bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Retracted: A randomised controlled study of the effects of music on sleep quality in older people
Authors: Chan Moon Fai
Published: February 2011

Aim.  To determine the effect of music on sleep quality in older people.

Background.  Sleep disturbance is common in older people and its impacts on older adults along with its conventional treatment merit our attention as our population ages. Conventional pharmacological method might result dependence and impairment in psychomotor and cognitive function. Listening to music, which is a non‐pharmacological method, might promote relaxation, induce distraction responses and promote sleep quality.

Design.  A randomised controlled study.

Methods.  The study was conducted from December 2006–January 2007. Forty‐two older people (21 using music and 21 controls) completed the study in Hong Kong. Physiological (blood pressure and heart rate) and sleep quality variables were collected once a week for one month.

Results.  For all vital signs’ results, no significant differences were found between both music and control groups within the four weeks. In the music group, there was statistically significant reduction in sleep scores at week 4. In control group, there was no statistically significant improvement of sleep scores in the four weeks. However, no significant difference was found between groups over the four weeks.

Conclusion.  Whilst there were no statistical differences between groups, there was some indication that music yielder higher improvement on sleep scores, which are worthier of further investigation in larger trials.

Relevance to clinical practice.  The implication of this study is that music listening can help nurses build therapeutic relationships with older people. Nurses are recommended to use music as part of their holistic caring for older people.
The relationships between uncertainty and its antecedents in Korean patients with atrial fibrillation
Authors: Kang Younhee
Published: February 2011

Objectives.  The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between uncertainty and its antecedents, including education, social support and symptom frequency in Korean patients with atrial fibrillation.

Background.  The antecedents of uncertainty were theoretically identified from Mishel’s theory of uncertainty in illness. There is a need to examine empirically whether theoretically driven antecedents of uncertainty work in a way that the theory proposed.

Design.  Descriptive correlational and cross‐sectional survey design.

Methods.  Subjects were interviewed using structured study questionnaires. The data collected were statistically analysed by descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analysis to determine the effects of antecedents on uncertainty.

Results.  A convenience sample of 109 subjects recruited from three academic medical centres in South Korea. The overall model significantly explained 20·1% of the variance in uncertainty. Among antecedents of uncertainty, social support was significantly associated with less uncertainty (β = −0·26), while the education was not associated with uncertainty. Persons with greater social supports perceived less uncertainty, and individuals with greater symptom frequency reported greater uncertainty (β = 0·21).

Conclusions.  In Korean patients with atrial fibrillation, it was demonstrated that uncertainty in atrial fibrillation patients was predicted by social support and symptom frequency. Thus, the nursing strategies that reduce uncertainty which results in undesirable outcomes are required through maximising the social support patients perceived and minimising the symptom frequency. Therefore, these findings are relevant to clinical nurses who take care of patients with atrial fibrillation in terms of decreasing uncertainty that might result in patients’ psychological distress.

Relevance to clinical practice.  The findings from this study may be beneficial for clinical nurses to understand and assess the psychosocial and emotional needs of patients with atrial fibrillation.
Inhibitory activity of Pseudomonas sp. on Flavobacterium psychrophilum, in vitro
Authors: Ström‐Bestor M , Wiklund T
Published: February 2011

A Pseudomonas sp. isolate MSB1 efficiently inhibited the growth of Flavobacterium psychrophilum of different serotypes on agar medium. A significant difference in the inhibition was observed between isolates of the less virulent FpT serotype compared to the Fd and Th serotypes. In broth coculture experiments, a low number of cells of MSB1 inhibited and outcompeted the F. psychrophilum cells. Also cell‐free culture supernatant of MSB1 clearly repressed the growth of F. psychrophilum. A chromoazurol S assay suggested that MSB1 produced efficient siderophores, which most probably were responsible for the iron deficiency in the supernatant. The limited growth of F. psychrophilum in the supernatant was found to be partly because of the lack of available iron, but the results also indicated that some other mechanisms were probably involved in the observed inhibition. A potential use of MSB1 as a probiotic in rainbow trout aquaculture, especially in early life stages of the fish, is suggested, but future in vivo experiments needs to be carried out to verify this suggestion. This study also indicates a low iron acquisition efficiency of F. psychrophilum, compared to other examined bacterial fish pathogens.
A comparative study of marine salmonid alphavirus subtypes 1–6 using an experimental cohabitation challenge model
Authors: Graham D A , Frost P , McLaughlin K , Rowley H M , Gabestad I , Gordon A , McLoughlin M F
Published: February 2011

