bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Out on a Limb on Our Own: Uncertainty and Doubt in Moving from Subject-Centered to Interdisciplinary Teaching
Authors: Meister Denise G. , Nolan Jim
Published: December 2004

This paper describes and interprets how five teachers of high school freshmen defined and made meaning of a change process in which they were involved. The restructuring initiative, which was administratively imposed, involved teaming, interdisciplinary teaching, and block scheduling. The study took place during the 1st year of implementation, 6 months after the team had received the mandate and prepared for the restructuring. The tools of inquiry included the following methods: (a) analysis of three in-depth phenomenological interviews, (b) participation observation, and (c) analyses of documents such as minutes from team meetings and curriculum planning sessions.

Although several interrelated themes emerged, uncertainty and doubt became the pervading theme that had a critical and sometimes debilitating effect on the teaching team's ability to move from subject-based to interdisciplinary teaching. This uncertainty and doubt was magnified and perpetuated because of the deficit model utilized to implement the initiative: lack of teacher input into decision to restructure, the school's history of adopting trends, lack of professional development, lack of a written curriculum, lack of administrative leadership, and the pull between loyalty to subject and allegiance to team.
Early phonological skills as a predictor of reading acquisition: A follow‐up study from kindergarten to the middle of grade 2
Authors: Sprugevica Ieva , HØien Torleiv
Published: December 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the power of early measures of phonological skills (phonemic awareness, rapid naming, short‐term memory) in predicting later reading skills at various points of time. About 70 children were followed from the end of kindergarten to the middle of grade 2. Correlation analyses were performed as well as a linear growth curve analyses. In the traditional regression analysis, phonemic awareness in kindergarten explained about 27% of the variance in word reading six months later and about 9.5% of the variance at the end of grade 1. Even when prior level of reading skill was included in the predictive equation, a significant amount of variance was still explained by phonemic awareness. The other predictor variables did not explain any variance in word reading, and phonemic awareness did not predict any variance in reading skills in grade 2. When using sentence reading as the dependent variable, phonemic awareness explained about 16% of unique variance after six months, and about 13% of the variance in the middle of grade 2. Similarly, when employing growth curve analysis, phonemic awareness was the only phonological factor that accounted for significant variance in the word reading slope, explaining about 25% of its variance, whereas naming and short‐term memory did not explain any unique variance. The lack of predictive power of phonemic awareness on the sentence b‐slope is assumed to be caused by unreliable sentence scores in kindergarten.
Rorschach administration: A comparison of the effect of two instructions given to an inpatient sample of drug addicts
Authors: Hartmann Ellen , Vanem Per‐Christian
Published: December 2004

The effect of administering the Rorschach Inkblot Method under two instructional sets was compared on three classes of outcome variables: the frequency with which subjects asked questions about the test; the frequency of brief protocols (fewer than 14 responses); and 17 traditional Rorschach structural summary scores. Sixty subjects, obtained from three inpatient psychiatric clinics treating drug addicts, randomly received either the short pre‐testing instruction “What might this be?” originally developed by Herman Rorschach and recommended in the Comprehensive System, or a longer and more elaborated instruction, which for many years has been the standard instruction in Norway. Compared with the Norwegian instruction, the short instruction produced significantly more questions to the examiner about the test. For the other outcome measures no differences were observed.
Neural pathways mediating vaginal function: The vagus nerves and spinal cord oxytocin
Authors: Komisaruk Barry R. , Sansone Giorgio
Published: December 2004

The initial observations, made in our laboratory with Knut Larsson, of the ability of vaginocervical stimulation (VCS) to block withdrawal responses to foot pinch in rats has led to findings of multiple behavioral, autonomic, and neuroendocrine effects of this potent stimulus in rats and also in women. It has led to an understanding of: (1) the neuroanatomical and neurochemical basis of a novel and potent pain‐blocking mechanism; (2) likely neuroanatomical pathways mediating both the Ferguson reflex and a specific autonomic response – the pupil‐dilating effect of VCS; (3) a role for oxytocin as a putative central nervous system neurotransmitter that stimulates autonomic sympathetic preganglionic neurons within the spinal cord; and (4) a novel pathway that can convey sensory activity from the cervix, adequate to induce orgasm, via the vagus nerves. This latter pathway bypasses the spinal cord and projects directly to the medulla oblongata, and thus can convey genital afferent activity despite complete spinal cord injury at any level.
Extreme Values and Haar Series Estimates of Point Process Boundaries
Authors: Girard Stéphane , Jacob Pierre
Published: December 2004

