bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design and implementation of synthesis prediction in RTL design
Authors: Noji Tamotsu , Shimizu Keisuke , Hamada Hideyuki , Nakamura Akira
Published: July 2007

Consideration is given to predicting the realizability of the logic synthesis and the circuit scale after the logic synthesis at the stage of the functional design before the logic synthesis. If this is realized, the manual re‐design part, as well as the execution time for logic synthesis can greatly be reduced, which is a problem at the present logic synthesis.

This paper considers the stage of HDL description (functional description) at the register transfer level (RTL) before the logic synthesis based on the hardware description language (HDL). It presents a method of synthesis prediction, which can predict the realizability of the logic circuit expected after the logic synthesis. In the proposed synthesis prediction, the expertise of the HDL description for the logic synthesis integrated into the knowledge in the database and the following functions are provided.

The synthesis possibility function determines the realizability of the logic synthesis using the constructed synthesis template. The guidance function transforms interactively the HDL description, for which the logic synthesis is decided as unrealizable, into the logic synthesis description for which the logic synthesis is possible. The predictive estimation function estimates the circuit scale (in terms of the number of logic gates) after the logic synthesis.

The proposed synthesis prediction methodology is applied to the HDL macrogeneration system. It is seen that the logic circuit as intended by the designer is obtained by the logic synthesis, and the predicted number of logic gates agreed with that of the circuit after the logic synthesis within ± 10 percent, in terms of the median value. The proposed synthesis prediction can be executed with more than 100 times higher speed compared to the actual logic synthesis execution time.
Obstacle avoidance travel control of robot vehicle using neural network
Authors: Kodaira Minoru , Ohtomo Teruhiko , Tanaka Atsushi , Iwatsuki Masami , Ohuchi Takao
Published: July 2007

This paper describes an intelligent travel control algorithm for a mobile robot vehicle using neural networks, and proposes a method that realizes path planning and generation of motion commands simultaneously. Smooth moving trajectories are controlled by the outputs of cascaded identification modules that have learned the dynamic characteristics of a mobile robot vehicle with strong nonlinearities of both driving force and steering angle. A system is adopted that mutually transforms the absolute coordinate and dynamic coordinate. Because a consequence of the coordinate transformation in this system is that the dynamic position values are normally zero, it is possible to reduce greatly the number of training patterns and, at the same time, to be able to construct an environment similar to that in which a human being drives a vehicle. A travel control system, by which a mobile robot vehicle can move on a smooth traveling path and avoid obstacles, is created by introducing a danger function as an expression of static and dynamic obstacles in an unstructured environment. Finally, the validity of the proposed travel control system is confirmed by computer simulations.
Utilisation of antenatal care by country of birth in a multi‐ethnic population: a four‐year community‐based study in Malmö, Sweden
Authors: NY PERNILLA , DYKES ANNA‐KARIN , MOLIN JOHAN , DEJIN‐KARLSSON ELISABETH
Published: July 2007

Background. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in use of antenatal care in a multi‐ethnic population in Malmö, Sweden, over a 4‐year period. Age, parity, cohabiting status, use of an interpreter, and tobacco‐use were examined to assess the potential effects of confounding factors. Methods. A 4‐year (2000–2003) retrospective community‐based register study was performed. Low‐risk singleton pregnancies (n = 5,373) registered for antenatal care at 5 municipal clinics and at the delivery ward at Malmö University Hospital were included, and divided into 6 subgroups by country of origin. The odds for utilisation of antenatal care were analysed by means of logistic regression. Results. Significantly increased odds of lower utilisation of planned antenatal care were found among some groups of foreign‐born women. Women born in Eastern and Southern Europe, Iraq and Lebanon, and Asia had fewer antenatal visits than recommended, and all foreign‐born women (except for women born in Iraq and Lebanon, and South and Central America) had a late first visit compared to Swedish‐born women. Foreign‐born women had, in general, fewer unplanned visits to a physician at the delivery ward, but women originating from Asia, Iraq and Lebanon, and Africa had higher utilisation visits to midwives at the delivery ward compared to Swedish‐born women. Conclusions. Foreign‐born women had lower utilisation of planned antenatal care. Approximately 50% of women had higher utilisation of care, by making unplanned visits to the delivery ward. This puts strain on both economical as well as staff resources. The delivery clinic at the hospital level is not intended to handle routine visits, and, moreover, some of these women do not receive the full benefits of planned routine antenatal care.
Success in intrauterine insemination: the role of etiology
Authors: AHINKO‐HAKAMAA KATJA , HUHTALA HEINI , TINKANEN HELENA
Published: July 2007

