bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The inhibitory action of tamoxifen on the contraction of
Ascaris suum somatic muscle in response to acetylcholine
Authors: TRIM N. , HOLDEN-DYE L. , WALKER R. J.
Published: July 2002

The somatic muscle of Ascaris suum is principally under the excitatory control of neuromuscular junction transmitter,
acetylcholine (ACh). However, it has recently been shown that neuropeptides also play an important role in the motor-nervous system and one of these, AF3 (AVPGVLRFamide), also contracts muscle. The events which trigger contraction
to ACh and AF3 would appear to be different, with ACh activating a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor whilst the response
to AF3 is most likely to involve a G-protein coupled receptor negatively coupled to adenylate cyclase. In order to further
elucidate differences in the cellular signalling pathways through which ACh and AF3 elicit muscle contraction, we
investigated the actions of protein kinase C inhibitors, tamoxifen and chelerythrine, on the dorsal somatic muscle strip
of A. suum. Contractions in response to 1 μM AF3 were potentiated by 17% in the presence of 10 μM tamoxifen (P<0·05;
n=8); however, contractions in response to 10 μM ACh were markedly inhibited (tamoxifen IC50 44±18 μM; n=6).
Tamoxifen also blocked muscle cell depolarizations to 5 μM ACh (IC50 4±1 μM; n=6) and 1 μM levamisole (IC50
14±6 μM; n=4). This was unlikely to be a non-specific effect on the membrane as hyperpolarizations to 10 μM GABA
were unaffected (93% of control with 10 μM tamoxifen; n=6; P>0·05). However, another inhibitor of mammalian
protein kinase C, chelerythrine, did not affect the response either to ACh or AF3 (n=6).
Psychology and Human Behaviour:
Is there a limit to psychological explanation?
Authors: Dilman Ilham
Published: July 2002

Much of the popular attraction of as well as hostility to psycho-analysis, as represented in Freud's ideas, come from its iconoclastic, debunking character. What we regard as the higher things of life are, or seem to be, lowered, much of what passes as the normalities of human life are so represented as to appear under a disturbing aspect. Love is reduced to sex, human freedom is represented as an illusion, the human psyche is pictured as forever divided into warring factions with the poor ego trying to keep peace by appeasements, compromises and, where these fail, by evasions and defensive manoeuvres, but without a will or convictions of its own beyond its own preservation. Moral conscience is said to be the internalized voice of a repressive authority in perpetual conflict with unruly instincts. Freud, who named it the super-ego said that it was ‘the representative of all moral restrictions, the advocate of the impulse towards perfection’. He added that it was ‘as much as we have been able to apprehend psychologically of what people call the “higher” things in human life’.
Weinert's Review of ‘The Comprehensibility of the Universe’
Authors: Maxwell Nicholas
Published: July 2002

In my book The Comprehensibility of the Universe (OUP, 1998), I argue for a new conception of science that construes science as adopting a hierarchy of increasingly contentless cosmological assumptions about the comprehensibility and knowability of the universe. This view, I argue, solves outstanding problems about science, such as problems of induction, simplicity and verisimilitude. In his essay review of my book (Philosophy75, 2000, 296–309) Friedel Weinert criticizes me for defending a number of views about science. But, as I make clear from quotations from the book, I do not defend the views that Weinert attributes to me.
Feminist Criticisms of Metaphors in Bacon's Philosophy of Science
Authors: LANDAU IDDO
Published: July 2002

Francis Bacon has received much attention from feminist philosophers of science. Many of their discussions revolve around his use of sexist, or supposedly sexist, metaphors. According to Sandra Harding, for example, ‘Bacon appealed to rape metaphors to persuade his audience that the experimental method is a good thing.’ Moreover, she claims that ‘when we realize that the mechanistic metaphors that organized early modern science themselves carried sexual meanings, it is clear that these meanings are central to the ways scientists conceptualize both the methods of inquiry and the models of nature’ (ibid.). Carolyn Merchant asserts that witch trials ‘influenced Bacon's philosophy and literary style’. And according to Evelyn Fox Keller, Bacon's explanation of the means by which science will endow humans with power ‘is given metaphorically — through his frequent and graphic use of sexual imagery.’ Fox Keller concludes that Bacon's theory is sexist, but in a more troubled and ambivalent way than Merchant and Harding believe it to be. Thus, she writes that ‘behind the overt insistence on the virility and masculinity of the scientific mind lies a covert assumption and acknowledgment of the dialectical, even hermaphroditic, nature of the “marriage between Mind and Nature.”‘ (p. 40; emphasis added). Likewise, ‘the aggressively male stance of Bacon's scientist could, and perhaps now should, be seen as driven by the need to deny what all scientists, including Bacon, privately have known, namely, that the scientific mind must be, on some level, a hermaphroditic mind.’ (p. 42).
Which patients talk about stressful life events and
social problems to the general practitioner?
Authors: DEL PICCOLO L. , SALTINI A. , ZIMMERMANN C.
Published: July 2002

Background. Life events and social problems are common
in primary-care attenders and contribute
to the high rate of emotional distress observed in this setting but are
often not disclosed during the
consultation. Physicians' characteristics associated with patients'
disclosure of psychosocial
problems are well documented, but less empirical evidence is available
on the contribution of
patients' variables.