ABSTRACT.  We present a new method for estimating the edge of a two‐dimensional bounded set, given a finite random set of points drawn from the interior. The estimator is based both on Haar series and extreme values of the point process. We give conditions for various kind of convergence and we obtain remarkably different possible limit distributions. We propose a method of reducing the negative bias, illustrated by a simulation.
A Semi‐parametric Regression Model with Errors in Variables
Authors: Zhu Lixing , Cui Hengjian
Published: December 2004

Abstract.  In this paper, we consider a partial linear regression model with measurement errors in possibly all the variables. We use a method of moments and deconvolution to construct a new class of parametric estimators together with a non‐parametric kernel estimator. Strong convergence, optimal rate of weak convergence and asymptotic normality of the estimators are investigated.
Social Capital in Denmark: A Deviant Case?
Authors: Torpe Lars
Published: December 2004

If social capital is important for democratic governance, then it is important how social capital develops. In this article the development of social capital in Denmark is studied on four dimensions: civic norms, social trust, civic involvement and social networks. In contrast to Robert Putnam's findings for the US, no evidence is found of a general weakening of social capital in Denmark. The findings are surprising, because Denmark faces some of the same tendencies that according to Putnam lie behind the decline of social capital in the US. The last section therefore discusses various institutional aspects that may help explain the difference. It is argued that the welfare state facilitates the production of social capital, partly by supporting civil society infrastructure, partly by the very structure of its institutions.
Introduction: Social Capital in Scandinavia
Authors: Rothstein Bo , Stolle Dietlind
Published: December 2004

In this special issue ofScandinavian Political Studiesit is explored how the concept of social capital relates to the Scandinavian context. It is common knowledge that Scandinavia performs well with regard to many aspects of social capital, such as the level of trust and the density of membership in voluntary associations. Contrary to developments in the United States, there is little evidence of a decline in social capital in Scandinavia. There are thus several reasons why Scandinavia offers an especially interesting testing ground for many of the hypotheses and problems generated by social capital theory. What kind of empirical evidence do we have for the changes of social capital in Scandinavia? If high levels of social capital are indeed an important attribute of Scandinavian society, how can such high levels be maintained? What is the relation between, on the one hand, social capital in the form of norms about reciprocity and, on the other hand, the Social Democratic type of encompassing and universal welfare state? Is there something special about the types of mechanisms that are behind the abundance and maintenance of social capital in Scandinavia? It is argued that the high level of social capital in the Scandinavian countries can be explained by (a) the high degree of economic equality, (b) the low level of patronage and corruption and (c) the predominance of universal non‐discriminating welfare programmes.
Social Policy in South Korea: Cultural and Structural Factors in the Emergence of Welfare
Authors: Shin Chang‐sik , Shaw Ian
Published: December 2004

There are a number of features that make South Korea an interesting place to study social policy. First, it has experienced rapid economic development with the associated changes in urbanization and demography. This change has created social problems, which the state has had to address. Second, the country retains a strong cultural tradition and repeated affirmation of the values and practices of Confucianism. In this paper, these two features are considered in relation to the way social policy has been addressed. The thrust of the paper will be on the policy responses to perceived social problems and the way in which other social problems are individualized within families. These policies are informed and shaped by Korean politics and culture.
Health Policy in the Asian NIEs
Authors: Ramesh M.
Published: December 2004

This paper compares the health policies of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan with the purpose of drawing policy lessons. The study finds two distinct policy clusters: Hong Kong and Singapore on the one hand, and Korea and Taiwan on the other. With respect to provision of health care, the former rely largely on public hospitals for delivering inpatient care while the latter rely on private hospitals. In matters of financing, they are similar in that out‐of‐pocket is a major source of financing in all four countries. However, they are also different because Korea and Taiwan have universal health insurance while the city states do not. The study concludes that public provision of hospital care, as in Hong Kong and Singapore, yields more favourable outcomes than many mainstream economists would have us believe. Conversely, private provision in combination with social insurance, as found in Korea and Taiwan, severely undermines efforts to contain health care costs.
Virus‐crisis‐institutional Change: the Foot and Mouth Actor Network and the Governance of Rural Affairs in the UK
Authors: Donaldson Andrew , Lowe Philip , Ward Neil
Published: December 2004

This paper adopts an actor‐network theory approach in order to follow the associations of actors involved in the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) epidemic in the UK. We follow the chains of translation through three key stages: from virus to disease; from disease to crises in agriculture, the rural economy and rural policy; and from those crises to the institutional change that occurred with the demise of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the arrival of the new Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs. What emerges from this approach is that the UK Government's initial attempts to combat FMD caused a rural economy crisis not through mismanagement but through a more fundamental mis‐problematization of the situation. By viewing rural areas through an agricultural lens, Government actors failed to appreciate the presence of other actors in the countryside, a failure that resulted in massive social and economic impacts outside of the agricultural sector.
Growing up on Ward Twenty: the everyday life of teenagers in a mental handicap hospital
Authors: Hughes David , May David , Harding Susan
Published: December 2004

