bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Ventilation of Buildings Used for Industrial Processes Giving Rise To Noxious or Unpleasant Dust and Fumes and the Prevention of Atmospheric Pollution By Such Dust and Fumes
Authors: Batey J.W.
Published: March 2007

This paper attempts to show, directly and by implication, that serious dust and fume nuisances are still problems which, in specific cases of steel-making and steel-melting, await a really satisfactory solution which is also an economic proposition. Particular attention is drawn to the increased nuisance caused by oxygen enrichment.

In such cases it suggests that the basic design of the buildings is a stumbling-block not easily overcome. An original building lay-out is given. It illustrates how some firms have tackled the problems involved and suggests where there is scope for further investigation and research in furnace design and fume and dust analysis.

By way of contrast it states that many small dust nuisances for which the cures are fairly well known are not dealt with efficiently. The broad scientific approach to this problem is outlined.

Finally, it calls attention to the dispersion aspect of pollutants, which is becoming of increasing importance, and suggests that recent scientific investigations, carried out primarily for marine application, may be adaptable to land practice.
Friendships, relationships and the management of rejection and loneliness by people with learning disabilities
Authors: Nunkoosing K. , John M.
Published: March 2007

Fifteen people with learning disabilities participated in this qualitative study which was concerned with enabling the participants to tell their own stories and experiences of friendships and relationships through several interviews. Analyses of the responses identified factors that both enhanced and hindered the development of friendship and relationship for people with learning disabilities. Whilst friendship was facilitated by mutuality and acceptance, poverty, limited transport and the absence of physical and emotional support prevented the development of friendships and led to the experience of loneliness. Participants also managed their experiences of rejection and loneliness through the development of coping skills and positive self-image.
Exploring values: an empirical evaluation
Authors: Riding T.M.
Published: March 2007

This paper outlines the development of a series of workshops, designed to bring about attitudinal change. This is followed by an empirical evaluation of the workshop's impact on nurses' attitudes toward service users.

Users of mental health and learning disability services have historically been the object of a variety of negative and dissenting attitudes. Within the context of forensic services, this situation is often compounded, as was highlighted during the Ashworth Inquiry.

Much has been achieved in terms of promoting cultural change since the publication of the inquiry's report, and the development of the 'Exploring Values' workshop has provided added impetus.

This study used a quasi-experimental research design, with data being collected 'before and after' the workshop. The findings suggest that the workshops prompted a re-appraisal of cultural attitudes, and a hypothesis that predicted a positive shift in attitudes was supported.

In an attempt to inject a degree of animation into the statistical data, a small sample of workshop participants have also been interviewed, and a selection of brief case studies describe how changes in practice have ensued.

The paper concludes that despite criticisms of the study design, overall the use of workshops proved to be an extremely successful and worthwhile strategy to bring about attitudinal change.
An investigation of speech and language therapy to improve the communication environment of people with severe learning disabilities who have communication difficulties and behaviours that challenge services
Authors: Chatterton S.
Published: March 2007

The need to understand the role of communication in triggering, maintaining or exacerbating challenging behaviour is crucial when working with a client group with severe learning disabilities. Speech and language therapists are becoming increasingly involved in this process. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT 1996), recommend that the most appropriate form of intervention includes:

I. facilitating carers in the understanding of the nature and causes of challenging behaviour, particularly in relation to communication

2. facilitating carers in understanding the role of the environment and their own communication in relation to the clients challenging behaviour

3. facilitating carers in developing more appropriate ways of communicating with clients with challenging behaviour

4. Supporting carers in developing appropriate activities for the client (RCSLT I996)

This project used the above principles to investigate the effect of speech and language therapy on the communication environment in a home for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. The results show an increase in: the length of interactions initiated by the staff with the service users; the use of non- verbal communication to support interactions and a decrease in the number of attempts the service users needed to make before a staff response was given. The author concludes that speech and language therapy was effective in improving the communication environment. The impact of the improved communication environment on challenging behaviours was not measured.
Comparison and Selection of Materials for Air-Supported Structures
Authors: Skelton John
Published: March 2007

Air-supported structures use coated fabrics as envelope mate rials, and since the envelope must perform efficiently as both a load bearing member and as an air container, the correct choice of materials is essential to the success of the structure. This paper discusses the considerations affecting the choice of base fabric and coating materials, including such factors as tensile and tear strength, seaming efficiency, behavior under biaxial load, and chemical inertness. New substrate materials are discussed briefly, and some possibilities of reducing the weight of the coated fabric composite are ex plored.
Polyurethane Coated Upholstery Fabrics — Faults That Can Occur
Authors: Morley D.J.
Published: March 2007

