bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cumulative Voting and Electoral Competition
Authors: Wiggins Charles W. , Petty Janice
Published: March 2007

Focusing upon the unique cumulative voting-multiple member district electoral system employed in the selection of members to the lower chamber of the Illinois General As sembly, this article reexamines several propositions about electoral competition which have resulted from analyses of plurality voting-single member district electoral systems. Competition for and the results of races for house seats during the 1966 to 1976 period constitute the data base of the present study. Although a number of patterns are revealed, the key finding suggested by our analysis is that this peculiar Illinois electoral mechanism appears to have the effect of stimulating intraparty competition in primary elections, particularly in the "weak" party in "safe" one-party districts, while at the same time putting a damper on interparty competition during the general election campaign.
Attitudinal Consistency Among Political Elites
Authors: Mezey Susan Gluck
Published: March 2007

This study looks at attitudes toward the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) held by two geographically distant groups of political elites. My purpose is to examine attitudinal consistency with respect to feminist issues and to ascertain the extent to which approval of the ERA is related to support for a variety of feminist public policy goals. Moderate relationships are found between the feminist policy indices and support for ERA but the indices are more closely related to positive attitudes toward the women's movement. Partial correlational analysis shows that the relationships between support for ERA and support for the women's issues become weaker in each sample when controlling for the effects of approval of the women's movement. Although the existence of a feminist ideology seems supported by the data, doubt remains about the wisdom of assuming that approval of the ERA is concomitant with endorsement of specific political issues which would enhance legal equality with political or social equality.
From Desegregation To Integration
Authors: England Robert E. , Meier Kenneth J.
Published: March 2007

This article first identifies types of second generation discrimination practices (e.g., ability grouping, tracking, racially biased disciplinary actions) and discusses how these practices may impede desegregation success and produce educational inequities. Second, based on data from 82 large urban school districts, the incidence of second generation school discrimination is measured and the variation among districts is explained. Of the variables included in the regression model to explain second generation discrimination (district socioeconomic status, black resources, federal pressure, black school board representation, and black teachers), two variables were found to be significantly related to lower levels of discrimination-high black median income and a high proportion of black teachers in the school district.
Candidates and Issues in Local Elections
Authors: Howell Susan E.
Published: March 2007

This research examines the interplay of candidate choice and issue opinions in a local mayoral election. The data are from a panel survey of registered voters. Results indicate, first, that opinion on local issues is fairly stable compared to opinion on national issues. A proximity explanation is offered. Results also show reciprocal effects between candidate choice and other election attitudes. Issue opinions that affect the choice of a candidate are also affected by that choice. It is often a mistake to put candidates, especially an incumbent, at the end of the causal chain. The actual causal sequence is often a function of the particular election.
Obscenity, Libertarian Values, and Decision Making in the Supreme Court
Authors: McGuire Kevin T.
Published: March 2007

The degree to which the Supreme Court has been willing to support the libertarian claims of obscenity litigation has varied substantially since the High Tribunal first addressed the issue. By the admission of the justices themselves, the law of obscenity has proven to be problematic, at best. In this analysis, a model is developed that accounts for the voting behavior of the justices in obscenity cases. The results suggest that the High Court is especially sensitive to the states' aim of eradicating obscene materials. Although the increased conservatism of the bench has made the justices less prone to vote against the government, there is evidence of support for the liberal position, particularly when the argument is made by some organized interest. The justices, although not necessarily protective of those against whom the government acts, recognize the need to balance the necessity of serving legitimate governmental interests against the potential threat to free expression.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986
Authors: Witte John F.
Published: March 2007

This article (1) evaluates The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) in terms of tax reform criteria; (2) analyzes the historical importance of TRA relative to earlier reform and nonreform tax legislation; and (3) poses three different explanatory models for why this historic tax bill was enacted. The author argues that the 1986 legislation was not only major tax reform, but a radical departure from the usual standards of incremental tax legislation. Of the three explanatory models, the author argues that it is most likely that the act is a combination of epiphenomenal events and reactive legislation, than a true watershed indicating a long-term change of direction in tax policy. The final section of the article summarizes the lessons learned from 1986 and outlines the importance of the various explanations for understanding current congressional behavior on fiscal policy.
Polls and Votes
Authors: Campbell James E.
Published: March 2007

