bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Signal Coding and Processing
Authors: Wade Graham
Published: June 2012

This comprehensive text is a revised and greatly expanded second edition of a book first published in 1987, and provides a thorough introduction to the complex fields of signal coding and signal processing. Among the key topics covered are: the fundamentals of pulse code modulation; modern data compression techniques; block and convolutional error control codes; transmission coding techniques; digital filters; infinite and finite impulse response filters; adaptive filters; and fast Fourier transform theory, implementation and applications. Complete with problems and solutions, and containing over 230 diagrams, this textbook will be invaluable to third and fourth year undergraduates in electronic, electrical or communication engineering. It will also act as a useful reference for anyone working in this technologically important field.
Morris: News from Nowhere
Authors: Morris William
Published: June 2012

News from Nowhere (1890) is the most famous work of one of the greatest British writers and thinkers, William Morris. It is a utopian picture of a future communist society, drawing on the work of Ruskin and Marx and written in response to what Morris saw as soulless and mechanical visions of socialism. In this work of his last years, Morris distilled many of his leading ideas on politics, art and society, imagining a world in which capitalism has been abolished by a workers' revolution and nature and society have become beautiful habitations for humanity. In an era that has seen the collapse of state socialism, Morris's damning critique of this conception, and his positing of a powerful alternative, have important contemporary resonances.
Sir John Fortescue: On the Laws and Governance of England
Authors: Fortescue John
Published: June 2012

Sir John Fortescue CJKB (c.1395–c.1477) was undoubtedly the foremost English political scientist of the fifteenth century. This convenient volume brings together for the first time new editions of his two major works - In Praise of the Laws of England and The Governance of England - with references and suggestions for further reading for the student. In her introduction, Shelley Lockwood presents a clear reassessment of the work of John Fortescue and places these key texts in their historical and intellectual contexts. These works, arguably the earliest in English political thought, were written from the perspective of a self-consciously analytical and highly experienced lawyer and government official during a time of war and political upheaval. They form a coherent argument for justice against tyranny and afford unique insights into the law and governance of fifteenth-century England.
Finite Elements for Electrical Engineers
Authors: Silvester Peter P. , Ferrari Ronald L.
Published: June 2012

This third edition of the principal text on the finite element method for electrical engineers and electronics specialists presents the method in a mathematically undemanding style, accessible to undergraduates who may be encountering it for the first time. Like the earlier editions, it begins by deriving finite elements for the simplest familiar potential fields, then advances to formulate finite elements for a wide range of applied electromagnetics problems. These include wave propagation, diffusion, and static fields; open-boundary problems and nonlinear materials; axisymmetric, planar and fully three-dimensional geometries; scalar and vector fields. This new edition is more than half as long again as its predecessor, with original material extensively revised and much new material added. As well as providing all that is needed for the beginning undergraduate student, this textbook is also a valuable reference text for professional engineers and research students. A wide selection of demonstration programs allows the reader to follow the practical use of the methods.
Statistical Methods in Biology
Authors: Bailey Norman T. J.
Published: June 2012

Generations of biologists have relied upon this useful book, which presents the basic concepts of statistics so lucidly and convincingly. It recognises that students must be aware of when to use standard techniques and how to apply the results they obtain. Since many biologists do not have a strong mathematical background, the arguments are gauged in terms which can be easily understood by those with only an elementary knowledge of algebra. Mathematical derivations are avoided and formulae are only used as a convenient shorthand. Although the subject is presented with great simplicity, the coverage is wide and will satisfy the needs of those working in many disciplines. New material for this third edition includes consideration of pocket electronic calculators, and a special chapter is devoted to a discussion of the problems associated with numerical calculation, electronic calculators and computers.
The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
Authors: Avineri Shlomo
Published: June 2012

Ever since the discovery of Marx's Early Writings, most of the literature concerned with Marx's intellectual development has centred around the so-called gap between the 'young' Marx, who was considered to be a humanist thinker, and the 'older' Marx, who was held to be a determinist with little concern for anything outside his narrow theory of historical materialism. Dr Avineri claims that such a gap between the 'young' and 'older' Marx did not exist. He supports his claim by a detailed study of the whole corpus of Marx's writing on social and political thought.
Hegel and Modern Society
Authors: Taylor Charles
Published: June 2012

Introduction to Hegel's thought for the student and general reader, emphasizing in particular his social and political thought and his continuing relevance to contemporary problems.
Local Fields
Authors: Cassels J. W. S.
Published: June 2012

