Deconstructing domestic violence : (what's that piano doing on the beach?)

The aim of this thesis is to de-construct the discourse of domestic violence, with particular reference to Jane Campion's film "The Piano".Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Women's Studies, 199

Artist's Statement: Northern Lights

  Artist's Statement for the cover art of IJPS volume 7, issue 1: Northern Lights, acrylic on watercolor paper.       &nbsp

Repeaters in kindergarten and grades one to eight

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Using Financial Rankings to Identify Characteristics of Libraries Serving Highly Profitable Private Law Firms

This purpose of this study was to develop evidence of a relationship between law libraries and private law firm profitability for law library administrators to use when making strategic decisions that influence the value of their libraries. The highest ranked administrator at each private law firm listed on the 2008 Am Law 200 was invited to complete an online benchmarking survey. The adjusted sample population totaled 179 firms. Fifty-one valid surveys were completed for a 28.5% response rate. Descriptive and statistical analyses were conducted using 26 independent variables (law library characteristics) and a single dependent variable, Revenue per Equity Partner, developed from data published for the Am Law 200. The most significant contributions of this study are: development of important law library financial and return on investment benchmarks; a listing of characteristics that have been empirically shown to impact law firm productivity; identification of optimum reporting structure for the law library administrator. Six characteristics positively impact Revenue per Equity Partner: to whom the library Administrator reports, number of library staff per library, number of Library staff per library, range in hourly bill rate for library staff time, practice areas most often supported. Two monetary measures were also established. The cost benefit of an Am Law library to its firm is $1.00 :$1.68. Each Am Law Library staff member is worth $295,000 in Revenue per Equity Partner to a firm. Law library practitioners can use the results to support evidenced-based strategic decision making in the administration of any private law firm library. Faculty and students in law librarianship programs will have a greater understanding of how to manage law libraries and collections to provide maximum value to their law firms. Benefits to library and information science research include validation of the research design and benchmarking as a theoretical framework for conducting research into ways libraries can deliver value and return on investment to their sponsors. This research design can be generalized and replicated in future studies. It demonstrates how rank can be used to operationalize relative measures of value for research purposes. Findings from future studies in both for-profit and non-profit settings using appropriate measures of rank may form the basis for development of a theory concerning the relationship between a library and their sponsor's success

Innervation of Gill Lateral Cells in the Bivalve Mollusc Crassostrea virginica Affects Cellular Membrane Potential and Cilia Activity

Gill lateral cells of Crassostrea virginica are innervated by the branchial nerve, which contains serotonergic and dopaminergic fibers that regulate cilia beating rate. Terminal release of serotonin or dopamine results in an increase or decrease, respectively, of cilia beating rate in lateral gill cells. In this study we used the voltage sensitive fluorescent probe DiBAC4(3) to quantify changes in gill lateral cell membrane potential in response to electrical stimulation of the branchial nerve or to applications of serotonin and dopamine, and correlate these changes to cilia beating rates. Application of serotonin to gill lateral cells caused prolonged membrane depolarization, similar to plateau potentials, while increasing cilia beating rate. Application of dopamine hyperpolarized the resting membrane while decreasing cilia beating rate. Low frequency (5 Hz) electrical stimulations of the branchial nerve, which cause terminal release of endogenous serotonin, or high frequency (20 Hz) stimulations, which cause terminal release of endogenous dopamine, had the same effects on gill lateral cell membrane potentials and cilia beating rate as the respective applications of serotonin or dopamine. The study shows that innervation of gill lateral cells by the branchial nerve affects membrane potential as well as cilia beating rate, and demonstrates a strong correlation between changes in membrane potential and regulation of cilia beating rate. The study furthers the understanding of serotonin and dopamine signaling in the innervation and regulation of gill cilia in bivalves. The study also shows that voltage sensitive fluorescent probes like DiBAC 4(3) can be successfully used as an alternative to microelectrodes to measure changes in membrane potential of ciliated gill cells and other small cells with fast moving cilia

Impact of curricula on student learning: A comparison of six chemical engineering programmes in three Washington Accord countries

This paper shows the variations in the day-to-day structuring of engineering curricula in three Washington Accord countries – England, South Africa, and the United States. Herein we also show how these variations influence students’ learning experiences. The curricular parameters that we focus on include weekly contact hours, curricular rigidity, and the structure of the first year of the degree. Findings obtained through an analysis of undergraduate handbooks, weekly timetables of the different courses, and student interviews suggest considerable differences across the engineering programs along these parameters, both within and across national boundaries, which influence students’ experiences of learning engineering. A high contact time, especially during the initial years of the degree, limits students’ capacity to self-study and participate in extra-curricular activities. The ability to choose electives and specialisations allow students to diversify their skillsets. Where a program introduces a significant number of courses specific to chemical engineering from the first year, students tend to build an early understanding of the discipline. However, this limits their capacity to change majors

"The road away becomes the road back": prodigal sons in the short stories of John McGahern

This article is an analysis of John McGahern’s short fiction as a retelling of the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke. The case is made that the entire body of short fiction forms one connected work and that the journey of the central protagonist forms a circular route away from and than back to the ancestral home. The archetypal implications of the journey fraught with indecision are deepened when analyzed in terms of the parable. I take into consideration the four volumes of short stories published during McGahern’s life – Nightlines, Getting Through, High Ground, and The Collected Stories – and conclude with an extended discussion of his posthumous collection, Creatures of the Earth, and the effect it has on our understanding of his wor

NASA Wrangler: Automated Cloud-Based Data Assembly in the RECOVER Wildfire Decision Support System

NASA Wrangler is a loosely-coupled, event driven, highly parallel data aggregation service designed to take advantageof the elastic resource capabilities of cloud computing. Wrangler automatically collects Earth observational data, climate model outputs, derived remote sensing data products, and historic biophysical data for pre-, active-, and post-wildfire decision making. It is a core service of the RECOVER decision support system, which is providing rapid-response GIS analytic capabilities to state and local government agencies. Wrangler reduces to minutes the time needed to assemble and deliver crucial wildfire-related data