bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Focus Operators on Syntactic Processing of Short Relative Clause Sentences
Authors: Paterson Kevin B. , Liversedge Simon P. , Underwood Geoffrey
Published: September 2011

Ni, Crain, and Shankweiler (1996) present evidence to suggest that the focus operator only can guide how reduced relative clause sentences are initially parsed. In this paper, we demonstrate that this does not hold for relative clause sentences that start with a noun-phrase, verb, noun-phrase construction. We report an eye movement study in which subjects read reduced and unreduced sentences of this type with and without the focus operator only. There were longer first-pass reading times in the critical region of reduced sentences than in the same region of unreduced sentences, regardless of the inclusion of only. Furthermore, readers spent less time re-inspecting portions of text after being garden pathed when reading reduced relative clause sentences that contained the focus operator than when reading reduced relative clause sentences that did not. We conclude that subjects initially syntactically misanalysed reduced relative clause sentences with and without only, and the inclusion of a focus operator facilitated recovery procedures rather than guiding initial parsing. These results are inconsistent with the referential theory and undermine the conclusions of Ni et al. (1996).
The Effect of Imageability and Predicability of Cues in Autobiographical Memory
Authors: Williams J.M.G. , Healy H.G. , Ellis N.C.
Published: September 2011

Four experiments investigated the role of imagery in the recollection of autobiographical memories. The first two experiments examined the effects of word imageability and word frequency on the retrieval of personal memories in a cued autobiographical memory task. They showed that the imageability of cues (but not frequency) mediates specificity in the recall of personal memories. Experiment 2 explored how different imagery modalities (visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory, and motor) influence autobiographical retrieval. Consistent with research on imagery modalities in verbal learning paradigms, visual imageability emerged as the most significant predictor of specificity. Experiments 3 and 4 examined how far a knowledge-based account of imagery effects might account for these effects, using predicability as a measure of semantic richness of a cue. Results found that visual imageability of cues accounted for more variance in specificity of recall than did predicability. The results are explained in terms of the way images represent the most efficient form of summarizing the information that can be used at each stage of the recollection process: setting the retrieval plan, strategic search, and evaluation of candidate episodes.
Modulation of the Irrelevant Sound Effect by Organizational Factors: Further Evidence from Streaming by Location
Authors: Jones Dylan M. , Saint-Aubin Jean , Tremblay Sébastien
Published: September 2011

An irrelevant sequence of discrete auditory tokens disrupts serial recall markedly if successive tokens differ, but the disruption is less marked if the sound is repeated. However, the relation of stimulus mismatch and degree of disruption with serial recall seems to be modulated by organizational principles such as streaming by pitch and streaming by location. The current empirical work replicates the finding that the impact of changing sequences can be reduced if tokens are assigned to different locations in such a way as to form separate streams, each containing sequences of repeated tokens. This study shows that this phenomenon is not a consequence of reducing the number of tokens per stream.
Attentional Orienting in Two-dimensional Space
Authors: Hodgson Timothy L. , Müller Hermann J.
Published: September 2011

This paper examines how the covert orienting of spatial attention affects motor responses to visual stimuli. Premotor theories, as well as hemi-field inhibition accounts of visual attention predict an increase in response times when a target stimulus appears in the opposite direction to a spatial cue. Some models also suggest that this meridional effect should be increased across oblique meridians. Two types of cue (central and peripheral) were used to orient attention towards locations prior to the onset of visual targets. Simple manual (press button) and saccadic responses were measured. No meridional effects were found with peripheral cues, whereas central cueing produced meridional effects across all meridians. Cueing effects did not vary significantly with two-dimensional axis for either manual or saccadic responses. Increases in response time with cue-target distance were found for both response and cue types. For saccades, distance gradients were shallower moving distally rather than proximally from the cued position. However, simple manual responses did not show this asymmetry. Orienting to central cues also modulated the amplitude of saccades. The results are consistent with an effect of attentional cues in oculomotor centres as well as the existence of action dependent attentional representations. However, it is proposed that, rather than reflecting oculomotor programming, meridional effects arise from a directional organization within spatio-cognitive representations.
Visual Marking of Locations and Feature Maps: Evidence from Within-dimension Defined Conjunctions
Authors: Olivers Christian N. L. , Watson Derrick G. , Humphreys Glyn W.
Published: September 2011