This article classifies faults that have occurred with poly urethane fabrics in upholstery. Recent correspondence elsewhere has high lighted difficulties that can arise in use but it remains true that, with careful attention to selection of material and source of supply, ensuing quality control procedures applied regularly, and making up techniques, PUs will continue to hold an important place within furniture fabrics. However, care must be exercised in choosing and inspecting a fabric.
The Effect of Test Conditions On the Relative Toxicity of the Pyrolysis Products From Some Upholstery Fabrics
Authors: Hilado Carlos J. , Cumming Heather J.
Published: March 2007

Nine upholstery fabrics were evaluated for relative toxicity using seven different test conditions of the USF methodology. The materi als were 99% wool/1% spandex, 86% wool/14% nylon, 100% polyester, 100% cotton, 100% rayon, 100% polyolefin, and 100% nylon.
In Defence of Bureaucratic Organisation in Education
Authors: Lungu Gatian F.
Published: March 2007

Bureaucracy is often regarded as the antithesis of the values education seeks to promote. This article cites research and theoretical studies to argue for a positive view: bureaucracy can make progress more effectively than "free" schools.
How Primary Heads Spend Their Time
Authors: Harvey C.W.
Published: March 2007

Participants in the survey compared their actual use of time with what they had planned, giving them cause to reflect on their own performance, priorities and in-service training needs ...
Gender Differences in Teachers' Preferences for Primary School Leadership
Authors: Johnston John
Published: March 2007

What kinds of leaders do teachers prefer? This research finds that teachers want male and female headteachers to behave differently: they tend to want men to be directive, women to be facilitative. This has implications f6r the climate in schools and for job satisfaction.
An Evaluation of Aspects of Teacher Professionalism, as Evidenced by Salary and Structure Proposals
Authors: Henson John
Published: March 2007

In what sense are teachers professionals? The 1986 proposals on salary structures reveal contrasting views. Is teaching a hierarchical occupation that needs a bureaucratic structure to ensure discipline and performance', as Baker implies?
Falling Rolls and School Costs
Authors: Bondi Liz
Published: March 2007

It is easy to jump tp conclusions about how some schools are more expensive - the DES and Audit Commission have assumed a link to falling rolls. This examination of costs in primary schools challenges such assumptions and shows how costs and policies can relate.
Management in the Public Sector in Greece: the Case of the Ministry of Education
Authors: Saitis Christos
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the influence of social and economic factors on the management of the public sector in Greece, and particularly in the Ministry of Education. To be effective in promoting social and economic development, public administration has to be ahead of the general level of development of the country. It requires the political will of the Government, rational policy, financial support and the effective motivatation and development of employees throughout the public sector. The author works for the Ministry of Education in Greece.
A Management Model for Industrial lnvolvement in the Educational Process
Authors: Gore C. , Murray K.
Published: March 2007

Industrial involvement in higher education can bring benefits — but how is it best organised? The authors, from Leicester Polytechnic Business School, demonstrate weaknesses in the current approach widely adopted in higher education. They construct a management model to ensure strategic co-ordination of the process, arguing that unless such a process is adopted the full benefits of industrial involvement will not be derived and important for forms of contact not established.
Flexible Planning: A Key to the Management of Multiple Innovations
Authors: Wallace Mike
Published: March 2007

Schools in England and Wales are currently faced with the implementation of a plethora of change. On the basis of recent exploratory research the author, a lecturer in the National Development Centre for Educational Management and Policy at the University of Bristol, proposes a model of flexible planning for the management of multiple innovations. Such an approach, he suggests, can help schools to cope with an increasingly turbulent environment in a way in which a procedure which over-relies upon the production of annual development plans may not.
Mikazuki (Winnowing Love)
Authors: Salz Jonah
Published: March 2007

Mikazuki (Winnowing Love) is an unusually sympathetic and realistic portrait of medieval marriage, when a husband enthralled by poetry parties threatens to ruin the household. The introduction situates the play within other kyÅgen featuring female characters, and discusses the improvisatory dynamism of renga linked-poetry parties as metaphor for both marriage and kyÅgen performance.
Oko Sako (Oko and Sako): Wawashii Woman in the Kyōgen Oka and Sako
Authors: Savas Minae Yamamoto
Published: March 2007

In this play, a peasant called Oko accuses Sako, another farmer, of letting his cow graze on Oko's grass. While Oko's wawashii (bold) wife offers to help him rehearse his lawsuit, she secretly hopes to dissuade her husband from bringing it to the local steward. The rehearsal satirizes the oppressive feudal justice system as the domineering wife and steward role overlap.
Uncertain Enthusiasm: The American Cancer Society, Public Education, and the Problems of the Movie, 1921-1960
Authors: Cantor David
Published: March 2007