A comparative challenge study of six marine isolates representing subtypes 1–6 of salmonid alphavirus (salmon pancreas disease virus, Genus Alphavirus, Family Togaviridae) was conducted in Atlantic salmon in a fresh water cohabitation trial. Histopathological lesions typical of pancreas disease were observed with all subtypes, and virus was re‐isolated from serum of cohabitant fish in each case. Using a virus neutralization (VN) test neutralizing salmonid alphavirus (SAV) subtype 1 strain F93‐125, VN antibodies were detected in all challenge groups, consistent with serological cross‐reactivity between these subtypes. Using real‐time RT‐PCR, SAV RNA was detected in heart tissue from 2 to 3 weeks post‐challenge (wpc) in all cohabitant groups excluding controls. The results obtained suggested differences in the dynamics of infection between strains of SAV and potentially between subtypes. Results for SAV subtypes 1 and 3 suggested essentially synchronous infection of cohabitant fish. These two study groups also had the highest virus load in heart tissue as measured by quantitative RT‐PCR and also had the most extensive histopathological changes. In contrast, results for SAV subtypes 2 and 6 strains were consistent with asynchronous infection in the cohabitant fish and were characterized by slow spread, low virus loads and mild histopathological changes. The SAV subtype 4 and 5 strains occupied an intermediate position in this regard. Despite the use of concentration procedures, it was not possible to detect SAV RNA in water samples from selected study tanks. However, testing of faeces from the SAV subtypes 1, 3 and 6 challenge groups found positive signals in each beginning at 1–3 wpc and remaining detectable for a further 2–3 weeks. Parallel testing of mucus samples found these became positive at 2–3 wpc and remained positive for a further 1–3 weeks. These results demonstrate for the first time that shedding and transmission of virus may occur by both these routes and suggest that dispersal in these matrices should be included in any disease transmission models.
Potential for evolutionary coupling and decoupling of larval and adult immune gene expression
Authors: FELLOUS SIMON , LAZZARO BRIAN P.
Published: February 2011

Almost all studies of the immune system of animals with metamorphosis have focused on either larval or on adult immunity, implicitly assuming that these traits are either perfectly correlated or evolutionarily independent. In this study, we use 80 crosses among 21 Drosophila melanogaster lines to investigate the degree and constancy of genetic correlation in immune system activity between larvae and adults. The constitutive transcription of Diptericin, a gene encoding a defensive antimicrobial peptide, was controlled by the same genetic factors in larvae and adults, with variation in expression determined exclusively by nonadditive genetic effects. This contrasted with another peptide‐encoding gene, Drosomycin, in which larval transcription was highly variable and determined by additive effects but adult transcription genetically invariant. We found no evidence for a fitness cost to the transcription of these genes in our study. The shared genetic control of larval and adult Diptericin transcription stands in contrast to predictions of the adaptive decoupling hypothesis, which states that distinct life‐stages should permit the independent evolution of larval and adult phenotypes. Importantly, genetic correlations between larval and adult immunities imply that parasite pressure on one life‐stage can drive the evolution of immunity (and resistance) in the other life‐stage.
Genome‐wide atlas of transcription during maize development
Authors: Sekhon Rajandeep S. , Lin Haining , Childs Kevin L. , Hansey Candice N. , Buell C. Robin , de Leon Natalia , Kaeppler Shawn M.
Published: February 2011

Maize is an important model species and a major constituent of human and animal diets. It has also emerged as a potential feedstock and model system for bioenergy research due to recent worldwide interest in developing plant biomass‐based, carbon‐neutral liquid fuels. To understand how the underlying genome sequence results in specific plant phenotypes, information on the temporal and spatial transcription patterns of genes is crucial. Here we present a comprehensive atlas of global transcription profiles across developmental stages and plant organs. We used a NimbleGen microarray containing 80 301 probe sets to profile transcription patterns in 60 distinct tissues representing 11 major organ systems of inbred line B73. Of the 30 892 probe sets representing the filtered B73 gene models, 91.4% were expressed in at least one tissue. Interestingly, 44.5% of the probe sets were expressed in all tissues, indicating a substantial overlap of gene expression among plant organs. Clustering of maize tissues based on global gene expression profiles resulted in formation of groups of biologically related tissues. We utilized this dataset to examine the expression of genes that encode enzymes in the lignin biosynthetic pathway, and found that expansion of distinct gene families was accompanied by divergent, tissue‐specific transcription patterns of the paralogs. This comprehensive expression atlas represents a valuable resource for gene discovery and functional characterization in maize.
AETIOPATHOGENESIS OF HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA
Authors: TOYODA HIDENORI , FUKUDA YOSHIHIDE , KOYAMA YASUO , NISHIMURA DAISAKU , HOSHINO HIROSHI , KATADA NAOYUKI , KATO KATSUMOTO , HAYAKAWA ETSUO
Published: February 2011