Recently, Watson and Humphreys (1997, 1998) proposed that the selection of new visual events can be aided by the top-down inhibition of old information—visual marking (VM)—and that the mechanisms of marking differ for static and moving stimuli. Stationary stimuli are marked by location-based inhibition, whereas moving stimuli are marked by inhibition applied at the level of whole-feature maps. Here we provide a test of this “two-mechanism” account. We show that static items can be marked even when old and new stimuli contain the same features and so cannot be distinguished by activation within a unique feature map. However, moving old items could not be marked unless they possessed a unique feature (colour). Manipulations of grouping strength, both within and between distractor sets, did not affect the basic findings. The results support the existence of two mechanisms for VM and counter an object-based inhibition explanation of performance.
Automatic Priming Effects for New Associations in Lexical Decision and Perceptual Identification
Authors: Pecher Diane , Raaijmakers Jeroen G. W.
Published: September 2011

Information storage in semantic memory was investigated by looking at automatic priming effects for new associations in two experiments. In the study phase, word pairs were presented in a paired-associate learning task. Lexical decision and perceptual identification were used to examine priming effects during and after the study phase. There was automatic priming for new associations. The priming effect was greatly reduced when different semantic tasks were used at study and test compared to when identical tasks were used at study and test. The results show that new associations in semantic memory can be accessed automatically but are still context dependent. This suggests that rather than being abstract and static, retrieval from semantic memory interacts dynamically with the context.
The Effects of Distractor Words on Naming Pictures at the Subordinate Level
Authors: Vitkovitch Melanie , Tyrrell Lisa
Published: September 2011

Three experiments are reported in which participants are asked to name pictures at the subordinate level (e.g. POODLE) whilst ignoring a distractor word. In Experiment 1, the distractor words included the names of other exemplars from the same basic-level category (e.g. spaniel). Naming latencies were prolonged in this condition, relative to unrelated conditions. In Experiment 2, the distractor words included the correct basic level names (e.g. dog) and the names of related basic level objects (e.g. cat). Subordinate naming latencies were faster in these conditions than in unrelated conditions, suggesting that basic level names can be eliminated as competitors and that it can even be useful to have simultaneous activation of the correct basic level representation when retrieving subordinate names. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that when the names of subordinate objects from a related basic-level category (e.g. koala) are printed on objects, subordinate naming latencies are again delayed when compared with unrelated conditions. The results are discussed with reference to current models of object name retrieval.
Are Reaching Movements Planned to be Straight and Invariant in the Extrinsic Space? Kinematic Comparison between Compliant and Unconstrained Motions
Authors: Desmurget Michel , Prablanc Claude , Jordan Michael , Jeannerod Marc
Published: September 2011

Two main questions were addressed in the present study. First, does the existence of kinematic regularities in the extrinsic space represent a general rule? Second, can the existence of extrinsic regularities be related to specific experimental situations implying, for instance, the generation of compliant motion (i.e. a motion constrained by external contact)? To address these two questions we studied the spatio-temporal characteristics of unconstrained and compliant movements. Five major differences were observed between these two types of movement: (1) the movement latency and movement duration were significantly longer in the compliant than in the unconstrained condition; (2) whereas the hand path was curved and variable according to movement direction for the unconstrained movements, it was straight and invariant for the compliant movements; (3) whereas the movement end-point distribution was roughly circular for the unconstrained movements, it was consistently elongated and typically oriented in the movement direction for the compliant movements; (4) whereas constant errors varied as a function of target eccentricity for the unconstrained movements, they were independent of this factor for the compliant movements; (5) the instruction to move the final effector along a straight line path influenced the characteristics of the unconstrained movements but not the characteristics of the compliant movements. When considered together, the previous observations suggest that compliant and unconstrained movements involve different planning strategies. Our data support the hypothesis that unconstrained motions, unlike compliant motions, are not programmed to follow a straight line path in the extrinsic space. This observation provides a theoretical frame of reference within which some apparently contradictory results reported in the movement generation literature may be explained.
Cognitive Processes Underlying Observational Learning of Motor Skills
Authors: Blandin Yannick , Lhuisset Léna , Proteau Luc
Published: September 2011

There is evidence indicating that an individual can learn a motor skill by observing a model practising it. In the present study we wanted to determine whether observation would permit one to learn the relative timing pattern required to perform a new motor skill. Also, we wanted to determine the joint effects of observation and of physical practice on the learning of that relative timing pattern. Finally, we were interested in finding whether there was an optimal type of model, advanced or beginner, which would lead better to observational learning. Data from two experiments indicated that observation of either a beginner or an advanced model resulted in modest learning of a constrained relative timing pattern. Observation also resulted in significant parameterization learning. However, a combination of observation followed by physical practice resulted in significant learning of the constrained relative timing pattern. These results suggest that observation engages one in cognitive processes similar to those occurring during physical practice.
Eye Movement Control during Reading: Foveal Load and Parafoveal Processing
Authors: Schroyens W. , Vitu F. , Brysbaert M. , D'Ydewalle G.
Published: September 2011