Historians have highlighted a growing medical enthusiasm for public health education movies in the early twentieth century. This essay suggests that there is another historiographic tale to tell, of concerns that films might undermine the public health messages they were designed to promote—concerns that threatened continued interest in movies during the Depression of the 1930s. First, focusing on cancer-education movies aimed at the general public released by the American Society for the Control of Cancer (ASCC, founded 1913), the paper argues that the organization's initial enthusiasm for movies was tempered from the late 1920s by a combination of high production costs, uncertainty as to the effectiveness of movies as public-education tools, and the hard economic situation. It was only after 1944 that motion pictures became a stable part of the propaganda efforts of the renamed American Cancer Society. This transformation followed the takeover of the Society by advertisers and businesspeople, led by Mary Lasker, who introduced business models of fund-raising and education, and made expensive communication technologies, such as movies, central to cancer control. Second, the article also traces the persistence of anxieties that movies might undermine cancer control by encouraging emotional responses [End Page 39] that led audiences to ignore the lessons the movies were intended to encourage. But whereas such anxieties dampened ASCC enthusiasm for cancer-education movies during the hard economic times of the 1930s, they had no such effect after 1944, and attention shifted to developing techniques of controlling unwanted audience responses.
"For Jimmy and the Boys and Girls of America": Publicizing Childhood Cancers in Twentieth-Century America
Authors: Krueger Gretchen Marie
Published: March 2007

This paper examines a collection of images of children printed in cancer education and fund-raising materials distributed by voluntary health organizations, released by public relations departments of specialized cancer hospitals, and featured in popular magazines and newspapers beginning in the late 1940s. Children represented only a small fraction of all persons with cancer, yet they became a key component of the media campaign for the disease. What narratives were embedded in the photographs and profiles? Like the March of Dimes' use of young polio patients to promote their programs, "poster children" were strategically used throughout the mid-to-late twentieth century to advance principles of early cancer detection and prompt treatment; to illustrate or, at times, exaggerate promising biomedical advances in the field; and to elicit emotional responses and donations from a wide audience during the escalation of the war against cancer.
Ill Patient, Public Activist: Rose Kushner's Attack on Breast Cancer Chemotherapy
Authors: Lerner Barron H
Published: March 2007

In 1984 the noted breast cancer activist Rose Kushner published a controversial article, "Is Aggressive Adjuvant Chemotherapy the Halsted Radical of the '80s?" In it, she argued that chemotherapy was being used as indiscriminately as the radical mastectomy had been, before she and others had successfully discredited the disfiguring operation. As with all of Kushner's writings, this article raised valid points in an informed and provocative style, but her attack on chemotherapy was more one-sided than was typical. This may have been due to the highly personal nature of the topic: when she was diagnosed with recurrent breast cancer, she had declined chemotherapy in favor of a hormonal agent, tamoxifen. She also developed a close working and financial relationship with the manufacturers of tamoxifen. Although not seen as a problem at the time, Kushner's dual roles as patient and advocate for a particular treatment foreshadowed conflict-of-interest issues that would take center stage in medicine in subsequent decades.
Breast Cancer and the "Materiality of Risk": The Rise of Morphological Prediction
Authors: Löwy Ilana
Published: March 2007

This paper follows the history of "morphological risk" of breast cancer. In the early twentieth century, surgeons and pathologists arrived at the conclusion that specific anatomical and cytological changes in the breast are related to a heightened risk of developing a malignancy in the future. This conclusion was directly related to a shift from macroscopic to microscopic diagnosis of malignancies, and to the integration of the frozen section into routine surgery for breast cancer. In the interwar era, conditions such as "chronic mastitis" and "cystic disease of the breast" were defined as precancerous, and women diagnosed with these conditions were advised to undergo mastectomy. In the post–World War II era, these entities were replaced by "carcinoma in situ." The recent development of tests for hereditary predisposition to breast cancer is a continuation of attempts to detect an "embodied risk" of cancer and to eliminate this risk by cutting it out.
Time, Tense, and Thucydides
Authors: Bakker Egbert J
Published: March 2007

This paper discusses the distinction between the aorist and the imperfect in ancient Greek in terms of the temporality of classicism and "fame." The aorist, in focusing on its action's concrete results, can become a link between an achievement and its reception in the future: in the third grammatical person, it represents the voice of the reader who asserts the subject's accomplishment. Imperfects, by contrast, locate an event simply in the past. The article argues that Thucydides exploits to the full the possibilities of this opposition and ends with a discussion of the ancient meaning of the term a-oristos, which has been lost in modern Greek grammar.
Evaluating the Rationale for Affirmative Action in College Admissions: Direct and Indirect Relationships between Campus Diversity and Gains in Understanding Diverse Groups
Authors: Pike Gary R , Kuh George D , Gonyea Robert M
Published: March 2007

