The 1995 Attempted Derailing of the French TGV (High-Speed Train) and a Quantitative Analysis of 181 Rail Sabotage Attempts, MTI Report 09-12

On August 26, 1995, the Saturday of the final and busiest weekend of France’s summer holiday season, terrorists attempted to derail the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) between Lyon and Paris by planting a bomb. Fortunately, their crude triggering mechanism failed to detonate the bomb, and subsequent analysis indicates that even had the bomb gone off, the explosion would not have derailed the train. The TGV episode, one of a continuing series of case studies by the Mineta Transportation Institute, points to a continuing problem: Since 1995, terrorists have attempted to derail trains on at least 144 occasions. Because of the expansion of high-speed rail systems in Europe, Asia, and North America, where 15 high-speed rail projects are in preparation or under way in the United States alone, this case study has been expanded to include a chronology and statistical analysis of attempted derailments worldwide. This analysis examines the geographic distribution of the attempts, the methods used by the saboteurs, and the outcomes. Although based on a small universe of events, it underscores both the attractiveness to terrorists of attacking transportation systems—a successful attack can result in high body counts, significant disruption, dramatic images, and enormous publicity, all things sought by terrorists—and the difficulties of achieving success

Struggle in the garment sector

This article considers what struggle means for the international garment worker of today. The typical worker will most likely be a woman experiencing exploitative and harsh conditions in a sector where, internationally, employers generally seek to crush independent trade unionism. The article briefly reviews the garment industry’s history, including advances made to working conditions by the mid-twentieth century, and the erosion of working conditions that has been associated with capital’s relocation and the internationalisation of production from the late 1970s onwards. It outlines the challenges of becoming a trade unionist and engaging in struggle under the very real threat of intimidation and violence

Educational Talent Search: Assessing Student Outcomes for First-Generation, Low-Income Students in Rural Georgia

The Educational Talent Search (ETS) program is a pre-college information dissemination program that works with potential first-generation, low-income sixth through twelfth graders. The goal of the ETS program is to increase the number of first-generation, lowincome students graduating from high school and enrolling in programs of postsecondary study. The purpose of this current study is to determine if there are specific ETS program services that facilitate high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment, specifically at the four-year college/university level. The primary data source of this study is the Blumen database system for an ETS program hosted by a small two-year college in Georgia. The target group of this study is the 203 ETS participants who were in the twelfth grade during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 academic years. Data analysis results from chi square and logistic regression tests reveal that regardless of the academic year, admissions and financial aid information emerged as the greatest single predictor of this study of both high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment

Women and Class: a Theoretical and Empirical Analysis (Stratification).

This study was an attempt to conceptually and empirically expand Marx\u27s class analytic scheme to include the unique position of women. The goals in this study were to: (1) discuss and resolve certain issues surrounding the definition of the working class; and (2) to test an empirical measure of class that would reflect women\u27s roles in the home and the workplace. The first goal was met basically by a theoretical model that allowed the conceptualization of women and their place in production (both in home and work) into an already existing class structure. This study concentrated on the differences in the boundary problem (the criteria for class definitions) for those who did not own the means of production. It was the theoretical position in this paper that the married women in this study were found in positions constituting the working class. However, this only resolved those issues concerning womens\u27 individual class position and not their link to the family. The second goal was to capture women\u27s experience both in the family and in the workplace. This was done by a specific empirical test using the data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. An interactive term reflecting both husband\u27s and wife\u27s individual class position was used to determine family class effect on income (earnings). Also, a variable measuring domestic labor was designed to demonstrate women\u27s role in the home as well. The empirical findings were mixed, using the most conservative statistical measures. The interactive term did not play a significant role in the earnings model at this time. Nonetheless, it is hoped that future tests with the present or different data will result in more decisive findings. What is clear from the data is that women do not fit very well into class analysis and new methods must be derived to understand and conceptualize women\u27s role in the workplace and at home

