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Alternative Interpretation (alternative + interpretation)
Selected AbstractsEndogenous Growth, Increasing Returns and Externalities: An Alternative Interpretation of the EvidenceMETROECONOMICA, Issue 4 2001Jesus Felipe A number of recent papers have used aggregate production functions in an attempt to measure the degree of returns to scale and possible external effects in US manufacturing industries. In this paper I argue that the methods used and the results obtained are deceptive. The reason is that underlying every aggregate production function is the income accounting identity that relates output in value terms to the sum of wages and profits. This identity can be transformed, depending on the empirical paths of the wage and profit rates and of the factor shares, into different mathematical forms which resemble neoclassical production functions. Estimation of these forms, as is done in the literature discussed in the paper, poses serious problems for the interpretation of the results. [source] Alternative Interpretations of Alternative Assessments: Some Validity Issues in Educational Performance AssessmentsEDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2002Lyle F. Bachman The use of alternative assessments has led many researchers to reexamine traditional views of test qualities, especially validity. Because alternative assessments generally aim at measuring complex constructs and employ rich assessment tasks, it becomes more difficult to demonstrate (a) the validity of the inferences we make and (b) that these inferences extrapolate to target domains beyond the assessment itself. An approach to addressing these issues from the perspective of language testing is described. It is then argued that in both language testing and educational assessment we must consider the roles of both language and content knowledge, and that our approach to the design and development of performance assessments must be both construct-based and task-based.1 [source] Fetal or Infantile Exposure to Ethanol Promotes Ethanol Ingestion in Adolescence and Adulthood: A Theoretical ReviewALCOHOLISM, Issue 6 2005Norman E. Spear Background: Despite good evidence that ethanol abuse in adulthood is more likely the earlier human adolescents begin drinking, it is unclear why the early onset of drinking occurs in the first place. A review of experimental studies with animals complemented by clinical, epidemiologic and experimental studies with humans supports the idea that precipitating conditions for ethanol abuse occur well before adolescence, in terms of very early exposure to ethanol as a fetus or infant. Experimental studies with animals indicate, accordingly, that ethanol intake during adolescence or adulthood is potentiated by much earlier exposure to ethanol as a fetus or infant. Methods: Two broad theoretical frameworks are suggested to explain the increase in affinity for ethanol that follows very early exposure to ethanol, one based on effects of mere exposure and the other on associative conditioning. Studied for 50 years or more in several areas of psychology, "effects of mere exposure" refers to enhanced preference expressed for flavors, or just about any stimuli, that are relatively familiar. An alternative framework, in terms of associative conditioning, is guided by this working hypothesis: During ethanol exposure the fetus or infant acquires an association between ethanol's orosensory (odor/taste) and pharmacological consequences, causing the animal subsequently to seek out ethanol's odor and taste. Results and Conclusions: The implication that ethanol has rewarding consequences for the fetus or young infant is supported by recent evidence with perinatal rats. Paradoxically, several studies have shown that such early exposure to ethanol may in some circumstances make the infant treat ethanol-related events as aversive, and yet enhanced intake of ethanol in adolescence is nevertheless a consequence. Alternative interpretations of this paradox are considered among the varied circumstances of early ethanol exposure that lead subsequently to increased affinity for ethanol. [source] Multicellular-like compartmentalization of cytoplast in fossil larger foraminiferaLETHAIA, Issue 2 2002CARLES FERRÀNDEZ-CAÑADELL Foraminifera are usually between 0.1 and 1 mm in size, thus falling within the range of the largest eukaryotic cells. However, some fossil and extant foraminiferal species reach diameters of more than 100 mm. One hypothesis of how these gigantic sizes could have been attained by these unicellular organisms is the temporary compartmentalization of cytoplasm into smaller volumes of effective metabolism, as reported for several recent species. Evidence of this phenomenon is shown in fossil genera of larger foraminifera belonging to five families of Cretaceous to Oligocene age. Alternative interpretations are discussed. [source] Evidence for an ice-free Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia during the Last Glacial MaximumBOREAS, Issue 3 2005LYN GUALTIERI 10Be and 26Al surface exposure ages from 22 tors and bedrock samples from Wrangel Island, northeast Siberia, indicate that the East Siberian and Chukchi shelves were ice-free during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The paucity of glacial landforms and deposits, the absence of erratics and the presence of radiocarbon dates on plant and mammal fossils that span the LGM suggest that Wrangel Island also remained free of extensive glacial ice during the LGM. The lack of moisture due to the continental climate on the emergent Bering Land Bridge is the most likely reason for limited ice in this part of the Arctic. Alternative interpretations regarding the age and origin of ,glaciogenic' bedforms on the Chukchi shelf should be considered. [source] Is Cyclopropane Really the ,-Aromatic Paradigm?CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 38 2009Wei Wu Prof. Abstract Dewar proposed the ,-aromaticity concept to explain the seemingly anomalous energetic and magnetic behavior of cyclopropane in 1979. While a detailed, but indirect energetic evaluation in 1986 raised doubts,"There is no need to involve ,,-aromaticity',",other analyses, also indirect, resulted in wide-ranging estimates of the ,-aromatic stabilization energy. Moreover, the aromatic character of "in-plane", "double", and cyclically delocalized ,-electron systems now seems well established in many types of molecules. Nevertheless, the most recent analysis of the magnetic properties of cyclopropane (S. Pelloni, P. Lazzeretti, R. Zanasi, J. Phys. Chem. A2007, 111, 8163,8169) challenged the existence of an induced ,-ring current, and provided alternative explanations for the abnormal magnetic behavior. Likewise, the present study, which evaluates the ,-aromatic stabilization of cyclopropane directly for the first time, fails to find evidence for a significant energetic effect. According to ab initio valence bond (VB) computations at the VBSCF/cc-PVTZ level, the ,-aromatic stabilization energy of cyclopropane is, at most, 3.5,kcal,mol,1 relative to propane, and is close to zero when n -butane is used as reference. Trisilacyclopropane also has very little ,-aromatic stabilization, compared to Si3H8 (6.3,kcal,mol,1) and Si4H10 (4.2,kcal,mol,1). Alternative interpretations of the energetic behavior of cyclopropane (and of cyclobutane, as well as their silicon counterparts) are supported. [source] The Machakos Case Study: Solid Outcomes, Unhelpful HyperboleDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 1 2006Jules Siedenburg This article revisits the well-known study of Machakos District, Kenya reported in the book More People, Less Erosion by Tiffen et al., which found dramatic, compelling evidence of successful endogenous adaptation to changing circumstances by rural Africans. The article seeks to elucidate discrepancies between the Machakos findings and other findings in the interest of both scientific accuracy and policy relevance. It is suggested that the Machakos study comprises hopeful data, on the one hand, and problematic calculations and assertions, on the other. After exploring problems with the study, the article suggests an alternative interpretation of the data that is arguably more pertinent to contemporary concerns with rural poverty and environmental degradation as well as more widely applicable in sub-Saharan Africa. [source] Shadow-Experiences and the Phenomenal Structure of ColorsDIALECTICA, Issue 2 2010René Jagnow It is a common assumption among philosophers of perception that phenomenal colors are exhaustively characterized by the three phenomenal dimensions of the color solid: hue, saturation and lightness. The hue of a color is its redness, blueness or yellowness, etc. The saturation of a color refers to the strength of its hue in relation to gray. The lightness of a color determines its relation to black and white. In this paper, I argue that the phenomenology of shadows forces us to consider illumination as an additional dimension of phenomenal colors. For this purpose, I will first introduce two different interpretations of shadow-experiences, which Chalmers has called the simple and the complex interpretations, and show that they both fail to account for important phenomenal facts about shadow-experiences. I will then introduce my own alternative interpretation based on the idea that illumination is a dimension of phenomenal colors and explain how it can account for these facts. [source] Age,period,cohort modelling of alcohol volume and heavy drinking days in the US National Alcohol Surveys: divergence in younger and older adult trendsADDICTION, Issue 1 2009William C. Kerr ABSTRACT Aims The decomposition of trends in alcohol volume and heavy drinking days into age, period, cohort and demographic effects offers an important perspective on the dynamics of change in alcohol use patterns in the United States. Design The present study utilizes data from six National Alcohol