Access Denied: The Problem of Abused Men in Washington

This Comment explains how the Washington legislature and court system have failed to provide abused men with much needed protection, despite a law that is facially gender neutral. Following this Introduction, Part II explores the wording of Washington\u27s domestic violence statutes and analyzes the current implementing regulations. Part III demonstrates that the problem of abused men is legitimate by examining increasing social awareness and the results of current studies. By examining the prevailing national viewpoint embodied in the Violence Against Women Act, Part IV discusses how such a viewpoint adversely affects the availability of resources for abused men. Part V looks at how the judiciary interprets domestic violence law. In conclusion, Part VI posits ideas on how Washington State can improve its treatment of abused men in order to conform to the gender-neutral language of its statute and remedy this important, though often secret, problem

Access Denied: The Problem of Abused Men in Washington

This Comment explains how the Washington legislature and court system have failed to provide abused men with much needed protection, despite a law that is facially gender neutral. Following this Introduction, Part II explores the wording of Washington\u27s domestic violence statutes and analyzes the current implementing regulations. Part III demonstrates that the problem of abused men is legitimate by examining increasing social awareness and the results of current studies. By examining the prevailing national viewpoint embodied in the Violence Against Women Act, Part IV discusses how such a viewpoint adversely affects the availability of resources for abused men. Part V looks at how the judiciary interprets domestic violence law. In conclusion, Part VI posits ideas on how Washington State can improve its treatment of abused men in order to conform to the gender-neutral language of its statute and remedy this important, though often secret, problem

The antecedents and consequences of a customer value-oriented dominant logic: a dynamic managerial capabilities perspective

Market orientation has been primarily studied as a set of firm-level behaviours linked to the: generation of, dissemination of, and responsiveness to market intelligence (market-oriented behaviours). However, it has rarely been studied under an organisational culture perspective; the investigations that have conceptualised and operationalised market-oriented organisational cultures have overlooked a market-oriented managerial mind-set dimension. A concept to help address this research gap is the firm s dominant logic, which highlights the degree to which managers assumptions are manifested into their corporate cultures. The firm s dominant logic is integrated with the market orientation literature to conceptualise and operationalise the customer value-oriented dominant logic (CVODL) construct. The CVODL construct is defined as the extent to which managers assume that creating customer value should drive performance. The CVODL construct contributes to the marketing literature by extending current conceptualisations and operationalisations of market-oriented organisational cultures through a managerial mind-set viewpoint. This doctoral study examines the link between a CVODL and managers making resource investments into the departments of their corporations that they perceive to create value for their customers (an alternative to market-oriented behaviours). Functional resource investments are studied as an alternative form of implementing the marketing concept than market-oriented behaviours. A conceptual framework was developed to conceptualise the antecedents and consequences of the CVODL under the dynamic managerial capabilities perspective. The conceptual framework was tested using a multi-industry and national-level sample of American corporations, through structural equation modelling (SEM). These results show that a CVODL drives different forms of implementing the marketing concept, namely, intelligence responsiveness and CVO functional resource investments, both of which were positively related to sales performance. The results also highlight a new driver of market-oriented behaviours under the dynamic managerial capabilities perspective. This doctoral thesis helps managers to foster a market-oriented organisational culture, as well as investigating the ways in which such corporate cultures can drive sales performance. Limitations and avenues of future research are also discussed

Review of NGO performance research published in academic journals between 1996 and 2008

Globally, literature on the performance of development non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has increased. However, little is known regarding the distinctive characteristics of academic articles on factors influencing NGO performance. In a recent systematic review of research, published in English-language academic journals between 1996 and 2008, factors influencing NGO performance were investigated. From the 31 journal articles that met the inclusion criteria, this study examined the salient characteristics of NGO performance research in terms of, (1) the number of publications, (2) publication outlets (journals and journal cluster), (3) author collaboration (sole or joint authors), (4) author affiliation, (5) study location, (6) study period, (7) study topics and (8) method and sources of information. Findings showed a steady increase in the number of articles, published in a wide array of journals with over half of the articles published in development studies journals. Of the 31 articles, 21 were sole authored. Data were mainly sought from NGO directors, programme staff and donors; comparatively fewer studies collected data from beneficiaries. Studies were mainly conducted in developing countries, whilst most authors were affiliated to institutions in developed countries. Of the 13 authors who conducted studies in Africa only 3 were affiliated to an institution in Africa. This study confirmed the continued need for increased research on factors influencing NGO performance; revealed the low seeking of beneficiaries’ perspectives in NGO performance research despite the rhetoric of participatory development; and revealed the low number of published researchers in Africa an

Cladding strategies for building-integrated photovoltaics

Photovoltaic cladding on the surfaces of commercial buildings has the potential for considerable reductions in carbon emissions due to embedded renewable power generation displacing conventional power utilization. In this paper, a model is described for the optimization of photovoltaic cladding densities on commercial building surfaces. The model uses a modified form of the ‘fill factor’ method for photovoltaic power supply coupled to new regression-based procedures for power demand estimation. An optimization is included based on a defined ‘mean index of satisfaction’ for matched power supply and demand (i.e., zero power exportation to the grid). The mean index of satisfaction directly translates to the reduction in carbon emission that might be expected over conventional power use. On clear days throughout the year, reductions of conventional power use of at least 60% can be achieved with an optimum cladding pattern targeted to lighting and small power load demands

Novel designs for Penning ion traps

We present a number of alternative designs for Penning ion traps suitable for quantum information processing (QIP) applications with atomic ions. The first trap design is a simple array of long straight wires which allows easy optical access. A prototype of this trap has been built to trap Ca+ and a simple electronic detection scheme has been employed to demonstrate the operation of the trap. Another trap design consists of a conducting plate with a hole in it situated above a continuous conducting plane. The final trap design is based on an array of pad electrodes. Although this trap design lacks the open geometry of the traps described above, the pad design may prove useful in a hybrid scheme in which information processing and qubit storage take place in different types of trap. The behaviour of the pad traps is simulated numerically and techniques for moving ions rapidly between traps are discussed. Future experiments with these various designs are discussed. All of the designs lend themselves to the construction of multiple trap arrays, as required for scalable ion trap QIP.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure