High Degree Of Contact Research Articles

The effects of fine-scale substratum roughness on diatom community structure in estuarine biofilms

Benthic diatoms are a major component of biofilms that form on surfaces submerged in marine environments. Roughness of the underlying substratum affects the settlement of both diatoms and subsequent macrofouling colonizers. This study reports the effects of roughness on estuarine diatom communities established in situ in the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA. Natural communities were established on acrylic panels with a range of surface roughnesses. Smoother substrata exhibited higher cell density, species richness, and diversity. Twenty-three of 58 species were found either exclusively or more abundantly on the smooth surfaces compared to one or both roughened treatments. The results suggest a greater ability of benthic diatoms to recruit and colonize smooth surfaces, which is probably explained by a higher degree of contact between the cells and the surface.

The anonymity of Catalan and the authenticity of Estonian: two paths for the development of medium-sized languages

Catalan and Estonian can be considered ‘medium-sized’ languages with some key common features that allow us to analyze the evolution of the two cases comparatively. Firstly, other formerly hegemonic languages (Spanish and Russian, respectively) have historically minoritized them. Secondly, the political equilibrium has now changed in such a way that the ‘medium-sized’ languages have been resituated in the public sphere, regaining some institutional recognition. In turn, this has caused the formerly dominating languages to be resituated too, where a high degree of contact between the two linguistic communities exists. Finally, in the globalization era, ideologies about (minoritized) languages may shift from identity-based values toward more pragmatic and instrumental ones. This article presents ethnographically collected data from both Tallinn and Barcelona (2008–2009), providing a reading of the Catalan case and evolution as seen through the Estonian experience. The study examines language-ideological constructs underlying the discourses of the linguistic groups in contact, how they affect and are affected by the context, how they interact with and co-modify each other and ultimately, how can they affect the process by which a ‘medium-sized’ language may be adopted by ‘new speakers' and acquires a stable position at the level of its public functions.

Economic perspective on outsourcing of property management services

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the economic forces influencing the outsourcing process of property management services, and investigate how these forces should be applied in order to maximize the productive efficiency and performance quality, thus ensuring optimal use of resources.Design/methodology/approachMarket competition and transaction monitoring were identified to be the fundamental factors. Single‐case study method was used to quantitatively examine the impact of these economic forces on the outsourcing of property management services of the Hong Kong Housing Authority.FindingsThe property services market was contestable, and through competitive tendering the level of competition had a significant negative impact on production cost and a significant positive relationship with service quality. Fee level was also found to have no significant effect on service quality. Professional maintenance services were found to be complex and associated with significant transaction costs, especially where there was a high degree of contact with tenants.Research limitations/implicationsThe outsourcing strategy forms a conceptual baseline on which further research can build to test its significance in many other settings, thus resulting in a more robust economic theory for outsourcing of property management services.Practical implicationsCompetitive tendering should be adopted for outsourcing to minimize production cost and maximize service quality. The overall transaction costs should be minimized by focusing the limited resources on monitoring of the complex professional maintenance services, especially the services for major planned maintenance works where there are many occupiers involved.Originality/valueThe confirmatory tests indicate that the strategic objectives of cost and quality improvement from outsourcing, as expected by the stakeholders, can be achieved. Hence the research contributes to the property management practice by developing an economic strategy which optimizes the use of resources for the benefit of corporate organizations which own a property portfolio, whilst at the same time satisfying the power and needs of the tenants and other stakeholders.

The Analytical Method of the Construction of the Profile of the Basic Rack for Equal Conjugate Curvature

After an extensive research on the fundamental theory, the theoretical basis for the Logix gearing will be presented in this paper. This includes the theory for gear meshing with high degree of contact. In comparison to previous studies, the theory of this paper is more restricted going beyond third order parameters into the fourth order, the teeth profile had one order of contact higher than that of the Logix gearing. So that further improved the contact strength of tooth profile. A large category of gearings with high order of contact was presented, while the Logix gear is only one of them, or the special example in realization of my theory. In the Logix gearing, the zigzag curvature center curve of media rank does not always lay about the pitch line and does not extend along the pitch line continuously and steadily. It goes forward and returns. So that, in terms of properties of the transverse engagement, the Logix gearing has not much improvement over the traditional Novikov gearing (in which the transverse engagement is temporally). In my gearing the curvature center of media rank extend along the pitch line continuously and steadily. The transverse engagement factor is larger than that of Logix gearing.