Background. We aimed to identify the prognostic factors for the highest pregnancy rate and lowest multiple pregnancy rate in different infertility etiology groups among women undergoing insemination treatment. Methods. A total of 1,171 cycles among 532 infertile couples were retrospectively studied and the impact of different prognostic factors on pregnancy rate in five different etiology subgroups was analyzed. Results. The pregnancy rate/cycle was highest (19.2%) among women with anovulatory infertility and lowest (11.9%) in endometriosis based infertility. Multiple pregnancy rate varied between 3.6% (male infertility) and 13.2% (anovulatory infertility). In unexplained infertility ovarian stimulation resulting in three follicles (pregnancy rate 24.2%) and inseminated motile sperm count >30×106 (pregnancy rate 19.8%) were significant prognostic factors. In anovulatory infertility stimulation with sequential clomiphene citrate and human menopausal gonadotrophin was a positive predictive factor, with a pregnancy rate of 36%. In male infertility stimulation with sequential clomiphene citrate/human menopausal gonadotrophin resulted in the best pregnancy rate (25.0%). In endometriosis‐based infertility the pregnancy rate was best with clomiphene citrate stimulation (21.1%) and inseminated motile sperm count >30×106 (24.3%). In combined infertility the highest pregnancy rate was with sequential clomiphene citrate/human menopausal gonadotrophin stimulation and with three follicles (30%), and even 18.2% with inseminated motile sperm count <5.0×106. Conclusions. The etiology of the infertility is important when optimal insemination treatment is planned. The impact of the woman's age, sperm count, stimulation protocol, and the follicle number on the pregnancy rate and multiple pregnancy rate is associated with the etiology of the infertility.
STAN, a clinical audit: the outcome of 2 years of regular use in the city of Varberg, Sweden
Authors: WELIN ANNA‐KARIN , NORÉN HÅKAN , ODEBACK ANDERS , ANDERSSON MONA , ANDERSSON GUNNEL , ROSÉN K. G.
Published: July 2007

Objective. To monitor and analyze (audit) the introduction of the STAN methodology in a district hospital. Design. Retrospective study covering the total population of deliveries at term during 2004 and 2005. Material and methods. 1,875 out of 3,193 term pregnancies (59%) were monitored using the STAN® fetal heart monitor (Neoventa Medical, Moelndal, Sweden) and the associated clinical guidelines. Cord metabolic acidosis, neonatal outcome, and rates of operative deliveries for fetal distress were recorded. Results. The overall cesarean section rate was significantly reduced in the STAN group. Emergency (crash) cesarean sections were significantly reduced from 1.51% to 0.27% in the cardiotocography‐ and STAN‐monitored groups, respectively (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.07–0.49). When cesarean section was performed only because of non‐reassuring cardiotocography, cord acid base was significantly higher, 7.26 versus 7.19 (p<0.01), as compared to when STAN guidelines were followed. Total population rates for operative deliveries for fetal distress and cesarean section rates were 6.7% and 3.5% respectively. The corresponding metabolic acidosis rate was 0.5%. Conclusion. High STAN usage in a busy labor ward setting provided an outcome equaling that noted previously in a larger academic unit, demonstrating the safe implementation of the STAN methodology in a nonacademic unit.
An Extension of the Conflict between Visualization and Reading
Authors: Brooks Lee R.
Published: July 2007

An experiment is reported which suggests that reading about a series of spatial relations and visualizing them are activities which interfere with one another. Subjects were given sentences which described a set of spatial relations. After the spatial layout described by a given sentence had been deduced, the subjects either read or listened to a final presentation of this same sentence. It was found that the modality of this final presentation influenced the speed with which the subjects performed a subsequent mental transformation of the spatial relations; the transformation was completed more slowly immediately after reading the sentence than after listening to it. This result confirms the subjects’ reports that their visualization of the spatial relations was interrupted by reading the sentence, but not by listening to it. The relation between the visual and the analogical aspects of visualization is briefly discussed.
Lateral Inhibition and Geometric Illusions
Authors: Coren Stanley
Published: July 2007

It has been suggested that lateral inhibitory processes, operating through the mutual inhibition and displacement of spatially adjacent contours imaged on the retina, may account for many of the classical geometric illusions. Two experiments were conducted, one using an alternative form of the Poggendorff illusion, and the other an alternative form of the Muller—Lyer, in which the adjacent contours necessary for the operation of the inhibitory mechanism were eliminated. In both instances the illusion was still found to exist, although somewhat reduced in magnitude. These results indicate that lateral inhibition may play a contributory role in illusion formation, but it is not the primary casual, mechanism.
Interpretation and Matching Bias in a Reasoning Task
Authors: Evans J. ST. B. T.
Published: July 2007

Subjects were required to construct verifying and falsifying cases of conditional rules in which the presence and absence of negative components was varied. Their responses gave some indication of consistent interpretation of the rules, generally conforming to Wason's (1966) idea of a “defective” truth table. Much of their behaviour, however, seemed to be determined by a task variable in the form of a tendency to construct instances which matched, rather than altered, the values named in the rules.
The Basis of the Primacy Effect: Some Experiments with Running Memory
Authors: Hockey Robert , Hamilton Peter
Published: July 2007

Five experiments using the “running memory span” (RMS) technique are reported, in which subjects attempt to recall a specified number of items from the end of long sequences of digits, presented at a rate of 2/s. In Experiments I–III critical lists are included in the series which are exactly equal in length to the specified recall series. Despite the RMS set, these critical lists exhibit (I) marked primacy effects, and (2) an impairment in recall of terminal items (a “rebound effect”), compared to the baseline RMS performance. The rebound effect occurs (Experiments IV and V) even when recall of earlier items is not required. These two phenomena are robust: they occur in different experiments in which, rehearsal patterns, report order, expectancies and retrieval load are controlled. The results suggest an origin for primacy which is of a perceptual (i.e. pre-storage) nature, and that selective rehearsal is not a necessary condition for the effect to occur. A possible role of habituation of the orienting response in this phenomenon is discussed.
UK Health Action Zones: Political Accountability and Political Marketing-Perspectives from the South West
Authors: Cole Michael , Cotterill Lesley
Published: July 2007

This article evaluates the accountability of the strategic layer of Plymouth Health Action Zone (HAZ) and identifies conclusions with a wider application to partnership governance. The structures of Plymouth HAZ are assessed in the context of horizontal, vertical and downward models of accountability. The study finds fundamental weaknesses in the accountability regime. Vertical mechanisms are superficial and often inappropriate. The impact of horizontal accountability is marginalised through factors such as informal networks of dependency and a culture that discourages rigorous scrutiny. Downward accountability is addressed through the dissemination of information about achievements. In particular, the study highlights the difficulties of relying on local partners as the main mechanism of accountability. Plymouth HAZ is also evaluated in relation to political marketing and found to possess a sales-orientation.
Preserving Space for Volunteers: Exploring the Links between Voluntary Welfare Organisations, Volunteering and Citizenship
Authors: Milligan Christine , Fyfe Nicholas R.
Published: July 2007

While contemporary social and political theory views voluntary activity as key to the promotion of active citizenship, this paper argues that the connections between voluntary welfare associations and citizenship are more complex than these discourses allow. Drawing on research undertaken in the Scottish city of Glasgow and debates about an increased bifurcation of the voluntary sector, it considers how the different settings within which voluntary welfare associations are organised can act to facilitate or constrain the development of active citizenship. In doing so, it focuses on the tensions voluntary associations face between organisational growth and restructuring in order to provide good quality services, on the one hand, and the positive engagement with volunteers and empowerment of local people on the other. It demonstrates how the drive towards organisational growth can result in disempowerment and the promotion of passive citizenship; however, it is argued, that this is not a necessary outcome. Organisations can and do address the need to deliver professional and complex welfare services while remaining committed to active participation.
The Regional Shopping Centre in the Inner City: A Study of Retail-led Urban Regeneration
Authors: Lowe Michelle
Published: July 2007

The West Quay shopping centre in Southampton is a prime example of a new wave of inner-city regional shopping centres in the UK-at the time of its opening being the largest centre of that type. This paper argues that West Quay has had a fundamental impact on the built form and urban identity of Southampton. Using detailed local research in order to reconstruct the story of the scheme, the paper demonstrates that the development which has taken place has been viewed by a Labour-controlled city council as strategically vital to the survival of the city as the south coast's leading regional centre. As such West Quay represents a prominent example of the shift in orientation in UK retail development and planning in the late 1990s towards a strongly urban regeneration-led focus, with cities like Southampton pioneering the link between retail and urban regeneration as a central component of a strategy focused on the development and promotion of successful places. In turn, the notion of such 'place building'-which has been at the heart of New Labour's urban policy agenda-has become entwined in current revisions of retail planning policy.
The Place of Home-based Enterprises in the Informal Sector: Evidence from Cochabamba, New Delhi, Surabaya and Pretoria
Authors: Tipple Graham
Published: July 2007

Home-based enterprises (HBEs) are an accepted component in the informal sector in rapidly developing cities. However, they have generally received quite a bad press, especially through a concentration on the exploitation evident in piece-rate homework. From our work in low-income neighbourhoods in Cochabamba (Bolivia), New Delhi (India), Surabaya (Indonesia) and Pretoria (South Africa), we assess HBEs with respect to the characteristics of the informal sector put forward in the literature. We examine our samples of HBEs against such characteristics as small, low operator incomes, informal labour relations and non-separation of production and consumption. We find that they largely conform to expectations. Incomes are low but they are very significant in poverty alleviation. Although many HBEs require few skills, a few compete effectively in international markets.
Interruptions: Testing the Rhetoric of Culturally Led Urban Development
Authors: Miles Malcolm
Published: July 2007

