bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Social and personal resources and the prevalence of
phobic disorder in a community population
Authors: HYBELS C. F. , BLAZER D. G. , KAPLAN B. H.
Published: July 2002

Background. Phobic disorder is one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in community
populations and much attention has focused on the association of sociodemographic factors and
social resources with the disorder. There has been little investigation of the more personal resources
such as self-confidence, religiosity, social support and self-perceived health that may increase
vulnerability.

Methods. We used a sample of 2914 community residents aged 18 or older who participated in the
Duke University Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study to explore the relationship between both
social and personal resources and the prevalence of DIS/DSM-III phobic disorder.

Results. The 1-month prevalence of any phobic disorder was 7·6%. In bivariate analyses, we found
both race/ethnicity and gender differences in prevalence, with a higher prevalence of phobic
disorder in African-Americans and females. Lower socio-economic status, rural residence and
unmarried status were also associated with current prevalence. No association was found for social
network and social interaction. Impaired subjective social support, low self-confidence, perceived
poorer physical health and co-morbid psychiatric disorder were significantly associated with
current prevalence in uncontrolled analyses, while associations between lack of a confidant as well
as religiosity and phobic disorder were not. Female gender (OR = 1·7), perceived low self-
confidence (OR = 2·0), and two interaction terms, age × co-morbid psychiatric disorder and
race/ethnicity × perceived physical health were associated with phobic disorder in controlled
analyses using logistic regression.

Conclusions. We conclude that both social and personal resources, particularly self-confidence, co-morbidity and perceived physical health are important correlates of phobic disorder.
Age is no kinder to the better educated:
absence of an association investigated using latent
growth techniques in a community sample
Authors: CHRISTENSEN H. , HOFER S. M. , MACKINNON A. J. , KORTEN A. E. , JORM A. F. , HENDERSON A. S.
Published: July 2002

Background. Higher education has been posited to protect against cognitive decline, either because
the rate of decline is slower in the more highly educated or the start of decline is delayed. Latent
growth models provide improved methodology to examine this issue.

Methods. The sample consisted of 887 participants aged 70–93 years in 1991 and followed up in
1994 and 1998. Latent growth models and standard regression techniques were used to examine the
rate of cognitive decline in four cognitive measures while controlling for health status and sex. A
delayed start model was examined by incorporating interaction effects in a regression model.

Results. Neither the latent growth models nor the regression techniques revealed a slower rate of
decline for the more highly educated. The proportion of the highly educated showing no change was
no larger than the proportion of the less well educated. There were no significant age by education
interaction effects, no chronologically later accelerations in the rate of change as a function of
education, and no differences in rate of decline between the first measurement interval and the
second.

Conclusions. Education may not protect against cognitive decline although it is associated with
long-term individual differences in level of functioning. The discrepancy between our study and
others may be attributable to attrition effects, follow-up length, sample age, scaling artefacts and
negative publication bias. Most importantly, practice effects may favour the better educated and
hence account for the supposed protective effect in many longitudinal studies of cognitive change.
The natural history of somatization in primary care
Authors: GUREJE OYE , SIMON GREGORY E.
Published: July 2002

Background. Somatization is often regarded as a chronic disorder. However, empirical studies to
support this view and to determine its natural history in primary care are lacking. This paper
provides data on the incidence and persistence of current somatization syndrome in a large cross-national sample drawn from 15 sites in 14 countries.

Methods. After screening with the General Health Questionnaire, a stratified sample of 5438
primary care patients was interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview and
evaluated for physical health status, self-rated overall health and for occupational disability. Twelve
months later, 3204 of the patients completed follow-up interviews.

Results. Over a 12-month period, an abridged form of somatization defined as four current
symptoms in males and six in females was persistent in 45·9% of the patients. Persistence of
syndrome was related to age and to subjective indices of psychological distress at baseline.
Persistence was unrelated to depression. The 12-month incidence of the abridged somatization
syndrome was 7·1% (95% CI, 6·1–8·3%). Individuals with depression at baseline and those with
poor view of their health were more likely to develop new episodes of somatization 12-months later.

Conclusion. Somatization syndrome showed considerable change over time. Persistence and onset
of somatization were related to both level of psychopathology and health beliefs.
Stimulation of the noradrenergic system enhances
and blockade reduces memory for emotional material in man
Authors: O'CARROLL R. E. , DRYSDALE E. , CAHILL L. , SHAJAHAN P. , EBMEIER K. P.
Published: July 2002

Background. It is clearly established that emotional events tend to be remembered particularly
vividly. The neurobiological substrates of this phenomenon are poorly understood. Recently, the
noradrenergic system has been implicated in that beta blockade has been shown to reduce
significantly the delayed recall of emotional material with matched neutral material being
unaffected.