Análise do processo de recuperação de serviços a partir das reclamações dos clientes: estudo de caso em três organizações

O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma análise do processo de recuperação de serviços realizado a partir das reclamações dos clientes e de como as melhorias dos processos são efetuadas nas empresas. O trabalho apresenta conceitos relativos a expectativas e percepções, falhas e reclamações, recuperação de serviços e melhoria da qualidade em serviços. O método de pesquisa utilizado é o estudo de caso, que foi empregado em três organizações: uma empresa com alto grau de contato com cliente e serviço personalizado; uma empresa atuante no varejo com médio grau de contato, e uma empresa com baixo grau de contato com o cliente por se tratar de um serviço de massa. Ao final, discutem-se os resultados e encaminha-se a continuidade da pesquisa. Os achados da pesquisa sugerem a necessidade de uma estratégia de recuperação de serviços atrelada à melhoria dos processos, de modo a fornecer o serviço certo já na primeira vez.

Sex And Propinquity As Predictors Of Attitudes Towards Spouse Abuse Among South Africans

This study examines the influence of sex and propinquity on attitudes towards spouse abuse among South Africans. It is hypothesized that females would have a more negative attitude than males and that people with a high degree of contact with the abused (relatives and professionals working with the abused) (high propinquity group) would have a more favourable therefore negative attitude toward spouse-abuser than those with low degree of personal contact (low propinquity group). Through in-depth interviews using a questionnaire, data were collected from 120 randomly selected participants in Gauteng and Limpopo provinces. Age of participants 18 to 50 years with a mean age of 32.2 (SD=8.27). Spouse-abuse as used in this study is defined “women and men who have been emotionally abused (nagging, sexual and emotion deprivation) and or physically beaten by their spouses with blows, slapped, kicked and have experienced these over three times in a single relationship A 2 X 2 ANOVA of data collected from 120 participants reveals that females have a more negative attitude towards spouse abuse than males and the high propinquity participants have a more negative attitude than low propinquity group. These findings have significant practical implications for intimate partner violence or Gender-based violence and the health and psychological outcomes for battered spouses. It is suggested that females should be encouraged to take up careers as caregivers and the need for culturally relevant programmes to help spouses particularly women in abusive relationships and in addition a need for more research in this direction to help deal with myths that have cultural relevance to factors maintaining battering.

New CCD photometry for the extreme lower mass-ratio binary AW Ursae Majoris

This paper presents charge-couple device (CCD) photometric observations for the eclipsing binary AW UMa. The V-band light curve in 2007 was analyzed using the 2003 version of the Wilson–Devinney code. It is confirmed that AW UMa is a total eclipsing binary with a higher degree of contact f=80.2% and a lower mass ratio of q=0.076. From the (O−C) curve, the orbital period shows a continuous period decrease at a rate of dP/dt=−2.05×10−7 d yr−1. The long-term period decrease suggested that AW UMa is undergoing the mass transfer from the primary component to the secondary one, accompanied by angular momentum loss due to mass outflow L 2. Weak evidence indicates that there exists a cyclic variation with a period of 17.6 yr and a small amplitude of A=0. d 0019, which may be attributed to the light-time effect via the third body. If the existence of an additional body is true, it may remove a great amount of angular momentum from the central system. For this kind of contact binary, as the orbital period decreases, the shrinking of the inner and outer critical Roche lobes will cause the contact degree f to increase. Finally, this kind of binary will merge into a single rapid-rotation star.

Neighborhood Residential Segregation and Physical Health among Hispanic Americans: Good, Bad, or Benign?

