bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dynamic deformation evolution of the adiabatic shear bands in zirconium alloy formed at a strain rate of about 2300 s-1
Authors: Zou Dongli , Xiao Dawu , Lu Chao , He Lifeng , Zhao Yawen
Published: September 2018

Deformed microstructure of the adiabatic shear bands in zirconium alloy impacted by split Hopkinson pressure bar at a strain rate of about 2300 s-1 was characterized systemically. Four different strains of zirconium alloy subjected to impact loading at same strain rate were designed by means of strain stopper rings. At a strain of 0.30, the transformed bands were distinguished at the tip of crack. The transformed bands mainly composed of the ultrafine and equiaxed grains with the mean diameter of about 100~300 nm were found by a dual beam FIB/TEM system. Besides ultrafine grains in the transformed bands, nanometer fine grain was observed and confirmed by HRTEM. Thus, the transformed bands mainly composed of the mixed microstructure including nanometer and ultrafine grains were confirmed, and n phase transformation and amorphization in transformed bands take place.
Modeling dynamic deformation and failure of thin-walled structures under explosive loading
Authors: Volkov Ivan , Igumnov Leonid , Litvinchuk Svetlana , Vorobtsov Igor
Published: September 2018

In the framework of mechanics of damaged media, behavior of thin-walled structures under pulsed loading is described. Account is taken of the interaction of the processes of dynamic deformation and damage accumulation, as well as of the main characteristic features of the dynamic failure process: the multi-staged character, nonlinear summation of damage, stressed state history and accumulated damage level. The chosen system of equations of thermo-plasticity describes the main effects of dynamic deformation of the material for random deformation trajectories. The equations of state are based on the notions of yield surface and the principle of gradientality of the plastic strain rate vector. Evolutionary equations of damage accumulation are written for a scalar parameter of damage level and are based on energy principles. The effect of the stressed state type and the accumulated damage level on the processes of nucleation, growth and merging of microdefects is accounted for. Results of numerically modelling processes of dynamic deformation and failure of spherical and closed cylindrical shells with plane and hemispherical bottoms under single pulsed explosive loading are presented. The computational results are compared with experimental data.
Strain Rate Effect on the Compressive Behaviour of Reinforced Cork Agglomerates
Authors: Le Barbenchon Louise , Girardot Jérémie , Kopp Jean-Benoît , Viot Philippe
Published: September 2018

The demand for bio-sourced materials is currently increasing. Cork material because of its unique properties (fire resistant, energy absorbing, …) is then an excellent candidate for a large set of applications. In order to widen its possible uses, cork agglomerates with reinforcements at a 0.48 density were studied to compare their mechanical performances with classical cork agglomerates.

This paper investigates the effect of these foreign reinforcements on the properties of agglomerated cork under a compressive loading. The material behavior has been determined as a function of the average strain rate and the direction of solicitation. The microstructure was first observed through optical and scanning electronic microscopy, spotting charges between each cork bead. The characterisation of cork at different strain rates was then carried out. An electromechanical testing machine was used to apply an uniaxial compression at quasi-static strain rates.

Reinforced agglomerated cork was found to be anisotropic and strain-rate dependant. Its micro-structure reveals at complex composite material influencing strongly mechanical properties. Both Young's modulus and absorbed energy density at 0.6 strain increase with the cross-head speed displacement. From 12.7 MPa and 0.77 J.mm-3 when compressed at 0.05 mm·min-1 to 19.9 MPa and 1.44 J·mm-3 at 500mm·min-1 in the Off-plane direction.
The mechanical response of UFG and nanostructured microalloyed steels subjected to dynamic loading conditions
Authors: Bloniarz Remigiusz , Majta Janusz , Trujillo Carl P. , Cerreta Ellen K.
Published: September 2018

As the number of available, advanced high-strength metallic materials possibilities increases due to advancements in processing (for example advanced thermomechanical processing - ATP or severe plastic deformation - SPD), experimental comparisons alone are not sufficient for determination of the most ideal microstructures for specific applications. Our study deals with the dynamic behaviour of high strength steels and in particular with ultrafine-grained (UFG) microalloyed ferrite and austenite. The forming processes of modern UFG materials require rheological models describing the materials behaviour at large strains and strain rates up to over 1000 s-1. In our case, the mechanical response of UFG steels (produced using MaxStrain system) was investigated with split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests, performed at room temperature. The dynamic work-hardening behaviour as a function of solute atoms and fine-scale, secondphase particles in the nano-structures of microalloyed ferrite and austenite has been compared to the mechanical response of these materials under quasi-static loading conditions.
Investigation of Spalling Damage in Ultra-High Performance Concrete Through X-ray Computed Tomography
Authors: Celeste Blasone Maria , Saletti Dominique , Andò Edward , Baroth Julien , Forquin Pascal
Published: September 2018