Method. Logistic regression analyses were performed on a set
of clinical and psychosocial data
from 319 primary-care attenders with stressful life events and/or social
problems in the presence or
absence of emotional distress, in order to identify the variables that
predict disclosure of such
problems during the consultation.

Results. Two-thirds of patients with stressful life events
and social problems had mentioned them
to their GP. In both sexes a positive attitude about confiding and emotional
distress were the best
predictors of confiding. In men they accounted for 76% of correct predictions
and, in women,
together with past confiding, long-lasting relationship with GP, and coexistence
of life events and
social problems, for 81%. A positive confiding attitude was related in
males to age and severity of
medical condition and in females to age and experience of past confiding.

Conclusions. In view of the high prevalence of positive attitude
towards confiding the efforts by GPs
should focus on the reduction of disclosure thresholds. This would require
increased abilities to
elicit psychosocial information and show emphatic understanding of patients'
life difficulties. By
contrast there is a need to promote a positive attitude in confiding that
concerns only a minority
of primary-care patients. More data are needed for shaping more specific
strategies for these
patients.
Religious beliefs and aspect seeing
Authors: VERBIN N. K.
Published: July 2002

This paper is concerned with the centrality of aspect seeing in
Wittgenstein's philosophy, with some analogies between religious beliefs and aspect
seeing, and with the implications of these analogies for the question of the
justification of religious beliefs. If belief in God is neither a hypothesis nor a regular
perceptual belief but rather a type of aspect seeing, then the kinds of proofs and
justifications that are applicable to it would have to engage the non-believer in a
manner that would help her experience the dawning of a new aspect. This is why
the standard philosophical proofs for theism, even when accepted as valid, are likely
to be unsuccessful in bringing about faith.
Paul L. Jalbert (ed.), Media studies: Ethnomethodological
approaches. Lanham, NY, and Oxford: University Press
of America and International Institute for Ethnomethodology
and Conversation Analysis, 1999. Pp. xvii, 284 [Studies
in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, 5].
Hb 57.00.
Authors: ten Have Paul
Published: July 2002

This volume contains nine chapters offering ethnomethodological
contributions to media studies. As such, it can be read
as a demonstration of what ethnomethodology can contribute
to this field. This raises two questions: First, what is
it that ethnomethodology has to offer? And second, how
well does the volume succeed in this demonstration?
Walt Wolfram, Carolyn Temple Adger, & Donna Christian,
Dialects in schools and communities. Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum, 1999. Pp. xi, 239. Hb $49.95, pb $24.95.
Authors: Cazden Courtney B.
Published: July 2002

This book is something we've needed for a
long time. It lays out what everyone – the public
as well as professionals in all fields – should understand
about dialects and dialect differences in our increasingly
diverse encounters. It is written with technical sophistication,
wise judgment, and a clear style, with rich examples that
make it accessible to students and clinicians (and maybe
even marketable as a trade book). LiS readers
may learn little new to them, but they can assign this
book with confidence to any class, and they can read it
profitably as a model of how to talk about this controversial
topic to non-linguists. Given this kind of book –
non-controversial to linguists themselves –
it seems most useful for a review to indicate the scope
of the eight chapters and Appendix.
Topography of CNV and PINV in schizotypal personality
Authors: Klein C. , Andresen B. , Berg P. , Krüger H. , Rockstroh B.
Published: July 2002

The topography of the postimperative negative variation (PINV) was analyzed in participants with high and low scores on the German version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. Scalp amplitude and Laplacian maps of the terminal contingent negative variation (tCNV) and PINV and the time course of the PINV were compared between the two groups. CNV and PINV were induced with a delayed matching‐to‐sample task, in which the pattern of the imperative stimulus was either clearly or ambiguous matched to one of the two diamonds simultaneously presented as a warning stimulus 4.0 s earlier. Electroencephalograms were recorded with a DC amplifier (32 channels). Negativity increased from tCNV to PINV, especially at frontal sites, and the PINV was larger under ambiguous than under clear matching conditions. Low‐scoring participants showed a right‐sided predominance of the PINV, which was absent in high‐scoring participants. These results resemble differences in the topography of the PINV between healthy control participants and those with schizophrenia under identical experimental conditions and suggest functional differences between tCNV and PINV.
Acoustic startle reflex in schizophrenia patients and their first‐degree relatives: Evidence of normal emotional modulation
Authors: Curtis Clayton E. , Lebow Boyd , Lake David S. , Katsanis Joanna , Iacono William G.
Published: July 2002

