bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Study of Federated Criminal Justice Systems: Research Needs
Authors: Myren Richard A. 
Published: March 2007

This article is a plea for comparative study of criminal justice systems as systems. After listing the characteristics of federations and defining what is meant by a criminal justice system, it suggests that appreciation of the role that a well-designed and effectively operating criminal justice system can play in bringing stability to a federated governmental structure, and improved quality to the life style of those living within that structure, is worthy of the attention of scholars interested in federalism. The recommended approach is a focus on the decision-making processes in the system with attention being given to the pressures and 'other factors in the decision-making environment that affect outcome. It is suggested that scholars in the United States have a vested interest particularly in the study of the criminal justice systems of federated nations. Without both basic descriptive and issue-oriented scholarship, the literature necessary for development of insight into the mutual impact of governmental structure and criminal justice system configuration will not become available. It is also suggested that the most profitable approach for such studies is concentration on "the decision flow of the criminal process and the interaction of policies and practices among the courts and operational agencies," an approach that "attempts to explain how the system works rather than who runs it." Such studies are judged important to further development of criminal justice systems in the United States and the world community.
Delinquency Involvement: An Evaluation of the Non-Intervention Strategy
Authors: Cernkovich Stephen A. 
Published: March 2007

The official response by agents of the juvenile justice system to adolescent involvement in victimless and status offenses currently is under attack from a variety of sources. While several complex issues are involved in the debate concerning the proper handling of such offenders (the inherent vagueness of the statutes, and whether or not their codification and enforcement violates constitutionally guaranteed rights, for example), this paper is concerned only with the non-intervention argument that the official processing of such offenders be discontinued. The primary rationale underlying the non-intervention strategy is that not only are such offenders involved in relatively petty forms of delinquency, but also that they are unlikely to participate in more serious types of misbehavior. As such, proponents of this view suggest that since official processing only can have the negative consequences of stigmatization and the production of increased levels and more serious forms of delinquency involvement, it should be avoided. Self-report data collected from a representative sample of 412 male high school students provide little support for these assumptions. Rather than being specialized, as suggested at least implicitly by the non-intervention approach, these data indicate that delinquency involvement is quite versatile, typically including participation in a wide variety of offense types. While involvement in victimless offenses is the most frequent delinquent activity, such concentration does not preclude significant participation in more serious property and personal offenses. In fact, high levels of involvement in victimless offenses is strongly associated with high levels of participation in property and personal offenses. As a result, and while recognizing that many of the existing delinquency statutes are certainly open to criticism on numerous grounds, any strategy based on the assumption that victimless offenders are unlikely to be involved in other more serious delinquent activities as a rationale for non-intervention appears untenable in light of the findings reported in this study.
Police Personnel Levels and the Incidence of Crime: A Cross-National Investigation
Authors: Bennett Richard R. , Bennett Sandra Baxter 
Published: March 2007

During the past ten years, social scientists have investigated the relationship between police personnel levels and the incidence of crime. However, their findings are conflicting and have added to, rather than resolved, the discussion of police effect. These studies suffer from methodological and conceptual weaknesses. First, they sample from populations where system level variance is minimal, and second they analyze models that could either over- or underestimate effects. The present study addresses these methodological and conceptual problems by first selecting variables for inclusion in the model based on current criminological theories, and then maximizing system level variance by employing a cross-national sample. Regression analyses of the data suggest that previous studies have over-estimated the police effect which is almost non-existent.
Policing Domestic Violence: Perceptions, Experience, and Reality
Authors: Friday Paul C. , Metzgar Scott , Walters David 
Published: March 2007

This research explores police attitudes and experiences with a departmental policy favoring arrest in cases of domestic violence. It also addresses the impact that such a policy may have on future domestic violence calls. Analyses were based on two data sets: (a) calls and arrests recorded for two years prior to the implementation of an arrest policy and for two years after and (b) a survey of patrol and command officers. This is a study of the impact of an arrest policy on the police; it is not a study of domestic violence per se. The findings reflect "normal police operations." Survey data suggest that officers strongly supported both the law permitting spouse arrest and the departmental policy, because it gave them more power, but that they were uncertain of the actual impact on their own return calls and on the victims. The statistical data reveal that arrest minimally impacted the number of subsequent calls; the vast majority of calls resulted in no callbacks whether an arrest was made or not. In looking at prior contact with the police for domestic violence, the impact of arrest was more evident. The greatest impact of arrest was seen on those who had had no prior contacts. The largest proportion of callbacks involved offenders who had prior records for domestic violence and who were not arrested, and the lowest proportion involved offenders with no priors who were arrested. Prior police contacts with victims were also reviewed, revealing that a small but significant proportion of victims had had drunk and disorderly charges, whereas perpetrators showed a high number of contacts for both disorderly and other criminal behaviors. Police experience with these cases has tended to create a selective generalization regarding the nature of domestic violence and the impact of the policy.
Revegetation of Waste Fly Ash Lagoons II. Seedling Transplants and Plant Nutrition
Authors: Pillman Anne , Jusaitis Manfred 
Published: March 2007

