Complicating the Reading of Nineteenth-Century American Landscape Painting: Albert Bierstadt’s Western Visions, Aesthetics, and Sociology

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The Influence of Soap on Starch-Pigment Coated Paper

A literature survey is presented concerning the effects of soap on the rheological properties of coatings, and upon the physical properties of the coated paper. The influence of sodium, ammonium, and calcium stearates is investigated, and it is found that soaps produce desirable effects upon both the flow properties of coating colors and the physical properties of the coated paper. The experimental results indicate that sodium stearate is superior to either ammonium or calcium stearate, in that all of the properties tested for are either enhanced or remain about the same when sodium soap is added to the coating, whereas the ammonium and calcium soaps produce both desirable and deleterious effects

Thermochemical tests on resins: Char resistance of selected phenolic cured epoxides

Curing epoxy resins with novalac phenolic resins is a feasible approach for increasing intact char of the resin system. Char yields above 40% at 700 C were achieved with epoxy novalac (DEN 438)/novalac phenolic (BRWE 5833) resin systems with or without catalyst such as ethyl tri-phenyl phosphonium iodide. These char yields are comparable to commercially used epoxy resin systems like MY-720/DDS/BF3. Stable prepregs are easily made from a solvent solution of the epoxy/phenolic system and this provides a feasible process for fabrication of same into commercial laminates

Formulation and Characterization of Epoxy Resin Copolymer for Graphite Composites

Maximum char yield was obtained with a copolymer containing 25% mol fraction DGEBE and 75% mol fraction DGEBA (Epon 828). To achieve the high values (above 40%), a large quantity of catalyst (trimethoxyboroxine) was necessary. Although a graphite laminate 1/8" thick was successfully fabricated, the limited life of the catalyzed epoxy copolymer system precludes commercial application. Char yields of 45% can be achieved with phenolic cured epoxy systems as indicated by data generated under NAS2-10207 contract. A graphite laminate using this type of resin system was fabricated for comparison purposes. The resultant laminate was easier to process and because the graphite prepreg is more stable, the fabrication process could readily be adapted to commercial applications

Towards an integrated approach for the analysis of gender equity in policies supporting paid work and care responsibilities

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework for analysing the degree to which public policies support gender equity in paid work and care. Combining the distinction between commodification and decommodification and the distinction between defamilialisation, supported familialism, and familialism by default our study identifies a number of relevant policies, ranging from services, leave entitlements, income support measures, and fiscal instruments to forms of acknowledgement of care work in pension systems. Although our main objective is conceptual, we offer a comparative overview of these policies for all of the EU countries, plus Norway. Thus, we provide a preliminary typology of policy approaches.commodification, decommodification, defamilialisation, familialism, gender, social policy

A helium adsorption pump for temperatures between 0.71 and 1.2 K

The construction and method of working of a helium adsorption pump are described. The flux of helium-2 film can be suppressed by an appropriate construction, which permits it to reach temperatures down to 0.71 K. By total utilization of the pump's cross-section, temperatures from 1.2 K to 0.71 K remain constant for several hours with a precision of 0.001 K

How Does EU Enlargement Affect Social Cohesion?

The enlargement of the European Union in May 2004 by ten new member states bear increasing challenges in creating social cohesion among its citizens and regions. Social cohesion is understood here in a broad sense as a coalescence of European societies in such a way that living conditions and quality of life of its citizens converge. This paper's empirical focus is on the two core life domains that are currently taking center stage in EU policy debates: (1) employment and working conditions and (2) economic resources and social exclusion. The analyses show that the 15 former member states are converging in terms of lliving and work-ing conditions and the situation has improved in all of these countries during the 1990s. With the enlargement the situation becomes more diverse in the enlarged EU. In particular the post-socialist countries have to make great efforts to catch up with their EU counterparts. We can identify three emerging clusters of countries that share empirically very similar living stan-dards. The first, wealthy cluster consists of the old northern European member states. The second, intermediary country group contains the most well-off accession countries and the old Mediterranean member countries with a lower living standard. The third, less developed clus-ter embraces new member states that were former post-communist countries.

Biased interpretation of performance feedback: The role of ceo overconfidence

Research summary: This study examines how managerial biases in the form of overconfidence change the interpretation of performance feedback and, consequently, shape a firm's risk taking in response to it. Our formal analysis suggests that CEO overconfidence is associated with a lower willingness to increase firm risk taking when facing negative performance feedback and a higher willingness to decrease risk when facing positive feedback. An extension of our model also shows that, when firms are operating close to their survival level, the effects of CEO overconfidence will reverse. We test our predictions empirically with a sample of 847 American manufacturing firms in the years 1992 to 2014. Our results are consistent with our hypotheses and are robust to different empirical operationalizations of CEO overconfidence. Managerial summary: Managers evaluate the success of their current business strategy through feedback in the form of their firm's current financial results relative to their own previous performance or that of their peers. Our results show that overconfident CEOs interpret information about the financial situation of their firms more optimistically than non-overconfident CEOs, which in turn causes them to exhibit a less pronounced reaction to both positive or negative performance feedback. It is thus crucial that managers are clearly aware of how their interpretations and reactions to feedback are affected by their own deeply held personal beliefs and dispositions