Surveys conducted over the 26-year period between 1979 and 2005. Setting United States. Measurements Alcohol volume and the number of days when five or more and eight or more drinks were consumed were derived from overall and beverage-specific graduated frequency questions. Results Trend analyses show that while mean values of drinking measures have continued to decline for those aged 26 and older, there has been a substantial increase in both alcohol volume and 5+ days among those aged 18,25 years. Age,period,cohort models indicate a potential positive cohort effect among those born after 1975. However, an alternative interpretation of an age,cohort interaction where drinking falls off more steeply in the late 20s than was the case in the oldest surveys cannot be ruled out. For women only, the 1956,60 birth cohort appears to drink more heavily than those born just before or after. Models also indicate the importance of income, ethnicity, education and marital status in determining these alcohol measures. Conclusions Increased heavy drinking among young adults in recent surveys presents a significant challenge for alcohol policy and may indicate a sustained increase in future US alcohol consumption. [source] Archaeological mounds in Marajó Island in northern Brazil: A geological perspective integrating remote sensing and sedimentologyGEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009Dilce de Fátima Rossetti Earthen mounds with archaeological artifacts have been well known in Marajó Island since the 19th century. Their documented dimensions are impressive, e.g., up to 20 m high, and with areas as large as 90 ha. The mounds, locally known as tesos, impose a significant relief on the very low-lying landscape of this region, which averages 4 to 6m above present sea level. These features have been traditionally interpreted as artificial constructions of the Marajoara culture, designed for defense, cemetery purposes, or escape from flooding. Here, we provide sedimentological and geomorphological data that suggest an alternative origin for these structures that is more consistent with their monumental sizes. Rather than artificial, the Marajoara tesos seem to consist of natural morphological features related to late Pleistocene and Holocene fluvial, and possibly tidal-influenced, paleochannels and paleobars that became abandoned as depositional conditions changed through time. Although utilized and modified by the Marajoara since at least 2000 years ago, these earthen mounds contain a significant non-anthropogenically modified sedimentary substratum. Therefore, the large Marajoara tesos are not entirely artificial. Ancient Marajoara cultures took advantage of these natural, preexisting elevated surfaces to base their communities and develop their activities, locally increasing the sizes of these fluvial landforms. This alternative interpretation suggests less cumulative labor investment in the construction of the mounds and might have significant implications for reconstructing the organization of the Marajoara culture. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] A note on transaction costs and the interpretation of dividend drop-off ratiosACCOUNTING & FINANCE, Issue 3 2001Graham Partington In a recent edition of this Journal, Bartholdy and Brown (1999) presented an analysis of the ex-dividend share price behaviour of shares listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. The authors conclude that their results are consistent with the tax clientele effect (driven by long-term investors) and that there is little or no support for the short-term trading hypothesis. Our purpose is to highlight the importance of transaction costs in analyses such as Bartholdy and Brown's. We argue that their results have an alternative interpretation because their analysis excludes the impact of transaction costs. We extend their model to include transaction costs and show that their results are not necessarily inconsistent with the short-term trading hypothesis. A critical point of our analysis is that, in the presence of transaction costs, the equilibrium drop-off ratio for dividend strip traders will be less than one, and, in some cases, can be less than the equilibrium drop-off ratio for long-term investors. [source] Invited reaction: The utilization of training program evaluation in corporate universitiesHUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2004Rosalie T. Torres This reaction piece briefly reviews the findings from the Bober and Bartlett study of training evaluation use in corporate universities. It then focuses on the importance of context in understanding and facilitating evaluation use. The author suggests an alternative interpretation of particular findings based on a deeper consideration of the evaluation context in the settings studied. Additional suggestions for considering context are to identify the role of evaluation in organizational decision-making processes and identify the how and why of less prevalent