Protest Cycles and Political Process: American Peace Movements in the Nuclear Age

Since the dawn of the nuclear age small groups of activists have consistently protested both the content of United States national security policy, and the process by which it is made. Only occasionally, however, has concern about nuclear weapons spread beyond these relatively marginal groups, generated substantial public support, and reached mainstream political institutions. In this paper, I use histories of peace protest and analyses of the inside of these social movements and theoretical work on protest cycles to explain cycles of movement engagement and quiescence in terms of their relation to external political context, or the "structure of political opportunity." I begin with a brief review of the relevant literature on the origins of movements, noting parallels in the study of interest groups. Building on recent literature on political opportunity structure, I suggest a theoretical framework for understanding the lifecycle of a social movement that emphasizes the interaction between activist choices and political context, proposing a six-stage process through which challenging movements develop. Using this theoretical framework I examine the four cases of relatively broad antinuclear weapons mobilization in postwar America. I conclude with a discussion of movement cycles and their relation to political alignment, public policy, and institutional politics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68552/2/10.1177_106591299304600302.pd

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

The He(γ,n) reaction: a potential testing ground for the alpha-particle wavefunction

Differential cross sections (σ(Eγ,θn)) for the He(γ,n) reaction have been measured at Eγ=50–71 MeV and θn=30–120°. These data are compared with theoretical predictions where a microscopic calculation of the He and He wavefunctions has been made within the Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas, integral-equation formalism

A helium gas scintillator active target for photoreaction measurements

A multi-cell He gas scintillator active target, designed for the measurement of photoreaction cross sections, is described. The target has four main chambers, giving an overall thickness of 0.103 g/cm3 at an operating pressure of 2 MPa. Scintillations are read out by photomultiplier tubes and the addition of small amounts of N2 to the He, to shift the scintillation emission from UV to visible, is discussed. First results of measurements at the MAX IV Laboratory tagged-photon facility show that the target has a timing resolution of around 1 ns and can cope well with a high-flux photon beam. The determination of reaction cross sections from target yields relies on a Monte Carlo simulation, which considers scintillation light transport, photodisintegration processes in 4He, background photon interactions in target windows and interactions of the reaction-product particles in the gas and target container. The predictions of this simulation are compared to the measured target response

Development of a partnering performance index (PPI) for construction projects in Hong Kong: a Delphi study

Over the past decade, research studies on benefits, critical success factors, difficulties, process, conceptual and theoretical models of construction partnering have been ubiquitous in the construction management discipline. In fact, there is adequate evidence that an increasing number of client organizations are adopting a partnering approach to undertake their building and construction projects both locally and worldwide during the last decade. With the perceived benefits that partnering brings about, research into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the success of partnering projects in construction becomes vital as it can help set a benchmark for measuring the performance level of partnering projects. However, although there are some related studies and papers on this research area, few, if any, comprehensive and systematic studies focus on developing a comprehensive, objective, reliable and practical performance evaluation model for partnering projects. A model has been developed using the Delphi survey technique to objectively measure the performance of partnering projects in Hong Kong based on a consolidated KPIs' conceptual framework previously developed for partnering projects. Four rounds of Delphi questionnaire survey were conducted with 31 construction experts in Hong Kong. The results reveal that the top seven weighted KPIs to evaluate the success of partnering projects in Hong Kong were: (1) time performance; (2) cost performance; (3) top management commitment; (4) trust and respect; (5) quality performance; (6) effective communications; and (7) innovation and improvement. A statistically significant consensus on the top seven weighted KPIs was also obtained. Finally, a composite Partnering Performance Index (PPI) for partnering projects in Hong Kong was derived to provide an all-round assessment of partnering performance. Different partnering projects can now be assessed on the same basis for benchmarking purposes. Construction senior executives and project managers can thus use the Index to measure, evaluate and improve the performance of their partnering projects to strive for construction excellence. Although the PPI was developed locally in Hong Kong, the research method could be replicated in other parts of the world to produce similar indices for international comparison. Such an extension would aid the understanding of managing partnering projects across different geographic locations.Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Partnering Performance Index (PPI), Delphi method, Delphi study, Hong Kong,