Reader's Judgment Research Articles

Comparison of Four Diagnostic Guidelines for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gadoxetic Acid-enhanced Liver MRI.

Background Noninvasive diagnostic guidelines for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) vary across different global geographic areas, especially regarding criteria about gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI. Purpose To compare the diagnostic performance of four different international HCC diagnosis guidelines and readers' judgment in diagnosing HCC using gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI in patients at high risk for HCC. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included patients who had not undergone treatment, were at risk for HCC, and who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI from January 2015 to June 2018 from 11 tertiary hospitals in South Korea. Four radiologists independently reviewed focal liver lesions (FLLs) according to four guidelines: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)/Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS), Korean Liver Cancer Association-National Cancer Center (KLCA-NCC), European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), and Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL). Reader judgment (HCC or not HCC) was also recorded. Malignant FLLs were confirmed at pathology, and histologic and clinical follow-up data were used for benign FLLs. The guidelines' diagnostic performance was compared using generalized estimating equations. Additionally, the diagnostic odds ratio was assessed. Results A total of 2445 FLLs (median size, 27.4 mm) were analyzed in 2237 patients (mean age, 59 years ± 11 [SD]; 1666 male patients); 69.3% (1694 of 2445) were HCCs. KLCA-NCC showed the highest accuracy (80.0%; 95% CI: 78.7, 81.2; P = .001), with high sensitivity in Eastern guidelines (APASL, 89.1% [95% CI: 87.8, 90.3]; KLCA-NCC, 78.2% [95% CI: 76.6, 79.7]) and high specificity in Western guidelines (AASLD/LI-RADS, 89.6% [95% CI: 87.8, 91.2]; EASL, 88.1% [95% CI: 86.2, 89.9]) (P = .001). The diagnostic odds ratios were 20.7 (95% CI: 17.0, 25.3) for AASLD/LI-RADS, 18.9 (95% CI: 15.8, 22.6) for KLCA-NCC, 16.8 (95% CI: 13.8, 20.4) for EASL, and 8.9 (95% CI: 7.4, 10.7) for APASL. The readers' judgment demonstrated higher accuracy than that of the guidelines (accuracy, 86.0%; 95% CI: 84.9, 86.9; P = .001). Conclusion Among four different international HCC diagnosis guidelines, Eastern guidelines demonstrated higher sensitivity, whereas Western guidelines displayed higher specificity. KLCA-NCC achieved the highest accuracy, and AASLD/LI-RADS exhibited the highest diagnostic odds ratio. © RSNA, 2024 Supplemental material is available for this article.

『주자언론동이고』에 대한 시론적 고찰

In this paper, I have examined whether the three methods elucidated by Han Won-jin in the preface of Jujaeonrondongeego(朱子言論同異攷)—namely, the verification of the time of writings, mutual comparison of relevant remarks, and judgment based on theoretical consistency—successfully achieve the purpose of this book, which aims to confirm the final conclusion of Zhu Xi(朱熹), especially focused on the part of dealing with Ren Xin Dao Xin (人心道心) of Shujing(書經). Although it may sound somewhat conventional, it seems inevitable to acknowledge that this book also has both achievements and limitations. In ‘Ren Xin Dao Xin(人心道心)’, the distinction between the early theory and the final conclusion of Zhu Xi, the rejection of ｢Answer to Cai Ji-tong(答蔡季通)｣ in favor of ｢Answer to Zheng Zi-shang(答鄭子上)｣, and the demonstration that the ‘Xing Qi(形氣)’ mentioned in the preface of Zhong Yong Zhang Ju(中庸章句) refers to the body, based on ｢Answer to Chen An-qing(答陳安卿)｣ and others, undoubtedly represent the achievements of this book. On the other hand, it is also true that there were certain limitations in establishing Zhu Xi's final conclusion based on theoretical consistency. Han Won-jin seems to have been aware of these limitations himself. And he appears helpless when confronted with remarks expressing the early theory despite his later writings. Moreover, he might not have been able to effectively criticize those who used this as the basis for their arguments. In this regard, it is difficult to say that the purpose of this book, which was to distinguish between the early theory and the final conclusion and to demonstrate that his own and his school's doctrines are consistent with Zhu Xi's final conclusion, has also been successfully realized. As Han Won-jin mentioned, the decisions regarding what to accept and what to reject from this book will ultimately be left to the reader's judgment.

