THE IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL COMPLEXITY ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ENGLISH-MEDIUM INSTRUCTION (EMI) REFORM CONCEPT IN THREE NORTHERN EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES

This study examines university English-medium Instruction (EMI) reform implementation approaches from a comparative organizational perspective. Over the last decade, the number of master’s degree programs instructed exclusively in English in non-Anglophone Europe increased dramatically. Europe is an interesting case as it actively promotes multilingual learning; however, many European policies over the last twenty years accelerated the rise of monolingual EMI reforms, especially at the graduate-level. The purpose of this exploratory study is to contribute to our understanding of how widespread EMI reforms impact structures and behaviors at the organizational level in European universities in ways that respond to the organization’s embedded policy contexts. This research aims to advance our understandings of comparative EMI reforms and also, drawing on the concepts of neoinstitutional theory, develop our knowledge of how these processes might be theorized and expanded. I combine the theoretical frames of translation and institutional logics to analyze empirical case studies of the implementation of the EMI reform concept in three Northern European universities in leading EMI provider countries: the University of Oslo in Norway, the University of Göttingen in Germany, and Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The theoretical concept of institutional complexity is used to analyze the contending tensions universities confront when deciding the best way to design and implement EMI reforms. The three-axis comparative framework developed in this study represents a novel approach to examining variations in EMI reform implementation. Variations in organizational EMI implementation approaches (collegial, targeted, and market) are understood by analyzing comparatively how the three universities interpreted axial tensions between institutional logics for the best way to organize their EMI reform approaches: for academic or economic purposes; cooperative or competitive purposes; and local or global purposes. This comparative case study underscores the importance of examining a university’s embedded environment (both European and local levels) to understand university response to widespread EMI reform trends and highlights the significance of contextual dynamics to European EMI program development policy. The study concludes with policy recommendations and future directions

Final Report: May 2015

The primary goals of this report is to find how much demand partnering countries have for information the U.S. Government is making available for international aid, review how well partnering countries are able to access the information, inform partnering countries of the available international aid data, and recommend ways to improve data sharing and use

Solid hydrogen structure

The J=0{minus}>2 Raman signal from solid J=0 D{sub 2} or H{sub 2} reveals HCP structure when deposited at a rate 0.1 {le} R({mu}/min) {le} 40 onto MgF{sub 2} at T{sub d}/T{sub tp} > 0.3, a mixture of HCP and FCC crystals at 0.2 < T{sub d}/T{sub tp} < 0.3 and possibly a randomly stacked close packed structure at T{sub d}/T{sub tp} < 0.2, where T{sub tp} is the triple point temperature. Non-HCP crystals transform to HCP continuously and irreversibly with increasing T. Finally, the crystal size decreases with decreasing T{sub d} and increasing R, from {approximately} 1 mm at T{sub d} {approximately} 0.8 T{sub tp} and R {approximately} 2 {mu}/min to {approximately} 1 {mu}m at 0.25 T{sub tp} and R {approximately} 40 {mu}/min

Factors influencing UK arthroplasty surgeons' decision-making between total and medial unicompartmental knee surgery: A vignette-based behavioural experiment

Purpose Surgical options for end-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA) include total and medial unicompartmental knee replacement (TKR and UKR). Deciding which surgery to perform is complex and ill-defined, yet it has important implications for patients and the health service. The study aimed to identify clinical and surgeon factors predicting surgeons' preferences. Methods Based on a preliminary survey of 162 UK surgeons, we identified clinical features frequently considered when deciding between TKR and UKR. By systematically varying patient age, obesity, site of pain, anaesthetic risk and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) integrity, we constructed 32 clinical vignettes. We used these in a new survey, where surgeons indicated which surgery they would recommend on an 11-point rating scale with end points anchored at ‘definitely TKR’ and ‘definitely medial UKR’. Data were analysed with mixed-effects linear regressions. Results Eighty-three UK arthroplasty surgeons completed the vignettes. Preference for UKR over TKR was significantly lower for patients over 50 years (b = −0.57 [−0.82 to −0.33], p < 0.001) with abnormal ACL (b = −1.93 [−2.17 to −1.68], p < 0.001) and severe systemic disease (b = −0.46 [−0.70 to −0.21], p < 0.001). Obesity was a weak and unreliable predictor, and we did not detect any influence of site of pain. The surgeons' habitual practice (proportion of UKRs over all knee replacements performed in a typical year) was the second strongest predictor after ACL (b = 1.26 [0.54–1.99], p = 0.001). Conclusions ACL integrity was the most important determinant of surgeons' preferences between TKR and UKR. Their habitual practice was also a strong predictor, outweighing most clinical factors in the vignettes. Level of Evidence Level II, prospective cohort study