Abstract Among closed institutions surviving in contemporary Britain, mental handicap hospitals are virtually unique in assuming responsibility both for the primary socialization, and the long‐ term adult care of a resident population. This paper uses ethnographic data on an adolescent ward to consider the process of growing up in hospital. It examines the extent of cultural patterning in ward life, sources of cultural knowledge open to patients, and the major preoccupations and concerns of the two staff groups — nurses and teachers— having major responsibility for patient management.
Determinants of Random Matrices and Jack Polynomials of Rectangular Shape
Authors: Andrews G. E. , Goulden I. P. , Jackson D. M.
Published: December 2004

We consider an N‐dimensional real integral, indexed by a parameter that specifies the power of a Vandermonde determinant. For two particular values of the parameter, this integral arises from matrix integrals, over real symmetric and complex Hermitian N×N matrices. When it is normalized, it gives the expectation of an arbitrary power of the determinant. The results are given as finite summations, using terminating hypergeometric series. We relate the integral to a specific coefficient in the Jack polynomial indexed by a partition of rectangular shape, and present data for this coefficient in terms of the parameter α.
A Note on the Jump Conditions for Systems of Conservation Laws
Authors: Srinivasan G. K. , Sharma V. D.
Published: December 2004

In [1], the authors have demonstrated the effect on the Rankine–Hugoniot conditions for a system of conservation laws driven by a singular forcing function and have applied their results to a problem in water waves. We analyze here a similar problem in several space dimensions, in which the singularity in the forcing term involves a simple layer potential supported along the singularity locus. A classical theorem in electrostatics appears as a special case.
Inside Teacher Community: Representations of Classroom Practice
Authors: Little Judith Warren
Published: December 2004

Researchers posit that conditions for improving teaching and learning are strengthened when teachers collectively question ineffective teaching routines, examine new conceptions of teaching and learning, find generative means to acknowledge and respond to difference and conflict, and engage actively in supporting one another's professional growth. Yet relatively little research examines the specific interactions and dynamics by which professional community constitutes a resource for teacher learning and innovations in teaching practice. In particular, few studies go “inside teacher community” to focus closely on the teacher development opportunities and possibilities that reside within ordinary daily work. This paper draws on intensive case studies of teacher knowledge, practice, and learning among teachers of mathematics and English in two high schools to take up the problem of how classroom teaching practice comes to be known, shared, and developed among teachers through their out-of-classroom interactions.
When are Racial Disparities in Education the Result of Racial Discrimination? A Social Science Perspective
Authors: Mickelson Roslyn Arlin
Published: December 2004

In this article I seek to answer the question, “When are racial disparities in education the result of racial discrimination?” To answer it I synthesize the social science research on racially correlated disparities in education. My review draws from the sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, history, and education literatures. I organize explanations into six categories: biological determinism, social structure, school organization and opportunities to learn, family background, culture, and the state. I arrive at three answers. The first is a definition: Racial discrimination in education arises from actions of institutions or individual state actors, their attitudes and ideologies, or processes that systematically treat students from different racial/ethnic groups disparately or inequitably. The second answer is that while distinguishing racial discrimination from disparities may be an interesting intellectual, legal, and statistical challenge, the conclusion probably is less meaningful than social scientists and policy makers might hope. The third answer follows from the first two. I propose the following reformulation of the original question: “When are racial disparities in education not due to discrimination?” I argue that the reformulated question is more likely to bring solutions to the race gap than the original one. Even if we conclude that discrimination does not cause racial disparities in education, we should not conclude that schools have no role in addressing them. If public schools do not address educational disparities, then who or what institution will?
Race Discrimination in Education: A Legal Perspective
Authors: Ryan James E.
Published: December 2004

This paper was prepared for the Panel on Methods for Assessing Discrimination, National Academy of Sciences, Committee on National Statistics. It describes the formal legal definitions of race discrimination in education, demonstrates how those definitions are applied in various contexts, and highlights the role that social science evidence has played and could play in the cases. The paper argues that what currently counts as race discrimination in education and how such discrimination is proven are, from a legal perspective, at once both straightforward and complex questions. They are straightforward because the formal legal definitions are simple enough to grasp. The questions are complex because at times the formal definitions of race discrimination are modified in their application, and also because some important questions about how to apply those definitions in a particular case or context remain unanswered. The paper offers some suggestions as to how these lingering questions could be answered and describes the limited role that social science evidence could play in shaping the answers. It also highlights the irony that, under the current legal definitions of race discrimination, it is much easier to block voluntary integration efforts designed to assist minority (and white) students than it is to block practices that unintentionally disadvantage minority students.
Preparing Teachers for Diverse Classrooms: Creating Public and Private Spaces to Explore Culture through Poetry Writing
Authors: Rosaen Cheryl L.
Published: December 2004