Affirmative action in college admissions is based on the premise that a diverse student body contributes to interactions among students from different backgrounds, which are in turn positively related to desirable outcomes of college. This study evaluates the merits of this rationale for affirmative action by examining the direct and indirect relationships between student-body diversity and students' gains in understanding people of other racial/ethnic backgrounds. Data from a nationally representative sample of 428 colleges and universities participating in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicated that student-body diversity was indirectly, but not directly, related to gains in understanding people from diverse backgrounds. Results supported the use of affirmative action in college admissions, indicating that student body diversity is directly related to greater interaction among diverse groups, but not the quality of interpersonal relations on campus. Diversity of the student body was indirectly related to gains in understanding diverse groups, acting through informal interactional diversity.
Moving Toward Self-Authorship: Investigating Outcomes of Learning Partnerships
Authors: Pizzolato Jane Elizabeth , Ozaki C. Casey
Published: March 2007

This qualitative study investigates how the Learning Partnerships Model (LPM; Baxter Magolda, 2001, 2004a) could be operationalized in the context of an academic advising retention program. The findings focus on what epistemological outcomes emerge for students who entered the program as formula followers. Findings suggest that although students likely will not self-author in one semester, there are specific changes (e.g., beliefs, cognitive interdependence, and affect regulation) that emerge as precursors to subsequent self-authorship development.
Faculty and Academic Environments: Using Holland's Theory to Explore Differences in How Faculty Structure Undergraduate Courses
Authors: Smart John C , Umbach Paul D
Published: March 2007

Variation in how faculty in disparate theory-based academic environments design and structure their undergraduate courses to promote student learning in 12 areas was examined. The findings suggest that faculty create distinctive academic environments that reinforce and reward their preferred patterns of student competencies in a manner consistent with Holland's theory. Implications of the findings for faculty, student affairs professionals, and other campus leaders responsible for student learning are discussed.
The Effect of Certification and Preparation on Teacher Quality
Authors: Boyd Donald , Goldhaber Daniel D , Lankford Hamilton , Wyckoff James Humphrey
Published: March 2007

To improve the quality of the teacher workforce, some states have tightened teacher preparation and certification requirements while others have eased requirements and introduced "alternative" ways of being certified to attract more people to teaching. Donald Boyd, Daniel Goldhaber, Hamilton Lankford, and James Wyckoff evaluate these seemingly contradictory strategies by examining how preparation and certification requirements affect student achivement. If strong requirements improve student outcomes and deter relatively few potential teachers, the authors say, then they may well be good policy. But if they have little effect on student achievement, if they seriously deter potential teachers, or if schools are able to identify applicants who will produce good student outcomes, then easing requirements becomes a more attractive policy. In reviewing research on these issues, the authors find that evidence is often insufficient to draw conclusions. They do find that highly selective alternative route programs can produce effective teachers who perform about the same as teachers from traditional routes after two years on the job. And they find that teachers who score well on certification exams can improve student outcomes somewhat. Limited evidence suggests that certification requirements can diminish the pool of applicants, but there is no evidence on how they affect student outcomes. And the authors find that schools have a limited ability to identify attributes in prospective teachers that allow them to improve student achievement. The authors conclude that the research evidence is simply too thin to have serious implications for policy. Given the enormous investment in teacher preparation and certification and given the possibility that these requirements may worsen student outcomes, the lack of convincing evidence is disturbing. The authors urge researchers and policymakers to work together to move to a more informed position where good resource decisions can be made.
The Challenges of Staffing Urban Schools with Effective Teachers
Authors: Jacob Brian Aaron
Published: March 2007

Brian Jacob examines challenges faced by urban districts in staffing their schools with effective teachers. He emphasizes that the problem is far from uniform. Teacher shortages are more severe in certain subjects and grades than others, and differ dramatically from one school to another. The Chicago public schools, for example, regularly receive roughly ten applicants for each teaching position. But many applicants are interested in specific schools, and district officials struggle to find candidates for highly impoverished schools. Urban districts' difficulty in attracting and hiring teachers, says Jacob, means that urban teachers are less highly qualified than their suburban counterparts with respect to characteristics such as experience, educational background, and teaching certification. But they may not thus be less effective teachers. Jacob cites recent studies that have found that many teacher characteristics bear surprisingly little relationship to student outcomes. Policies to enhance teacher quality must thus be evaluated in terms of their effect on student achievement, not in terms of conventional teacher characteristics. Jacob then discusses how supply and demand contribute to urban teacher shortages. Supply factors involve wages, working conditions, and geographic proximity between teacher candidates and schools. Urban districts have tried various strategies to increase the supply of teacher candidates (including salary increases and targeted bonuses) and to improve retention rates (including mentoring programs). But there is little rigorous research evidence on the effectiveness of these strategies. Demand also has a role in urban teacher shortages. Administrators in urban schools may not recognize or value high-quality teachers. Human resource departments restrict district officials from making job offers until late in the hiring season, after many candidates have accepted positions elsewhere. Jacob argues that urban districts must improve hiring practices and also reevaluate policies for teacher tenure so that ineffective teachers can be dismissed.
Teacher Labor Markets in Developing Countries
Authors: Vegas Emiliana
Published: March 2007