Abstract  Extrahepatic lymph node metastases from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are usually observed in patients with advanced and poorly differentiated HCC. We encountered a patient with multiple, systemic lymph node metastases from a small HCC (18 mm in diameter), which was nodular and had a capsule at the time of resection (a partial hepatectomy of the postero‐inferior subsegment of the right lobe of the liver). Widespread lymphadenopathy resembling malignant lymphoma developed 2 months after surgery. A biopsy specimen from a supraclavicular lymph node revealed metastatic HCC. The patient died 2.5 months after the detection of the lymphadenopathy. Lymph node metastases can occur in small HCC less than 2 cm in diameter and may adversely affect the long‐term prognosis of patients with these curatively resectable small HCC.
PORTAL HAEMODYNAMICS AND HEPATIC BLOOD FLOW
Authors: TAKAHASHI KOUJI , OGURA YOSHIFUMI , KAWARADA YOSHIFUMI
Published: February 2011

Abstract  Obstructive jaundice was produced in adult mongrel dogs by cholecystectomy and ligation of the common bile duct. Two weeks later 40% hepatectomy was performed during 10 min occlusion of hepatic inflow (group I). Liver tissue lipid peroxide levels increased significantly and superoxide dismutase activity decreased. The portal endotoxin (Et) concentration increased markedly after reperfusion and peripheral blood Et and serum β‐ N‐acetyl hexosaminidase levels increased markedly, beginning 3 h after reperfusion. The phagocytic index increased transiently after reperfusion, but decreased markedly thereafter. Hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis became severe, intestinal villi were damaged and the 1 week survival rate was 23.1%; deaths were due to liver failure. These changes were prevented by construction of a portosystemic bypass and a 1 week survival rate of 70% (group II) was achieved. When the ischaemic time was prolonged to 20 min with the portosystemic bypass (group III), the pathological changes resembled those seen in group I, although no changes were observed in portal or peripheral blood Et levels. These findings suggest that major hepatectomy in the presence of severe jaundice should be carefully performed so that the ischaemic time is minimized during portosystemic bypass in an attempt not only to prevent production of Et in portal venous blood due to intestinal congestion, but also to reduce ischaemia‐reperfusion injury.
PORTAL HAEMODYNAMICS AND HEPATIC BLOOD FLOW
Authors: HORI NAOKI , OKANOUE TAKESHI , SAWA YOSHIHIKO , MORI TAKASHI , KASHIMA KEI
Published: February 2011

Abstract  We investigated the systemic and splanchnic haemodynamic effects of combined treatment with molsidomine and propranolol on cirrhotic rats. Liver cirrhosis was produced by repeated intraperitoneal injections of thioacetamide. The blood flow of each organ was measured serially using the radioactive microsphere method in the awake state before and after the administration of each agent. Cirrhotic rats received molsidomine (0.5 mg/kg), propranolol (0.1 or 0.2 mg/min), both agents or placebo. Combination treatment with molsidomine and 0.1 mg/min propranolol significantly reduced portal pressure compared with molsidomine or propranolol alone (21 ± 4 vs 15 ± 3 or 11 ± 2% P < 0.05). Systemic haemodynamic changes with this combined treatment were mild. This combined treatment slightly inhibited the molsidomine‐induced decrease in portal vascular resistance (27 ± 9 vs 31 ± 6; NS) and markedly inhibited the molsidomine‐induced decrease in splanchnic arterial resistance (7 ± 6 vs 27 ± 5% P < 0.05). Compared with low‐dose propranolol administration, the combined treatment was associated with a significant decrease in portal vascular resistance (27 ± 9% decrease vs 2 ± 2% increase; P < 0.001) and a significant decrease in splanchnic arterial resistance (7 ± 6% decrease vs 5 ± 4% increase P < 0.05). The combination of molsidomine and high‐dose propranolol (0.2 mg/min) caused a marked reduction in portal venous inflow, mean arterial pressure and cardiac index. We conclude that propranolol enhances the molsidomine‐induced decrease in portal pressure by splanchnic vasoconstriction in association with a slight decrease in portal vascular resistance. The combination therapy with molsidomine and low‐dose propranolol combination had more beneficial and less harmful effects on systemic and splanchnic haemodynamics and thus appears to be a superior method for treating portal hypertension.
Environmental improvement of seafood through certification and ecolabelling: theory and analysis
Authors: Tlusty Michael F
Published: February 2011

The study of environmental impacts of seafood production as a result of ecolabelling and certification is a young yet rapidly growing discipline that lacks theoretical models. Pieces of the model have been suggested in the literature, and these pieces are formalized here realizing the current operating parameters of the global seafood industry. The derived pull‐threshold model assumes that if producers exceed the threshold, there is no incentive to improve while if too far below, improvement is most likely beyond technical or financial means. Thus, a single certification is only a marginal solution to the larger picture. Those producers immediately below the certification threshold are within range or ‘pull’ of the threshold to improve as a result of certification. Results from a single threshold model applied to compliance data indicated that a maximum improvement of 12.5%, achieved when the pull was the greatest and the threshold was at the lower end of the impact distribution. When impacts were continuous (e.g. escapes in aquaculture), greater improvement was observed with thresholds targeting the producers at the higher end of the impact distribution. In all cases, improvement was maximized with a triple threshold model, indicating that single threshold scenario will not drive the greatest movement towards environmental improvement throughout the industry. Innovation is potentially more important in reducing environmental impacts of seafood production and needs to be accounted for as the seafood certification or ecolabelling continues to mature.
Rights‐based fisheries governance: from fishing rights to human rights
Authors: Allison Edward H , Ratner Blake D , Åsgård Björn , Willmann Rolf , Pomeroy Robert , Kurien John
Published: February 2011

