Higher Profile Research Articles

Aerodynamic Design and Testing of Three Low Solidity Steam Turbine Nozzle Cascades

Three sets of low solidity steam turbine nozzle cascades were designed and tested. The objective was to reduce cost through a reduction in parts count while maintaining or improving performance. The primary application is for steam turbine high pressure sections where Mach numbers are subsonic and high levels of unguided turning can be tolerated. The base line design A has a ratio of pitch to axial chord of 1.2. This is the pitch diameter section of a 50% reaction stage that has been verified by multistage testing on steam to have a high level of efficiency. Designs B and C have ratios of pitch to axial chord of 1.5 and 1.8, respectively. All three designs satisfy the same inlet and exit vector diagrams. Analytical surface Mach number distributions and boundary layer transition predictions are presented. Extensive cascade test measurements were carried out for a broad incidence range from −60to+35deg. At each incidence, four outlet Mach numbers were tested, ranging from 0.2 to 0.8, with the corresponding Reynolds number variation from 1.8×105 to 9.0×105. Experimental results of loss coefficient and blade surface Mach number are presented and compared for the three cascades. The experimental results have demonstrated low losses over the tested Mach number range for a wide range of incidence from −45to15deg. Designs B and C have lower profile losses than design A. The associated flow physics is interpreted using the results of wake profile, blade surface Mach number distribution, and blade surface oil flow visualization, with the emphasis placed on the loss mechanisms for different flow conditions and the loss reduction mechanism with lower solidity. The effect of the higher profile loading of the lower solidity designs on increased end wall losses induced by increased secondary flow, especially on low aspect ratio designs, is the subject of ongoing studies.

Living with Childhood Cancer

The present study evaluated the use of an annual seminar day for families of children diagnosed with cancer in the preceding 12 months. The main objective was to explore the relationship between various measures of parental psychological health and the likelihood of attending the seminar. In line with clinical observation, the authors hypothesized that the families that did not attend the seminar day would have a higher profile of distress on a range of variables in the weeks before the seminar. The measures included current sources of support (psychosocial and material), mother-partner functioning, and maternal depression, anxiety, and stress. Of 56 families that participated, 20 also attended the seminar day. The results showed a range of clinically and statistically significant differences between families in the direction of the hypothesis. After controlling for time since diagnosis, the mother's level of psychological distress and the perceived level of discord in the mother-partner relationship were higher and more intimately related constructs in families that declined to participate in the seminar day. Overall, the results suggested that seminars, of the type discussed in the article, may be of maximal perceived relevance for families that received a diagnosis of childhood cancer within the previous three months.

CAP Reforms and Multilateral Trade Negotiations: Another View on Discourse Efficiency

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was institutionalised in the early 1960s and has gone through various crises since then, which have led to increasingly important policy reforms (1981, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1999 and 2002/3).1 This article focuses on two of these reforms: (i) the so-called MacSharry reform in 1992, which introduced a radical shift in the type of policy instruments used (from price support for agricultural products to direct payments to farmers); and (ii) the CAP Mid-Term Review (MTR), signed in June 2003, which resulted from an attempt by the European Commission to introduce a second generation of radical instrumental changes in the CAP in order to enhance the 'multifunctional' dimension of EU agriculture. First, the article analyses the Commission discourses in each period as well as the conditions of their formulation. Second, it seeks to explain the active political entrepreneurship and much higher profile adopted by the Commission to promote the MTR reform project as compared to the MacSharry reform. The analytical framework employed here considers discourse as a resource in political exchange and hypothesises that an actor's ability to influence policy change through an efficient and influential discourse relies heavily on the amount and quality of intellectual resources available. (Resume d'auteur)

Offenders need a higher profile

Offenders need a higher profile

Determinants of brand equity for banking business application software products

The research on brand equity has focused primarily on consumer goods and, lately, services. However there have been few attempts to explore brand equity for high tech industrial products. The drivers of brand equity for high-tech industrial products (where technology embedded within a product has traditionally assumed a higher profile) is likely to affect the purchase at various stages in the process. This study explored the determinants of brand equity for banking business application software products using semi-structured interview format. The key determinants of brand equity were identified as perceived value and trust. The drivers of perceived value were identified as performance indicators and tangibles, and the drivers of trust as credibility of company, market acceptance of the product and reputation of alliance partners.

