bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Motion on Numbers: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the Ventral Intraparietal Sulcus Alters Both Numerical and Motion Processes
Authors: Salillas Elena , Basso Demis , Baldi Maurizia , Semenza Carlo , Vecchi Tomaso 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
It has often been proposed that there is a close link between representation of number and space. In the present work, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the ventral intraparietal sulcus (VIPS) to determine effects on performance in motion detection and number comparison tasks. Participants' reaction times and thresholds for perception of laterally presented coherent motion in random dot kinematograms increased significantly when the contralateral VIPS was stimulated in contrast to the interhemispheric sulcus (Experiment 1) and to the ipsilateral VIPS (Experiment 2). In number comparison tasks, participants compared the magnitude of the laterally presented numbers 1–9 with the number 5. Again, reaction times significantly increased when TMS was applied to the contralateral VIPS in contrast to control sites. The finding that VIPS-directed TMS results in impaired efficiency in both motion perception and number comparison suggests that these processes share a common neural substrate.
When Elephants Fly: Differential Sensitivity of Right and Left Inferior Frontal Gyri to Discourse and World Knowledge
Authors: Menenti Laura , Petersson Karl Magnus , Scheeringa René , Hagoort Peter 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
Both local discourse and world knowledge are known to influence sentence processing. We investigated how these two sources of information conspire in language comprehension. Two types of critical sentences, correct and world knowledge anomalies, were preceded by either a neutral or a local context. The latter made the world knowledge anomalies more acceptable or plausible. We predicted that the effect of world knowledge anomalies would be weaker for the local context. World knowledge effects have previously been observed in the left inferior frontal region (Brodmann's area 45/47). In the current study, an effect of world knowledge was present in this region in the neutral context. We also observed an effect in the right inferior frontal gyrus, which was more sensitive to the discourse manipulation than the left inferior frontal gyrus. In addition, the left angular gyrus reacted strongly to the degree of discourse coherence between the context and critical sentence. Overall, both world knowledge and the discourse context affect the process of meaning unification, but do so by recruiting partly different sets of brain areas.
Both a Nicotinic Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) and a Noradrenergic SNP Modulate Working Memory Performance when Attention is Manipulated
Authors: Greenwood Pamela M. , Sundararajan Ramya , Lin Ming-Kuan , Kumar Reshma , Fryxell Karl J. , Parasuraman Raja 
Published: November 2008

AbstractWe investigated the relation between the two systems of visuospatial attention and working memory by examining the effect of normal variation in cholinergic and noradrenergic genes on working memory performance under attentional manipulation. We previously reported that working memory for location was impaired following large location precues, indicating the scale of visuospatial attention has a role in forming the mental representation of the target. In one of the first studies to compare effects of two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the same cognitive task, we investigated the neurotransmission systems underlying interactions between attention and memory. Based on our previous report that the CHRNA4 rs#1044396 C/T nicotinic receptor SNP affected visuospatial attention, but not working memory, and the DBH rs#1108580 G/A noradrenergic enzyme SNP affected working memory, but not attention, we predicted that both SNPs would modulate performance when the two systems interacted and working memory was manipulated by attention. We found the scale of visuospatial attention deployed around a target affected memory for location of that target. Memory performance was modulated by the two SNPs. CHRNA4 C/C homozygotes and DBH G allele carriers showed the best memory performance but also the greatest benefit of visuospatial attention on memory. Overall, however, the CHRNA4 SNP exerted a stronger effect than the DBH SNP on memory performance when visuospatial attention was manipulated. This evidence of an integrated cholinergic influence on working memory performance under attentional manipulation is consistent with the view that working memory and visuospatial attention are separate systems which can interact.
Priming Letters by Colors: Evidence for the Bidirectionality of Grapheme–Color Synesthesia
Authors: Weiss Peter H. , Kalckert Andreas , Fink Gereon R. 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
In synesthesia, stimulation of one sensory modality leads to a percept in another nonstimulated modality, for example, graphemes trigger an additional color percept in grapheme–color synesthesia, which encompasses the variants letter–color and digit–color synesthesia. Until recently, it was assumed that synesthesia occurs strictly unidirectional: Although the perception of a letter induces a color percept in letter–color synesthetes, they typically do not report that colors trigger the percept of a letter. Recent data on number processing in synesthesia suggest, however, that colors can implicitly elicit numerical representations in digit–color synesthetes, thereby questioning unidirectional models of synesthesia. Using a word fragment completion paradigm in 10 letter–color synesthetes, we show here for the first time that colors can implicitly influence lexical search. Our data provide strong support for a bidirectional nature of grapheme–color synesthesia and, in general, may allude to the mechanisms of cross-modality interactions in the human brain.
EEG Activity Underlying Successful Study of Associative and Order Information
Authors: Caplan Jeremy B. , Glaholt Mackenzie G. , McIntosh Anthony R. 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
Two of the most well studied and ecologically relevant memory paradigms are memory for pairs (“associations”) and ordered sequences (“serial lists”). Behavioral theories comprise two classes: those that use common mechanisms and those that use distinct mechanisms for study and retrieval of associations versus serial lists. We tested the common-mechanisms hypothesis by recording electroencephalographic activity related to successful study (“subsequent memory effect” [SME]) of pairs and short lists (triples) of nouns. Multivariate analysis identified four distributed patterns of brain activity: (1) right parietal activity throughout most of the study period that differentiated study of pairs from triples within subjects as well as exhibiting an SME that was significant for pairs but not for triples; (2) a left parietal and fronto-polar activity pattern that was reliable around 500 msec and later in the study trial, exhibiting an SME for pairs and a weaker, nonsignificant SME for triples; (3) a left frontal/right parietal topography in the middle of the study interval which covaried with speed and accuracy across subjects; and (4) a pattern resembling the late positive component preceded by an early potential which together covaried with accuracy in triples but slow response times for both pairs and triples. These patterns point to the relevance of three classic SME components (early, late positive, and slow components) from single-item memory to memory for structured information, but suggest that they reflect subsets of more complex spatio-temporal patterns. Our findings support common underlying mechanisms for study and recall of pairs and lists. However, existing models must be modified to account for differences in both the presence of certain study-relevant processes and in the relevance of these processes to performance measures for pairs versus serial lists.
The Question of Becoming: Islamic Reform Movements in Contemporary Ethiopia
Authors: Østebø Terje 
Published: November 2008

