bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Interdependency and the Generational Compact
Authors: Johnson Malcolm L.
Published: November 2008

The demographic revolution has caused turmoil in public policy, leading governments to scale down their commitments to the old, more in panic than in thoughtful response. At the same time, significant changes in family patterns have placed at risk the inter-generational support older people might have expected. Together these structural shifts have stimulated a new debate about the obligations one generation has to another. This essay attempts to bring together the several discrete debates about demography, family and the generational contract. In juxtaposing gerontological evidence and discussions with those about moral order and the state of the social contract in ‘post-modern’ society; it reaffirms the need for personal and social solidarity as the foundation for trust and reciprocity between generations.
Gender, Age and Attitudes to Retirement in Mid-Life
Authors: Ginn Jay , Arber Sara
Published: November 2008

British research on exit from the labour market has been mainly concerned with men, but US research shows retirement for women is equally salient. Gender differences in attitudes to employment and reasons for early exit are relevant to employment and pension policy.

In this paper, we use data from the Social Change and Economic Life Initiative survey to examine gender differences in attitudes to employment among over 2,500 British women and men aged 40 to 59. A key concern was to discover whether the decline in mid-life women's employment through their fifties could be explained by a change in attitudes with age, or was more likely to be due to age-related barriers in the labour market.

Analysis shows that among mid-life people who were not employed, financial considerations were the predominant influence on men's job-seeking whereas for women psychosocial aspects of having a job were also important. Mid-life women showed no decline in their motivation towards employment with age, indicating that women's early exit cannot be explained by reduced desire for employment with age. However, there was evidence of perceived age barriers to employment or promotion which were likely to have affected behaviour and attitudes.
‘William’ and The Old Folks: Notes on Infantilisation
Authors: Hepworth Mike
Published: November 2008

Critical concern with infantilisation practices—i.e. the tendency to treat older people as if they are dependent children—has for the most part concentrated on the negative associations between infantilisation and dependency in later life. Infantilisation is usually defined as an unwelcome imposition on older men and women who are often portrayed as relatively powerless to resist. Whilst the negative consequences of enforced infantilisation must not be ignored there are also occasions when infantilisation may be regarded as a voluntary or chosen mode of resistance on the part of older people to the decrements and external impositions of later life. The concept of infantilisation may therefore be enlarged to include modes of resistance involving processes of mutual identification of the old with the young; in certain instances even as a form of conspiracy between these two age groups against the wider society. This paper therefore pursues fictional images of such rapport as they occur in a selection of the ‘William’ stories written by Richmal Crompton during the period from 1919 up to her death in 1969, and with an appeal which continues up to the present day. The argument is that these stories of alliances between boyhood and ‘elders’ may be regarded as vivid examples (a repository of positive images) of what may be described as ‘positive infantilisation’: that is to say, of consciousness of the independence of subjective selfhood from the ageing body in the face of the misperceptions and misleading stereotypes of the ‘mature’ adult world.
Public Attitudes and Concerns about Population Ageing in Japan
Authors: Clark Robert L. , Ogawaf Naohiro
Published: November 2008

Japan is the most rapidly ageing developed country in the world. Economic, political, and social changes will be necessary in the next 20 years as Japan attempts to adjust to the rapid ageing of its population. This paper examines survey responses by Japanese men and women regarding their attitudes toward the ageing of their country's population, concerns about the impact of anticipated demographic changes on their economic well-being in retirement, and preferences among alternative policy options for changes in the Japanese social security programme. Responses to a nationally representative survey, conducted by Mainichi Newspapers in 1992, were analysed. Key findings indicate that: (1) the Japanese are concerned about the impact of population ageing on their economic well-being in retirement, (2) most Japanese anticipate that earnings will be an important source of their retirement income, but they are worried about employment opportunities, (3) they favour increasing social security taxes instead of cutting retirement benefits, and (4) they favour raising the age of eligibility for social security benefits.
The Ideology of ‘Age/Race Wars’: Deconstructing a Social Problem
Authors: Minkler Meredith , Robertson Ann
Published: November 2008

Efforts in the United States to encourage divisiveness within the working class have been widely recognised as a key strategy in the war on welfare. This paper examines one aspect of this overall strategy, namely the creation of an ideology based on generational equity and ‘age/race wars’ thinking, which blames the old for poverty and economic hardship in the young. Attempts to frame problem analysis and policy deliberations within such an ideological framework are seen to be based on spurious assumptions concerning the relative financial well-being of the old, the role of elderly entitlements as a cause of poverty in minority children, and growing resentment of programmes for the old among minorities and youth.