As an alternative or in addition to direct seeding, container-grown transplants provide a means of economically and rapidly revegetating waste fly ash lagoons through the expeditious establishment of vegetation islands. Survival and growth of Enchylaena tomentosa and Nitraria billardierei transplants were largely dependent on the size of the root volume at transplanting. Growth response of both species in fly ash increased significantly as transplant container size increased from 110 ml to 800 ml. Fly ash incorporated into the potting mix during the containerised stage of growth generally reduced plant growth and survival following eventual trans plantation. Gradual hardening of Enchylaena tomentosa seedlings to increasing concentrations of fly ash in the potting mix (25 to 50 to 75% fly ash), however, improved immediate survival following transplantation, into pure ash. Nitrogen deficiency in Port Augusta fly ash was a major nutritional limitation to growth of these two species. Growth and dry matter production responded optimally to application of N fertiliser (NH4NO3) at 100-150 kg N ha 1. Although bicarbonate- extractable P levels in fly ash were high (over 250 mg kg-1), a response of Enchylaena tomentosa to supplementary P application [Ca(H2PO 4)2.H2O] at 100-200 kg P ha-1 was observed. N. billardierei did not respond to supplementary P, and it was suggested that fly ash P may be selectively available to plants on a species dependent basis. No growth responses to K application (KCl) at rates of up to 400 kg K ha -1 were found. © 1997 ISWA
Negotiated Accountability: a Method for Making Mutual Expectations Explicit
Authors: Shapiro Stewart B. 
Published: March 2007

Negotiated accountability is defined as a bilateral agreement between two parties who explicitly define their responsibilities in interdependent role behaviors and who agree to regularly report to each other on the fulfillment of these responsibilities. The concepts of "negotiation" and "accountability" are well known in the world of organizations and interpersonal behavior. Each concept alone, however, is less powerful than their com bination into "negotiated accountability." Negotiation is a pro cessual instrument for reaching agreements, whereas accounta bility implies commitment and action within the framework of role responsibility. Negotiation serves to soften and "democratize" accountability. Accountability, on the other hand, strengthens negotiation by commitment to action within specified role expec tations. This paper presents summaries of a protocol from a "nego tiated accountability conference," a technique for demonstrating mutual accountability within the staff of a University Extension Division.
Formidable New Compensation Tool
Authors: Wiatrowski William J. 
Published: March 2007

What are the hourly wages for part-time janitors in San Diego? Are vision coverage benefits prevalent among large employers in the Northeast? How does a 5% pension plan cost compare with other small establishments? Questions like these illustrate the information you might seek and find in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) new National Compensation Survey (NCS). For the first time ever, the BLS will provide in one single vehicle statistically valid, comprehensive, and interrelated data on levels, trends and characteristics of wages and employee benefits for all American workers. While compensation surveys are not new-the BLS has conducted them since its inception in the late 19th century-several events in the early 1990s exposed the inefficiencies of the existing survey design and led to the development of this new survey. First begun by the BLS in 1994, the NCS will have a complete sample and will begin to produce a complete set of outputs by the year 2001. The NCS survey data are available online at http:/ /stats.bls.gov.
A Shared Vision? Stakeholders' Perspectives on the Internationalization of Higher Education in Canada
Authors: Knight Jane 
Published: March 2007