AbstractFacilitated by a new (since 1991) political climate, enhancing Muslim opportunities for religious expression, several Islamic reform movements have surfaced in Ethiopia. Under consideration here are the Salafi movement, the Tabligh movement and an Intellectualist revivalist movement, each of which was crucial for the reconfiguration of religious affiliation, and served as a channel in the search for belonging and coherent meaning. Discussing the movements' socio-cultural composition and their particular features, this paper pays attention to how issues of locality interact with translocal ideological currents and affect one another. Of particular interest in the Ethiopian case is the explicit avoidance of any political agenda, a distinct intermarriage with a discourse on ethnicity, where the latter has contributed to complex processes of constructing and demarcating religious- and ethnic-based boundaries. The paper thus seeks to demonstrate the complex interrelationship between global currents and local factors, all contributing to the heterogenisation of contemporary Islam.
Restorative Justice under the ICC Penalty Regime
Authors: Radosavljevic Dragana 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThis paper investigates the International Criminal Court's prosecutorial and sentencing strategies in supplying durable international, and through complementarity, national accountability mechanisms with clearly defined sentencing objectives. By scrutinising the scope of plea agreements as a validated trial strategy for international crimes and the sentencing rationale of the same, this work evaluates the impact these have on restorative and reconciliatory justice. An overview of this practice as well as that of amnesties aims to illustrate the ideologically ambivalent model of international justice under the ICC Statute and its detrimental outcome, or impartial approach to international justice and, importantly, to the quest for truth. This results in potential distortion of the historical record accompanying conflict, which in turn is fundamental to any peace building and reconciliation process.
Withdrawing from Participating in a Biobank — A Comparative Study
Authors: Gertz Renate 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThe development of biobanks worldwide is considered to hold great promise for the provision of new insights into the connection between genes and environment and to have a positive impact on public health. There is, however, a constant tension between the rights of individuals on one hand and the progress of research on the other hand. One of the rights developed to protect the autonomy and free will of participants and reflecting the basic principles regulating medical research according to the Nuremberg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki is the right to be able to withdraw from the biobank at any time as an expression of the participant's free will and autonomy. There are two important problems to withdrawing, namely the 'what' and 'when' — what can be withdrawn and when can it be withdrawn.
Testing the Margin of Appreciation: Therapeutic Abortion, Reproductive 'Rights' and the Intriguing Case of Tysiąc v. Poland
Authors: Priaulx Nicolette 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn Tysiąc v. Poland (2007) the Strasbourg Court ruled in favour of the applicant (who had been denied access to a lawful therapeutic abortion), finding that Poland had failed to comply with its positive obligations to safeguard the applicant's right to effective respect for her private life under Article 8. Exploring this controversial judgment, the author assesses the claim that Tysiąc marks a 'radical shift' on the part of the Court in creating a 'right to abortion'. The author argues that while Tysiąc makes an important addition to abortion jurisprudence, the notion it founds such a 'right' greatly overstates the legal significance of this case.
Can I Decide Please? The State of Children's Consent in the UK
Authors: Perera Anthony 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThe right to self-determination for those with adequate competence underpins a democratic society. The European Convention on Human Rights does not draw a distinction between adults and children in this respect, and in fact advances the concept of children's rights. However in the UK a combination of statute and case law places some constraints on a child's right to autonomy. Prior to the Gillick principle there was little guidance on managing children under the age of sixteen. Whilst this is much clearer now there are some anomalies, for instance is the right to refuse the same as the right to agree to surgery? The increasing 'rights culture' for children is bringing this issue before the Courts more and more and the status of children continues to evolve in the UK.
Self-Determination of Colonial Peoples – The Case of Greenland Revisited
Authors: Rytter Jens Elo 
Published: November 2008