Although considerable evidence shows that residential segregation is deleterious to the health of African Americans, findings regarding segregation and health for Hispanic Americans are inconsistent. Competing hypotheses regarding the effects of neighborhood segregation on health are tested with data from Puerto Rican and Mexican American residents of Chicago. Multilevel analyses reveal that segregation is associated with more health problems for Puerto Rican Americans but not for Mexican Americans. In addition, the relationship between segregation and health was conditioned by generational status for Mexican Americans: Second- or later-generation Mexican Americans living in highly segregated neighborhoods had better health than first-generation Mexican Americans in such neighborhoods. These findings reveal that residential segregation has differential effects across Hispanic groups and suggest that a high degree of contact with Mexican Americans promotes health by facilitating flow of informal health resources and social support.

ADHD in adults: A study of clinical characteristics, impairment and comorbidity

In this study, we explored the clinical characteristics, impairment and comorbidity in a sample of 45 adult patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The collection of data is based on a naturalistic, retrospective approach using medical records documenting a comprehensive assessment of the patients. The sample was severely impaired in terms of academic achievement, employment and criminality, and had very high levels of comorbidity, especially alcohol and drug abuse, antisocial personality disorder and depression. Despite a high degree of contact with child psychiatric services in childhood, very few were diagnosed with ADHD, and many had a long period of psychiatric treatment as adults before the ADHD diagnosis was made. ADHD is in this sample of adults associated with severe impairment and comorbidity, and the connection between impairment and lack of proper diagnosis and treatment is discussed.

The influence of a biomaterial on the closure of a marginal hard tissue defect adjacent to implants. An experimental study in the dog.

The present experiment was performed to determine the influence of Bio-Oss on hard tissue formation at sites that, following implant installation, presented a 1-1.25 mm wide marginal defect. Four Labrador dogs were used. The premolars and first molars on both sides of the mandible were extracted. After 3 months, mucoperiosteal flaps were elevated and three experimental sites were prepared for implant installation in each side of the mandible. A step drill was used to widen the marginal 5 mm of the canal. Thus, following the placement of the implant (3.3 x 10 mm, SLA surface, Straumann AG, Waldenburg, Switzerland) a circumferential gap, about 1-1.25 wide and 5 mm deep, remained lateral to the titanium rod. The test sites in the left side of the mandible were first filled with a deproteinized cancellous bone mineral (Bio-Oss). The defect sites in the right side of the mandible (control sites) were left for spontaneous healing. A resorbable barrier membrane (Bio-Gide) was placed to cover the implant and the bone tissue in two sites of each quadrant, while the third site was left without membrane placement. The flaps were repositioned to cover all defect sites and were sutured. After 4 months of healing, block biopsies of each implant site were dissected and processed for ground sectioning. It was demonstrated that at 4 months, all types of defects were filled with newly formed bone and that the biomaterial placed in the marginal defect in conjunction with implant installation during healing became incorporated in the newly formed bone tissue. A high degree of contact was established between the Bio-Oss particles and the newly formed bone. Bio-Oss became integrated with the newly formed bone. In the model used, Bio-Oss did not enhance the process of bone formation and defect closure.

Revisiting Tungusic Classification from the Bottom up: A Comparison of Evenki and Oroqen

uses a tree model, is even less successful in indicating the relationships among languages at a finer level of detail. This article demonstrates that two Tungusic languages, Evenki and Oroqen, which have long been treated as a single language for classification purposes, are better treated as distinct linguistic varieties. The article raises fundamental questions about the current classification of Tungusic languages and suggests a renewed examination of the role of dialect continua and contact languages in understanding the composition of the family. Finally, we question whether a tree-based model is appropriate for classifying languages that have had a high degree of contact and are found in families or branches of a shallow time depth.*

An Investigation of the Contact Hypothesis of the Own-race Bias in Face Recognition

Although previous studies have demonstrated that faces of one's own race are recognized more accurately than are faces of other races, the theoretical basis of this effect is not clearly understood at present. The experiment reported in this paper tested the contact hypothesis of the own-race bias in face recognition using a cross-cultural design. Four groups of subjects were tested for their recognition of distinctive and typical own-race and other-race faces: (1) black Africans who had a high degree of contact with white faces, (2) black Africans who had little or no contact with white faces, (3) white Africans who had a high degree of contact with black faces, and (4) white Britons who had little contact with black faces. The results showed that although on the whole subjects recognized own-race faces more accurately and more confidently than they recognized other-race faces, the own-race bias in face recognition was significantly smaller among the high-contact subjects than it was among the low-contact subjects. Also, although high-contact black and white subjects showed significant main effects of distinctiveness in their recognition of faces of both races, low-contact black and white subjects showed significant main effects of distinctiveness only in their recognition of own-race faces. It is argued that these results support the contact hypothesis of the own-race bias in face recognition and Valentine's multidimensional space (MDS) framework of face encoding.