Methods. In the present study, 36 healthy young adults were randomly allocated to receive either
yohimbine, which stimulates central noradrenergic activity, metoprolol which blocks noradrenergic
activity, or matched placebo. The three groups were well matched. All capsules were taken orally,
prior to viewing a narrated 11 slide show described a boy being involved in an accident.

Results. Yohimbine significantly elevated, and metoprolol reduced mean heart rate during the slide
show relative to placebo, thus confirming the efficacy of the pharmacological manipulation. One
week later, in a ‘surprise’ test, memory for the slide show was tested. As predicted, yohimbine-treated subjects recalled significantly more and metoprolol subjects fewer slides relative to placebo.
This result was confirmed via analysis of multiple-choice recognition memory scores.

Conclusions. We conclude that stimulation of the noradrenergic system results in the enhancement
and blockade in a reduction of recall and recognition of emotional material in man.
A difference that matters: comparisons of structured and
semi-structured psychiatric diagnostic interviews in the
general population
Authors: BRUGHA T. S. , BEBBINGTON P. E. , JENKINS R.
Published: July 2002

Psychiatric case-identification in general populations allows us to study both individuals with
functional psychiatric disorders and the populations from which they come. The individual level of
analysis permits disorders to be related to factors of potential aetiological significance and the study
of attributes of the disorders that need to be assessed in non-referred populations (an initially
scientific endeavour). At the population level valid case identification can be used to evaluate needs
for treatment and the utilization of service resources (a public health project). Thus, prevalence is
of interest both to scientists and to those responsible for commissioning and planning services
(Brugha et al. 1997; Regier et al. 1998). The quality of case identification techniques and of
estimates of prevalence is thus of general concern (Bartlett & Coles, 1998).

Structured diagnostic interviews were introduced into general population surveys in the 1970s as
a method ‘to enable interviewers to obtain psychiatric diagnoses comparable to those a psychiatrist
would obtain’ (Robins et al. 1981). The need to develop reliable standardized measures was partly
driven by an earlier generation of prevalence surveys showing rates ranging widely from 10·9%
(Pasamanick et al. 1956) to 55% (Leighton et al. 1963) in urban and rural North American
communities respectively. If the success of large scale psychiatric epidemiological enquiries using
structured diagnostic interviews and standardized classifications is measured in terms of citation
rates it would seem difficult to question. But the development of standardized interviews of
functional psychiatric disorders has not solved this problem of variability: the current generation
of large scale surveys, using structured diagnostic interviews and serving strictly defined classification
rules, have generated, for example, 12-month prevalence rates of major depression in the US of
4·2% (Robins & Regier, 1991) and 10·1% (Kessler et al. 1994). This calls into question the validity
of the assessments, such that we must reopen the question of what they should be measuring and
how they should do it.
Light at the end of the Ca2+-release channel tunnel: structures and mechanisms involved in ion translocation in ryanodine receptor channels
Authors: Williams Alan J. , West Duncan J. , Sitsapesan Rebecca
Published: July 2002