Ultra-high performance concretes (UHPC) are increasingly used to build protective structures such as headquarters, nuclear power plants or critical civil engineering structures. However, under impact or contact detonation, concrete is exposed to high-rate tensile loadings that can lead to intense damage modes. Such complex damage modes need to be correctly characterised. When a UHPC sample is subjected to a dynamic tensile loading by means of the spalling technique the post-mortem pattern shows a large number of fractures that cannot be seen with a classical observation of the external face (inner crack network). In the framework of the Brittle’s CODEX chair project, the fracturing process in spalled samples of UHPC is investigated with X-ray computed tomography. The tensile loading is applied thanks to a spalling technique that is based on the reflection of a compressive wave on a free boundary. The concrete samples are entirely scanned using X-ray tomography prior spalling test to identify the initial microstructure, and post spalling test to analyse the damage pattern. Image analysis tools are used in both steps. The main fracturing properties are related to the microstructure of the tested concrete.
Experimental characterization of B500A and RB500W building steels in compression and in tension
Authors: Kruszka Leopold , Janiszewski Jacek
Published: September 2018

The paper covers static and dynamic testing of structural building steels grades B500A and RB500W in tension and compression under wide range of strain rates. The spilt Hopkinson bar technique apparatus is used to investigate the dynamic behaviours both in compression and tension. A detailed knowledge of mechanical properties of those steels at different strain rates at two modes of large deformation is crucial, because the steels are the most commonly used in building structures as well as in protective structures due to their good strength characteristics.
Model of Segmentation of Rocket Fairings Due to the Action of a Cumulative Charge
Authors: Chernobryvko Marina , Avramov Konstantin , Uspensky Boris , Tonkonogenko Anatoly , Kruszka Leopold
Published: September 2018

Safe separation of the rocket payload fairing is one of the most important factors that affect the success of a flight mission. In recent years, composite materials instead of aluminum alloys are widely used in rocketry. Such materials must satisfy a number of requirements that include the certainty of a local failure due to the action of a cumulative charge of the given power. To analyze this process numerical research is an advisable approach. The model of a composite rocket fairing separating due to the action of a cumulative charge has been developed. The properties of the composite material have been modeled based on the averaged characteristics obtained experimentally. The cumulative charge has been modeled by impulse loading having parameters adequate to the charge type. The time of action of the impulse, maximum pressure and width of the loading area are determined from the charge properties and geometry. The rocket fairing is considered as a composite shell composed of conical and cylindrical parts. A technique for 3D numerical analysis of the dynamic strength and structural failure has been developed. The mathematical model of the structure deformation and failure takes into account the dynamical properties of the material. The maximum plastic deformation is used as a failure criterion. The results of numerical simulation for the typical rocket payload fairing are presented.
Time temperature equivalence for a mineral filled polymer for automotive applications
Authors: Dorleans Vincent , Lauro Franck , Delille Rémi , Treutenaere Sylvain , Notta-Cuvier Delphine , Bennani Bruno , Haugou Grégory , Bourel Benjamin , Michau Eric , Thoby Jean-David
Published: September 2018

Polymers are currently used in several industrial applications such as the interior components of the vehicle. We find them for example in the design of dashboards or door panels. These materials may be subjected to different types of load like the temperature variation or high strain rates due to crash impact. It is therefore necessary to well understand and to anticipate the complex mechanical behaviour of the polymers. This paper describes the results of experimental research about the dependence between the strain rate and the temperature. The main objective is to be able to model the complete variety of the behaviour in order to predict the risk of failure under dynamic loadings. The material chosen for this study is a copolymer propylene ethylene mineral (talc) filled 15% impact modified.
Von PET und PET/CT zur PET/MRT: Ein technologisches Update
Authors: Büther Florian
Published: September 2018

Der vorliegende Beitrag beleuchtet die wichtigsten technologischen Neuerungen auf dem Gebiet der Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie (PET) der letzten Jahre. Sowohl auf Seiten der Hardware als auch im Bereich der eingesetzten Algorithmen sorgt der Fortschritt dafür, dass die PET-Bildgebung einer der grundlegenden Pfeiler der nuklearmedizinischen Diagnostik bleiben wird. Insbesondere neue Detektoren (Szintillatormaterialien, Lichtdetektoren, Elektronik) – nicht nur für die neue PET/MRT-Bildgebung, sondern auch für die konventionelle PET/CT-Bildgebung – als auch neue Rekonstruktions- und Korrekturmethoden (iterative sowie Flugzeit- und Punktspreizantwort-basierte Rekonstruktionen, Schwächungs- und Bewegungskorrektur) sind für diese Entwicklung verantwortlich. Besonders im Hinblick auf gesteigerte Sensitivitäten und räumliche Auflösung ergeben sich hiermit interessante Perspektiven sowohl für die Grundlagenforschung als auch für klinische Anwendungen.
Neuro-PET – ein Update
Authors: Beyer Leonie , Rominger Axel
Published: September 2018