We investigated emotional disturbances in 36 schizophrenia patients, 48 of their first‐degree relatives, and 56 controls to determine if abnormal affective startle modulation could be associated with genetic risk for schizophrenia. Both patients and relatives had a pattern of startle modulation indistinguishable from controls, with potentiated startle amplitude while viewing negative valence slides and attenuation while viewing positive slides. Patients with flat affect did not differ from those without in startle modulation or slide ratings. The patients and their relatives had lower pleasantness ratings of positive slides and the patients had higher pleasantness ratings of the negative slides than controls. The startle paradigm may not be useful for identifying individuals with a genetic liability for schizophrenia. The results suggest that low‐level defensive and appetitive behaviors are unaffected in schizophrenia.
Lipid reactivity among men with a parental history of myocardial infarction
Authors: Stoney Catherine M. , Hughes Joel W.
Published: July 2002

In the current study, we examined lipid and cardiovascular responses to an acute stressor among men with and without a parental history of myocardial infarction. 37 men were selected from a large group who completed medical history questionnaires and interviews. Twenty‐two men who denied parental history of heart disease (negative parental history) were compared with 15 men with one or both parents who had suffered a myocardial infarction (positive parental history). Total cholesterol, high‐ and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, heart rate, and blood pressure were measured at rest and during a videotaped speech stressor. Positive parental history men had significantly higher low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and blood pressure at baseline, significantly lower high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels at baseline, and significantly larger total cholesterol and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol reactivity, relative to negative parental history men. Because parental history is a risk factor for subsequent cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, these data suggest that lipid reactivity to stress may be biologically important.
Analyzing the brain
Authors: Gouras Peter
Published: July 2002

Neural organization describes an approach to analyzing neural function in anatomically defined subsystems in the brain, the hippocampus, cerebellum, sensory systems, thalamus, basal ganglia, and cerebral cortex, combining information on neurocircuitry with mathematical models that link structure with function. It is an up-to-date source on the major schemes and background for neural modeling of the central nervous system and is combined with a Web site that includes tutorials and on-line modeling possibilities.
Instance-based manifesto?
Authors: Jelasity Márk
Published: July 2002

Page's definition of localism is inspired by the instance-based paradigm. However, the locality of representations is not necessary for a model to be instance-based and, on the other hand, explicit featural representations are generally considered local. The important distinction is between instance-based and noninstance-based paradigms and not between distributed and local representations as Page claims.
Sleep, dreaming, and brain activation
Authors: Franzini Carlo
Published: July 2002

Both Solms and Nielsen acknowledge the difficulty of accounting for the similarities between REM and NREM sleep mentation with a two-generator model, and each link dreams, either explicitly (Solms) or implicitly (Nielsen), to brain activation. At present, however, no data indicate that brain activation can be demonstrated whenever vivid dream reports are obtained.

[Nielsen; Solms]
Sub-optimal reasons for rejecting optimality
Authors: Shanks David R. , Lagnado David
Published: July 2002

Although we welcome Gigerenzer, Todd, and the ABC Research Group's shift of emphasis from “coherence” to “correspondence” criteria, their rejection of optimality in human decision making is premature: In many situations, experts can achieve near-optimal performance. Moreover, this competence does not require implausible computing power. The models Gigerenzer et al. evaluate fail to account for many of the most robust properties of human decision making, including examples of optimality.
Must all action halt during sensorimotor mismatch?
Authors: Merfeld Daniel M.
Published: July 2002

Gray's target article presents a model of consciousness that includes several ideas similar to those developed over the past century to explain how sensorimotor information is interpreted by the nervous system. This commentary discusses these ideas and introduces some additional hypotheses, also derived from sensorimotor investigations, that might help improve Gray's model.
What is embodied: “A-not-B error” or delayed-response learning?
Authors: Michel George F.
Published: July 2002

The procedures used to ensure reliable occurrences of the A-not-B error distort and miss essential features of Piaget's original observations. A model that meshes a mental event, highly restricted by testing procedures, to the dynamics of bodily movement is of limited value. To embody more than just perseverative reaching, the formal model must incorporate Piaget's essential features.
The role of action representations in the dynamics of embodied cognition
Authors: Newton Natika
Published: July 2002

Thelen et al. present a convincing explanation of the A-not-B error, but contrary to their own claims, their explanation essentially involves mental representations. As is too common among cognitive scientists, they equate mental representations with representations of external physical objects. They clearly show, however, that representations of bodily actions on physical objects are central to the dynamical system producing the error.
Constraining solution space to improve generalization
Authors: Bullinaria John A.
Published: July 2002

I suggest that the difficulties inherent in discovering the
hidden regularities in realistic (type-2) problems can often be
resolved by learning algorithms employing simple constraints (such as
symmetry and the importance of local information) that are natural
from an evolutionary point of view. Neither “heavy-duty
nativism” nor “representational recoding” appear
to offer totally appropriate descriptions of such natural learning
processes.
Synchronicity and its use in the brain
Authors: Palm Guenther , Wennekers Thomas
Published: July 2002

We briefly review the long-standing ideas about the use of
synchronicity in the brain, which rely on Donald Hebb's views on
cell assemblies and synaptic plasticity. More recently the distinction
among several timescales in the description of neural activity has
become a focus of theoretical discussion. Phillips & Singer's
target article is criticized mainly because it does not distinguish
these timescales properly and hence does not really address the
questions so intensely debated today.
Sexual differentiation of callosal size: Hormonal mechanisms and the choice of an animal model
Authors: Baum M. J. , Tobet S. A.
Published: July 2002

Studies of callosal sexual differentiation have concentrated
on global measures of callosal size, using the rat as a model for
studies of potential hormonal mechanisms. It is time to shift the
study of callosal sexual differentiation to a more cellular level.
Finally, there are potential problems with using the female rat as the
primary model for understanding hormonal mechanisms during postnatal
life.
Splitting, lumping, and priming
Authors: Gardner Mark , Heyes Cecilia
Published: July 2002

Byrne & Russon's proposal that stimulus enhancement,
emulation, and response facilitation should be lumped together as
priming effects conceals important questions about nonimitative social
learning, fails to forge a useful link between the social learning and
cognitive psychological literatures, and leaves unexplained the most
interesting feature of phenomena ascribed to “response
facilitation.”
Flexible categorization requires the creation of relational features
Authors: Dominey Peter F.
Published: July 2002

Flexible categorization clearly requires an adaptive
component, but at what level of representation? We have investigated
categorization in sequence learning that requires the extraction of
abstract rules, but no modification of sensory primitives. This
motivates the need to make explicit the distinction between
sensory-level “atomic” features as opposed to
concept-level “abstract” features, and the proposal that
flexible categorization probably relies on learning at the abstract
feature level.
Inborn talent exists
Authors: Freeman Joan
Published: July 2002

Evidence shows that outstanding talent is more than the
product of determined effort by people of much the same inborn
ability. Indications of inborn individual differences come from very
early studies of childhood. No randomly selected child has ever
reached world-class achievement by practice alone, which, though
essential, cannot itself produce greatness.
Innate talent or deliberate practice as determinants of exceptional performance: Are we asking the right question?
Authors: Schneider Wolfgang
Published: July 2002

Howe et al. proposed that the “talent account”
is not suited to explain exceptional performance in specific domains.
Their conclusion that early experiences and deliberate practice are
highly important for high levels of skill is supported by numerous
studies on the acquisition of expertise. However, the two popular
views they contrast (experts are born versus experts are made) do
not seem representative of current theorizing. Models that integrate
the effects of basic abilities and deliberate practice are more
appropriate in light of the available evidence.
Testosterone's role in dominance, sex, and aggression: Why so controversial?
Authors: Kenrick Douglas T. , Barr Alicia
Published: July 2002

Testosterone's connection to sex differences and key
evolutionary processes arouses controversy. Effects on humans and
other species, though, are not robotically deterministic but are parts
of complex interactions. We discuss the societal implications of these
findings and consider how the naturalistic fallacy and the
person–situation dichotomy contribute to misunderstandings
here.
Explicit to whom? Accessibility, representational homogeneity, and dissociable learning mechanisms
Authors: Noelle David C.
Published: July 2002

Distinguishing explicit from implicit knowledge on the basis of
the active representation of certain propositional attitudes fails to
provide an explanation for dissociations in learning performance under
implicit and explicit conditions. This suggests an account of implicit
and explicit knowledge grounded in the presence of multiple learning
mechanisms, and multiple brain systems more generally. A rough outline
of a connectionist account of this kind is provided.
Is early visual processing attention impenetrable?
Authors: Yeh Su-Ling , Chen I-Ping
Published: July 2002

Pylyshyn's effort in establishing the cognitive
impenetrability of early vision is welcome. However, his view about
the role of attention in early vision seems to be oversimplified. The
allocation of focal attention manifests its effect among multiple
stages in the early vision system, it is not just confined to the
input and the output levels.
Asymptotic entropy, periodic orbits, and pseudo-Anosov maps
Authors: KWAPISZ JAROSLAW , SWANSON RICHARD
Published: July 2002

In this paper we derive some properties of a variety of entropy that measures rotational complexity of annulus homeomorphisms, called asymptotic or rotational entropy. In previous work [KS] the authors showed that positive asymptotic entropy implies the existence of infinitely many periodic orbits corresponding to an interval of rotation numbers. In our main result, we show that a Hölder $C^1$ diffeomorphism with nonvanishing asymptotic entropy is isotopic rel a finite set to a pseudo-Anosov map. We also prove that the closure of the set of recurrent points supports positive asymptotic entropy for a ($C^0$) homeomorphism with nonzero asymptotic entropy.
Ground state energy of almost periodic Schrödinger operators
Authors: DAVIES E. B.
Published: July 2002

The numerical determination of the bottom of the spectrum of a discrete almost periodic Schrödinger operator involves finding the transition to chaotic behaviour of a certain dynamical map on the torus.
Incomes in retirement in the UK:
changes in the debate since 1996 and
prospects for the future
Authors: HUTTON SANDRA
Published: July 2002

My previous report on incomes in retirement (Hutton 1996) was
written in June 1996. Almost a year later, the UK election in May 1997

led to a change in government and, in the following November, to a
review of pension provision. The results of this review will be announced

in a Green Paper due in the Autumn 1998. Prior to the election the
political parties made statements and election pledges on pensions, so

that it has been a time of some clarity of position but also, until the

results of the review are published, of considerable uncertainty. The
areas for debate, however, have been well set out.

