The distance to NGC 6397 by M-subdwarf main-sequence fitting

Recent years have seen a substantial improvement both in photometry of low luminosity stars in globular clusters and in modelling the stellar atmospheres of late-type dwarfs. We build on these observational and theoretical advances in undertaking the first determination of the distance to a globular cluster by main-sequence fitting using stars on the lower main sequence. The calibrating stars are extreme M subdwarfs, as classified by Gizis (1997), with parallaxes measured to a precision of better than 10%. Matching against King et al's (1998) deep (V, (V-I)) photometry of NGC 6397, and adopting E_{B-V}=0.18 mag, we derive a true distance modulus of 12.13 +- 0.15 mag for the cluster. This compares with (m-M)_0=12.24 +- 0.1 derived through conventional main-sequence fitting in the (V, (B-V)) plane. Allowing for intrinsic differences due to chemical composition, we derive a relative distance modulus of delta (m-M)_0=2.58 mag between NGC 6397 and the fiducial metal-poor cluster M92. We extend this calibration to other metal-poor clusters, and examine the resulting RR Lyrae (M_V, [Fe/H]) relation.Comment: 19 pages, AASTeX, to appear in the December 1998 A

The Expatriate Venture: What Role Does Cross-Cultural Training Play and What Theories Guide Research in the Field?

Relocation of U.S. companies into an overseas country is an all too common occurrence in the global market of today. Organizations that attempt to initiate business in a foreign environment must understand not only the intricacies of the host country’s culture but also how that culture meshes with the business acumen of the expatriate who accepts the overseas position. Cross-cultural training, implemented through the lens of a theoretical framework customized to the learning style of the expatriate may be the answer to a successful venture into foreign markets. Given the fact that up to 40% of U.S. expatriate managers fail in their newly formed overseas assignments (Hogan & Goodson, 1990), a customized training curriculum may just hold the answer to a successful expatriate experience. To answer this question it becomes important to review research that contains experimental design in an attempt to remove subjectivity and ascertain causality

Applying a Business Model to the University

Published by the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University

The contested “White Lady”: perceptions and social meanings of the “White Lady” in Auckland

The White Lady (WL) is a mobile fast food takeaway eatery. The WL has been trading in Auckland City’s central business district for almost fifty years. The WL opens in the early evening and remains open until the early morning hours. At closing, the WL is towed to a storage area where it remains until this process is repeated. This daily pattern has occurred since the WL opened in 1948. Because of its longevity, the WL, and many of its stakeholders have experienced ongoing change as Auckland City has grown, and competition within fast food has increased. Thus, for many stakeholders, the WL is representative of their lives, a mirror of their reality and life experiences. Obviously, these realities and experiences are different for different stakeholders. In this thesis, I examine the contested “White Lady” (WL): the perceptions and the social meanings that its stakeholder groups attribute to it. This thesis illuminates differences and similarities within stakeholder viewpoints and in doing so defines that pie carts like the WL are a valid part of New Zealand’s culinary and social cultures Ultimately, this thesis provides a platform of knowledge from which stakeholders and others can come to understand and know the differing and similar views that other stakeholder groups hold. With this in mind, this research ranges in scope from the examination of city administration to the symbolism associated with the (WL) by some of its stakeholders. Therefore, this research is founded within socio-historic constructs: the history of fast food and, the similarities that this history holds to today’s WL operation. The contextualisation of hospitality within “three domains” (Lashley, 2004, p.13) aids in defining the WL as well as recognising the competitive growth of New Zealand’s fast food industry. This research suggests that fast food growth and subsequent competition have had negative impacts upon many small fast food outlets including the WL. viii The growth of fast food has facilitated a “slow food” (Jones, Shears, Hiller Comfort and Lowell, 2003, p. 298) movement. This movement coupled with the hierarchy of food typologies, adds a Saussurian overlay and sociological discourse to this work. This overlay clarifies for the reader Bourdieu’s (1984) position that all food is reflective of class status. Within postmodernist constructs and the rise of the individual, (and the consequent opportunity to hear ‘voices from the margins’), movement within class and individuality within New Zealand’s wider culture has occurred. Social change therefore, has facilitated some of the issues within WL contestation. In highlighting Bourdieu’s (1984) concept, the “binary opposition” (Levi-Strauss, 1981, as cited in Adamenko, 2007, p.27) inherent within food hierarchies and, as often expressed within the media, is examined. This examination reveals that while the media inform, this information often contributes to the polarisation of opinion that facilitates the formation of contested viewpoints by WL stakeholders. It is against a backdrop of compliance need, the absence of an official street trading policy, the differing views of stakeholders, and the intensification of competition in fast food, coupled with a lacuna in the knowledge base of younger Auckland residents regarding the WL that this research finds its voice