We tested theories of eye movement control in reading by looking at parafoveal processing. According to attention-processing theories, attention shifts towards word n+ 1 only when processing of the fixated word n is finished, so that attended parafoveal processing does not start until the programming of the saccade programming to word n+ 1 is initiated (Henderson & Ferreira, 1990; Morrison, 1984), or even later when the processing of word n takes too long (Henderson & Ferreira, 1990). Parafoveal preview benefit should be constant whatever the foveal processing load (Morrison, 1984), or should decrease when processing word n outlasts an eye movement programming deadline (Henderson & Ferreira, 1990). By manipulating the frequency and length of the foveal word n and the visibility of the parafoveal word n+ 1, we replicated the finding that the parafoveal preview benefit is smaller with a low-frequency word in foveal vision. Detailed analyses, however, showed that the eye movement programming deadline hypothesis could not account for this finding which was due not to cases where the low-frequency words n had received a long fixation, but to cases of a short fixations less than 240 msec. In addition, there was a spill-over effect of word n to word n+ 1, and there was an element of parallel processing of both words. The results are more in line with parallel processing limited by the extent to which the parafoveal word processing on fixation n can be combined with the foveal word processing on fixation n+ 1.
Strength of Discourse Context as a Determinant of the Subordinate Bias Effect
Authors: Martin Charles , Vu Hoang , Kellas George , Metcalf Kimberly
Published: September 2011

Two experiments examined the influence of strength of discourse bias on lexical ambiguity resolution. Short passages were constructed to bias polarized ambiguous words (homonyms) strongly or weakly toward the dominant or subordinate meanings. Using a self-paced reading task in Experiment 1, it was demonstrated that in strongly biased discourse, reading times for homonyms in dominant discourse did not differ from those in subordinate discourse. However, when the discourse was weakly biased, homonyms were read faster in dominant discourse than in subordinate discourse. Experiment 2 combined the reading paradigm with a naming task in order to provide an assessment of specific word-meaning activation. Reading times on ambiguous words replicated the results of Experiment 1. In addition, naming latencies for probe words revealed that only the contextually appropriate sense of a homonym was activated in strongly biased discourse. In contrast, both contextually appropriate and inappropriate senses were activated following a weakly biased subordinate discourse, whereas only the dominant sense was activated following weakly biased dominant discourse. The results demonstrate (1) an immediate influence of prior discourse information on lexical processing; and (2) that the strength of discourse constraints can play a governing role in lexical ambiguity resolution. The results were interpreted within the framework of a context-sensitive model of lexical ambiguity resolution.
Egocentric and Exocentric Spatial Judgements of Visual Displacement
Authors: Sterken Yvonne , Postma Albert , De Haan Edward H. F. , Dingemans Alexandra
Published: September 2011

The role of changes in ego- and exocentric spatial relationships on perceptual judgements about visual displacement was investigated in this study. Subjects were asked to indicate whether a dot in a test stimulus was displaced compared to a dot in a reference stimulus. Subjects were given explicit instructions to report displacement relative to themselves (egocentric) or relative to a circle surrounding the dot (exocentric). Four types of test stimuli were used in which object-circle (exocentric) and object-observer (egocentric) relations were systematically varied. It was found that for test stimuli that reveal conflicting ego- and exocentric spatial information, subjects performed poorly in both instruction conditions. This suggests that ego- and exocentric representations cannot be used independently and are probably interconnected.
The 26th Bartlett Memorial Lecture from Truths of Bartlett to Illusions of Vision
Authors: Gregory Richard L.
Published: September 2011

This is an informal account of Sir Frederic Bartlett's department at the time I was a student and started research in the late 1940s and 1950s, developing some themes of his influence and how his ideas, with Craik's, have had a major effect on experimental psychology ever since. As one of the diminishing tribe of those who knew “Sir Fred”, it seems appropriate to make this quite a personal statement, representative of his influence on us, rather than a formal paper. His interests were very great, including not only memory, but thinking and social issues largely based on anthropology, as well as practical problems of selection for skill, and design of machines to be appropriate for humans. A “subliminal” theme is errors of perception. It is this that will be developed here as, following his influence as my teacher, this has been the central interest of my work, which took off from the Cambridge Psychology Department of that time.
Repeated Repetition Priming in Face Recognition
Authors: Lewis Michael B. , Ellis Hadyn D.
Published: September 2011