The p-adic numbers, the earliest of local fields, were introduced by Hensel some 70 years ago as a natural tool in algebra number theory. Today the use of this and other local fields pervades much of mathematics, yet these simple and natural concepts, which often provide remarkably easy solutions to complex problems, are not as familiar as they should be. This book, based on postgraduate lectures at Cambridge, is meant to rectify this situation by providing a fairly elementary and self-contained introduction to local fields. After a general introduction, attention centres on the p-adic numbers and their use in number theory. There follow chapters on algebraic number theory, diophantine equations and on the analysis of a p-adic variable. This book will appeal to undergraduates, and even amateurs, interested in number theory, as well as to graduate students.
Yet Another Introduction to Analysis
Authors: Bryant Victor
Published: June 2012

Mathematics education in schools has seen a revolution in recent years. Students everywhere expect the subject to be well-motivated, relevant and practical. When such students reach higher education the traditional development of analysis, often rather divorced from the calculus which they learnt at school, seems highly inappropriate. Shouldn't every step in a first course in analysis arise naturally from the student's experience of functions and calculus at school? And shouldn't such a course take every opportunity to endorse and extend the student's basic knowledge of functions? In Yet Another Introduction to Analysis the author steers a simple and well-motivated path through the central ideas of real analysis. Each concept is introduced only after its need has become clear and after it has already been used informally. Wherever appropriate the new ideas are related to school topics and are used to extend the reader's understanding of those topics. A first course in analysis at college is always regarded as one of the hardest in the curriculum. However, in this book the reader is led carefully through every step in such a way that he/she will soon be predicting the next step for him/herself. In this way the subject is developed naturally: students will end up not only understanding analysis, but also enjoying it.
Modelling with Differential and Difference Equations
Authors: Fulford Glenn , Forrester Peter , Jones Arthur
Published: June 2012

The real world can be modelled using mathematics, and the construction of such models is the theme of this book. The authors concentrate on the techniques used to set up mathematical models and describe many systems in full detail, covering both differential and difference equations in depth. Amongst the broad spectrum of topics studied in this book are: mechanics, genetics, thermal physics, economics and population studies. Any student wishing to solve problems via mathematical modelling will find that this book provides an excellent introduction to the subject.
Leibniz and the Rational Order of Nature
Authors: Rutherford Donald
Published: June 2012

This is the most up-to-date and comprehensive interpretation of the philosophy of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). Amongst its other virtues, it makes considerable use of unpublished manuscript sources. The book seeks to demonstrate the systematic unity of Leibniz's thought, in which theodicy, ethics, metaphysics and natural philosophy cohere. The key, underlying idea of the system is the conception of nature as an order designed by God to maximise the opportunities for the exercise of reason. From this idea emerges the view that this world is the best of all possible worlds, and an ethical ideal in which the well-being of human beings is promoted through the gradual extension of intellectual enlightenment.
Essays on Hellenistic Epistemology and Ethics
Authors: Striker Gisela
Published: June 2012

The doctrines of the Hellenistic Schools - Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics - are known to have had a formative influence on later thought, but because the primary sources are lost, they have to be reconstructed from later reports. This important collection of essays by one of the foremost interpreters of Hellenistic philosophy focuses on key questions in epistemology and ethics debated by Greek and Roman philosophers of the Hellenistic period. There is currently a new awareness of the great interest and influence of Hellenistic philosophy. In bringing together a major collection of scholarly and interpretative studies by a leading figure in the field, this volume is a boon to philosophers and classicists who work on the Hellenistic period, but also to students keen to enrich their understanding of the history of epistemology and ethics.
The Ethics of Policing
Authors: Kleinig John
Published: June 2012

This book is the most systematic, comprehensive and philosophically sophisticated discussion of police ethics yet published. It offers an in-depth analysis of the ethical values that police, as servants of the community, should uphold as they go about their task. The book considers the foundations and purpose of police authority in broad terms but also tackles specific problems such as accountability, the use of force, deceptive stratagems used to gain information or trap the criminally intentioned, corruption, and the tension between personal values and communal concerns. Offering the fullest, most rigorous and up-to-date treatment of police ethics currently available, this book will be a perfect textbook in courses on applied ethics in philosophy departments or police and criminal justice ethics in departments of criminology and law schools.
The Economics of Tropical Farming Systems
Authors: Upton Martin
Published: June 2012

Based on the author's widely used earlier text African Farm Management, this account updates the economic analysis of tropical agriculture and includes examples from all parts of the developing world. Writing in a clear, concise style, Professor Upton explains the essential theories of farm economics without numerous mathematical formulae. This account is completely revised, with increased emphasis on 'farm household economics', in which farms are seen as consumers as well as producers. Containing a new chapter on the economics of irrigated agriculture. This book provides an invaluable economic framework for better understanding the management of farming systems in the tropics, and will be welcomed by students of tropical agriculture worldwide.
The Covenant of Reason
Authors: Levi Isaac
Published: June 2012

