bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Case Study of Flexible Object Manipulation
Authors: Hopcroft John E. , Kearney Joseph K. , Krafft Dean B. 
Published: March 2007

This article describes a project undertaken to explore pro gramming physical operations on complex flexible objects. Uncertainty about the exact state of the object makes it im possible to precisely specify the actions to be performed at the time the program is written. Furthermore, the detailed conse quences of manipulations on flexible objects cannot be deter mined before the action is performed. Lacking precise specifi cations, the programmer must abstract the essential properties of objects and actions. In an effort to study manipulation offlexible objects, a system to tie knots in rope with a robot arm was developed. The system includes an extensible graph representation for knots, a vision system that binds the contour of a physical rope to an abstract description, and a knot-tying language based on parametric motion commands. Knots of modest complexity, such as a bowline or figure 8, can be tied in a va riety of ropes with minimal constraints on the initial configu ration of the rope. The work highlights the importance of software engineering principles and a good programming en vironment for robot program development.
An Exploratory Study in the Measurement of Children's Pitch Discrimination Ability
Authors: Cooper Nancy 
Published: March 2007

To investigate 6-11-year-olds' ability to detect pitch differences within a semitone, the Modified Sergeant Pitch Discrimination Measure (MSPDM), based on Sergeant's (1979) pitch test, was developed and administered to 169 subjects. On each of the 30 items, subjects indicate which one of five tones differs from the others and whether it is higher or lower than the standard. The MSPDM facilitates direct comparison of performance on two types of task: detection of a difference, and labelling the direction of the change. The MSPDM was group-administered in grades 2-5. and individually administered using a manipulative response mode in grade 1. Statistical analyses revealed that subjects in grades 2-5 were more successful at detecting differences than at labelling their direction; no significant difference between these tasks was evident in grade 1. Older subjects received higher mean scores than younger subjects. No significant gender differences were evident.
Mårup Church and the Politics of Hybridization:
Authors: Jensen Casper Bruun , Markussen Randi 
Published: March 2007

Mårup Church, on the northwest coast of Jutland in Denmark, is facing a predicament. Every year, the sea eats further into the dune on top of which it stands, and soon the church will tumble into the sea. This has generated a heated debate on whether or not the church should be saved. In this paper we explore the arguments various actors bring to bear on this controversy. How are the complexities of change in nature and culture articulated in the context of Mårup Church? The context of this discussion is markedly hybrid; argumentative resources span modern categories such as nature and culture, politics, economics, history, geography and geology. We observe the work of particular agents in constructing ontological narratives that support specific versions of reality that would allow the church either to stand or to fall. Following Geoffrey Bowker, we refer to these as configurations of time and space. A discourse of nature management, which defines changes in relationships between nature and culture as matters of choice, has gained momentum within Danish administrative agencies. Reflexively, however, it would seem as if change or becoming is undermining the ability to realize such choices. In this situation, our challenge is to renew conceptual work in order to construct an imagery for coping with the swirl of ever-changing relationships between entities we used to call `natural' or `cultural'. We sketch this challenge under the heading of `the politics of hybridization'.
An Examination of an Intensive Probation Program for Alcohol Offenders
Authors: Anson Richard H. 
Published: March 2007

Judicial treatment programs that surpass traditional forms of probated sentencing in punishment severity have received little attention in the correctional literature. Innovative diversion programs have relieved bloated numbers of inmates in state prisons, decreased the potential pool of community welfare recipients, and have reintegrated offenders into their respective neighborhoods. This article reports the results of a three-year longitudinal study of seventy-one (N= 71) criminal offenders assigned to Dougherty County, Georgia's Criminal Alcoholic Program (C.A.P.). The criminal histories of these offenders are compared two years before and after completing this judicial diversion program. Statistically, significant reductions in criminal behavior were observed between pre and post testing periods. The most significant reductions in criminal behavior were for traffic and alcohol-related offenses. Youthful felons experienced the greatest improvement in criminal behavior two years after entry into the C.A.P. and were more successful in adapting to the community than olderfelons.
The Myth, Marvel, and Adventure of El Dorado Semantic Mutations of a Legend
Authors: Ainsa Fernando 
Published: March 2007