In the last twenty years, policy prescriptions for addressing the global crisis in fisheries have centred on strengthening fisheries governance through clarifying exclusive individual or community rights of access to fishery resources. With a focus on small‐scale developing‐country fisheries in particular, we argue that basing the case for fishery governance reform on assumed economic incentives for resource stewardship is insufficient when there are other sources of insecurity in people’s lives that are unrelated to the state of fishery resources. We argue that more secure, less vulnerable fishers make more effective and motivated fishery managers in the context of participatory or rights‐based fisheries governance, and we further suggest that insecurity among fishers living in poverty can be most effectively addressed by social and political development that invokes the existing legal framework supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This perspective goes well beyond the widely advocated notion of ‘rights‐based fishing’ and aligns what fishery sector analysts call the ‘rights‐based approach’ with the same terminology used in the context of international development. Embedding the fisheries governance challenge within a broader perspective of human rights enhances the chances of achieving both human development and resource sustainability outcomes in small‐scale fisheries of developing countries.
Reflexivity in the medical encounter: contributions from post‐modern systemic practice
Authors: Ingrassia Antonina
Published: February 2011

In this article, I attempt to identify the forms of reflexivity that take place in the medical encounter and the possible contributions that the understanding of reflexivity in systemic thinking can make to medical practice. I start by reviewing some of the literature on the doctor–patient relationship as the necessary foundation to think about and understand reflective practice in medicine. I then argue that, as the medical profession comes under scrutiny from a variety of different individuals and groups, as well as from itself, a process of reconciliation between modern and postmodern thinking, as it has been suggested in the systemic literature, might help get a better grasp of the complex predicament and dilemmas of doctors in modern society. The notion of reflexivity, the ability of any system to critically think about itself by promoting a conversation between the experts and the subject of their expertise is probably the essence of the critical momentum of postmodernism and should be an essential professional attribute for all doctors.
High‐conflict divorced couples: combining systemic and psychodynamic perspectives
Authors: Cohen Orna , Levite Ziva
Published: February 2011

This article describes typologies of couples in high‐conflict divorces and explores their dynamics through the prism of family systems and British object relations theories. The article argues that couples embroiled in high‐conflict divorce often have primitive object relations. They tend to use splitting and projection processes and find it difficult to tolerate ambivalence or disagreement. Fear of the ex‐spouse's retaliation is often accompanied by fear of their own destructiveness and by a wish to make reparation. However, it seems that reparation attempts in primitive object relations rarely achieve reconciliation. A case study demonstrates the complicated dynamics of these couples. Clinical recommendations are made.
Anxious Attachment and Relationship Processes: An Interactionist Perspective
Authors: Campbell Lorne , Marshall Tara
Published: February 2011

Relationship processes in adult romantic relationships have been vastly studied under the aegis of attachment theory. Attachment theory is interactionist in nature, proposing that individual differences in levels of both attachment avoidance and anxiety predict an individual's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in contexts that activate attachment concerns. A growing body of research is beginning to systematically test the conditions in which individual differences in attachment orientations both predict and fail to predict relationship processes. In this article, we focus on anxious attachment and review a program of research showing that the potentially destructive relationship processes typically observed in highly anxious individuals do not always appear in neutral or benign contexts, or when security needs are met. We argue that research needs to more thoroughly investigate the conditions that should, or should not, activate attachment concerns and thus result in links between individual differences in attachment orientations and relationship processes.
Conciliatory Gestures Facilitate Forgiveness and Feelings of Friendship by Making Transgressors Appear More Agreeable
Authors: Tabak Benjamin A. , McCullough Michael E. , Luna Lindsey R. , Bono Giacomo , Berry Jack W.
Published: February 2011

The authors examined how conciliatory gestures exhibited in response to interpersonal transgressions influence forgiveness and feelings of friendship with the transgressor. In Study 1, 163 undergraduates who had recently been harmed were examined longitudinally. Conciliatory gestures exhibited by transgressors predicted higher rates of forgiveness over 21 days, and this relationship was mediated by victims’ perceptions of their transgressors’ Agreeableness. Study 2 was an experiment including 145 undergraduates who experienced a breach in trust from an anonymous partner during an iterated prisoner's dilemma. When transgressors apologized and offered financial compensation, participants reported higher levels of forgiveness and feelings of friendship when compared to a control condition and an aggravating condition. The effects of apology/compensation on forgiveness and perceived friendship were mediated by victims’ perceptions of their transgressors’ Agreeableness. Results suggest that conciliatory gestures promote forgiveness in part by depicting transgressors as more sympathetic, considerate, fair, and just (i.e., agreeable).
Scale Space Meshing of Raw Data Point Sets
Authors: Digne Julie , Morel Jean‐Michel , Souzani Charyar‐Mehdi , Lartigue Claire
Published: February 2011