uses of evaluation at particular sites. The piece concludes with a discussion of the purposes that the Bober and Bartlett study serve (their detailed accounts of the evaluation use literature and their methodology, and findings about instrumental uses of training evaluation), as well as a call for empirical studies investigating how evaluation use can best facilitate organizational learning. [source] Nestling coloration is adjusted to parent visual performance in altricial birds irrespective of assumptions on vision system for Laniidae and owls, a reply to Renoult et al.JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010J. M. AVILÉS Abstract We have recently published support to the hypothesis that visual systems of parents could affect nestling detectability and, consequently, influences the evolution of nestling colour designs in altricial birds. We provided comparative evidence of an adjustment of nestling colour designs to the visual system of parents that we have found in a comparative study on 22 altricial bird species. In this issue, however, Renoult et al. (J. Evol. Biol., 2009) question some of the assumptions and statistical approaches in our study. Their argumentation relied on two major points: (1) an incorrect assignment of vision system to four out of 22 sampled species in our study; and (2) the use of an incorrect approach for phylogenetic correction of the predicted associations. Here, we discuss in detail re-assignation of vision systems in that study and propose alternative interpretation for current knowledge on spectrophotometric data of avian pigments. We reanalysed the data by using phylogenetic generalized least squares analyses that account for the alluded limitations of phylogenetically independent contrasts and, in accordance with the hypothesis, confirmed a significant influence of parental visual system on gape coloration. Our results proved to be robust to the assumptions on visual system evolution for Laniidae and nocturnal owls that Renoult et al. (J. Evol. Biol., 2009) study suggested may have flawed our early findings. Thus, the hypothesis that selection has resulted in increased detectability of nestling by adjusting gape coloration to parental visual systems is currently supported by our comparative data. [source] Non-impact origin of the crater-like structures in the Gilf Kebir area (Egypt): Implications for the geology of eastern SaharaMETEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 10 2008Letizia ORTI It has been previously suggested that they could be the result of meteoritic impacts. Here we outline the results of our geological and geophysical survey in the area. The proposed impact origin for these structures is not supported by our observations and analyses, and we suggest an alternative interpretation. The crater-like structures in Gilf Kebir area are likely related to endogenic processes typical of hydrothermal vent complexes in volcanic areas which may reflect the emplacement of subvolcanic intrusives. [source] The optimal sacrifice: A study of voluntary death among the Siberian ChukchiAMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009RANE WILLERSLEV ABSTRACT In the Siberian North, "voluntary death," that is, a person, who,often because of illness and old age,requests to die at the hands of close relatives, has traditionally been explained as a form of suicide resulting from the region's harsh living conditions. In this article, I suggest an alternative interpretation. Drawing on ethnographic data collected among the Chukchi of northern Kamchatka, I argue that voluntary death is effectively a ritual blood sacrifice. In making this argument, I recast long-standing debates about sacrifice by suggesting that behind the triangular relationship of sacrificer, deity, and victim lies a structure of ideal sacrifice, which is the impossible act of self-sacrifice. This structure, in turn, makes it possible to conceive of voluntary death as categorically different from suicide,indeed, as a ritual inversion of suicide. [source] WEALTH AND STATUS IN IRON AGE KNOSSOSOXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2006ANTONIS KOTSONAS Summary. Knossos Tekke tomb 2 is one of the richest tombs in the Iron Age Aegean, renowned for its deposits of gold. The tomb is widely attributed to a family of goldsmiths, who migrated to Knossos from the Near East. This article, however, questions this attribution. An alternative interpretation is pursued through surveys of the distribution of some luxury materials, amply represented in the Tekke tomb, in all known Knossian tombs. By setting the Tekke find against the large corpus of Knossian burial material, I identify the Tekke occupants as members of a local élite. This group is shown to have had privileged access to the products of a goldsmith's workshop, as well as to the sources of some lavish, mostly imported, raw materials, and to have regulated their distribution within Knossian society during the eighth century. The means through which the