Dreams of gold have accompanied human history down through the ages. Gold is a beautiful and useful metal, easily shaped and immune to rust, and from the time of the ancient Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations, it has been regarded as a precious metal from which jewels and decorative as well as everyday objects have been fashioned. Even before the concept of money turned it into one of the principal forms of exchange, gold was used as a medium of barter.Apart from being of commercial and aesthetic value, gold is also a part of the stuff of fables and legends. Legendary and mythical lands where gold abounds have crowded the imaginative geography of almost all civilizations. The Bible itself, in the Book of Kings, speaks of the Mines of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Ophir, and the City of Sidon, while the prophet Zechariah observes that in the City of Tyre: “silver is heaped up like dust, and gold as the mire of the streets.” [Zachariah, 9.3]
Capitalist Shopfloor Initiatives, Restructuring, and Organizing in the '80s
Authors: Drago Robert , Mc Donough Terry 
Published: March 2007

We analyze QWL (Quality of Work Life) programs within the context of the economic crisis. We argue that QWL is fragile and its continuation must be guaranteed within a broader institutional context. We argue that QWL could become part of a corporate planning approach to resolving the crisis. If QWL is implemented in this context, the danger of greater labor market segmentation would lend added importance to the struggles of women and minorities and organizing the unorganized. The Left would also have to look more closely at the issues of co-optation and democracy raised by QWL.
Residual Strength Assessment of Low Velocity Impact Damage of Graphite-Epoxy Laminates
Authors: Lal K.M. 
Published: March 2007

This report contains the study of Low Velocity Transverse Impact Damage of graphite-epoxy T300/5208 composite laminates. The specimen, 100 mm diameter clamped plates, were impact damaged by a cantilever-type instrumented 1-inch diameter steel ball. Study was limited to impact velocity 6 m/sec. Rectangular strips, 50 mm x 125 mm, were cut from the impact-damage specimens so that the impact damage zone was in the center of the strips. These strips were tested in tension to ob tain their residual strength. An energy dissipation model was developed to predict the residual strength from fracture mechanics concepts. Net energy absorbed Ia was evaluated from coefficient of restitution concepts based on shear dominated theory of fiber-reinforced materials, with the modification that during loading and unloading the shear deformation are respectively elastic-plastic and elastic. Delamination energy Id was predicted by assum ing that the stiffness of the laminate dropped due to debonding. Fiber-breakage energy, assumed to be equal to the difference of Ia and I d, was used to determine the residual strength. Predictions were compared with test results.
Nine Reasons to go Slow on Bail Bond Reform
Authors: Williams Virgil L. 
Published: March 2007

The problems of bail bond systems are similar in most states and the proposed solutions are much the same. Bail bond reform by means of establishing an OR (own recognizance) system is becoming a national trend. Once a reform of this kind does become popular with criminal justice personnel, there is a danger that we will stop studying it and assume that it must be good because other states and the federal government are doing it. It is very easy to believe that change itself is progress. Alabama is struggling to join the national trend to overhaul its bail bond system. This paper starts with a brief description of a small empirical study done for the purpose of providing a rationale for introducing reform legislation. This study is used as a vehicle to illustrate how the problems and process of bail bond reform are national in scope. The discussion of the national issues of bail bond reform is conceptually divided into three broad categories of problems: (I) bureaucracy issues; (2) cost effectiveness issues; and, (3) justice issues. Bureaucracy issues express concern about government casually displacing and destroying the private bail bond industry without studying the possible impact of such action. Cost effectiveness issues stress that the burden of cost will be shiftedfrom offender to taxpayer. Furthermore, the costs per arrestee are apt to be high and the total costs extremely high. Advocates of reform should, at a minimum, be prepared to tell taxpayers what the rejorm will cost. Justice issuesfocus on the court delay, as discussed by district court judges in testimony before Congress and the possibility that OR may, make criminal courts even less efficient than they are now. The issues raised in this paper deserve study before the private bail bond industry is destroyed.
What do We Expect of Criminal Justice? Critical Questions of Sanction Policy, Sentencing Purpose and the Politics of Reform
Authors: Talarico Susette M. 
Published: March 2007

Sentencing decisions are among the most critical in the criminal justice system. Thev' have obvious consequences for the person convicted, equalli' important implications for the efficiency of criminal law and direct bearing on the structure of the criminal justice system. Current debate about sentencing policy centers on suggestions for system change; change that would affect the entire criminaljustice system. Recognizing the established fact of sentencing disparities and questioning the rehabilitative orientation of the indeterminate/indefinite sentencing model, social scientists, legal authorities, practitioners and politicians advance a variety ofpolicl' proposals. These proposals build on both substantive and procedural reforms for criminal law and range from the introduction of flat or definite sentencing to modifications of the existing indefinite systems. This article directs attention to these proposals and assesses the theoretical assumptions about law and government that underlie the different policy proposals. In the course of the analysis, particular attention is directed to the administrative implications for corrections, the organizational implications of different reform schemes and the political and constitutional issues raised in alternative sentencing proposals.
Risk and the Timing of Recidivism in Three Cohorts of Prison Releasees
Authors: Flanagan Timothy J. 
Published: March 2007

