Barbarism inc

The trajectory of the global capitalist economy at the beginning of the twenty first century is on a collision course with nature. Some of us used to joke that if corporations could bottle and sell the air that we breathe they would do it. Well, now nobody is laughing. The summit of these eight richest countries in the world - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - will meet in July 2005 in Scotland. The G8 have consistently imposed a neo-liberal economic model that benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of the most destitute people in the world. This type of economics is characterized by privatization, deregulation and trade liberalization

Naming the problem

Everyone, even the most die-hard defender of the established order recognizes that we face serious social and environmental problems. The news media regularly circulate the latest figures on the latest social problems. The country with the worst pollution, highest infant mortality, lowest life expectancy, epidemic rates of drug abuse, poverty, anti-social behaviour. But the mainstream media, popular debate and elite discussion treat these - at best- as a procession of seemingly unrelated and inexplicable facts and events. At worst the tendency is to suggest that whatever the problem - racism, obesity, unemployment, famine, war - that the people affected are in some way culpable. If in doubt, blame the victim. Either way, the context necessary to understand the problem and how it is caused is invariably missing. To paint in the context requires that we show how apparently isolated facts are linked causally to other social facts; that they are not so isolated after all

Perspectives on Time Commitment to Fundraising by Community College Presidents

All types of higher education institutions have come to rely on some element of revenue diversification, and fundraising from private sources has become increasingly common and popular among community college presidents. Yet despite the growth in attention to fundraising, community colleges collectively only garner 2% of all philanthropic support to higher education. With the growing demand for private funds, community college presidents must understand how they are using their time for fundraising, and ultimately, the consequence of these fundraising efforts. The current study explored the time commitment of college presidents, finding that they spend as much as 30% of their workplace time each month on development related activities

A dual-polarized quasi-optical SIS mixer at 550 GHz

In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, and the performance of a low-noise dual-polarized quasi-optical superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixer at 550 GHz. The mixer utilizes a novel cross-slot antenna on a hyperhemispherical substrate lens, two junction tuning circuits, niobium trilayer junctions, and an IF circuit containing a lumped element 180° hybrid. The antenna consists of an orthogonal pair of twin-slot antennas, and has four feed points, two for each polarization. Each feed point is coupled to a two-junction SIS mixer. The 180° IF hybrid is implemented using a lumped element/microstrip circuit located inside the mixer block. Fourier transform spectrometer measurements of the mixer frequency response show good agreement with computer simulations. The measured co-polarized and cross-polarized patterns for both polarizations also agree with the theoretical predictions. The noise performance of the dual-polarized mixer is excellent giving uncorrected receiver noise temperature of better than 115 K (double sideband) at 528 GHz for both the polarizations

Are International Private Voluntary Organizations Preaching What They Practice?

The concept of community development organizations providing assistance to communitiesin furthering the goals of community participation and self-help is conflictive.Providing institutionalized assistance often fosters dependency rather than advancingparticipation and self-help. The author examines goal statements of twenty leadingAmerican private voluntary organizations (PVOs) carrying out international communitydevelopment. Eighteen of the twenty espouse self-help, yet concentrate more on deliveringassistance than promoting empowerment. Their idea of self-help consists of supportingcommunity level administration of resources rather than advocating actualcommunity control. Most PVOs are donor-driven and transfer that dependency to thecommunities they serve. This raises the question of who is the client of the PVO, thedonor or the community? An alternative model is proposed in which developmentorganizations compete in a free market. In this way, communities can select servicesaccording to their needs

An Investigation into the feasibility of using digital representations of students’ work for authentic and reliable performance assessment in applied information technology

The assessment of student performance in areas such as drama, physical education, art and Information Technology (IT), does not lend itself to traditional, paper-based testing methods. In these domains, much emphasis is placed on the acquisition and demonstration of practical skills and these may be difficult, if not impossible, to measure by scores on theoretical, written assessments. Alternative forms of assessment, which are both valid and reliable, need to be devised for the practical aspects of these subject areas. The capture, in digital form, of students’ work, may allow the development of authentic forms of summative, high-stakes assessment with high reliability. This study investigated the digital capture of aspects of the practical performance of students in the senior secondary course of Applied Information technology (AIT), across seven high schools in Western Australia. Two forms of assessment were investigated; a reflective process digital portfolio and a computer based production examination. This study formed part of a larger project investigating the feasibility of using digital representations of students’ performances for authentic and reliable assessment in senior secondary school courses. This study only focussed on the AIT course, one of the four courses investigated, and only the first ‘proof of concept’ phase of the three developed by the main project. An ethnographic, action research methodology was employed, using qualitative and quantitative data collected and compiled into multiple case studies. The main sample comprised 115 students in eight classes across seven schools, resulting in seven case studies. These students completed a digital portfolio over a four-week period and a computer based practical/production examination over three hours. The examination also included a response questions section. Portfolios were scored by summation of partial marks according to a marking rubric; examinations were scored similarly and, in addition, for a subset of students, by a method of multiple comparisons of pairs. For each method of marking Rasch modelling analysis was conducted to investigate the reliability of scoring

A 530-GHz balanced mixer

We report on the design and performance of a 530-GHz balanced SIS mixer, the first balanced mixer in this frequency range. This quasi-optical balanced mixer utilizes a cross-slot antenna on a hyperhemispherical substrate lens with eight superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions and a 180° lumped element IF hybrid circuit. The local oscillator (LO) and the radio frequency (RF) signal, orthogonal in polarization to each other, are coupled to the mixer using a wire-grid polarizer. The noise performance of the mixer is excellent, giving an uncorrected receiver noise temperature of 105 K (DSB) at 528 GHz

Performance and Constructability of Silica Fume Bridge Deck Overlays

The effects of construction practices and material properties on the performance of concrete bridge decks are evaluated. Emphasis is placed on comparing bridge decks with silica fume and conventional concrete overlays and determining if the silica fume overlays commonly used on bridges in Kansas are performing at a level that justifies the extra cost and construction precautions. Forty continuous steel girder bridges, 20 with silica fume overlays, 16 with conventional overlays and 4 with monolithic bridge decks are included in the study. Field surveys were conducted to document cracking patterns and crack density and to obtain samples for chloride content and rapid chloride permeability (RCPT) analysis. Construction data was collected from construction documents, field books, and weather data logs. Information from the current study is combined with data from a 1995 study by Schmitt and Darwin. Twenty-seven variables are considered, covering bridge age, material properties, site conditions, construction procedures, design specifications, and traffic volume. Comparisons are made based on the properties of the upper surface and on the properties of the subdeck for bridges with overlays. The study demonstrates that crack density increases with age for bridge decks with silica fume overlays. Younger decks with conventional overlays, however, exhibit increased cracking compared to older decks. The differences are attributed to differences in construction procedures. The limited number of silica fume and conventional overlay decks that are similar in age have similar crack densities, effective diffusion coefficient values, and chloride contents, both at and away from cracks. Chloride content increases with the age of the bridge deck, regardless of bridge deck type. Chloride content taken at crack locations at depths just above and below the transverse reinforcement exceeds the threshold level for corrosion in as little as 1000 days, regardless of bridge deck type. Increased paste contents in bridge subdecks result in cracking in decks with overlays, regardless of the quality of the overlay, and neither higher cement contents nor compressive strengths are beneficial iii to the cracking performance of the concrete. Both fogging immediately after finishing and the application of precure material should be specified for conventional overlay and monolithic bridge decks, as they are now for silica fume overlay decks. Because of the relatively high number of silica fume overlay decks with ages under two years at the time of the study, these decks should be reexamined when they reach the age of the conventional overlay decks in the study