Two houses: legislative studies and the Atlantic divide

Legislative scholars have a history of stepping back occasionally to examine the development and state of the sub-discipline (Budge 1973; Gamm and Huber 2002; Loewenberg, Patterson, and Jewell 1985; Mezey 1993; Morris-Jones 1983; Pasquino 1973; Patterson 1989). Many of these existing reviews, although valuable, are predominantly of a qualitative and subjective nature and are, in most cases, now dated. This paper provides a bibliometrical analysis of the state of legislative studies in the United States and Europe by exploring the content of eight political science journals. I looked at six general political science journals, three originating in the United States and three in Europe, as well as the content of two legislative studies journals—the American-based Legislative Studies Quarterly and the British-based Journal of Legislative Studies

Supermassive black holes as sources for LISA

Some issues relevant for the formation of supermassive black holes are discused and estimates of the event rates for the emission of gravitational waves by coalescing supermassive black hole binaries are given. The models take into account recent improvements in our knowledge of galaxy and star formation in the high-redshift universe. Estimated event rates range from a few to a hundred per year. Typical events will occur at redshift three or larger in galaxies lying at the (very) faint end of the luminosity function at these redshifts.Comment: 5 pages, LaTeX, 2 postscript figures included; invited talk at the Second International LISA Symposium, Pasadena, July 1998 (ed. W. Folkner, American Institute of Physics

A Two Term Truncation of the Multiple Ising Model Coupled to 2d Gravity

We consider a model of p independent Ising spins on a dynamical planar phi-cubed graph. Truncating the free energy to two terms yields an exactly solvable model that has a third order phase transition from a pure gravity region (gamma=-1/2) to a tree-like region (gamma=1/2), with gamma=1/3 on the critical line. We are able to make an order of magnitude estimate of the value of p above which there exists a branched polymer (ie tree-like) phase in the full model, that is, p is approximately 13-23, which corresponds to a central charge c of about 6-12.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 12 figure

Cognitive Assessment: Perspectives from Adults with Intellectual Disability

Cognitive assessment is frequently used in the process of the diagnosis of intellectual disability (ID) in adults. However, there is little known about the subjective experience and discourses surrounding this process of assessment. This study therefore aims to explore this experience, and the specific discursive devices utilised by people when describing the experience, from the perspective of adults with ID. Information was gathered using semi-structured interviews with four clients with a recently diagnosed ID. These were analysed using both Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Discourse Analysis (DA), to examine various aspects of discourse alongside the phenomenological experience. The IPA results highlighted a variety of experiences that participants had and suggested that they did not experience their tests as emotionally neutral. For example, participants described experiences of disconnected services, namely through having seen various professionals over the assessment period, having experienced multiple similar types of assessment over their lifetime, and through experiencing poor communication from services. Participants experienced their assessors as being nice, empathetic, and listening to them, and were left with a feeling of hope that they would get support. However, there was also confusion about the purpose of the assessment and surrounding what the outcomes would be. DA results examined the language and discursive devices used by participants within the discussions about their experience. This latter part of the analysis revealed four main themes, namely surrounding the system holding the power, reliance on others, resilience, and having to do something versus choosing to do it. The results of this study are considered in the context of the surrounding literature. Potential implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed

The failure of aromatherapy? The effect of pleasant and unpleasant odour on pain perception.

Sixty healthy men and women experienced experimentally-induced pain during exposure to either a pleasant odour (lemon), an unpleasant odour (machine oil) or no odour. Participants reported the degree of pain they experienced at five minute intervals for 15 minutes. Individuals exposed to both odours reported significantly greater pain than did the participants in the control condition at five minutes. At 15 minutes, individuals exposed to the unpleasant odour experienced greater pain than did the control group. The results suggest that exposure to odour is not beneficial to those seeking pain relief. Rather, its perception is associated with greater pain than is no odour