Isaac Levi is one of the preeminent philosophers in the areas of pragmatic rationality and epistemology. This collection of essays constitutes an important presentation of his original and influential ideas about rational choice and belief. A wide range of topics is covered, including consequentialism and sequential choice, consensus, voluntarism of belief, and the tolerance of the opinions of others. The essays elaborate on the idea that principles of rationality are norms that regulate the coherence of our beliefs and values with our rational choices. The norms impose minimal constraints on deliberation and inquiry, but they also impose demands well beyond the capacities of deliberating agents. This major collection will be eagerly sought out by a wide range of philosophers in epistemology, logic, and philosophy of science, as well as economists, decision theorists, and statisticians.
Pragmatic Liberalism and the Critique of Modernity
Authors: Gutting Gary
Published: June 2012

In this book Gary Gutting offers a powerful account of the nature of human reason in modern times. The fundamental question addressed by the book is what authority human reason can still claim once it is acknowledged that our fundamental metaphysical and religious pictures of the world no longer command allegiance. If ethics and science remain sources of authority what is the basis of that authority? Gutting develops answers to these questions through critical analysis of the work of three dominant philosophical voices in our time: Richard Rorty, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor. His own position is defined as 'pragmatic liberalism'.
Making the Grade
Authors: Covington Martin V.
Published: June 2012

Achievement behaviour in schools can best be understood in terms of attempts by students to maintain a positive self-image. For many students, trying hard is frightening because a combination of effort and failure implies low ability, which is often equated with worthlessness. Thus many students described as unmotivated are in actuality highly motivated - not to learn, but to avoid failure. Students have a variety of techniques for avoiding failure, ranging from cheating to setting low goals which are easily achieved. In Making the Grade, Martin Covington extracts powerful educational implications from self-worth theory and other contemporary views of motivation that will be useful for everyone concerned with the educational dilemmas we face. He provides a comprehensive, insightful review of research and theory, both contemporary and historical, on the topic of achievement motivation, and arranges this knowledge in ways that lead to imminently practical recommendations for restructuring schools.
Managerial Dilemmas
Authors: Miller Gary J.
Published: June 2012

In organisation theory a schism has developed between the traditional organisational behaviour literature, based in psychology, sociology and political science, and the more analytically rigorous field of organisational economics. The former stresses the importance of managerial leadership and cooperation among employees, while the latter focuses on the engineering of incentive systems that will induce efficiency and profitability, by rewarding worker self-interest. In this innovative book, Gary Miller bridges the gap between these literatures. He demonstrates that it is impossible to design an incentive system based on self-interest that will effectively discipline all subordinates and superiors and obviate or overcome the roles of political conflict, collective action, and leadership in an organisation. Applying game theory to the analysis of the roles of cooperation and political leadership in organisational hierarchies, he concludes that the organisation whose managers can inspire cooperation and the transcendence of short-term interest in its employees enjoys a competitive advantage.
Stochastic Frontier Analysis
Authors: Kumbhakar Subal C. , Lovell C. A. Knox
Published: June 2012

Modern textbook presentations of production economics typically treat producers as successful optimizers. Conventional econometric practice has generally followed this paradigm, and least squares based regression techniques have been used to estimate production, cost, profit and other functions. In such a framework deviations from maximum output, from minimum cost and cost minimizing input demands, and from maximum profit and profit maximizing output supplies and input demands, are attributed exclusively to random statistical noise. However casual empiricism and the business press both make persuasive cases for the argument that, although producers may indeed attempt to optimize, they do not always succeed. This book develops econometric techniques for the estimation of production, cost and profit frontiers, and for the estimation of the technical and economic efficiency with which producers approach these frontiers. Since these frontiers envelop rather than intersect the data, and since the authors continue to maintain the traditional econometric belief in the presence of external forces contributing to random statistical noise, the work is titled Stochastic Frontier Analysis.
Warrior Rule in Japan
Authors: Jansen Marius
Published: June 2012

Japan was ruled by warriors for the better part of a millenium. From the twelfth to the nineteenth century its political history was dominated by the struggle of competing leagues of fighting men. This paperback volume, comprised of chapters taken from volumes 3 and 4 of The Cambridge History of Japan, traces the institutional development of warrior rule and dominance. Fourteenth-century warfare weakened the aristocratic and clerical control over provincial estates, and the power of military governors grew steadily. By the eighteenth century, however, warrior rule had come full circle. Centuries of peace brought a transformation and bureaucratization of the samurai class. Although samurai malcontents resisted the Meiji Restoration, many of the Meiji government's leaders were former samurai, and warrior values remained central to the ethical code of modern Japan.
Analytical Politics
Authors: Hinich Melvin J. , Munger Michael C.
Published: June 2012

