Using Survey IDs to Enhance Survey Research and Administration

Survey IDs are short strings of unique characters assigned to each recipient in a sample population. Extension research can benefit from the improved organization of survey implementation and data collection, better researcher-respondent communication, and reduced survey material costs supported through the use of survey IDs. This article outlines how survey IDs can provide a more efficient approach to survey administration and data management and includes suggestions about overcoming some limitations of survey IDs. Best practices for creating and using survey IDs when organizing and administering survey research also are suggested

An exploration of Polish women’s experiences of migration and support for domestic violence and abuse in the UK

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is still a highly prevalent crime affecting millions of lives each year. DVA impacts upon whole families, yet women worldwide are recorded as the most prevalent victims in DVA incidents. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups have been examined in relation to DVA however, there is rather limited research around Polish women and their experiences of migration and support for DVA in the United Kingdom (UK). This research investigates Polish women’s experiences of migration and support for DVA and looks at the impact of migration on their experiences through the thematic analysis of five interviews. All five women had been offered support from the domestic abuse organisations, health and children’s social care services. A symbolic interactionist framework was employed to explore the impact of migration on the women’s lives and the experiences of support they received, because it focuses on human interactions and the understanding people attach to those interactions. The study findings indicate that all participants received similar levels of support from a variety of organisations in the UK. However, the women’s experiences were of two distinct narratives: positive and negative outcomes of received support. Three women’s stories were characterised by positive messages including expression of their gratitude and appreciation of received support from services, which enabled them to become empowered and make desirable changes to their lives. The other two participants voiced their negative views regarding their lives and experiences of prejudice and discrimination. These women remained dis-empowered after social interventions, and thus remained negative about their current lives, but made no positive changes in order to alter their circumstances. The Polish women’s responses to DVA varied depending on their perceptions of support available to them and how the impact of migration on their individual lives was differing. Importantly, although experiences may be shared across accounts, the perception of these experiences is noticeably different for each participant. This suggests that the way in which women interpret their experiences of the impact of the migration process on their lives and accessibility of support for DVA is central to understanding the outcomes. The research illustrates that the key factors are personal interpretation and perception rather than any factor linked to their personal identity as a Polish woman or to the level of support offered

The Royal Australian Air Force’s Struggle to Create Joint Military Capability: A Study of the Evolution of Inter-Service Cooperation in the Australian Defence Force

In today’s dynamic and uncertain geo-strategic environment, it is essential that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) creates the military capability necessary to meet emerging security challenges. The three separate Services - Navy, Army and Air Force – must come together to create the most potent joint force possible. In a seminal report on command arrangements in the ADF published in 1988, then-brigadier, later general and chief of the defence force, John Baker, stated that it has been the pervasiveness of air power that alone has driven the ‘inexorable trend towards joint operations’. That is, ‘Air’ has a special role in generating ‘Joint’. The RAAF too often has struggled to properly prioritise the development of joint capability. Greater understanding of why a disconnect has existed between intent and action is essential if the RAAF is to realise its full potential as an integral part of Australia’s joint force. This thesis uses organisational theory to explain how culture, bureaucratic behaviour, and organisational politics have combined to draw the attention of the RAAF (and the other Services) away from joint capability. The thesis also examines alternative models of jointness adopted in Canada and Israel to assess whether they might offer opportunities for improved cooperation within the ADF. The research demonstrates that all three Services strive to become dominant in their primary environmental domain. Creating domain dominance is an essential activity that creates lethality within the joint force, but it is also one of the primary reasons why the creation of joint capability sometimes takes a back seat. The thesis concludes that organisational culture and behaviour play a significant role in determining the priority the RAAF has (or has not) placed on joint capability. Additionally, many of the difficulties experienced have been, and remain, a direct result of a manifest failure within the broader Department of Defence to provide the focused direction needed to achieve joint design. The way in which Defence describes what it wants the joint force to achieve has adversely affected interservice cooperation. Relatively minor changes to the ADF’s organisational design process and to Defence’s development of military strategy should enable the three separate Services to realise their intent of greater and more meaningful cooperation and, therefore, to become a more potent joint force

The principles underlying the use of powder diffraction data in solving pharmaceutical crystal structures

Solving pharmaceutical crystal structures from powder diffraction data is discussed in terms of the methodologies that have been applied and the complexity of the structures that have been solved. The principles underlying these methodologies are summarized and representative examples of polymorph, solvate, salt and cocrystal structure solutions are provided, together with examples of some particularly challenging structure determinations

Salt and ionic cocrystalline forms of amides: protonation of carbamazepine in aqueous media

The products of reactions of the pharmaceutical amide carbamazepine (CBZ) with strong acids under aqueous conditions were investigated by both powder and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Despite previous claims to the contrary, it was found that salt forms with CBZ protonated at the amide O atom could be isolated from reactions with both HCl and HBr. These forms include the newly identified hydrate phase [CBZ(H)][Cl]·H O. Reactions with other mineral acids (HI and HBF ) gave ionic cocrystalline (ICC) forms (CBZ· [acridinium][I ]·2.5I and CBZ·[H O ] [BF ] ·H O) as well as the salt form CBZ·[CBZ(H)][BF ]·0.5H O. Reaction 2 4 3 2 5 2 0.25 4 0.25 2 4 2 of CBZ with a series of sulfonic acids also gave salt forms, namely, [CBZ(H)][O SC H ], [CBZ(H)][O SC H (OH)]· 3 6 5 3 6 4 0.5H O, [CBZ(H)] [O SCH CH SO ], and [CBZ(H)][O SC H (OH) (COOH)]·H O. CBZ and protonated CBZ(H) 2 2 3 2 2 3 3 6 3 2 moieties can be differentiated in the solid state both by changes to molecular geometry and by differing packing preference