Prior exposure to an item can facilitate subsequent recognition of that item. This effect, known as repetition priming, has been found for the recognition of many stimuli including faces (Bruce & Young, 1986). Three experiments are reported, which investigated whether repetition priming is limited to the first repetition or whether subsequent repetitions continually act to increase the speed of face processing. Experiment 1 demonstrated that repetition can reduce categorization time for faces after the first exposure, and this effect is independent of practice effects. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the relationship between reaction time and number of repetitions fits a negative power function. Experiment 3 investigated how delay affects this power function. Delay was found to decrease the negative gradient of the power curve. The effects of priming and delay are discussed in terms of the predictions made by Burton's (1994) interactive activation and competition with learning (IACL) model of face recognition and accounts of automaticity.
Naming the Snodgrass and Vanderwart Pictures: Effects of Age of Acquisition, Frequency, and Name Agreement
Authors: Barry Christopher , Morrison Catriona M. , Ellis Andrew W.
Published: September 2011

Independent measures of age of acquisition (AoA), name agreement, and rated object familiarity were obtained from groups of British subjects for all items in the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) picture set with single names. Word frequency measures, both written and spoken, were taken from the Celex database (Centre for Lexical Information, 1993). The line drawings were presented to a separate group of participants in an object naming task, and vocal naming latencies were recorded. A subset of 195 items was selected for analysis after excluding items with, for example, low name agreement. The major determinants of picture naming speed were the frequency of the name, the interaction between AoA and frequency, and name agreement. (The main effect of the AoA of the name and the effect of the rated image agreement of the picture were also significant on one-tailed tests.) Spoken name frequency affects object naming times mainly for items with later-acquired names.
Mnemonic microRNAs help make memories
Authors: Leslie Mitch
Published: September 2011

Researchers find that two microRNAs prime the brain to learn.
Shinya Inoué: Lighting the way in microscopy
Authors: Sedwick Caitlin
Published: September 2011

Inoué’s innovations in polarized light microscopy allowed the first documentation of the mitotic spindle in living cells.
Identification, Management, and Clinical Characteristics of Hospitalized Patients with Influenza-Like Illness during the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, Cook County, Illinois
Authors: Metzger Kristen E. , Black Stephanie R. , Jones Roderick C. , Nelson Shaun R. , Robicsek Ari , Trenholme Gordon M. , Lavin Mary Alice , Weber Stephen G. , Garcia-Houchins Sylvia , Landon Emily , Parada Jorge P. , Gerber Susan I.
Published: September 2011

Objective.

To describe the identification, management, and clinical characteristics of hospitalized patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) during the peak period of activity of the 2009 pandemic strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (2009 H1N1).

Design.

Retrospective review of electronic medical records.

Patients and Setting.

Hospitalized patients who presented to the emergency department during the period October 18 through November 14, 2009, at 4 hospitals in Cook County, Illinois, with the capacity to perform real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction testing for influenza.

Methods.

Vital signs and notes recorded within 1 calendar day after emergency department arrival were reviewed for signs and symptoms consistent with ILI. Cases of ILI were classified as recognized by healthcare providers if an influenza test was performed or if influenza was mentioned as a possible diagnosis in the physician notes. Logistic regression was used to determine the patient attributes and symptoms that were associated with ILI recognition and with influenza infection.

Results.

We identified 460 ILI case patients, of whom 412 (90%) had ILI recognized by healthcare providers, 389 (85%) were placed under airborne or droplet isolation precautions, and 243 (53%) were treated with antiviral medication. Of 401 ILI case patients tested for influenza, 91 (23%) had a positive result. Fourteen (3%) ILI case patients and none of the case patients who tested positive for influenza had sore throat in the absence of cough.

Conclusions.

Healthcare providers identified a high proportion of hospitalized ILI case patients. Further improvements in disease detection can be made through the use of advanced electronic health records and efficient diagnostic tests. Future studies should evaluate the inclusion of sore throat in the ILI case definition.
Costs, risks and benefits in improving access to journal articles
Authors: JUBB Michael , COOK Joel , HULLS Daniel , JONES David , WARE Mark
Published: September 2011

This paper reports on a study – overseen by representatives of the publishing, library, and research funder communities in the UK – investigating the drivers, costs, and benefits of potential ways to increase access to scholarly journals. It identifies five different but realistic scenarios for moving towards that end over the next five years, including gold and green open access, moves towards national licensing, publisher‐led delayed open access, and transactional models. It then compares and evaluates the benefits as well as the costs and risks for the UK. The scenarios, and the modelling on which they are based, amount to a benefit‐cost analysis to help in appraising policy options. Our conclusion is that policymakers should encourage the use of existing subject and institutional repositories, but avoid pushing for reductions in embargo periods, which might put at risk the sustainability of the underlying scholarly publishing system. They should also promote and facilitate a transition to gold open access, while seeking to ensure that the average level of publication fees does not exceed c.£2.000; that the rate in the UK of open access publication is broadly in step with the rest of the world; and that total payments to publishers from UK universities do not rise as a consequence.
PEER: green open access — insight and evidence
Authors: WALLACE Julia M.
Published: September 2011