Teachers and teacher educators are faced with an urgent responsibility to transform curriculum, teaching, and assessment practices to support the learning of an increasingly diverse cultural and linguistic student population who come to school with a range of experiences and abilities. This article relates my efforts as a teacher educator to transform my own curriculum, teaching and assessment practices to better prepare beginning teachers for diverse classrooms. The article presents research findings from a study of one of the pedagogical approaches taken in a literacy methods course. I used poetry as a site for teacher candidates to explore aspects of their own culture and share their knowledge with one another. I also wanted them to consider ways in which poetry can be explored by making connections with their personal lives and other texts they have read or have written to support meaningful learning. I describe teacher candidates’ perceptions of the poetry writing activity and their learning in four areas: curriculum, pedagogy, multicultural competence, and social justice. I conclude with a discussion of insights gained and future directions for further course and program development.
Focusing New Teachers on Individual and Low Performing Students: The Centrality of Formative Assessment in the Mentor's Repertoire of Practice
Authors: Athanases Steven Z. , Achinstein Betty
Published: December 2004

Mentoring novice teachers often features buddy support, technical advice, and classroom management tips to meet teacher-centered concerns of survival. Such mentoring aligns with conventional models of teacher development that describe the novice concerned with self-image, materials and procedures, and management, and only after the initial years, able to focus on individual student learning. Drawing on the wisdom of practice of 37 experienced teacher induction leaders and case studies of mentor/new teacher pairs, this study found that mentors can interrupt that tendency among new teachers, focusing them on the learning of individual students, especially those underperforming. For this work, mentors tap knowledge of student and teacher learners, pedagogy for classrooms and for tutoring teachers, and especially multi-layered knowledge and abilities in several domains of assessment. These include assessment of students, alignment of curriculum with standards, and formative assessment of the new teacher. Skillful use of this knowledge can bring individual student learning into focus and help new teachers generate methods for shaping instruction to meet students’ varied learning needs. These results challenge developmental models of teaching and conservative mentoring practices, calling for articulation of a knowledge base and relevant mentor development to focus new teachers early on individual student learning.
How Teachers Establish Psychological Environments during the First Days of School: Associations with Avoidance in Mathematics
Authors: Patrick Helen , Turner Julianne C. , Meyer Debra K. , Midgley Carol
Published: December 2004

Observations of the first days of school in eight sixth-grade classrooms identified three different classroom environments. In supportive environments teachers expressed enthusiasm for learning, were respectful, used humor, and voiced expectations that all students would learn. In ambiguous environments teachers were inconsistent in their support and focus on learning and exercised contradictory forms of management. In nonsupportive environments teachers emphasized extrinsic reasons for learning, forewarned that learning would be difficult and that students might cheat or misbehave, and exercised authoritarian control. Teachers’ patterns of motivational and organizational discourse during math classes near the end of the year were consistent with the messages they expressed at the beginning of the year. When student reports of avoidance behaviors in math from fall and spring were compared with the qualitative analyses of these environments, students in supportive classrooms reported engaging in significantly less avoidance behavior than students in ambiguous or nonsupportive environments.
From Sharing to Balancing – No Mean Feat!
Authors: Holmes Peter
Published: December 2004

This article suggests how to move from the primary school notion of the average being ‘fair shares for all’ to the secondary school idea of the mean being a ‘balancing point’.
Handling Continuous Data in Excel
Authors: Hunt Neville
Published: December 2004

This article demonstrates how Microsoft Excel 2000 can best be used to tabulate and chart continuous data.
Wish You Were Here: Postcards from Seoul
Authors: Baczkowski A.J.
Published: December 2004

What a set of 73 postcards sent from Seoul to one address in the United Kingdom between 23 August 2001 and 1 September 2001 reveals about the postal service.
By Comparison: A Procession of Incomes. What Do You Really Mean?
Authors: Tyrrell Sidney
Published: December 2004

The Family Expenditure Survey provides details of household incomes. This article looks at income distribution afresh and what is meant by the mean.
Teaching Confidence Intervals with Java Applets
Authors: Bertie Andrew , Farrington Paddy
Published: December 2004

Confidence intervals are pedagogically important but often misinterpreted. This article describes Java applets designed to help students understand two interpretations of confidence intervals.
Is Globalisation in Danger?
Authors: Wolf Martin
Published: December 2004