Two years ago I concluded:

It will be interesting…to see what progress or otherwise has
occurred in
ensuring an adequate income in retirement, more equal provision for men

and women, in the movement towards funded pensions, in the role of the

state pension, and in the progress of the minimum pension guarantee.
(Hutton 1996: 785)

In this report I will first discuss where the debate on these issues
has
gone. Policy developments will then be set out, and finally I will
identify questions to be asked in evaluating the pensions' review
when
it is published.
The sources of Russian conduct: understanding Russian foreign policy
Authors: SHEARMAN PETER
Published: July 2002

Theory, politics, and the Cold War

In this review I examine academic study on Russian foreign policy since the end of the Cold War, with special emphasis on relations with the United States. It is common, when discussing the study of international politics during the Cold War, to refer to the ‘dominance’, or ‘hegemony’, of Realism, and then to argue that the unanticipated end of the ‘bipolar’ conflict demonstrates the failure of the theory for not having been able, due to its focus on structural features of material power, to foresee its peaceful conclusion. Although there is much wrong with Realism as a theory in explaining international politics at this time, it should be noted that there were other contending approaches that also got the Cold War wrong. Similarly, those specialists writing on Soviet foreign policy who shared realist assumptions, and hence constructed their analytical frameworks on the basis of geopolitics and the pursuit of the national interest, were also unable to conceive of an end to the bipolar conflict. Others, who did perceive change on the basis of alterations in the relative power capabilities between the two major powers, predicted that this would lead not to a peaceful resolution of the Cold War, but to violent conflict. This was the view of Edward Luttwak, who suggested in 1983 that the weakness of the Soviet economy would lead to declining faith in the political regime and ultimately to a greater willingness to engage in military adventures.
Global civil society and international ethics: Mervyn Frost's restatement of constitutive theory
Authors: SUTCH PETER
Published: July 2002

Mervyn Frost's restatement of his constitutive theory of international relations raises a number of crucial points which need elaboration and discussion. Discussing the issues under the key headings used by Frost in his reply to my ‘Human Rights as Settled Norms’, I wish to focus on the following claim which I take to be central to the development of any norm-oriented approach to political and international theory. The claim is simply this; we are required, as a necessary component of post-positivist and constructivist theory, to take account of ethical and political inequalities in the development of any series of ‘settled norms’ that constitute the prevailing domain of discourse. This claim, I believe, accurately captures the core concerns of my earlier article and informs those tensions that remain to be discussed here.
Record grooves and salsa dance moves: the viejoteca phenomenon in Cali, Colombia
Authors: WAXER LISE
Published: July 2002

Disfrutar recordando
tiempos de ayer
al compás de música aprendida
a fuerza de bailarla.
Revivir la emoción de aquellos
Momentos involvidables
y sentir que somos los mismos . . .

To enjoy while remembering
moments of yesteryear
to the rhythm of music learned
by force of dancing to it.
To live again the emotion of those
unforgettable moments
and feel that we are the same . . .

Slogan on a poster for Changó Viejoteca, 1995

In the southwest Colombian metropolis of Cali, recorded music has come to exert an unusually strong force on local
popular culture in this century. Not only did recordings play a key role in establishing Cuban music, and later, salsa,
as the principal musical style of the city, they also became the basis for the record-centred dance scene that predominated in Cali during the 1940s through to the 1970s, and continued to be important as the live scene flourished during
the 1980s and 1990s. The centrality of recorded music for Caleños (the inhabitants of Cali) challenges the privileging,
in most scholarly work, of live performance as more ‘real’ or ‘authentic’ than its mediated versions. Indeed, for many
decades, ‘playing music’ in Cali literally meant putting on a record, as a source of music for other social and expressive
activities. The term disco (literally, record disc) still exists as a local synonym for ‘song’, even when it is a live
rendition of a song, e.g. ‘vamos a tocar ese disco’ (let's perform that song).
Neural hybrid control of manipulators, stability analysis
Authors: Saadia N. , Amirat Y. , Pontnau J. , M'Sirdi N.K.
Published: July 2002

The design
and implementation of adaptive control for nonlinear unknown systems is
extremely difficult. The nonlinear adaptive control for assembly robots performing
a peg-in-hole insertion is one such an example. The recently
intensively studied neural networks brings a new stage in the
development of adaptive control, particularly for unknown nonlinear systems. The
aim of this paper is to propose a new approach
of hybrid force position control of an assembly robot based
on artificial neural networks systems. An appropriate neural network is
used to model the plant and is updated online. An
artificial neural network controller is then directly evaluated using the
updated neuro model. Two control structures are proposed and the
stability analysis of the closed-loop system is investigated using the
Lyapunov method. Experimental results demonstrate that the identification and control
schemes suggested in this paper are efficient in practice.
Design of a neurofuzzy algorithm-based shared controller for telerobot systems
Authors: Cha D. H. , Cho H. S.
Published: July 2002