In recent years several methods have been developed to assess the timing of recidivism among offenders released from correctional programs. These methods have been used for some time in biomedical and engineering sciences, but applications to the study of criminal recidivism are relatively new. In this article, one of these methods, survival analysis, was used to examine the comparative performance of three groups of offenders released from a state prison system and followed for five years after release. The comparison of survival distributions showed that paroleesfailed at a slower pace than inmates released by conditional release or by the maximum expiration of the term. These findings were maintained when the a priori risk of recidivism was controlled, suggesting that selection effects were not wholly responsible for the more favorable performance of the parole group. In the second part of the study, the survival distributions for the parole group were compared across risk levels. The findings suggested that if a critical period of probability of failure exists, the timing of this period varies with characteristics of the offender. The implications of the findings for resource allocation, correctional population and program planning, parole policy, and program evaluation methodology are discussed.
A Comparison of Two Training Formats for Persons With Varying Interpersonal Needs
Authors: Smallegan Marian 
Published: March 2007

A Group and Interpersonal Relations Seminar using two training formats was investigated for opinion change in democratic lead ership. The two training formats differed in their residential nature: one format had weekly, non-residential meetings for one semester; the other had approximately the same number of meet ing hours with a residential weekend for part of the seminar. Each participant responded to a pre-, post-test for opinion about democratic leadership and to FIRO-B, a questionnaire used to determine interpersonal need scores. Analysis of the data gave little support to the hypotheses of the study, which were based on the assumption that opinion change would be greatest in situations where needs were most easily met. The data did indicate a positive opinion change over a period of time after the course was completed, little difference in opin ion change for high scorers on FIRO-B regardless of the residential nature of the course, a positive opinion change for low scorers on FIRO-B who were in the partial residential sections, and a negative opinion change for low scorers on FIRO-B who were in the non- residential section.
Evaluating Basic Education for Adults: Some Economic and Methodological Considerations
Authors: Roomkin Myron 
Published: March 2007

Basic education for adults has been one of our more popular remedial treatments financed under the War on Poverty. To date, though, very little is known about the effectiveness of this treat ment upon the economic well-being of individual participants. The need for evaluation is especially relevant, since adult basic education programs must compete for a limited amount of public revenue. However, serious methodological and conceptual prob lems, as well as the problems of definition, exist inhibiting sound evaluation. In an attempt to solve some of the difficulties associated with research in this area, this paper examines the principal benefits and costs of basic education with special emphasis on economic bene fits ; reviews some of the major methodological problems associated with the measurement of these benefits and costs; and seeks to establish the best possible research design, given these problems. Evidence will be drawn from evaluation of poverty programs which contain large remedial educational components. Particular attention is given to reporting the lessons learned from an evalu ation of ABE under the MDTA.
Towards an Ideal Polyurethane Graft for Hemodialysis
Authors: Ota Kazuo 
Published: March 2007

Numerous studies have been reported in the field of vascular graft in recent years. The main interest in these studies has focused on produc ing either a small diameter arterial graft or prosthesis for veins. Polyurethane polymers are emerging because of their superior mechanical, chemically stable and biocompatible nature. Above all, the prominent blood compatibility and elasticity has attracted many investigators to investigate the material for vascular grafts with small diameter. Although several difficulties still remain to be solved, important factors such as anti-thrombogenicity of materials, compliance in long term, porosity, sur face microstructure, and permeability are discussed on the basis of many ex perimental results. In addition, our basic as well as clinical examination of polyurethane graft as a blood access for hemodialysis are presented along with future prospects and difficulties to overcome.
Morality, Wisdom and Revision: the Czech Opposition of the 1970s and the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans
Authors: Abrams Bradley F. 
Published: March 2007

The difference between a humane, civilized nation and a barbaric nation is not the difference between innocence and guilt, but how that nation deals with the shadowy and problematic sides of its history. Erazim Kohák, “Letter to an Anonymous Friend”
A Mini-Lesson in Statistics: What Causes Treatment Groups to be Deemed 'Not Statistically Different'?
Authors: Martens Patricia J. 
Published: March 2007