Neurologische Fragestellungen haben in der Positronen-Emissions-Tomografie seit vielen Jahren einen festen Stellenwert. In dieser Übersichtsarbeit werden in der Klinik gängige Untersuchungsmethoden bei der Demenzdiagnostik, Abklärung von Bewegungsstörungen sowie der Epilepsiediagnostik unter Berücksichtigung aktueller Leitlinien dargestellt und durch aktuelle Entwicklungen in der Wissenschaft erweitert. Ebenso wird die nuklearmedizinische Diagnostik von Hirntumoren samt theragnostischem Ausblick aufgezeigt. In einem weiteren Subkapitel wird die Entwicklung im Bereich der Neuroinflammation erläutert. Insgesamt lässt sich festhalten, dass in der Neuronuklearmedizin in den letzten Jahren einige Neuentwicklungen hervorgebracht wurden, welche sicherlich ihren Stellenwert auch in der klinischen Routine finden werden.
Assessment: Volitionsbogen – Motivation für Betätigung erkennen
Authors: Kranz Florence
Published: September 2018

Können Klienten aufgrund kognitiver oder psychischer Beeinträchtigungen keine Auskunft über ihre Interessen oder Vorlieben geben, hilft der Volitionsbogen weiter. Er ermöglicht es Ergotherapeuten, anhand der Reaktionen ihrer Klienten Rückschlüsse auf deren Motivation zu ziehen und so geeignete Ziele und Interventionen abzuleiten.
„Du musst Probleme lösen, nicht neue schaffen“
Authors: Schmidtlein Oliver
Published: September 2018

Welchen Physiotherapeuten verdient ein Leistungssportler? – Oliver Schmidtlein war lange Zeit Physiotherapeut im Profifußball, unter anderem bei 1860 München,
Bayern München und der Deutschen Fußball-Nationalmannschaft. Der richtige Mann also für ein Gespräch darüber, was ein Sportphysiotherapeut mitbringen sollte,
der Topathleten betreuen möchte – und was er besser lassen sollte.
A Single Institution Retrospective Study of the Clinical Efficacy of Tiotropium Respimat in Never-Smoking Elderly Asthmatics with Irreversible Airflow Limitation
Authors: Hara Johsuke , Kasahara Kazuo , Ohkura Noriyuki , Yamamura Kenta , Sakai Tamami , Abo Miki , Ogawa Naohiko , Saeki Keigo , Koba Hayato , Watanabe Satoshi , Uchida Yuka , Tambo Yuichi , Sone Takashi , Kimura Hideharu
Published: September 2018

Objective In Japan, most asthma deaths occur among the elderly. We should improve the control of asthma in elderly patients to reduce the number of deaths due to asthma. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of tiotropium RespimatⓇ (Tio-Res) in symptomatic, never-smoking, elderly asthmatics with irreversible airflow limitation despite the use of high-dose inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) plus long-acting β2-adrenoceptor agonists (LABA).

Methods The Asthma Control Test™ (ACT), pulmonary function tests, morning and evening peak flow (mPEF, ePEF, respectively, evaluated with an ASSESS® peak flow meter), and respiratory impedance (assessed with MostGraph®) were measured before and after a minimum of one year of Tio-Res 5 µg/day administration. Sixteen symptomatic, never-smoking asthmatics, aged 75 or over with irreversible airflow limitation despite the use of high-dose ICS plus LABA, were analyzed.

Results All patients were female (mean age, 81.6 years). Tio-Res led to statistically significant improvements in the total ACT score (19.9 to 23.6), FVC and FEV1 (1.97 to 2.14 L and 1.13 to 1.23 L, respectively), and mPEF and ePEF (229.9 to 253.8 L/min and 259.8 to 277.4 L/min, respectively). Tio-Res also resulted in statistically significant improvements in respiratory resistance at 5 Hz (R5), respiratory resistance at 20 Hz (R20), R5-R20, low-frequency reactant indices at 5 Hz (X5), resonant frequency (Fres) and low-frequency reactance area (ALX).

Conclusions Our retrospective study suggests that Tio-Res improves symptoms, pulmonary function, and respiratory impedance in symptomatic asthmatics aged 75 or over with irreversible airflow limitation despite the use of high-dose ICS plus LABA.
Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel 5-Oxo-1-Phenylpyrrolidine-3-Carboxylic Acid Analogs
Authors: Devi Poornima , Bishnoi Abha , Srivastava Krishna , Kumar Sunil , Srivastava Ankita , Fatma Shaheen
Published: September 2018

A number of 5-oxo-1-phenyl-4-(substituted methyl) pyrrolidine-3-carboxylic acid derivatives bearing pyrrolidine ring and methylamino residues in their structure were synthesized as potential antibacterial drugs. The chemical structures of all the compounds were established by their UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, IR, 1H, 13C NMR and mass spectroscopy. The in vitro antibacterial screening of all novel compounds was done against gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The results revealed that compounds 5d, e, f and g showed moderate to good activity against the tested microbes.
Diplopia following Extraoral Maxillary Nerve Blockade for Trigeminal Neuralgia
Authors: Chavali Siddharth , Rath Girija P. , Bithal Parmod K.
Published: September 2018