Since the 1980s, the cultural industries have gained a key role in strategies to deal with urban problems, seen as able to provide a new economic base in post-industrial settings. Cases of flagship cultural institutions such as Tate Modern or the Guggenheim in Bilbao imply that a cultural turn in urban policy delivers urban revitalisation. Following the turn in Glasgow's fortunes after being European Capital of Culture in 1990, it is easy to understand how city authorities and developers alike are captivated by cultural projects. But there are questions: is advocacy for the creative industries to be trusted? To what extent can policies and strategies which are successful in one city be mapped onto others? And to what extent do cultural producers, such as artists, subscribe to the party line? An increasing number of voices of dissent in the arts suggest an alternative approach to urban regeneration. This paper questions the rhetoric of the cultural industries and investigates emerging alternative scenarios.
Deconstructing the City of Culture: The Long-term Cultural Legacies of Glasgow 1990
Authors: Garcia Beatriz
Published: July 2007

This paper evaluates the success of the European Union City/Capital of Culture programme as a model for culture-led regeneration by assessing the long-term cultural impacts of Glasgow's experience in 1990. These cultural impacts, seen as distinct from economic, physical and even social impacts, are measured using soft indicators such as media and personal discourses. Assessment of cultural impacts is seldom undertaken and often dismissed as purely anecdotal in comparison with the hard evidence offered by established economic and physical impact evaluations. Here, this view is challenged and an alternative approach is offered in an exposition of the research design and main findings of a qualitative longitudinal study into the development of narratives around Glasgow's image and identity during the period 1986-2003. From this research, it emerges that the effect of regeneration on local images and identities is the strongest and best-sustained legacy of Glasgow's reign as City of Culture 15 years on.
Creating Urban Social Capital: Some Evidence from Informal Traders in Nairobi
Authors: Lyons Michal , Snoxell Simon
Published: July 2007

The poverty and dramatic alteration in geographical composition of African cities have been associated with rapid urbanisation, the growth of the informal economy and migration. The latter has separated individuals from long-established social and kinship networks, and from familiar livelihood strategies. The sustainable livelihoods approach views social capital as one of the poor's most important assets in managing their lives. This paper asks four central questions. (1) Does the creation of new, urban forms of social capital, depend upon and deplete inherited forms? (2) Is social capital deliberately created or is it a by-product of sociability? (3) What are its functions in supporting the livelihoods of informal traders? (4) Is there a gender dimension to the strategies adopted? The paper draws on interviews with 124 traders in 2 Nairobi markets, and on key-informant interviews. Principal findings are that, whilst traders initially draw heavily on existing inherited social capital, they deliberately create and adapt their networks, opportunistically building relationships of trust in the marketplace which enable them to survive. The pace of change is different in different economic milieux. Women and men adopt different strategies to achieve similar ends. Conclusions are drawn for social capital theory and policy.
Tourism Gentrification: The Case of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French Quarter)
Authors: Gotham Kevin Fox
Published: July 2007

This paper examines the process of 'tourism gentrification' using a case study of the socio-spatial transformation of New Orleans' Vieux Carre (French Quarter) over the past half-century. Tourism gentrification refers to the transformation of a middle-class neighbourhood into a relatively affluent and exclusive enclave marked by a proliferation of corporate entertainment and tourism venues. Historically, the Vieux Carre has been the home of diverse groups of people. Over the past two decades, however, median incomes and property values have increased, escalating rents have pushed out lower-income people and African Americans, and tourist attractions and large entertainment clubs now dominate much of the neighbourhood. It is argued that the changing flows of capital into the real estate market combined with the growth of tourism enhance the significance of consumption-oriented activities in residential space and encourage gentrification. The paper contests explanations that view gentrification as an expression of consumer demands, individual preferences or market laws of supply and demand. It examines how the growth of securitisation, changes in consumption and increasing dominance of large entertainment firms manifest through the development of a tourism industry in New Orleans, giving gentrification its own distinct dynamic and local quality.
Access to Employment for Adults in Poverty in the Buffalo-Niagara Region
Authors: Hess Daniel Baldwin
Published: July 2007