The theory behind a "not-statistically significant difference" (NS) in group comparison research is crucial for proper study design. Proprietary company-sponsored research whose purpose is to demonstrate null intervention effects is widespread. Therefore, a discussion of null effects in research results was undertaken. Type I and Type II errors are explained, and reasons for "NS" results detailed. Clinical differences, power, statistical tests chosen, and values of a and D are included in the discussion. Examples from studies of the effects of artificial baby milk gift packs are offered. If the aim of research is to demonstrate NS between treatments, or if the conclusion of published research is NS, then the research must demonstrate a design which ensures ethical and appropriate levels of both Type I and Type II errors.
Place, Politics and ‘Scale Dependence’
Authors: MacLeod Gordon 
Published: March 2007

In analyzing the contemporary ‘recomposition of political space’ some researchers are drawing an inference between a putative ‘hollowing out’ of the state or ‘multi-level’ governance, and the growth of integrated economic development programmes enacted through closer articulation between local and regional political coalitions and the European Commission. This coupling of urban and regional analysis with state restructuring and re-scaling represents a welcome direction. There is, nevertheless, a real danger that such analysis simply ‘reads off’ emergent associationalist trends between EU institutions and regional alliances, or Euro-regionalism, as some inevitable outcome of a hastening trajectory towards a globalizing and Europeanizing economy and ‘hollowed out’ national states. Such an approach would fail to uncover the key social processes and ‘constituent relationships’ (Sayer, 1989) that activate these trends in particular places. This paper argues for added sensitivity towards the ‘politics of place’, and towards the contingent and the contextual when analyzing the recomposition and re-scaling of European urban and regional governance. Not that this is to advocate the drift towards a morass of descriptive and empirical ‘mapping’ of Euro-regional partnerships. Rather, the author argues for appropriating suitable middle-range concepts with which to abstract from empirical forms and engage in explanation. He draws variously on Jessop’s regulation-theoretic approach to state restructuring, Lipietz’s work on the social relations of space, and Cox and Mair’s writings on ‘local dependence’ and the politics of scale, to analyze the political structuration of one particular instance of Euro-regionalism in the Objective 2 region of West Central Scotland. Here, a general appetite on the part of the European Commission to promote integrated, programmed regional initiatives met with the embedded scale dependencies and structurally situated strategic endeavor of a political alliance operating within a declining industrial space. The paper concludes with a call for European urban and regional analysis to increasingly uncover these ‘meeting places’ of the general and the particular.
From Brain Drain to Reverse Brain Drain: Three Decades of Korean Experience
Authors: Song Hahzoong 
Published: March 2007

This paper examines three decades of the Korean experience of brain drain, that can be termed 'from brain-drain to reverse brain-drain', and governn.ent policies to deal with this phenomenon. The results confirm the major role of economic factors in return-or-stay decisions of Korean scientists and engineers (KSEs) who earned PhDs in the US. And yet, when the difference in economic conditions between alternatives is narrowed, psy chological and emotional factors are identified to be important. In particular, this study suggests that some Confucian values work as an underlying element in KSEs' decisions. Consequently, this study indicates the importance of including a cultural analysis in the study of brain drain issues. The Korean government tried to repatriate as many scientists and engineers as possible in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet, the effectiveness of policy measures during that period was limited. As the Korean economy continued to improve, many of the foreign educated scientists and engineers intended to return to Korea by the 1980s. From this time on, the Korean government adopted a policy to utilise the needed expertise of Koreans abroad, while helping them choose their residences by themselves.
Comment on Root's “Tying the King's Hands”
Authors: Markoff John 
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 section 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.
Probation Trends in Felony Cases: a Look At Prosecutorial Decision- Making in Plea Bargain Agreements
Authors: Champion Dean J. 
Published: March 2007

In this research, records and responses of 166 prosecuting attorneys from three area jurisdictions, including portions of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, were examined to determine the frequency with which plea bargaining is used. Additionally, felony convictions were examined by means of content analysis for the period 1970-1985 to determine if there were any trends regarding the use of plea bargaining and/or probation as a sentencing alternative. Findings revealed increased use of plea bargaining over the fifteen years examined. The use of felony probation also increased dramatically, especially in those cases involving property crimes. Currently, for the jurisdictions examined, over 80 percent of all felony convictions result in probation where first-offenders were involved. In the case of recidivists, these felony cases resulted in probation approximately 22 percent of the time. Prosecutor views concerning the probation issue are also examined and correctional concerns discussed.