This paper examines recent attempts to de-legitimate the claims of the elderly through the advancement of an ideology of age/race wars. The assumptions underlying this approach to policy are critiqued, and a case is made for developing an alternative framework which would stress the interdependence of generations, rather than age/race group competition.
On the Treatment of Population Ageing in Economic Theory
Authors: Jackson William A.
Published: November 2008

Population ageing is often thought to have adverse economic consequences, and economics therefore has a responsibility for contributing to an understanding of ageing. This paper discusses the treatment of population ageing in economic theory and argues that mainstream economics is too narrow and restrictive to provide an adequate representation of ageing. An alternative to mainstream economic theory is a more pluralistic view of ageing, drawing from non-neo-classical economic theory and from the theorising of the other social sciences.
Intergenerational Discourse: Contextual Versions of Ageing and Elderliness
Authors: Coupland Justine , Coupland Nikolas , Grainger Karen
Published: November 2008

Micro-analyses of talk in context can expose people's activation and evaluation of age categorisations, as personal and social identities, during interactional exchanges. In this paper, we briefly overview our own discourse analytic research, which has been concerned with the management of age and health identities in across- and within- generation talk. In the body of the paper, we then document the operation of identity-management processes in a single-case analysis, from a video-recorded corpus. We focus on one elderly woman's participation in two conversations, in the course of which vividly contrasting age identities are constructed for and by her, conversationally. This qualitative perspective on real-time interaction offers clear evidence of social practices (here, simply talk) being constitutive of ageing itself.
Psychiatric Morbidity and Service Use Among Elderly People
Authors: Bowling Ann , Farquhar Morag
Published: November 2008

There is some evidence in the literature of increased demand on health services by adults with psychiatric morbidity. Among people over retirement age these associations appear weaker. Results from three independent, but comparable, surveys of elderly people living in London and Essex are presented in relation to their use of health and social services. Psychiatric morbidity was found to be a poor predictor of service use. Level of functional ability and, in some cases, age were both stronger predictors of use of a selection of these services among the two samples from the urban area. Age was a stronger predictor of use of home help and meals on wheels services among the younger urban sample aged 65–85. The model had little explanatory power in relation to use of general practitioner services. The study also indicated that the semi-rural sample had better reported health status and functional ability than the samples in the urban area. Use of health and social services was also lower in the semi-rural areas.
Customary Physical Activity, Psychological Well-being and Successful Ageing
Authors: Morgan Kevin , Dalleosso Helen , Bassey E. Joan , Ebrahim Shan , Fentem P. H. , Aire T. H. D.
Published: November 2008

Profiles of customary physical activity (CPA) and psychological wellbeing were obtained from a random community sample of 1,042 individuals aged 65 years and over. Activities were assessed with regard to their estimated minimum energy cost and/or their assumed contribution to functional capacity. The structure of CPA, and associations between activity levels, morale and mental health were then investigated. Women and men showed clear differences in the organisation of their activity patterns, and these differences were reflected in activity–affect relationships. For men, factor scores derived from the first principal component of CPA emerged as significant, though modest, predictors of well-being in regression and discriminant analyses. For women, however, activity factor scores failed significantly to predict levels of morale or mental health when medical and demographic factors were controlled. The results indicate that, among the present cohort of retired and elderly people, relationships between customary physical activity levels and psychological well-being are weak, indirect and gender-specific.
The Elders: A New Generation
Authors: Jones Sidney
Published: November 2008

Drawing upon evidence from Britain, this paper advances the proposition that new generations of older people are experiencing a healthier, materially better off and more satisfying old age. It is argued that both popular and scientific images of later life are out-dated and unduly negative. In advancing this analysis, attention is given to key areas of personal experience and social life: education, leisure and holidays, retirement, voluntary activity, spirituality, economic status, health and political involvement. A re-construction of the societal position of older people is indicated.
The Well, the Mentally Ill, the Old and the Old Old: a Community Survey of Elderly Persons in London
Authors: Copeland J. R. M. , Kelleher M. J. , Smith A. M. R. , Devlin P.
Published: November 2008

A random sample of 396 elderly people living at home in the Greater London community was interviewed by psychiatrists using standardised assessments. The sample was divided into the old (aged 65–74) and the old/old (aged 75 and over). The proportions with mental illness were identified and excluded from the sample in order to allow comparison of mentally normal elderly persons between these age groups. Surprisingly few differences emerge. No difference in educational attainment appeared, but there was a small diminution (P < 0.01) in intellectual function to clinical testing, in the old/old. Leisure interests were maintained and high level life satisfaction, health and happiness were claimed.
The Role of Senior Citizens in Crime Prevention
Authors: Fattah Ezzat A.
Published: November 2008