To 'analyse' means to break into components and understand. But new readers find modern mathematical theories of politics so inaccessible that analysis is difficult. Where does one start? Analytical Politics is an introduction to analytical theories of politics, explicitly designed both for the interested professional and students in political science. We cannot evaluate how well governments perform without some baseline for comparison: what should governments be doing? This book focuses on the role of the 'center' in politics, drawing from the classical political theories of Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau, and others. The main questions in Analytical Politics involve the existence and stability of the center; when does it exist? When should the center guide policy? How do alternative voting rules help in discovering the center? An understanding of the work reviewed here is essential for anyone who hopes to evaluate the performance or predict the actions of democratic governments.
Corruption and Government
Authors: Rose-Ackerman Susan
Published: June 2012

This book suggests how high levels of corruption limit investment and growth can lead to ineffective government. Developing countries and those making a transition from socialism are particularly at risk, but corruption is a worldwide phenomenon. Corruption creates economic inefficiencies and inequities, but reforms are possible to reduce the material benefits from payoffs. Corruption is not just an economic problem, however; it is also intertwined with politics. Reform may require changes in both constitutional structures and the underlying relationship of the market and the state. Effective reform cannot occur unless both the international community and domestic political leaders support change. No single 'blueprint' is possible, but the primary goal should be to reduce the gains from paying and receiving bribes, not simply to remove 'bad apples'.
Engines
Authors: Lumley John L.
Published: June 2012

The internal combustion engine that powers the modern automobile has changed very little from its initial design of some eighty years ago. Unlike many high tech advances, engine design still depends on an understanding of basic fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. This text offers a fresh approach to the study of engines, with an emphasis on design and on fluid dynamics. Professor Lumley, a renowned fluid dynamicist, provides a lucid explanation of how air and fuel are mixed, how they get into the engine, what happens to them there, and how they get out again. Particular attention is given to the complex issue of pollution. Examples are taken from the early days of engine design, as well as the latest designs, such as stratified charge gasoline direct injection engines. It is intended that the text be used in conjunction with the Stanford Engine Simulation Program (ESP). This user-friendly, interactive software tool answers a significant need not addressed by other texts on engines.
Homosexuality and the Crisis of Anglicanism
Authors: Sachs William L.
Published: June 2012

The Anglican conflict over homosexuality has drawn worldwide interest and divided the church. However, conflict within Christianity is not new. This book traces the steps by which the crisis emerged, and reveals the deeper debates within the church which underlie both the current controversy and much earlier splits. William L. Sachs contends that the present debate did not begin with opposition to homosexuality or in advocacy of it. He argues that, like past tensions, it originates in the diverging local contexts in which the faith is practised, and their differing interpretations of authority and communion. In the aftermath of colonialism, activists and reformers have taken on prominent roles for and against the status quo. The crisis reveals a Church in search of a new, global consensus about the appropriate forms of belief and mission.
Global vorticity shedding for a shrinking cylinder
Authors: Weymouth G. D. , Triantafyllou M. S.
Published: June 2012

We study numerically the viscous flow around a steadily moving two-dimensional cylinder undergoing a rapid reduction in its diameter as a model problem for force production through shape change which is encountered in the locomotion of certain animals. We consider first the case of a rapidly collapsing circular cylinder in steady translation, starting from an original diameter and reaching a final, smaller diameter under prescribed kinematics. We show that the difference in added mass energy is recovered by the body, and the boundary layer vorticity is reduced through annihilation with opposite-sign vorticity generated during the reduction phase. Next we consider a steadily moving circular cylinder which undergoes rapid but orderly melting, resulting in the same reduction of its diameter but which exhibits radically different flow patterns compared to the collapsing cylinder. The original vorticity in the boundary layer is shed instantaneously and globally in the fluid at the start of the melting phase, and then rapidly rolls up to form a pair of strong vortices, which contain the energy difference between the original and final cylinder states. The formation of the vortices in the melting cylinder takes less than a third of the time required by a rigid translating cylinder to form such vortices.
Finally, Our OwnBrown! (?)
Authors: Bitton Yifat
Published: June 2012

The decision inNoar Kahalacha, an anti-segregation in education case that was recently delivered by the Israeli High Court of Justice, has been ‘naturally’ celebrated as the ‘IsraeliBrown’. But is it? This article points to the differences between the monumental US Supreme Court decision ofBrownand the IsraeliBrown-equivalent –Noar Kahalacha. It contends that the two cases bear differences that stem from the divergent patterns of discrimination they represent, and that they reflect these differences squarely. The discrimination patterns reflected by the cases differ by virtue of traits that are traditionally overlooked in antidiscrimination theoretical analysis. Comparing the two cases, therefore, allows us an opportunity to revisit the notion of discrimination and its antidote, antidiscrimination. Drawing on the dichotomous concepts of de jure/de facto discrimination and difference/sameness discrimination, the article shows how these dual theoretical notions are determinative in shaping the distinctiveness of each of these cases. While the African American victims inBrownwere easily recognised as a distinctive group suffering from de jure discrimination, the Mizrahi victims inNoar Kahalacha– who suffer from de facto discrimination within a Jewish hegemonic society – lacked such clear recognition. Accordingly, the discrimination narrative thatNoar Kahalachaprovides is very incomplete and carries only limited potential for effective application in future struggles to eliminate discriminatory practices against Mizrahis in Israel.Brown, on the other hand, carries a converse trait. Though criticised,Brown, nevertheless, strongly signifies the recognition by White America of its overarching discriminatory practices, and implies a genuine dedication to break from it. This understanding further illuminates the limitations embedded in the possibility of ‘importing’ highly contextual antidiscrimination jurisprudence from abroad into our system's highly contextual reality of discrimination.
Localising Religion in a Jewish State
Authors: Blank Yishai
Published: June 2012