Toward a Data-Driven Theory of Narrativity

In this essay, we provide a framework for the empirical testing of narrative theory using the process of machine learning and predictive modeling. Drawing on a collection of over thirteen-thousand passages from an array of different genres, our models suggest that a very small number of features are highly predictive of narrative communication and that these features strongly align with reader judgments. According to our models, narrativity can best be described by what we call the "distant worlds theory," where narrative communication is most strongly identified through the depiction of concretized actions of an agent set at a distance to the teller. These findings raise interesting questions with respect to the deictic and distanciating functions of narration as a cultural practice. Ultimately, we argue that predictive modeling can serve as a valuable tool in the literary critical toolkit to address the problems of theory validation, theory reduction, and theory development. Predictive modeling can help us move past expert opinion as the sole form of validation and gain confidence about the generalizability of our theories about literary behavior in the world.

Intelligence Perception from Text: Accuracy and Cues

The present study deals with the first impression about a person’s intelligence, based solely on their text. We attempted to calculate the accuracy of a reader’s judgment, and to determine which features of the text are associated with both the reader’s impression as well as the author’s intelligence test scores (Brunswik lens model). The study involved 116 participants aged 16 to 23 years. Each of them read and evaluated 4 out of 20 texts that were written by other participants in an earlier study. Participants evaluated both the general impression of the author’s intelligence and of the text itself, scoring responses to questions such as “How smart is the author of this text?” and to other text features that may be associated with intelligence judgement, including “vocabulary richness” and “grammar complexity”. In addition, objective indicators such as readability (Flesch-Kincaid score), length, and relative errors were calculated for the texts. The accuracy of reader judgments, estimated in a text-based analysis as the Spearman correlation coefficient between the “how smart is the author” score and the actual author test scores, did not reach statistical significance. However, the data indicate the presence of a nonlinear relationship. As revealed by a participant-based analysis, authors from the lower quartile (based on test scores) tend to be rated lower by participants as well. Readability, vocabulary richness, grammar complexity, and the relative number of words longer than six letters all were utilized by the reader participants in their judgments (i.e., correlated with impression scores) and at the same time were valid (i.e., correlated with test scores). We discuss the problem of the narrowness of scientific and psychological impressions on intelligence, compared to everyday perceptions

Stories in Children’s Literature. An Analysis of Transcendent Language

Children’s literature plays an essential role in their development through the use of characters that they become familiar with, which become like friends. Stories have become a useful source of information for increasing reading skills, which are necessary for the development of new words. It is through the fiction literature that is based on real-life where children are able to understand traumatic events and complex ideas. They are able to understand life experiences and diversity of the world that they live in. Even with increased learning through literature, the National Literary Strategy conducted a study of words to show that children need 100 words in order to read a “real” children’s book. It is essential to distinguish between ‘restrictive texts,’ which allow for fewer perceptions to take place for active reader judgment of text that enables critical and thoughtful responses.

Start to Finish: The Effect of Sportswriter and Reader Gender on Perception of Female Athletes

Poor portrayal and perception of female athletes has a host of negative outcomes, such as objectification of women (Daniels, 2009; Daniels & Wartena, 2011) and negative reader judgment of female athletes (Knight & Giuliano, 2001). This study examines whether the gender of the sportswriter and reader affect the perception of female athletes (in terms of athleticism, respectability and interest in the sport). No significant interaction was found between sportswriter and reader gender, but a main effect was found for reader gender wherein women tend to think more highly of the athleticism and respectability of female athletes. Women were also more likely to view the sportswriter as credible; and higher credibility was positively correlated with perceptions of the athlete’s athleticism and respectability.