Elderly people have a relatively low likelihood of becoming a victim of crime, compared with other age groups. Theft rather than violence constitutes the bulk of offences against them. Criminological research indicates that it is not vulnerability but lifestyle and the amount of time spent out of the home which are pre-disposing factors. However, when offences occur they have a disproportionately high personal impact. Ways of reducing both exposure and impact are discussed. These include (1) Hardening the targets (2) Creating more protective environments (3) Encouraging self-help (4) Entrancing awareness of crime and prevention techniques (5) Risk avoidance.
Between Social Networks and Formal Social Services
Authors: Litwin Howard , Auslander Gail K.
Published: November 2008

This article reports a study of the social networks of recent applicants to the social welfare bureaux of Jerusalem. Beyond review of the relevant study variables as reflected in the literature, and an overview of Israeli social services for the aged, the article addresses why the social networks of the elderly claimants turned to formal assistance. The study revealed that networks were most likely to be the source of referral to social services when the applicant was frail, and the presenting problem was the need for institutional care. Multivariate analysis revealed that the degree of network-initiated contact with the social worker was significantly related to these same factors. Networks of the elderly seemed to turn to formal social services as a substitute for their own caregiving, rather than as a source for interweaving informal and formal care. The implications of the findings for social service policy are discussed.
Avoided Conversations: How Parents and Children delay talking about Widowhood and Dependency in Later life
Authors: Synge Jane
Published: November 2008

This paper draws on a 1980 sample survey of middle-aged and elderly residents of a medium-sized Canadian city (N = 464). Few parents and grown-up children discussed in advance what might happen should parents become seriously ill or unable to look after themselves. However, most respondents did feel these matters should be discussed in advance, and most felt that parents should be the ones to raise these issues. This was true for both the middle-aged and the elderly. Elderly men rarely discussed their wives' futures with their children. Both the middle-aged and the elderly rarely talked with siblings or friends about the possibility of their own or their parents' dependency. Discussions that took place were often precipitated by illness. However, children expressed a great deal of concern for parents, especially for older parents. A variety of possible contributing explanations are suggested. These range from unwillingness to acknowledge changing family structure and mortality to parents' view on non-family-provided services.
The Construction of Meaning in Old Age: Possibilities and Constraints
Authors: Dittmann-Kohli Freya
Published: November 2008

Historically, ageing processes have often been perceived as growing constraints to a good life, but proposals for a reorganization of positive meanings also date back at least to Roman times. In order to study age-related reorganization of meaning, self-descriptive statements of 300 young and 300 elderly adults were collected with a sentence completion test. A coding scheme was used to identify age-specific meaning patterns.

In contrast to young adults, elderly people completed problem- and future-oriented sentence stems significantly more often by referring to negative aspects of their own ageing process. Nevertheless, their answers to self-referent sentence stems showed that they used significantly more positive and fewer negative or ambivalent statements about self and life. The analysis of the overall patterns of cognitions in both age groups suggested that, within the existential constraints of old age, positive meaning is created by elderly people through various cognitive-affective strategies. For instance, instead of maintaining high expectations for life realization and self-development, the elderly change their standards, becoming more self-accepting and value more highly what is already given and still available. Conclusions are drawn about life-span development and modifiability of meaning.
Staying Put: A New Development in Policy?
Authors: Wheeler Rose
Published: November 2008

The ordinary housing in which most old people live is a subject of growing concern in many countries. The idea of ‘staying put’ which has emerged recently in the UK from this growing concern is thus timely for it focuses specifically on housing assistance for elderly people who remain in conventional domestic housing. This paper attempts to identify a number of cross-national trends which suggest the relevance of ‘staying put’ to other countries, and presents a detailed study of the factors shaping the development of such policy in the UK. The present legislative framework for ‘staying put’, and the extent to which it is exploited are also discussed.
Care Systems
Authors: Daatland Svein Olav
Published: November 2008

This article deals with the interplay of care as practical tasks and as ways of constructing and reconstructing social relations. We maintain that the division of tasks in care reflects a social organisation, and that the ‘who’ and ‘what’ in care are inseparably linked. On this basis we suggest that care be studied as care systems. This perspective is developed through case studies and other data. Theoretical and practical implications are suggested.
Workhouse to Nursing Home: Residential Care of elderly people in England since 1840
Authors: Thomson David
Published: November 2008

Statistics of the movement of elderly people through institutions of care have attracted little attention from present-day researchers, and none at all from historians. The intention in this paper is to indicate some of the analyses which the historian can make, to explore the changes and continuities in the inmate populations of institutions over 120 years, and to speculate upon the reasons for the higher and lower incidences of residential care amongst the old in specific periods. The questions of interest here are how many and which groups amongst the old have been in care in different periods; how many people would ever find their way into institutions in old age: at what ages would they enter; for how long would they stay in care; would they die in care or leave for other reasons; what are the reasons for taking the elderly in to care; and what does all this tell us about the society in question.
An Overview of Research using the Time-budget Methodology to study Age-related Behaviour
Authors: Little Virginia C.
Published: November 2008

This article reviews the growing usage of time-budget methodology, until recently seldom applied to older people. Initial studies have demonstrated that it can be employed both for the young-old and the old-old. Wider utilisation seems to have been impeded by difficulty in operationalising the definitions of such key concepts as ‘time’ and ‘leisure’, ‘discretionary’ and ‘obligatory’ activities. Advances in modern computer technology have facilitated the handling of masses of data of the kind produced by studies such as the 12-nation project led by Szalai (N = 30,000). A recent study of four Philadelphia subgroups by Lawton and Moss (N = 535) was successful in introducing a qualitative dimension of ‘liking’, which opens the door to utilising this approach for arriving at more sophisticated measures of psychological wellbeing.
The Significance of the Past in the Study of Ageing: Introduction to the Special Issue on History and Ageing
Authors: Laslett Peter
Published: November 2008

‘These days no-one bothers with old people, not even their children or their relatives.’ This familiar falsehood is important to us here because of its initial phrase, two words which are very often met with in familiar conversation and which imply comparison with the past. The statement is false both because research on the family relationships of the elderly shows it to be so today, and because historical work fails to show that familial support has declined over time. Comparisons with the past, scholarly comparisons properly worked out, which illustrate what history can tell us about ageing and about ourselves as members of populations marked by long life and by the presence of many elderly persons, are the subject of the present issue of Ageing and Society.
The Elderly in Classical Antiquity
Authors: Finley Moses I.
Published: November 2008

For evidence about the extent and experience of old age in classical antiquity, one must rely excessively on literature and mythology, with their heavy bias towards the leisured classes and their lack of quantitative data. Nevertheless, there are bases for some plausible inferences: both life expectancy and for most people the standard of living were low, with a consequence of an early commencement of ‘adult’ employment and the absence of any notion (or possibility) of retirement; those hardy and lucky enough to survive of ten appear to have retained a vigorous creativity into very old age; emotional relations (e.g. between parents and children) were coloured by such factors as high infant mortality and the relative early death of parents and grandparents. The absence of really large cities, other than Rome and one or two others, and of rural isolation (the homestead farm, for example) reduced the dangers of the kind of loneliness associated with the modern bed-sitter, though problems of old age fell solely on the family (rather than the community). Medical literature showed a surprising lack of interest in mental illness associated with old age or even in medical problems other than the obvious ones of debility, and there is no way for us to penetrate the silence.
Widowhood and Ageing in Traditional English Society
Authors: Smith James E.
Published: November 2008

The persistence of greater life expectancy among women than men means that widowhood on a large scale is a feature of both pre-industrial and subsequent societies. This paper examines the changing structure of widowhood along with the familial and economic support afforded to women in this category, in the 17th and 18th centuries by contrast with the present day. It indicates, by drawing on parish data for England, that the incidence of the widowed status is today lower in each age group than two hundred years previously, but higher as a proportion of total population. Current widows are however twice as likely to be over 55 and to be heads of households. Further comparisons over time are used to make observations about the relative effectiveness of the parish, kin, and the Welfare State in providing material support.
Ageing and Attitudes about Sexual Morality
Authors: Cutler Stephen J.
Published: November 2008

This study analyses cohort changes in attitudes about sexual morality over the period 1972–1982. The attitudes of the older cohorts are significantly less permissive than those of the younger cohorts, but there is no evidence of a conservative shift. Further, the attitudinal stability displayed by the older cohorts might be construed as indicating rigidity or inflexibility were it not for the fact that the younger cohorts also display the same stable patterns.
An Inductive Approach to the Investigation of Elder Abuse
Authors: Zdorkowski R. Todd , Galbraith Michael W.
Published: November 2008

The findings of the elder abuse surveys conducted in the United States are not strictly comparable, although they may be combined to suggest a more organised approach to elder abuse research. This paper presents a model of elder abuse derived from those studies, and suggests that abuse is the predictable outcome of the interactions between and among elders' and abusers' characteristics. A list of the research hypotheses suggested by the model is presented, two forms of analysis that could be used to test them are described, and the implications of this model for scholars and practitioners are outlined.
Gender, Public Policy and the Oldest Old
Authors: Zones Jane Sprague , Estes Carroll L. , Binney* Elizabeth A.
Published: November 2008

Those 85 years of age and older are the fastest growing subpopulation in the United States. Because they represent a very small proportion of the population (just 1% in 1980), the oldest old have not been studied until recently. Much of the interest in this group is related to their growth (over 50% per decade in the past 50 years) coupled with their disproportionate use of public resources, particularly health and social services. Women are strikingly overrepresented among the oldest old, with a gender ratio of approximately 44 males for every 100 females age 85 and older.
Network Variables as Determinants of the Elderly Entering Adult Residential Care Facilities
Authors: Bear Mary
Published: November 2008