The Saudi Paradox

Saudi Arabia is in the throes of a crisis, but its elite is bitterly divided on how to escape it. Crown Prince Abdullah leads a camp of liberal reformers seeking rapprochement with the West, while Prince Nayef, the interior minister, sides with an anti-American Wahhabi religious establishment that has much in common with al Qaeda. Abdullah cuts a higher profile abroad -- but at home Nayef casts a longer and darker shadow.

Double Jeopardy: One Idea and Two Myths from the Criminal Justice Bill 2002

In November 2002, the government introduced the Criminal Justice Bill 2002 to Parliament. The Bill is far-reaching, covering issues from the pre-trial process to sentencing. This article focuses on one of the higher profile, and, arguably, more controversial proposals in the Bill, the relaxation of the rule against double jeopardy. The proposal is described and analysed. It is also suggested that the Bill and the proposal are underpinned by two criminal justice policy positions—(1) that defendants are unfairly advantaged in the criminal process; and (2) that the best way to enhance victims' rights is to diminish those of defendants. It is suggested that these positions are misguided, and that they constitute powerful and persistent criminal justice myths.

Repositioning the State Library of South Australia through a Building Redevelopment and Promoting Libraries through a 2003@yourlibrary Campaign

ABSTRACTA two year major building redevelopment project at the State Library of South Australia is nearing completion. The building project has been a catalyst for the library to rethink the uses of its buildings and to change its organisational structure to achieve a higher profile, and to promote itself through a major rebranding and a new approach to exhibitions and artworks. With public programs being reduced during the redevelopment, the library became a key player in a year long statewide campaign, 2003@yourlibrary, designed to enhance the image of libraries and librarians.

Teaching and assessment methods in UK information science: A ten year review of professional and scholarly journal content and predictions for 2011

Presents the results of a research project investigating teaching and learning methods in information science in the United Kingdom. An overview of the forces leading to the higher profile of teaching in universities is presented. A literature review was undertaken to identify articles in professional and scholarly academic journals on teaching methods and techniques. The authors report that the number of articles found was far fewer than originally anticipated and suggest that one reason for this could be that papers on teaching are not considered appropriate for the Research Assessment Exercise. The articles were characterised as focusing on either teaching media or teaching techniques and descriptions of some of the teaching methods discussed are given. The authors conclude with a consideration of a paper published in 1994 giving predictions for information science teaching in 2000 and give their own predictions for the future by suggesting how teaching will have changed by 2011.

Whose Trojan Horses?

AMIDST THE PARALLEL DEBATES over transatlantic relations and further enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), policy-makers and analysts have looked to the countries of central and eastern Europe as reliably pro-American counterweights to the increasingly sceptical, independent-minded states further west on the continent. Representative commentaries have recently described NATO's new and prospective members as 'Europe's most determined Atlanticists,'(1) 'desperate [for] a relationship with the United States,'(2) and thus key to long-term plans for forging an 'American commonwealth' in Europe.(3)Expressions of sympathy and support following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 notwithstanding, however, the hopes of some and the fears of others along these lines appear increasingly unwarranted. Rather than serve as reflexively supportive 'Trojan horses' for the United States within Euro-Atlantic institutions, the nations in the region are being driven by six underlying factors to accord precedence to relations with their leading partners in Western Europe. Managing the impact of this trend will present a major diplomatic challenge for all sides of this evolving triangle and the next great foreign policy test for central and eastern Europe.FOLLOW THE MONEYFirst, despite greater dynamism in the United States, central and east Europeans have grown ever more tightly linked economically over the past decade with their more immediate neighbours to the West. The European Union now provides roughly US$3 billion dollars annually in pre-accession assistance for its candidate partners in the region and almost another US$1 billion in humanitarian and redevelopment aid for the Balkans.(4) Individual EU members and other West European states provide additional funds. Meanwhile, though America's direct military expenditures in Europe remain sizeable, annual United States spending on traditional aid programmes for eastern Europe each of the past three years has hovered around US$700,00 and is set to decline sharply in 2003.(5)Trade and investment present a similar picture. Central and east European countries individually conduct between half and three-quarters of their trade with the European Union, with Germany alone making up roughly half the total. In contrast, less than five per cent of trade is with the United States.(6) The foreign investment gap is smaller and is magnified by the practice of some American companies of routing regional acquisitions through overseas subsidiaries for tax purposes. Nonetheless, among the three countries that account for the vast majority of outside investment in the region, the recorded American share reaches a high of 25 per cent in Hungary and only 15 per cent and six per cent, respectively, in Poland and the Czech Republic.(7)MY GENERATIONSecond, the oft-repeated triple rationale for NATO - 'keeping the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down' - may retain some underlying logic, but it is losing much of its emotional resonance for younger generations on both sides of the Atlantic.(8) As baby boomers and their offspring take over positions of social and political leadership across the former Soviet bloc, they generally lack their parents' and grandparents' sense of existential threat from predatory neighbours. Even if other Russian leaders were to diverge from President Vladimir Putin's recent 'strategic commitment' to closer co-operative ties with America and Europe, Russia will remain a severely weakened shadow of its former imperial self for many years to come. Meanwhile, despite its increasing willingness to assume a higher profile internationally, Germany will, for the foreseeable future, remain a thoroughly 'tamed power,' committed to peaceful, multilateral foreign policy.(9)Given those realities, even as younger cohorts of central and east Europeans continue to be drawn to American popular culture, fewer of them will view the United States as the indispensable defender of their national freedom. …