The Jews in the diaspora of the Roman empire

There is little literary evidence and archaeological sources pointing to a high degree of contact partly in the sense of Hellenization of Judaism and partly in the sense of Jewish apologetics and Jewish influence on the non-Jewish world. But there is also evidence – the Jewish struggles and revolts and the Rabbinic literature – pointing in the opposite direction of conflict and isolation. In both the diaspora and in Palestine the Jews were involved in a tense and strained dialectic relationship with their non-Jewish fellow-citizens, and in both cases did this relationship produce significant events and important literature. As in other periods, the Jews in the Roman period formulated their beliefs and ideas, and reached their social positions by the way of various forms for dialectic interaction and communication with the non-Jewish world. They shaped their social, political, ethnic, religious and cultural identity in the process of exchange with the non-Jewish. Accordingly, in their relations with the non-Jewish world the Jews and Judaism were important parts of the on-going acculturation process in Hellenistic and Roman times.

University basketball injuries: a five‐year study of women's and men's varsity teams

On the basis of case records, the injuries of a female and a male university basketball team were examined over a 5‐year period. The female team had more clinic visits, physiotherapy and rechecks. Men sustained more new injuries. The body part most frequently injured on both teams was the foot/ankle, followed by the knee. Women had more injuries and rechecks of the knee than men, while foot/ankle injuries required more rechecks among men. It is suggested that women had more rechecks due to more severe injuries, greater anxiety and greater acceptance of rechecks offered. Possible explanations for the greater number of new injuries in men could be greater body mass, a higher degree of contact and lesser flexibility.

Participants' Perception of a Work Therapy Program in a Nursing Home

Work therapy programs are designed to provide pa- tients with physical, psychological, and financial benefits. Twenty- three participants in a nursing home work therapy program were interviewed regarding their perceptions. Ninety percent reported in- creased self-esteem as a result of having a job. The majority be- lieved their work contributed to the general community. Participants with jobs requiring a high degree of contact with other residents were more likely to report sitive feelings than participants with non-contact jobs. Many o f t I? e workers reported little interest in the personal or structured leisure activities available in the facility. The therapeutic effects of productive work among elderly nursing home residents are discussed.

Aboriginal Visibility in the ‘System’

In Australia, Aborigines, both adult and juvenile, experience a disproportionately higher degree of contact with ‘authorities’ and ‘the system’ than do members of the mainstream community. An examination of youth offending records in South Australia during the period, 1 July, 1979–30 June, 1983, illustrates that Aboriginal youth are not only over-represented in terms of the numbers appearing before the Children's Court and Children's Aid Panels, but also they are significantly more likely to have experienced previous contact with the ‘system’ than have non-Aboriginal youth. The data show that they are more likely to have records of previous Aid Panel and Court Appearances, are more likely to appear under an existing order or as an absconder and, finally, are more likely to be under the care of the state at the time of their ‘current’ appearance.

The Fermi surface of the HCP Cu-Ge alloys containing 12-15 at.% Ge studied by positron annihilation

The Fermi surface of the Cu-Ge alloy in the HCP zeta phase field is studied by measurements of momentum distributions of annihilation photons from two single crystals at e/a=1.38 and 1.45. The Fermi surface of the alloy at e/a=1.38 lies inside the Jones zone, and has a high degree of contact with the zone faces. A normal to (10.0) and a small degree of contact with the zone faces B normal to (00.1). The overlap of the Fermi surface across the A faces is observed for the alloy at e/a=1.45. Remarkable bulges of the Fermi surface are detected along the directions towards the faces C normal to (10.1) in both the compositions. The present results reveal the correlation between the overlapping of the Fermi surface across the zone faces and the change of lattice constant. The relative stability of the HCP zeta phase is discussed in the light of the experimental results.