This paper develops a scale space strategy for orienting and meshing exactly and completely a raw point set. The scale space is based on the intrinsic heat equation, also called mean curvature motion (MCM). A simple iterative scheme implementing MCM directly on the raw point set is described, and a mathematical proof of its consistency with MCM is given. Points evolved by this MCM implementation can be trivially backtracked to their initial raw position. Therefore, both the orientation and mesh of the data point set obtained at a smooth scale can be transported back on the original. The gain in visual accuracy is demonstrated on archaeological objects by comparison with several state of the art meshing methods.
Actions speak louder than words: the embodiment of trust by healthcare professionals in gynae‐oncology
Authors: Brown Patrick R. , Alaszewski Andy , Swift Trish , Nordin Andy
Published: February 2011

Trust is vital for quality healthcare outcomes, yet existing research neglects the ‘embodiedness’ of the interactions on which trust is based. This article draws on qualitative data from semi‐structured interviews with cervical cancer patients. The significance of body work in winning or, on occasions, undermining trust emerged as a key theme within the responses. Interpretations of professionals’ verbal and non‐verbal presentations‐of‐self were often mutually reinforcing and intrinsically linked – forming a more general locus of meaning from which assumptions of competence and care were drawn. Yet it also became apparent that, whilst verbal communication was useful in establishing the agenda of the professional in relation to that of the patient, it was body work which was crucial in corroborating and validating beliefs pertaining to the ability and willingness of the professional to deliver this agenda in the future. The multi‐temporal nature of trust makes apparent how certain seemingly distinct forms of body work – as presentation‐of‐self versus more hands‐on modes – are inherently intertwined. Trust, and the affective relationship in which it is rooted, bridges the present with the future and thus makes apparent how seemingly ‘detached’ forms of body work are connected to the emotion‐work of the caring role and the craftwork of body work as touch.
Time, space and touch at work: body work and labour process (re)organisation
Authors: Cohen Rachel Lara
Published: February 2011

With ‘efficiency savings’ the watchword for health and social care services, reorganisation and labour rationalisation are the order of the day. This article examines the difficulties involved in (re)organising work which takes bodies as its object, or material of production. It shows that working on bodies (‘body work’) systematically delimits possibilities for labour process rationalisation which, in turn, constrains reorganisation of the health and social care sector. It does this in three main ways. First: rigidity in the ratio of workers to bodies‐worked‐upon limits the potential to increase capital‐labour ratios or cut labour. Secondly: the requirement for co‐presence and temporal unpredictability in demand for body work diminish the spatial and temporal malleability of the labour process. Thirdly: the nature of bodies as a material of production – complex, unitary and responsive – makes it difficult to standardise, reorganise or rationalise work. A wide‐ranging analysis of body work in health and social care, as well as other sectors, fleshes out these three constraints and shows that attempts to overcome them and reorganise the sector in pursuit of cost savings or ‘efficiency’, generate problems for workers and the patients, whose bodies they work upon.
Managing the body work of home care
Authors: England Kim , Dyck Isabel
Published: February 2011

Body work is a key element of home healthcare. Recent restructuring of health and social care services means the home is increasingly a key site of long‐term care. While there is a growing literature on the social dynamics between care recipients and their family caregivers, less is known about the formal work dynamic between paid care workers and care recipients and family caregivers. Drawing on interview data from an Ontario‐based study of long‐term home care, we explore how body work is negotiated through the embodied practices of care in the home and through care relationships associated with home care. In particular we focus on how the practices of intimate body care (such as bathing, toileting, and catheter management) show the diverse dynamics of care work through which caregivers, care recipients and homespace are constituted. We argue that the practices of care are shaped by a complex interweaving of regulatory mechanisms associated with home care along with the physical and affective dimensions of intimate body work. In turn this suggests the need for new ways of understanding body work in contemporary landscapes of care.
‘Extended Schools’: an exploration of the feelings, beliefs and intentions of parents and teachers
Authors: GILL SHAUNA MC
Published: February 2011

This research is designed to provide information for participants, facilitators and policy makers in the area of Extended Schools. Its salient purpose is to investigate and examine the feelings, beliefs and attitudes of teachers and parents involved in the development of the Extended Schools project in Northern Ireland. The Extended Schools project was formally launched by the Northern Ireland Secretary of State on 7 March 2006, and aims to provide a wide range of services and activities in school with the intention of helping to meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community. The qualitative approach was deemed the most appropriate methodology for gathering data.
Self‐consciousness and Assertiveness as Explanatory Variables of L2 Oral Ability: A Latent Variable Approach
Authors: Ockey Gary
Published: February 2011