The English Regions and the European Union

BURCH M. and GOMEZ R. (2002) The English regions and the European Union, Reg. Studies 36 , 767-778. From the late 1980s on an elite-driven 'new regionalism' developed in the English regions, starting in the north. New region-wide modes of working by local authorities, business and other interests dovetailed with the new Government Offices to increase regional policy capacities. One of the focal points and drivers of this regionalism were the European Union (EU) Structural Funds. The Regional Development Agencies and Chambers/Assemblies established since 1997 have grown capacities and underpinned a higher profile information gathering and lobbying presence in Brussels. At the same time the focus has widened beyond the Structural Funds to reach into environmental policy/sustainable development and agriculture/rural development. The parallel strengthening of the Government Offices has enabled regional institutions better to address such cross-cutting issues, but has also reaffirmed Whitehall's dominant position and gatekeeper role. A partir du nord d'Angletere, un 'nouveau régionalisme' se fait jour dans les régions depuis la fin des années 1980, menépar des élites. Sur l'ensemble des régions, de nouveaux modes de travail dans l'administration locale, dans les affaires, et pour d'autres intéressés se sont fait concorder avec la nouvelle administration centrale afin d'augmenter la force de la politique régionale. Les fonds structurels européens ont été l'un des points centraux et l'un des catalyseurs de ce régionalisme. Les agences de développement régional (Regional Development Agencies) et les Chambres/ Assemblées régionales (Regional Chambers/Assemblies), établis depuis 1997, sont plus forts et plus en vue à Bruxelles quant à la réunion de l'information et au lobbying. En même temps, le point central s'est élargi au-delà des fonds structurels pour embrasser d'autres domaines, notamment l'environnement/ le développement durable et l'agriculture/le développement rural. Le renforcement parallèle de l'administration centrale a permis aux établissements régionaux non seulement de mieux affronter de telles questions chevauchées, mais aussi de réaffirmer la dominance de Whitehall et de sa tutelle. Seit Ende der achtziger Jahre hat sich in den englischen Regionen ein von Eliten betriebener "Neuer Regionalismus" entwickelt, der im Norden begann. Neue, regionenweite Arbeitsweisen in Ortsverwaltungen, im Geschäftsleben und anderen Interessengruppen werden (seit 1994) mit neuen Regierungsstellen verzahnt, um Befugnisse der Regionalpolitik auszudehnen. Einer der Brennpunkte und Antriebskräfte dieses Regionalismus waren die Strukturfonds der EU. Die Agenturen und Kammern/Versammlungen für Regionalentwicklung, die man seit 1997 eingerichtet hat, haben ihre Kapazitäten erweitert, und in Brüssel durch ein stärker beachtetes Informationsangebot und Vertretung untermauert. Zur gleichen Zeit fand eine Erweiterung des Blickfelds über den Strukturfond hinaus statt, und griff auf andere Gebiete über, besonders auf Umweltpolitik/ nachhaltige Entwicklung und Landwirtschaft/Landschaftsentwicklung. Eine parallel laufende Festigung der Stellung der Regierungsbehörden ermöglichte es regionalen Institutionen, sich derartigen gleitenden Problemen besser zu widmen, aber sie hat auch Whitehalls übergeordnete und Torwartstellung bestätigt.