This paper compares the globalisation experience of the late 19th century with that of the post world war period. It notes the enormous changes in the world economy arising from the increasing participation of the developing countries in the world goods, labour and capital markets and the reduction in the cost of communications that has underlined these changes. More importantly globalisation was made by a consensus on trade, debt and macroeconomics which has led to policy reforms in developing countries including China whose entry into the WTO provides a high watermark in globalisation of the latter period. The paper notes that globalisation is not in danger of reversal given that the forces that led to this outcome in the earlier period have become weak. Ideas, interests, international relations and stability achieved in the post World War period gives ground for qualified optimism about the continuation of globalisation.
Measuring Effects of Trade Policy Distortions: How Far Have We Come?
Authors: Anderson Kym
Published: December 2004

After a brief review of the literature to the early 1970s, this paper assesses the contributions by economists during the past three decades to measuring the distortionary effects of trade policies. It does not pretend to be a comprehensive survey, but draws on selections from the literature that give a sense of the distance the profession has travelled from a trade policy practitioner's viewpoint since Corden's first paper on the subject in 1957. Phenomenal though that progress has been, there is ample room for further improvement in computing the economic (and other) effects of trade‐related policies and their reform. The paper concludes with suggestions of where the priorities should be in global modelling of trade policy reform, as the world moves into the next round of multilateral trade negotiations.
Towards a Theory of Current Accounts
Authors: Ventura Jaume
Published: December 2004

The current accounts data of industrial countries exhibits some strong patterns that are inconsistent with the intertemporal approach to the current account. This is the basic model that international economists have been using for more than two decades to think about current account issues. This paper shows that it is possible to go a long way towards reconciling the theory and the data by introducing two additional features to the basic model: investment risk and adjustment costs to investment. Moreover, these extensions generate new and unexpected theoretical predictions that receive substantial support in the data. The overall message is therefore positive: with a couple of reasonable modifications, the intertemporal approach to the current account provides a fairly good description of the industrial country data.
Debt Relief and the Current Account: An Analysis of the HIPC Initiative
Authors: Edwards Sebastian
Published: December 2004

In this paper I develop a model to investigate the connection between debt relief and current account sustainability. This model can be used as a key input in assessing whether a HIPC country's real exchange rate is ‘overvalued,’ and will thus need to go through devaluation. The working of the model is illustrated for the case of Nicaragua, a country that in 2002 had one of the highest external debt to GDP ratios: almost 300 per cent. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (after Haiti), and for the last decade has relied very heavily on foreign assistance and aid. Moreover, in the last few years Nicaragua has run extremely large current account deficits in excess of 37 per cent of GDP during 1997‐2001 largely financed by grants, donations and migrant remittances.
Trade and Exchange Rate Policies in Formerly Centrally Planned Economies
Authors: Pomfret Richard
Published: December 2004

This paper examines the international economic policies of the eastern European and Soviet Successes States in the early 1990s which provide one of those wide‐open windows of opportunity when powerful vested interests are not lobbying for retention of an existing tariff structure. Moreover, the simultaneous abandonment of central planning by over two dozen countries provided a natural experiment in which a range of differing policies might have been pursued. Policymakers in transition economies have generally ended up pursuing liberal non‐discriminatory trade and foreign exchange policies. There are exceptions and the majority may be wrong, but the presumption is that, perhaps after a learning or trial‐and‐error process, decision makers have found the rules of thumb suggested by economists to be their best guide to international economic policy. This paper notes that integration of transition economies into the global trading system has been surprisingly successful. Almost all the countries in transition from central planning have accepted the WTO rule‐based system in principle, even if there are variations in trade policies and performance, and have generally pursued multilateral non‐discriminatory trade policies. In particular, the potential danger of regionalism proving more attractive than multilateralism has not eventuated. The revealed behaviour of policymakers suggests that trade liberalisation is a good rule of thumb and regional groupings among transition economies have been insignificant. Despite a proliferation of new currencies, varying exchange rate regimes, and differing degrees of currency convertibility, the general pattern has been to accept convertibility for current account transdactions, and in many cases to extend this to a de jure commitment and to allow substantial capital account convertibility. A general policy conclusion in favour of more open and non‐discriminatory trade and exchange policies have passed the test of acceptability by policymakers in over two‐dozen countries in this category.
Capital Inflows and the Real Exchange Rate: A Comparative Study of Asia and Latin America
Authors: Athukorala Prema‐Chandra , Rajapatirana Sarath
Published: December 2004