Cities in Israel are regulating religion and controlling religious liberty. They decide whether to close down roads during the Sabbath, whether to limit the selling of pork meat within their jurisdiction, whether to prohibit sex stores from opening, and whether to allocate budgets and lands to religious activities. They do all that by using their regular local powers as well as special enablement laws which the Israeli parliament enacts from time to time. The immediacy of these issues, the fact that the traditional powers – business licensing, traffic and road control, spending, and more – of local authorities touch upon many of them, and the inability of central government to obtain a nationwide consensus over religious matters have caused the localisation of religious liberty in Israel. In addition, some legal rules induce and even force religious-based residential segregation, thus resulting in a relative religious homogeneity of local populations. Hence, cities are able to decide to advance a religious – or a secular – agenda much more easily than the national councils. This process, however, has gone unnoticed by most scholars and courts. As a result, religious liberty doctrine has failed to live up to the challenges Israel is now facing: growing religious and national extremism and the ensuing risk of fragmentation and oppression of minorities. This article shifts the focus from the role of central government in regulating religion to that of cities. I argue that the particular form of decentralisation of religious liberty in Israel has a mixed outcome: it has helped to weaken the monopoly of orthodox Judaism in some locations and enabled diverse communities to flourish and express their unique religious vision; but it has also radicalised some religious practices, exacerbated tensions among competing religions and denominations, heightened religious-based residential segregation and jeopardised minorities.
Reflections on Proportionality, Military Necessity and the Clausewitzian War
Authors: Giladi Rotem M
Published: June 2012

This article explores the significance of the reference, in proportionality analyses, to proper purpose and legitimate ends, given the traditional aversion of international humanitarian law (IHL) to questions of (political) legitimacy. It demonstrates the centrality of that aversion in doctrinal assertions concerning the goals, characteristics and operational strategy of IHL yet argues that, at its historical and conceptual foundations, the law draws on a construction of war that presupposes legitimacy of the political type. That construction remains embedded, though implicit, in contemporary proportionality analyses.

Thus, the instrumental understanding of war by Carl von Clausewitz poses several challenges to entrenched contemporary doctrinal claims about the law, how it operates and the effects it produces. This provides an impetus for critical reassessment of the aversion to politics and the interaction between the humanitarian, military and political spheres in the operation of IHL norms. Such critique helps to identify novel strategies of humanitarian protection in war outside the confines demarcated by orthodox doctrine.
Operation Neptune's Spear: The Lawful Killing of Osama Bin Laden
Authors: Wallace David A
Published: June 2012

The reactions to the reports of Osama bin Laden's death were many: shock, relief, joy, wariness, elation, reservation. Not surprisingly, an intense debate soon emerged over the legality of killing Osama bin Laden. Critics – including the authors of the article, ‘Has “Justice Been Done”? The Legality of Bin Laden's Killing under International Law’, Kai Ambos and Josef Alkatout – raise many interesting and thought-provoking questions. The purpose of this submission is to respond to the arguments of Ambos and Alkatout. This response article argues that the killing of Osama bin Laden was lawful under international humanitarian law. More specifically, a careful legal analysis demonstrates that a non-international armed conflict exists between the United States and Al Qaeda. The evidence overwhelmingly establishes that Al Qaeda is an organised armed group under international humanitarian law. Osama bin Laden most accurately could be thought of as a strategic level commander of Al Qaeda. He has been actively involved in planning and co-ordinating armed attacks against military and civilian targets for years, including the most recent planning of attacks commemorating the tenth anniversary of September 11. As such, he is clearly targetable under international law. Finally, the United States was well within its rights under international law to launch an attack into Pakistan against bin Laden.
Geoarchaeological importance of sub-Arctic bird perches dated by lee side turf mound accumulation and identified by lichen plumes
Authors: Julig P.J. , Mahaney W.C. , Kalm V. , Earl-Goulet J.R.
Published: June 2012