Science‐and‐Religion in the Agreed Syllabuses ‐‐ An Investigation and Some Suggestions

A search for entries on science‐and‐religion in about a hundred current Agreed Syllabuses indicates that the topic is by no means prominent in all syllabuses. Among those that mention the topic, a considerable commonality of issues is apparent as well as some significant omissions. Taking both into account, some suggestions are offered for a more satisfactory treatment of science‐and‐religion and for a higher profile. It is, arguably, a key topic in its potential to encourage more pupils to be open to religious education in a scientific age

Apoptosis in heart and skeletal muscle.

Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is now recognized to be an important cellular event during normal development and in the progression of specific diseases. Apoptosis can be triggered by stimuli initiating outside of the cell, or within the mitochondria, leading to the activation of caspases and subsequent cell death. Although apoptosis has been widely studied in a variety of tissues over the last 5 years, skeletal muscle and heart have been relatively ignored in this regard. Research on apoptosis in cardiac muscle has recently taken on a higher profile as the recognition emerges that it may be an important contributor to specific cardiac pathologies, particularly in response to ischemia-reperfusion in which reactive oxygen species are formed. In skeletal muscle, very few studies have been done under specific physiological (e.g., exercise) and pathophysiological (e.g., dystrophies, denervation, myopathies) conditions. Skeletal muscle is unique in that it is multi-nucleated, and evidence suggests that it can undergo individual myonuclear apoptosis as well as complete cell death. This review discusses the basic cellular mechanisms of apoptosis, as well as the current evidence of this process in cardiac and skeletal muscle. The need for more work in this area is highlighted, particularly in exercise and training.

A higher profile for tools

A higher profile for tools

PERFORMANCE AND TALENT IDENTIFICATION OF FEMALE ICE HOCKEY PLAYERS

Female ice hockey continues to take a higher profile after two Winter Olympics in which women have played for medals. Canadian and American University, and youth hockey, are flourishing. Female ice hockey has also been enhanced by a professional league in Canada. As such, ongoing investigations of the physical performance characteristics of female ice hockey players are essential to the continued improvement of this wonderful game. Dr. Geithner will present data that show female ice hockey players, across a wide range of ages, tend to be tall, heavy, and heavy for their height. Body composition and physique vary with both age and playing ability, and age at menarche varies with the latter. Physical characteristics of players are generally consistent with the sport's requirements, probably reflecting a selective factor for performance. She will present other pertinent data on female hockey anthropometrics. Dr. Bracko will present data that show 40 yard dash and vertical jump height are predictors of skating speed and on-ice anaerobic capacity, the differences between elite and non-elite female ice hockey players are age, skating speed, and on-ice fitness, and the on and off-ice fitness of university players stay the same during the season. He will present other pertinent data on the performance characteristics of players aged 8 - 35. Dr. Rundell will present the testing and training plans for the U.S. Women's Ice Hockey team during the year preceding the Salt Lake Olympics: a retrospective analysis of what went right, and what went wrong, will be discussed. He will provide a complete physiological profile of the world's top female ice hockey players and present the training involved to achieve top physical conditioning.

The colour of sound and the soundness of colour

Reflections upon a new RNIB publication on the work of six visually impaired artists, upon a BBC radio documentary programme on the relationship between sound and colour, and upon a visit to the Hayward Gallery to see an exhibition of Paul Klee's paintings. The paper sets out the writer's own aesthetic responses to visual works of art, and presents an argument that the visual arts should have a much higher profile in the education of visually impaired children.