Drawing on current theories in personality, second‐language (L2) oral ability, and psychometrics, this study investigates the extent to which self‐consciousness and assertiveness are explanatory variables of L2 oral ability. Three hundred sixty first‐year Japanese university students who were studying English as a foreign language participated in the study. Personality was measured with the Japanese version of the NEO‐PI‐R (Shimonaka, Nakazato, Gondo, & Takayama, 2002), and L2 oral ability was assessed with an institutionalized group oral discussion test in which performances were judged for pronunciation, fluency, grammar, vocabulary, and communication skills. An analysis of covariance structures technique indicated that assertiveness is a significant explanatory variable of L2 oral ability and no effect was found for self‐consciousness. Communication skills and fluency were slightly better explained by assertiveness than the other subconstructs of oral ability.
Statistical Learning and Language: An Individual Differences Study
Authors: Misyak Jennifer B. , Christiansen Morten H.
Published: February 2011

Although statistical learning and language have been assumed to be intertwined, this theoretical presupposition has rarely been tested empirically. The present study investigates the relationship between statistical learning and language using a within‐subject design embedded in an individual‐differences framework. Participants were administered separate statistical learning tasks involving adjacent and nonadjacent dependencies, along with a language comprehension task and a battery of other measures assessing verbal working memory, short‐term memory, vocabulary, reading experience, cognitive motivation, and fluid intelligence. Strong interrelationships were found among statistical learning, verbal working memory, and language comprehension. However, when the effects of all other factors were controlled for, performance on the two statistical learning tasks was the only predictor for comprehending relevant types of natural language sentences.
Morphological Congruency and the Acquisition of L2 Morphemes
Authors: Jiang Nan , Novokshanova Eugenia , Masuda Kyoko , Wang Xin
Published: February 2011

The present study examined the proposal that the presence of a similar morpheme in the learner's first and second languages (L2) facilitates morphological development in the L2. Advanced Russian and Japanese speakers of English as a second language performed a self‐paced reading task in which they read English sentences word by word for comprehension. Russian participants showed a reliable sensitivity to plural errors, but Japanese participants did not. The findings supported the morphological congruency hypothesis. A theoretical proposal is put forward to explain how morphological congruency affects L2 morpheme acquisition. The findings and the proposal are relevant to the discussion of the critical period hypothesis, ultimate attainment in L2, and the characterization of L2 competence of steady‐state adult L2 learners.
Acquiring Regular and Irregular Past Tense Morphemes in English and French: Evidence From Bilingual Children
Authors: Nicoladis Elena , Paradis Johanne
Published: February 2011

The aim of this study was to use crosslinguistic data from French‐English bilinguals to test two models of past tense acquisition: (a) single route (all past tense forms rely on morphophonological schemas) and (b) dual route (irregular forms are learned as words, regulars through rules). These models make similar predictions about English acquisition, the focus of most previous research. French irregular verbs are often low in token frequency but high in family resemblance. Past tense forms of regular and irregular verbs in English and French were elicited from children between 3 and 5 years of age. Both models could explain most results. Two findings with French were more compatible with a single‐route model, suggesting that this is a stronger explanation for crosslinguistic data.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT, NON‐TRADED GOODS AND REAL WAGES
Authors: Oladi Reza , Gilbert John , Beladi Hamid
Published: February 2011

Using a three‐sector general equilibrium model with non‐traded goods, we investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers. We show that foreign direct investment increases the real wages of skilled and unskilled workers alike, but widens the gap between the two under plausible conditions.
BUSINESS CYCLES IN SINGAPORE: STYLIZED FACTS FOR A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY
Authors: Choy Keen Meng
Published: February 2011

This paper sets out to discover the salient characteristics of economic fluctuations in the small open economy of Singapore. To this end, band‐pass filters and unobserved components models are first used to extract the cyclical components in macroeconomic variables. The extent to which domestic business cycles are influenced by foreign economic cycles with regards to their persistence, comovement and volatility properties are then assessed using time‐series statistics. The paper also documents how shocks originating from abroad are propagated to the broader economy. Although it is found that idiosyncratic features are present in Singapore's macroeconomic fluctuations, there are also stylized business cycle facts to be learnt about small open economies in general.
DEVELOPMENT OF AIR TRANSPORT INDUSTRY IN THE ASIA‐PACIFIC REGION
Authors: Cullinane Kevin , Firth Michael , Fung Michael K.Y. , Gong Stephen X.H. , Law Japhet S. , Zhang Anming
Published: February 2011

The volume of air passengers and cargo in the Asia‐Pacific region has grown significantly over the past decade due to the strong impetus of economic growth as well as trade and economic integration at both the regional and global levels. Although public funds have been the main source of financing for airports in most parts of the region, governments have increasingly resorted to privatization or are seriously considering it as a form of private sector participation enabling new airports to be built or existing airports to be upgraded. The present paper provides a brief survey of airport privatization in the Asia‐Pacific region, discusses the relevant issues, and introduces the following five papers published in this special section on the air transport industry in the Asia‐Pacific region.
CROSS‐BORDER INTEGRATION IN NORTHEAST ASIAN AIR TRANSPORT MARKET
Authors: Yamaguchi Katsuhiro
Published: February 2011