AbstractIn 1953 Greenland, having been a Danish colony for centuries, became an integral part of the Danish realm. The General Assembly in resolution 849 recognised this change of status as an exercise by the people of Greenland of their right of self-determination. Subsequently, however, some scholars have questioned the validity under international law of Greenland's change of status, referring to non-fulfilment of certain substantive and procedural requirements of the exercise of colonial self-determination. Addressing this criticism the article concludes that, based on the norms and standards applicable at the relevant time, there is not a sufficient basis for challenging the validity of Greenland's integration with Denmark in 1953 and the General Assembly's endorsement thereof. Consequently, in legal terms, Greenland cannot today claim a continued right of external self-determination, including independence from Denmark.
Emerging Informal Network Structures in Global Governance Inside the Anti-Money Laundering Regime
Authors: Wilke Marie 
Published: November 2008

AbstractDuring the last decades a global governance system consisting of various decision-making arenas, shifting regulatory decisions from the domestic to the global level, has emerged. It includes informal but institutionalised transgovernmental networks, private actors such as financial institutions, hybrid private-public networks and enforcement cooperations. This essay argues that the system exhibits a democratic deficit. By analysing this claim based on the 'Anti Money Laundering Regime' (AML regime), in section two it will become clear that the deficit does not just derive from loose procedural problems such as insufficient transparency but in general from the apolitical and rather technical nature of the system itself. Section three will then proceed to analyse proposed reactions, mainly the idea of a global administrative law. However, it will not only consider the immanent critiques, but also address the problem of a functionalised world and raise and discuss the question whether the approach of 'instrumentalising' international law is the right reaction and first and foremost the future role of international law.
Parental Religious Rights vs. Compulsory Religious Education in Turkey
Authors: Akbulut Olgun , Usal Zeynep Oya 
Published: November 2008

AbstractDespite parents having primary responsibility, it remains the State's duty to ensure its citizens' education. The orientation of the State's education can be secular can religious; however, the State – having the discretion on curriculum – should comply with human rights principles by promoting pluralism and refraining from indoctrination. In this respect, discussions around religious education have been, and are, highly controversial. This has especially been the case for countries such as Turkey, which have pronounced religious minority groups in their territories. In this regard, the Alevis of Turkey, as the largest religious minority in the country, have been the main actors of a long lasting legal struggle to strive for respect for their freedom of religion as well as parental religious convictions. This article aims to answer to what extent Alevis in Turkey can assert their parental right to religious education through invoking international human rights law, particularly under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Religious Pluralism and Human Rights in Europe: Where to Draw the Line? Religion, Secular Beliefs and Human Rights, 25 Years After the 1981 Declaration
Authors: Ghanea Nazila 
Published: November 2008

AbstractThese two books address the vexing question of human rights and freedom of religion or belief essentially in two different contexts and from two different perspectives: the European and the international. They do so in a broad manner, addressing the social, political, legal and policy implications of religion at large as well as freedom of religion or belief itself. From an overview of both, it can be seen that neither minority rights, cultural rights, freedom of expression nor freedom of association compensate the absence of freedom of religion or belief in human rights terms.
Ground-Based Temperature and Humidity Profiling Using Spectral Infrared and Microwave Observations. Part I: Simulated Retrieval Performance in Clear-Sky Conditions
Authors: Löhnert Ulrich , Turner D. D. , Crewell S. 
Published: November 2008

Abstract
Two independent ground-based passive remote sensing methods are used to retrieve lower-tropospheric temperature and humidity profiles in clear-sky cases. A simulation study for two distinctly different climatic zones is performed to evaluate the accuracies of a standard microwave profiler [humidity and temperature profiler (HATPRO)] and an infrared spectrometer [Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI)] by applying a unified optimal estimation scheme to each instrument. Different measurement modes for each instrument are also evaluated in which the retrieval uses different spectral channels and observational view angles. In addition, both instruments have been combined into the same physically consistent retrieval scheme to evaluate the differences between a combined retrieval relative to the single-instrument retrievals. In general, retrievals derived from only infrared measurements yield superior RMS error and bias to retrievals derived only from microwave measurements. The AERI retrievals show high potential, especially for retrieving humidity in the boundary layer, where accuracies are on the order of 0.25–0.5 g m−3 for a central European climate. In the lowest 500 m the retrieval accuracies for temperature from elevation-scanning microwave measurements and spectral infrared measurements are very similar (0.2–0.6 K). Above this level the accuracies of the AERI retrieval are significantly more accurate (&lt;1 K RMSE below 4 km). The inclusion of microwave measurements to the spectral infrared measurements within a unified physical retrieval scheme only results in improvements in the high-humidity tropical climate. However, relative to the HATPRO retrieval, the accuracy of the AERI retrieval is more sensitive to changes in the measurement uncertainty. The discussed results are drawn from a subset of “pristine” clear-sky cases: in the general case in which clouds and aerosols are present, the combined HATPRO–AERI retrieval algorithm is expected to yield much more beneficial results.
Comparison of Atherosclerotic Indicators between Cardio Ankle Vascular Index and Brachial Ankle Pulse Wave Velocity
Authors: Horinaka Shigeo , Yabe Akihisa , Yagi Hiroshi , Ishimura Kimihiko , Hara Hitoshi , Iemua Tomoyuki , Matsuoka Hiroaki 
Published: November 2008

Background Aortic pulse wave velocity has been used for evaluating atherosclerosis. Recently, the development of the volume plethysmographic method has made it possible to easily measure the index of the pulse wave velocity. The brachial ankle pulse wave velocity and cardio ankle vascular index are used for estimating the extent of atherosclerosis. The diagnostic usefulness of these indexes in predicting coronary artery disease was examined. Methods The brachial ankle pulse wave velocity, the cardio ankle vascular index, and the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were measured in 696 patients who had chest pain and underwent coronary angiography. Measurement values of brachial ankle pulse wave velocity were compared with those of cardio ankle vascular index in terms of the baseline covariates and the number of major coronary vessels involved (vessel disease). Results The brachial ankle pulse wave velocity was significantly correlated with age, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure but not with the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. The cardio ankle vascular index was correlated only with age and the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. The average of both brachial ankle pulse wave velocity and cardio ankle vascular index values was greater in 3 vessel disease group than in 0 vessel disease group. The receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the diagnostic accuracy of coronary artery disease was significantly higher in the cardio ankle vascular index than in the brachial ankle pulse wave velocity (area under the curve ± standard error: 0.691 ± 0.025 vs. 0.584 ± 0.026; P < .05). Conclusions As a means of estimating the extent of atherosclerosis in large arteries, our results show that both brachial ankle pulse wave velocity and cardio ankle vascular index are useful and that cardio ankle vascular index may have some advantages in its application to patients taking blood pressure—lowering medication because of the minimum effect of blood pressure on its measurement values. The cardio ankle vascular index has increased performance over brachial ankle pulse wave velocity in predicting the coronary artery disease.
Selective Screening for Asymptomatic Carotid Artery Disease Prior to Isolated Heart Valve Surgery
Authors: Zayed Hany , Ali Ahmad , Wendler Olaf , Rashid Hisham 
Published: November 2008

Objective To assess the yield of screening for asymptomatic carotid artery disease prior to isolated heart valve surgery (IHVS). Methods Retrospective analysis of the preoperative carotid duplex scans performed in neurologically asymptomatic patients who underwent IHVS between 2003 and 2006 was performed. Internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis of 70% was considered significant. Patients with concomitant coronary artery disease were excluded. Results A total of 177 patients underwent IHVS (one valve in 165 and 2 valves in 12 patients). No or minor ICA disease detected in 172 patients. Four patients (2.25%) had significant unilateral ICA stenosis and 1 patient (0.56%) had unilateral ICA occlusion. Three patients (1.69%) suffered postoperative stroke, while 2 patients (1.1%) suffered transient ischemic attacks. All neurologically affected patients had normal preoperative carotid duplex. The in-hospital mortality was 4.5%. Conclusion Prevalence of significant ICA disease is low in patients undergoing IHVS. This population does not benefit from preoperative carotid screening.