We report a case of diplopia due to reversible abducens nerve block associated with extraoral maxillary blockade of the trigeminal nerve. This complication occurs despite precautions such as aspiration and confirmation of needle tip position with nerve stimulation. Knowledge of this condition and its potential cause should alert the physician to the importance of appropriate injection technique and an understanding of the management protocol.
A combined millimeter wave and CO2 interferometer on the C-2W Jet plasma
Authors: Smith R. J. ,   TAE Team
Published: September 2018

A two wavelength tangentially viewing multi-chord interferometer has been built for the Jet plasma of the C-2W experiment at TAE Technologies. A novel 1 mm wavelength interferometer has been developed to be used simultaneously with a CO2 laser interferometer to provide full coverage of the Jet plasma and the translating field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma before merging. With CO2 and millimeter wave sources, the interferometer proposes to cover a combined dynamic range of line integrated density of more than 1000 although the CO2 interferometer sub-system is not yet operational. Sited at the axial location of the mirror field of C-2W, the interferometer will play a pivotal role in assessing the FRC before merging and the operation of the inner and outer divertors and particle outflow. The performance of the millimeter wave interferometer and recent measurements is discussed.
Multiwall MoS2 tubes as optical resonators
Authors: Kazanov D. R. , Poshakinskiy A. V. , Davydov V. Yu. , Smirnov A. N. , Eliseyev I. A. , Kirilenko D. A. , Remškar M. , Fathipour S. , Mintairov A. , Seabaugh A. , Gil B. , Shubina T. V.
Published: September 2018

We study the optical properties of MoS2 nanotubes (NTs) with walls comprising dozens of monolayers. We reveal strong peaks in micro-photoluminescence (μ-PL) spectra when detecting the light polarized along the NT axis. We develop a model describing the optical properties of the nanotubes acting as optical resonators which support the quantization of whispering gallery modes inside the NT wall. The experimental observation of the resonances in μ-PL allows one to use them as a contactless method of the estimation of the wall width. Our findings open a way to use such NTs as polarization-sensitive components of nanophotonic devices.
Smoke complaints caused by wildland fire in the southern Sierra Nevada region, California
Authors: Cisneros Ricardo , Alcala Emanuel , Schweizer Donald , Burke Nancy
Published: September 2018

Mega-fires are expected to increase in the Western United States. The state of the science suggests that the best mitigation to prevent destructive forest fires is to reintroduce ecologically beneficial fire, but this can only be accomplished with public support. The objective of this study is to identify the concerns of citizens in central California adjacent to the fire-prone Sierra Nevada Mountains who generate formal complaints about smoke exposure from forest fires. Twenty-seven smoke complaints from 2009 to 2013 were analysed from two air pollution control districts operating in this area. The complaints were submitted via email, letter, or phone to their respective air pollution control districts. Complaint transcripts were reviewed using standard qualitative data analysis procedures. The primary concerns recorded were that smoke from the fires caused health problems, required lifestyle change, and negatively impacted the local economy. Complaints often incorporated statements communicating dislike or mistrust of current forest fire policy and management and suggested no amount of smoke was acceptable. For these formal complaints, the solution was an immediate stop to the burning. The findings of this study can be used to develop appropriate communication and educational campaigns.
Mediation through modality shifts in Chinese-English government press conference interpreting
Authors: Xin Li
Published: September 2018

This paper investigates the mediation role of interpreters through modality shifts in Chinese-English diplomatic interpreting. Based on the custom-built corpus of interpreted government press conferences, this article conducts a Systemic Functional Linguistics-informed analysis of modality shifts by examining the ST-TT sentence pairs that present high-frequency Chinese or English modality markers. Results show that: (1) the degree of mediation by the interpreters is fairly high in terms of modality, with 44% of the investigated sentence pairs involving modality shifts; (2) shifts mostly occur in modality value (91%) and orientation (64%) rather than modality type (5%), thus the basic speech function of the clause is minimally changed; (3) shifts within the three dimensions point to general tendencies towards “weakening,” “subjectivization” and “de-obligation,” which reflect the interpreters’ efforts to construct the Chinese officials’ image as audience-friendly and proactive, and to adapt the TT to the English communicative norms; (4) “strengthening” and “objectivization” shifts occur frequently around issues concerning the Chinese government’s responsibility or ability, which reveals the interpreters’ active involvement in presenting the Chinese government as responsible, confident and powerful. The study argues that the press conference interpreters’ active mediation is motivated by their institutional identity as “diplomatic workers” and “government representatives” in the Chinese context.
Hippocampal Shape Maturation in Childhood and Adolescence
Authors: Lynch Kirsten M , Shi Yonggang , Toga Arthur W , Clark Kristi A ,   Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics Study
Published: September 2018

The hippocampus is a subcortical structure critical for learning and memory, and a thorough understanding of its neurodevelopment is important for studying these processes in health and disease. However, few studies have quantified the typical developmental trajectory of the structure in childhood and adolescence. This study examined the cross-sectional age-related changes and sex differences in hippocampal shape in a multisite, multistudy cohort of 1676 typically developing children (age 1–22 years) using a novel intrinsic brain mapping method based on Laplace–Beltrami embedding of surfaces. Significant age-related expansion was observed bilaterally and nonlinear growth was observed primarily in the right head and tail of the hippocampus. Sex differences were also observed bilaterally along the lateral and medial aspects of the surface, with females exhibiting relatively larger surface expansion than males. Additionally, the superior posterior lateral surface of the left hippocampus exhibited an age–sex interaction with females expanding faster than males. Shape analysis provides enhanced sensitivity to regional changes in hippocampal morphology over traditional volumetric approaches and allows for the localization of developmental effects. Our results further support evidence that hippocampal structures follow distinct maturational trajectories that may coincide with the development of learning and memory skills during critical periods of development.
Role of type 2A phosphatase regulatory subunit B56α in regulating cardiac responses to β-adrenergic stimulation in vivo
Authors: Puhl Sarah-Lena , Weeks Kate L , Güran Alican , Ranieri Antonella , Boknik Peter , Kirchhefer Uwe , Müller Frank U , Avkiran Metin
Published: September 2018

Aims

B56α is a protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) regulatory subunit that is highly expressed in the heart. We previously reported that cardiomyocyte B56α localizes to myofilaments under resting conditions and translocates to the cytosol in response to acute β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) stimulation. Given the importance of reversible protein phosphorylation in modulating cardiac function during sympathetic stimulation, we hypothesized that loss of B56α in mice with targeted disruption of the gene encoding B56α (Ppp2r5a) would impact on cardiac responses to β-AR stimulation in vivo.

Methods and results

Cardiac phenotype of mice heterozygous (HET) or homozygous (HOM) for the disrupted Ppp2r5a allele and wild type (WT) littermates was characterized under basal conditions and following acute β-AR stimulation with dobutamine (DOB; 0.75 mg/kg i.p.) or sustained β-AR stimulation by 2-week infusion of isoproterenol (ISO; 30 mg/kg/day s.c.). Left ventricular (LV) wall thicknesses, chamber dimensions and function were assessed by echocardiography, and heart tissue collected for gravimetric, histological, and biochemical analyses. Western blot analysis revealed partial and complete loss of B56α protein in hearts from HET and HOM mice, respectively, and no changes in the expression of other PP2A regulatory, catalytic or scaffolding subunits. PP2A catalytic activity was reduced in hearts of both HET and HOM mice. There were no differences in the basal cardiac phenotype between genotypes. Acute DOB stimulation induced the expected inotropic response in WT and HET mice, which was attenuated in HOM mice. In contrast, DOB-induced increases in heart rate were unaffected by B56α deficiency. In WT mice, ISO infusion increased LV wall thicknesses, cardiomyocyte area and ventricular mass, without LV dilation, systolic dysfunction, collagen deposition or foetal gene expression. The hypertrophic response to ISO was blunted in mice deficient for B56α.

Conclusion

These findings identify B56α as a potential regulator of cardiac structure and function during β-AR stimulation.
On Manifolds with Lower Quadratic Curvature Decay and Volume Pinching
Authors: Kang Xiaosong , Xu Xu , Zhang Dunmu
Published: September 2018

We give some conditions for a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold with lower quadratic curvature decay to have finite topological type. Most of our curvature conditions are much weaker than the assumptions in Lott [5] and in Sha–Shen [10], hence our results can be viewed as natural generalizations of those works.
Causes of medical errors and its under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses in Iran: a qualitative study
Authors: Mousavi-roknabadi Razieh Sadat , Momennasab Marzieh , Askarian Mehrdad , Haghshenas Abbas , Marjadi Brahmaputra
Published: September 2018

Objectives

To explore the causes of medical errors (ME) and under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses at an Iranian teaching hospital.

Design

A qualitative study, based on individual, in-depth, semi-structured interviews and content analysis approach.

Settings

The study was conducted at the Pediatric Department of the largest tertiary general and teaching hospital in Shiraz, southern Iran.

Participants

The study population was all pediatrics nurses who work at Pediatric Department and they had been trained on ME, as well as methods to report them through the hospital’s ME reporting system. Purposive sampling was used by selecting key informants until data saturation was achieved and no more new information was obtained. Finally, 18 pediatric nurses were interviewed.

Main outcome measure(s)

Pediatrics nurses’ views on the causes of ME and under-reporting.

Results

We found five main factors causing ME and under-reporting: personal factors, workplace factors, managerial factors, work culture and error reporting system. These factors were further classified into proximal and distal factors. Proximal factors had direct relationship with ME and distal factors were contextual factors.

Conclusion

Causes of ME and under-reporting amongst pediatric nurses are complex and intertwined. Both proximal and distal factors need to be simultaneously addressed using context-specific approaches. Further research on other groups of healthcare workers and using a quantitative approach will be beneficial to elucidate the most appropriate interventions.
Religion, Reform, and Antislavery
Authors: Washington Margaret
Published: September 2018

This chapter considers, through a biracial lens, some essential complexities of antebellum women’s reform. The emphasis is on antislavery and a socioreligious ethos based on the intersectionality of spiritual egalitarianism, civil liberty, and the jeremiad tradition. Black women’s double burden, slavery and race, automatically channeled them as reformers into more expansive visions than whites, already jeopardizing their privileged True Woman status. For disparate reasons, convergence of abolition and equal rights was not a calling that white reform women embraced monolithically. As “doers of the word,” some upheld apostolic tenets of Christian unity. Others chose what eventually became republican individualism and a “segregated sisterhood.” Nonetheless, women of both races were mainsprings in the ultimate success of antebellum reform, the training ground for future struggles for equal rights.
US Feminisms and Their Global Connections
Authors: Wu Judy Tzu-Chun
Published: September 2018

This chapter reinterprets the history of twentieth-century US feminism by foregrounding the importance of the global. Both international events and transnational flows of people, ideas, and goods have shaped the development of feminism in the United States. Recognizing the importance of the global foregrounds the diversity of political goals and political actors within movements for gender equality. Also, acknowledging US feminists’ engagement with the global reinforces the need for new narratives and periodizations for the multiple histories of US feminisms. To explore these ideas, this chapter first analyzes definitions of feminism and existing historical narratives of US feminism. The second half examines the significance of the global for feminist movements seeking political equality, economic justice, and sexual liberation.
Gender, Civil Rights, and the US Global Cold War
Authors: Gore Dayo F.
Published: September 2018

“Cold War” traditionally refers to the foreign policy, military, and ideological contestation between the power blocks of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Western powers of Europe and the United States. This chapter examines the ways women’s experiences and debates over gender, race, and sexuality were central to the US Cold War anticommunist policies and practices on the homefront and globally. This perspective reveals the ways the global Cold War reshaped decolonizing struggles in the Global South as well as domestic culture, social relations, and ideals of the family through domestic containment. The chapter charts the roots of civil rights politics and social movements of the 1960s in sustained resistance to Cold War anticommunism and its politics of conformity. Centering women’s experiences negotiating Cold War strategies of domestic containment, the chapter reveals the US Cold War as a multifaceted period of contestation as much as conformity.
Gender and Consumption in the Modern United States
Authors: Deutsch Tracey
Published: September 2018

Although often understood as frivolous, women’s shopping was anything but. By the late nineteenth century, almost all households had to purchase daily necessities. Women’s paid work was often in retail or consumer goods manufacturing. Thus, even as men also bought goods and services, women’s responsibilities as purchasers and wage earners made consumption particularly crucial to their daily labor. Thus, consumption reinforced gender ideology. Fashions, food, and public performance helped to “make” gender. In so doing, they also reinforced racial and class hierarchies. From the first advertisements, “mass” consumption equated real women with white, young, slender, and middle-class bodies. However, specialized products, commercial districts, and fashions also made consumption important to nonwhite, queer, and working-class identities. Moreover, both policymakers and everyday consumers increasingly sought economic stability and also political change in stores and shopping; “consumer” movements and less organized, recurrent protests raised the possibility, and the threat, of women’s political authority.
Women, Gender, Race, and the Welfare State
Authors: Williams Rhonda Y.
Published: September 2018

This chapter examines the modern US welfare state, social welfare, and social citizenship. It focuses on four broad and interconnected themes: (1) The origins of the US welfare state, with an emphasis on race, the roles of women, and gender as an analytical framework; (2) the fissures of democracy made visible through social struggles, such as the antipoverty, black liberation, and welfare rights movements; (3) the relationship between the historical roots and late twentieth-century political battles that gave rise to the dismantling of federal social entitlement programs; and (4) the relationship between notions of the public welfare state and the hidden welfare state, which have served to reinforce the stigmatization of poor people by obscuring the ways in which the middle class and the very wealthy also have benefited from the US welfare state.
Women, Gender, Migration, and Modern US Imperialism
Authors: Oropeza Lorena
Published: September 2018

The United States as an empire—first spreading over the continent and then abroad—depended on ideas about the proper role of women, men, and families. Even before the United States began acquiring territory overseas, American women engaged in reform efforts abroad as missionaries and political activists. The presence of Anglo-American women and children allowed invading settlers across the continent to alternatively cast themselves as innocent victims who needed to resort to violence or as civilizing agents promoting assimilation. After 1898, Puerto Rico and the Philippines provided new arenas for women’s civilizing mission, while paternalism explained away US military violence. In turn, America’s harvest of empire included low-paid female immigrant laborers. With each wave of immigration, their bodies became the focus of white Americans’ fears over fecundity, poverty, and regulating the boundaries between the domestic and the foreign.
Women, Trade, and the Roots of Consumer Societies
Authors: Zabin Serena R.
Published: September 2018

This chapter explains the significant, if often overlooked, ways in which both free and enslaved women as well as men participated actively and eagerly in trade around the Atlantic rim from 1500 to 1800. Commerce in the early modern period was not performed by heroic individuals or anonymous empires but by individuals embedded in familial and social relationships. The meanings that contemporaries accorded to female traders changed over time. With the expansion of Atlantic trade and particularly the increased availability of consumer goods in the mid-eighteenth century, women’s economic practices took on new political and social significance. By the end of the century, however, several forms of women’s commercial activity were attended by danger and backlash. By the 1830s, commerce itself had come to be defined as a male activity, even as women continued to participate in trade.
Women and Slavery in the Nineteenth Century
Authors: Berry Daina Ramey , Parker Nakia D.
Published: September 2018

This chapter analyzes the lives of enslaved women in the nineteenth-century United States and the Caribbean, an era characterized by the massive expansion of the institution of chattel slavery. Framing the discussion through the themes of labor, commodification, sexuality, and resistance, this chapter highlights the wide range of lived experiences of enslaved women in the Atlantic World. Enslaved women’s productive and reproductive labor fueled the global machinery of capitalism and the market economy. Although enslaved women endured the constant exploitation and commodification of their bodies, many actively resisted their enslavement and carved out supportive and sustaining familial, marital, and kinship bonds. In addition, this essay explains how white, native, and black women could be complicit in the perpetuation of chattel slavery as enslavers and slave traders. Considering women in their roles as the oppressed and the oppressors contributes and expands historical understandings of gender and sexuality in relation to slavery.
Business Model Innovation and Replication
Authors: Garcia-Castro Roberto , Enric Ricart Joan , Lieberman Marvin B. , Balasubramanian Natarajan
Published: September 2018

Productivity gains play a crucial role in value creation and distribution in firms. This chapter connects the strategy framework of value creation and value capture with the tools from the productivity literature in order to understand better how returns are distributed between different stakeholders in the business and how this distribution might evolve over time. The authors distinguish between business model innovation and replication as two genuine sources of value creation. The historical analysis of Southwest Airlines in the US airline industry illustrates the insights that can be gained using a formal model to measure productivity gains at the firm level.
Productivity and Welfare Performance in the Public Sector
Authors: Lefebvre Mathieu , Perelman Sergio , Pestieau Pierre
Published: September 2018

The purpose of this chapter is to suggest a definition and a way to measure the performance of the public sector, or that of its main components. The approach is explicitly rooted in the principles of welfare and production economics. First the authors present what they call the “performance approach” to the public sector. They then move to the issue of measuring the productivity of some canonical components of the public sector (railways, transportation, waste collection, secondary education, and health care). In the third stage the authors try to assess the performance of the overall public sector. They argue that for such a level of aggregation, one should restrict the performance analysis to the outcomes and not relate it to the resources involved. As an illustration they evaluate the performance of the European welfare states and its evolution over time, using frontier techniques.
Measuring Productivity Dispersion
Authors: Bartelsman Eric J. , Wolf Zoltan
Published: September 2018

Measuring the dispersion of productivity or efficiency across firms in a market or industry is rife with methodological issues. Nevertheless, the existence of considerable dispersion now is well documented and widely accepted. Less well understood are the economic features and mechanisms underlying the magnitude of dispersion and how dispersion varies over time or across markets. On the one hand, selection mechanisms in both output and input markets should favor the most productive units through resource reallocation, thereby reducing dispersion. On the other hand, innovation and technological uncertainty tend to increase dispersion. This chapter presents a guide to the measurement of dispersion and provides empirical evidence from a selection of countries and industries using a variety of methodologies.
Empirical Productivity Indices and Indicators
Authors: Balk Bert M.
Published: September 2018

The empirical measurement of productivity change (or difference) by means of indices and indicators starts with the ex post profit/loss accounts of a production unit. The key concepts are profit, leading to indicators, and profitability, leading to indices. The main task for the productivity analyst is to decompose profit or profitability change into price and quantity components, leading to measures of total factor productivity change and total price recovery. This chapter discusses various input–output models and their linkages; the relation between productivity measurement and growth accounting; the relation between total and partial productivity measures; and aggregation issues. The approach advocated here is able to deliver the same results as the neoclassical approach; for example, it appears that for a table in which output growth is decomposed into the contributions of total factor productivity change and input growth, the neoclassical assumptions are neither necessary nor do they contribute anything to our understanding of what productivity precisely is.
The Industry Sources of Productivity Growth and Convergence
Authors: Inklaar Robert
Published: September 2018

Industry-level productivity analysis can be a useful diagnostic tool to better understand why some countries show faster overall productivity growth and to direct research attention to parts of the economy that warrant more detailed scrutiny. This chapter illustrates these strengths in three applications, namely the Europe-US productivity growth gap since the mid-1990s, the sectoral sources of rapid convergence of productivity levels between advanced and emerging economies, and an analysis of the determinants of productivity growth and convergence. One conclusion is that a better understanding of productivity growth (or lack thereof) in services industries should still be an important goal of researchers aiming to understand cross-country growth differences.
Productivity and Economic Development
Authors: Pyo Hak K.
Published: September 2018