Emiliana Vegas surveys strategies used by the world's developing countries to fill their classrooms with qualified teachers. With their low quality of education and wide gaps in student outcomes, schools in developing countries strongly resemble hard-to-staff urban U.S. schools. Their experience with reform may thus provide insights for U.S. policymakers. Severe budget constraints and a lack of teacher training capacity have pushed developing nations to try a wide variety of reforms, including using part-time or assistant teachers, experimenting with pay incentives, and using school-based management. The strategy of hiring teachers with less than full credentials has had mixed results. One successful program in India hired young women who lacked teaching certificates to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to children whose skills were seriously lagging. After two years, student learning increased, with the highest gains among the least able students. As in the United States, says Vegas, teaching quality and student achievement in the developing world are sensitive to teacher compensation. As average teacher salaries in Chile more than doubled over the past decade, higher-quality students entered teacher education programs. And when Brazil increased educational funding and distributed resources more equitably, school enrollment increased and the gap in student test scores narrowed. Experiments with performance-based pay have had mixed results. In Bolivia a bonus for teaching in rural areas failed to produce higher-quality teachers. And in Mexico a system to reward teachers for improved student outcomes failed to change teacher performance. But Vegas explains that the design of teacher incentives is critical. Effective incentive schemes must be tightly coupled with desired behaviors and generous enough to give teachers a reason to make the extra effort. School-based management reforms give decisionmaking authority to the schools. Such reforms in Central America have reduced teacher absenteeism, increased teacher work hours, increased homework assignments, and improved parent-teacher relationships. These changes, says Vegas, are especially promising in schools where educational quality is low.
Medical Ethics' Appropriation of Moral Philosophy: The Case of the Sympathetic and the Unsympathetic Physician
Authors: Baker Robert , McCullough Laurence B
Published: March 2007

Philosophy textbooks typically treat bioethics as a form of "applied ethics"—i.e., an attempt to apply a moral theory, like utilitarianism, to controversial ethical issues in biology and medicine. Historians, however, can find virtually no cases in which applied philosophical moral theory influenced ethical practice in biology or medicine. In light of the absence of historical evidence, the authors of this paper advance an alternative model of the historical relationship between philosophical ethics and medical ethics, the appropriation model. They offer two historical case studies to illustrate the ways in which physicians have "appropriated" concepts and theory fragments from philosophers, and demonstrate how appropriated moral philosophy profoundly influenced the way medical morality was conceived and practiced.
Mo(u)rning in America: Hamlet, Reagan, and the Rights of Memory
Authors: Raphael Tim
Published: March 2007

As president, Ronald Reagan authorized and legitimated his presidential role through the transformation of materially and symbolically damaged bodies into rejuvenated political subjects and subjectivities. The means for re-membering these bodies politic was the performance of the rites and rights of memory, which, in the Age of Reagan, assumed the form of strategic technologies of government. Much as Reagan's autobiography, Where's the Rest of Me?, answers the question posed in its title by narrating the transformation of the amputee actor into the wholeness of the political performer, the Reagan presidency constructed its political authority by reconfiguring lost, ailing, and absent bodies as bodies of memory. This process, the article argues, constituted the political imaginary of the Reagan presidency, functioning as the primary means of staging its rites of memory and claiming its rights of memory.
Vibrational Spectroscopic Analysis of Chlorosilanes and Siloxane Oligomers: Implications for the Spectra of Polydimethylsiloxanes
Authors: Hard Andrew P. , Parker Stewart F. , Jayasooriya Upali A.
Published: March 2007

Inelastic neutron scattering spectra of the polydimethylsiloxane polymer models, methyltrichlorosilane (MTCS), dimethyldichlorosilane (DMDCS), trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS), hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS), and octamethyltrisiloxane (OMTS), are reported and assigned by comparison with ab initio calculations. Also reported are the spectra of a series of polydimethylsiloxane samples with viscosities in the range 5–100 cSt, based on the model compounds and calculated spectra of a short polydimethylsiloxane, and the spectrum of polydimethylsiloxane is reassigned. Also reported are the infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of TMCS and OMTS.
Analysis of Oxide Inclusions in Steel by Fast Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Scanning: An Approach to Quantification
Authors: Boué-Bigne F.
Published: March 2007