This research extends the study of social network analysis and labelling theory into the context of adult residential care facilities (ARCFs). Network density, reciprocity, and intensity are hypothesized to explain who labels the frail elderly ‘out of place’ in their homes and refers them to an adult residential care facility. Using data from interviews with 81 new, elderly ARCF residents and 75 of their closest others, logistic regression analyses indicate that network intensity is related to the differential involvement of professionals and informal network members in the ARCF entry process. Findings suggest further research on the networks of the elderly's relatives may explain the role of density in ARCF labelling and referral. Practice implications incorporating a network strategy are addressed.
A Comparative Examination of Perceived Income Adequacy Among Young and Old in Sweden and the United States
Authors: Sheppard Harold L. , Mullins Larry C.
Published: November 2008

This research examines the comparative perceived income adequacy among older Swedes and older Americans. The persisting issue of ‘poverty’ and income adequacy, and the use of monetary-unit income (dollars, kroner, etc.) as a basis for determining levels of poverty or of income adequacy has severe limitations. In an attempt to simplify the problem of developing standard measures for different monetary-unit systems, i.e. between nations, this study utilises a typology of perceived income adequacy to examine, among older persons in Sweden, the extent to which they believe their incomes support a satisfying standard of living. Additionally, the research examines differences in income adequacy between the U.S. and Sweden. Results from the 1981 NCOA/Harris survey data in the U.S. are compared with findings from a representative survey of older Swedes conducted by SIFO in 1986. Among other results, it is found that for older Swedes only 20% feel financially hard-strapped, compared to 35% of older Americans. Discussion of this and other findings is included. Income adequacy of the elderly in Sweden should be of particular interest to policymakers in the U.S. because of the widely held belief that Sweden has achieved a level of income security beyond the ‘safety net’.
Hospital Discharge of Frail Elderly People: Social and Ethical Considerations in the Discharge Decision-making Process
Authors: Chadwick Ruth , Russell Jill
Published: November 2008

Using contributions from moral philosophy and sociology, this paper explores the decisions confronting care professionals when discharging frail elderly people from hospital. It is based on research into hospital discharge in South Glamorgan that has illuminated the nature of professional decision-making in multi-disciplinary ward meetings. Two key dilemmas are identified and examined in detail: first, the dilemma of discharging elderly people who, while thought by professionals to be incapable of looking after themselves and therefore ‘at risk’, nevertheless want to go home, and secondly, the dilemma of finding residential care for elderly people who are defined as being ‘partly sick and partly well’. Whilst the principle of autonomy may be used to support individual choice, it may also be interpreted as encouraging self-reliance, and as a way of denying a collective responsibility to elderly people's care needs. The dilemma of institutional care for the ‘partly sick and partly well’ is found to be a persisting problem, fraught with conceptual ambiguities and resource-boundary negotiations between ‘medical’ and ‘social’ care. An examination of both dilemmas serves to highlight the role of political ideology in discharge decisionmaking.
Changing Retirement Patterns: The Experience of a Cohort of Parisian Salaried Workers
Authors: Cribier Françoise
Published: November 2008

The first part of this article summarises some results of a recent retirement study of newly retired people conducted in the Paris area in 1975. It examines the conditions under which a sample of salaried workers stopped working and compares their original anticipation with their reactions after two years.

The second part analyses the rapid changes in French retirement patterns over the past decade. Throughout, the author exemplifies and argues for an approach which views retirement within a wider politico-economic framework.
OPTIMAL STOPPING IN A STOCHASTIC GAME
Authors: Kaynar Bahar
Published: November 2008

In this article we consider a stochastic game in which each player draws one or two random numbers between 0 and 1. Players can decide to stop after the first draw or to continue for a second draw. The decision is made without knowing the other players’ numbers or whether the other players continue for a second draw. The object of the game is to have the highest total score without going over 1. In the article, we will characterize the optimal stopping rule for each player.
PERFORMANCE ESTIMATION OFM/DK/1 QUEUE UNDER FAIR SOJOURN PROTOCOL IN HEAVY TRAFFIC
Authors: Lu Yingdong
Published: November 2008

We study the performance of aM/DK/1 queue under Fair Sojourn Protocol (FSP). We use a Markov process with mixed real- and measure-valued states to characterize the queuing process of system and its related processor sharing queue. The infinitesimal generator of the Markov process is derived. Classifying customers according to their service time, using techniques in multiclass queuing system, and borrowing recently developed heavy traffic results for processor-sharing queues, we are able to derive approximations for average waiting time for the jobs.
Fuzzy wavelet neural network for prediction of electricity consumption
Authors: Abiyev Rahib H.
Published: November 2008

