Today's Civil Research Articles

Civil Service Reform, At-Will Employment, and George Santayana: Are We Condemned to Repeat the Past?

The competing values found in private and public sector models of personnel management animate today's civil service reform debate. Unfortunately, the antagonists frequently produce as much heat as light as their positions become entrenched and genuine dialogue suffers. In such situations, insights from another time and place can provide a perspective on issues and events. A case in point is philosopher and poet George Santayana who observed in 1905 that, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Drawing upon his work, this critique of civil service reform first briefly reviews the origins of the merit system and the objectives of contemporary changes. Then, a case study in the trendsetting “megastate” of Florida is analyzed. The conclusion speculates on the future of radical reform.

The expanding role of animal welfare within EU legislation and beyond

Abstract Animal welfare is being accorded an increasingly important role in today's civil society. Within the EU, this has been enshrined within the specific “Protocol on Protection and Welfare of Animals” annexed to the EC Treaty, obliging Member States and the EU Institutions to pay full regard to the welfare of animals when formulating and implementing Community legislation. There is a growing body of EU legislation on this issue, founded on sound scientific principles (including the role of EFSA in providing independent scientific advice), taking account of public concerns, stakeholder input and possible socio-economic implications. Recent CAP reforms also testify to animal welfare's growing stature in policy-making, with the introduction of the principle of cross-compliance regarding eligibility for direct payments and additional financial incentives for producers to achieve higher standards. Animal welfare is being increasingly perceived as an integral element of overall food quality, having important knock-on effects on animal health and food safety. On a worldwide level, the OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) has embarked on an initiative to develop global animal welfare guidelines and standards mandated by 167 member countries and the issue remains on the agenda for future WTO negotiations. Consumers demand higher standards of animal protection and it is incumbent upon policy-makers and legislators to respond accordingly.

New Grounds for a Re-Union Between Science and Spirituality

Science is recovering its basic mission of making sense of the world. As a search for meaning it is similar to spirituality. The difference between science and spirituality is not in the end they seek, but in the way they seek it. Science uses rational thinking in analyzing and interpreting what experience and experiment discloses, whereas spirituality combines experience with the immediacy of an intuition that speaks to a reality that underlies the world conveyed by the senses. In our day science and spirituality, the great streams of human endeavor, are on a converging course. They share the realization that the cosmos is not a domain of unconscious matter moving about in passive space; it is a dynamic, self-evolving whole, integral at all scales and in all domains. This convergence is important in itself, and it is also important in regard to its consequences. On the one hand it tells us that our intuitive insights about the nature of life and reality are not illusory: they are confirmed in their essence by cutting-edge science. On the other, it offers motivation for entering on a positive path to our common future because wholeness is a defining characteristic of the kind of civilization that could overcome the problems created by the mechanistic manipulative rationality of today's dominant civilization. Based on Ervin Laszlo, Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos: The Rise of the Integral Vision of Reality. Inner Traditions International, Rochester, VT. 2006 (March), ISBN 1-59477-102-2.

Civil Service resiliency and coping

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to explore the interrelationship between workplace stress, coping and resiliency and their influence on employee health and productivity.Design/methodology/approachThis general review includes an examination of selected theoretical models within the areas of stress, coping and resiliency. In addition, a conceptual framework is presented which emphasizes the role that personality characteristics and coping strategies play in impacting employees' overall health and productivity within the workplace.FindingsThrough this general review, there is a recognition of the importance of both personality characteristics and coping strategies and their associated influence on employee health and productivity – specifically within Civil Service work settings.Practical implicationsManagers, executives and human resource management practitioners are presented with proposed strategies as a means of examining coping, resiliency and workplace stress within Civil Service work environments.Originality/valueThis article offers readers further insights into understanding why some employees are more or less resilient, given the same stressful situation. In today's Civil Service work environment, continually shifting performance expectations and media/public scrutiny are just two of the features common to working for government agencies. Therefore, the issue of understanding and building resilient Civil Service workforces that are able to handle the multitude of unique demands and constraints placed on them seems not only intriguing, but necessary.