In support of investigating the effects of systematic archiving of authors' final peer‐reviewed, accepted manuscripts (green open access), PEER has developed a robust observatory infrastructure which has already successfully processed over 44,000 manuscripts. Technical challenges successfully overcome by the project include non‐uniformity of manuscript files and metadata formats, embargo management, and author authentication for repository deposit. Three areas of research investigating (i) author and reader attitudes and behaviours, (ii) article‐level usage at repositories and publisher platforms, and (iii) the economics of large‐scale archiving have been commissioned and are producing results. The baseline behavioural survey identified an increasing general awareness of open access, but a lower awareness of institutional and subject repositories. Perceptions were also found to vary depending on whether individuals were responding from an author or reader perspective. PEER itself has seen low uptake from authors when invited to self‐deposit into the project. Further results from all three research areas are due before the project ends in May 2012.
Open access policy implementation: first results compared
Authors: ARMBRUSTER Chris
Published: September 2011

Open Access policy implementation is a tough job. Policy pioneers have faced considerable challenges in meeting their own aims and achieving recognized success. Professionals charged with implementing policy typically need several years to accomplish significant progress. This is a study of first results from a small but significant number of cases with an emphasis on variety and on defining a methodological standard. All cases have been reconstructed through documents and interviews. The most salient issues of policy implementation are investigated comparatively, namely (i) the matching infrastructure that a policy requires; (ii) the issue of capturing content and scholarly compliance; (iii) how to provide access to the content and foster usage; (iv) and the benefits offered to authors. As the author is pivotal to any open access solution, this provides a comparative perspective for delineating a policy research agenda.
Book Reviews
Authors: PRATAP Anji
Published: September 2011

Publishing Law, 4th edn Hugh Jones and Christopher Benson Routledge, Abingdon, 2011, 363pp. 978‐0415575171, £34.99 pbk; 978‐0‐415‐57513‐3, £80.00 hbk; 978‐0‐203‐83817‐4, £34.99 e‐book
Book Reviews
Authors: CLARK Cindy
Published: September 2011

E‐books in Libraries: A Practical Guide Edited by Kate Price and Virginia Havergal London, Facet Publishing, 2011, 298pp. ISBN: 978‐1‐85604‐572‐8, £49.95, pbk

The 2011 Guide to Free or Nearly‐Free e‐Books Chris Armstrong UkeiG Publications, 2011, 150pp. ISBN: 978‐1‐870254‐14‐4, £29.50, pbk
Early Nineteenth-Century Liberalism
Authors: Jennings Jeremy
Published: September 2011

The broad outline of liberal doctrine across Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century can be easily delineated: liberals shared a fundamental commitment to individual liberty; to religious toleration; to limited government and the rule of law. Drawing on the discussion of forms of arbitrary power as a thread, this article highlights certain key themes in liberal thought up to the mid-nineteenth century. It focuses on liberalism in France and concludes with a discussion of liberalism in Britain, specifically with an analysis of the writings of John Stuart Mill. By way of background, the article first examines the account of despotism as rule by fear provided by Montesquieu in the mid-eighteenth century. It then shows how Alexis de Tocqueville was able to formulate a new concept of the oppression most likely to occur in modern societies. It does this by suggesting that we might take the concept of usurpation, formulated by Benjamin Constant, as a point of transition.
Citizenship
Authors: Bellamy Richard
Published: September 2011

Normative theorizing about citizenship has been dominated by three different models—the republican, the legal, and the liberal democratic—reflecting respectively the civic experiences of city republics, empires, and nation-states. The first two originated in ancient Greece and Rome. These provided the classical models of citizenship not only by belonging to the “classical” period of history but also in setting the terms of much later debate. The key contemporary debate surrounds whether we are witnessing the emergence of a fourth, cosmopolitan, model of citizenship appropriate to a global age, and how far it departs from these earlier three. Aristotle's Politics provides the canonical text of the Greek version of republican citizenship, with ancient Athens as the model. Legal citizenship has private interests and their protection at its heart. The sociologists T. H. Marshall and Stein Rokkan established what has become the standard narrative of the evolution of modern democratic citizenship. This article also discusses liberal democratic citizenship and cosmopolitan citizenship.
Equality
Authors: Wolff Jonathan
Published: September 2011

To trace the history of the concept of equality in political philosophy is to explore the answers that have been given to the questions of what equality demands, and whether it is a desirable goal. Considerations of unjust inequality appear in numerous different spheres, such as citizenship, sexual equality, racial equality, and even equality between human beings and members of other species. Ancient Greek political philosophy, despite Aristotle's famous conceptual analysis of equality, is generally hostile towards the idea of social and economic equality. Plato's account of the best and most just form of the state in the Republic is a society of very clear social, political, and economic hierarchy. It is with Thomas Hobbes that the idea of equality is put to work. This article explores equality as an issue of distributive justice; equality in the history of political philosophy; equality in contemporary political philosophy; the views of Ronald Dworkin, Karl Marx, and David Hume; equality of welfare; equality, priority, and sufficiency; Amartya Sen's capability theory; and luck egalitarianism.
Confucian Political Philosophy
Authors: Wong David
Published: September 2011

Confucianism is an ethics tied intimately with political philosophy. According to the text that is the most reliable guide to the teachings of Confucius, the Analects (Lunyu), he took the Mandate of Heaven (tianming) as a guide. The Mandate was formulated during the early period of the Zhou dynasty to justify the overthrow of the Shang dynasty and to legitimate the rule of the Zhou kings. The Confucian diagnosis of China's troubles suggests that the way out of the turmoil required a moral transformation led by the top ranks of Chinese society, a return to the virtue of the early Zhou kings. This article discusses Confucianism and its relation to political philosophy, the role of ritual in the cultivation of goodness, the concepts of ren and junzi, filial piety, the debate between Mozi and Mencius over filial loyalty versus impartial concern, family as the paradigm in a relational and communal conception of political society, the goodness or badness of human nature and its relation to morality, perfectionism and harmony, democracy, rights, and gender equality.
Fatalism and the Future
Authors: Bourne Craig
Published: September 2011

If the future is real, and the outcomes of chancy processes are “already” occurrent, then in what sense is the chancy process genuinely chancy? This topic is the fatalism issue. Discussed by Aristotle more than two millennia ago, the question is whether various logical principles, when applied to propositions about future events, imply that the future is in some sense fixed. If the future is like the past, and the past is fixed, then are future events fixed in the same sense? This chapter gives the latest on this traditional topic, carefully surveying various works and trying a new tack that steers away from fatalism. It concludes that it is difficult to find ways to rule out causal loops, and gives an account of the direction of causation.
The Flow of Time
Authors: Price Huw
Published: September 2011

Might the explanation of some temporal asymmetries simply be that time itself is asymmetric? Some people believe that time flows, and others that it is intrinsically directed. But what do such claims mean, precisely? This chapter considers three ways of understanding flow—through a distinguished present, an objective temporal direction, and a flux-like character—and finds them all wanting. It considers, in particular, the idea that the world possesses a time orientation, critically scrutinizing the theories of John Earman and Tim Mauldin on temporal orientation and time's arrow.
Time in Thermodynamics
Authors: North Jill
Published: September 2011

It is often claimed, or hoped, that some temporal asymmetries are explained by the thermodynamic asymmetry in time. Thermodynamics, the macroscopic physics of pressure, temperature, volume, and so on, describes many temporally asymmetric processes. Heat flows spontaneously from hot objects to cold objects (in closed systems), never the reverse. More generally, systems spontaneously move from non-equilibrium states to equilibrium states, never the reverse. Delving into the foundations of statistical mechanics, this chapter reviews the many open questions in that field as they relate to temporal asymmetry. Taking a stand on many of them, it tackles questions about the nature of probabilities, the role of boundary conditions, and even the nature and scope of statistical mechanics.
Time, Passage, And Immediate Experience
Authors: Dainton Barry
Published: September 2011

The specious present is the claimed temporal breadth in the content of an experience at a particular time. One's experience has a stream-like aspect to it. But how can this be, this chapter asks, if the world itself does not pass? Why does one's experience have this stream-like quality to it when time is itself not flowing? While making the eternalist world safe for the specious present, the chapter carves out and evaluates two contrasting understandings of the specious present.
Time, Topology, and the Twin Paradox
Authors: Luminet Jean‐Pierre
Published: September 2011

This chapter notes that the twin paradox is the best-known thought experiment associated with Einstein's theory of relativity. An astronaut who makes a journey into space in a high-speed rocket will return home to find he has aged less than his twin who stayed on Earth. This result appears puzzling, as the homebody twin can be considered to have done the travelling with respect to the traveller. Hence, it is called a “paradox”. In fact, there is no contradiction, and the apparent paradox has a simple resolution in special relativity with infinite flat space. In general relativity (dealing with gravitational fields and curved space-time), or in a compact space such as the hypersphere or a multiply connected finite space, the paradox is more complicated, but its resolution provides new insights about the structure of space–time and the limitations of the equivalence between inertial reference frames.
Time in Quantum Mechanics
Authors: Hilgevoord Jan , Atkinson David
Published: September 2011

Unlike classical mechanics, quantum mechanics assumes the famous Heisenberg uncertainty relations. One of these concerns time: the energy–time uncertainty relation. Unlike the canonical position–momentum uncertainty relation, the energy–time relation is not reflected in the operator formalism of quantum theory. Indeed, it is often said and taken as problematic that there is not a so-called “time operator” in quantum theory. This chapter sheds light on these questions and others, including the absorbing matter of whether quantum mechanics allows for the existence of ideal clocks. The second section notes that quantum mechanics does not involve a special problem for time, and that there is no fundamental asymmetry between space and time in quantum mechanics over and above the asymmetry which already exists in classical physics. The third section studies time operators in detail. The fourth section discusses various uncertainty relations involving time.
The Future of Political Communication Research
Authors: Vavreck Lynn , Iyengar Shanto
Published: September 2011

This chapter discusses the benefits of experimentation and looks at the future of political communication research, emphasizing the previous experimental work, as well as the creative manipulations, that have been conducted using online panels. It then studies two online election studies from 2008 in order to show the properties of the data and the samples, and, finally, reveals that Internet technology is currently redefining the methodology of political communication research and improving some of the basic weaknesses of the previous methods.
Critical Perspectives on Public Opinion
Authors: Herbst Susan
Published: September 2011

This chapter tries to present some background to the understanding of critical-theoretical views of public opinion, examining the major contributions since the nineteenth century, such as Karl Marx's writings on public sentiment. It then introduces the signature ideas of the Frankfurt School, Herbert Blumer, Antonio Gramsci, Jean Baudrillard, and Pierre Bourdieu, and ends with some thoughts on the future and value of critical work in public opinion, in light of the Internet.
Prospect Theory and Risk Assessment
Authors: McDermott Rose
Published: September 2011

This chapter discusses risk assessment and prospect theor, first defining and describing prospect theory and its contributions to literature in detail. It addresses the latest changes in the psychological literature on risk, and tries to combine the notions of emotion and affect into risk perception and management. The chapter also considers some opportunities for theoretical development, which include potential avenues of application to topics in public opinion research. It ends with a summary of the ways these lasting debates and controversies can help inform one's understanding of the processes of democratic governance and public opinion.
On the Complex and Varied Political Effects of Gender
Authors: Huddy Leonie , Cassese Erin
Published: September 2011

This chapter studies the political consequences of gender differences in public opinion among the American – and global – public, examining what is currently known about the nature, persistence, and origins of different gender gaps in political involvement and attitudes. It then discusses the role that gender stereotypes play in shaping reactions to political figures, and also includes a selective literature review which is focused on some of the main trends and findings within this research field.
A new definition for the mole based on the Avogadro constant: a journey from physics to chemistry
Authors: Milton Martin J. T.
Published: September 2011

The mole is the most recent addition to the set of base units that form the International System of Units, although its pre-cursor the ‘gram-molecule’, had been in use by both physicists and chemists for more than 120 years. A proposal has been published recently to establish a new definition for the mole based on a fixed value for the Avogadro constant. This would introduce consistent relative uncertainties for the molar and the atomic masses while making no change to the system of relative atomic masses (‘atomic weights’). Although the proposal would have little impact on the measurement uncertainty of practical work, it has stimulated considerable debate about the mole and the nature of the quantity amount of substance. In this paper, the rationale for the new definition is explained against the background of changes in the way the quantity amount of substance has been used, from its first use during the early development of thermodynamics through to the use of the ‘number of gram-molecules’ at the end of the nineteenth century.
Adapting the International System of Units to the twenty-first century
Authors: Mills Ian M. , Mohr Peter J. , Quinn Terry J. , Taylor Barry N. , Williams Edwin R.
Published: September 2011

We review the proposal of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité International des Poids et Mesures, CIPM), currently being considered by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférences Générales des Poids et Mesures, CGPM), to revise the International System of Units (Le Système International d'Unitès, SI). The proposal includes new definitions for four of the seven base units of the SI, and a new form of words to present the definitions of all the units. The objective of the proposed changes is to adopt definitions referenced to constants of nature, taken in the widest sense, so that the definitions may be based on what are believed to be true invariants. In particular, whereas in the current SI the kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole are linked to exact numerical values of the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram, the magnetic constant (permeability of vacuum), the triple-point temperature of water and the molar mass of carbon-12, respectively, in the new SI these units are linked to exact numerical values of the Planck constant, the elementary charge, the Boltzmann constant and the Avogadro constant, respectively. The new wording used expresses the definitions in a simple and unambiguous manner without the need for the distinction between base and derived units. The importance of relations among the fundamental constants to the definitions, and the importance of establishing a
mise en pratique
for the realization of each definition, are also discussed.
The watt balance: determination of the Planck constant and redefinition of the kilogram
Authors: Stock M.
Published: September 2011