An Exploration of Transportation Terrorist Stabbing Attacks

In his August 22, 2018 message to supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and [greater] Syria (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi implored ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq as well as those on various jihadist fronts in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia not to be dismayed by military setbacks suffered by the Islamic State, but to continue fighting, confident that Allah would ultimately reward those who remained steadfast with victory. In the same message, he exhorted homegrown jihadists abroad— “the fierce lions in the lands of the Cross—Canada, Europe, and elsewhere” to carry out simple attacks within their limited capabilities that would nonetheless have great psychological impact because they would strike in the enemy’s homeland.Previous reports by the Mineta Transportation Institute have addressed bombings (see Suicide Bombings Against Trains and Buses Are Lethal but Few in Number and Explosives and Incendiaries Used in Terrorist Attacks on Public Surface Transportation: A Preliminary Empirical Analysis ). Car ramming attacks or what are sometimes called vehicular rammings have been the subject of more recent reporting. This report looks first at terrorist stabbing attacks against the public as a general phenomenon, and then examines stabbing attacks in public surface transportation venues

Uneven development, uneven response: the relentless search for meaningful regulation of GVCs

The regulation of employment in global value chains (GVCs) is a story of the interaction of corporation and state in transnational space, where uneven international development has allowed the commodification and exploitation of international labour. Global standards are well articulated by bodies such as the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UN. We know what ‘decent work’ should look like as well as what all workers should enjoy as basic employment and human rights. Yet, internationally, the different mechanisms of private and public regulation fail at the point of implementation and across the world we see no fundamental shift in the condition of labour in terms of its capacity for social or economic upgrading. This article examines the regulatory mechanisms, and outcomes of regulation, of industrial relations in GVCs. It commends a future research agenda to illuminate the interaction between different sources of standards and rules and the complexities of intersecting private and public regulation, in the pursuit of enforceable, meaningful regulation of work and employment in international supply chains

Gyromagnetic Factors and Atomic Clock Constraints on the Variation of Fundamental Constants

We consider the effect of the coupled variations of fundamental constants on the nucleon magnetic moment. The nucleon g-factor enters into the interpretation of the measurements of variations in the fine-structure constant, alpha, in both the laboratory (through atomic clock measurements) and in astrophysical systems (e.g. through measurements of the 21 cm transitions). A null result can be translated into a limit on the variation of a set of fundamental constants, that is usually reduced to alpha. However, in specific models, particularly unification models, changes in alpha are always accompanied by corresponding changes in other fundamental quantities such as the QCD scale, Lambda_QCD. This work tracks the changes in the nucleon g-factors induced from changes in Lambda_QCD and the light quark masses. In principle, these coupled variations can improve the bounds on the variation of alpha by an order of magnitude from existing atomic clock and astrophysical measurements. Unfortunately, the calculation of the dependence of g-factors on fundamental parameters is notoriously model-dependent.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures. Discussions of the effects of the polarization of the non-valence nucleons, spin-spin interaction and nuclear radius on the nuclear g-factor are added. References added. Matches published versio

Prospectus, November 8, 1978

SHOPLIFTING--A GROWING CRIME; Recital cancelled; Activities for the week; Registration still open for bridge tournament; Register by tomorrow for adult workshop; PC offers glass class; Everyone feels depression; Counseling center hosts transfer day; Shopping trip set for Dec. 2; PC players begin play; \u27Super Piano\u27 performs at PC; Shoplifting problem turns to part-time robbery; Bread warms audience in Halloween concert; Queen contest set for Dec. 15; NJCAA meet hosted by PC; PC students put their best pumpkin forward; Classifieds; DePree gives Karate exhibit; PC offers workshop; WPCD\u27s Top 15 for the Week of Nov. 6; State Tourney here we come!; Intramurals start this week; Illini team is promising; Fast Freddy Contest; Clarke wins Fast Freddy; PC finishes 3rd at Danvillehttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1978/1004/thumbnail.jp