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) measurements were performed on a steel sample to investigate the feasibility of obtaining fast information on cleanness. A calibration approach was considered to enable the quantification of the elemental composition of non-metallic inclusions; the same data was also used to estimate the size of the inclusions. For the first time, the quantified chemical composition data obtained by LIBS for non-metallic inclusions was compared to the corresponding results obtained from scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) analysis, the conventional method used for steel cleanness assessment, and proved successful. Due to the speed of analysis and the systematic recording of the signal from the scanned area, LIBS enables the analysis of larger areas of sample and in significantly shorter time than with automated SEM-EDX. This paper summarizes the hitherto obtained results for the fast analysis of inclusions in steel by LIBS.
X-ray Absorption near Edge Structure and Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Analysis of Standards and Biological Samples Containing Mixed Oxidation States of Chromium(III) and Chromium(VI)
Authors: Parsons J. G. , Dokken K. , Peralta-Videa J. R. , Romero-Gonzalez J. , Gardea-Torresdey J. L.
Published: March 2007

For the first time a method has been developed for the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data analyses of biological samples containing multiple oxidation states of chromium. In this study, the first shell coordination and interatomic distances based on the data analysis of known standards of potassium chromate (Cr(VI)) and chromium nitrate hexahydrate (Cr(III)) were investigated. The standards examined were mixtures of the following molar ratios of Cr(VI): Cr(III), 0:1, 0.25:0.75, 0.5:0.5, 0.75:0.25, and 1:0. It was determined from the calibration data that the fitting error associated with linear combination X-ray absorption near edge structure (LC-XANES) fittings was approximately ±10% of the total fitting. The peak height of the Cr(VI) pre-edge feature after normalization of the X-ray absorption (XAS) spectra was used to prepare a calibration curve. The EXAFS fittings of the standards were also investigated and fittings to lechuguilla biomass samples laden with different ratios of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) were performed as well. An excellent agreement between the XANES data and the data presented in the EXAFS spectra was observed. The EXFAS data also presented mean coordination numbers directly related to the ratios of the different chromium oxidation states in the sample. The chromium oxygen interactions had two different bond lengths at approximately 1.68 and 1.98 Å for the Cr(VI) and Cr(III) in the sample, respectively.
A note on the dynamic response of rigid embedded foundations
Authors: Luco J. E. , Wong H. L. , Trifunac M. D.
Published: March 2007

The problem of the dynamic response of rigid embedded foundations subjected to the action of external forces and seismic excitation is analysed. It is shown that to calculate the response of rigid embedded foundations, or the response of flat rigid foundations subjected to non‐vertically incident seismic waves, it is necessary to obtain not only the impedance matrix for the foundation, but also the forces induced by the incident seismic waves. Under these general conditions, rocking and torsional motion of the foundation is generated in addition to translation. The case of a two‐dimensional rigid foundation of semi‐elliptical cross‐section is used as an example to illustrate the effects of the embedment depth and angle of incidence of the seismic waves on the response of the foundation.
Earthquake response of non‐linear hysteretic soil systems
Authors: Faccioli Ezio , Ramirez Jorge
Published: March 2007

The seismic amplification response of horizontally stratified soil deposits with Ramberg‐Osgood stress‐strain behaviour is analysed by a random‐vibration method. The deposit is modelled by a discrete shear beam system with radiation damping at the base. Parameters of an equivalent system are obtained by a harmonic linearization technique in which the actual relative displacement response at the surface is represented by a suitable sinusoidal motion. Despite the simplifications introduced, results for a number of different soil profiles and material description parameters are in good agreement with those given by numerical simulation techniques. Due to the much greater computational effort required by the latter, the proposed method seems preferable for predicting spectral amplification characteristics over a broad range of excitation intensities.
A deterministic approach to the prediction of free field ground motion and response spectra from stick‐slip earthquakes
Authors: Cherry J. Theodore , Halda Eldon J. , Hamilton Kenneth G.
Published: March 2007

Theoretical and experimental results from computational physics and non‐linear rock mechanics have been merged in order to obtain a deterministic model of a stick‐slip earthquake. The model has been exercised to uncover the dependence of peak ground motion and response spectra on fault length, rupture velocity and dynamic stress drop during rupture. A particular method for generating a design spectrum has been tested against results from the model. Utilization of this deterministic technique seems especially appropriate when design information is required at sites located near the epicentre.
Stochastic linearization of multi‐degree‐of‐freedom non‐linear systems
Authors: Atalik T. Selcuk , Utku Senol
Published: March 2007