This chapter provides both theoretical and empirical reviews on productivity and economic development. Its starting point is the surveys on literature that stress the importance of productivity enhancement to fill the so-called twin gaps of development. The first part of the chapter reviews the concept papers of productivity, such as labor productivity and total factor productivity, and the measurement issues in productivity and growth accounting. The second part of the chapter reviews theoretical models on the relationship between productivity and economic growth and development. The third part of the chapter reviews empirical studies on productivity-development linkage and recent country-specific case studies on how productivity enhancement has contributed to economic growth and income distribution. The roles of human capital, institutions, intangible capital, and natural capital are emphasized in enhancing productivity in many underdeveloped and developing countries.
The Productivity of Nations
Authors: Badunenko Oleg , Henderson Daniel J. , Zelenyuk Valentin
Published: September 2018

This chapter scrutinizes research on the productivity of nations, with a particular focus on the preceding 50 years. First, it briefly synopsizes “classic” studies on economic growth and convergence of nations. The main criticism of these studies is that they did not account for potential inefficiency of countries. The production frontier literature attempts to deal with this issue, and the chapter gives a brief introduction to it with a focus on data envelopment analysis. One central point of this review is the analysis of sources of productivity growth before and after 1990, a period of time that appears to be a point of structural change in growth patterns around the world. The second thread of this chapter concerns the forces behind the transformation of the worldwide productivity distribution from a unimodal to a bimodal distribution during the 1990s. Finally, it emphasizes caveats and outlines possible directions for future research.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics Productivity Program
Authors: Eldridge Lucy P. , Sparks Chris , Stewart Jay
Published: September 2018

This chapter describes the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) productivity program. It presents the BLS’s methodology and data sources used to produce estimates of aggregate and industry-level labor and multifactor productivity growth, along with a number of other productivity-related measures including unit labor costs, labor compensation, and labor share. The chapter provides a detailed description of the main elements of BLS’s productivity measures including: output concepts; how BLS calculates hours worked by combining data from three different surveys; how it accounts for changes in the composition of the labor force; its methodology for estimating capital services; and data sources for intermediate inputs. The chapter also discusses some of the measurement challenges faced by the BLS, and concludes with a discussion of projects currently under way to expand and improve its productivity statistics.
Dynamic Efficiency and Productivity
Authors: Färe Rolf , Grosskopf Shawna , Margaritis Dimitris , Weber William L.
Published: September 2018

The focus of this chapter is to move the measurement of efficiency and productivity from a static to a dynamic approach using distance functions. Since distance functions represent technology, the authors first specify that technology in a dynamic framework is amenable to data envelopment analysis (DEA)–type estimation, explicitly allowing current (or past) decisions to affect future production possibilities. This includes notions of intermediate products, investment, time substitution, supply chain, networks and possible reallocations across time. The chapter shows how to estimate dynamic distance functions and specify a multi-period dynamic model in the spirit of Ramsey (1928), as well as an adjacent-period model familiar from the Malmquist productivity literature, providing an empirical illustration of the former. Extensions of these dynamic models is relatively straightforward for other distance function–based productivity indices, both parametric and nonparametric, as well as for production in the presence of good and bad outputs.
Productivity Measurement in Sectors with Hard-to-Measure Output
Authors: Zieschang K.
Published: September 2018

The key challenge in measuring productivity is its inherently residual nature: productivity is output growth—including changes in output quality—over and above growth in intermediate and capital service inputs—including changes in input quality—while adjusting change in inputs for non-unitary returns to scale. Thus, using the national accounting term volume for the combined measure of change in quantity and quality, a key objective in compiling estimates of growth in output and intermediate consumption is to distinguish volume change from price change within the change in economic value aggregates, key among which is gross domestic product (GDP). After setting up a Törnqvist measurement framework including quality change for the capacity utilization function and its dual value added (GDP) function, the chapter briefly discusses issues in the hard-to-measure sectors identified by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, with an emphasis on financial services.
Language contact and multilingualism in Iran
Authors: Mahootian Shahrzad
Published: September 2018

Throughout its history, Iran has been a richly multilingual nation, with documented evidence reaching back nearly three millennia. Today, estimates of the number of languages spoken in modern Iran vary, with numbers ranging from fifty-four to seventy-six living languages. This chapter presents a general description of societal bilingualism, how bilingual communities come about, the relationship between language and identity in multilingual contexts, and how best to describe the kind(s) of bilingualism found in Iran, including the use of English. The chapter then turns to bilingualism in Iran from a historical perspective, with the goal of understanding why there are so many languages in present-day Iran. Finally, it addresses the status of English in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran and issues of language maintenance.
Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages
Authors: Shabani-Jadidi Pouneh , Sedighi Anousha
Published: September 2018

Teaching and learning Persian as an additional language is facing unprecedented demand inside and outside the Persian-speaking counties. This chapter discusses teaching Persian to speakers of other languages from a variety of perspectives. It provides a short account on the history of teaching Persian in non-Persian-speaking countries and discusses the current status of teaching Persian to speakers of other languages both in the east and the west. The chapter also discusses second-language acquisition studies on Persian as well as the recent trends on pedagogy and assessment. It also investigates the development of the Persian instructional material and discusses the available Persian textbooks. Lastly, the current issues and challenges of teaching Persian to speakers of other languages is discussed and explored.