An investigation to establish whether property maintenance can diminish the number of empty commercial buildings in Sheffield and Leeds

Property maintenance has long been considered an undesirable and overlooked area amongst the construction and property industries; however, a large proportion of construction output comes from such maintenance works. Empty commercial property is an emotive and challenging area, which has been made more topical due to the implementation of the Rating (Empty Property) Act 2007 placing further financial liability on owners with the aim of „incentivising‟ them either to develop, re-let or sell their vacant buildings. As such, the level of property maintenance is important to allow the building to be at a lettable or saleable standard, which in turn should allow the number of unused commercial buildings in the United Kingdom (UK) to reduce. A mixture of primary and secondary sources were utilised to fulfil this research to determine whether incentives exist or can exist to increase the level of property maintenance to diminish the number of vacant commercial buildings in Leeds and Sheffield. The primary data was based on six case studies, four example cases in point and two interviews. Ratings were assigned according to factors and incentives to analyse the data to assist in the findings of this research. This change in Government policy is causing outrage amongst UK businesses and professional bodies of the property industry, in extreme cases leading to the demolition of the building to avoid liability and other detrimental consequences, such as staff reductions to make up for the liability. It has come also alongside the worst recession of recent times

An integrated approach to judicial decision making: the death penalty in South Africa

Existing judicial research has firmly established the role of the law and the courts in the political system of the United States. Yet very little systematic empirical research has been conducted to fully explore the extent to which theories of judicial behavior based upon the American judicial system are applicable to other legal systems. As a result, these theories lack generalizability and, moreover, have failed to determine if the U.S. judiciary is comparable to other court systems or simply an anomaly within a broader comparative framework. Given this void within the existing literature, this study extends several theories of judicial behavior developed in the American context to South Africa’s highest court, the Appellate Division, throughout the time period 1950-1990—roughly the rise and fall of apartheid. Specifically, it employs an integrated approach derived from both the legal and extralegal approaches of judicial decision making to a particularly salient issue area, the death penalty, and discovers that ideology and race—rather than legal factors—are perhaps the strongest predictors of death penalty decisions. The implications of these findings are that judicial decision making is much more complex than what the legal model suggests and, concomitantly, that theories of judicial behavior extrapolated from the American context are capable of similarly determining the degree to which politics plays a role within the legal system of South Africa

How Effective is Guided Reading at Accelerating Reading Abilities of Sixth Grade Struggling Readers?

Acknowledging that reading deficits can cause challenges with all core subjects, this thesis project stresses the importance of additional helps for the struggling reader. Guided reading is an instructional strategy utilized by teachers to increase the reading competencies of students performing below grade level. The research focuses specifically on how effective guided reading groups are for accelerating and improving the reading abilities of sixth grade students. Literature review, as it bears on this study, distills three main topics of import: literacy programs, reading interventions, and specific strategy instruction. The research study was conducted in a small, rural school district throughout a six month period, by three female, sixth grade students, who struggle with reading. Student participants met every other day for 45 minute guided reading sessions. Data was collected using three means: Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA) scores, both pre and post-test, as well as bi-monthly running record assessment measures, and journal observations by the research author. DRA assessments were conducted for the students at the beginning and end of the research time period. Prior to data collection each student’s literacy folder was examined to understand the history of educational challenges for the individual learner. Study conclusions verify the positive impact guided reading strategies have, on students who read below grade level, to increase the reading skillset of struggling readers

Cluster-variation approximation for a network-forming lattice-fluid model

We consider a 3-dimensional lattice model of a network-forming fluid, which has been recently investigated by Girardi and coworkers by means of Monte Carlo simulations [J. Chem. Phys. \textbf{126}, 064503 (2007)], with the aim of describing water anomalies. We develop an approximate semi-analytical calculation, based on a cluster-variation technique, which turns out to reproduce almost quantitatively different thermodynamic properties and phase transitions determined by the Monte Carlo method. Nevertheless, our calculation points out the existence of two different phases characterized by long-range orientational order, and of critical transitions between them and to a high-temperature orientationally-disordered phase. Also, the existence of such critical lines allows us to explain certain ``kinks'' in the isotherms and isobars determined by the Monte Carlo analysis. The picture of the phase diagram becomes much more complex and richer, though unfortunately less suitable to describe real water.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Revisiting waterlike network-forming lattice models

In a previous paper [J. Chem. Phys. 129, 024506 (2008)] we studied a 3 dimensional lattice model of a network-forming fluid, recently proposed in order to investigate water anomalies. Our semi-analytical calculation, based on a cluster-variation technique, turned out to reproduce almost quantitatively several Monte Carlo results and allowed us to clarify the structure of the phase diagram, including different kinds of orientationally ordered phases. Here, we extend the calculation to different parameter values and to other similar models, known in the literature. We observe that analogous ordered phases occur in all these models. Moreover, we show that certain "waterlike" thermodynamic anomalies, claimed by previous studies, are indeed artifacts of a homogeneity assumption made in the analytical treatment. We argue that such a difficulty is common to a whole class of lattice models for water, and suggest a possible way to overcome the problem.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

The impact of space and space-related activities on a local economy. a case study of boulder, colorado. part ii- the income-product accounts

Total impact of space and space related activities on local economy of Boulder, Colorado - income-product account

Feeding Habits of Juvenile Lane Snapper Lutjanus synagris from Mississippi Coastal Waters, with Comments on the Diet of Gray Snapper Lutjanus griseus

Stomach contents analysis was used to quantitatively describe the diets of juvenile lane snapper, Lutjanus synagris, and juvenile gray snapper, Lutjanus griseus, from the northern Gulf of Mexico. Juvenile snapper were collected by trawling at two estuarine, deep channel sites in Mississippi coastal waters from September 1996 to January 1997. Lane snapper (n = 53) and gray snapper (n = 12) both consumed a variety of prey organisms, but primary prey were amphipods, decapods (shrimp and crabs), and fishes. The most important prey items for lane snapper based on percent Index of Relative Importance (%IRI) were shrimp remains (44%IRI), the shrimp Latreutes parvulus (23%IRI) and fish remains (13%IRI). Fishes of the genus Anchoa (43%IRI), shrimp remains (21%IRI) and the amphipod Corophium sp. (13%IRI) dominated the gray snapper diet. Intraspecific comparisons of lane snapper diet revealed significant overlap between collection sites, seasons and fish sizes