An equivalent linearization technique to obtain the response of non‐linear multi‐degree‐of‐freedom dynamic systems to stationary gaussian excitations is developed. The non‐linearities are assumed to be single‐valued functions of accelerations, velocities and displacements. Using a property of gaussian vector processes, the closed forms of the coefficients of the equivalent linear system are obtained by the direct application of partial differentiation and expectation operators to the non‐linear terms. It is shown that when the non‐linearities possess potentials, the linear system has symmetric coefficient matrices. A geometrical interpretation of the linear coefficients, in connection with the original non‐linearities, is presented. The accuracy is investigated by means of examples.
‘Internal plasticisation’ efficiency of a series of acrylic esters with styrene in emulsion copolymers
Authors: Gulbekian E. V. , Quadri B. H. , Reynolds G. E. J.
Published: March 2007

The properties of polymer emulsions are described in which styrene is copolymerised with a range of acrylic esters, together with a minor quantity of acrylic acid. Properties examined included viscosity and minimum temperature of film formation of the emulsions, and the brittle point, rigidity modulus, tensile strength at maximum elongation, and elongation of the air‐dried films. The increase in chain length of the alkyl ester and the quantity of acrylate comonomer both gave more flexible and softer polymers. While approximately equivalent properties may be obtained by replacing one acrylate comonomer by an appropriate quantity of another, each copolymer is unique in its combination of properties.
Reaction kinetics and product formation in the heterogeneous polymerisation of 2,6‐dimethylphenol
Authors: Brooks B. W.
Published: March 2007

In the oxidative condensation of 2,6‐dimethylphenol catalysed by copper compounds, poly(2,6‐dimethylphenylene oxide) was formed as a particulate solid in both pyridine and pyridine‐methanol mixtures. No quinone was produced when the volume fraction of pyridine exceeded 15%. The rate of polymerisation was independent of monomer concentration and first order with respect to catalyst concentration. This first‐order dependence ceased when catalyst concentrations exceeded 4 × 10−2 molar. Above this concentration the polymerisation rate is probably controlled by mass transfer of oxygen from the gas to the liquid phase. The rate of polymerisation increased as the volume fraction of methanol increased. A reaction mechanism is proposed to account for the kinetics; this involves a reversible step.

Particle sizes of the dispersed polymers have been measured.

Heterogeneous systems can be used to produce polymers of higher molecular weights than those obtained in solution systems.
Flammability of plastics: IV. An apparatus for investigating the quenching action of metal halides and other materials on premixed flames
Authors: Learmonth G. S. , Thwaite D. G.
Published: March 2007

A technique is described for assessment of the relative quenching effects upon ‘premixed’ flames of volatile materials such as metal halides. The effect of a number of compounds has been investigated and semi‐quantitative results are reported. Some suggestions as to the nature of the quenching mechanism are discussed.
Functional groups in liquid polypropylene sulphides prepared with ammonia/metal carbonate initiators
Authors: Sewell P. R.
Published: March 2007

Liquid polymers of propylene sulphide made in aqueous ammonia with metal carbonate initiators may have both amine and thiol end‐groups. Analysis of these materials to determine the number and types of end‐groups was carried out to establish the structure of the products and also to indicate which analytical methods were suitable for this task.
The “War on Terror” and the Framework of International
Law
Authors: Proulx Vincent-Joël
Published: March 2007

The “War on Terror” and the Framework of International
Law, Helen Duffy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp.
li, 488.

The war on terror poses increasingly intractable challenges for the
international legal order. Some commentators query whether the
international reaction to 9/11 might have relaxed or transformed
well-established legal principles, particularly in the fields of recourse
to force and state responsibility. Other scholars opine that international
law is adequately suited to address the relatively new and polymorphous
threats of terrorism. Regardless of one's stance on the question, it
is clear that the current war on terror has generated considerable
academic writing, both inside and outside of law, and propelled various
legal issues, such as the application of international human rights,
international humanitarian law and international criminal law, to the
forefront of scholarly inquiry.
PAYMENT UNCERTAINTY AND THE PRODUCTIVITY SLOWDOWN
Authors: KOBAYASHI KEIICHIRO
Published: March 2007

This paper proposes a simple theory to explain the productivity slowdown observed in Japan during the 1990s. Under a forbearance policy by the government toward nonperforming loans, one keeping insolvent firms afloat, other economic agents become exposed to a higher risk of not being paid by their customers (payment uncertainty). It is shown that the payment uncertainty, working through a competitive market, causes an endogenous decline in the number of firms that are involved in the production of one good. Resulting disruptions of the division of labor among firms lower macroeconomic productivity. The performance of the model is compared with that of the Japanese economy in the 1990s.
Public Market - Political Firms
Authors: Andersen Niels Åkerstrøm
Published: March 2007