This article revises, updates, and examines the background for a highly accurate model for forecasting the national two-party popular vote in presidential elections. The model provides a vote prediction in early September based on Gallup trial-heat or presidential preference polls and the (nonannualized) rate of economic growth in the second quarter of the election year. It is estimated over the 12 presidential elections from 1948 to 1992. The mean absolute error of the model's out-of-sample postdictions is less than 1 1/3 percentage point, and its actual error in predicting the 1992 vote was about half a percentage point. The article also assesses the reasons for confidence in the model, as well as an approach to gauging uncertainty in any specific forecast. The reasons presidential elections can be forecast at or before the beginning of the general election campaign also are explored. Finally, the forecasting model is applied to the 1996 presidential campaign between Clinton and Dole.
Reconceptualizing Pac Formation
Authors: Gray Virginia , Lowery David
Published: March 2007

After criticizing current models of political action committee (PAC) formation as flawed both in the samples used in tests and in the specifications tested, we develop a new explanation of PAC formation that emphasizes competition for access among those already engaged in lobby ing. We test both organization- and state-level implications of this alternative account, respec tively, employing survey and aggregate data on PACs in the American states. The empirical findings provide preliminary support for our explanation and sharply contradict prior evidence that PAC formation is governed by problems of free riding.
Executive Vetoes
Authors: Shields Todd , Chi Huang
Published: March 2007

In this article we investigate and compare the theoretical perspectives of presidency-centered versus president-centered accounts of executive veto use—a form of institutional conflict between the executive and legislative branches. We argue that constitutional arrangements between Congress and the executive branch, as well as enduring institutional relationships, better explain this form of institutional conflict than differences between specific presidential admin istrations. Using a disaggregated monthly analysis of presidential vetoes from 1954 to 1992, we compare a series of event count models. We found considerable evidence that presidential vetoes result largely from institutional arrangements and cycles that are beyond the control of individual administrations. In addition, we found little consistent evidence that differences between specific presidents account for executive reliance on the veto when taking institutional relationships into account. Consequently, we provide additional support for the presidency-centered theoretical perspective of executive behavior.
“Culture Wars” in the American Party System
Authors: LAYMAN GEOFFREY C.
Published: March 2007

This article uses surveys of the parties' national convention delegates from 1972 to 1992 to examine the emergence of a religious cleavage between Republican and Democratic activists. The findings indicate that the religious cleavage between the two parties has grown over time, with the Republicans becoming more traditionally religious and with the Democrats growing more secular and religiously modern. This religious polarization has been associated with a growing partisan polarization on “cultural” issues such as abortion, women's rights, and homosexual rights. Finally, the article demonstrates that the impact of religious change within the parties on interparty differences on cultural issues has been even broader than a model focusing only on religious replacement would predict. Not only is religious replacement within the parties occurring, but within religious groups, Democratic activists are becoming more culturally liberal relative to Republican activists.
A Model for Organizational Identity: Exploring the Path to Sustainability during Change
Authors: Margolis Sheila L. , Hansen Carol D.
Published: March 2007

Mergers and other change events dramatically transform organizational life, often altering an organization’s essential nature—its identity. In an effort to more effectively manage the change process, it is important to understand the impact of change and those aspects that, ifchanged, put the organization’s identity at greatest peril. This study qualitatively explored these issues by examining the content of identity and the effects of change in a commercial aviation company that was undergoing a merger. Drawing upon Albert and Whetten’s definition of organizational identity, a model of organizational attributes emerged that consisted of core attributes and application attributes. The data illustrate that the organization’s core attributes—its central purpose and distinctive philosophy—constitute organizational identity. The second category of application attributes—priorities, practices, and projections—have varying degrees of fluidity and may be altered without losing the central, distinctive, and enduring essence of the organization. The article concludes with propositions for future research.
A “Fruitful Hypothesis”? The Regional Planning Association of America’s Hopes for Technology
Authors: D’Anieri Philip
Published: March 2007

The Regional Planning Association of America (RPAA) in the 1920s articulated a vision of regional development, grounded in the possibilities of then-emerging technology, that remains compelling nearly a century later. Planners and scholars who see twenty-first-century technologies ushering in a new era of substantively different planning—that is, yielding different development outcomes, not just different planning methods—would do well to understand that this is not the first time that such predictions have been made. There is no doubt that the RPAA demonstrated remarkable insight into the transformative potential of two major emerging technologies: motor vehicles and electric power. But it was utterly ineffectual in its attempts to realize this potential in a manner that achieved social change. Its story indicates that when the elements of a utopian program are stripped of their organizing principle and adopted a la carte to other purposes, the utopian vision can become simply a cover story for business as usual.
A Functional MRI Study of Three Motor Tasks in the Evaluation of Stroke Recovery
Authors: Cramer Steven C. , Nelles Gereon , Schaechter Judith D. , Kaplan Jill D. , Finklestein Seth P. , Rosen Bruce R.
Published: March 2007

Functional brain imaging studies have provided insights into the processes related to motor recovery after stroke. The comparative value of different motor activation tasks for probing these processes has received limited study. We hypothesized that dif ferent hand motor tasks would activate the brain differently in controls, and that this would affect control-patient comparisons. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate nine control subjects and seven patients with good recov ery after a left hemisphere hemiparetic stroke. The volume of activated brain in bilat eral sensorimotor cortex and four other motor regions was compared during each of three tasks performed by the right hand: index finger tapping, four-finger tapping, and squeezing. In control subjects, activation in left sensorimotor cortex was found to be significantly larger during squeezing as compared with index-finger tapping. When com paring control subjects with stroke patients, patients showed a larger volume of acti vation in right sensorimotor cortex during index-finger tapping but not with four-fin ger tapping or squeezing. In addition, patients also showed a trend toward larger activation volume than controls within left supplementary motor area during index- finger tapping but not during the other tasks. Motion artifact was more common with squeezing than with the tapping tasks. The choice of hand motor tasks used during brain mapping can influence findings in control subjects as well as the differences identified between controls and stroke patients. The results may be useful for future studies of motor recovery after stroke. Key Words: Stroke—Motor recovery—Functional MRI.
Anosognosia for Hemiplegia in Stroke Rehabilitation
Authors: Hartman-Maeir Adina , Soroker Nachum , Katz Noomi
Published: March 2007

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate anosognosia for hemiple gia (AHP) in the rehabilitation phase after onset of stroke. Methods: Forty-six hemi plegic stroke patients, 29 with right hemisphere damage (RHD) and 17 with left hemi sphere damage (LHD) were evaluated ∼1 month after onset of stroke. Anosognosia was evaluated with an implicit measure designed to assess anosognosic behaviors (choosing between unimanual and bimanual tasks), in addition to a traditional ex plicit verbal measure. Results: AHP was found m 28% of the RHD and 24% of the LHD group. The majority of patients with AHP in the RHD group had large lesions involving the frontal, parietal, or temporal lobes and had coexisting sensory deficits and unilateral spatial neglect, whereas the LHD patients with AHP had predominantly small subcortical lesions and no sensory or attentional deficits. The functional out comes of AHP patients in both hemisphere groups revealed their inability to retain safety measures at discharge from rehabilitation (p < 0.036) and their need for assis tance in basic and instrumental activities of daily living at follow-up. Conclusions: AHP presents a significant risk for negative functional outcome in stroke rehabilita tion. The underlying mechanisms of AHP may be different for left and right hemi sphere patients, therefore requiring different intervention approaches. Key Words: Anosognosia—Cerebrovascular accident—Rehabilitation outcome.
New Developments in Coextruded High Barrier Plastic Food Packaging
Authors: Schrenk W.J. , Marcus S.A.
Published: March 2007

The past year has witnessed the introduction of a number of new food packages using coextruded high barrier plastics. Further commercialization of coextruded plastics is promised as they begin to challenge metal and glass for long shelf life food packaging. While current coextruded packages are using technology developed a number of years ago, several new process and material developments are on the horizon which will impact future applications. This paper previews some promising new technology on polymers for coextrusion, coextruded structures with multiple barrier layers, and scrap recycle.
Hydrolytic Degradation of Kapton Film
Authors: Askins D. Robert
Published: March 2007

An investigation of the hydrolytic degradation of Kapton polyimide film has been conducted. Tensile properties were measured on (a) unaged material, (b) material which had been immersed in water at temperatures from 50-100°C for up to 5,000 hours, (c) material which had been stressed to 5,000 psi while being exposed to 95-100% relative humidity at 75° and 85°C, and (d) material which had been repetitively cycled through a combination of ultraviolet radiation and condensing humidity at 50-60 °C. The property degradation as a function of time was found to be best represented by an exponential decay curve for all exposure conditions. The immersion time required for the film to lose a prescribed percentage of its initial ten sile properties was determined for each aging temperature, and these "lifetimes" were correlated with temperature using the Arrhenius relationship. Over the temperature range examined, excellent linearity was obtained. Following the same criteria as with the immersion specimen, "lifetimes" were determined for the stressed humidity ex posures and ultraviolet-humidity cyclic exposures. Both of these exposure environ ments significantly accelerated the rate of degradation over that observed in the unstressed water immersions at equivalent temperatures.
The Analysis of Nitrogen Bearing Additives in Polyolefins and Related Materials
Authors: Hernandez Herb A.
Published: March 2007

The analysis of nitrogen bearing additives in polyolefins is of great economic im portance. For many years this analysis has been accomplished by a solvent extraction procedure, followed by chromatographic, infrared, or ultraviolet determination of the extract. These methods can be tedious and extremely time consuming due to the many steps required to perform the analysis. However, an alternative method is available. The new procedure involves the oxidative pyrolysis of the sample and the chemiluminescent detection of chemically bound nitrogen. This method offers ac curacy, reproducibility, and speed of analysis not found in current analytical tech niques. Now, timely production line decisions can be made without having to wait 3 to 4 hours for sample results. This procedure has proved to be equally effective for polyethylene, polypropylene and many other polymers, copolymers and related materials.
Melt Processing of High Nitrile Resins
Authors: McCaul Joseph P.
Published: March 2007

High nitrile resins are widely used as packaging resins in applications requiring gas barrier or chemical resistance properties. This paper explains the general processing considerations for this resin family. Results of an extruder screw design study are also presented.
The Use of Deformation Rates in the Scale-Up of Polyethylene Blown Film Extrusion
Authors: Simpson David M. , Harrison Ian R.
Published: March 2007

It is often desirable to scale up a process from a lab scale system, where most research occurs, to a large scale industrial system with minimal ex penses of time and money. This work will show that under appropriate process ing conditions, blown films can be produced under similar strains that yield comparable crystalline morphologies and therefore equivalent mechanical properties.

A tracer technique was used to determine deformation in the formation of blown films and applied to both an industrial blown film line and a smaller lab scale analog. Using computer-enhanced image analysis, strain and strain rate data were acquired from the tracer technique. Large and small scale data were compared for similarities in shape and magnitude of respective data plots. Mechanical testing of the films showed that uniaxial and biaxial toughnesses and modulus were similar for paired runs based on a scale-up factor of 1/3 based on output per die circumference. Wide angle X-ray analysis showed struc tural or morphological similarities between films produced under parallel con ditions.

The data presented shows that a successful scale-up of polyethylene blown film extrusion was completed using appropriately matched processing condi tions.
The Effects of Curing Temperature On Deformation and Fracture Toughness in Thin Films of Larc™ Rp46 Polyimide
Authors: Soucek Mark D. , Pater Ruth H.
Published: March 2007

A processing-property relationship was studied by varying the final cure temperature for thin films of LaRC™ RP46 polyimide, a new PMR-15-like material. This new material incorporates a low toxicity diamine 3,4'-oxydianiline instead of the mutagenic 4,4'-methylenedianiline. Thin films of RP46 were cured at a final temperature of 316°C, 325 ° C, 350 ° C, and 371 ° C. Physical properties-including fracture toughness, size of plane-stress deforma tion zone, and tensile strength-were determined as a function of the final cure temperature. At lower cure temperatures (316°C and 325 ° C), the plastic defor mation zones exhibited diffuse shear yielding, similar to a semi-interpene trating polymer network. At higher cure temperatures (350 ° C and 371°C), the degree of crosslinking increased and as a consequence the size of the deforma tion zone was significantly diminished. The higher cure temperatures also decreased fracture toughness and tensile strength.
The Value of Enhanced Polyethylene Properties
Authors: Kemper Earl L. , Bahl Surinder K.
Published: March 2007

By 1996, North American polyethylene producers will have over 2450 million pounds (1.1 m tonnes) of capacity which will be able to produce polyethylenes with enhanced properties. Two primary technologies are compet ing for use in supplying the market for these improved materials:

1. Metallocene catalysts --

2. Dual reactor processing
Society, Space and the Biotic Level: An Urban and Rural Sociology for the New Millennium
Authors: Dickens Peter
Published: March 2007

Urban and rural sociology is currently dominated by two relatively separate approaches. One perspective emphasises political economy and increasing globalisation. Another focuses on the meaning of urban and rural areas in people's lives. This paper argues for a fusion between these two views. Urban and rural sociology should be concerned with the relations between political economy on the one hand and the biological and psychological bases of human behaviour on the other. Recent developments in the human sciences and psychology assist in making this link. They can be used to extend the original insights of the early Chicago School of sociology, particularly as regards the formation of human identities. Nevertheless, there remain substantial arguments as to how `the Chicago School's biotic level' should be conceptualised and how we envisage its links to the more conscious, pre-planned, aspects of human behaviour. Early Marx and Williams's now somewhat neglected work on the country and the city offer provocative yet helpful ways forward.
Re-Branding Britain: Sociology, Futures and Futurology
Authors: Westwood Sallie
Published: March 2007

This paper argues that notions of the future and social change have been central to the sociological enterprise since its inception. However, sociology developed with the modern project and the rise of nation-states. This is reflected in the way that sociology has consistently taken for granted the geography of the nation-state as a basic organising principle for the understanding of social formations, producing `national' sociologies. Thus, while providing a view of Britain in 2025, this paper also asks questions about the imaginary that constitutes Britain and the ways in which it will be re-visioned as part of the `global cosmopolitan society'. This re-visioning is not, however, the preserve of sociology and the paper elaborates popular imaginaries on the future of Britain. A recurring theme within visions of the future is the binary between utopias and dystopias, reframed in relation to the impact of new technologies and discussions of cyberspace. The paper examines the impact of these debates on the sociological imagination and the future of the sociological enterprise.
Reproductive Genetics, Gender and the Body: `Please Doctor, may I have a Normal Baby?'
Authors: Ettorre Elizabeth
Published: March 2007

This paper's purpose is to highlight key sociological issues, that come to light when `the body' becomes a theoretical site in reproductive genetics. By positioning the body as a central feature in this analysis, the paper: (1) describes how a mechanistic view of the body continues to be privileged in this discourse and the effects of this view; (2) examines how reproductive limits are practised on the gendered body through a feminised regime of reproductive asceticism and the discourse on shame; and (3) explores the social effects and limitations of reproductive genetics in relation to disability as a cultural representation of impaired bodies. The central assumptions concerning reproductive genetics are that it appears within surveillance medicine as part of a disciplinary process in society's creation of a genetic moral order, that it is mobilised by experts for the management of reproductive bodies and that it constructs a limited view of the body. Thus, the way reproductive genetics operates tends to hide the fact that what may appear as `defective genes' is a result of a body's interaction not only with the environment but also gendered social practices valorised by difference as well as rigid definitions of health and illness. The research is from a 1995-96 European study of experts interviewed in four countries.
Ethnic Conflict
Authors: Banton Michael
Published: March 2007

The ethnic dimension to social relations can be distinguished from dimensions based on neighbourliness, national origin, race and religion etc., but ethnic conflicts are not a special class of conflicts. The significance of a shared ethnic origin varies with the location and scale of social relations. In local communities relations are multidimensional; ties based on different attributes are balanced against one another and against individual interests. Outside the range of personal acquaintance a shared ethnic origin may be a basis on which individuals are mobilised for collective action and for bargaining with other groups, though some individuals will seek to be free-riders. Mobilisers from elsewhere may induce individuals to change their relative preference for ethnic association, destroy local methods of dispute regulation, and so polarise relations that the participants treat their relations with members of an opposed ethnic group as unidimensional. Outside institutions, including foreign governments, can help resolve ethnic conflicts by providing guarantees that facilitate ethnic bargaining.
Looking through the Window of Opportunity: The Cultural Cleansing of Workplace Identity
Authors: Strangleman Tim , Roberts Ian
Published: March 2007

This article emerges from a project that examines the relationship between forms of labour, in the context of managerially directed organisational and cultural change, in a light engineering firm on Tyneside. This material is situated within contemporary and historical accounts of workplace interaction. The paper will address the new emphasis on culture and its manipulation, that is increasingly forming a locus of interest in current literature. Whilst stressing that there is much in these accounts that was common in earlier writing the paper draws out what is distinctive about contemporary concerns.

These issues are developed in the empirical account through an analysis of the manipulation of difference along the axes of gender, age and skill. The findings are located within a wider framework of the shift from post figurative to cofigurative culture. In this view there is a reworking of both the substantive relations between generations and in the form of relationships of age and gender.

The result of this analysis is an account which, whilst stressing the radical change that has taken place nevertheless recognises that even the `cleansed culture' is subject to contradictions stemming from the employment relationship. Further, that within the context of the social reproduction of the workplace, shopfloor experience is chronically implicated in the construction of autonomous cultures. As such the analysis provides a more positive interpretation of resistance to such change than that available in many recent accounts.
Popular Reactions to Sociological Research: The Case of Charles Booth
Authors: Bales Kevin
Published: March 2007

When Charles Booth first published his research on poverty in London in 1886 he became what might have been the first sociological `household name'. His findings were widely reported around the world and across newspapers of very different political orientation. As social scientists continue to grapple with the difficulties and rewards of publicity it is worth looking back to this first instance of the political and media uses of social research. In particular, it is worth noting the triangular and reflexive relationship between the researcher, the media, and policy makers.
Subcultures or Neo-Tribes? Rethinking the Relationship between Youth, Style and Musical Taste
Authors: Bennett Andy
Published: March 2007