1. Introduction 62

2. Channel structure 63

2.1 Isoforms, primary structure and topology of Ca2+-release channels 63

2.2 Identification of ligand binding sites within the primary sequence of RyR 65

2.2.1 Calcium 66

2.2.2 Calmodulin 66

2.2.3 FK506-binding proteins 66

2.2.4 L-type Ca2+ channel 66

2.2.5 Ryanodine 67

2.3 The three-dimensional structure of the RyR channel 68

3. Channel function 70

3.1 RyR channel gating 70

3.2 Ion translocation and discrimination 71

3.2.1 Monovalent inorganic cations 71

3.2.2 Divalent inorganic cations 74

3.2.3 Organic monovalent cations 75

3.2.4 Permeant ion translocation can be blocked 75

3.3 Summary of ion handling in RyR 76

3.4 Where is the pore and what components of RyR are involved in its formation? 76

3.5 The mechanisms underlying ion translocation and discrimination in RyR 79

3.6 Does RyR employ ion–ion repulsion to attain high unitary conductance? 82

3.6.1 Conductance–activity relationships 83

3.6.2 Concentration dependence of reversal potential 83

3.6.3 The dependence of unitary conductance on mole-fraction 83

3.6.4 Effective valence of channel-blocking cations 84

3.6.5 Modelling ionic conduction 84

3.7 Factors influencing maximum conductance 85

3.8 Factors influencing ion entry 86

3.9 Theoretical design for the pore of RyR 88

4. What do we know about the structure of the conduction pathway in RyR? 88

4.1 The narrowest region of the conduction pathway – the ‘selectivity filter’ of RyR 89

4.2 The voltage drop across RyR – the length of the ‘pore’ 89

4.3 Mechanisms for ion discrimination in RyR 93

4.4 Musings on the structure of the RyR/InsP3R pore 95

5. Summary 98

6. Acknowledgements 98

7. References 98

The purpose of this article is to provide a description of the current state of our
understanding of certain aspects of the relationship between the structure and function of the
ryanodine receptor (RyR). RyR is an ion channel found in the membranes of the intracellular
Ca2+ storage organelles, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and its counterpart in muscle cells
the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), where it provides a regulated pathway for the release of
stored Ca2+ during Ca2+ signalling processes such as fertilization and muscle contraction. RyR
possesses both high- and low-affinity binding sites for the plant alkaloid ryanodine; however,
whilst this ligand gives the channel its name and is of toxicological and pharmacological
interest, physiological regulation of channel gating is mediated by the binding of cytosolic
ligands (primarily Ca2+, ATP, Mg2+) and in some cases by direct coupling with a surface
membrane voltage sensor.
Nucleoside triphosphate-binding proteins:
different scaffolds to achieve phosphoryl transfer
Authors: Vetter Ingrid R. , Wittinghofer Alfred
Published: July 2002

Nucleoside triphosphates are crucial mediators of life. The high energy phosphoanhydride
bond of (usually) ATP is used to drive unfavorable chemical reactions, to fuel biological
machines, and to regulate a vast number of processes via phosphorylation of proteins. GTP,
in turn, is used almost exclusively for the regulation of signal transduction and transport
processes, whereas the other nucleotides play a less important role, except in synthesis
pathways involving sugars (UTP) and phospholipids (CTP) and as building blocks of
polynucleotides such as RNA and DNA. Proteins that bind and use these nucleotides for
enzymatic reaction and regulation are very diverse. Although some of them constitute the
largest protein superfamilies known (e.g. protein kinases), others seem to be far less
conserved in evolution.
Regulating for Quality in the Voluntary Sector
Authors: JOHNSON NORMAN , JENKINSON SANDRA , KENDALL IAN , BRADSHAW YVONNE , BLACKMORE MARTIN
Published: July 2002

The implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act, the greatly

increased use of voluntary sector providers and the switch from grants
to
contracts form the background to this study. The article brings together

two main themes in current social policy debate in the personal social

services: regulation and quality assurance. Contracts are seen as increasingly

significant forms of input, process and output regulation, although
their impact depends upon their type and specificity and upon the capacity

of purchasers to monitor contract compliance, and the sanctions
available to them. Clarification of the conceptual framework is followed

by the report of an empirical study of the position in a single large county.

The results from this study are then discussed in the context of evidence

from other parts of Britain and the United States. The main issues
identified in this discussion are competition, consumer choice, user
involvement, the dangers of excessive and inappropriate regulation, the

importance of trust and risk, and the relationship of resources to quality.
Ping Chen, Modern Chinese: History and
sociolinguistics. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1999. Pp. ix, 229. Hb $59.95, pb $21.95.
Authors: Erbaugh Mary S.
Published: July 2002

China's program of language modernization
has been as successful as that of any other nation, yet
until Chen's book, we have not had a readable and
comprehensive discussion of its reforms. Literacy has risen
from about 10% in 1949 to around 80% today. Spoken Chinese
dialects, from Cantonese through Hakka to Mandarin, vary
as much as do the Germanic languages English, German, and
Swedish; so it is a major achievement that 90% of Chinese
people can now understand Standard Mandarin, up from 40%
in the 1950s (p. 8). The current reforms have roots deep
in the 19th century, but Chen discusses how early visions
of reform became successful only in the past few decades.
An unusual virtue of this compact volume is that it discusses
language reforms throughout Greater China – not only
in the People's Republic, including Hong Kong, but
in Taiwan and Singapore as well.
Merging information in speech recognition: Feedback is never necessary
Authors: Norris Dennis , McQueen James M. , Cutler Anne
Published: July 2002

Top-down feedback does not benefit speech recognition; on the contrary, it can hinder it. No experimental data imply that feedback loops are required for speech recognition. Feedback is accordingly unnecessary and spoken word recognition is modular. To defend this thesis, we analyse lexical involvement in phonemic decision making. TRACE (McClelland & Elman 1986), a model with feedback from the lexicon to prelexical processes, is unable to account for all the available data on phonemic decision making. The modular Race model (Cutler & Norris 1979) is likewise challenged by some recent results, however. We therefore present a new modular model of phonemic decision making, the Merge model. In Merge, information flows from prelexical processes to the lexicon without feedback. Because phonemic decisions are based on the merging of prelexical and lexical information, Merge correctly predicts lexical involvement in phonemic decisions in both words and nonwords. Computer simulations show how Merge is able to account for the data through a process of competition between lexical hypotheses. We discuss the issue of feedback in other areas of language processing and conclude that modular models are particularly well suited to the problems and constraints of speech recognition.
Gender processing in native and nonnative Russian speakers
Authors: TARABAN ROMAN , KEMPE VERA
Published: July 2002