The development of a fuzzy wavelet neural network (FWNN) for the prediction of electricity consumption is presented. The fuzzy rules that contain wavelets are constructed. Based on these rules, the structure of FWNN-based system is described. The FWNN system is applied for modeling and prediction of complex time series. The gradient algorithm and genetic algorithm are used for learning of FWNN parameters. The developed FWNN is applied for prediction of electricity consumption. This process has high-order nonlinearity. The statistical data for the last 10 years are used for the development of FWNN prediction model. The effectiveness of the proposed system is evaluated with the results obtained from the simulation of FWNN-based prediction system and with the comparative simulation results of previous related models.
Asian American Identity: Shared Racial Status and Political Context
Authors: Junn Jane , Masuoka Natalie
Published: November 2008

Amidst rising levels of ethnic diversity in the United States, scholars struggle to understand how group consciousness functions among other non-black minority groups such as Asian Americans and Latinos. Most of the literature in this area focuses on the relationship between identity and immigration incorporation or the debate between national origin and panethnicity. We argue that the Asian American community offers an important case study to understand how social context and one's perceived racial position influence an individual's sense of group attachment. Thus, the Asian American case presents new insight beyond the black politics model into how racial identification influences individual political attitudes and behavior. We present findings from a unique embedded survey experiment conducted in 2004 that reveals a surprising degree of malleability in Asian American racial group attachment. This is a striking contrast to the findings demonstrated by blacks whose racial identification is relatively more stable over various contexts. We seek to explain these findings by advocating for a more explicit consideration of the structural incentives and costs of adopting racial and ethnic identities by highlighting the significance of U.S. immigration policy and its role in creating group-based stereotypes and racial tropes.
Doing Courts Justice? Studying Judicial Politics in Latin America
Authors: Kapiszewski Diana , Taylor Matthew M.
Published: November 2008

The past decade has brought an unprecedented boom in the study of courts as political actors in Latin America. We examine the extraordinary diversity of academic research on judicial politics in the region, identifying the key questions, findings, and theoretical debates in the literature, highlighting important conceptual disjunctions, and critiquing the research methods scholars of judicial politics in Latin America have employed in their work. We close by suggesting new avenues of inquiry to help advance the collective effort to understand the roles courts play in Latin American politics.
Review Editor's Introduction
Authors: Isaac Jeffrey C.
Published: November 2008

As I write this Introduction the 2008 Republican National Convention is drawing to a close. John McCain's selection of little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has taken the pundits by surprise, injecting new dynamics into the Presidential contest, and furnishing proof that political life is riddled with contingency. At the same time, the selection further accentuates, and perhaps even reduces to absurdity, a theme that has been at the heart of this campaign season largely due to the Democratic party primaries and their down-to-the-wire contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton—the politics of difference. If the Democratic contest demonstrated that the politics of race and gender are central not simply to the Democrats but to the U.S. as a whole, the Republican convention has made it all but inevitable that for the first time in the history of the U.S. an African-American has broken the color line in Presidential politics, a woman has broken the gender line in Republican Presidential politics, and come January 2009 there will be either an African-American man or an (Alaskan American) woman in the White House as either President or Vice-President. This is extraordinary. At the same time, before this contest plays out to its conclusion—long after this introduction goes to print, and before it reaches you—there will no doubt be much tortuous discussion—and also posturing and denunciation—of the politics of race and gender and of the ways that these identities intersect with broader claims of citizenship.
Response to Kathleen R. Arnold's review of Welfare Reform and Sexual Regulation
Authors: Smith Anna Marie
Published: November 2008

Let me begin by thanking Kathleen R. Arnold for her comments and Jeffrey Isaac for the invitation to participate in this exchange. Clearly, Kathleen and I are both indebted to the Marxist and Foucauldian traditions. For my part, however, I find the Gramscian insistence on the historically specific, complex, and contradictory character of every historical bloc and hegemonic institution more compelling than the social theories that envision the social structure as a closed totality (Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri) or construct state power in an ahistorical and one-dimensional manner (Giorgio Agamben). Contemporary welfare reform, for example, resembles the racially exclusionary “substitute father” rule of Aid to Families with Dependent Children. But welfare reform, with its workfare requirement, child support enforcement, family cap, fatherhood programming, abstinence education, and marriage promotion dimensions, is also somewhat unique. The Gramscian paradigm encourages us to be skeptical when it appears as if the state in a late-modern developed society is becoming either a simple instrument of capital that is obediently shrinking into irrelevance, or an omnipotent machine whose seamless coherence and unbroken continuity leaves democratic forces absolutely no strategic opportunity for constructing a counterhegemonic bloc and fighting back.
Ultrahigh resolution topographic mapping of Mars with MRO HiRISE stereo images: Meter‐scale slopes of candidate Phoenix landing sites
Authors: Kirk R. L. , Howington‐Kraus E. , Rosiek M. R. , Anderson J. A. , Archinal B. A. , Becker K. J. , Cook D. A. , Galuszka D. M. , Geissler P. E. , Hare T. M. , Holmberg I. M. , Keszthelyi L. P. , Redding B. L. , Delamere W. A. , Gallagher D. , Chapel J. D. , Eliason E. M. , King R. , McEwen A. S.
Published: November 2008

