A pre/post analysis of death anxiety as it relates to death education, Christian fundamentalism, anomie, recent death of a loved one, sex, age, and college classification.

This research focuses on the topic of death anxiety among college students in a large, metropolitan university. Specifically, it purports to measure the relationship between death anxiety before and after a death education course. Other independent variables include: Christian fundamentalism, sex, age, college classification, and recent loss of a loved one. Many scholars argue that the topic of death was banished from American culture for much of the 20th century. Moreover, conversations involving death were often avoided in polite society. Some suggest that avoidance strategies are symptomatic of death anxiety embedded within cultural norms. Framed by these trends, the researcher believed it would be interesting to examine the impact, if any, of a death education course on death anxiety. A convenience sample was utilized in a class entitled Sociology of Death and Dying. The class consisted of students from a variety of majors, ages, and ethnic backgrounds. The students' classifications were juniors, seniors, and graduates. The students were mostly commuters. Although there was no significant relationship between the pre- and post-test, there was significance with other independent variables. However, there is reason to believe that a larger sample would have yielded significance between death education and death anxiety. Along these lines, and somewhat counterintuitive, this class seemed to engender higher levels of death anxiety. Further research is encouraged on this highly controversial topic

Domestic Architecture in the Beijing Area, 1860-1930.

This thesis describes the appearance, construction and function of the small courtyard house in the Beijing area, 1860-1930. In the context of Chinese architecture as a whole, domestic architecture is distinguished by its non-regulated nature. It may thus be contrasted with palace and temple buildings which were constructed according to rules of proportion and sumptuary law. The literature, both Western and Chinese, is discussed in Chapter One. In Chapter Two, three houses, whose measurements were taken, are described in detail and the measured drawings included. Three further houses in central Beijing are described to provide further material, relating to the arrangement of the courtyard. Chapter Three lays out the full programme of construction from the purchase of land and hiring of labourers, the terms of contract between owner and foreman of the building workers to., the building process itself. In Chapter Four, various possible determinants of form are discussed, including the principle of enclosure, structural reliance on wood, climate and geomancy and orientation. In Chapter Five, the small house is set in its context for domestic architecture in China also comprises the grander 'mansions' of the rich. All houses, whether large or small, are linked in terms of function but economic position determines the size which, in turn, determines the possiblities of the house. The conclusions relate to the size of the construction, sizes being drawn from the measured houses and literary sources. Though the house is potentially unregulated, the buildings of a small house tend to vary very little in terms of size. This adherence to a 'traditional' norm is contrasted with the strict regulations determining the size and design of grand buildings and it is demonstrated that there is a relationship between grand and small buildings based on aspiration within a tradition

Risk Assessment for Natural-Hazard Impact on Hazardous Chemical Installations: Workshop Outcome Report

The impact of natural hazards on hazardous installations can cause major chemical accidents. This so-called “Natech” risk is increasing due to industrialisation and climate change. Capacity building in EU Member States, Candidate Countries and EU Neighbourhood Countries on Natech risk required for Natech risk reduction. This report summarises the findings of a training workshop on risk assessment for natural-hazard impact on hazardous chemical installations which the JRC organised in the frame of the JRC's Enlargement & Integration Action Programme in March 2016. It gives an overview of the presented materials and summarises the Natech risk management situation in new EU Member States, Candidate Countries and Neighbourhood countries.JRC.E.2-Technology Innovation in Securit