Tekke élite claimed and defended their wealth and status are assessed and their possible Late Bronze Age pedigree is conjectured. [source] Contexts of Monumentalism: regional diversity at the Neolithic transition in north-west FranceOXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 1 2002Chris Scarre The origins of funerary monumentalism in north-west France remain inextricably linked to questions surrounding the Neolithic transition in that region. Debate continues over the relative importance of influences from earlier Neolithic communities in north-east or southern France on the Mesolithic communities of western France. An alternative interpretation places these influences within the context of broad processes of change affecting indigenous communities throughout northern and western France during the fifth millennium BC. The evidence from several regions of northern and western France is reviewed in this perspective, with emphasis on the regional character of monument traditions. Though at one level these regional narratives must have been interrelated, the regional diversity of the process must also be underlined. The argument moves us away from simplistic notions of extraneous influences to a more nuanced understanding of change within the context of individual communities at the Mesolithic/Neolithic transition. [source] Do Anomalies Disappear in Repeated Markets?*THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 486 2003Graham Loomes There is some evidence that, as individuals participate in repeated markets, ,anomalies' tend to disappear. One interpretation is that individuals , particularly marginal traders , are learning to act on underlying preferences which satisfy standard assumptions. An alternative interpretation, the ,shaping' hypothesis, is that individuals' preferences are adjusting in response to cues given by market prices. The paper reports an experiment designed to discriminate between these hypotheses with particular reference to the disparity between willingness to pay and willingness to accept. [source] The Struggle over Employee Benefits: The Role of Labor in Influencing Modern Health PolicyTHE MILBANK QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2003David Rosner Health care policy has often been described as the work of political actors seeking to benefit the larger community or a particular group of individuals. In 20th-century America, those actors worked in a historical context shaped by demographic and political pressures created during a period of rapid industrial change. Whereas scholars have placed the emergence of European social welfare in such a larger frame, their analysis of movements for health insurance in the United States has largely ignored the need for a frame. If anything, their studies have focused on the lack of a radical political working-class movement in this country as an explanation for the absence of national or compulsory health insurance. Indeed, this absence has dominated analyses of the failure of health policy reform in this country, which generally ignore even these passing historical allusions to the role of class in shaping health policy. Explanations of why health care reform failed during the Clinton administration cited the lack of coverage for millions of Americans but rarely alluded to the active role of labor or other working-class groups in shaping the existing health care system. After organized labor failed to institute national health insurance in the mid-twentieth century, its influence on health care policy diminished even further. This article proposes an alternative interpretation of the development of health care policy in the United States, by examining the association of health policy with the relationships between employers and employees. The social welfare and health insurance systems that resulted were a direct outcome of the pressures brought by organized and unorganized labor movements. The greater dependency created by industrial and demographic changes, conflicts between labor and capital over the political meaning of disease and accidents, and attempts by the political system to mitigate the impending social crisis all helped determine new health policy options. [source] A multi-dating approach applied to proglacial sediments attributed to the Most Extensive Glaciation of the Swiss AlpsBOREAS, Issue 3 2010ANDREAS DEHNERT Dehnert, A., Preusser, F., Kramers, J. D., Akçar, N., Kubik, P. W., Reber, R. & Schlüchter, C. 2010: A multi-dating approach applied to proglacial sediments attributed to the Most Extensive Glaciation of the Swiss Alps. Boreas, Vol. 39, pp. 620,632. 