Flat conductor cable commercialization project

An undercarpet flat conductor cable and a baseboard flat conductor cable system were studied for commercialization. The undercarpet system is designed for use in office and commercial buildings. It employs a flat power cable, protected by a grounded metal shield, that terminates in receptacles mounted on the floor. It is designed to interface with a flat conductor cable telephone system. The baseboard system consists of a flat power cable mounted in a plastic raceway; both the raceway and the receptacles are mounted on the surface of the baseboard. It is designed primarily for use in residential buildings, particularly for renovation and concrete and masonry construction

Understanding Families\u27 Definitions and Perspectives of Family-Centered Early Intervention Programs.

While both the federal and Louisiana state infant/toddler legislation and early childhood special education best practices literature of the late eighties and nineties provided impetus for family-centered early intervention, neither provided specific guidelines on how professionals were to implement the same. In order for early interventionists to provide effective services to individual families they must be able to evaluate and understand how each family they served defined an individualized family service plan as being family centered. This qualitative study extended the knowledge and constructed an understanding of how select families in the Acadiana area, whose children were Part H eligible, defined family-centered early intervention services, based on their experiences and interactions with family members and systems outside the family. Family diversities, such as socioeconomic status, gender, geographic location, and ethnic background, generated both similarities and differences in the definitions. Specifically, participant observation of early intervention sessions, individual interviews with families, and document analysis (Spradley, 1979, 1980) were used over the four month period of this study. Eight families participated in the study including three of African American and five of European American ethnic backgrounds. Four of the five European American families were of Acadiana heritage. The other demographics of the families were evenly divided between rural and urban residents and low and middle socioeconomic status. Two fathers and six mothers were a part of the group. All of these eight families wanted in some way to define the framework of their child\u27s early intervention program including what services were needed, the intensity of the services, and their own level of involvement. The desire for control crossed gender, locale, socioeconomic status, and ethnic lines. These selected families wanted professionals to listen to them, to provide them choices, and respond to their concerns. The family service coordination system was not working for these families. They needed an early intervention program sensitive to their unique preferences. Family-centered intervention required an understanding of their preferences as they had developed from the interaction of their diversities and experiences

On an Occurrence of Gold in Maine

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Regulating the employment dynamics of domestic supply chains

This paper sheds light on the role that the regulation of primarily domestic, rather than global, supply chains could play in protecting and enhancing standards of workplace health and safety, as well as employment standards more generally. The analysis presented confirms the potential relevance of such regulation in these regards. However, it also reinforces existing evidence pointing to the fact that only very rarely will market-related considerations on their own prompt purchasers to seek to directly influence the employment practices of their suppliers. The paper ends therefore by highlighting a number of key issues relating to the design of regulatory initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing employment conditions within supply chains

Protecting workers through supply chains: lessons from two construction case studies

Two case studies of the successful use of supply chains to support the effective management of health and safety on constructions sites are analysed to identify the factors supporting this success. The analysis reveals that a combination of external regulatory pressures and an industry structure facilitative of the establishment and implementation of ‘good practice’ played a crucial role in the outcomes achieved. It is concluded therefore that while the findings lend weight to policy initiatives to utilise the power dynamics in supply chains to protect working conditions, they also suggest that surrounding institutional and industrial contexts exert a potentially crucial influence over their effectiveness. Consequently, it is further argued that such initiatives need to be responsively shaped to them

A Comparison Of Corruption Perceptions: The Czech Republic And Sloakia

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1989 Czechoslovakia regained its independence from Soviet domination as a result of a so called “velvet revolution.” Four years later in 1993 the two parts of Czechoslovakia separated in a “velvet divorce” to become two independent states:  The Czech Republic and Slovakia. Slovakia was at the time less developed than the Czech Republic. Previous studies of corruption indicate that the less developed a country is the more corruption would be expected. This study uses data from the Business Environment and Economic Performance Survey (BEEPS) of the World Bank and the European Bank for reconstruction and Development to explore perceptions of corruption in the two countries

Preferences of children in grades two through eight in social studies subject areas

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Perivascular mast cells promote neointimal elastin deposition and suppress chronic vein graft restenosis in hyperlipidaemic mice.

Aims: Mast cells are versatile innate immune cells and are reported to promote vascular inflammation and neointimal lesion formation, thereby contributing to the development of vascular stenosis and atherosclerosis. However, it is not clear whether mast cells also regulate vascular matrix remodelling in established neointima. This study addressed the hypothesis that perivascular mast cells regulate neointimal matrix remodelling using a mouse vein graft model. Methods: The impact of mast cells on neointimal remodelling was investigated using mast cell-deficient animals in both normolipidaemic (KitW-sh/W-sh) and hyperlipidaemic (apoE-/-KitW-sh/W-sh) conditions. The effect of perivascular mast cells on vascular matrix remodelling, including collagen and elastin deposition, was investigated using a local mast cell reconstitution method that selectively repopulated mast cells around the carotid artery (where the vein graft was inserted) in KitW-sh/W-sh mice. Results: In normolipidaemic vein grafts (KitW-sh/W-sh vs. the wild type control C57BL/6J), collagen synthesis was not affected by mast cell deficiency at 4 weeks. In contrast, neointimal elastin was reduced by 6.5-fold in mast cell-deficient KitW-sh/W-sh mice, which was prevented by perivascular mast cell reconstitution. Mast cell deficiency induced a similar reduction in neointimal elastin in hyperlipidaemic mice (apoE-/-KitW-sh/W-sh vs. apoE-/-), with a significant increase in cell proliferation and neointimal area at 4 week. Conclusion: Mast cells appear to promote elastin deposition in vein grafts and this may lead to further suppression of cell proliferation and neointimal thickening under hyperlipidaemic conditions