The objectives of this paper are twofold: first, to report our estimates of the meter‐to‐decameter‐scale topography and slopes of candidate landing sites for the Phoenix mission, based on analysis of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images with a typical pixel scale of 3 m and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images at 0.3 m pixel−1 and, second, to document in detail the geometric calibration, software, and procedures on which the photogrammetric analysis of HiRISE data is based. A combination of optical design modeling, laboratory observations, star images, and Mars images form the basis for software in the U.S. Geological Survey Integrated Software for Imagers and Spectrometers (ISIS) 3 system that corrects the images for a variety of distortions with single‐pixel or subpixel accuracy. Corrected images are analyzed in the commercial photogrammetric software SOCET SET (® BAE Systems), yielding digital topographic models (DTMs) with a grid spacing of 1 m (3–4 pixels) that require minimal interactive editing. Photoclinometry yields DTMs with single‐pixel grid spacing. Slopes from MOC and HiRISE are comparable throughout the latitude zone of interest and compare favorably with those where past missions have landed successfully; only the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) B site in Meridiani Planum is smoother. MOC results at multiple locations have root‐mean‐square (RMS) bidirectional slopes of 0.8–4.5° at baselines of 3–10 m. HiRISE stereopairs (one per final candidate site and one in the former site) yield 1.8–2.8° slopes at 1‐m baseline. Slopes at 1 m from photoclinometry are also in the range 2–3° after correction for image blur. Slopes exceeding the 16° Phoenix safety limit are extremely rare.
Natural electromagnetic ULF noise due to fluctuations of ionospheric currents
Authors: Surkov V. V. , Hayakawa M.
Published: November 2008

An origin of natural electromagnetic noise observed on the ground surface in the frequency range 10−4–10−2 Hz was examined. Following a recent paper by Surkov and Hayakawa (2007), a flicker noise or 1/f noise, provided by random currents, is treated as a possible source of the ULF electromagnetic noise. In contrast to the cited paper, MHD wave incident on the ionosphere and neutral gas flow in the altitude range of conducting E layer of the ionosphere are considered to be a candidate mechanism for random current fluctuations, which in turn produce random electromagnetic fluctuations in the atmosphere. The main emphasis is on the flicker noise provided by the wind‐driven ionospheric currents, which is assumed to be steady, uniform, and isotropic random fields inside the ionosphere. A correlation radius of random ionospheric fields is supposed to be controlled by neutral gas transfer and by acoustic/gravity wave propagation inside the E layer. A correlation matrix and power spectra of the random electromagnetic fields on the ground surface were calculated. The predicted spectral index of the power spectrum of the ULF magnetic noise was found to be 3, which is consistent with ground‐based observations. The experimental data were demonstrated to be sandwiched between two theoretical lines, which correspond to daytime and nighttime ionospheric parameters.
Three‐dimensional seismic analysis of high‐amplitude anomalies in the shallow subsurface of the Northern Indus Fan: Sedimentary and/or fluid origin
Authors: Calvès Gérôme , Huuse Mads , Schwab Anne , Clift Peter
Published: November 2008

We report on a detailed analysis of amplitude anomalies in three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data and their surrounding strata in the shallow subsurface of the northern part of the Indus Submarine Fan, Arabian Sea. Our analysis reveals the presence of distributary lobe complexes and a relict fluid migration system, including a buried mud volcano, linked to contractional anticlines overlying deep‐seated strike‐slip faults buried below the Indus slope. Building on a regional tectonic and stratigraphic framework, we have used a 3D seismic survey to map in detail the occurrence of high‐amplitude anomalies in the shallow subsurface. We link these to gas hydrate and free gas accumulations hosted within distal distributary lobes deposited on the Indus slope and supplied by underlying focused fluid flow system along a fault zone. Our results suggest that the seismic amplitude anomalies may be classified as a weak “bottom‐simulating reflection” (BSR) formed during a paleofluid flow event in the northern Indus Fan (∼5–1.8 Ma). Present‐day fluid influx is low.
The biofilm life cycle and virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are dependent on a filamentous prophage
Authors: Rice Scott A , Tan Chuan Hao , Mikkelsen Per Jensen , Kung Vanderlene , Woo Jerry , Tay Martin , Hauser Alan , McDougald Diane , Webb Jeremy S , Kjelleberg Staffan
Published: November 2008