The Right of Reply to Professor Sheehan

In his derogatory article, published in 2015 summer issue of Philosophy Today,1 Thomas Sheehan resorted to an insult,2 a vilification, reporting conversations that only he and Emmanuel Faye were privy to (pp. 370-72), and deliberately violated privacy of correspondence.3 If he is prudent enough to keep question mark in his title and to specify in his abstract that the question of Faye is a fraud or simply incompetent is left to reader's judgment, he hardly leaves any doubts regarding his own conclusions. With term fraud, designating both in French and English cheating and thus an act subject to court, Sheehan avoids a possible defamation trial by introducing a rhetorical question mark that fools no one, especially if alternative is simple incompetence of an internationally renowned scholar-and one who is more translated than Professor Sheehan.41. HOW TO ATTRIBUTE AN ORGANIZED FRAUDIf Emmanuel Faye has a right to a polite rhetorical questioning, it is not case for me. Thomas Sheehan refers to one my articles, note 74, p. 390: See also his edited collection, where his disciples continue Deckname at 238, note 1 and 270.1. With term scam referring more casually to a rip-off or cheating, this time without rhetorical questioning but also without any justification, I have honor of defamed and insulted on pages of an academic journal-something that has become unusual in a very civilized academic life,5 but perhaps it is symptom of deterioration of academic manners. My name is cited explicitly in note 91, p. 396:Francois Rastier's essay at 298.24-27 repeats same false claims that Faye's book had made about Bauch letter. Gaetan Pegny's essay, at 238n1, reiterates same misconstrual of Deckname in letter to Bauch, while providing two additional references, both of them ludicrous: GA 36/37: 227.11 = 173.4-5; and Heidegger's letter to Jaspers, November 10, 1928, 110.3-4.But this is to reduce me, with Francois Rastier, to mechanical repetition with regard to Emmanuel Faye, thus p. 396, where F. Rastier and myself are transformed into parrots, although it is true that all that's lacking is animalization after whether Faye is a fraud:When we search through that collection for further elucidations ofDeckname, we find that in his edited collection Faye merely repeats-without any further development-the same false rewriting as in his earlier book, namely, 'etre' comme d'un mot couvert ou prete-nom (Deckname). And when he refers reader to two essays by other contributors in collection, we find that they merely parrot same mistranslation that Faye himself advanced nine years earlier in his book. Does Faye think that if he and his acolytes repeat same misreadings enough times, someone might come to believe them?However, on page 71 of Beauchesne collection that Sheehan mentions in note 90, p. 396, Emmanuel Faye speaks of Heideggerian description of as a or concealed word in letters to Kurt Bauch, which came out in 2010. If Faye was able to cite excerpts from these letters in a 2007 lecture, published as an article in 2009,6 it is because they had been published in catalogue of antiquarian Stargardt in March 2004 (p. 194),7 and because I gave him a copy upon request in 2005, when Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy was already in print. From where does Mr. Sheehan get notion that Mr. Faye merely reformulated thesis of his 2005 book using a new source? On page 71, which Sheehan cites explicitly, Faye says rather clearly:Drawing, for first time, on an unpublished letter to Kurt Bauch, I indicated necessity of taking seriously Heidegger's use of word being as a code-word or concealed word (Deckname), and, furthermore, showed that Heidegger's critique of global technology understood as en-framing (Ge-stell) does not call into question his glowing approval, stated three times in publications after 1945, of satisfying relationship, instituted, in his view, by National Socialism, between human and the essence of technology. …

Emmanuel Faye

Emmanuel Faye's Heidegger: The Introduction of Nazism into Philosophy is so freighted with mistranslations, misinterpretations, the wrenching of sentences from their context, and perverse rewritings of Heidegger's texts that it raises ques- tions about (1) whether Faye intentionally rewrote and misinterpreted Heidegger or is simply a sloppy scholar; and (2) whether he is a competent reader of any philosophi- cal texts, and especially Heidegger's. Detailed evidence is provided of the countless errors, gross misrepresentations, and howlers that populate his books and lectures. However, the question of whether Faye is a fraud or simply incompetent is left to the reader's judgment.