Planck pre-launch status: calibration of the Low Frequency Instrument flight model radiometers

The Low Frequency Instrument (LFI) on-board the ESA Planck satellite carries eleven radiometer subsystems, called Radiometer Chain Assemblies (RCAs), each composed of a pair of pseudo-correlation receivers. We describe the on-ground calibration campaign performed to qualify the flight model RCAs and to measure their pre-launch performances. Each RCA was calibrated in a dedicated flight-like cryogenic environment with the radiometer front-end cooled to 20K and the back-end at 300K, and with an external input load cooled to 4K. A matched load simulating a blackbody at different temperatures was placed in front of the sky horn to derive basic radiometer properties such as noise temperature, gain, and noise performance, e.g. 1/f noise. The spectral response of each detector was measured as was their susceptibility to thermal variation. All eleven LFI RCAs were calibrated. Instrumental parameters measured in these tests, such as noise temperature, bandwidth, radiometer isolation, and linearity, provide essential inputs to the Planck-LFI data analysis.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Investigation of the Reaction Zone Characteristics of PETN initiated by a Laser flyer

Poster presented at the 2018 Defence and Security Doctoral Symposium.A 400mJ Nd:YAG laser has been used to launch aluminium/alumina flyers into small, low density pellets of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). The beam profile was homogenised by dispersive smooth­ing through a length of optical fibre. By varying the thickness and velocity of the flyer, experiments could be performed with a range of input shock magnitudes and durations. Microfabricated sensors were developed to detect the change in electrical conductivity in the reaction zone, and therefore to calculate its thickness and position as a function of time. (C) British Crown Owned Copyright / 2018AW

Determining the Reaction Zone Length in Shock Initiated PETN

Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) is a secondary explosive used in electrical detonators in the form of a pressed powder. The reaction zone length of PETN is smaller than that of most other explosives, therefore there is a lack of data due to insufficient resolution of existing methods. Furthermore, most prior work has been on steady state behaviour, so the transition regime before steady state is particularly poorly understood. The research described in this thesis was undertaken in order to characterise the reaction zone length and wave curvature during the evolution from initiation to steady state. The investigation was focused on a detonator setting, so confined cylindrical pellets of a similar scale were used here. To separate the effect of the chemical reaction from the mechanical response to shock, plate impact experiments were performed on an inert simulant: a fine icing sugar with comparable particle size. The shock velocity and rise time were found to exhibit dependence on the thickness of the bed, suggesting that these effects may also play a role in PETN prior to development of detonation. A fibre launched laser flyer detonator system was constructed to allow repeatable shock initiation of the target samples with a high throughput. This apparatus could produce a highly tuneable shock without much of the electrical noise present with electrical detonators. High-rate capacitive sensing was applied as a technique for measuring detonation properties in small columns of PETN. Development of the diagnostic incorporated design of the sensor itself, event synchronisation handling and noise reduction. A custom-made data processing algorithm was used to extract useful information from the sensor signal. This technology was found to have the temporal and spatial resolution required, as well as being cheaper and easier to implement than competing methods. Experiments using this diagnostic were performed to measure the reaction zone length and curvature for a range of densities and sample sizes. The data could also be used to calculate detonation velocity and 'lost time'. An important part of these experiments was the creation of consistent target samples. A hydrocode incorporating the CREST reactive model was written to numerically model the detonation and provide a predictive capability. The results of the experiments were used to set the values of the parameters in the simulation

Exploring Temporal Phases of Wildfire Adaptation: Experiences Across Socially Diverse Communities

The increasing frequency and size of wildfire events across the United States and their subsequent impacts on populations living in fire-prone landscapes indicate an urgent need to strengthen community efforts to adapt to fire. Communities in the wildland-urban interface may take vastly different approaches to address wildfire risk, complicating the adoption and implementation of many policy and management efforts. Developing a stronger understanding of how varying community-wildfire interactions may change and evolve over time can offer insights about the enduring social legacies of wildfire risk and their implications for wildfire management. This dissertation presents three studies in four different communities across the Western United States designed to investigate social dimensions of wildfire before, during, and after wildfire events, including: (1) Community recovery and extra-local assistance after a large fire; (2) The influence of pre-fire and event-based cues on intended evacuation behavior; and (3) Support for regulatory approaches to wildfire risk reduction in two rural communities. I use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore how communities can or are adapting to wildfire at different ‘phases’ in the duration of a wildfire’s lifespan. Each chapter concludes with a discussion of implications or recommendations for wildfire risk management in the wildland-urban interface. These efforts can inform proactive approaches to policy design and management implementation that can better support communities at different points in time and in different local contexts.doctoral, Ph.D., Natural Resources -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2018-1