Chemophobia and the Relation to Names

Chemophobia is a recently identified cultural phenomena where people are afraid of chemicals in their lives, whether chemicals are in their food, their medicines, vaccinations, and other products. An increasing amount of people have a concern about the risk associated with chemicals in their everyday life. Chemistry professionals find this a bit strange as Chemistry states that all matter is made up of chemicals. Chemistry has many systems of naming and understanding chemicals which can exclude people from understanding the risk or lack thereof attributed to materials that are common in daily life. This effect could be accentuated by educational background of both the individual and his family. If people were to know more about what is and is not safe, perhaps scientific literacy as a whole could improve. The American Chemical Society and other sources have done studies on chemophobia and the related misperceptions of risk associated with certain substances. The research question I investigated is Would students misconstrue risk with the names of substances because of the complexity of the name of the substance (i.e., Latin)? I chose to distribute two surveys to Honors students at Tyler Junior College of various majors. One had them view images of nine everyday items and give their opinion on whether the object was hazardous or not, and the other survey had the same questions with only the names of the corresponding chemicals. The collected data was analyzed to find if there is a dissonance between the risk perceived through the chemical name versus with the common name or pictures, as well as if there is any difference in this effect related to one\u27s major, or the education of an individual\u27s family

Remixing the music curriculum : the new technology, creativity and perceptions of musicality in music education

Abstract\ud This thesis interrogates the new music technology and its relationship to\ud creativity, musicality and learning in the Key Stage 31 curriculum. In doing so it\ud considers the effectiveness of the technology, what value pupils and teachers\ud might place on technologically mediated musical interactions and how this\ud relates to the principles enshrined in the National Curriculum. The research also\ud explores the views of teachers in relation to the nature of creativity and learning\ud in the music curriculum and their role in promoting it. The research was carried\ud out across five sites: a PGCE music course, a year 7, year 8, and year 9 Key Stage\ud 3 music classroom, and a panel of secondary music teachers. It was located in a\ud qualitative paradigm which made use of observational and interview techniques.\ud The research also probed the pupils' creative outcomes through detailed\ud analysis. The findings suggest that the new technology can afford creative\ud musical engagement through the manipulation of ready-made musical materials.\ud It also suggests that pupils engage in a range of musical learning through such\ud interactions and that they value the processes and outcomes. By way of contrast,\ud teachers are still unclear about how to value such musical actions and are in the\ud process of re conceptualising the learning that emerges in technologically\ud mediated settings. Moreover, confusions still exist in relation to creativity and\ud learning in the music classroom. This is compounded by the fact that the pupils'\ud musical actions in relation to the new technology do not meet certain core\ud practices and principles enshrined in the National Curriculum for music. This is\ud problematic for, as the research suggests, such core practices often exclude or\ud distance those pupils who are non-performing musicians. Hence the thesis\ud concludes by positing that music education must consider a broader view of\ud what it is to be musical. In doing so it needs to remix the music curriculum to\ud take account of a range of musical actions. This remix should accommodate the\ud new technology, reconfigure musical creativity and learning in the light of the\ud technology and find new ways to value pupils' actions. In such settings the role of\ud the teacher in shaping and supporting the pupils' musical actions will be an\ud important consideration

Understanding corporate governance, strategic management and firm performance : as evidenced from the boardroom : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

Researchers with an interest in corporate performance have increasingly shifted their attention over recent decades from the study of the chief executive to the board of directors. A large body of knowledge has now been published, including correlations between variables of interest, theories, conceptual models and rich descriptions of normative practice. However, substantive evidence to explain how boards actually exert influence over firm performance from the boardroom is yet to appear. That the board’s ability to exert such influence has not been adequately described—let alone explained in any detail—is a significant knowledge gap in the literature, one to which this research seeks to contribute. The aim of this research is to investigate corporate governance, strategic management and firm performance from the perspective of the boardroom. A longitudinal multiple-case study approach was used. Primary data was collected from direct observations of the boards of two large highgrowth companies in New Zealand. Secondary data sources included interviews with the chairmen and chief executives, and board and company documents. An iterative approach to analysis was utilised from which a deep understanding of board involvement in strategic management was developed. The analysis revealed insights leading to the development of two models—a collaborative form of board–management interaction, and a mechanism-based model of the governance–performance relationship. The research makes contributions to governance research by extending specific early and largely normative contributions. The board’s active engagement in strategic management (especially strategy development, strategic decision-making and monitoring of strategy implementation) appears to be significant. This is achieved via the harmonious activation of five underlying attributes. While no explicit or predictable relationship between board interventions and subsequent firm performance was discovered, the findings provide insight into the contingent nature of the board’s ability to exert influence from and beyond the boardroom

Wide-band doubler and sine wave quadrature generator

Phase-locked loop with photoresistive control, which provides both sine and cosine outputs for subcarrier demodulation, serves as a telemetry demodulator signal conditioner with a second harmonic signal for synchronization with the locally generated code

A continuum of psychosis, one human gene, and not much else - the case for homogeneity

The contention of this paper is that psychoses are not a collection of separate and unrelated diseases, but a set of diverse expressions of a single underlying entity. It will be argued that there is a basic homogeneity of pathogenesis, that there are not multiple predisposing genes but a single gene that is associated with significant diversity. Therefore the problem is a unitary one. The challenge is to identify the nature and function of the gene. It will be argued that the gene is that by which homo sapiens has separated from other primate species, and that the diversity arises from selective pressures which continue to act on this specifically human gene

Keepers Of The Light Conference 2000 Keynote Address

Donna Fletcher Crow is an author of historical fiction tracing the roots of Christianity in England, Scotland and Ireland. She delivered this keynote address for the opening session of the A CL Conference, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, California, June 14, 200