This study extends the spatial mismatch literature by examining access to employment for the low-income population in Erie and Niagara Counties in western New York State. The analysis uses geographical information systems (GIS) to map residence and employment locations and calculate measures of employment and transport access. Throughout the two-county region, two-thirds of adults in poverty live within close proximity to a reasonable number of low-wage jobs. The ratio of the number of jobs accessible within a 30-minute commute by automobile versus public transit varies only slightly across neighbourhoods with high poverty rates. The close proximity of the suburbs to the central city and the network of grid and radial streets connecting the two places make suburban job access reasonable. Thus, despite higher numbers of low-wage jobs in the suburbs, job access in the city is superior to job access in the suburbs due to higher densities of employment opportunities and the existence of developed transport networks. While poverty is highly centralised in the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, the analysis suggests that, based on the spatial distribution of low-wage employment and concentrations of poverty, central-city locations have significant advantages in terms of proximity to jobs. However, Black/African American adults in poverty have poorer access to automobiles than Whites, and, as a result, they may be able to search for jobs only within a smaller area. This study recommends enhancements to public transit in places with large concentrations of low-wage jobs and increased access to reliable automobiles in places with small concentrations of low-wage jobs. Above all, unemployment rates in low-income neighbourhoods suggest a need to enhance programmes to improve job readiness, placement and support services.
Global Cities and the Spread of Infectious Disease: The Case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Toronto, Canada
Authors: Ali S. Harris , Keil Roger
Published: July 2007

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Toronto and other cities in 2003 showed a heightened sensitivity of places in the global economy to rapid changes brought on by the acceleration of social and ecological relationships. The spread of the SARS virus may be a predictable consequence of these processes. The paper investigates how processes of globalisation have affected the transmission and response to SARS within the context of the global cities network. Little work has been done on the relationship of global city formation and the spread of infectious disease. Arguing that this relationship may be central to understanding the intricate capillary structures of the globalised network, the paper focuses on how pathogens interact with economic, political and social factors. These relationships exist both in the network and in global cities themselves, thereby posing new issues for public health and epidemiological efforts at disease containment and tracking.
High-rise Living in Singapore Public Housing
Authors: Yuen Belinda , Yeh Anthony , Appold Stephen John , Earl George , Ting John , Kurnianingrum Kwee Lanny
Published: July 2007

In recent years, amid the debates of sustainable development and urban compactness, there has been a widening interest to reintroduce high-rise living in cities. Several European cities including London and Manchester are once again building high-rise housing as part of their urban housing strategy. Elsewhere, in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are distinguished by their high-rise public housing developments. With nearly half of the world's population living in urban areas, the unfolding trend is towards a more urban-style development with taller buildings included as an inevitable housing solution. Drawing on findings from a study of Singapore public housing residents' living experience, this paper aims to look at the increasingly important question of the liveability of high-rise living by discussing the occupants' appreciation and concerns of high-rise.
Discrete Choice Modelling of Urban Housing Markets: A Critical Review and an Application
Authors: Yates Judith , Mackay Daniel F.
Published: July 2007

The housing choice literature is a vast area of housing research which has resulted in giant leaps forward in recent years in terms of its econometric modelling. This is due in large part to the significant increases now available in computing power allowing researchers to combine the latest advances in theory with empirical application. This paper brings together and critically reviews the housing choice literature and techniques that have been used to model the household's housing choice decision. The basic multinomial logit model is reviewed alongside the more recent advances in discrete choice modelling-the nested multinomial logit model and the heteroscedastic extreme value model. The various techniques are illustrated using data from the Australian census of 1986 and 1996 to model housing choice in Sydney. The results show that careful consideration must be given to the assumptions underlying any chosen modelling technique if one is not to draw misleading conclusions from the analysis.
A Forest for Each City and Town: Story Lines in the Policy Debate for Urban Forests in Flanders
Authors: Van Herzele Ann
Published: July 2007

This paper aims to explain how a forest-sector-based discourse-each city should have its own forest-could gain prominence in current land use debates and even come to produce a new set of spatial practices for shaping the rural-urban interface. To this end, the focus was on the genealogy of discourse-actor relationships over recent decades, including the 'translation' of discourse into various (non)-discursive forms. The genealogical discourse approach has enabled not only the taking of a novel perspective on contemporary policies and practices of urban forest planning, but importantly, the addition of some insights into the constitutive role of discourse. In particular, the paper questions what makes a story line effective (or not) in carrying forward a strategic idea along the various trajectories from concepts and ideas to actual implementation that are constitutive of a long-term policy process.
Transcriptomic Analysis of F344 Rat Nasal Epithelium Suggests That the Lack of Carcinogenic Response to Glutaraldehyde is Due to its Greater Toxicity Compared to Formaldehyde
Authors: Hester S. D. , Barry W. T. , Zou F. , Wolf D. C.
Published: July 2007