This paper proposes a novel design method of a shared controller for telerobot systems. A shared controller can enlarge a reflected force by combining force reflection and compliance control. However, the maximum boundary of the force reflection gain guaranteeing the stability greatly depends upon characteristics of the elements in the system such as; a master arm which is combined with the human operator's hand, the environments where the slave arm contacts and the compliance controller. In normal practice, it is therefore, very difficult to determine such a maximum boundary of the gain. To overcome this difficulty, the paper proposes a force reflection gain-selecting algorithm based on neural network and fuzzy logic features. The method estimates characteristic of the master arm and the environments by using neural networks, and then, determines the force reflection gain from the estimated characteristics by using fuzzy logic. The algorithm can work in an on-line manner, and can be easily applied to any telerobot system because it requires no a priori knowledge on the system. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is verified through a series of experiments using a laboratory-made telerobot system.
Reports and Surveys
Authors: Rudall B H
Published: July 2002

At the Forensic Science Service laboratories in Birmingham, U.K.,
robots are helping to build what is claimed to be
the world's first digitised database of DNA samples taken from
convicted criminals.
Real-time object tracking from corners
Authors: Wang Han , Chua Choon Seng , Sim Ching Tong
Published: July 2002

This paper reports a visual tracking system that can track moving objects in real-time with a modest workstation equipped with a pan-tilt device. The algorithm essentially has three parts: (1) feature detection, (2) tracking and (3) control of the robot head. Corners are viewpoint invariant, hence being utilised as the beacon for tracking. Tracking is performed in two stages of Kalman filtering and affine transformation. A technique of reducing greatly the computational time for the correlaton is also described. The Kalman filter predicts intelligently the fovea window and reduced computation dramatically. The affine transformation deals with the unexpected events when there is partial occlusion.
A NEW METHOD FOR OBTAINING THE AUTOCOVARIANCE OF AN ARMA
MODEL: AN EXACT FORM SOLUTION
Authors: Karanasos M.
Published: July 2002

In this article we present a new method for computing
the theoretical autocovariance function of an autoregressive
moving average model. The importance of our theorem is
that it yields two interesting results: First, a closed-form
solution is derived in terms of the roots of the autoregressive
polynomial and the parameters of the moving average part.
Second, a sufficient condition for the lack of model redundancy
is obtained.
APPROXIMATION OF THE ASYMPTOTIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE LOG
LIKELIHOOD RATIO TEST FOR COINTEGRATION
Authors: Larsson Rolf
Published: July 2002

Tail approximation of the asymptotic distribution
of the log likelihood ratio test for cointegration in a
vector autoregressive process is studied. In dimension
2, an approximation of weighted χ2 type
is derived by applying multivariate saddlepoint approximation
techniques to a Fourier inversion integral.
Continuous change in Tanzanian moist forest tree communities with elevation
Authors: Lovett Jon C.
Published: July 2002

Although some studies in tropical forests suggest the existence of elevational discontinuities, zones or critical altitudes in floristic composition (briefly reviewed by Lovett 1996) two data sets from the Usambara mountains of Tanzania independently show a continuous elevational change in moist forest large tree communities (Hamilton et al. 1989, Lovett 1996). However, one data set is from the West Usambara mountains (Lovett 1996) and the other is from the East Usambara (Hamilton et al. 1989). The junction of the two data sets at around 1000–1200 m in elevation is regarded as a critical altitude (Lovett 1996), and so neither conclusively prove continuity over the entire elevational range of the forests. The two data sets were collected using the same methodology, the twenty-tree variable-area plotless technique (Hall 1991), and together constitute a transect covering nearly 2 km in elevation. They are combined here to test for continuity in change in forest large-tree communities from lowland to upper montane forest types.
The fate of the Midland yeoman: tenants, copyholders, and freeholders
as farmers in North Buckinghamshire, 1620–1800
Authors: BROAD JOHN
Published: July 2002

The history of rural landownership at the village level has been dominated
by a series of particular problems. At one end of the spectrum the process
of estate-building by gentry and aristocracy, the transition from feudal
manorial tenures to compact tenanted estates, and the creation of ‘closed’
or estate villages, has been relatively well documented. At the other the
‘problem’ of the disappearance of the small landowner, prompted a
century ago as the rural tradition began to become a minority interest, has
shifted away from its original focus on the owner-occupied family farm.
It has increasingly concentrated on the fate of the smallholder and
cottager and more recently on the interplay of landownership and
common rights. This particular emphasis has tended to narrow research
to the post-1780 parliamentary enclosure period where sources such as
land tax, enclosure awards, and tithe returns make nominal linkages more
feasible at a lower wealth level in society, and on a year-to-year basis.