Communicative Tactics of Creating Headlines in British Newspapers

The objective of the research is to define some of the typical features of communicative tactics of creating headlines in British newspapers. We have used structural and linguistic approaches in defining three typical communicative tactics and analyzed numerous samples of headlines from quality papers and tabloids. The analysis shows that communicative tactics of headlines from a range of quality papers are more informative and persuasive, they form opinions, judgments of readers and in tabloids they are mostly advertising and entertaining, they capture readers’ attention to trivial events and awake a keen interest in private life of celebrities.

A Functional Understanding of the Banking Ombudsman in India

The Banking Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial authority that was first instituted through the Banking Ombudsman Scheme, 1995 framed under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The ultimate telos behind introducing this Scheme was to create an expeditious, efficient and inexpensive forum for the settlement of complaints pertaining to deficient banking services. The researcher has sought to systematically analyze the Banking Ombudsman Scheme of 2006 in contradistinction to the earlier schemes of 2002 and 1995 and in light of decided case law. The researcher shall attempt to proffer certain suggestions that may improve the functioning of the prevailing system and which have found support in several survey reports and finally, he seeks to place his conclusion on the efficacy of the scheme for the reader's judgment.

A rapid, novel method of volumetric assessment of MRI-detected subchondral bone marrow lesions in knee osteoarthritis is comparable to worms: preliminary validation

A rapid, novel method of volumetric assessment of MRI-detected subchondral bone marrow lesions in knee osteoarthritis is comparable to worms: preliminary validation

What makes a good case study? A positivist review of qualitative case research published in Industrial Marketing Management, 1971–2006

Business-to-business marketing research has a long tradition of using qualitative case studies. Industrial Marketing Management (IMM) has actively encouraged the use of case methods, resulting in many important theoretical advances in the field. However, debate still rages over what constitutes “good case research”. This article addresses this issue from a positivist standpoint. We examine the how authors address issues of quality in the 105 qualitative case studies published in IMM between 1971 and 2006. Four periods were identified: 1971–1979, 1980–1989, 1990–1999, and 2000–2006. Findings demonstrate that, from a positivist viewpoint, there has been a steady improvement in how authors addressed issues of research quality in published qualitative case studies. Suggestions for changes in data presentation, reviewer expectations, the IMM reviewer feedback form, and the use of web-based appendices containing data pertinent to reader judgments of research quality are suggested.

Implicit attribution

Writing classes and style manuals consistently emphasize proper source acknowledgment in published writing (hence also in student work). Though attribution is commonly held to be of paramount importance on ethical and other grounds, published writers regularly manage to dispense with explicitness about the use of source material in the course of a text. That is, attribution is often merely implicit – sometimes so weakly so that a scrutinizing reader may be unsure whether it even exists. How is such discourse possible, given the usual strictures? Reports on two data collections based on reader judgments, in which readers are shown to use textual organization (heading, paragraph structure) cues in inferring the presence or absence of attribution, help suggest answers to this question. The stated need to attribute is argued to be highly conditional, based more on a principle of assessed risk than on a categorical requirement of the type normally taught in expository writing classes. This risk-based principle may help account for the minimal use of attribution in certain genres of writing (e.g., basic-level textbooks, newspapers and high-circulation magazines) and its maximal use in others (e.g., scholarly journals).