Formaldehyde is cytotoxic and carcinogenic to the rat nasal respiratory epithelium inducing tumors after 12 months. Glutaraldehyde is also cytotoxic but is not carcinogenic to nasal epithelium even after 24 months. Both aldehydes induce similar acute and subchronic histopathology that is characterized by inflammation, hyperplasia, and squamous metaplasia. Because early aldehyde-induced lesions are microscopically similar, we investigated whether transcriptional patterns using cDNA technology could explain the different cancer outcomes. Treatments included 1-, 5-, or 28-day exposure by nasal instillation of formaldehyde solution (400 mM) or glutaraldehyde solution (20 mM). Animals were euthanized and the nasal respiratory epithelium removed for gene expression analysis and a subset of rats treated for 28 days was processed for microscopic examination. RNA was isolated and processed for expression assessment using Clontech ® Atlas Toxicology II Arrays. Both aldehydes induced hyperplasia, squamous metaplasia, and inflammatory infiltrates with scattered apoptotic bodies in the epithelium covering luminal surfaces of the nasoturbinate, maxilloturbinate, and nasal septum. A subset of 80 genes that were the most variant between the treated and control included the functional categories of DNA repair and apoptosis. Hierarchical clustering discriminated chemical treatment effects after 5 days of exposure, with 6 clusters of genes distinguishing formaldehyde from glutaraldehyde. These data suggest that although both aldehydes induced similar short-term cellular phenotypes, gene expression could distinguish glutaraldehyde from formaldehyde. The gene expression patterns suggest that glutaraldehyde’s lack of carcinogenicity may be due to its greater toxicity from lack of DNA-repair, greater mitochondrial damage, and increased apoptosis.
Observer variation in computed tomography of the sacroiliac joints: a retrospective analysis of 1383 cases
Authors: Geijer M. , Gadeholt Göthlin G. , Göthlin J. H.
Published: July 2007

Background: Computed tomography (CT) for evaluation of sacroiliitis has a higher diagnostic accuracy than radiography. There is a high degree of interobserver variation in evaluating sacroiliitis on radiographs.

Purpose: To evaluate interobserver variation in CT of the sacroiliac joints for evaluation of sacroiliitis in a large number of patients.

Material and Methods: 1383 CT examinations of the sacroiliac joints were reviewed by two observers. The outcomes as originally reported and the findings from the reviews were classified as no sacroiliitis, equivocal, unilateral sacroiliitis, or bilateral sacroiliitis. The unweighted kappa statistic was used for assessment of observer agreement.

Results: The interobserver agreement between the two reviewers was good (κ = 0.6724), with excellent agreement on cases of bilateral sacroiliitis and moderate agreement on cases of unilateral sacroiliitis. Excellent agreement was also reached in normal cases. Compared to the original reports, there were moderate interobserver agreements between both reviewers' findings and the original reports (κ = 0.4651 and κ = 0.4481, respectively).

Conclusion: The interobserver variation for the diagnosis of sacroiliitis on CT between two reviewers in a study setting showed good agreement, with moderate agreement between each of the observers and the original clinical reports. CT is a reliable method for evaluating the sacroiliac joints for changes of sacroiliitis.
Versions of resistance history in South Africa: the ANC strand in Inkatha in the 1970s and 1980s
Authors: Maré Gerhard
Published: July 2007

Since the 1999 elections in South Africa the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has entered into a ‘coalition’ with the African National Congress (ANC) (now described as such by both parties) at both provincial (KwaZulu‐Natal ‐ KZN) and national levels of government. Such close cooperation, albeit largely at leadership and parliamentary representative level, would have been hard to imagine even five years ago, when the IFP refused to participate in the first democratic elections unless a range of demands were met by the negotiators in the transition process. Such confrontation reflected the vicious, state‐supported, war that was waged between IFP and ANC supporters in KZN and on the east Rand, in which thousands were killed and many more turned into internal refugees.

While any steps to attain lasting peace are to be welcomed, if the past is not addressed such moves may prove to be fragile. An aspect of the past is the relationship between the ANC, as movement and as resistance symbol, and the Inkatha movement of nkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi during the 1970s and 1980s. Inkatha's perception and presentation of ‘the ANC during this period is discussed. The argument is that Inkatha leadership had the opportunity, and not only the ideological pressure, to place the movement within an ANC resistance history, that was also populist, denying class and other divisions. However, Inkatha was never able to escape its political location with the KwaZulu ethnic bantustan, and the ANC was driven to an uncompromising position through the rise of internal resistance from the late‐1970s.
Child soldiers in the civil war in Sierra Leone
Authors: Zack‐Williams A. B.
Published: July 2007

This article examines the factors which have brought children into social movements challenging those wielding political power in Sierra Leone. It reviews the manner of their recruitment and the roles they have played in the civil war. The analysis is premised on the notion that peripheral capitalism has transformed the form of the family, loosening controls over children. With ongoing crises in both the economic and political realms undermining kinship structures and leaving children with little security, some have turned to surrogate families for protection, either on the street or in the ranks of combatants. Although some of the children who have participated in the war have been volunteers, thousands more have been abducted and socialised via brute violence by both sides.
Human rights & development in Africa: moral intrusion or empowering opportunity?
Authors: Mohan Giles , Holland Jeremy
Published: July 2007

