Theorizing Risk and Research: Methodological Constraints and Their Consequences

Conflict, postconflict settings, and other risky research sites are important with wide-ranging policy implications. Microlevel, field-based research lends critical insights to how conflicts work and the mechanisms behind macrolevel correlations that underpin quantitative political science. This article identifies how the risks associated with conflict and postconflict contexts influence researchers’ choices by theorizing the existence of distinct adaptive strategies. Specifically, researchers facing elevated risk generally manage it through three main strategies: outsourcing risk, avoiding risk, and internalizing risk. We argue that these strategies systematically shape and circumscribe outputs. We conclude by discussing how the relationship between risky fieldwork and what we know about conflict is poorly acknowledged. Thinking about how we manage risk should play a larger role in both our preparation for and interpretation of research, particularly in conflict and postconflict contexts

A theoretical and experimental study of the ionosphere using radio signals from earth satellites progress report no. 9, 1 jan. - 30 jun. 1964

Morphology of ionosphere using radio signals from earth satellite

The Operations and Activities of Better Business Bureaus with Special Emphasis on North Dakota

The thesis here abstracted was written under the direction of Dr. Donald G. Anderson, approved by Oswald M. Hager and Courtney F. Schley as members of the examining committee, of which Dr. Anderson was chairman. This thesis describes the operations and activities of the Better Business Bureaus. Information was largely compiled from the bulletins and publications of the National Better Business Bureau. The data which pertained to North Dakota was obtained through a survey of local chambers of commerce. The idea of a Better Business Bureau originated in a meeting at Boston in 1912, when a group of interested and dedicated businessmen established the National Vigilance Committee. The National Vigilance Committee, which later became the National Better Business Bureau, was formed to investigate cases of alleged misrepresentation in national advertising. Subsequently, local committees were formed to eliminate fraudulent business practices on the state and local level. Later, the Association of Better Business Bureaus was formed to co-ordinate the operations of the national and state organizations. There were no local Better Business Bureaus operating in North Dakota in 1966. The citizens of North Dakota received a measure of protection against fraud and other unfair business practices through the National Better Business Bureau’s Community Protection Program. The Community Protection Program has been conducted by local chambers of commerce who have paid dues to the National Better Business Bureau. In return the Community Protection Program has provided member chambers with bulletins which discuss fraudulent business practices. The local chambers have used this information to warn consumers and business firms about those undesirable activities which are believed to pose a local problem. This assistance to local residents represents the principal service of North Dakota chambers affiliated with the National Better Business Bureau

Legal Pluralism and Women's Rights after Conflict: The Role of CEDAW

Protecting and promoting women’s rights is an immense challenge after conflict, especially when the capacity of the state’s legal system is limited and non - state justice systems handle most disputes. However, legal pluralism’s implications for gender equality remain under-theorized, as is CEDAW’s potential to improve women’s rights in these settings. This Article offers a theoretical framework to help understand the varying relationships between state and non-state justice. It also proposes strategies for interacting with different types of legal pluralisms that will allow the CEDAW Committee to more effectively promote gender equality in legally pluralistic, post-conflict states, as is illuminated in case studies from Afghanistan and Timor-Leste

Plasma Diagnostics by Antenna Impedance Measurements

The impedance of an electrically short antenna immersed in a plasma provides an excellent in situ diagnostic tool for electron density and other plasma parameters. By electrically short we mean that the wavelength of the free-space electromagnetic wave that would be excited at the driving frequency is much longer than the physical size of the antenna. Probes using this impedance technique have had a long history with sounding rockets and satellites, stretching back to the early 1960s. This active technique could provide information on composition and temperature of plasmas for comet or planetary missions. Advantages of the impedance probe technique are discussed and two classes of instruments built and flown by SDL-USU for determining electron density (the capacitance and plasma frequency probes) are described

Laboratory investigation of visible shuttle glow mechanisms

Laboratory experiments designed to uncover mechanistic information about the spectral and spatial characteristics of shuttle glow were conducted. The luminescence was created when a pulse of O atoms traveling at orbital velocities was directed toward NO molecules previously adsorbed to aluminum, nickel, and Z306 Chemglaz (a common baffle black) coated surfaces held at various temperatures. Spectral and spatial measurements were made using a CCD imaging spectrometer. Corroborative spectral information was recorded in separate measurements using a scanning monochromator and gated photomultiplier arrangement. The e-folding distance at several temperatures was calculated from images of the surface glow using the photometrics image processing capability of the imaging spectrometer. The e-folding distance was not altered as a function of incoming O beam velocity. The results are presented and the observations provide direct evidence that the visible shuttle glow results from recombination of oxygen atoms and surface bound NO

Mixing with the radiofrequency single-electron transistor

By configuring a radio-frequency single-electron transistor as a mixer, we demonstrate a unique implementation of this device, that achieves good charge sensitivity with large bandwidth about a tunable center frequency. In our implementation we achieve a measurement bandwidth of 16 MHz, with a tunable center frequency from 0 to 1.2 GHz, demonstrated with the transistor operating at 300 mK. Ultimately this device is limited in center frequency by the RC time of the transistor's center island, which for our device is ~ 1.6 GHz, close to the measured value. The measurement bandwidth is determined by the quality factor of the readout tank circuit.Comment: Submitted to APL september 200

SHORTFALLS IN 1997 NET FARM INCOME IN NORTH DAKOTA (Prepared for Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad)

North Dakota net farm income declined in 1997 due to adverse weather conditions and low prices. The total income loss in 1997 was estimated to be $394 million, which was divided into$290 million due to weather and diseases, and $104 million due to lower-than-average prices. Net farm income losses were largest in Region 3 (Northeast), followed by Regions 1 (Northwest) and 6 (East Central). HRS wheat accounted for the largest income loss, followed by durum and barley.Net farm income, crop losses, weather conditions, North Dakota input output model, Agricultural Finance,

Current-Induced Spin Polarization in Gallium Nitride

Electrically generated spin polarization is probed directly in bulk GaN using Kerr rotation spectroscopy. A series of n-type GaN epilayers are grown in the wurtzite phase both by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) with a variety of doping densities chosen to broadly modulate the transverse spin lifetime, T2*. The spin polarization is characterized as a function of electrical excitation energy over a range of temperatures. Despite weak spin-orbit interactions in GaN, a current-induced spin polarization (CISP) is observed in the material at temperatures of up to 200 K.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

\u27Let Me See What I Could Do\u27: Students\u27 Epistemic Affect When Solving Open-Ended, Real-World Problems

This full research paper examines students’ epistemic affect, or their feelings about and within the doing of engineering, when encountering ill-defined problems in two of their first engineering science courses. Ill-defined problems are what students will encounter as professional engineers, but engineering students typically get little practice in their coursework at solving these types of problems. As students explained how they worked their way through the ill-defined and open-ended problems, we found evidence of both positive and negative feelings that arose, as well as descriptions of affective transitions, or shifts from one affect to another. Some of these transitions show evidence that students begin to regulate or anticipate these feelings as a result of repeated exposure to ill-defined problems. This work has implications for including the development of epistemic regulation as part of engineering students\u27 preparation for professional practice