a new health technology. Analysis is required of similar large multicenter trials to confirm these conclusions.
HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT IN THE AREA OF PREVENTION
Authors: Mousiama Tereza , Ioakimidou Souzana , Largatzi Evagelia , Kaitelidou Daphne , Liaropoulus Lycurgus
Published: December 2002

Objective: To explore the impact of health technology assessment (HTA) on health policy and practice in Greece through selected screening case studies in the prevention area. The three cases studied were mammography screening, PSA screening, and routine ultrasonography in normal pregnancy.

Methods: Official policy recommendations or reports, a literature review of Greek published research as well as gray literature from various sources, and interviews with specialists and medical associations were performed, and their impact on health policy formulation was examined.

Results: The implementation of the screening tests does not take the form of structured mass screening programs. Almost all physicians (urologists-pathologists, gynecologists) apply PSA and routine ultrasonography in normal pregnancy respectively with the purpose of either prevention or diagnosis. Mammography is applied generally for prevention or diagnosis, but there are some mass screening programs at a local level. In addition, the results show no evidence that the efficacy and the cost-effectiveness of the three screening programs have been a matter of serious concern and investigation for the purposes of policy formulation in Greece.

Conclusion: The results point to a need for the implementation of HTA methods on mass screening preventive programs in which real value and cost remain unclear and whose use is based on empirical and personal assessments.
A METHOD FOR RESEARCH PROGRAMMING IN THE FIELD OF EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE
Authors: de Vet Henrica C. W. , Kroese Mariëlle E. A. L. , Scholten Rob J. P. M. , Bouter Lex M.
Published: December 2002

Objective: This paper presents the method we used in programming research on the efficacy of therapeutic interventions for nine chronic benign pain disorders.

Methods: We started with an inventory to identify commonly applied interventions. For these interventions we searched the literature to identify gaps in evidence. First, we searched for recent reviews, of which we assessed the methodologic quality. If only reviews of poor or moderate quality were found, a new systematic review was recommended. When we found no recent reviews, we searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). If there was insufficient or inconsistent evidence, the performance of a new RCT was advised. This structured procedure resulted in a list with topics for which new systematic reviews were recommended and topics for which new RCTs were needed. These lists were the starting points for priority setting by four Centers for Pain Management and Research. All members of the centers were asked to state the priority of each topic. The resulting hierarchy of topics for their own center was discussed in a meeting in each center, giving participants the opportunity to elucidate their views and considerations.

Results: The final result was a robust priority list for the need of research (systematic reviews and RCTs) on chronic benign pain syndromes.

Discussion: The strength and weaknesses of this approach are discussed. This method of priority setting is by no means restricted to treatments for chronic pain; it is also a useful approach for programming research to enable evidence-based medicine in other fields of interest.
WHAT DOES FREQUENCY HAVE TO DO WITH GRAMMAR TEACHING?
Authors: Biber Douglas , Reppen Randi
Published: December 2002

Using frequency findings from corpus linguistics, this paper explores the relationship between the information presented in ESL-EFL materials and what is known about actual language use based on empirical studies. Three aspects of materials development for grammar instruction are discussed: the grammatical features to be included, the order of grammatical topics, and the vocabulary used to illustrate these topics. For each aspect, we show that there are often sharp contrasts between the information found in grammar materials and what learners encounter in the real world of language use. In our conclusion, we argue that a selective revision of pedagogy to reflect actual use, as shown by frequency studies, could result in radical changes that facilitate the learning process for students.
WHAT DOES THE IMPACT OF FREQUENCY TELL US ABOUT THE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE?
Authors: Hulstijn Jan H.
Published: December 2002

This peer commentary emphasizes the importance of placing frequency in an overarching theoretical framework of language acquisition. Three issues are raised that appear to be both important and timely: (a) the question of how innate, or initial, cognition can deal with stimulus frequency; (b) the likelihood that frequency has a differential impact depending on the type of knowledge concerned; and (c) preliminary evidence that frequency affects receptive language knowledge more than productive knowledge, which raises the issue of a possible dissociation between the two knowledge types.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE UTILITY OF METALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE IN SECOND LANGUAGE PRODUCTION
Authors: Hu Guangwei
Published: December 2002

This paper reports on a study designed to investigate psychological factors that affect access to metalinguistic knowledge in second language (L2) production. Based on previous cognitive and psycholinguistic research, it was hypothesized that real-time access to metalinguistic knowledge would be largely determined by three interacting factors: attention to form, processing automaticity, and linguistic prototypicality (i.e., whether a rule concerns a central or peripheral use of a target structure). The subjects were 64 adult Chinese learners of English. A verbalization task was used to assess their metalinguistic knowledge about 12 target uses, and a judgment test was administered to determine the relative prototypicality of these uses. Attention to form was operationalized by two consciousness-raising tasks and by time pressure. Analyses of the subjects' output on writing and error-correction tasks revealed significantly greater grammatical accuracy for more prototypical uses and on tasks that allowed more attention to form. There was also a significant interaction between prototypicality and attention to form, suggesting the influence of processing automaticity. These results are taken as evidence that there are major psychological constraints on the utility of metalinguistic knowledge in L2 performance.
SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS' THEORIES ON THE USE OF ENGLISH ARTICLES
Authors: Butler Yuko Goto
Published: December 2002