The 1990s mark an important phase in the evolution of the internationalization of higher education. One distinguidshing feature is the different priorities the various stakeholder groups ring to the international dimension of higher education. This article reports on a recent Canadian survey which explored the differences and similarities in views and expectations among those stakeholder groups having a central interest in the internationalization of the higher education system. These groups come from three sectors: government, academia, and the private sector Of particular interest and significance are the different rationales that each sector attributes to why we should be internationalizing higher education. A number of overarching issues emerged as important themes to consider, including: • International education standards • Preparation of globally knowledgeable and interculturally competent graduates •Recruiting and supporting international student' • Teaching of foreign languages • Curriculum reform • Marketing and export of education products and services • Study abroad and work placement for Canadian students • Cooperation within and among the three sectors. The study concludes that, regardless of whether these issues are topics of consensus or controversy, it is critical that the three sectors look for ways of addressing them in a collaborative manner if we are to further the internationalization of higher education in Canada. The three national organizations which undertook this study are the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE), the Association of Universitie and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), and the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC).
Methodological Fallacies and Politically Correct Explanations in Gender Stratification Research
Authors: Fiorentine Robert 
Published: March 2007

The Forum consists of comments on previously published papers and responses by authors. Unlike the Comment section in many other academic journals, the Forum includes solicited as well as unsolicited contributions. We encourage debates by actively seeking points of view contrary to those expressed in articles published in the journal. The Forum is intended to promote an open and critical debate that contributes to the intellectual vitality and further development of rational-choice-based theory and research. Forum contributions should follow the form used by Rationality and Society and should not exceed five double-spaced pages.
Stability of the Barto-Sutton Network under Rational Control Orbits
Authors: Jouse Wayne C. 
Published: March 2007

The class of networks based on the Barto-Sutton architecture are known to be capable of solving complex, multi-dimensional control problems. In these problems, the objective of the task is the localization of a system within a contiguous region of its state space. In this work, asymptotic stability criteria are derived for the Adaptive Critical Element (ACE) of the network. Here, the weights of the network are viewed as the state of a linear time-variant state- space learning machine. For system trajectories which can be represented by simple rational polynomials, discrete-time techniques are used to analyze the stability of the learning machine. The advantages of this approach are that it both provides bounds for the learning parameters and characterizes the resultant learning behavior.
The Influence of Transformation Kinetics on Stress-Strain Relations of Shape Memory Alloys in Thermomechanical Processes
Authors: Oberaigner E.R. , Tanaka K. , Fischer F.D. 
Published: March 2007

The constitutive law which relates stress, temperature, transformed volume fraction and the strain is integrated under consideration of a kinetic law. This law was derived and discussed by the authors just recently. It is a differential equation for the volume fraction of the new phase. The volume fraction is a function of the stress and temperature history. Merging of the constitutive law and the kinetic law leads to a new relation among the volume frac tion of the new phase, the total strain, the stress and/or temperature. For some parameter configura tions and in the case of a linear stress-temperature relation, analytical solutions are possible which are presented. The results are also compared with those of a statistical simulation.
Polymers Have "Intelligent" Surfaces: Polymer Surface Dynamics
Authors: Andrade J.D. 
Published: March 2007

The "intelligence" of synthetic macromolecules is currently a topic of great interest, popularity, and activity. The understanding of macromolecule mechanics and dynamics has reached the stage where unique and novel applications are being developed. Here I present basic principles of polymer surface science, bulk polymer dynamics, and some selected areas in polymer surface dynamics. I include a brief treatment of the complexity of highly dynamic, multi-domain, macromolecular surfaces and their interactions with highly dynamic, multi-domain "block copolymer" proteins which are important in biocompatibility and biotechnology.
Reliability Studies on Electrostrictive Actuators
Authors: Kumar U. , Randall M. , Hock J. , Ritter A. 
Published: March 2007

Multilayer electrostrictive actuators have numerous applications. Frequently these applications involve harsh mechanical and electrical loads. Furthermore, it is typically expected that these loads be incurred for > 108 repetitions (ideally for an infinite number of cycles). This paper describes the electrical and electro-mechanical analyses used at AVX Corporation to assess the performance characteristics of multilayer ceramic actuators, and addresses the effects of electro mechanical cycling on selected device properties. In this study, lead magnesium niobate based multilayer electrostrictive actuators were subjected to a.c. fields at rated device voltage. Capacitance, dissipation factor, displacement vs. voltage, displace ment hysteresis, electro-mechanical quality factor, and resonant frequency were monitored as a function of electro-mechanical cycling. The actuators exhibited highly stable displacements through out the investigation. Changes observed in other properties indicate a possibility of using them as NDE techniques to assess the actuator reliability.
Reproduction of Nomative Agents: A Simulation Study
Authors: Paolucci Mario , ISTAT  , Conte Rosaria 
Published: March 2007