392 BONE MARROW EDEMA-LIKE LESIONS IN OSTEOARTHRITIC SUBJECTS EXHIBIT ALTERED TRABECULAR STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION

391 – Figures 1–3 software applies an automated grayscale thresholding technique to the raw grayscale image (Figure 1) and provides the reader with regions for segmentation (Figure 2). Reader judgment is used to select the appropriate region or regions that cover the areas of BME and to reject irrelevant areas (Figure 3). The total segmented volume was used as a measure of BME. The segmentation was performed two times by one reader (RB), one week apart, and once by a second reader (TI). The readers were blinded to time point and patient ID. The inter and intra-reader reproducibility (average difference) was measured. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between the BME volume and the KOOS pain subscale. Results: The software method required an average of less than 5 minutes per knee. The mean and standard deviation of BME volume was 650.7±1005 mm3 and 651±1030 mm3 for baseline and follow-up visits respectively. The inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility for BME volume was 0.19 and 0.21, respectively. The correlation (R value) between the BME and KOSS pain subscale was 0.16 and 0.01 for the baseline and follow-up visits respectively. The correlation between the change in KOOS pain subscale versus change in the Quantity of BME longitudinally was 0.36. Twelve subjects showed increase and 8 subjects showed decrease in the average amount of BME in the course of 24 months. Conclusions: We have documented a fast, moderately reproducible, semi-automated software method to segment BME on knee MR acquisitions. Our study suggests that a weak correlation exists between the measured amount of BME and the KOOS pain subscale cross-sectionally but a stronger correlation exists when change is measured. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to better elaborate this correlation. Additional improvements to the software tool should improve the reproducibility.

Measurements from image-based three dimensional pelvic floor reconstruction: a study of inter- and intraobserver reliability.

To describe inter- and intraobserver reliability of 3D measurements of female pelvic floor structures. Twenty reconstructed MR datasets of primiparas at 6-12 months postpartum were analyzed. Pelvic organ measurements were independently made twice by three radiologists blinded to dataset order. A "within-reader" analysis, a "between-reader" analysis, and the intraclass correlation (ICC), and standard deviation ratio (SDR) were computed for each parameter. Fifteen continuous variables and one categorical variable were measured. Eight continuous parameters showed excellent agreement (ICC >0.85 / SDR <0.40), five parameters showed relatively good agreement (ICC >0.70 / SDR >or=0.40, <0.60). Two parameters showed poor agreement (ICC <or=0.70 and/or SDR >or=0.60). The categorical variable showed poor agreement. Agreement was best where landmark edges were well defined, acceptable where more "reader judgment" was needed, and poor where levator defects made landmarks difficult to identify. Automated measurement algorithms are under study and may improve agreement in the future.

Nooreestlased arvustuses ja arvustajatena: lugejakontseptsioonist 20. sajandi alguse kriitikas. The Young Estonians as Critics and in the Eyes of Critics: On the Concept of the Reader in Early 20th Century Estonia