Full circle for UK canals: restoring the South Pennine Ring

Britain's emergence as the world's leading industrial power in the nineteenth century was highly dependent on its extensive new canal network created by the founders of the UK civil engineering profession. Reopening the network—much of which has been closed for over half a century—is now seen as a valuable catalyst to regenerating Britain's former industrial cities. However, the task presents today's civil engineers with almost as many challenges as the original construction. The £58 million project to reopen the final sections of the trans- Pennine Rochdale and Huddersfield Canals—and thus restore the South Pennine Ring waterway—is a classic example of the flexible and innovative approaches needed to thread new life into today's decayed and congested urban environments.

Full circle for UK canals: restoring the South Pennine Ring

Britain's emergence as the world's leading industrial power in the nineteenth century was highly dependent on its extensive new canal network created by the founders of the UK civil engineering profession. Reopening the network—much of which has been closed for over half a century—is now seen as a valuable catalyst to regenerating Britain's former industrial cities. However, the task presents today's civil engineers with almost as many challenges as the original construction. The £58 million project to reopen the final sections of the trans- Pennine Rochdale and Huddersfield Canals—and thus restore the South Pennine Ring waterway—is a classic example of the flexible and innovative approaches needed to thread new life into today's decayed and congested urban environments.

Progress in Aeroengine Technology (1939--2003)

Second only to the invention of an airplane by the Wright Brothers 100 years ago, the jet engine has revolutionized both military and civil aviation. We present a survey of the key aeroengine technology trends. Since 1939, engine thrust has increased over 100-fold and the (thrust/weight) ratio to 7. Whereas the early jet engines barely lasted for less than 10 hours, today's civil engines can stay on wings for up to 10,000 hours, and high-performance military engines can last several hundred hours. Advances in blade cooling technologies and high-temperature materials have permitted an increase in turbine inlet temperature from 1280 to 3200°F. Today, engine thermal efficiency is approaching 50%. Also, today's most powerful aeroengines already meet the International Civil Aviation Organization ultra-low gaseous and smoke requirements. Finally, civil and military technology is moving along the direction set by the versatile affordable advanced turbine engines (VAATE) propulsion capability goals. The spectacular achievements of the last century truly provide an outstanding start for many future achievements to come in the field of aeroengine technology, along the lines of the VAATE goals

Automatic updating of large aircraft models using experimental data from ground vibration testing

The aeroelastic stability certification of today's civil aircraft structures requires validated analytical models which have to meet high flutter calculation, fan-blade-off and windmilling certification calculation standards. The dynamic model of the aircraft must be validated in such a way that the dynamic behaviour of the aircraft is reproduced nearly exactly in order to reflect real scenarios when infuriate extreme or flight loads on the model. In addition, the dynamic model must be an accurate representation in order to predict the behaviour of the structure with regard to different boundary conditions. In view of shorter testing times or large-scale civil aircraft this topic will increase in importance in the future since correct free-free boundary conditions are very severe to realize during ground vibration testing (GVT). The above mentioned application fields illustrate the all-important role of the validated analytical model within the scope of civil aeronautics. The aim of this study was to find a new way of updating analytical models of large aircraft by using modal data obtained by GVT in order to save time during model validation. A strategy is presented in this article for validating the finite element (FE) model of a civil four-engine aircraft using a computational model updating (CMU) method.

Combination of NDT techniques for site investigation of non-ballasted railway tracks

Today's civil engineering NDT needs are for quantitative, fast to apply and easy to interpret methods. They are required on site both for evaluation of existing structures/infrastructure and for quality control in new construction. With this purpose, BAM has carried out in-situ feasibility studies, using radar, impact-echo and ultrasonic-echo methods. Two examples are given of their combined application on different railway slab–track constructions, using high frequency radar, scanning impact-echo and ultrasonic array methods. The aim was to evaluate limitations and advantages, comparability and complementarity of these methods. The on-site measurements demonstrated the possibility to investigate, with good accuracy via NDT, the bonding conditions between sleepers and slab, to locate voids and measure layer thickness. The acoustic and electromagnetic methods used, were found to be complementary.

