M+D: conceptual guidelines for compiling a materials library

This article proposes to present a study conducted by the Raw Materials research group, the results of which comprise the conceptual guidelines for compiling an M+D material library. The study includes the topic, materials and design taking the impact of the changes that came into being in the post industrial era on project methodologies and the search for information regarding materials. Taking into account the importance and complexity that these relationships have taken on currently, we have studied the issue of materials based on Manzini (1983) and Ashby and Johnson (2002). Afterward different databases and materials libraries located in the Brazil, the United States, France and Italy geared toward design professionals and students were analyzed to understand what information and means of access to them were available. The project methodologies were approached based on Löbach (1991), Bürdeck (1994), Schulmann (1994), Baxter (1998), Dantas (1998 and 2005) and Papanek (1995 and 2000). This study sought to identify the key elements of the role of materials in the project process today, to serve as a parameter for the analysis of the models studied. A comparative analysis of the models investigated enabled identification of positive and negative aspects to adapt to the needs previously mentioned and identify conceptual guidelines for compiling a collection of materials for use in design projects. Keywords: Design, Materials, Project Methodology, Library</p

M+D: conceptual guidelines for compiling a materials library

This article proposes to present a study conducted by the Raw Materials research group, the results of which comprise the conceptual guidelines for compiling an M+D material library. The study includes the topic, materials and design taking the impact of the changes that came into being in the post industrial era on project methodologies and the search for information regarding materials. Taking into account the importance and complexity that these relationships have taken on currently, we have studied the issue of materials based on Manzini (1983) and Ashby and Johnson (2002). Afterward different databases and materials libraries located in the Brazil, the United States, France and Italy geared toward design professionals and students were analyzed to understand what information and means of access to them were available. The project methodologies were approached based on Löbach (1991), Bürdeck (1994), Schulmann (1994), Baxter (1998), Dantas (1998 and 2005) and Papanek (1995 and 2000). This study sought to identify the key elements of the role of materials in the project process today, to serve as a parameter for the analysis of the models studied. A comparative analysis of the models investigated enabled identification of positive and negative aspects to adapt to the needs previously mentioned and identify conceptual guidelines for compiling a collection of materials for use in design projects. Keywords: Design, Materials, Project Methodology, Library</p

Behavioral Genetics Research and Criminal DNA Databases

Kaye discusses DNA databanks and the potential use of such databanks for behavioral genetics research. He addresses the concern that DNA databanks serve as a limitless repository for future research and that the samples used in the databanks could be used for research into a crime gene

User Needs and Library Services in Agricultural Sciences

published or submitted for publicatio

A non-separable stochastic model for pulse-like ground motions

A phenomenological non-separable non-stationary stochastic model is proposed to represent near-fault pulse-like ground motions (PLGMs) by means of a parametrically defined evolutionary power spectrum (EPSD). Numerical data pertaining to ensembles of EPSD compatible realizations and considering statistical analysis of peak elastic and inelastic spectral ordinates demonstrate the applicability of the model to capture the salient effects of PLGMs to structural responses. To this aim, the model parameters are calibrated against a field recorded PLGM. Further numerical data considering stochastic processes compatible with the response spectrum of the European aseismic code (EC8) are furnished to demonstrate the potential of the proposed model for including near-fault effects to spectrum compatible representations of the seismic action. It is foreseen that this model can be a useful tool in accounting for the low-frequency content of PLGMs in both Monte Carlo simulation-based analyses and in statistical linearization based studies

Do IMF and World Bank programs induce government crises An empirical analysis

We examine whether and under which circumstances World Bank projects and IMF programs affect the likelihood of major government crises. Using a sample of more than 90 developing countries over the period 1970-2002, we find that crises are on average more likely in the presence of Bank and Fund involvement. While the effect of the IMF to some extent depends on the model specification, the impact of the World Bank is shown to be robust to the choice of control variables and method of estimation. We also find that governments face an increasing risk to enter a crisis when they remain under IFI programs when the economy performs better. The (economic) conditions present when a new IFI program is initiated, however, do not play a major role for crisis probability. Finally, only programs concluded by the current government affect crises, while those inherited by preceding governments do not. --Political Crisis,International Financial Institutions

The narrative and the algorithm: Genres of credit reporting from the nineteenth century to today

Credit reporting is a contested process whereby parties with distinct interests (borrowers, lenders, and intermediaries) jointly construct the form, method, and style of credit assessment. In contrast to theories that argue information should grow more secure and credit relationships more transparent over time, the conflicted struggle over representation produces different styles or “genres” of credit evaluation that are compromises between the interests of the different parties. Thus, in the United States, trade credit reporting in the nineteenth century evolved an enduring narrative reporting style, incorporating heterogeneous forms of information not easily reducible to a single quantitative score. Lack of institutions for sharing information between creditors, legal precedents, and strong resistance among borrowers to overly intrusive surveillance made the narrative report the best means to handle the diverse business credit market. By contrast, lenders in the consumer credit market established information sharing capabilities, which were enhanced after World War II when banks developed the credit card and card verification systems. Fair credit laws in the 1960s and 70s actually reinforced the move to quantitative scoring based on information shared among creditors, eventually institutionalizing the FICO score as the prime method of consumer credit evaluation.credit score; credit reporting; credit; information economy; surveillance; FICO

Public or private economies of knowledge: The economics of diffusion and appropriation of bioinformatics tools

The past three decades have witnessed a period of great turbulence in the economies of biological knowledge, during which there has been great uncertainty as to how and where boundaries could be drawn between public or private knowledge especially with regard to the explosive growth in biological databases and their related bioinformatic tools. This paper will focus on some of the key software tools developed in relation to bio-databases. It will argue that bioinformatic tools are particularly economically unstable, and that there is a continuing tension and competition between their public and private modes of production, appropriation, distribution, and use. The paper adopts an ?instituted economic process? approach, and in this paper will elaborate on processes of making knowledge public in the creation of ?public goods?. The question is one of continuously creating and sustaining new institutions of the commons. We believe this critical to an understanding of the division and interdependency between public and private economies of knowledge

Protection of Privacy of Computerized Records in the National Crime Information Center

The purpose of this article is to describe the social benefits and costs of the NCIC and to indicate the need for a program of operational controls to temper the system\u27s impact on the balance between individual privacy and law enforcement needs. Various approaches which could be incorporated into a program of safeguards are introduced and briefly analyzed. Finally, the article discusses several overall design issues which should be considered in the construction of an adequate program of safeguards. Particular emphasis is placed on the NCCH file since it is the major source of the tensions underlying the issues addressed