The critical role of the operating conditions on the Fenton oxidation of 2-chlorophenol: assessment of PCDD/Fs formation

This work assesses the influence of the operating conditions H2O2dose (20 or 100% of the stoichiometric amount), temperature (20 or 70◦C), and the presence of chloride in the oxidation medium in the formation of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) during Fenton treatment of aqueous samples of 2-chlorophenol, 2-CP, one of the strongest precursor of PCDD/Fs. After 4 h of oxidation in the experiments carried out with 20% H2O2chlorinated phenoxyphenols and biphenyls, which are intermediates in PCDD/Fs formation, as well as PCDD/Fs were observed, resulting in concentrations11 times higher than in the untreated sample. Additionally, when NaCl was also present in the reaction medium, PCDD/Fs were formed at higher extent, with a total concentration 74.4 times higher than in the untreated 2-CP solution. Results depicted a preferential formation of PCDFs over PCDDs, with dominance of lower chlorinated PCDD/Fs (tetra and penta-PCDD/Fs). Besides, the formation of the most toxic PCDD/Fs congeners (2,3,7,8-PCDD/Fs) was not favored under the operating conditions used in this work.Financial support from the projects CTQ2011-25262, CTQ2008-05545 and CTQ2008-00690 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad – MINECO (SPAIN) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional – FEDER) is gratefully acknowledged

Development of backlighting sources for a Compton radiography diagnostic of Inertial Confinement Fusion targets

We present scaled demonstrations of backlighter sources, emitting Bremsstrahlung x-rays with photon energies above 75 keV, that we will use to record x-ray Compton radiographic snapshots of cold dense DT fuel in inertial confinement fusion implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In experiments performed at the Titan laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we measured the source size and the Bremsstrahlung spectrum as a function of laser intensity and pulse length, from solid targets irradiated at 2e17-5e18 W/cm{sup 2} using 2-40 ps pulses. Using Au planar foils we achieved source sizes down to 5.5 {micro}m, and conversion efficiencies of about 1e-3 J/J into x-ray photons with energies in the 75-100 keV spectral range. We can now use these results to design NIF backlighter targets and shielding, and to predict Compton radiography performance as a function of the NIF implosion yield and associated background

Comment letters to the National Commission on Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting, 1987 (Treadway Commission) Vol. 1

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_sop/1661/thumbnail.jp

Unconscious bias in the suppressive policing of Black and Latino men and boys: neuroscience, Borderlands theory, and the policymaking quest for just policing

his article applies neuroscience and Borderlands theory to reveal how unconscious bias currently stabilizes suppressive policing practices in America despite new efforts at reform. Illustrative cases are offered from Oakland and Santa Barbara, California, with a focus on civil gang injunctions (CGIs) and youth gang suppression. Theoretical analysis of these cases reveals how the unconscious biases of validity illusions and framing effects operate despite the best intentions of law enforcement personnel. Such unconscious or implicit biases create contradictions between the stated beliefs and actions of law enforcement. In turn, these unintended self-contradictions then work to the detriment of Latino and Black boys. The analysis here also extends to how unconscious biases and unintended self-contradictions can influence municipal policymaking in favor of suppressive police tactics such as CGIs, thereby displacing evidence-based policies that are proven to be far more effective. The article concludes with brief discussion of some of the means by which the unconscious biases – effects to which everyone is involuntarily prone – can be disrupted

S. 294 In the Senate of the United States

Document: 89th Congress, 1st Session, S.294, January 6, 1965, page 3689TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 294 A BILL To authorize the coordinated development of the water resources of the Pacific Southwest, and for other purposes. By Mr. KUCHEL and Mr. MURPHY JANUARY 6, 1965 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular AffairsEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,587,952 byte