This article concentrates not on the smallholder and cottager, but on
the farming community – men (and occasionally women) making a living
from holdings of 30 acres, or one to one and a half yardlands and upwards
– and the choices and decisions they faced owning or tenanting lands. It
examines the literature concerning communities in a broad band of central
England south of the Pennines and north of the Thames. Detailed
examples will be taken from mid- and northern-Buckinghamshire villages,
an area of open fields but early and piecemeal enclosure, in the years
between 1620 and 1800.
VALIDATION IN LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE
17TH LANGUAGE TESTING RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM, LONG BEACH.Antony John Kunnan (Ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 1998. Pp. xii + 290. $59.95 cloth,
$32.50 paper.
Authors: Davidson Fred
Published: July 2002

From time to time, the annual Language Testing Research Colloquium (LTRC) publishes its
papers. Kunnan, his contributors, and Erlbaum are to be commended for a rich, well edited, and
thematically unified offering. Some wise decisions were made: author-provided abstracts,
references following each paper, author-provided annotated bibliographies, and a rich index. This
is more than a collection of conference papers. It is a book in its own right with the potential to
become a textbook on language test validation.
PATTERNS AND MEANINGS: USING CORPORA FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING AND RESEARCH.Alan Partington. Amsterdam: Benjamins,
1998. Pp. vii + 162. $50.00 cloth, $24.95 paper.
Authors: Swales John
Published: July 2002

Partington has produced an attractive and useful introduction to the field of applied corpus
linguistics, a field that has been around for 40 years (since the Brown corpus) but is only now
coming into its own in the United States. The volume is attractive for three main reasons: it is
clearly and pleasantly written, it quotes extensively and appropriately from the earlier general and
applied linguistics literature, and it contains an impressive range of examples consisting of
concordance lines followed by commentary and analysis.
IDEOLOGY AND LINGUISTIC THEORY: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE DEEP
STRUCTURE DEBATES.Geoffrey J. Huck and John A. Goldsmith. London:
Routledge, 1995. Pp. 186. $25.00 cloth.
Authors: Carroll Susanne
Published: July 2002

The authors begin their book with the assertion, “Many linguists today assume that
theirs is an empirical and deductive science, and that scientific progress in the domain of their
research is possible” (p. 1). They then proceed in an interesting, well-written, and
informative case study of the evolution of generative grammar to cast doubt on the veracity of
this assertion. The central focus is the nature of the debates among researchers developing what
came to be known as generative semantics and interpretive semantics. The book attempts to
detail who influenced whom and who was interested in what. More particularly, Huck and
Goldsmith ask to what extent data, analyses, and argumentation were critical to the debates. The
central question is: To what extent were generativist scholars moved one way or the other by
rational considerations? The answer, not surprisingly, is: Not much. The real story is one about
personalities, not about truth and reason. They attempt to explain why paying particular attention
to the personalities involved, the role of the linguistic institutions where the participants worked,
and the research agendas of each is important.
Towards a more precise model of pronoun case error: a response to Schütze
Authors: RISPOLI MATTHEW
Published: July 2002

In my paper Patterns of Pronoun Case Error (Rispoli, 1998b), I documented
two aspects of pronoun case errors arising out of principles of lexical retrieval
that are operative during the acquisition of the word specific pronoun case
paradigms of English. The two aspects were; (a) the ‘double-cell effect,’ a
supercharging of the her for she error rate; and (b) the ‘antagonism’ between
the stereotypic objective for nominative replacement (e.g. him for he) and the
rarer nominative overextensions (e.g. he for him/his). In my response, I shall
address Schütze's criticisms in both of these areas. The response begins by
addressing issues surrounding the double-cell effect. It then moves to issues
surrounding antagonism.
What's Lookout About at Sea?
Authors: Lee Gilbert W. U.
Published: July 2002

Traditionally, the duties of a lookout include maintaining situational awareness and
providing warning of the risk of collision, stranding and other dangers to navigation.
Therefore, in addition to the use of both eyesight and hearing, the effective use of available
instruments and equipment are essential to the purpose of proper lookout; this applies
particularly to radar. The aim of this paper is to emphasise the need for the correct practice
and method of lookout.
Aircraft Fuel Savings in Jet Streams by Maximising Features of Flight

Mechanics and Navigation
Authors: Houghton Ronald C. C.
Published: July 2002

Performance enhancement and cost reduction are driving
forces in today's airline industry. In
a world of cost pressures and escalating charges, research was conducted
into better use of jet
streams as a means of reducing costs. When operating on international airline
routes, specific
features of flight mechanics were adapted and tailored to fit a B747-200
aircraft, major
emphasis being placed on intercepting, or avoiding where necessary, the
high energy jet stream
winds of the global weather system, adjusting flight profiles and modifying
route structures.
Operations were conducted both into wind and down wind, over a period of
five years.
Techniques employed show fuel may be saved regardless of the wind being
a tailwind or
headwind. Both fuel and time have a significant bearing on airline direct
operating costs:
savings of more than 1·1 percent being made on fuel and
0·786 percent on time. Limitations
on using the techniques to gain maximum benefit are related to the high
volume of aircraft
blocking all major airways, and better quality, real time weather forecasts.
The discussion
looks at ways of improving the use of jet streams, as the world's
airline traffic continues to
grow. Forecasting upper winds, particularly in oceanic areas, needs to
improve if airlines are
to derive maximum benefits from these winds. There is need for further
study utilising other
aircraft types to ascertain what savings can result. Initial results were
encouraging, using a
Tristar L1011 aircraft.
Learning to verify design solutions from failure knowledge
Authors: GOMES PAULO , BENTO CARLOS , GAGO PEDRO
Published: July 2002