The nexus of real exchange rate (RER) and capital inflows is examined through a comparative analysis of the experiences of emerging market economies in Asian and Latin America during the period 1985‐2000. It is found that the degree of appreciation in RER associated with capital inflow is uniformly much higher in Latin American countries compared to their Asian counterparts, despite the fact that the latter experienced far greater foreign capital inflows relative to the size of the economy. The econometric evidence suggests that both the composition of capital flows and differences in the degree of response of RER to capital flows matter in explaining these contrasting experiences. While RER appreciation is a phenomenon predominantly associated with other (non‐FDI) forms of capital inflows (OCFW), a given level of OCFW brings about a far greater degree of appreciation of the real exchange rate in Latin America where the importance of these flows in total capital inflow is also far greater. On the policy front, Asian countries seem to have used fiscal contraction and nominal exchange rate adjustment more effectively to cushion the RER against the appreciation pressure of capital inflows. There is, however, no evidence to suggest that sterilised intervention can generate a lasting impact on the real exchange rate.
Mixing English in French advertising
Authors: Martin Elizabeth
Published: December 2004

This paper focuses on the use of English in advertising, supplementing previous research on advertising with an analysis of code–mixed advertisements drawn from recent magazines in France. Strong evidence emerges that advertising language differs significantly from non–persuasive varieties in terms of the available choices of medium and function, the role of ‘participants’, and, most importantly, the innovative linguistic and paralinguistic features that serve as attention–getting devices. Furthermore, the discourse domains of English in code–mixed advertising seem to reach far beyond those normally associated with English (e.g., modernity, technology, and science). Finally, it is suggested that the proportion of English in a given advertisement may be an important factor in determining its socio–psychological effect. A cline of code–mixed advertising is introduced as a possible means of measuring this English/non–English ratio from a structural perspective.
Linguistic opportunism and English in Moldova
Authors: Ciscel Matthew H.
Published: December 2004

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of English in Moldova. Building on Phillipson's (1992) concept of linguistic imperialism and Kachru's (1985) three concentric circles of world Englishes, it will propose a weak form of linguistic dominance based on the notion of opportunism. This model is supported by data from a recent study of language attitude and use in Moldova. The data come from a survey based on a self–report questionnaire completed by 65 Moldovans. Results indicate that English is learned for facilitative reasons when it is accessible. The role of English is significantly weakened by the presence of three competing local identities (Moldovan, Romanian, and Russian) and residual integrative motivation to learn French. Thus, despite its growing role as a language of international communication, English in Moldova reflects opportunism more than imperialism.
Choice of Parametric Models in Survival Analysis: Applications to Monotherapy for Epilepsy and Cerebral Palsy
Authors: Kwong G. P. S. , Hutton J. L.
Published: December 2004

In the analysis of medical survival data, semiparametric proportional hazards models are widely used. When the proportional hazards assumption is not tenable, these models will not be suitable. Other models for covariate effects can be useful. In particular, we consider accelerated life models, in which the effect of covariates is to scale the quantiles of the base-line distribution. Solomon and Hutton have suggested that there is some robustness to misspecification of survival regression models. They showed that the relative importance of covariates is preserved under misspecification with assumptions of small coefficients and orthogonal transformation of covariates. We elucidate these results by applications to data from five trials which compare two common anti-epileptic drugs (carbamazepine versus sodium valporate monotherapy for epilepsy) and to survival of a cohort of people with cerebral palsy. Results on the robustness against model misspecification depend on the assumptions of small coefficients and on the underlying distribution of the data. These results hold in cerebral palsy but do not hold in epilepsy data which have early high hazard rates. The orthogonality of coefficients is not important. However, the choice of model is important for an estimation of the magnitude of effects, particularly if the base-line shape parameter indicates high initial hazard rates.
Analysing State Dependences in Emotional Experiences by Dynamic Count Data Models
Authors: Böckenholt Ulf
Published: December 2004

The paper presents a multilevel framework for the analysis of multivariate count data that are observed over several time periods for a random sample of individuals. The approach proposed facilitates studying observed and unobserved sources of dependences among the event categories in the presence of possibly higher order autoregressive effects. In an investigation of the relationships between pleasant and unpleasant emotional experiences and the personality traits neuroticism and extraversion over time, we find that the two personality factors are related to both the mean rates of the emotional experiences and their carry-over effects. Respondents with high neuroticism scores not only reported more unpleasant than pleasant emotional experiences but also exhibited higher carry-over effects for unpleasant than for pleasant emotions. In contrast, respondents with high extraversion scores reported fewer anxiety and more euphoria emotions than respondents with low extraversion scores with weaker carry-over effects for both pleasant and unpleasant emotions.
Family photographs and domestic spacings: a case study
Authors: Rose Gillian
Published: December 2004

This paper elaborates the argument that domestic space should be considered as the product of relations that extend beyond the home. It examines one common domestic object – family photographs – and explores how the particularity of this photography and the specificity of its display by white middle‐class mothers with young children in South‐east England produce just such an extended domestic space. The stretched space co‐produced by these mothers and photographs is also a form of stretched time, and it is integrative in complex ways; it contains different kinds of absences which disturb but do not break its cohesion. The paper also discusses why the display of family photographs is done almost exclusively by women.
The particularities of place: geographies of gendered moral responsibilities among Latvian migrant workers in 1950s Britain
Authors: McDowell Linda
Published: December 2004