Although it is well known that many second language (L2) learners have trouble using articles “properly,” the primary causes of their difficulties remain unclear. This study addresses this problem by examining the metalinguistic knowledge of the English article system that learners employ when selecting articles in a given situation. By doing this, the present study attempts to better understand the process of “making sense” of the English article system by learners who are at different stages in their interlanguage development. Eighty Japanese college students with varying levels of English proficiency participated in this study. Immediately after completing a fill-in-the-article test, a structured interview was conducted to investigate the reasons for their article choices. The quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal a number of conceptual differences with regard to their considerations of the hearer's knowledge, specific reference, and countability, which may account for learners' errors in article use across different proficiency groups.
THE INTERACTIVE INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS: AN INTERACTIVE COURSE FOR STUDENTS OF LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS [CD-ROM, Version 2.0]. Jürgen Handke and Frauke Intemann. Ismaning, Germany: Max Hueber Verlag, 2000. 78.00 DM.
Authors: Schmitt Cristina
Published: December 2002

Introduction to Linguistics 2.0 (henceforth IL2.0) is an attempt to provide an introduction to linguistics in the form of an interactive CD-ROM. According to the CD booklet, it can be used as “an autonomous learning environment,” offering “a valuable alternative to conventional methods when it comes to presenting linguistic phenomena in a lively and exciting way” (p. 2). Although I am very sympathetic to the authors' intentions, I did not find that the goals were attained in an optimal way. At most, IL2.0 can be used for introducing a unit in a class or for users who want to know whether they should take a linguistics course. In a sense, it is like a demo tape. Its content is extremely weak, especially when we compare it with recent introductory linguistics textbooks (e.g., Fromkin, 2000; Radford, Atkinson, Britain, Clahsen, & Spencer, 1999).
COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH IN SECOND LANGUAGE EDUCATION. Mike Beaumont and Teresa O'Brien (Eds.). Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham, 2000. Pp. xiv + 209. £45.00 cloth, £13.95 paper.
Authors: Lacorte Manel
Published: December 2002

The main purpose of this volume is to offer evidence of the contributions made by teachers, students, researchers, and administrators to classroom research and to the overall educational process. To this end, the editors explore four major themes: (a) research carried out by teachers and teacher educators of direct benefit to teachers; (b) professional development based on the analysis of diverse classroom phenomena; (c) collaboration of learners with teachers, teachers with teachers, and teachers with teacher educators; and (d) different language education contexts (research sites in seven countries on three continents), from which the editors seek common features in the traditional distinction between so-called foreign, second, and modern language education.
LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES—CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH MOVEMENT, VOL. 1: EDUCATION AND THE SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGE. Roseann Dueñas González (Ed.) with Ildiko Melis. Urbana, IL, and Mahwah, NJ: NCTE and Erlbaum, 2000. Pp. xlvii + 374. $33.95 paper.
LANGUAGE IDEOLOGIES—CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH MOVEMENT, VOL 2: HISTORY, THEORY, AND POLICY. Roseann Dueñas González (Ed.) with Ildiko Melis. Urbana, IL, and Mahwah, NJ: NCTE and Erlbaum, 2000. Pp. liv + 414. $34.95 paper.
Authors: Paulston Christina Bratt
Published: December 2002

Language Ideologies is a two-volume anthology, published in conjunction with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and “designed for educators, administrators, ESL experts, scholars, and all those who are concerned about language as a source and product of discrimination in our schools and society” (Vol. 1, p. xliii)—not that a reader will learn very much about language ideologies, a topic that has surfaced in the 1990s (see Woolard & Schieffelin, 1994; Schieffelin, Woolard, & Kroskrity, 1998). The ideology here refers solely to the ideas and beliefs used by the Official English Movement and English Only to legitimate their interests, “specifically by distortion and dissimulation” (see Eagleton, 1990, p. 30). This ideology is mostly not analyzed but rather labeled with assertions of “hegemony of the dominant culture” and the like, whereas the ideology that motivates this publication is never problematized and barely acknowledged (but see James Cummins's intelligent Foreword to Vol. 1). The result is a curious sense of English Only bashing at the same level as H. L. Mencken's “If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for you.”
Acquiring engineering knowledge from design processes
Authors: ISHINO YOKO , JIN YAN
Published: December 2002

Knowledge management has recently become the focus of public
attention in business and engineering. Because knowledge
acquisition is situated in the upstream of knowledge management,
capturing knowledge is an important step for enterprises to
achieve successful knowledge management. We focus on how
engineers solve their design problems under given design
contexts and propose a novel model and methods to capture
knowledge from engineering design processes. Our goal is to
acquire know-how knowledge without disrupting the normal
design process. A three-layer design process model
is introduced to represent generic design processes, and a
grammar and extended dynamic programming (GEDP) method
is developed based on the process model. GEDP adopts the
grammar approach and EDP to automatically identify
meaningful clusters, called operations, from primitive
design events. Our approach is evaluated through a
case study of designing a double-reduction gear system.
Managing Money Risk in Antebellum New York: From Chartered Banking to
Free Banking and Beyond
Authors: Moss David A. , Brennan Sarah
Published: December 2002

One of the most difficult problems facing economic policymakers during
the antebellum period was the threat of instability in the banking sector.
Banks constituted not only critical sources of credit for both firms and
individuals, but also the primary suppliers of money within the economy.
Particularly because bank instability tended to be contagious, it was viewed
as an especially vicious problem, and one that required a government
solution. The challenge was to craft a policy that would be sufficiently
stringent to assure a safe banking system and a secure money supply without
being so stringent as to suffocate the economy, depriving it of vital credit
and liquidity. Even today, this remains a formidable challenge in many
developing countries.