Organic-rich turf mounds, fertilised with bird droppings, may develop in the lee of obstacles, including either natural or human-made structures, boulders and rock cairns in exposed mountain and sub-Arctic and Arctic periglacial/proglacial environments. These boulder-leeside deposits consist mainly of organic materials intermixed with loess trapped in baffling agents (turf), and may sometimes contain archaeological features. Certain animal and bird species may also contribute to turf-mounds by frequenting these locations. Boulders and other natural and human-made obstructions are observed to have lichen plumes, principally Xanthoria spp?, lacing the tops and downwind side of the mound and fertilised by defecating birds and mammals. Turf mounds, consisting of organic soil, can be used for both relative and chronometric age dating, the buried peat providing 14C dates for archaeological context for specific mountain sites when artefacts are recovered. In addition, field and laboratory analyses of soils provide important palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological information about the sites. Examples are provided from a field site in the Norra Storfjället in the Swedish SubArctic.
China in Copenhagen: Reconciling the “Beijing Climate Revolution” and the “Copenhagen Climate Obstinacy”
Authors: Conrad Björn
Published: June 2012

The contradiction between the astonishing dynamic of China's domestic climate policy agenda and its seemingly tenacious position in international climate negotiations presents a puzzle that, on closer inspection, reveals much about a nation at the crossroads, undecided which way to turn. The alterations in China's political interests connected to the issue of climate change are clearly evident in the domestic policy changes China introduced during previous years. However, China's leadership thus far has remained hesitant to translate this new set of interests fully into a coherent position in the international arena. China's mounting difficulties in reconciling its rapidly changing role on the international stage with its altered domestic situation, as well as its traditional foreign policy interests and principles, undermine its ability to pursue a consistent and effective strategy in international climate negotiations. China's reluctance to redefine its role in the international arena has led to a number of inconsistencies that particularly plagued its position during the Copenhagen conference, adding to the overall non-constructive dynamic of the proceedings that ultimately left China, as everyone else, with empty hands. The Copenhagen negotiations demonstrated that China's leadership will have to address these inconsistencies resolutely if it wants to realize the benefits that international climate cooperation offers.
Deutsche Übersetzung und Validierung der Yale Food Addiction Scale
Authors: Meule Adrian , Vögele Claus , Kübler Andrea
Published: June 2012

Zusammenfassung. Exzessives Essen wird häufig mit süchtigem Verhalten in Verbindung gebracht. Bisher mangelte es im deutschen Sprachraum jedoch an einem Messinstrument, das spezifisch das Konstrukt Nahrungsmittelabhängigkeit erfasst. Um diesen Mangel zu beheben, stellt die vorliegende Arbeit die deutsche Version der Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) von Gearhardt, Corbin & Brownell (2009) vor. Diese Skala ermöglicht es, Menschen mit ausgeprägten Symptomen einer Abhängigkeit von bestimmten Nahrungsmitteln zu identifizieren. Die psychometrischen Kennwerte dieses Fragebogens wurden an einer Stichprobe von überwiegend Studierenden (N = 752) getestet. Die einfaktorielle Struktur der YFAS konnte bestätigt werden, bei einer zufriedenstellenden internen Konsistenz. Konvergente Validität zeigte sich in mittleren bis hohen Korrelationen mit anderen Maßen problematischen Essverhaltens, während sich geringe Zusammenhänge mit anderen, aber dennoch verwandten Konstrukten, wie Alkoholabhängigkeit und Impulsivität, ergaben. Weiterhin zeigte sich die YFAS als signifikanter Prädiktor für die Häufigkeit von Essanfällen. Die YFAS scheint somit ein brauchbares Instrument für die Erfassung essensbezogener, suchtähnlicher Verhaltensweisen darzustellen.
Messung der gesundheitsbezogenen Lebensqualität mit dem SF-8
Authors: Beierlein Volker , Morfeld Matthias , Bergelt Corinna , Bullinger Monika , Brähler Elmar
Published: June 2012

Zusammenfassung. Der Short-Form Health Survey SF-8 ist ein Instrument zur Messung der gesundheitsbezogenen Lebensqualität, einem wichtigen Outcomekriterium klinischer Studien und in den Gesundheitswissenschaften. Das Instrument ist eine Kurzform des häufig verwendeten SF-36, mit dem acht Dimensionen der subjektiven Gesundheit gemessen sowie zwei Summenskalen Körperlicher und Psychischer Gesundheit berechnet werden können. Der SF-8 wurde im Jahr 2004 im Rahmen einer bundesweit durchgeführten Mehrthemenbefragung eingesetzt. Basierend auf diesen Daten können erstmalig repräsentative Normdaten zum SF-8 (N = 2552) aus einer schriftlichen Befragung für die deutsche Bevölkerung vorgelegt werden. Die Referenzdaten werden alters- sowie geschlechtsdifferenziert berichtet und auf Zusammenhänge mit soziodemografischen Merkmalen analysiert. Seltene fehlende Werte in den Antworten weisen auf eine gute Akzeptanz des Instruments hin. Auch wenn der SF-8 in verschiedenen Subskalen mit Deckeneffekten behaftet ist, kann sein Einsatz aufgrund seiner Ökonomie empfohlen werden.
In Search of the Elusive Initial Model
Authors: Forgues Hugues Lortie , Markovits Henry
Published: June 2012