Border Permeability and the State in Southeast Asia: Contraband and Regional Security

In Southeast Asia, governments have increasingly tried to regulate international flows of commodities for financial, territorial, and security reasons. This article examines the relationship between borders and contraband in this arena, arguing that their interrelationship has become an important -- and understudied -- part of the regional security mosaic. The article analyses some of the connecting mechanisms between A SEAN frontier regions, and then explores how these mechanisms are being undermined by a range of countervailing forces. Here, the focus is on two contraband lines in particular: the transit of wildlife, and the passage of a diverse spectrum of consumer goods. The widening transit of such commodities presents special challenges to regional security, which are likely to plague local regimes in the foreseeable future. Introduction The security agenda in Southeast Asia has undergone significant broadening in recent decades. Arms races, the desired role of Japan, and conflict in the South China Sea have been joined of Late by cyber warfare, theatre missile defence, and dialogues on Myanmar, among other pressing issues. Scholars have looked at ASEAN's particular dynamics as a security grouping, and have even begun asking whether its characteristics and mechanics might be emulated in other parts of the world. [1] Some of these reappraisals have been part and parcel of a larger shift in the cadence of security studies, not just in Southeast Asia, but on the international stage as well. [2] Yet, there is a growing sense in the literature that Southeast Asia's security equation is especially complex, as states in this region evince highly-complicated interrelationships, governed by a broad spectrum of thorny issues. This has been true at least since the 1960s, but the swirling of these forces seems only to have gathered momentum in the last t wo decades. This article suggests that two concepts -- border permeability and illegal trade -- should have a higher profile within this widening security agenda. The examination of international frontiers in the global political economy has become a fertile field of study in recent years. Ironically, this has happened at the same time that borders are becoming less important, in terms of their restrictive capabilities. [3] Scholars have approached frontiers as part of a regional security context in various ways. Some of the best work have been done in a comparative vein, while the observations and methodologies of anthropologists on the ground have also been very instructive. [4] The transit of illegal trade through borders has also received increasing attention of late, as theorists and planners alike seek to explain how porous boundaries affect the relationships between neighbouring states. [5] Southeast Asia, with its ten sovereign nations, differing systems of government, and myriad border populations, presents an interesting case-study for these dynamics. More than most global arenas, frontiers and illicit commerce here play a fundamental part in the region's security calculus. This article examines these boundaries and flows on a systemic, pan-regional basis. An initial attempt is made to situate Southeast Asia's frontiers in a regional context, as border agreements, surveillance, and organized crime are related to government security concerns. The remainder of the article then delves into two particular contraband lines as windows into these dynamics: the trade in natural resources or biota (including flora and fauna), and the illicit commerce in consumer goods. Both are shown to be enterprises on a huge scale, which have interpenetrated the normal economic flows of the region in a wide variety of ways. The importance of these shadow circuits on commodities cannot be overstated. Money to national treasuries is lost, and ends up in the pockets of actors whose aims are often inimical to the state. Alternative power sources are built, and are then padded with this income for the future. …

Ethics and Foreign Policy: The Antinomies of New Labour's ‘Third Way’ in Sub-Saharan Africa

This article explores how New Labour has attempted to implement its ideas about a ‘third way’ foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an examination of British foreign policy practices, we explore whether New Labour has succeeded in finding a ‘third way’ between traditional views of socialism and capitalism in Africa. In particular, the article focuses on New Labour's attempts to build peace, prosperity and democracy on the African continent. We conclude that although New Labour's claims to add an ‘ethical dimension’ to foreign policy have succeeded in giving Britain a higher profile in the international arena, the implementation of such a policy is intrinsically difficult. These difficulties in turn arise from the antinomies embodied in New Labour's policy, or more specifically from the tension between the liberal internationalism of the third way and traditional concerns for the national interest, as well as the contradictions inherent in a commitment to both political and economic liberalism.

Bid to give health a higher profile

Bid to give health a higher profile

An investigation into the management implications of employee perceptions of corporate fitness

There have been a number of studies that have examined the potential benefits of companies investing in corporate fitness (CF) programmes and the results have been well publicized. However little research has investigated the perceptions of corporate employees. This study explores employee perceptions of CF and highlights the management implications for corporate organizations and CF providers. The study highlights that CF has become increasingly popular within the UK, arguably as a result of general changes in attitude towards health, fitness and lifestyle. CF continues to develop, adopting a more holistic approach to health awareness but needs to be given a higher profile within organizations through more effective marketing and management support. Employees would like a greater variety of services and more health education and support from CF providers.