Traditional
computational accounts of gender representation and learning (e.g., Carroll, 1989, 1995) differ
radically from cue-based and connectionist accounts. The latter but not the former predicts that
access to noun gender will vary depending on the reliability of noun endings (and other
sublexical elements and morphological constituents) in marking gender, and that agreement
markers can be used strategically to constrain the genders of ambiguously marked nouns. Adult
native (L1) speakers of Russian (Experiment 1) and advanced nonnative (L2) speakers
(Experiment 2) read Russian sentences on a computer and were asked to choose one of two
inflected past tense verbs in a forced choice task. The verbs either matched or mismatched the
gender of the subject NP. Half of the target trials used opaque (end-palatalized) subject nouns,
which were ambiguously marked for gender, and the other half used transparent (regularly
marked) subject nouns. Noun type was crossed with the presence or absence of a gender-marked
adjective in the subject NP. When an adjective was present in the subject NP, both L1 and L2
speakers were significantly faster at reading and selecting the correct verb form. L2 but not L1
speakers showed longer reading and choice latencies and made more errors when the subject
noun was opaque. The data showed that L2 speakers used adjective inflections to disambiguate
the gender of opaque subject nouns and to select gender appropriate verb inflections. The
accuracy data for L1 and L2 speakers were tested against several connectionist models. The
models' success in accounting for the data suggested that L1 and L2 speakers may depend
on a common learning mechanism and thus resemble one another at the computational level,
contrary to traditional computational accounts (Carroll, 1989, 1995).
Regular periodic decompositions for topologically
transitive maps
Authors: BANKS JOHN
Published: July 2002

One may often decompose the domain of a topologically transitive
map into finitely many regular closed pieces with nowhere dense
overlap in such a way that these pieces map into one another in a
periodic fashion. We call decompositions of this kind regular
periodic decompositions and refer to the number of pieces as
the length of the decomposition. If $f$ is topologically transitive
but $f^{n}$ is not, then $f$ has a regular periodic decomposition of
some length dividing $n$. Although a decomposition of a given
length is unique, a map may have many decompositions of
different lengths. The set of lengths of decompositions of a given
map is an ideal in the lattice of natural numbers ordered by
divisibility, which we call the decomposition ideal of $f$. Every
ideal in this lattice arises as a decomposition ideal of some map.
Decomposition ideals of Cartesian products of transitive maps
are discussed and used to develop various examples. Results are
obtained concerning the implications of local connectedness for
decompositions. We conclude with a comprehensive analysis of
the possible decomposition ideals for maps on 1-manifolds.
Is It Time to Disinvest in Social Capital?
Authors: Foley Michael W. , Edwards Bob
Published: July 2002

In an effort at theoretical clarification, the authors reviewed 45 recent articles reporting empirical research employing the concept of ‘social capital’. The literature is roughly equally divided between those who treat social capital as an independent variable and those who consider it as a dependent variable, and between those who operationalize the concept principally in terms of norms, values and attitudes and those who choose a more social structural operationalization, invoking social networks, organizations and linkages. Work on social capital as a mainly normative variable is dominated by political scientists and economists, while sociologists and a wide range of applied social scientists utilize more social structural understandings of the term. We find little to recommend in the use of ‘social capital’ to represent the norms, values and attitudes of the civic culture argument. We present empirical, methodological and theoretical arguments for the irrelevance of ‘generalized social trust’, in particular, as a significant factor in the health of democracies or economic development. Social structural interpretations of social capital, on the other hand, have demonstrated considerable capacity to draw attention to, and illuminate, the many ways in which social resources are made available to individuals and groups for individual or group benefit, which we take to be the prime focus and central attraction of the social capital concept. The paper concludes by elaborating a context-dependent conceptualization of social capital as access plus resources, and cautions against ‘over-networked’ conceptualizations that equate social capital with access alone.
Reminiscence and oral history: parallel universes or shared endeavour?1
Authors: BORNAT JOANNA
Published: July 2002

There is a common methodology to reminiscence and life review with older people and oral history, and yet very little common literature. The distinguishing characteristics of these approaches are described and three areas of work are featured: interrogation, partnership and ownership. The discussion draws on a case study drawn from research on family break-up and reconstitution, and on the performance of a play devised and performed by a group of older amateur actors to an international conference. I conclude by identifying ways in which both approaches might benefit from a closer collaboration.
An excess of culture: the myth of shared care in the Chinese community in Britain
Authors: CHIU SAMMY , YU SAM
Published: July 2002

This paper aims to study the applicability of the shared care approach in the Chinese community in Britain. The discussion is based on findings of two studies on family care of older people in London conducted respectively in 1991 and 1998. Both studies examined the needs of Chinese older people and whether and how their needs were met by informal care. The findings show that there is a strong belief among Chinese families that older people should live with their sons. While the Chinese families were highly motivated to take care of their older family members, and many of them felt obliged to live with their parents and wanted to give assistance to them, not all were, in practice, able to do so as much as they would have wished. Shortfall between what older people needed and the assistance they received was obvious, especially in relation to personal care. It is argued that traditional Chinese values still carry some influence in obliging the Chinese to look after their elderly family members. However, they are not sufficiently influential to guarantee sufficient care. A unique model of shared care is thus clearly and precisely called for by the findings of this study.
Ageing in American Comic Strips: 1972–1992
Authors: HANLON HEATHER , FARNSWORTH JUDY , MURRAY JUDY
Published: July 2002

A comparison between humour and ageing from the 1970s to the 1990s and
findings from a historical study of how American artists portray older adults
showed what appears to be little change in stereotypical representations of
older people in one of the most widely read forms of humour in American
popular culture, the comic strip. Variables were age, gender, and roles of
people 56 years and over in strips published in the Washington Post during April
of 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, and 1992.

The number of older characters in American comic strips declined in the
last ten years of the study. Men were more frequently represented than
women. Women were almost equal to men in strong, positive roles despite the
fact that they were represented 870 times and men 1511 times. Most women
were portrayed in either positive or negative roles while a quarter of men were
portrayed in indeterminate roles. The negative roles of women were double
those of positive or strong roles, while the number of negative roles for men was
three times the number of positive roles.
The mirror has two faces
Authors: MARKSON ELIZABETH W. , TAYLOR CAROL A.
Published: July 2002

Have changing demographics, increased life expectancy and findings about
gender similarities and differences, altered portrayals of older people in
American feature films during the past 65 years? We identified 3,038 films
made between 1929 and 1995 in which actors and actresses, nominated at least
once during their lifetimes for an Oscar award, appeared when aged 60 years
or older. Academy Award nominees were selected because they offered a
sample of ‘notable’ performers and an accessible database. We selected an
eight per cent random sample for a content analysis of their roles. Throughout
this period, men were more likely to be depicted as vigorous, employed and
involved in same-gender friendships and adventure (whether as hero or
villain). Women remained either peripheral to the action or were portrayed
as rich dowagers, wives/mothers, or lonely spinsters. Despite changing gender
roles in later life since the 1930s and despite social and economic changes for
older Americans (earlier retirement age and better health are but two
examples), their film roles have remained remarkably static in age and gender
stereotyping. In feature films, the mask of ageing differs by gender. Male
masks veil inactivity and physical changes, while female masks reveal ageist
and sexist stereotypes.
Set for stability? Prospects for conflict and cooperation in East Asia
Authors: BERGER THOMAS
Published: July 2002

The Asian Pacific region is highly unstable, but not for the reasons usually assumed. Contrary to the assertions of Realists, who argue multipolarity makes Asia ‘ripe for rivalry’, overwhelming US strategic preponderance should make the balance of power quite stable. Likewise, while much is made by more liberal International Relations theorists of the relative absence of strong international institutions and democracy in Asia, recent trends seem to point in a more positive direction. The real source of instability lies in the beliefs and values held by regional actors. Contested sovereignty on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan straits makes military conflict seem a real possibility. Latent isolationism in the US and Japan may lead to a mishandling of a crisis were one to emerge. This Constructivist line of analysis suggests that more attention should be paid to these intangible potential sources of conflict and miscalculation.
Harold Laski (1893–1950): political theorist of a world in crisis
Authors: LAMB PETER
Published: July 2002

Harold Laski was a writer who exercised enormous influence in the turbulent environment of the early to mid-twentieth century. Though normally regarded as a political theorist, Laski frequently wrote on the problems of international politics. Certainly, his work was fully engaged with world issues in the inter-war and post-war periods. Like many critical and idealist thinkers of the time, he initially hoped that the League of Nations would usher in a new, international democratic system. However his early hopes gave way to a more pessimistic (and more radical) perspective, and from the late 1920s onwards he believed that the only way of transcending the existing system of sovereign states was by moving beyond capitalism. Combining a critique of both the Westphalian system and the market which he assumed underpinned it, Laski raised major questions – relevant to his own times and to ours too. Mainly ignored since his death, it is perhaps time that the work of this unduly neglected figure should be revisited.
Physics of short pulse laser plasma interaction by multi-dimensional
particle-in-cell simulations
Authors: PUKHOV A. , MEYER-TER-VEHN J.
Published: July 2002

Interaction of relativistically strong laser pulses
with under- and overdense plasmas is studied by 3D particle-in-cell
simulations. We show that electrons in the underdense plasmas
can be accelerated not only by the plasma wake field, but
also by direct laser push in self-generated magnetic and
electrostatic fields. These two mechanisms of acceleration
manifest themselves in the electron energy spectra as two
effective “temperatures.” We show that the
fast electrons transport a significant part of the laser
pulse power through the overdense plasma in the form of
magnetized jets. We also find high collective stopping
because of an anomalous resistivity of the plasma.
Optimal reference trajectories for walking and running of a biped

robot
Authors: Chevallereau C. , Aoustin Y.
Published: July 2002

The objective of this study is to obtain optimal cyclic gaits for a biped robot without actuated ankles. Two types of motion are studied: walking and running. For

walking, the gait is composed uniquely of successive single support phases and instantaneous double support phases that are modelled by passive impact equations. The legs swap their roles from one single support phase to the next one. For running, the gait is composed of stance phases and flight phases. A passive impact with the ground exists at the end of

flight. During each phase the evolution of m joints variables is assumed to be polynomial functions, m is the number of actuators. The evolution of the other variables is deduced

from the dynamic model of the biped. The coefficients of the polynomial functions are chosen to optimise criteria and to insure cyclic motion of the biped. The chosen criteria are:

maximal advance velocity, minimal torque, and minimal energy. Furthermore, the

optimal gait is defined with respect to given performances of actuators: The torques and velocities at the output of the gear box are bounded. For this study, the physical parameters

of a prototype, which is under construction, are used. Optimal walking and running are defined. The running is more efficient for high velocities than the walking with respect to the studied criteria.
A redesigned DCAL controller without velocity
measurements: theory and demonstration
Authors: Burg T. , Dawson D. , Vedagarbha P.
Published: July 2002

A link position tracking controller is formulated for an n-link, rigid,
revolute, serially-connected robot. The controller generates torque commands to
the individual robot links based on adaptive estimates of the system parameters
and measurements of only link positions. A filtering technique, based on the
link position signal, is used to alleviate the need for velocity measurements. A
complete development of the controller is presented along with a proof of
semiglobal asymptotic link position-velocity tracking performance. Experimental
validation of the proposed controller on the Integrated Motion Inc. (IMI)
two-link direct drive robot is also presented. Several extensions to the basic
controller are described that consider the use of fixed parameter
estimates.
Modelling robot manipulators with multivariate B-splines
Authors: Johnson Colin G. , Marsh Duncan
Published: July 2002

In programming robot
manipulators to carry out a wide variety of tasks it
would be desirable to create a CAD system in which
these tasks can be programmed at the task level, leaving
the fine-grained detail of path planning and collision detection to
the system. This paper describes the theoretical background to such
a system, by providing a model in which robot motions
are represented using multivariate B-splines, a standard representation for free-form
shapes in the CAD environment. The paper also describes algorithms
which take this representation and apply it to collision detection
and path-planning.
Design of a fuzzy walking pattern (FWP) for a shape

memory alloy (SMA) biped robot
Authors: Tu Kuo-Yang , Lee Tsu-Tian , Wang Chi-Hsu , Chang Cu-An
Published: July 2002

The Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is a device which is lightweight and small in volume. The SMA can be used as the actuator of a micro-robot, but it is difficult to design a controller to handle the highly nonlinear properties of the SMA. In this paper, a Fuzzy Walking Pattern (FWP) is proposed to control a small biped robot, using an SMA as the actuator. In fact, the desired walking pattern of the small biped robot is used to construct the FWP. The proposed FWP can control the biped robot under the desired walking pattern, and handle the exceptional case when the biped robot is subject to disturbance. The proposed FWP not only solves the control problem of the SMA, but also provides a new method in controller design of the biped robot. In addition, a transputer network is designed to impelement the FWP. Experimental results demonstrate the functions of the FWP.
Team Preferences
Authors: Sugden Robert
Published: July 2002

When my family discusses how we should spend a summer holiday, we start from certain common understandings about our preferences. We prefer self-catering accommodation to hotels, and hotels to campsites. We prefer walking and looking at scenery and wildlife to big-city sightseeing and shopping. When it comes to walks, we prefer walks of six miles or so to ones which are much shorter or much longer, and prefer well-marked but uncrowded paths to ones which are either more rugged or more popular. And so on. These common understandings greatly simplify the task of choosing between holiday destinations and activities, by allowing us quickly to eliminate many options. But what does it mean to say that we prefer one thing to another?
Effects of weather and phenology on the abundance and diversity of geometroid moths in a natural Malaysian tropical rain forest
Authors: INTACHAT JURIE , HOLLOWAY JEREMY D. , STAINES HARRY
Published: July 2002

Geometroid moth abundance, species richness, weather and plant phenology were monitored monthly
for 3 y in the lowland dipterocarp forest at Pasoh Forest Reserve, Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. The intensity of tree
flowering in the previous month (with mass events triggered in response to El Niño Southern Oscillations) was an
important environmental factor positively correlated with the numbers of species and individuals of geometroid moths
that emerge in any month. Abundance for geometroid moths was greater in months with high flowering and flushing
in the previous month but low flowering in the month before that. Important weather parameters that influenced moth
abundance were monthly rainfall, relative humidity and minimum temperature in previous months. High rainfall 3 mo
previously led to an increase in moth abundance (perhaps by stimulating an increase in fresh plant material), whereas
high rainfall and relative humidity thereafter served to decrease abundance, possibly by encouraging the spread and
activity of pathogens: all these factors impacted on early life-stage survivorship. Similar trends were observed for
individual geometroid families and subfamilies. The diversity measurement for the geometroid moths, α from the
log-series, was correlated more with weather parameters than with tree phenology.
TOWARD A LEXICAL PROCESSING MODEL FOR THE STUDY OF SECOND
LANGUAGE VOCABULARY ACQUISITION
Authors: de Bot Kees , Paribakht T. Sima , Wesche Marjorie Bingham
Published: July 2002