Despite the criticisms of subcultural theory as a framework for the sociological study of the relationship between youth, music, style and identity, the term `subculture' continues to be widely used in such work. It is a central contention of this article that, as with subcultural theory, the concept of `subculture' is unworkable as an objective analytical tool in sociological work on youth, music and style - that the musical tastes and stylistic preferences of youth, rather than being tied to issues of social class, as subculture maintains, are in fact examples of the late modern lifestyles in which notions of identity are `constructed' rather than `given', and `fluid' rather than `fixed'. Such fluidity, I maintain, is also a characteristic of the forms of collective association which are built around musical and stylistic preference. Using Maffesoli's concept of tribus (tribes) and applying this to an empirical study of the contemporary dance music in Britain, I argue that the musical and stylistic sensibilities exhibited by the young people involved in the dance music scene are clear examples of a form of late modern `sociality' rather than a fixed subcultural group.
A real‐time reconstruction system for magnetic resonance imaging
Authors: Gmitro Arthur F. , Ehsani Ali R. , Berchem Troy A. , Snell Rodney J.
Published: March 2007

A digital‐electronic reconstruction system for MRI has been designed and demonstrated. The system is capable of reconstructing a 128 × 128 pixel image from complex‐valued data in approximately 8 ms (122 frames per second) or a 256 × 256 pixel image in 32 ms (30 frames per second) using the standard 2D FFT reconstruction algorithm. Real‐time MR imaging can be obtained when this reconstruction system is coupled with fast continuous echo‐planar type data acquisition. This provides the unique potential for real‐time monitoring of interventional procedures or for rapid patient positioning. The real‐time reconstruction system presented here consists of four main subsystems: an analog to digital converter, an interface memory, the Fourier processor, and the display processor. The basic design of this reconstruction system is presented along with results, demonstrating the capability of the system.
T1ρ relaxation and its application to MR histology
Authors: Engelhardt Robert Thomas , Johnson G. Allan
Published: March 2007

The application of T1P as an alternative contrast parameter in high‐field magnetic resonance histology (MRH) has been investigated. Spectroscopic measurements of T1P were performed on 5.75% agar and 1.0 mM MnCl2 phantoms at 9.4 T to validate the accuracy of the imaging measurements. Image studies were performed at 2.0 and 9.4 T on perfusion‐fixed 17.5‐day‐old mouse embryos. T1′ T2′ and T1P relaxation times were calculated for the phantoms and muscle, diencephalon, and liver tissues. The 5.75% agar phantom and all tissues showed T1P dispersion with B1L, whereas the 1.0 mM MnCl2 phantom showed no significant B1L dependence. T1P dispersion with B0 was observed arising from the effects of diffusion through susceptibility‐induced gradients. T1P shows promise as a contrast parameter in high‐field MRH because it is capable of producing T2‐like contrast without the susceptibility artifacts associated with T2‐weighted images.
Microbubbles as novel pressure‐sensitive MR contrast agents
Authors: Alexander Andrew L. , McCreery Thomas T. , Barrette Terry R. , Gmitro Arthur F. , Unger Evan C.
Published: March 2007

Magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents that are sensitive to pressure would be useful for evaluating cardiovascular function. One such potential contrast agent conslsts of gas‐filtod liposome microbubbles. The magnetic susceptibility of the microbubbles locally perturb the statte magnetic field, which influences the transverse‐relaxation properties of the surrounding medium. Changes in the pressure atter the bubble dimensions, which affects the magnetic field perturbations and, hence, the transverserelaxation. The effect of these microbubbles on the T2 relaxation times of a water‐based medium was measured for liposomes filled with different gases—nitrogen, argon, air, oxygen, xenon, neon, perflu‐oropentane, perfluorobutane, and sulfur hexafluoride. The air‐filled, perfluoropentane‐fllled and the oxygen‐filted liposomes demonstrated the largest effect on transverse‐relaxation. The influence of pressure on both gradient‐echo and spin‐echo signal intenstties for air‐filled microbubbles was also evaluated. Pressure‐induced changes in signal intensity were consistently observed for both the spin‐echo and gradient‐echo pulses sequences.
Myocardial suppression in vivo by spin locking with composite pulses
Authors: Dixon W. Thomas , Oshinski John N. , Trudeau Jon D. , Arnold Bradley C. , Pettigrew Roderic I.
Published: March 2007

Improved myocardium‐blood contrast by myocardial suppression resulting from T1ρ‐weighting in contrast‐enhanced, gradient‐echo, bright‐blood cine images, acquired at 1.5T, is shown. In the standard images, blood has twice the intensity of muscle. In similar T1ρ‐weighted images, it has 3–4 times the intensity of muscle. A composite spin‐lock pulse before each observation pulse provides T1ρ‐weighting. A typical pulse was: 90y‐135x‐360x‐135x‐90(‐y) with element durations: 0.84, 1.26, 8.12, 1.26, and 0.84 ms. The tolerance of this composite pulse to shimming and frequency errors allows spin locking with comparatively weak RF and therefore low specific absorption rate (SAR). Initial clinical evaluation on patients with poor ventricular function demonstrates both a qualitative and quantitative improvement in delineation of myocardial borders.
Disclosure of Cognitive Style Information: Effects on Achievement of Adult Learners
Authors: Fourier Mary JO
Published: March 2007

This research investigated the effectiveness of disclosure of cognitive style map information on academic achievement in adult learners. Subjects were community college students (N = 61) enrolled in Human Anatomy. Experimental group subjects were administered the Albany Instrument and the cognitive style maps which resulted were disclosed to them. This entailed revealing and explaining the results with concomitant information about strategies that might be employed in subsequent learning. Control group subjects received a placebo disclosure treatment. Although the experimental group had a higher mean difference in academic achievement as measured by semester percentage grades, the difference was not statistically significant. Implications for adult education are discussed.
Identifying Deterrents To Participation In Continuing Education
Authors: Scanlan Craig S. , Darkenwald Gordon G.
Published: March 2007

In an attempt to contribute to theory-building in the area of participation, the present inquiry sought to explore the underlying structure of the many reasons adults give for not participating in continuing education (i.e., to identify "deterrent" factors analogous to "motivational orientation" factors) and to determine the utility of the deterrent factors in discriminating between participants and nonparticipants. A Deterrents to Participation scale was developed and administered to a large random sample of health professionals. A principal components factor analysis yielded six orthogonal factors labelled Disengagement, Lack of Quality, Family Constraints, Cost, Lack of Benefit, and Work Constraints. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the factors were potent predictors of participation. It was concluded that conceptually meaningful deterrent factors can be identified, that the construct of deterrent is multidimensional, and that the results provide empirical support for incorporating the deterrents construct in theories of participation.
Useful Knowledge and Morality: The San Francisco Mechanics' Institute, 1854-1906
Authors: Keane Patrick
Published: March 2007

This study explores the contributions to adult education of the San Francisco Mechanics' Institute from its inception in 1854 to its destruction in the great fire of 1906. Attention is directed to social control which continuously influenced program objectives and to the important contributions of President Andrew S. Hallidie. The relative importance of various components of the program is assessed, particularly that of the increasingly dominant library, and relationships with other bodies at home and overseas are noted. Lastly, an overall evaluation is attempted of the degree to which the institute survived to meet changing interests when most of its contemporaries failed to do so. It is concluded that the administration successfully walked a tightrope between prescriptive needs and popular aspirations.
Functional Literacy Assessment: Issues of Interpretation
Authors: Ehringhaus Carolyn Chase
Published: March 2007

Adult educators typically have no difficulty recognizing theoretical distinctions between the concept of functional literacy and constructs that refer to internal traits such as cognitive aptitude or intelligence. In practice, however, interpretations of a person's performance on functional literacy tasks are confounded frequently by implicitly held notions that a cognitive trait closely aligned with intelligence is being measured. This essay discusses problems and issues inherent in measuring and interpreting functional literacy performance. First, a brief overview of the definitional dilemma and a synopsis of some of the widely known functional literacy assessments will be presented to provide a necessary context. Specific issues related to validity will then be examined. Finally, the impact of various conceptualizations of validity upon our interpretation of functional literacy test performance will be explored.
Redeemed From Time: Learning Through Autobiography
Authors: Brady E. Michael
Published: March 2007

Autobiography is an important means of facilitating adult learning and development. The process which is most associated with autobiography is memory. Memory is more than the recollection of past events; it is a critical element in the search for and construction of meaning in human experience in that it provides a "conscious consciousness of experience." A second role of autobiography in learning is cosmological. Human beings are capable of building order in their present-day lives by way of the remembered past. Autobiography also engages the imagination. It does not show individuals necessarily as they were or even as they are. Rather, it expresses what they believe themselves to have been and to be. Thus, the self ultimately is not something to be discovered through autobiography; it is in fact something to be imagined and constructed.
Career Development for Community Adult Educators: Interrelating Personal and Professional Development
Authors: Zeph Catherine P.
Published: March 2007

Career development programs have emerged recently as one answer to the varied needs of a changing workforce. This qualitative case study examined participants' experiences in a career development program aimed at personal and professional development for community adult educators. Twelve community adult educators participated in the Kellogg Career Enhancement Award Program at the University of Georgia (UGA), which allowed them to pursue activities and attend group seminars that enhanced both their personal and professional lives. Data were gathered from document materials, participant observation, and interviews. A cross-case analysis of the interviews revealed that both personal and professional lives were affected and that there is an interrelationship between personal and professional development.
Chemistry as a Source of New Wealth
Authors: Griffith Ivor
Published: March 2007