Mature Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms undergo specific developmental events. Using a bacteriophage mutant, generated by deletion of the entire filamentous Pf4 prophage, we show that the phage is essential for several stages of the biofilm life cycle and that it significantly contributes to the virulence of P. aeruginosa in vivo. Here, we show for the first time that biofilms of the Pf4 phage-deficient mutant did not develop hollow centres or undergo cell death, typical of the differentiation process of wild-type (WT) P. aeruginosa PAO1 biofilms. Furthermore, microcolonies of the Pf4 mutant were significantly smaller in size and less stable compared with the WT biofilm. Small colony variants (SCVs) were detectable in the dispersal population of the WT biofilm at the time of dispersal and cell death, whereas no SCVs were detected in the effluent of the Pf4 mutant biofilm. This study shows that at the time when cell death occurs in biofilms of the WT, the Pf4 phage converts into a superinfective form, which correlates with the appearance of variants in the dispersal population. Unexpectedly, mice infected with the Pf4 mutant survived significantly longer than those infected with its isogenic WT strain, showing that Pf4 contributes to the virulence of P. aeruginosa. Hence, a filamentous prophage is a major contributor to the life cycle and adaptive behaviour of P. aeruginosa and offers an explanation for the prevalence of phage in this organism.
Fungal diversity in the rhizosphere of endemic plant species of Tenerife (Canary Islands): relationship to vegetation zones and environmental factors
Authors: Zachow Christin , Berg Christian , Müller Henry , Meincke Remo , Komon-Zelazowska Monika , Druzhinina Irina S , Kubicek Christian P , Berg Gabriele
Published: November 2008

Knowledge about fungal diversity scaling relationships relative to that of plants is important to understand ecosystem functioning. Tenerife Island, a natural laboratory to study terrestrial biodiversity, is represented by six different vegetation zones characterized by specific abiotic conditions and plant communities with a high proportion of endemic plants. Little is known about the biodiversity of associated fungi. To understand the relationship between plant and fungal communities, we analysed soil/rhizosphere fungi from all vegetation zones. From 12 sampling points dispersed on the whole island, molecular analysis of fungal communities was determined by single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis using universal and specific primers for Trichoderma. The highly diverse fungal communities were mainly characterized by ectomycorrhiza-forming Basidiomycota and a high proportion of yet-unidentified species. Besides, Trichoderma-specific SSCP resulted in low diversity of mainly cosmopolitan species, for example Hypocrea lixii/T. harzianum. The dominance of T. harzianum was confirmed by cultivation. All Trichoderma isolates show an extraordinarily high antagonistic potential towards different groups of plant pathogens, supporting the hypothesis of extensive colonization by highly competitive Trichoderma species from the continent. In contrast, biodiversity patterns of the whole fungal and plant communities follow the same ecological rules. Furthermore, a high statistical correlation between fungal communities and the main environmental factors, temperature and precipitation, was found.
BMI Compared With Central Obesity Indicators as a Predictor of Diabetes Incidence in Mauritius
Authors: Nyamdorj Regzedmaa , Qiao Qing , Söderberg Stefan , Pitkäniemi Janne M. , Zimmet Paul Z. , Shaw Jonathan E. , Alberti K.G.M.M. , Pauvaday Vassen K. , Chitson Pierrot , Kowlessur Sudhirsen , Tuomilehto Jaakko
Published: November 2008

The aim of the study was to compare BMI with waist circumference (WC), waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), and waist‐to‐stature ratio (WSR) as a predictor of diabetes incidence. A total of 1,841 men and 2,104 women of Mauritian Indian and Mauritian Creole ethnicity, aged 25–74 years, free of diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and gout were seen at baseline in 1987 or 1992, and follow‐up in 1992 and/or 1998. At all time points, participants underwent a 2 h 75 g oral glucose tolerance test. Hazard ratios for diabetes incidence were estimated applying an interval‐censored survival analysis using age as timescale. Six hundred and twenty‐eight individuals developed diabetes during the follow‐up period. Multivariable adjusted hazard ratios for diabetes incidence corresponding to a 1 s.d. increase in baseline BMI, WC, WHR, and WSR for Mauritian Indians were 1.49 (1.31–1.71), 1.58 (1.38–1.81), 1.54 (1.37–1.72), and 1.61 (1.41–1.84) in men and 1.33 (1.17–1.51), 1.35 (1.19–1.53), 1.39 (1.24–1.55), and 1.38 (1.21–1.57) in women, respectively; and for Mauritian Creoles they were 1.86 (1.51–2.30), 2.07 (1.68–2.56), 1.92 (1.62–2.26), and 2.17 (1.76–2.69) in men and 1.29 (1.06–1.55), 1.27 (1.04–1.55), 1.24 (1.04–1.48), and 1.27 (1.04–1.55) in women. Paired homogeneity tests showed that there was no difference between BMI and each of the central obesity indicators (all P > 0.05). The relation of BMI with the development of diabetes was as strong as that for indicators of central obesity in this study population.