Until recently, the treatment of Estonian literature from the beginning of the 20th century has been influenced by the literary and cultural activities and programmatic articles of the Young Estonia movement. Current research on Young Estonia has addressed their more everyday realm of activity, which has heretofore received less attention: the Young Estonians as readers of the new works of their literary contemporaries and their practical criticism in reviews, particularly in daily newspapers. This article uses a receptionhistorical approach to analyze a large body of source material: the Young Estonians voluminous critical oeuvre in the period 1905–1915. The Young Estonians to be examined are all members of the core group of the movement: Gustav Suits, Bernhard Linde, Aino Kallas, Johannes Aavik, Villem Grunthal-Ridala, Jaan Oks, August Alle, and Johannes Semper. Within the larger framework of collective horizons of expectation, the focus of the study is the critics` concept of the reader. In addition, I will briefly discuss the dynamics of how such conceptions change. Research results indicate that in critical reviews from the time of Young Estonia, the topic of the reader was addressed from different standpoints depending on the addressee. Texts directed rhetorically toward a broad readership are characterized by the pursuit of objectivity and generalizations. When the concept of the reader is critic-centered, the text emphasizes subjective judgments, experience, and emotion. When focusing on the author and the text, the reviewer describes the influence on the reader, the cause of which is either the literary work directly or the author’s genius. In the case of polemic on the subject of reading, found mainly in responses written to reviews, the writer interprets another reader (or other readers`) reading, opposing it to his or her own. When we follow the way the readers of Young Estonia and the Young Estonians themselves handle the characteristics and functions of the reader, it becomes apparent that the reader is defined primarily according to relations – whether these are with the author, the text, the content, the critic, the reader himself/ herself, or with literature in general. The reader is regarded as a passive subject in the literary process who needs to be influenced by the author and directed by the critic. At the beginning of the era of Young Estonia, the reader’s primary role is seen as supporting original literary works. Those critics who did not belong to Young Estonia’s core group orient themselves to the common reader, and to a heterogenous content familiar from everyday life. The Young Estonians` longing for „better” literature, and expectations connected with the literary representation of educated people are aimed at authors; there is also the expectation that educated people will form a readership. In the middle of the Young Estonia period, topics of ongoing discussion include the question of rereading, or repeated reading of books, and prejudices formed based on an author’s prior works and the broader literary context. In mid-period, a clearer separation comes into focus between reviewer and reader, and the judgments of readers and reviewers can be seen to diverge. Toward the end of the period, the evaluation of literary texts takes a further step from the search for objective values toward recognizing the individuality of the reader. In conclusion, during the decade 1905–1915, the definition of the reader in the eyes of the critic underwent an expansion, merging with the Young Estonians’ specific expectations. Though the Young Estonians’ own principles – quite resolute at first – later became somewhat tempered, they still maintained their elitist positions and uncompromising stance toward their opposition. The result is an enrichment in the criteria for judging literature rather than a replacement of one set of criteria by another. Horizons of interpretation continue to approach one another, until the horizon of expectation of Young Estonia’s readers, their reviewers and critics incorporate the Young Estonians’ own positions with respect to readers and reading. In the process, the Young Estonians themselves are but donors, growing a readership, and through their efforts toward differentiation, also extending the reach of expectations directed at readers.

Sobre cómo analizar la credibilidad de un ensayo clínico o metaanálisis cuyo resultado principal se ofrezca en odds ratio, riesgo relativo o hazard ratio

Beyond the type of design or the statistical analysis applied, the credibility of a research study lies in the compatibility of its results with the intensity that the reader could accept that the phenomenon studied might have from a biological point of view. Ultimately this requires a value judgment. The present article describes a procedure that can be used to objectively approach the limits of intensity that that a biological phenomenon could have, according to the data presented, so that, based on the reader's judgment derived from the available knowledge of the problem, the study can be deemed credible. The procedure is valid when the results of the study are expressed in odds ratio, relative risk or hazard ratio. Although these statistics are difficult to interpret, they are probably the most widely used in clinical trials and meta-analyses, that is, in studies whose methodological designs provide the highest level of evidence.

Quality control in scholarly publishing: A new proposal

AbstractThe Internet has fostered a faster, more interactive and effective model of scholarly publishing. However, as the quantity of information available is constantly increasing, its quality is threatened, since the traditional quality control mechanism of peer review is often not used (e.g., in online repositories of preprints, and by people publishing whatever they want on their Web pages).This paper describes a new kind of electronic scholarly journal, in which the standard submission‐review‐publication process is replaced by a more sophisticated approach, based on judgments expressed by the readers: in this way, each reader is, potentially, a peer reviewer. New ingredients, not found in similar approaches, are that each reader's judgment is weighted on the basis of the reader's skills as a reviewer, and that readers are encouraged to express correct judgments by a feedback mechanism that estimates their own quality. The new electronic scholarly journal is described in both intuitive and formal ways. Its effectiveness is tested by several laboratory experiments that simulate what might happen if the system were deployed and used.