This study highlights the recent global trends of the air transport market and develops a simulation model to assess the welfare impacts of tripartite liberalization in the Northeast Asian air transport market. First, in the global air transport market, routes between 1000 and 2000 km are identified as the fastest growing segment. Gravity model analysis reveals that there is potentially significant room for further growth from cross‐border liberalization. Second, in the impact assessment of market liberalization in Northeast Asia, the effect of tripartite market liberalization of triangular routes that connect major cities in each of the three nations, Japan, South Korea and Mainland China, is analyzed. Simulation using a Cournot model with product differentiation shows that overall welfare gains would be achieved from tripartite liberalization. Air carriers' losses are overridden by an increase in consumer surplus. Such an arrangement by the three nations might eventually lead to an integrated environment in which airlines could evolve into a true multi‐hub Northeast Asian air carriers.
EVALUATION OF ASIAN AIRPORTS AS GATEWAYS: APPLICATION OF NETWORK EQUILIBRIUM MODEL
Authors: Takebayashi Mikio
Published: February 2011

This research applies the bi‐level market model to the Asia‐based international air transport markets. The model is a two‐stage game in which airlines act as leaders and passengers act as followers. Airlines are assumed to control flight frequencies, and passengers are assumed to choose their optimal route. At the equilibrium point, we have subgame perfect equilibrium. We apply this model to 2003 Asia‐based international air transport markets and conduct some scenario studies. We find that discounting landing charges at Narita Airport increases the passenger flow but diminishes the gateway function for trans‐Pacific transport.
EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF INTER‐FIRM RIVALRY BETWEEN JAPANESE FULL‐SERVICE AND LOW‐COST CARRIERS
Authors: Murakami Hideki
Published: February 2011

This paper empirically analyzes dynamic change in inter‐firm rivalry between Japanese low‐cost carriers (LCC) and full‐service carriers, and deduces the dynamic change in consumer surplus after an LCC enters a market. Our findings are that: (i) the conduct parameters of LCC and reacting full‐service carriers were extraordinarily low when competition started; (ii) the conduct parameters were restored to, or even exceeded, the pre‐entry level in the third year of LCC entry; and (iii) gains in total welfare were recognized for five of the nine markets, whereas in three markets only the airline industry benefited, and in one market, total welfare decreased.
Common Factors in Default Risk Across Countries and Industries
Authors: Aretz Kevin , Pope Peter F.
Published: February 2011

Global economic crises appear to strongly affect corporate bankruptcy rates. However, several prior studies indicate that changes in default risk are strongly negatively related to equity returns, which in turn depend predominately on country‐specific factors. This suggests that country effects – and not global effects – should dominate changes in default risk. To analyse this issue, we decompose changes in default risk, changes in the fundamental determinants of default risk and equity returns into global, country and industry effects. We proxy for default risk through Merton (1974) default risk estimates and CDS rates. Our evidence reveals that changes in default risk always depend most strongly on global and industry effects. However, the magnitude of country effects in equity returns correlates positively with economic stability, rendering it dependent on the sample period. Our results have implications for the management of credit‐sensitive securities.
Exits, Performance, and Late Stage Private Equity: the Case of UK Management Buy‐outs
Authors: Jelic Ranko , Wright Mike
Published: February 2011

Using a hand‐collected dataset of 1,225 buy‐outs, we examine post buy‐out and post exit long term abnormal operating performance of UK management buy‐outs, during the period 1980–2009. Our univariate and panel data analysis of post buy‐out performance conclusively show positive changes in output. We also find strong evidence for improvements in employment and output and a lack of significant changes in efficiency and profitability following initial public offerings (IPO) exits. IPOs from the main London Stock Exchange (LSE) market outperform their counterparts from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) only in terms of changes in output. For secondary management buy outs (SMBOs), performance declines during the first buy‐out but in the second buy‐out performance stabilises until year three, after which profitability and efficiency fall while employment increases. Although private equity (PE) backed buy‐outs do not exhibit either post buy‐out or post exit underperformance, they fail to over‐perform their non‐PE backed counterparts. In the subsample of buy‐outs exiting via IPOs on the AIM, PE firms do not outperform non‐PE buy‐outs. Our findings highlight the importance of tracing the overall performance of buy‐outs over a longer period and controlling for sample selection bias related to the provision of PE backing.
The Enkratic Requirement
Authors: Coates Allen
Published: February 2011

Abstract: Agents are enkratic when they intend to do what they believe they should. That rationality requires you to be enkratic is uncontroversial, yet you may be enkratic in a way that does not exhibit any rationality on your part. Thus, what I call the enkratic requirement demands that you be enkratic in the right way. In particular, I will argue that it demands that you base your belief about what you should do and your intention to do it on the same considerations. The idea is that, if you base your belief and your intention on different considerations, then you are inconsistent in your treatment of those considerations as reasons. The enkratic requirement demands that you be enkratic by treating considerations consistently as reasons.
The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010
Authors: Dickens Jonathan
Published: February 2011

Dickens J. The definition of social work in the United Kingdom, 2000–2010.