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00146.x. ISSN 0300-9483. The number and the timing of Quaternary glaciations of the Alps are poorly constrained and, in particular, the age of the Most Extensive Glaciation (MEG) in Switzerland remains controversial. This ice advance has previously been tentatively correlated with the Riss Glaciation of the classical alpine stratigraphy and with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 (186,127 ka). An alternative interpretation, based on pollen analysis and stratigraphic correlations, places the MEG further back in the Quaternary, with an age equivalent to MIS 12 (474,427 ka), or even older. To re-evaluate this issue in the Swiss glaciation history, a multi-dating approach was applied to proglacial deltaic ,Höhenschotter' deposits in locations outside the ice extent of the Last Glacial Maximum. Results of U/Th and luminescence dating suggest a correlation of the investigated deposits with MIS 6 and hence with the Riss Glaciation. Cosmogenic burial dating suffered from large measurement uncertainties and unusually high 26Al/10Be ratios and did not provide robust age estimates. [source] Rethinking axial patterning in amphibiansDEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 4 2002Mary Constance Lane Abstract Recent revisions in the Xenopus laevis fate map led to the designation of the rostral/caudal axis and reassignment of the dorsal/ventral axis (Lane and Smith [1999] Development 126:423,434; Lane and Sheets [2000] Dev. Biol. 225:37,58). It is unprecedented to reassign primary embryonic axes after many years of research in a model system. In this review, we use insights about vertebrate development from anatomy and comparative embryology, as well as knowledge about gastrulation in frogs, to reexamine several traditional amphibian fate maps. We show that four extant maps contain information on the missing rostral/caudal axis. These maps support the revised map as well as the designation of the rostral/caudal axis and reassignment of the dorsal/ventral axes. To illustrate why it is important for researchers to use the revised map and nomenclature when thinking about frog and fish embryos, we present an example of alternative interpretations of "dorsalized" zebrafish mutations. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Gray's model of personality and aggregate level factor analysisEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2003Chris J. Jackson Previous research shows that correlations tend to increase in magnitude when individuals are aggregated across groups. This suggests that uncorrelated constellations of personality variables (such as the primary scales of Extraversion and Neuroticism) may display much higher correlations in aggregate factor analysis. We hypothesize and report that individual level factor analysis can be explained in terms of Giant Three (or Big Five) descriptions of personality, whereas aggregate level factor analysis can be explained in terms of Gray's physiological based model. Although alternative interpretations exist, aggregate level factor analysis may correctly identify the basis of an individual's personality as a result of better reliability of measures due to aggregation. We discuss the implications of this form of analysis in terms of construct validity, personality theory, and its applicability in general. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Liberal Moment Fifteen Years On,INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 4 20082008., 49th Convention of the International Studies Association, March 2, Presidential address, San Francisco Fifteen years ago, Charles Kegley spoke of a neoidealist moment in international relations. This article examines how the number of armed conflicts has declined in the decade and a half since Kegley's presidential address and shows that the severity of war has been declining over a period of over six decades. The number of countries participating in war has increased, but this is in large measure due to coalition-building in several recent wars. Overall, there is a clear decline of war. It seems plausible to attribute this to an increase in the three factors identified by liberal peace theorists: democracy, trade, and international organization. Four alternative interpretations are examined: the temporary peace, the hegemonic peace, the unsustainable peace, and the capitalist peace. The article concludes that the latter, while running close to the liberal peace interpretation, also presents the greatest challenge to it. Indeed, we seem to be living in a commercial liberal period rather than a world of neoidealism. [source] Should biomass be considered more frequently as a currency in terrestrial arthropod community analyses?JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2007MICHEL SAINT-GERMAIN Summary 1Community structure involving large taxonomical groups is frequently used to assess changes in ecosystems along environmental gradients or in response to disturbance. For terrestrial arthropods, abundance is generally used as the response variable in community data analyses; biomass, however, is generally a better indicator of the functionality of a species within a community, as it is strongly correlated with metabolism. 2In this study, we considered whether biomass should be used more often in community analyses with terrestrial arthropod biodiversity data, particularly when asking questions involving strong functional components. We selected 10 previously published and five unpublished Coleoptera abundance data sets, and produced biomass species-by-sample matrices using body length to body mass conversion equations, and then compared the results obtained using commonly used ecological analyses. 3Correlations between species abundance and biomass varied from strong to poor, depending on the taxa considered and on the sampling method used. We show that abundance and biomass can produce different results in community data analysis and lead to alternative interpretations for data sets with poor abundance to biomass correlations. 4Synthesis and applications. When dealing with databases showing poor abundance to biomass relationships, the question of the relevance of using biomass instead of abundance emerges, and the choice of the response variable to be used in analyses should be considered carefully. At the very least, when studying terrestrial arthropod biodiversity, one should consider the use of biomass with simple conversion equations that do not require obtaining the mass of individual specimens. This approach may lead to different interpretations. For research questions in which trophic interactions may play an important role, biomass may provide a broader and more accurate picture of the processes driving changes in community structure. [source] Motivational sources of confirmation bias in criminal investigations: the need for cognitive closureJOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND OFFENDER PROFILING, Issue 1 2005Karl Ask Abstract In two experiments, criminal investigators (N = 50) and undergraduate students (N = 68) read a set of facts from the preliminary investigation of a homicide case. Participants' initial hypothesis regarding the crime was manipulated by providing background information implying that the prime suspect had a jealousy motive or that there might be an alternative perpetrator. Students displayed a framing effect, such that guilt was ascribed to the prime suspect only when a potential motive was presented, whereas investigators did so regardless of hypothesis, thus being less sensitive to alternative interpretations. Investigators' need for cognitive closure (NFC) moderated the effect of the hypothesis on perceptions of the strength of the evidence against the prime suspect; high (v low) NFC investigators were less likely to acknowledge inconsistencies in the material when presented with a potential motive, but were more likely to do so when made aware of the possibility of an alternative perpetrator. Interpretations are somewhat clouded by the fact that dispositional NFC did not seem to affect in a consistent manner participants' motivation toward the experimental task. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A reconstruction of development of the periodic table based on history and philosophy of science and its implications for general chemistry textbooksJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 1 2005Angmary Brito The objectives of this study are: (a) elaboration of a history and philosophy of science (HPS) framework based on a reconstruction of the development of the periodic table; (b) formulation of seven criteria based on the framework; and (c) evaluation of 57 freshman college-level general chemistry textbooks with respect to the presentation of the periodic table. The historical reconstruction of the periodic table showed that the periodicity of the elements could be construed as an inductive generalization or as a function of the atomic theory. There is considerable controversy with respect to the nature of Mendeleev's contribution, and various alternatives are discussed: ordered domain; empirical law; and a theory with limited explanatory power. Accommodation of the elements according to their physicochemical properties is considered to be the major contribution of the periodic table by all textbooks, followed by contrapredictions of previously unknown elements (30 textbooks), and novel predictions (corrections of atomic mass) of known elements (10 textbooks). The relative importance of accommodation and prediction within an HPS framework is generally ignored. Few textbooks have attempted to explore the possible cause of periodicity in the table and very few textbooks have explored the nature of Mendeleev's contribution. The development of the periodic table as a sequence of heuristic principles in the form of a convincing argument has been ignored. The textbook approach of emphasizing that the development of the periodic table was an inductive generalization, and that Mendeleev had no model or theory, does not facilitate the spirit of critical inquiry that led the scientists to grapple with alternative interpretations, conflicts, and controversies. It is concluded that the development of the periodic table went through a continual critical appraisal (conflict and controversy), in which scientists presented various tentative theoretical ideas to understand the observed phenomena. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 84,111, 2005 [source] The ,ghosts' that pester studies on learning in mosquitoes: guidelines to chase them offMEDICAL AND VETERINARY ENTOMOLOGY, Issue 2 2006W. J. ALONSO Abstract The identification of memory and learning in medically important mosquito species has been of epidemiological interest mainly because of the implications of learning on the pattern of contact between vectors and hosts. Empirical results either showing or suggesting the existence of cognitive abilities in mosquitoes have been reported in a number of experimental studies, mainly based on the observation of individual fidelity towards subsets of specific resources, such as hosts, resting sites or breeding sites. A closer inspection of the design of these experiments shows that, with the exception of recent studies providing stronger evidence of learning in the genus Culex (Diptera: Culicidae), methodological shortcomings still hinder the possibility of eliminating alternative interpretations for these findings, in some cases because the experiments were not specifically designed to identify the phenomenon, but mostly because of a lack of appropriate controls or replication. By highlighting these limitations, while acknowledging the practical difficulties that are inherent to the field, we aim to help expel from future research the ,ghosts' that still preclude the achievement of more definite conclusions about the prevalence of memory and learning in this group of insects. [source] Globalisation and New Zealand: Anchoring the Leviathan in a Regional ContextNEW ZEALAND GEOGRAPHER, Issue 2 2003LUCY BARAGWANATH ABSTRACT Despite its ambiguity and contentiousness, the term globalisation is widely used in New Zealand, as it is elsewhere, in analyses of contemporary times. Yet the concept of globalisation is frequently invoked at a high level of generality with little consideration of the specificities of the particular contexts to which it is applied; and in the case of New Zealand, the notion seems incongruous in many respects. We therefore seek to anchor the notion in the regional context of Canterbury, where our historical and ethnographic research leads us to suggest that globalisation is a misleading and contentious description of contemporary New Zealand. As a set of discourses, however, globalisation is pervasive and powerful. The contemporary policy climate strongly reflects the hegemonic discourse of hyperglobalism, which emphasises generic globality, novelty and change at the expense of continuity and the particularity of place, limiting the possibilities for action. Thus while empirically, many parallels with the past persist, nevertheless, contemporary policy-makers understand New Zealand's options as determined by globalisation as an external force. This contrasts with past policy discourses which emphasised the scope for domestic decision-making, within the context of inextricable connections with the outside world. Our emphasis on the discursive construction of the globalisation imperative draws attention to possible alternative interpretations of New Zealand's contemporary options. [source] The Ordovician Trilobite Carolinites, A Test Case for Microevolution in A Macrofossil LineagePALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 2 2002Tim McCormick We use geometric morphometrics to test a claim that the Ordovician trilobite Carolinites exhibits gradualistic evolution. We follow a previously proposed definition of gradualism, and define the criteria an ideal microevolutionary case study should satisfy. We consider the Lower,Middle Ordovician succession at Ibex, western Utah to meet these criteria. We discovered examples of: (1) morphometric characters which fluctuate with little or no net change; (2) characters which show abrupt ,step' change; (3) characters which show transitional change through intermediate states. Examples belonging to (2) and (3) exhibit reversals. The transitional characters were tested against a null hypothesis of symmetrical random walk. The tests indicated that they were not changing under sustained directional selection. Two alternative interpretations are possible. (1) The characters are responding to random causes (genetic drift or rapidly fluctuating selection pressures) or to causes that interact in so complex a way that they appear random. This observation may be applicable to most claimed cases of gradualistic evolution in the literature. (2) Sampling was at too poor a resolution to allow meaningful testing against the random walk. If so, then this situation is likely to apply in most evolutionary case studies involving Palaeozoic macrofossils. [source] Surfactant treatment in the ICU: alternative interpretations of existing evidencePEDIATRIC ANESTHESIA, Issue 8 2006WOLFGANG STROHMAIER No abstract is available for this article. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||