Throughout the 1990s the debates about human rights and development have increasingly converged. The article asks whether the emerging human rights‐based approach to development, honed in the period of revisionist neo‐liberalism, can deliver meaningful improvements to the African crisis.It begins by outlining the evolution of the rights‐based development agenda in order to understand how the present agenda is defined. The next section examines the theoretical underpinnings of the current rights‐based development agenda and summarises two recent reports which place such concerns at their centre. From there we examine the implementation of rights‐based procedures in Africa and assess the moral and practical implications of the rights agenda for Africa. We conclude by arguing that the emphasis on economic and developmental rights should be welcomed, because it raises the possibility of cementing the right to a decent standard of living. However, the potential exists for the rights‐based agenda to be used as a new form of conditionality which usurps national sovereignty and by handing the responsibility for defending rights to authoritarian states the process does little to challenge the power structures which may have precipitated rights abuses in the first place. Finally, the emphasis on universal rights, as defined through largely western experiences, limits the relevance of rights to local circumstances and thereby effects another form of Eurocentric violence which seeks to normalise a self‐serving social vision. Hence, only by embedding discussions of rights in the locally meaningful struggles that confront impoverished Africans and by promoting broader and direct participation which, crucially, promotes self‐determination can a rights agenda more thoroughly promote African development.
Well‐oiled regimes: oil & uncertain transitions in Algeria & Nigeria
Authors: White Gregory , Taylor Scott
Published: July 2007

Oil has had a profound impact on countries engaged in transitions to democracy, often undermining the commitment of both local and external actors to democratization. Two African countries, Algeria and Nigeria, demonstrate how oil distorts the domestic regime structure and conditions the nature of international linkages. Key actors in the international arena ‐notably, former colonial powers, international financial institutions and transnational corporations — are inclined to support undemocratic, military regimes that supply oil, while simultaneously offering only rhetorical support for ongoing transitions. Paradoxically, despite the critical role played by international actors in sustaining undemocratic regimes, and their compromising effect on domestic affairs, the international norm of sovereignty is deployed to rationalise non‐intervention in domestic political affairs of the country.
Inside the EPLF: the origins of the people's party’ & its role in the liberation of Eritrea
Authors: Connell Dan
Published: July 2007

At the third congress of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in February 1994, delegates voted to transform the 95,000‐person organisation into a mass political movement, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). The congress gave the PFDJ a transitional mandate to draw the general population into the political process and to prepare the country for constitutional democracy over the next four years. Near the close of the three‐day conference, Isaias Afwerki, the country's acting president, surprised many of those present with an announcement that a clandestine marxist political party had guided the Front for almost 20 years and that it had been disbanded in 1989, shortly before the end of the independence war. Since then, however, there has been little public discussion of the historical role of the party or its legacy. Drawing on interviews with key participants, this paper explores the origins of what was known as the Eritrean People's Revolutionary Party and its impact on the liberation struggle during the nearly two decades of its clandestine existence. Questions I address include: How, why and by whom was the party formed? How did it function in relation to the Front as a whole? How did this change from the 1970s to the 1980s? And why was the decision taken to disband the party in 1989? Still to be examined is the party's legacy in the post‐liberation era and how its political culture and mode of operation shapes the contemporary political landscape.
Garimpeiroworlds: digging, dying & ‘hunting’ for diamonds in Angola
Authors: Boeck Filip
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Published: July 2007

This article offers a brief presentation of the diamond smuggling activities between the Angolan province of Lunda Norte and the bordering Congolese Kasai and (especially) Kwango region (and more particularly the administrative units of Kahemba and Kasongo Lunda. Over the past two decades these areas have become central in contributing to the ‘dollarisation’ of local economies in both Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, national currencies in the two countries lost much of their significance throughout the 1990s. Whereas the major cities in Congo and Angola have in many respects become ‘village’ or ‘forest‐like’, the ‘bush’ on the border between Congo and Lunda Norte is the place where dollars have been generated, and where villages have transformed themselves, at least temporarily, into booming diamond settlements.
Neocolonialism, economic dependence and political change: a case study of cotton and textile production in the Ivory Coast 1960 to 1970
Authors: Campbell Bonnie
Published: July 2007

Political and economic change in the Ivory Coast between 1960 and 1970 reflects the contradictions of capital accumulation in post‐war metropolitan France, transferred to the periphery. The weakness of the French textile industry after the war led to the need for overseas expansion and for State support. The role of the French colonial and Ivorian ‘independent’ states has been to strengthen the basis of the textile companies and their associates, the colonial trading houses, through legislation which gives the industry various tax concessions and protection against competing Far Eastern textile imports. The State has also carried out policies designed to increase cotton production for the companies and this has resulted in a decline in food production. The industry produces high priced goods which are beyond the reach of local pockets and has also replaced local artisanal production in some cases. Further the companies have expatriated their super‐profits abroad. While there are emerging contradictions between more advanced sections of the industry which are now manufacturing raw cloth in the Ivory Coast, and the old style ‘assembly’ companies which import semi‐finished cloth from France, it can be expected that the State will try to resolve these contradictions in favour of foreign capitalist interests as a whole.
Multinationals, workers and the parastatals in Tanzania
Authors: Loxley John , Saul John S.
Published: July 2007

