Electronic Publishing in Higher Education: How to design OAI interfaces - Recommendations -

The Open Archives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) allows sharing metadata serving to describe arbitrary objects with others. In addition to a short overview of the protocol the paper on hand contains recommendations for the application of Sets by German data providers and for the proper usage of the metadata elements of Dublin Core (DC). Thereby the target is pursued to ensure an efficient metadata exchange between the different users of the OAI protocol

Aging of Sand – a Continuing Enigma?

Sand aging, a process during which the engineering properties of clean sands such as stiffness, penetration resistance and liquefaction resistance may exhibit considerable improvement over periods of only weeks to months after deposition and/or densification by different ground improvement processes, has been shown over the past 30 years to be of considerable practical importance. Numerous examples from a range of projects are presented. Chemical, physical-mechanical, and microbiological processes are examined relative to their adequacy for explaining the observed behavior. Although chemical precipitation-cementation reactions had initially been considered a primary cause, the evidence clearly favors a secondary compression-like process during which particle rearrangements and internal interparticle stress changes and redistributions among groups of particles occur, accompanied by only small volumetric compressions. Information about the rate and magnitude of property changes during aging is summarized, and it is seen that there is considerable variability, dependent on the sand type, its initial state, applied stress conditions, and the specific property being measured. Thus, while the case history information may provide useful guidance about how much property change there will be due to aging and how fast it may occur, each case should be evaluated separately by means of field measurements. Further improvement in the understanding and quantification of sand aging may be possible using rate process and discrete element analysis methods

Toward a Model of Intercultural Warrant: A Case of the Korean Decimal Classification\u27s Cross-cultural Adaptation of the Dewey Decimal Classification

I examined the Korean Decimal Classification (KDC)\u27s adaptation of the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) by comparing the two systems. This case manifests the sociocultural influences on KOSs in a cross-cultural context. I focused my analysis on the changes resulting from the meeting of the two cultures, answering the main research question: “How does KDC adapt DDC in terms of underlying sociocultural perspectives in a classificatory form?” I took a comparative approach and address the main research question in two phases. In Phase 1, quantities of class numbers were analyzed by edition and discipline. The main class with the most consistently high number of class numbers in DDC was the social sciences, while the main class with the most consistently high number of class numbers in KDC was technology. The two main classes are expected to differ in semantic contents or specificities. In Phase 2, patterns of adaptations were analyzed by examining the class numbers, captions, and hierarchical relations within the developed adaptation taxonomy. Implementing the taxonomy as a coding scheme brings two comparative features of classifications: 1) semantic contents determined by captions and quantity of subordinate numbers; and 2) structural arrangement determined by ranks, the broader category, presence and the order of subordinate numbers. Surveying proper forms of adaptation resulted in the development of an adaptation taxonomy that will serve as a framework to account for the conflicts between and harmonization of multiple social and cultural influences in knowledge structures. This study has ramifications in theoretical and empirical foundations for the development of “intercultural warrant” in KOSs

The changing meaning of work, herding and social relations in rural Mongolia

By using ethnographic methods based on extensive participant observation, this thesis explores the role of pastoralism and rural work as a medium of social reproduction for families in rural Mongolia. This work is reported in four articles, which examine herder household management, decision making, and the spatial aspects of household social and economic production. As standalone pieces and as a united work, the articles make a case for understanding social change through the lens of spatialized performative relations. Pastoralism as a form of work and social system is one aspect of these relations. I contend that people consciously engage with herding as a form of work, which is an important reference point in political subjectivities and administrative practices that idealize the state. The policies and practices of government institutions, including non-state agencies, play powerful roles in the particular forms through which relations are spatialized. By taking this approach and prioritizing herder critical reflections on their own lives, I argue against the dual claim that herders exist outside the state and are bound to local environments. I show, in contrast, how herder efforts to access resources beyond local environments, such as formal schooling for children, spatially transform the labour, finance, and mobility systems of households. My work presents three key arguments with reference to these concepts. The first is that patron–client relations continue to play a strong role in family hierarchies and wider social alliances used to gain access to needed resources and services. Secondly, I argue that pastoralist work is an integral part of governance and the propagation of the moral authority of the state. Pastoralism as a form of work should be seen as a political enterprise as much as an economic or cultural one. Finally, attention to the spatial organisation of household economies, including household splitting and new types of mobility, reiterates the significance of place in human agency

Loving Liberty: Milton, Scripture, and Society

Thesis advisor: Dayton HaskinUsing methods drawn from literary analysis, theology, and political history, Loving Liberty explores the relationship between Milton's thinking about liberty and his practice of scriptural interpretation. It argues that Milton advances a model of a free society ultimately modeled on the charitable relations between the Father and the Son, who in his view differ essentially from one another. This model of liberated unity in difference derives from, and responds to, Milton's encounter with the Reformation ideal of each believer reading the Bible for him or herself, along with the social chaos that accompanied the resulting proliferation of interpretations. Using a complex concept of charity, Milton's writings imagine a society in which all are free to use scripture in highly individualized ways that nevertheless conduce to unity rather than chaos. In the end, the very interpretative practice through which Milton thinks his way toward this model also stands as its shining example, culminating in a rich body of writing that creatively re-imagines scripture and that invites its readers to use these new creations or not, as charity demands and in keeping with their own freely exercised gifts. In contrast to what he calls “obstinate literality” and “alphabetical servility&rdquo in The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, Milton's liberated interpretative method requires the interpreter to generate his or her own Bible, whether by radically reassembling the text (as Milton does in De Doctrina Christiana), by prophetically speaking the scripture written on one's heart (as Michael teaches Adam to do in Paradise Lost).Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English

The New Global Economic Order

As anti-globalization reshapes the world, the divide between East and West, developed and developing countries, and North and South, deepens, creating new challenges for economic policy and global governance. This book provides a nuanced and balanced analysis of economic transformation over the past century, exploring critical themes such as structural change, resource mobilization, and the future of global growth. Featuring insights from leading economists, this volume offers expert commentary on economic transformation, development strategies, and the evolving global order. It further examines into pressing governance questions surrounding AI, green technology, and the financing of health crises, future pandemics, and energy transitions. A vital resource for economists, policymakers, and researchers, this book provides strategic guidance on navigating global shifts and mobilizing resources to drive sustainable development in an emerging new global economic order