The paper presents experiments of a simulation model of aggression control in populations of agents endowed with knowledge about others' reputation (compliant vs. cheaters). The reproduc tive advantages of different strategies of aggression control, i.e., normative (e.g., "do not attack a food-owner") vs. non-normative ("do not attack a stronger agent"), are compared under given cir cumstances (e.g., exchange of information about others' reputation). The objectives of the model are: (a) investigate the role of social agents' internal variables (repre sentations, rules, etc.) in the interaction between social processes and agents; while the direction from agents to social processes is usually a focus of attention in simulation models, the reverse one (from social processes to agents) is not; our findings seem to show that some normative disposi tion of agents is an "emergent" effect of social processes; (b) question the widely shared assump tion that agents are egoist and all which is good in society is either an emergent effect of social life or an institutional task. Our findings seem to show that there may be an adaptive advantage in acting pro-socially.
Relationship Between Traditionalism of Dress and Social Values of Ghanaian Women
Authors: Matthews Lillian B. 
Published: March 2007

The purpose of this study was to determine to what degree adherence to traditional dress and adoption of western dress by Ghanaian university students differs from that of their mothers. If there is a difference, is this difference reflected in changing marriage and family values between the two generations?Dress of Ghanaian women was classified as traditional, modified traditional, combined tradi tional with western, and western dress. Data were gathered by questionnaire and camera, Fall 1975, from 177 female students at the University of Ghana and at Winneba Specialist Training College.Students' dress for class and social occasions was most frequently a simply styled western dress and, for funeral and memorial services, the modified traditional dress. Their mothers more fre quently wore traditional dress for all occasions. The differences in use of traditional and western dress between mothers and daughters was highly significant.The students were significantly more accepting of western marriage and family values than their mothers. The traditional values held by mothers had a positive association with their wearing of traditional Ghanaian dress. The daughters' more western attitudes were associated only with their use of modified traditional dress.
User Input in Housing Design: The Interdisciplinary Challenge
Authors: Gabb Betsy S. , Lodl Kathleen Ann , Combs E. Raedene 
Published: March 2007

A consortium composed of home economists, architects, engineers, and horti culturists at the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln undertook a project to develop housing designs that would respond to the current and future needs and desires of people living in Nebraska. The consortium hoped to reduce the considerable gap between the thinking of designers and that of the people for whom they design (users) by linking designers with professionals in social sciences. This article contains a discussion of the user evaluation of the designs and the impli cations of these and other findings.From the housing designs created in response to user input, two were selected for user evaluation. A third design (that of a manufactured modular home cur rently on the market in Nebraska) was also included. The results show that the two designs created in response to user input were not, in general, acceptable to these users and that the modular home currently on the market was more ac ceptable. The findings raise some important questions and challenges for hous ing and design professionals.
Adhesion of Weatherproofing Coatings to HCFC-141b Blown Spray Foam
Authors: Parker R.C. , Bement L.B. 
Published: March 2007

Much of the polyurethane foam used in residential and commercial construction is applied as spray-on roof insulation. The current formulating trend in this type of foam is replacing CFC-11 with HCFC-141b. Some formulation adjust ments (catalyst and blowing agent levels, etc.) are required when converting from CFC-11 to HCFC-141b. A weatherproofing coating must be applied to the sprayed-on roof. These coatings are usually elastomeric acrylics, silicones or urethanes. Selection of the coating nor mally lies with the spray foam contractor. Coverage costs and regional preferences can also play a role in coating selection. Regardless of the coating type, however, the foam/coating package must meet building codes. In order for a coating/spray foam roofing package to perform properly, the bond between the coating and the foam must be good and permanent. This study com pares the adhesion of various commercially available coatings to HCFC-141b and CFC-11 blown foams, respectively, under different environmental conditions. The foam formulation used in this work was obtained from product literature, and the chemical components in the formulation are commercially available. The foam samples were prepared with commercial spraying equipment. Sample preparation technique provided a flat surface to allow coating applications of consistent wet film thicknesses. Coated samples were allowed to cure and were then subjected to aging under various conditions (heat, cold, humidity). Peel tests after aging were run on a laboratory tensile tester. Experimental procedures (sample preparation, test methods, etc.) are described, results are reported and general comments are displayed.