Allegories of Gender: Transgender Autology versus Transracialism

This article explores how race and gender become distinguished from each other in contemporary scholarly and activist debates on the comparison between transracialism and transgender identities. The article argues that transracial-transgender distinctions often reinforce divides between autological (self-determined) and genealogical (inherited) aspects of subjectivity and obscure the constitution of this division through modern technologies of power

December 1, 2005

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia

Assessing pressure injury risk and prevention using the Braden mobility subscale

 Getting a pressure injury or ulcer whilst in hospital may cause debilitating physical effects, pain or even death. This research found that assessment of mobility alone compares well with the more commonly used and more complex risk assessment scales when used to identify person\u27s risk for developing a pressure sore

The Effect of Dividend Policy on Market Value UK Empirical Study

This study tackles the relationship between dividend policy and market value of companies in the UK through three empirical models. The aim of the first model was to test the validity of the Irrelevant Theory empirically by exploring the relationship between dividend type (cash dividend, share dividend and share repurchase), earnings (EPS) and investment policy (retained earnings per share) with the market value of a company. This is achieved through the use of annual and semi-annual data for 362 companies in different UK sectors by adopting Panel Data for the period extending from 1998 to 2007 (twenty periods), where the fixed-effect (within) regression model was used to examine this sample . The second model examines if companies favour the investment policy dividend policy by investigating whether or not companies follow a residual dividends policy. This has been identified by following the methodology of Baker and Smith (2006), based on the calculation of Standardized Free Cash Flow (SFCF) for 590 UK companies in different sectors for the period from 1998 to 2007 by using annual data. The third model seeks to explore managerial preferences regarding dividend type and the most important factors affecting the company management when setting dividends policy. In this respect, the importance of the following factors has been tested: the company’s market value; the financing decision; the investment decision; signaling theory; agency theory; and shareholder structure. The questionnaire methodology used for this model where it was distributed to 1319 UK companies in different sectors. The number of responses was 208 responses is equivalent to 15.77% of the total distributed). The study arrived at a number of important results that can be summarized as follows: 1) The invalidity of the Irrelevant Theory, as the results show that there is a relationship between dividend policy and market value of a company; 2) There is a relationship between earnings, investment policy and the market value, which indicates that the dividends policy, announced earnings and investment policy work together in affecting the market value of a company; 3) UK companies, on the whole, do not adopt a residual dividends policy, implying no preference for investment policy over dividend policy, except for the two sectors banking and insurance companies where the results showed that they follow the residuals dividends policy 4) Most UK companies’ managements prefer cash dividends to other venues choices because of its easy implementation; and 5) The most important factor affecting UK companies’ managements when they set their dividends policy is shareholder structure while the least factor listed in importance is agency theory

National freight transport planning: towards a Strategic Planning Extranet Decision Support System (SPEDSS)

This thesis provides a `proof-of-concept' prototype and a design architecture for a Object Oriented (00) database towards the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) for the national freight transport planning problem. Both governments and industry require a Strategic Planning Extranet Decision Support System (SPEDSS) for their effective management of the national Freight Transport Networks (FTN). This thesis addresses the three key problems for the development of a SPEDSS to facilitate national strategic freight planning: 1) scope and scale of data available and required; 2) scope and scale of existing models; and 3) construction of the software. The research approach taken embodies systems thinking and includes the use of: Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOA/D) for problem encapsulation and database design; artificial neural network (and proposed rule extraction) for knowledge acquisition of the United States FTN data set; and an iterative Object Oriented (00) software design for the development of a `proof-of-concept' prototype. The research findings demonstrate that an 00 approach along with the use of 00 methodologies and technologies coupled with artificial neural networks (ANNs) offers a robust and flexible methodology for the analysis of the FTN problem domain and the design architecture of an Extranet based SPEDSS. The objectives of this research were to: 1) identify and analyse current problems and proposed solutions facing industry and governments in strategic transportation planning; 2) determine the functional requirements of an FTN SPEDSS; 3) perform a feasibility analysis for building a FTN SPEDSS `proof-of-concept' prototype and (00) database design; 4) develop a methodology for a national `internet-enabled' SPEDSS model and database; 5) construct a `proof-of-concept' prototype for a SPEDSS encapsulating identified user requirements; 6) develop a methodology to resolve the issue of the scale of data and data knowledge acquisition which would act as the `intelligence' within a SPDSS; 7) implement the data methodology using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) towards the validation of it; and 8) make recommendations for national freight transportation strategic planning and further research required to fulfil the needs of governments and industry. This thesis includes: an 00 database design for encapsulation of the FTN; an `internet-enabled' Dynamic Modelling Methodology (DMM) for the virtual modelling of the FTNs; a Unified Modelling Language (UML) `proof-of-concept' prototype; and conclusions and recommendations for further collaborative research are identified

Women in Science 2012

The summer of 2012 saw the number of students seeking summer research experiences with a faculty mentor reaching record levels. In total, 179 students participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) program, involving 59 faculty mentor-advisors, representing all of the Clark Science Center’s fourteen departments and programs.https://scholarworks.smith.edu/clark_womeninscience/1011/thumbnail.jp

Earth and environmental science in the 1980's: Part 1: Environmental data systems, supercomputer facilities and networks

Overview descriptions of on-line environmental data systems, supercomputer facilities, and networks are presented. Each description addresses the concepts of content, capability, and user access relevant to the point of view of potential utilization by the Earth and environmental science community. The information on similar systems or facilities is presented in parallel fashion to encourage and facilitate intercomparison. In addition, summary sheets are given for each description, and a summary table precedes each section

Commerce and Place: markets in the English landscape, 1086-2000

This thesis examines the history of markets in England from the Domesday survey to the start of the twenty first century. The markets examined are those that were regularly held trading events at locations designated for the purposes of trade, locations usually known or understood as market places. These places and events are what have been identified as markets for most of history. It is shown that the history of these ‘real’ markets has been overlooked because economists overwhelmingly define markets in a way that includes almost any manifestation of buying and selling. Their definition of a market is a metaphor that covers up the history of real markets and obscures its implications. To reveal this hidden history, a data set containing records for markets across the whole of England since 1086 was created. Some historians argue that medieval market charters are not evidence of a functioning market. Therefore the data set included data on place names, market crosses, market halls and coin finds. Analysis of this data showed that charters are associated with markets, and, that the era with the most markets was the medieval period. Since that period, markets have declined and been supplanted by the private forms of trading that economists identify as an expansion of ‘markets’. In reality, the decline of open markets contributed to the decline and dispossession of petty commodity producers, and the creation of a class of wage-earners. The significance of markets at the turn of this century was investigated in a series of interviews with business owners and senior managers. The economy then and now is not organised by markets but is dominated by large enterprises engaged in ‘relational’ trading which most economists and politicians continue to describe as a ‘market’ economy

Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018

Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018 brings together texts by Canadian artist Ken Lum. They include a letter to an editor, diary entries, articles, catalogue essays, curatorial statements, and more. Along the way, the reader learns about late modern, postmodern, and contemporary art practices, as well as debates around issues like race, class, and monumentality. Penetrating, insightful, and often moving, Lum’s writings are essential for understanding his varied practice, which has often been prescient of developments within contemporary art. The collection includes an introduction by Kitty Scott, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada