Reliability of isokinetic and isometric knee-extensor force in older women

Because of the need for efficient, consistent strength measurements, the test-retest reliability of concentric, isometric, and eccentric strength; concentric work; and concentric power was determined in older women without a familiarization session. The reliability of measures derived from a single peak score were compared with those derived from an averaged score. On 2 occasions 25 older women with a mean age of 72 +/- 6 years performed 3 submaximal knee extensions and 5 maximal contractions on an isokinetic dynamometer at 90 degrees/s (CON), 0 degrees/s, and -90 degrees/s on both lower limbs. Statistical analyses for peak and averaged values (best 3 contractions of 5) exhibited good relative reliability (ICCs > .88), except for CON power. Typical error as a coefficient of variation and ratio limits of agreement for peak and averaged score values were larger than desired, with CON power scores demonstrating unacceptable error ranges. Although relative reliability of this 1-session assessment protocol was acceptable, further research is needed to determine whether additional practice trials could enhance absolute reliability.     

Cutting up Cultures

The dictionary meaning of 'cooking' is heating food, but cooks do much more. Socially, the essential activity is distributing food. Kitchen knives are central. The historical success of kitchen knives has led to their being overlooked; for the division of food at meals goes hand in hand with the division of associated tasks, and specialist helpers, typically men, have aggrandised their trades and tools – soldiers their swords, farmers their ploughs and priests their sacrificial blades. Tragically, those most social of instruments, knives, have cut off the 'cooking animal' from its world and each other.     

Linear and non-linear canonical correlation analysis:an exploratory tool for the analysis of group-structured data

Confronted with multivariate group-structured data, one is in fact always interested in describing differences between groups. In this paper, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is used as an exploratory data analysis tool to detect and describe differences between groups of objects. CCA allows for the construction of Gabriel biplots, relating representations of objects and variables in the plane that best represents the distinction of the groups of object points. In the case of non-linear CCA, transformations of the original variables are suggested to achieve a better group separation compared with that obtained by linear CCA. One can detect which (transformed) variables are responsible for this separation. The separation itself might be due to several characteristics of the data (eg. distances between the centres of gravity of the original or transformed groups of object points, or differences in the structure of the original groups). Four case studies give an overview of an exploration of the possibilities offered by linear and non-linear CCA.     

A Longitudinal Study of Belief and Desire State Discourse During Mother–Child Play and Later False Belief Understanding

There is considerable interest in the role of mental state language in theory of mind development. This study examines cognitive and desire state discourse of 43 mothers during play interactions with their two‐year‐old children and theory of mind as indicated by a battery of false belief tasks around the age of five. Desire state comments of mothers during free play which were appropriate to the conversational context were significantly related to children's later theory of mind, and this relation was independent of other confounding variables, including a home‐based measure of maternal sensitivity, and socio‐economic status, and an estimate of child language. The child's desire state language was concurrently related to the mother's desire state language used appropriately, and the child's cognitive state language was related to the mother's appropriate cognitive state language. Although cognitive state language was not predictive of later theory of mind, this may be because this kind of language plays a later role in theory of mind development.     

A Longitudinal Study of Mother-Child Relationships and Theory of Mind in the Preschool Period

To investigate individual differences in theory of mind acquisition, this study examined whether different aspects of early mother-child relationships contributed to the development of false belief understanding at the close of the preschool period. Forty-six mother and child pairs were seen when children were two and again at five years of age. At age two, home-based Q-sort observations of attachment security and maternal sensitivity were made, and mothers completed a number of self-report measures to create an aggregate of maternal emotional distress. At age five, attachment security and maternal distress were reassessed, and false belief tasks were administered that were based on unexpected identities and locations of objects. In addition, attachment-relevant false belief tasks involving separation from caregivers were also used, which children found significantly more difficult than tasks involving objects. Age five security predicted object location task performance. Maternal sensitivity and emotional distress at age two predicted later caregiver location task performance, even controlling for age five measures. These results support a growing literature on the importance of relationship processes and parenting context to theory of mind acquisition.     

An economic approach to fertility in Britain since 1860

This paper utilises a dynamic economic approach to examine movements in fertility in Britain since 1860. The analysis and results indicate that fertility has responded positively to changes in incomes. However, this positive effect has been more than offset by the increase in the opportunity cost of female time which has followed closely the education attainment of women.An earlier version of this paper was presented to seminars at the Universities of Southampton and Hull, and the Hatfield Polytechnic. The authors would like to thank, without implementing, A. Cigno, G. Mizon and N. Rau for useful comments.     

Slash fiction and human mating psychology

The stark contrasts between romance novels and pornography, both multibillion dollar global industries, underscore how different male and female erotic fantasies actually are. These differences reflect the different selection pressures males and females faced over human evolutionary history and highlight the utility of using unobtrusive measures to study aspects of human nature. Salmon & Symons (2001) examined slash (the depiction of a romantic or sexual relationship between typically heterosexual male television protagonists, such as Kirk and Spock from Star Trek) as an erotic genre, placing it in the context of romance and female sexual psychology. The topic is revisited here with attention also being paid to slash between two female television characters and the appeal to people of fiction in general.     

Exploring First Sexual Intercourse,Sexual Orientation,and Sexual Health in Men

In this study the characteristics of the sexual debut of men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with women (MSW) age 35 or younger (N = 1,201) were compared with one another. We investigated whether these characteristics were associated with sexual health and behavior, and to what extent. Compared to MSW, MSM tended to be older when they had their first sexual intercourse; their first sex partner was older, they felt less ready, and they experienced more pain. We also found that they reported a higher number of lifetime sexual partners and less condom use compared to MSW. Similarities were also ascertained, such as the fact that individuals from both groups do not differ significantly regarding how they experienced their first sexual intercourse emotionally. Many differences between these groups should not always be seen as problematic, whereas others still indicate a need for targeted interventions.     

Stylised Facts and the Labour Demand Curve

ABSTRACT: The paper demonstrates that there is a simple, robust negative relationship between employment and real wages, detectable in the macroeconomic data of most countries, if it is looked for in the right way. This is the stylised fact of the title.