This article reviews the approaches that the four countries of the United Kingdom – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – have taken in recent years for organising, regulating and defining social work. Social work is one of the policy areas that have been devolved to the constituent countries. This has brought extensive organisational changes, multiple policy initiatives and a proliferation of regulatory and advisory agencies. The article focuses on the attempts by these official bodies to define social work, treating the United Kingdom as a case study of the tensions of specifying what social work is and what it should be. The various attempts expose the strains and overlaps between the different agencies, and a bigger struggle to contain and control social work. The article highlights four key dimensions in the enduring debates: values–roles, social–individual, care–control and public–professional.
Life‐history variations of the Lesser Sheathbill Chionis minor in contrasting habitats
Authors: Jouventin Pierre , Bried Joël , Ausilio Eric
Published: February 2011

From 1987 until 1995, life‐history traits of the Lesser Sheathbill Chionis minor in the Kerguelen Archipelago were compared with those at other localities, where this species breeds in seabird colonies. At Kerguelen Island only, some pairs breed on shores free of penguin and cormorant colonies. Moreover, pairs, including nonbreeders, and solitary individuals maintain territories all the year round. Site and mate changes were not linked, and all divorces were permanent. Fidelity rates were similar in all localities and so were the annual survival rates of adults. The survival rate of immature individuals was highest at Kerguelen Island, where sheathbills laid smaller clutches, produced fewer fledglings and had lower breeding success than in the other islands. At Kerguelen Island, pairs breeding on shores had similar clutch sizes but fledged fewer offspring than those breeding in seabird colonies. Further, the proportion of vacant territories and nonbreeders was higher on shores. Kerguelen sheathbills devoted less time to food acquisition than those on Marion Island, being exceptionally kleptoparasitic, and spent a smaller part of their foraging time exploiting seabird colonies. Their diet was mainly algae. The differences on Kerguelen Island as compared with other localities were caused by the presence of an extensive intertidal zone on the former, which reduced competition, making many more sites suitable and the environment more predictable. These life‐history and behavioural traits are discussed in relation to life‐history theory. As differences were also found, although less extensive, within the Kerguelen Archipelago, we suggest that some traits represent an adaptive response to external constraints and that the life‐history strategy of the Lesser Sheathbill is particularly opportunistic.
Predation by RavensCorvus coraxon Brunnich's GuillemotUria lomviaeggs and chicks and its possible impact on breeding site selection
Authors: Gaston Anthony J. , Elliot Richard D.
Published: February 2011

We studied the behaviour of RavensCorvus coraxtaking the eggs or chicks of Brunnich's GuillemotsUria lomviaat East Digges Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. We classified the characteristics of the breeding sites attacked by Ravens according to their location on the cliffs, the width of the breeding ledge, the number of adjacent rock faces and the density of nearby breeding guillemots. Ravens selectively attacked peripheral sites near the top of the occupied area, those on narrow ledges and those with few close neighbours. The risk of predation at the most vulnerable sites was more than seven times the average. For the most part, breeding success at 419 sites near the cliff top conformed to predictions based on the observations of Raven predation. However, losses observed over 3 years suggested that more eggs fall accidentally than are taken by avian predators. We concluded that the risks of predation and of accidental dislodgement both contribute to choice of nest sites by Brunnich's Guillemots. The effect of multiple close neighbours in deterring predation by Ravens may be important in determining the density of guillemot breeding sites within the colony.
Brood desertion in Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus: an experimental test of parental quality and remating opportunities
Authors: Székely Tamás
Published: February 2011

Uniparental male care combined with polyandry is rare in birds, and the best known examples are in shorebirds Charadrii. There are two current hypotheses explaining why males care for the brood, whereas females desert and remate: either males are more capable than females at providing uniparental care (“parental quality hypothesis”) or females gain a greater increase in reproductive success by deserting than do males (“remating opportunity hypothesis”). I experimentally tested both hypotheses in Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus, one of the few avian species in which either parent may desert the brood. By experimentally removing one parent when the chicks hatched, I found that male‐tended broods had better survival than female‐tended ones, particularly up to 6 days after hatching. It is unlikely that differential brood mortality was caused by chilling of the chicks, since the brooding behaviour of males and females was not different. The results of this study are consistent with the explanation that male‐tended broods survived better because males were better able to protect the brood from attacks by conspecifics and predators. The remating opportunity hypothesis was also corroborated because single females acquired new mates faster than did single males. The results of this study suggest that both the better parental capability of males and the greater remating opportunities of females predispose Kentish Plovers for uniparental male care, desertion by the female parent and sequential polyandry.