Public Participation in Risk Management Decisions: The Right to Define, The Right to Know and the Right to Act

It is important to solicit public opinions before making decisions about Risk, but this is seen as only a first step. The author observes that it is also important that the public be involved in defining the problem, identifying needed information, interpreting information, and choosing among the options for action

Quantifying and visualising change: strain monitoring of tapestries with digital image correlation

A three-year research project at the University of Southampton (2007–2010) investigated whether monitoring techniques commonly used by engineers to assess the strength and durability of materials could be usefully applied to inform the condition assessment of historic tapestries. To date it has not been possible to obtain an objective picture of the overall condition of a tapestry; the study investigated whether it is possible to identify precursors of structural damage. The two techniques, digital image correlation (DIC) and optical fibre sensors, were used to monitor a representative wool fabric, specially woven tapestry samples, a newly woven tapestry, and historic tapestries, both in the laboratory and in situ in a historic house. This study first sets out to answer the question: can DIC be used to monitor and visualize strain in historic tapestries? It is shown that DIC can be used successfully. Secondly, it discusses the map function, a novel development which allowed the monitoring equipment to be moved, so that it could be used in situ in a historic house. Thirdly, it provides further details of the experimental work using optical fibre sensors to confirm the accuracy of the DIC technique

Job Quality and Job Satisfaction Among Casino Workers: The Case of Foxwoods

This article examines the quality of casino jobs at the largest Indian casino in the United States. It uses survey responses to measure how Foxwoods\u27 employees evaluate various aspects of their jobs, and it also considers other aspects of job quality such as wages, fringe benefits, and wage inequality. The results are part of the growing literature that considers issues important to the gaming industry in the United States

Impact of Service Sector Loads on Renewable Resource Integration

Urban areas consist of a mix of households and services, such as offices, shops, schools, etc. Yet most urban energy models only consider household load profiles, omitting the service sector. Realistic assessment of the potential for renewable resource integration in cities requires models that include detailed demand and generation profiles. Detailed generation profiles are available for many resources. Detailed demand profiles, however, are currently only available for households and not for the service sector. This paper addresses this gap. The paper (1) proposes a novel approach to devise synthetic service sector demand profiles based on a combination of a large number of different data sources, and (2) uses these profiles to study the impact of the service sector on the potential for renewable resource integration in urban energy systems, using the Netherlands as a case study. The importance of the service sector is addressed in a broad range of solar and wind generation scenarios, and in specific time and weather conditions (in a single scenario). Results show that including the service sector leads to statistically significantly better estimations of the potential of renewable resource integration in urban areas. In specific time and weather conditions, including the service sector results in estimations that are up to 33% higher than if only households are considered. The results can be used by researchers to improve urban energy systems models, and by decision-makers and practitioners for grid planning, operation and management}.Comment: 32 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

Self-administering arithmetic enrichment activities for the more rapid learner

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The implicit theory of historical change in the work of Alan S. Milward

Alan S. Milward was an economic historian who developed an implicit theory of historical change. His interpretation which was neither liberal nor Marxist posited that social, political, and economic change, for it to be sustainable, had to be a gradual process rather than one resulting from a sudden, cataclysmic revolutionary event occurring in one sector of the economy or society. Benign change depended much less on natural resource endowment or technological developments than on the ability of state institutions to respond to changing political demands from within each society. State bureaucracies were fundamental to formulating those political demands and advising politicians of ways to meet them. Since each society was different there was no single model of development to be adopted or which could be imposed successfully by one nation-state on others, either through force or through foreign aid programs. Nor could development be promoted simply by copying the model of a more successful economy. Each nation-state had to find its own response to the political demands arising from within its society. Integration occurred when a number of nation– states shared similar political objectives which they could not meet individually but could meet collectively. It was not simply the result of their increasing interdependence. It was how and whether nation-states responded to these domestic demands which determined the nature of historical change.historical change,development,World Wars,Third Reich,Blitzkrieg,New Order,Vichy,Fascism,Grossraumwirtschaft,German question,reconstruction,golden age,integration,supranationality,Bretton Woods

Do Better Customers Utilize Electronic Distribution Channels: The Case of PC Banking

Firms are increasingly implementing electronic distribution strategies to augment existing physical infrastructure for product and service delivery. However, to date there has been little systematic study on how these distribution channels affect customer profitability. In this study, we explore the revenue enhancement potential for electronic delivery in retail banking by comparing customers who utilize personal-computer based home banking ("PC Banking) to other bank customers. Our results, based on case studies and detailed customer data from four institutions, suggest that while PC banking customers appear to be more profitable, most of the differences are due to unobservable characteristics of these customers that were present before PC banking was adopted. Demographic characteristics and changes in customer behavior following the adoption of the product account for only a small fraction of the overall differences. We conclude that, at least to date, the primary potential value of the product is in the retention of high value customers rather than cost savings or incremental sales. Our results also suggest that it is important to distinguish behavioral changes from pre-existing customer characteristics when evaluating the impact of added electronic delivery channels.

Generic Continuity of Operations/Continuity of Government Plan for State-Level Transportation Agencies, Research Report 11-01

The Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (HSPD-20) requires all local, state, tribal and territorial government agencies, and private sector owners of critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR) to create a Continuity of Operations/Continuity of Government Plan (COOP/COG). There is planning and training guidance for generic transportation agency COOP/COG work, and the Transportation Research Board has offered guidance for transportation organizations. However, the special concerns of the state-level transportation agency’s (State DOT’s) plan development are not included, notably the responsibilities for the entire State Highway System and the responsibility to support specific essential functions related to the State DOT Director’s role in the Governor’s cabinet. There is also no guidance on where the COOP/COG planning and organizing fits into the National Incident Management System (NIMS) at the local or state-level department or agency. This report covers the research conducted to determine how to integrate COOP/COG into the overall NIMS approach to emergency management, including a connection between the emergency operations center (EOC) and the COOP/COG activity. The first section is a presentation of the research and its findings and analysis. The second section provides training for the EOC staff of a state-level transportation agency, using a hybrid model of FEMA’s ICS and ESF approaches, including a complete set of EOC position checklists, and other training support material. The third section provides training for the COOP/COG Branch staff of a state-level transportation agency, including a set of personnel position descriptions for the COOP/COG Branch members

Nitrene Transfer Catalyzed by a Non-Heme Iron Enzyme and Enhanced by Non-Native Small-Molecule Cofactors

Transition-metal catalysis is a powerful tool for the construction of chemical bonds. Here we show that a non-heme iron enzyme can catalyze olefin aziridination and nitrene C–H insertion, and that these activities can be improved by directed evolution. The non-heme iron center allows for facile modification of the primary coordination sphere by addition of metal-coordinating molecules, enabling control over enzyme activity and selectivity using small molecules