It is now widely accepted that gender relations take a spatially specific form. Distinctive national, regional and local patterns in the ways in which men and women divide paid labour and caring work result in an uneven geography of the total work of social reproduction and, it has been argued, distinctive regional or local gender cultures. It is also clear that the overall gender order and its geography undergo periodic change. Currently in Britain, and in many other industrial nations, the old gender order of industrial Fordism is collapsing and the traditional moral certainties of that period, perhaps most dominant in Britain in the 1950s, are being renegotiated. In the 1950s, women were expected to seek personal development by the direct care of others, whereas men fulfilled their moral obligations towards others by sharing the rewards of their independent work achievements. However, even during the 1950s, there was considerable diversity in the ways in which women and men undertook the social obligations of care and the division of responsibility for the total burden of social reproduction, especially among households in which women's labour market participation was significant. In this paper, drawing on oral histories undertaken with migrant women who came to Britain in the late 1940s from Latvia, I examine the gendered divisions of labour they established in the 1950s and critically assess the significance of spatially differentiated gender cultures for this group.
Bioprospecting: from theory to practice (and back again)
Authors: Castree Noel
Published: December 2004

This paper critically assesses the theory and practice of biodiversity prospecting in the developing world. Taking the case of perhaps the most famous bioprospecting broker – Costa Rica's National Institute of Biodiversity – rival theoretical discourses on the ‘selling nature to save it’ approach to environmental conservation are unpacked. This approach, currently de rigueur in mainstream global environmental organizations, is touted by its advocates in the academic and policy world as an effective tool for ‘green developmentalism’. For a cohort of university‐based left critics, however, bioprospecting is one more troubling example of ‘post‐modern ecological capital’ in action, representing the further commodification of nature for profit purposes. By treating the rival theoretical discourses on bioprospecting produced by differently situated knowledge communities as objects of analysis, the paper asks fundamental questions about the grounds on which evaluations of bioprospecting might be made. It is argued that the radical critique buys its logical and moral power at the expense of its practical relevance, while advocates of selling biodiversity have made their case with only limited empirical persuasiveness. On the basis of a heuristic distinction between immanent and external critique, the paper seeks to put the evaluation of bioprospecting in particular, and green developmentalism more generally, on a new cognitive and normative footing. In so doing it impinges on recent debates over the wider relevance of ‘critical’ thinking in human geography and cognate fields in the current conjuncture.
Regional survey and the economic geographies of Britain 1930–1939
Authors: Linehan Denis
Published: December 2004

This paper re‐considers the history of economic geography in the interwar period in Britain. The activities of the discipline are considered in the context of the commercial geographies of this time, and the intensive round of industrial and social surveys undertaken at a regional level in Britain in the period. Taken together, these economic geographies constructed a range of representational and material spaces and helped construct industrial regions characterized by particular types of places, peoples and performances. These surveys, and the production of the economic geographies that they facilitated, became a key intellectual arena where conflicting ideas about the political and economic management of the industrial region and the national economic were acted out. Following the intention of recent work into the histories of geographical knowledge, the essay will seek out the lateral associations of economic geography, paying particular attention to politically situated nature of the economic geographies produced by academics, regional organizations and the Labour Party.
Transcript level of erythroid differentiation‐related factor, a candidate surrogate marker for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy diseases in blood, shows a broad range of variation in healthy individuals
Authors: Glock Barbara , Winter Maya , Rennhofer Simone O. , Brunhölzl Elisabeth , Tröscher Doris , Reisacher Rosemarie B.K. , Mayr Wolfgang R.
Published: December 2004

BACKGROUND: In 2001, it was demonstrated that the expression of the erythroid differentiation‐related factor (EDRF) is reduced in lymphatic tissues of rodents and cattle as well as in whole blood of sheep that suffer from transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To determine whether the normal range of EDRF expression varies in healthy individuals, mRNA levels were measured in whole blood samples from 106 healthy blood donors by quantitative real‐time RT‐PCR. Furthermore, the correlations of transcript levels with individual physical characteristics were analyzed. In addition, EDRF expression was examined in total RNA samples from a lymph node and the intestine.

RESULTS: The data show that EDRF mRNA levels in healthy persons vary within a total range of 2 log units as well as they display a weak correlation with body height. Furthermore, it was found that EDRF is also expressed in lymph nodes and the intestine.