A major requirement for theory development in L2 vocabulary acquisition is an
adequate model of L2 lexical organization and processing. At present, there is no widely
accepted model of this kind, but recent research has demonstrated the potential usefulness of
Levelt's (1989, 1993) L1 speech processing model (de Bot & Schreuder, 1993;
Green, 1993; Poulisse, 1993). This paper explores the relevance of the model as adapted for L2
lexical processing of written texts, with particular attention to its mental lexicon components
(concepts, lemmas, and lexemes) and organization. The model is first discussed in terms of its
relevance to L2 lexical access, retrieval, and acquisition processes. Findings of an introspective
L2 vocabulary study follow, detailing how university ESL learners reported dealing with
unfamiliar words while carrying out L2 reading tasks. The information provided on their lexical
inferencing strategy and varied knowledge sources used in the process provide support for the
lexical components and organization proposed by Levelt. It is argued in this paper that the
process of inferring the features of unknown words in a reading passage can be described in
terms of lemma construction, as defined in the model.
THE
EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS OF TIME FOR PLANNING ON SECOND
LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE
Authors: Mehnert Uta
Published: July 2002

This article
reports on a study that investigated the effect of different amounts of planning time on the
speech performance of L2 speakers. Subjects were 4 groups of learners of German (31 in
total) performing 2 tasks each. The tasks varied in the degree of structure they contained and
the familiarity of information they tapped. The control group had no planning time available;
the 3 experimental groups had 1, 5, and 10 minutes of planning time, respectively, before they
started speaking. Results show fluency and lexical density of speech increase as a function of
planning time. Accuracy of speech improved with only 1 minute planning but did not increase
with more planning time. Complexity of speech was significantly higher for the 10-minute
planning condition only. No significant differences were found for the effect of planning on
the different tasks. This study employed various general and specific constructs for measuring
fluency, complexity, and accuracy of speech. The interrelationships and qualities of these
measures are also investigated and discussed.
THE EMERGENCE OF THE UNMARKED IN SECOND LANGUAGE
PHONOLOGY
Authors: Broselow Ellen , Chen Su-I , Wang Chilin
Published: July 2002

This paper discusses the simplification of forms ending in obstruents by native speakers of
Mandarin, in particular two effects that are not obviously motivated by either the native- or the
target-language grammars: a tendency to devoice final voiced obstruents and a tendency to
maximize the number of bisyllabic forms in the output. These patterns are accounted for within
Optimality Theory, which describes a grammar as a set of universal, ranked constraints. It is
argued that the devoicing and bisyllabicity effects result from universal markedness constraints
that are present in all grammars but that are masked in the learner's native-language
grammar by the effects of higher ranking constraints.
READING AND “INCIDENTAL” L2 VOCABULARY
ACQUISITION
Authors: Paribakht T. Sima , Wesche Marjorie
Published: July 2002

The present study is a follow-up to a classroom experiment with university ESL students that
demonstrated incidental acquisition of new lexical knowledge through the reading of thematically
related texts. Introspective data from similar students using the same materials are analyzed in this
study to explore how vocabulary knowledge may be acquired as a by-product of reading for
comprehension. The researchers sought to identify the strategies and the kinds of knowledge and
information learners used when dealing with new L2 words they encountered while reading.
Learners tended to ignore a large proportion of the words. For those words they attended to,
inferencing was the main strategy employed. A taxonomy of the knowledge sources they used in
inferring word meanings from various textual and other cues was developed, which provided a
framework for describing learners' inferencing behavior. Findings are interpreted in terms
of existing research and theory on incidental vocabulary acquisition within an input-processing
framework. Pedagogical implications are drawn.
Singular or plural? Children's knowledge of the factors that determine the appropriate form of count nouns
Authors: FERENZ KRAG S. , PRASADA SANDEEP
Published: July 2002