Miscibility in blends of poly(vinyl chloride) and chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) with polycarbonates/

Blends of aromatic polycarbonates with poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) (CPVC) have been investigated. The polycarbonates include homopolymers and copolymers based on bisphenol-A derivatives. Polycarbonate/polycarbonate blends were also studied. The primary method for studying miscibility was differential scanning calorimetry. Dynamic mechanical analysis and infrared analysis were also utilized. Blends of high molecular weight bisphenol-A polycarbonate (BPC) and tetramethylbisphenol-A polycarbonate (TMPC) were found miscible in all proportions at temperatures exceeding 300\sp\circC. The phase behavior of BPC blended with tetrachlorobisphenol-A polycarbonate (TCPC) was found to depend strongly on the molecular weight of the homopolymers. Low molecular weight blends exhibit LCST behavior. The remaining binary combinations of BPC, TMPC, TCPC, hexafluorobisphenol-A polycarbonate (HFPC), and tetrabromobisphenol-A polycarbonate (TBPC) form two-phase blends at all blend compositions between 20 and 80% by weight. TCPC forms single-phase blends with PVC. Annealing temperatures up to 240\sp\circC did not affect phase separation in these blends. Infrared analysis in the carbonyl stretch region does not implicate the carbonate group as a significant factor affecting miscibility in these blends. Dynamic mechanical analysis shows that the two polymers retain their own secondary relaxations. TCPC is also miscible with solution-chlorinated PVCs (solution-CPVCs) having chlorine contents up to 70.2 weight percent, by weight, chlorine. Slurry-chlorinated PVCs were also miscible with TCPC. TBPC appears to be miscible with PVC and CPVCs, though it shows more an affinity for the chlorinated PVCs. Miscibility in these blends is favorable interactions with vinyl chloride monomer and/or a repulsive, intramolecular copolymer effect within the solution-CPVC. Segmental interaction parameters, X\sb{\rm ij}, were estimated using a binary interaction, mean field theory which can be applied to miscibility data from copolymer-containing blends. The boundaries of miscibility windows in polycarbonate-copolymer/solution-CPVC blends were used to calculate X\sb{\rm ij}\u27s. Miscibility windows were shown to be sensitive to small changes in the $X\sb{\rm ij}.

“New” manufacturing industry: the development area factory

This thesis considers the industrial aspects of regional policy, in particular the concept of transferring work to the workers. An in depth study, based in the North-East of England, analyses in detail two "new" factories. These factories are studied in terms of the demands made by groups of managers and employees of their employment. These demands are analysed, both through the working agreement, and a categorisation of 'types' of employee and groups of managers. The rational behind such a study is as follows. Links are drawn between the concept of transferring work to the workers and the ideology of "pluralism". It is suggested that the industrial aspects of regional planning have their basis in a pluralist definition of, and solution to the regional problem. Also it is outlined that this pluralist base results in a failure to consider or investigate the details of "new" manufacturing plants. It is assumed by policy makers that "new" industry will solve the regional problem. To rectify such a failing this study of two "new" plants is carried out. Several tentative conclusions suggest criticisms of the simplistic pluralist approach to "new" manufacturing employment. Doubt is also cast upon the accuracy of the pluralist definition of the regional problem