Decisionmaking in Rehabilitation

small (as well as a capital) c: respect for life, fairness, and then the importance of community. If the implications of these arguments for future cases are unclear, it may be because tough cases make for bad public policy. It may also be, however, that their implications are something that will need to be worked out in their own right. Whether these latter issues are worth working out, however, will depend in large part on the sympathetic reader's judgments about their persuasiveness in the present

Language and linguistics: Aims, perspectives, and duties of linguistics Ed. by Pierre Swiggers (review)

178 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 75, NUMBER 1 (1999) deal with acquisition of case, agreement, negation, questions; its applicability to morphologically-rich languages; and its explanatory adequacy. From the full-competence camp, an ambitious paper by Nina Hyams derives a common source for children's null subjects, optional infinitives, and determinerless DPs in the underspecification of FCs. On the other hand, Harald Clahsen, Sonja Eisenbeiss, and Martina Penke claim that learning the lexicon drives growth of syntactic knowledge: For example, acquisition of verbal inflection leads children to develop the phrase structure underlying German V2 facts. Zvi Penner and Jürgen Weissenborn counter with data from Swiss versus Standard German. They find no correlation between acquisition ofinflection and ofthe properties of DPs, instead attributing the two dialects' different acquisitional paths to canonical versus noncanonical triggers for parameter setting. Jürgen M. Meisel and Maria-Jose Ezeizabarrena report that in Basque acquisition of subject agreement precedes thatofobject agreement. This challenges the assumption that the order of acquisition of FCs reflects phrase-structural position since AGR(S) dominates AGR(O). Maria Teresa Guasti shows that unlike children learning English, children learning Italian produce adult-like negative questions, which fact she identifies with different features of CP in the two languages. A paper by Liliane Haegeman similarly brings acquisitional data to bear on cross-linguistic differences. She claims that object clitics appear in early child French but not Dutch because of their different landing sites in the two languages. The topic of clitics is carried forward in two more papers. Cornelia Hamann, Luigi Rizzi, and Uli H. Frauenfelder find that French-learning children place clitics correctly, though subject clitics are acquired before object clitics and rarely appear with untensed verbs. Lydia White demonstrates that English -speaking children learning French as a second language both distinguish clitics from pronouns and distribute them appropriately despite the presumed lack of a native-language model for their phrase structure. Two additional papers wrestle with the application of the minimalist program to studies of acquisition: Christer Platzack conceptualizes acquisition as a process of recognizing which features of FCs are strong and so must be checked before spell-out, testing his proposal against various data including some on acquisition of Swedish. Thomas Roeper speculates about how merger theory may make sense of diverse empirical facts, assuming that children create unique maximal projections both in the sense that they are unlike those in adult grammar and they are specific to particular lexical items. The editor gives the last word to Martin Atkinson , who closes the text with a feisty attack on several theoretical, methodological, and data-interpretive assumptions running through the other papers . Atkinson's objections deserve attention, and raising them only strengthens the volume, as to end on this critical note is a tribute to the self-confidence of generative perspectives on language acquisition. [Margaret Thomas, Boston College.] Language and linguistics: Aims, perspectives , and duties of linguistics. Ed. by Pierre Swiggers. Leuven: Peeters, 1997. Pp. xvii, 90. This intriguing book consists of transcriptions of three interviews conducted in 1993-96 by the Belgian linguist Pierre Swiggers. All three interviews appeared in the journal Orbis but are assembled here with a preface in English and French. The interviewees are André-Georges Haudricourt (1911-96), Henry M. Hoenigswald (b. 1915), and Robert H. Robins (b. 1921). S's aim is to record the personal experiences and professional opinions ofthree 'privileged witnesses of the development of linguistics in the past half-century' (x). In justifying the choice of interviewees , S cites as common threads in their work regard for linguistic data, systematicity of approach, and concern for basic disciplinary issues. Granted that linguists (should) generally share these virtues, Haudricourt, Hoenigswald, and Robins are further distinguished in that each has worked on both familiar European and 'exotic' languages (Haudricourt in the Far East, Hoenigswald with Etruscan, and Robins with Yurok and Sundanese). S also attributes to each a leading role in modern linguistics and 'outright refusal of all kinds of dogmatism' (vii)—though perhaps the accuracy of the latter claim should be left to the reader's judgment. What one could add to the list of shared characteristics is that all three men, in conversation with...