Sexual violence during the war: towards an understanding of variation

This article focuses on sexual violence against civilians by the combatants. First, it resumes the variation patterns of violence form and extension throughout the different wartime situations. In particular, the absence of sexual violence in some conflicts and by some armed groups is here with documented. After discussing the methodological challenges to compile and analyze the information on sexual violence, it is argued that the topic deserves an extended comparative analysis since there is an ample enough variation across really well documented cases. An evaluation is made about whether the causal mechanisms identified in the literature (often implicit) explain the variation. In the conclusion, an analytical framework scheme is made for the study of sexual violence as part of the violence repertoires of the armed groups and also a suggestion is made about several research designs which can contribute to the academic understanding of sexual violence and other forms of violence.Este artículo se enfoca en la violencia sexual contra los civiles por parte de los combatientes. Primero, resume los patrones de variación en la forma y extensión de ésta a través de varias situaciones de guerra. En particular, se documenta la ausencia de violencia sexual en algunos conflictos y por parte de algunos grupos armados. Después de discutir los retos metodológicos para compilar y analizar la información sobre la violencia sexual, se argumenta que el tema amerita un amplio análisis comparativo debido a que ocurre una variación lo suficientemente amplia en casos muy bien documentados. Se evalúa si los mecanismos de causalidad identificados en la literatura (con frecuencia implícitamente) explican la variación. Como conclusión, se realiza un esquema del marco analítico para el estudio de la violencia sexual como parte de los repertorios de violencia de los grupos armados y se sugieren varias vías de investigación que pueden contribuir al entendimiento académico de la violencia sexual y de otras formas de violencia

The social processes of civil war: the wartime transformation of social networks

Little attention has been paid to the social processes of civil war —the transformations of social actors, structures, norms, and practices— that sometimes leave enduring legacies for the postwar period. In this article, I explore the changes wrought by six social processes: political mobilization, military socialization, polarization of social identities, militarization of local authority, transformation of gender roles, and fragmentation of the local political economy. Some of these social processes occur in peacetime, but war may radically change their pace, direction, or consequences, with perhaps irreversible effects. I trace the wide variation in these processes during the wars in four countries: Peru, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. I analyze the effects of these processes as transformations into social networks. These processes reconfigure social networks in a variety of ways, creating new networks, dissolving some, and changing the structure of others.Se ha prestado poca atención a los procesos sociales de la guerra civil –la transformación de actores sociales, estructuras, normas, y prácticas- que a veces dejan legados duraderos para el periodo de la posguerra. En este artículo exploro los cambios originados por seis procesos sociales: la movilización política, la socialización militar, la polarización de identidades sociales, la militarización de la autoridad local, la transformación de los roles de género, y la fragmentación de la economía política local. Algunos de estos procesos sociales ocurren en tiempos de paz, pero la guerra puede cambiar radicalmente su ritmo, dirección, o consecuencias, con efectos tal vez irreversibles. Rastreo la amplia variación en estos procesos durante las guerras en cuatro países: Perú, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, y Sierra Leona. Analizo los efectos de estos procesos como transformaciones de las redes sociales que las reconfiguran de maneras variadas: crean nuevas redes, disuelven algunas, y cambian la estructura de otras

Strengthening Chemical Accident Prevention and Preparedness in European Neighbour Countries. Prepared for DG-ECHO by the Major Accident Hazards Bureau and the Natech Project

The Seveso Directive aims at control of major hazards associated with dangerous substances and has existed as legislation in the European Union since 1982. It was the first comprehensive legislation of its kind in the world and continues to be a leading model for process safety governance globally. In 2014 DG-ECHO and the Joint Research Centre agreed on collaboration the implementation of the Seveso Directive by European Neighbourhood Policy countries in support to the Civil Protection Mechanism 2014-2010. The Year 1 strategy for this project aimed at building profiles of country progress in establishing chemical accident and prevention programmes. It also began the first phase in making a selection of analytical tools accessible to support government and industry in their efforts to perform hazard identification and risk analysis and understand results. This document proposes a strategy for Year 2 of the project. The proposal describes a strategy targeted to establish and maintain visibility and direct communication on the project with EU Neighbour Countries, determine a first subset of countries for in order to begin targeted capacity building, and to complete a first set of online tool prototypes for implementation support as well as identify opportunities for further tool development in future.JRC.G.5-Security technology assessmen