The main argument in this paper is that private companies become an integral part of the political system when public services are contracted out. Private companies begin to compete for influence on political goals to strengthen their positions for future tenders. Firms that are subcontractors to the public sector find that everyday financial decisions may have an impact on the political process. It becomes necessary for a private firm in the public market to internalize the logic of politics. The system theory developed by Niklas Luhmann is the theoretical point of departure, while the empirical study examines the Danish firm Scan Care and its attempt to construct a market for services for elderly people in the first half of the 1990s. The author of this article believes that when public services are contracted out to the private sector, the size of both sectors changes, as does the quality of the relationship between public and private and the semantic meaning of both terms. Contracting out not only leads to a larger market, but also to more politics. Politics explode out of the framework of the public sector into the private sector and become a basic condition for the involvement of firms in public markets.
Embedded Patterns of International Alliance Formation
Authors: Osborn Richard N. , Hagedoorn John , Denekamp Johannes G. , Duysters Geert , Baughn C. Christopher
Published: March 2007

Using a combination of instutitional, systems contingency and ecological theory. this paper argues and empirically demonstrates that key founding characteristics of international alliances are embedded (interactively related) in one another. Specifically, the technical area of the alliance activity, the intended direction of product/knowledge flows among sponsors, and the administrative form of the alliances are shown to be interactively related. Further, the concept of embedded- ness was conibined with Transaction Cost Economics, (TCE) and technological views to show two founding patterns. One pattern called Hybridization was con sistent with technological explanations while the second called Dominance was suggested by TCE approaches. The new interactive relationships were identified in two large samples involving US. Japanese and European firms during a period from 1970 to 1989.
International News: Intra and Extra Media Data
Authors: Rosengren Karl Erik
Published: March 2007

This paper starts with a short survey of the literature dealing with the prob lem of evaluating the performance of a given news medium or news channel as to the transmission of foreign news. Then it goes on to discuss various possibilities of testing hypotheses about the flow and structure of foreign news. A distinction between intra and extra media data is introduced, and finally, the outline of an empirical investigation is presented.
The Principle of Methodological Individualism and Marxian Epistemology
Authors: Israel Joachim
Published: March 2007

In the following article I am going to defend the thesis, which at first may appear to be strange, that, in order to base sociology (and knowledge) on Marxian epistemology one has to accept on an ontological level the position of methodological individualism, and on a metatheoretical level a position of non-reductionism 1.

In order to support my thesis I have to explicate briefly: 1) Marx's basic epistomological position. 2) the principle of methodological individualism, where I try to differentiate between a reified and a nonreified version2, and 3) the position of non-reductionism.
Social Practice, Social Action, Social Magic
Authors: Therborn Goran
Published: March 2007

The Greek word praxis means 'action', and praxis (practice) and action are central concepts in two important theories, Marxism and the sociological theory of action. In an analysis of the concept of action in Parsons, Weber, and Homans, and of the practice concept in Marx' works the two concepts and theories are compared. The conclusion is that the theory of action is the opposite of the theory of practice. In a critique of Gouldner et al. the author finds that neither in the development of the "voluntaristic theory of action" nor in that of dialectical materialism did any distinction of active vs passive images of man play any vital role. Finally. a hypothesis is submitted about the magical function of some recent normative sociology
Conflict and the Balance of Power
Authors: Korpi Walter
Published: March 2007

The role of differences in power resources between parties for manifest conflict between them is a neglected topic in conflict studies. Here a power balance model of conflict is outlined which takes the difference in power resources between two parties as the central independent variable and the probability of manifest conflict between them as the dependent variable. Utility of achieving the goal, expectancy of success in conflict initiation and in defense and relative deprivation are the main intervening variables. Predictions from the model challenge the widespread assump tion that the probability of contlict is highest when parties have equal power resources. Instead a bi-modal distribution of the probability of manifest conflict is predicted. Empirical data are discussed and the relevance of the model for exchange theories is indicated.
Education and Buyer Behavior
Authors: Gronhaug Kjell
Published: March 2007

Intuitively it seems reasonable to assume that education may have some "treatment effect" on the individual. This paper reports some findings from a study exploring how education influences 1) information seeking, 2) number of alternatives evaluated, 3) decision time, and 4) venturesomeness in a buying situation.

The following results were found - as expected - that, the higher the education the more active the use of information, the more alternatives evaluated the longer the decision time, and the more venturesome in a complex buying situation.