Two experiments investigated the factors that govern children's use of singular and plural forms of count nouns. Experiment 1 used an elicited production task to investigate whether children use referential and/or syntactic information to determine the form of the count nouns when the two sources of information conflict (e.g. each x, one of the xs), as well as when the linguistic context does not provide any constraint on the form of the noun, but the referential context does (e.g. the dog(s)). 48 children, aged 1;9 to 5;6, participated in Experiment 1. The results suggest that even the youngest children can use referential information when relevant, and can ignore referential information when necessary. Children did, however, show a tendency to make errors with the quantifier each in non-partitive contexts, and a developmental trend was found in the use and avoidance of each in non-partitive contexts. Experiment 2, an act out task, provided a second test of the role of referential information in children's use of singular and plural forms. Experiment 2 also investigated children's appreciation of the semantic distinction between each and all. 48 children, aged 1;8 to 5;6, participated in Experiment 2. A weak sensitivity to the semantic distinction between the two quantifiers as well as the syntactic context in which they were used was found. The results of the two experiments suggest that, from the beginning, children approach the task of learning when to use singular and plural forms of count nouns on the basis of morpho-syntactic, semantic, and referential properties of utterances, rather than initially using only one of these types of information.
On the characterization of a chain shift in normal and
delayed phonological acquisition
Authors: DINNSEN DANIEL A. , BARLOW JESSICA A.
Published: July 2002

Several theoretical and descriptive challenges are presented by
children's
phonological substitution errors which interact to yield the effect of
a
chain shift. Drawing on an archival study of the sound systems of five

children (ages 3;5 to 4;0) with normal development and 47 children
(ages 3;4 to 6;8) with phonological delay, one such chain shift, namely

the replacement of target /Θ/ by [f] and the
replacement of /s/ by [Θ/,
was identified in the speech of six children from the two subgroups.
Different derivational and constraint-based accounts of the chain shift

were formulated and evaluated against the facts of change and the
children's presumed perceptual abilities. An adequate account in either

framework was found to require the postulation of underspecified and,
in some instances, nonadult-like underlying representations. Such
representations were able to reconcile within a single-lexicon model the

presumed production/perception dilemma commonly associated with
acquisition. Continuity was also preserved by limiting underlying
change to just those lexical items which exhibited a change phonetically.
The acquisition of plural marking in English and
German revisited: schemata versus rules
Authors: KÖPCKE KLAUS-MICHAEL
Published: July 2002

This article contributes to a debate in the linguistic and psychological

literature that centres around the representation of morphologically
complex words in the grammar and in the lexicon. The issue is whether
inflectional morphology is rule-based (i.e. symbolically represented),
or
whether the assumption of pattern association is more adequate to
account for the facts. On the basis of the analysis of acquisitional data
the
article strongly argues for the latter alternative. In a classic experiment

that helped shape the development of acquisition theory Berko (1958)
reported substantial support for item-and-process rules in the
acquisition
of plural morphology in English. A large part of her results
were zero responses (repetition of the stimulus). A reinterpretation of

these zero responses in light of schema theory and the cue strength
hypothesis shows a striking departure from randomness. Berko's subjects

tended to repeat stimuli just to the extent that these already
resembled a plural schema. A reinterpretation of data reported in Innes

(1974) achieved compatible results. This data set is far more extensive

than Berko's and is used in the present study to put the schema model

to a more stringent test. A reinterpretation of a parallel experiment with

German children, using the cue strength analysis of the more complex
plural morphology of German yielded parallel results. Finally, natural

acquisitional data obtained from seven German speaking children aged
between 2;1 and 2;9 are analysed. Again, strong support is found for the

schema model. It is suggested that a schema-learning mechanism may
underlie the acquisition of morphology, even when the end product of
the learning process involves item-and-process rules, as in the case of

English plural formation. In a schema-learning model, the child builds

schematic representations for possible singular and plural lexical items

as whole gestalts, and attempts to map concrete forms onto these
schemata in deciding whether the forms have singular or plural value.
Application of the theory of the discriminant to highly singular
plane curves
Authors: DU PLESSIS A. A. , WALL C. T. C.
Published: July 2002

In this paper we consider reduced curves Γ of fixed degree
d
in the complex projective plane P2([Copf ]):
we study the question of how singular such a curve can be.
Local attitudes towards conservation and tourism around Komodo National Park, Indonesia
Authors: Walpole Matthew J. , Goodwin Harold J.
Published: July 2002

Ensuring local support for protected areas is increasingly viewed as an important element of biodiversity conservation. This is often predicated on the provision of benefits from protected areas, and a common means of providing such benefits is tourism development. However, the relationship between receipt of tourism benefits and support for conservation has not been explored. This study examined local attitudes towards protected area tourism and the effects of tourism benefits on local support for Komodo National Park, Indonesia. Komodo National Park is a flagship for tourism in a region where protected areas are becoming increasingly visited and where local support for conservation has not been investigated. Results of a questionnaire survey revealed positive attitudes towards tourism and high support for conservation (93.7%), as well as a recognition that tourism is dependent upon the existence of the park. Positive attitudes towards tourism were positively related to the receipt of economic benefits, and to support for conservation. However, a positive relationship between receipt of tourism benefits and support for conservation was not identified, suggesting that benefits from protected area conservation make no difference to local support for conservation. Local people recognized distributional inequalities in tourism benefits, and the most common complaints were of local inflation and tourist dress code. To
fully identify the impacts of protected area tourism, long-term studies of local attitudes alongside traditional economic and ecological assessments are recommended.