CONCLUSION: Owing to its broad range of variation, measuring the EDRF expression does not seem to be a good surrogate marker, unless an altered expression is distinctively different from the varying level in healthy humans.
Kinetics of G–CSF and CD34+ cell mobilization after once or twice daily stimulation with rHu granulocyte‐stimulating factor (lenograstim) in healthy volunteers: an intraindividual crossover study
Authors: Kröger Nicolaus , Sonnenberg Stefan , Cortes‐Dericks Lourdes , Freiberger Petra , Mollnau Hanke , Zander Axel R.
Published: December 2004

BACKGROUND:  G–CSF given as split dose increased the harvested number of CD34+ cells in comparison to a once daily schedule, but the mechanism is poorly understood.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  To investigate the schedule dependency of G–CSF in healthy volunteers with respect to CD34+ cell mobilization, the same dose of G–CSF was applied in four healthy volunteers in two different schedules (once daily vs. split doses twice daily) in a crossover design after a washout period of 3 months. CD34+ cell kinetics in serum were determined as well as G–CSF serum kinetics on Days 1 and 4 after stimulation.

RESULTS:  In all volunteers, the twice daily schedule led to a higher CD34+ cell count after 4 days of G–CSF stimulation (median, 94.5 vs. 47/µL; p = 0.05). On Days 1 and 4, there was a higher peak serum concentration of G–CSF serum level after the once daily application (15,175 vs. 6,859 pg/mL and 7440 vs. 2388 pg/mL, respectively) than after the twice daily schedule. In contrast, after the once daily application the minimum serum level of G–CSF serum level was lower than after the twice daily schedule (663 vs. 1361 pg/mL and 246 vs. 441 pg/mL, respectively). No difference of area under the curve for G–CSF was observed on Days 1 and 4 after G–CSF stimulation.

CONCLUSION:  It is suggested that application of G–CSF twice daily leads to a higher CD34+ cell mobilization owing to a higher minimum serum level and therefore to a more continuous serum baseline level resulting in a more efficient CD34+ cell mobilization.
Clinical significance of nondiscriminated reactive results with the Chiron Procleix HIV‐1 and HCV assay
Authors: McAuley Joan D. , Caglioti Sally , Williams Robert C. , Robertson Gene F. , Morgan Larry , Tobler Leslie H. , Busch Michael P.
Published: December 2004

BACKGROUND:  A NAT was developed (Procleix multiplex, Chiron Corporation) to simultaneously detect HIV‐1 and HCV RNA with multiplex transcription‐mediated amplification (mTMA) on pooled or single donations. HIV‐1 and/or HCV RNA discriminatory probes confirm infection and discriminate the virus type. When a multiplex reactive sample does not react in discriminatory assays, the result is considered nondiscriminated reactive (NDR) and the donor status is uncertain. This study was designed to determine the clinical significance of NDR results.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS:  Three years of donor NAT and serology results were reviewed to determine HCV and HIV‐1 infection rates as well as NDR events. Index NDR and seronegative donations were retested by mTMA and serology. Follow‐up samples were tested by serology, mTMA, and PCR (selected samples).

RESULTS:  From April 1999 through April 2002, 5.1 million donations were screened with Procleix HIV‐1 and HCV mTMA. The observed NDR rate declined from 0.014 percent (1 in 7242) to 0.0053 percent (1 in 18,795). None of the 462 donors with index NDR donations and additional NAT and serology data (from 724 donation and follow‐up samples) were found infected.

CONCLUSION:  In most NDRs, the original mTMA reactivity is not reproducible and likely related to technical errors (mTMA cross‐contamination). The retest and clinical follow‐up data, combined with published evidence that the two discriminatory assays have the same sensitivity as multiplex HIV‐1 and HCV, support the recommendation that donors with an NDR result for whom the multiplex reactivity cannot be reproduced should either not be notified or be deferred or should be counseled that they are not infected and expeditiously reinstated.
Kaolinitic meniscus bridges as an indicator of early diagenesis in Nubian sandstones, Sinai, Egypt
Authors: Du Bernard Xavier , Carrio‐Schaffhauser Elisabeth
Published: December 2004

Characteristic meniscus geometries formed by kaolinitic infiltration are observed in Nubian sandstones collected on the western coast of the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt). Based on petrographic and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations, the kaolinite forming the menisci consists of mixed‐size discrete platelets that gather into the corners around the framework grain‐to‐grain contacts. Specifically, the internal fabric of menisci indicates a general organizing trend from (1) the centre, where the platelets coat the framework grains; (2) to the peripheral zone, where they are oriented tangentially to grain surfaces; (3) to the pore linings with curvatures that are consistent with theoretical considerations of air–water interfaces. This typical arrangement suggests a detrital origin of kaolinite platelets by mechanical infiltration into sediments lying above the tablewater, in vadose conditions. This type of clay cementation occurring during early diagenesis can prevent (delay) deep burial diagenetic processes and therefore preserve excellent reservoir properties.