A key assumption of Mental Model theory ( Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991 , 2002 ) is that reasoners should use a minimal representation of the premises, called the initial model, in order to reduce the cognitive load involved in the processing of more than one model. However, there is no direct evidence for this postulate. In the following studies, we modified the ability of participants to process conditional (if-then) inferences in more complex ways by varying the degree of arbitrariness of the conditionals and by restricting the time allotted. Study 1 used premises with arbitrary relations with explicit negations in both terms in order to control for a possible matching strategy, with 9 s, 15 s, or unlimited processing time. Results show a significant number of initial model patterns, which increased with time. No evidence for use of a matching strategy was found. Study 2 involved arbitrary relations without negations, with 6 s or 8 s processing time. This study showed a significant increase in initial model patterns at the longer times. Study 3 used premises with familiar relations with either very limited processing times (5 s, 7 s) or an unlimited time condition. Results show very low numbers of initial model patterns in the three time conditions. Overall, these studies provide clear evidence that reasoners do use an initial model form of reasoning, and suggest that this is done mostly because of difficulty of processing more abstract content.
Balancing the Mind
Authors: Falconer Caroline J. , Mast Fred W.
Published: June 2012

The body schema is a key component in accomplishing egocentric mental transformations, which rely on bodily reference frames. These reference frames are based on a plurality of different cognitive and sensory cues among which the vestibular system plays a prominent role. We investigated whether a bottom-up influence of vestibular stimulation modulates the ability to perform egocentric mental transformations. Participants were significantly faster to make correct spatial judgments during vestibular stimulation as compared to sham stimulation. Interestingly, no such effects were found for mental transformation of hand stimuli or during mental transformations of letters, thus showing a selective influence of vestibular stimulation on the rotation of whole-body reference frames. Furthermore, we found an interaction with the angle of rotation and vestibular stimulation demonstrating an increase in facilitation during mental body rotations in a direction congruent with rightward vestibular afferents. We propose that facilitation reflects a convergence in shared brain areas that process bottom-up vestibular signals and top-down imagined whole-body rotations, including the precuneus and tempero-parietal junction. Ultimately, our results show that vestibular information can influence higher-order cognitive processes, such as the body schema and mental imagery.
Social Support Influences Preferences for Feminine Facial Cues in Potential Social Partners
Authors: Watkins Christopher D. , DeBruine Lisa M. , Little Anthony C. , Jones Benedict C.
Published: June 2012

Most previous studies of individual differences in women’s and men’s preferences for sexually dimorphic physical characteristics have focused on the importance of mating-related factors for judgments of opposite-sex individuals. Although studies have suggested that people may show stronger preferences for feminine individuals of both sexes under conditions where social support may be at a premium (e.g., during phases of the menstrual cycle where raised progesterone prepares women’s bodies for pregnancy), these studies have not demonstrated that perceptions of available social support directly influence femininity preferences. Here we found that (1) women and men randomly allocated to low social support priming conditions demonstrated stronger preferences for feminine shape cues in own- and opposite-sex faces than did individuals randomly allocated to high social support priming conditions and (2) that people perceived men and women displaying feminine characteristics as more likely to provide them with high-quality social support than those displaying relatively masculine characteristics. Together, these findings suggest that social support influences face preferences directly, potentially implicating facultative responses whereby people increase their preferences for pro-social individuals under conditions of low social support.
The Role of Self-Involvement in Shifting IAT Effects
Authors: Marini Maddalena , Rubichi Sandro , Sartori Giuseppe
Published: June 2012

Explicit measures can be affected by self-involvement in processing of a message (Johnson & Eagly, 1989). Here, we show that self-involvement in a counter-stereotypical message also influences implicit measures such as the Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). In our study, racial attitudes changed only after reading a counter-stereotypical scenario in which participants were asked to imagine themselves as victims of an assault as opposed to simply imagine an assault to a person. This shift did not depend on evaluative instructions and it was transient as it was no longer present after 1 week. These results suggest that the self-involvement might be an important factor in shifting implicit measures.
Cross-Modal Distraction by Deviance
Authors: Ljungberg Jessica K. , Parmentier Fabrice B. R.
Published: June 2012