Learning is an intrinsic product of case-based
reasoning. Acquiring new cases is one possible way of learning
in a case-based system. These cases comprise mainly success
knowledge. The successful cases are essentially used to
generate new design solutions. But a case-based system
also can make use of failure knowledge. In this paper we
present how a case-based system can acquire failure cases
for verification of the solution created by success cases.
We describe IM-RECIDE, a system that uses case-based reasoning
for solving design problems that are imperfectly described
and explained. The learning aspect is focused and some
of the machine learning dimensions in design are criticized.
Experimental results in the domain of room configuration
also are presented.
Acquisition and carriage of meningococci in marine
commando recruits
Authors: RIORDAN T. , CARTWRIGHT K. , ANDREWS N. , STUART J. , BURRIS A. , FOX A. , BORROW R. , DOUGLAS-RILEY T. , GABB J. , MILLER A.
Published: July 2002

Meningococcal acquisition is a prerequisite for invasive disease.
Three hundred and eleven male
marine commando recruits were studied throughout 29 weeks of basic training
to identify
factors influencing meningococcal carriage and acquisition including troop
number, season,
smoking, respiratory infection, antibiotic usage and nasopharyngeal bacterial
interference flora.

A high carriage rate on entry to training (118/311, 37·9%)
and subsequent sustained high
rates of meningococcal acquisition were found. Of the potential factors
examined, only active
and passive smoking were found to be associated significantly with meningococcal
carriage on
entry. The association between active smoking and meningococcal carriage
was dose-dependent,
with odds ratios (OR) of 2·2 (95% CIs 1·0–4·8)
and 7·2 (95% CIs 2·3–22·9) for light and heavy

smokers respectively. Passive smoking predisposed independently to carriage
(OR 1·8, 95% CIs
1·1–3·0). Active and passive smoking combined to give
an attributable risk for meningococcal
carriage of 33%. In contrast, despite a high and sustained rate of meningococcal
acquisition in
the study population, none of the risk factors investigated, including
active smoking, was
associated significantly with meningococcal acquisition. No cases of meningococcal
disease
occurred during the 16-month study period. Therefore smoking may increase
the duration of
meningococcal carriage rather than the rate of acquisition, consistent
with the increased risk of
meningococcal disease from passive as opposed to active smoking. Public
health measures that
reduce the prevalence of smoking should reduce the risk of meningococcal
disease.
A high proportion of Vibrio cholerae strains isolated from
children with diarrhoea in Bangkok, Thailand are multiple
antibiotic resistant and belong to heterogenous non-O1,
non-O139 O-serotypes
Authors: DALSGAARD A. , FORSLUND A. , BODHIDATTA L. , SERICHANTALERGS O. , PITARANGSI C. , PANG L. , SHIMADA T. , ECHEVERRIA P.
Published: July 2002

Results of a surveillance on cholera conducted with patients seen at the Children Hospital in
Bangkok, Thailand from August 1993 to July 1995 are presented. Annually, isolation rates for
Vibrio cholerae varied between 1·7 and 4·4% of patients with diarrhoea. V. cholerae O1
serotype Ogawa accounted for between 31 and 47% of patients cultured positive for
V. cholerae, whereas the O139 serotype dominated in early 1994 after which it disappeared.
Non-O1, non-O139 strains were isolated at similar rates as serotype O1 in 1993 and 1994, but
accounted for 69% of V. cholerae culture positive specimens in 1995. However, the annual
proportion of the isolation of non-O1, non-O139 strains showed little variation and remained
low between 1·0 and 1·3%. Serotyping of 69 epidemiological unrelated non-O1, non-O139
strains produced 37 different O-serotypes. BglI ribotyping of serotypes containing more than
two strains demonstrated a high degree of heterogeneity within and between serotypes, except
seven serotype O37 strains which showed an identical ribotype suggesting clonality. None of
the 69 strains hybridized with a cholera toxin probe and only two strains hybridized with a
heat-stable enterotoxin probe. Susceptibility testing to 12 antibiotics showed that 40 of 69
(58%) non-O1, non-O139 strains were resistant to colistin, streptomycin and sulphisoxazole
and 28 of 69 (41%) were multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR; [ges ]4 antibiotics). Although 26 of
69 (38%) strains contained one or more plasmids, the plasmids were of low molecular weights
and did not seem to encode antibiotic resistance. The results of the present study showed that
a high proportion of heterogenous MAR V. cholerae non-O1, non-O139 strains were isolated
from children at the hospital. With reference to the emergence of V. cholerae O139 in 1992, we
suggest that non-O1, non-O139 strains should be monitored carefully to detect new serotypes
with a possible epidemic potential, but also to determine the development and mechanism of
antibiotic resistance.