Since 1889, the international prototype of the kilogram has served as the definition of the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI). It is the last material artefact to define a base unit of the SI, and it influences several other base units. This situation is no longer acceptable in a time of ever-increasing measurement precision. It is therefore planned to redefine the unit of mass by fixing the numerical value of the Planck constant. At the same time three other base units, the ampere, the kelvin and the mole, will be redefined. As a first step, the kilogram redefinition requires a highly accurate determination of the Planck constant in the present SI system, with a relative uncertainty of the order of 1 part in 10
8
. The most promising experiment for this purpose, and for the future realization of the kilogram, is the watt balance. It compares mechanical and electrical power and makes use of two macroscopic quantum effects, thus creating a relationship between a macroscopic mass and the Planck constant. In this paper, the operating principle of watt balance experiments is explained and the existing experiments are reviewed. An overview is given of all available experimental determinations of the Planck constant, and it is shown that further investigation is needed before the redefinition of the kilogram can take place. Independent of this requirement, a consensus has been reached on the form that future definitions of the SI base units will take.
The Avogadro constant: determining the number of atoms in a single-crystal
28
Si sphere
Authors: Becker Peter , Bettin Horst
Published: September 2011

The Avogadro constant, the number of entities in an amount of substance of one mole, links the atomic and the macroscopic properties of matter. Since the molar Planck constant—the product of the Planck constant and the Avogadro constant—is very well known via the measurement of the Rydberg constant, the Avogadro constant is also closely related to the Planck constant. In addition, its accurate determination is of paramount importance for a new definition of the kilogram in terms of a fundamental constant. Here, we describe a new and unique approach to determine the Avogadro constant from the number of atoms in 1 kg single-crystal spheres that are highly enriched with the
28
Si isotope. This approach has enabled us to apply isotope dilution mass spectroscopy to determine the molar mass of the silicon crystal with unprecedented accuracy. The value obtained,
N
A
=6.022 140 82(18)×10
23
 mol
−1
, is now the most accurate input datum for a new definition of the kilogram.
When should we change the definition of the second?
Authors: Gill Patrick
Published: September 2011

The microwave caesium (Cs) atomic clock has formed an enduring basis for the second in the International System of Units (SI) over the last few decades. The advent of laser cooling has underpinned the development of cold Cs fountain clocks, which now achieve frequency uncertainties of approximately 5×10
−16
. Since 2000, optical atomic clock research has quickened considerably, and now challenges Cs fountain clock performance. This has been suitably shown by recent results for the aluminium Al
+
quantum logic clock, where a fractional frequency inaccuracy below 10
−17
has been reported. A number of optical clock systems now achieve or exceed the performance of the Cs fountain primary standards used to realize the SI second, raising the issues of whether, how and when to redefine it. Optical clocks comprise frequency-stabilized lasers probing very weak absorptions either in a single cold ion confined in an electromagnetic trap or in an ensemble of cold atoms trapped within an optical lattice. In both cases, different species are under consideration as possible redefinition candidates. In this paper, I consider options for redefinition, contrast the performance of various trapped ion and optical lattice systems, and point to potential limiting environmental factors, such as magnetic, electric and light fields, collisions and gravity, together with the challenge of making remote comparisons of optical frequencies between standards laboratories worldwide.
The origin of biological homochirality
Authors: Blackmond Donna G.
Published: September 2011

The single handedness of biological molecules has fascinated scientists and laymen alike since Pasteur's first painstaking separation of the enantiomorphic crystals of a tartrate salt over 150 years ago. More recently, a number of theoretical and experimental investigations have helped to delineate models for how one enantiomer might have come to dominate over the other from what presumably was a racemic prebiotic world. Mechanisms for enantioenrichment that include either chemical or physical processes, or a combination of both, are discussed in the context of experimental studies in autocatalysis and in the phase behaviour of chiral molecules.
Mechanisms of RNA catalysis
Authors: Lilley David M. J.
Published: September 2011

Ribozymes are RNA molecules that act as chemical catalysts. In contemporary cells, most known ribozymes carry out phosphoryl transfer reactions. The nucleolytic ribozymes comprise a class of five structurally-distinct species that bring about site-specific cleavage by nucleophilic attack of the 2′-O on the adjacent 3′-P to form a cyclic 2′,3′-phosphate. In general, they will also catalyse the reverse reaction. As a class, all these ribozymes appear to use general acid–base catalysis to accelerate these reactions by about a million-fold. In the Varkud satellite ribozyme, we have shown that the cleavage reaction is catalysed by guanine and adenine nucleobases acting as general base and acid, respectively. The hairpin ribozyme most probably uses a closely similar mechanism. Guanine nucleobases appear to be a common choice of general base, but the general acid is more variable. By contrast, the larger ribozymes such as the self-splicing introns and RNase P act as metalloenzymes.