Unexpected task-irrelevant changes in the auditory or visual sensory channels have been shown to capture attention in an ineluctable manner and distract participants away from ongoing auditory or visual categorization tasks. We extend the study of this phenomenon by reporting the first within-participant comparison of deviance distraction in the tactile and auditory modalities. Using vibro-tactile-visual and auditory-visual cross-modal oddball tasks, we found that unexpected changes in the tactile and auditory modalities produced a number of functional similarities: A negative impact of distracter deviance on performance in the ongoing visual task, distraction on the subsequent trial (post-deviance distraction), and a similar decrease – but not the disappearance – of these effects across blocks. Despite these functional similarities, deviance distraction only correlated between the auditory and tactile modalities for the accuracy-based measure of deviance distraction and not for response latencies. Post-deviance distraction showed no correlation between modalities. Overall, the results suggest that behavioral deviance distraction may be underpinned by both modality-specific and multimodal mechanisms, while post-deviance distraction may predominantly relate to modality-specific processes.
The long and winding TRAIL to weight loss
Authors: Blümer Regje M. E. , Steinberg Gregory R.
Published: June 2012

TRAIL [TNF (tumour necrosis factor)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand] is in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. In the present issue of Clinical Science, Bernardi and co-workers report that the administration of TRAIL in mice fed on a high-fat diet resulted in reduced adiposity and improved metabolic responses to a glucose and insulin tolerance test compared with mice without TRAIL. The metabolic improvements were associated with a higher rate of apoptotic fat cells and with a reduction in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These results suggest that TRAIL could be an exciting new therapeutic for treating obesity, but further studies are required to determine its major mechanisms of action.
Electrophysiological Indices of Phonological Impairments in Dyslexia
Authors: Desroches Amy S. , Newman Randy Lynn , Robertson Erin K. , Joanisse Marc F.
Published: June 2012

Purpose

A range of studies have shown difficulties in perceiving acoustic and phonetic information in dyslexia; however, much less is known about how such difficulties relate to the perception of individual words. The authors present data from event-related potentials (ERPs) examining the hypothesis that children with dyslexia have difficulties with processing phonemic information within spoken words compared to age-matched readers with typical development.

Method

The authors monitored ERPs to auditory words during a simple picture-word matching task. The key manipulation was the inclusion of both matching stimuli and three types of mismatches (cohort, CONE-
comb
; rhyme, CONE-
bone
; and unrelated, CONE-
fox
).

Results

Children with dyslexia showed atypical N400 ERP waveforms to both types of phonological mismatches, but not to phonologically unrelated mismatches, reflecting a relative insensitivity to phonological overlap among auditory words.

Conclusion

The data suggest that children with dyslexia have impairments in integrating phonological information into word-level representations. The results suggest that speech perception difficulties in dyslexia might have consequences for processing auditory words.
What Do Children With Specific Language Impairment Do With Multiple Forms ofDO?
Authors: Rice Mabel L. , Blossom Megan
Published: June 2012

Purpose

This study was designed to examine the early usage patterns of multiple grammatical functions ofDOin children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). Children’s use of this plurifunctional form is informative for evaluation of theoretical accounts of the deficit in SLI.

Method

Spontaneous uses of multiple functions ofDOwere analyzed in language samples from 89 children: 37 children with SLI, ages 5;0–5;6 (years;months); 37 age-equivalent children; and 15 language-equivalent children, ages 2;8–4;10. Proportion correct and types of errors produced were analyzed for each function ofDO.

Results

Children with SLI had significantly lower levels of proportion correct auxiliaryDOuse compared to both control groups, with omissions of theDOform as the primary error type. Children with SLI had near-ceiling performance on lexicalDOand ellipticalDO,similar to both control groups.

Conclusions

Plurifunctionality is not problematic: Children acquire each function ofDOseparately. Grammatical properties of the function, rather than surface properties of the form, dictate whether children with SLI will have difficulty using the word. Overall, these results support the extended optional infinitive account of SLI and the use of auxiliaryDOomissions as part of a clinical marker for SLI.
Modifying Speech to Children Based on Their Perceived Phonetic Accuracy
Authors: Julien Hannah M. , Munson Benjamin
Published: June 2012

Purpose

The authors examined the relationship between adults' perception of the accuracy of children’s speech and acoustic detail in their subsequent productions to children.

Method

Twenty-two adults participated in a task in which they rated the accuracy of 2- and 3-year-old children’s word-initial /s/ and /∫/ using a visual analog scale (VAS), then produced a token of the same word as if they were responding to the child whose speech they had just rated.

Result

The duration of adults' fricatives varied as a function of their perception of the accuracy of children’s speech: Longer fricatives were produced following productions that they rated as inaccurate. This tendency to modify duration in response to perceived inaccurate tokens was mediated by measures of self-reported experience interacting with children. However, speakers did not increase the spectral distinctiveness of their fricatives following the perception of inaccurate tokens.

Conclusion

These results suggest that adults modify temporal features of their speech in response to perceiving children’s inaccurate productions. These longer fricatives are potentially both enhanced input to children and an error-corrective signal.