Rapid Development of the Seeker Free-Flying Inspector Guidance, Navigation, and Control System

Seeker is an automated extravehicular free-flying inspector CubeSat designed and built in-house at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). As a Class 1E project funded by the International Space Station (ISS) Program, Seeker had a streamlined process to flight certification, but the vehicle had to be designed, developed, tested, and delivered within approximately one year after authority to pro-ceed (ATP) and within a $1.8 million budget. These constraints necessitated an expedited Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) development schedule, development began with a navigation sensor trade study using Linear Covariance (LinCov) analysis and a rapid sensor downselection process, resulting in the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors which could be procured quickly and subjected to in-house environmental testing to qualify them for flight. A neural network was used to enable a COTS camera to provide bearing measurements for visual navigation. The GNC flight software (FSW) algorithms utilized lean development practices and leveraged the Core Flight Software (CFS) architecture to rapidly develop the GNC system, tune the system parameters, and verify performance in simulation. This pace was anchored by several Hardware-Software Integration (HSI) milestones, which forced the Seeker GNC team to develop the interfaces both between hardware and software and between the GNC domains early in the project and to enable a timely delivery

Understanding sociotechnical action: an introduction to the special issue.

No abstract available. Item is Editorial preface to special issue

An efficient approach for estimating streamflow forecast skill elasticity

Seasonal streamflow prediction skill can derive from catchment initial hydrological conditions (IHCs) and from the future seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) used to produce the hydrological forecasts. Although much effort has gone into producing state-of-the-art seasonal streamflow forecasts from improving IHCs and SCFs, these developments are expensive and time consuming and the forecasting skill is still limited in most parts of the world. Hence, sensitivity analyses are crucial to funnel the resources into useful modelling and forecasting developments. It is in this context that a sensitivity analysis technique, the variational ensemble streamflow prediction assessment (VESPA) approach, was recently introduced. VESPA can be used to quantify the expected improvements in seasonal streamflow forecast skill as a result of realistic improvements in its predictability sources (i.e., the IHCs and the SCFs) - termed ‘skill elasticity’ - and to indicate where efforts should be targeted. The VESPA approach is however computationally expensive, relying on multiple hindcasts having varying levels of skill in IHCs and SCFs. This paper presents two approximations of the approach that are computationally inexpensive alternatives. These new methods were tested against the original VESPA results using 30 years of ensemble hindcasts for 18 catchments of the contiguous United States. The results suggest that one of the methods, End Point Blending, is an effective alternative for estimating the forecast skill elasticities yielded by the VESPA approach. The results also highlight the importance of the choice of verification score for a goal-oriented sensitivity analysis

Smartphone accessibility: Understanding the lived experience of users with cervical spinal cord injuries

Purpose: To explore accessibility challenges encountered by smartphone users with cervical spinal cord injuries (C1-C8).To investigate the suitability of current technology and make recommendations to help future technology meet user needs. Methods: The study uses a mixed-method approach combining an inductive thematic analysis of nine semi-structured interviews with a quantitative analysis of thirty-nine questionnaires. Results: The analysis generated four themes: ’the drive for independence and self-efficacy’; ’trying to make it work’; ’getting the right technology for me’; ’using the phone as and when I want to’. These themes highlighted how unresolved access issues and situational barriers limited independence and created unwanted privacy compromises for effective communication. There was a lack of information or support on available smartphone accessibility features and assistive technology (AT). Smartphone AT was regarded as overpriced, poorly designed and lacking the voices of people with disabilities. Conclusions: The smartphone’s potential to improve quality of life, participation, and well-being is limited by accessibility challenges hindering independent and private smartphone use. Future design work should focus on improving accessibility, investigating reasons for AT’s poor quality and high cost, and removing barriers to end-user inclusion. To enhance user awareness of available technology, stakeholders should build and maintain an open platform to act as an information source for peer and professional support on assistive technology