Take interest, I implore you, in those sacred dwellings which one designates by the expressive term: LABORATORIES. Demand that they be multiplied, that they be adorned: these are the temples of the future—temples of well-being and of happiness. There it is that humanity grows greater, stronger, better. LOUIS PASTEUR.
Ecological Changes and the Church
Authors: Douglass Truman B.
Published: March 2007

The Church, as a human institution, is affected by every social and cultural change which occurs in its environment. Of all human institutions, however, the Church is probably the most conservative. The current awakening of religious interest throughout the United States presents the Church with many opportunities and confronts it with potential dangers. The danger exists that emphasis upon quantitative growth will obscure the need for qualitative excellence. A well-educated laity will embarrass the church whose educational standards for the clergy fall below those for business and the professions. Although the churches speak boldly for liberal reform, they lag behind government, the armed services, sports, and industry in implementing liberal programs. It is not certain that the Church speaks relevantly to an urban-dominated culture. It is certain that the churches have overlooked many opportunities in the innercity areas. Although denominational ties have lost much meaning among laymen, many denominations aggressively perpetuate their separate existences. Unions between differently organized denominations, rather than reunions within splintered denominations, indicate real accomplishment in social adjustment.—Ed.
Issues of Thermonuclear War Termination
Authors: Kahn Herman
Published: March 2007

The possibility of thermonuclear war is here faced and its termination probed, in view of the fact that the missiles for such a war are already in existence and its actuality is therefore not truly "unthinkable." The premise is advanced that the '70's are perhaps the last decade of safety from such a war. Features of a modal model are explored, and six basic and omnipresent threats are discussed. The concept of a war of reciprocal reprisals is presented, as are the cases of ad hoc cease-fire, conditional cease-fire, and the continuation of war with both "rational" and "irrational" outcomes. Ways to hypothecate force in a stable balance-of-terror environment are then examined, and eleven types of war outcome analyzed. The various situations enhancing acceptability of at least an ad hoc cease-fire are listed, and the possible results of taking the recommended design cases seriously are emphasized. A sample mobilization scenario is given in the concluding re marks of warning.
The Measured Effects of Higher Education
Authors: Astin Alexander W.
Published: March 2007

To produce meaningful results, research on col lege impact must be multi-institutional and longitudinal in de sign. Further, as more and more college-age youth actually enter higher educational institutions, the value of studies of college attendance versus nonattendance decreases, and the value of studies of the comparative effects of different colleges increases. The American Council on Education, through its Cooperative Institutional Research Program, is engaged in carrying out studies of the latter kind; one recent investiga tion is a 1970 follow-up of students who had entered college in 1966. All students typically changed in certain ways during the college years: in their career interests, in their commitment to formal religion, in their day-to-day activities. An indi vidual college may accelerate, retard, or have no impact on these "normal" changes. In addition, certain experiences that only part of the student body of a college undergo—for in stance, living on campus as opposed to living at home—influ enced outcomes in four domains: the cognitive-behavioral, the cognitive-psychological, the affective-behavioral, and the affec tive-psychological. Finally, different types of institutions were found to have different effects on all four domains. These effects were assessed by comparing an institution's actual out put on a given criterion measure with its "expected" output, as calculated from the characteristics of its students at the time they entered college.
Towards Restructuring the Congressional Committee System
Authors: Ornstein Norman J.
Published: March 2007

While the standing committee structures of the House of Representatives and Senate have functioned well for their legislative systems, some endemic problems remain. Because individual legislators have different backgrounds, interests and goals, and because committees have varying attractiveness for members, a natural selection process builds a distinct bias into committee assignments, overrepresenting those with special interests in the subject matter of the committee. Thus, rural legislators dominate the Agriculture and Public Works Committees; port area congressmen, Merchant Marine and Fisheries. The problem is especially acute in the House, where congressmen have only one or two committee assignments, and reformers have recently strengthened the powers of committee caucuses and subcommittees. Several large scale reforms are suggested to make committees more representative of the larger legislative entity and, thus, to improve the formulation of national public policy. For the House these reforms include: (1) consolidating standing committees to a total of seven or eight; (2) limiting the tenure of committee chairmen to prevent long term accumulations of power by small numbers of legislators; (3) rotating committee assignments to further ensure a wider range of members on each committee and to give congressmen in-depth experience in a larger number of issue areas. Formulas are suggested to limit the turnover on a given committee at any given time to protect expertise. For the Senate, a consolidation of both committees and subcommittees is suggested to give senators more flexibility to cope with a heavy and ever expanding workload.