Does nationalisation provide the answer to the increasing domination of the mncs? In the Tanzanian case, nationalisation has given the Government, through the ‘parastatal’ enterprises, control of a significant part of the industrial sector, but essentially decision making remains unplanned and uncoordinated. The parastatals remain at the mercy of the foreign technical expert, or of the management agreement with the former mnc owner. The development of an independent technological base requires not only trained scientists and technologists, but cadres committed to a socialist and self‐reliant development strategy. Nationalisation further means workers' participation and control. The parastatals in Tanzania have, as a result of Government control of workers' initiatives, remained closer to the mncs than to the workers.
Petty producers and capitalism
Authors: LeBrun Olivier , Gerry Chris
Published: July 2007

This article offers a preliminary theoretical framework for an analysis of labour in urban Senegal. The writers' studies of petty commodity and commodity production in Dakar—arising from which they propose to analyse the process of class formation and the class position of various sections of the urban labour force—require at the outset an analysis of the dialectical relationship between the dominant capitalist mode of production and the subordinate formsof production in underdeveloped countries. The term formof production is deliberate. Modeof production seems to the writers inappropriate, since it refers essentially to a totality which is self‐sufficient at both the superstructural level and at the economic base. Forms of production exist at the margins of the capitalist mode of production, but are nevertheless integrated into and subordinate to it. This article sets out to examine the processes and relations of production which characterise certain subordinate forms of production.
The Gaullist legacy: patterns of French neo‐colonialism
Authors: Joseph Richard
Published: July 2007

France has maintained an economic and cultural stranglehold on its former colonies, backed by a significant military presence. Far from being decolonised, the former French colonies have experienced an increase in French economic entrenchment in the post‐independence era. In important ways the mechanisms of French neo‐colonialism are different from those of the British.
Rape of sovereignty: OTRAG in Zaire
Authors: Kalamiya Kallu
Published: July 2007

In an amazing deal, reminiscent of King Leopold's assumption of the Congo as his personal fief, the West German rocket company OTRAG leased the entire southeast corner of Zaire, an area as big as its homeland. The use to which this vast territory is to be put seems to go far beyond the purposes of commercial launching of communication satellites. What drove Mobutu to make this outrageous deal? What are the terms of this contract and what do they imply for the people of the area and their resources? What is the legality of the contract?
Rural class formation and ecological collapse in Botswana
Authors: Cliffe Lionel , Moorsom Richard
Published: July 2007

After some early colonial impetus towards commodity production, Botswana was cast in the role of a stagnant labour supply economy from which it has been only partially rescued by the expansion of cattle exports and mining in the post‐Independence area. This form of capitalist development has been built upon and in turn shaped by the class structure of the pre‐colonial Tswana states. The particular and interrelated consequences for rural Botswana that are explored in this article are 1) a pattern of class formation in which a substantial class of large ranchers have gained dramatically, and some rich peasant agriculturalists significantly, which has emerged largely from a former ruling class and its vassals and clients at the expense of former serfs and commoners, who are becoming an impoverished and partially proletarianized caste of poor peasants; 2) a worsening of the position of women in peasant households, as a result of migrant labour, an increased burden of labour and of responsibility for all aspects of reproduction of the family, at the same time as they are faced with decreasing access to the crucial means of production; 3) a general decline in the food producing capability, especially of the poor peasants, closely linked to a disturbing ‘collapse’ of an often fragile ecology.
Capitalist organization of production through non‐capitalist relations: women's role in a pilot resettlement in Upper Volta
Authors: Conti Anna
Published: July 2007

In Upper Volta, pilot resettlement schemes for the Volta Valley Authority, designed as models for some multi‐million dollar projects financed by the World Bank and others, have been found to be nearly intolerable to the women because of the lack of basic facilities, such as market places, land to grow the family food, village wells, grain mills and other facilities regarded as essentials in their home village. Many women have insisted on leaving. Getting to see the invisible women’, The Economist,April 1979).

In examining why there should be the reported resistance by women, this analysis of one pilot scheme in Upper Volta shows how it is essentially a capital‐enterprise that utilises not wage labour but scheme ‘members’. The scheme's profitability is thus premised upon a certain, ‘nuclear’ family structure, which in turn presupposes a much greater burden on women than is customary in Voltaic society.