Further reflections on megalith mechanics

The 4500-year-old circle of rocks at Stonehenge in England continues to fascinate today's civil engineers. Transporting and erecting the 40 t megaliths from which it is made would provide a logistical headache now let alone 45 centuries ago. Last year this journal published a paper which demonstrated that—contrary to general belief—the stones were probably rolled rather than dragged into position, albeit with plenty of Neolithic manpower. This paper shows how further mechanical refinements could have reduced the maximum gang size to just six men. If true, it suggests our ancestors had even greater intellectual sophistication than previously imagined.

Effect of freeze-thaw cycles on the bond durability between fibre reinforced polymer plate reinforcement and concrete

Deterioration of infrastructure is one of the most pressing concerns facing today's civil engineering community. As a result, new rehabilitation techniques, such as the external bonding of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) plates and sheets, are being developed. To apply these rehabilitation methods in Canada, the durability of the rehabilitated structures in cold regions must be assessed. This paper examines the effects of freeze-thaw cycling on the bond between FRP and concrete. An experimental investigation was conducted using both single lap pull-off and bond beam specimens. Only uniaxial carbon FRP strips were considered. The specimens were exposed to up to 300 freeze-thaw cycles consisting of 16 h of freezing and 8 h of thawing in a water bath. After exposure, the specimens were tested to failure. The development of strain along the bond length and the failure mode are presented for both types of specimens. Load deflection curves are presented for the beam specimens. The results indicate that the bond between carbon FRP strips and concrete is not significantly damaged by up to 300 freeze-thaw cycles.Key words: reinforced concrete, repair, rehabilitation, strengthening, fibre reinforced polymers, freeze-thaw, bond damage.

The Information Warriors

Information Warfare (IW) has become today's catchphrase among Western military and political officials. It has emerged as a pressing concern because of the reliance of today's society, military and civil alike, on computers, civil communication networks and databases. As stated by Robert T. Marsh, Chairman of the US Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, ‘this reliance exposes infrastructures in new ways, and creates new vulnerabilities’. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by a new type of warfighter — cyber‐warriors.

Jews against prejudice: American Jews and the fight for civil liberties

America's dark history of anti-Semitism, racism, and ethnic bigotry-and many of the efforts to combat such prejudice-has received growing attention in recent years. Yet one of the most important stories in America's struggle to overcome ethnic and religious hatred has gone largely untold. From the Depression to the late 1960s Jewish organizations-working as the leaders in a broadly based social and political movement-waged a determined campaign to eliminate all forms of discrimination and prejudice from American society. Stuart Svonkin delves into the archival records of America's three major Jewish defense groups-the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, and the American Jewish Congress-to offer the first comprehensive account of organized Jewish political activism against bigotry and for human rights. Jews Against Prejudice chronicles American Jewry's political ascendance, from the era before World War II, when Jewish defense groups first organized to fight mass anti-Semitism, to their emergence as the leaders of a liberal movement determined to address the nation's most pressing political and social problems. Svonkin explores the impact that these Jewish groups had in the fight against racial and ethnic stereotypes. Beginning in World War II Jewish social scientists and other intellectuals began a concentrated effort to investigate the social and psychological bases of prejudicial attitudes, outlooks, and behavior. By the end of the war these social scientists became convinced that all forms of prejudice, including anti-Semitism, shared the same social and psychological causes, which, if discovered, could be successfully treated and eliminated. For over twenty years Jewish intellectuals and activists worked hand in hand to formulate practical programs to combat prejudice. They pioneered tactics-including educational programs in the schools, appeals for tolerance broadcast through the mass media, and legal challenges in the courts-that remain among the principal weapons of today's civil rights activists. Svonkin shows how ideology and the shifting models of prejudice greatly influenced the means that each Jewish group used in its fight against bigotry and racism. He considers the far-reaching effects of anticommunism in the 1950s and early 1960s, when Jewish political groups moved to support liberal anticommunism as well as to oppose the demagoguery of such figures as Senator Joseph McCarthy and the leaders of the John Birch Society. Exploring the tensions between American and Jewish identities, Svonkin argues that the revelations of the Eichmann Trial, the growing concern over Israel's security, and the persistence of anti-Semitism all shaped Jewish activism- driving the shift from the universalistic liberalism of the 1940s and 1950s to the cultural assertion and political neoconservatism of the late 1960s.

The dawning of a new science: Bahian tropicalist medicine

Medicine in 19th-century Brazil was a scientific field where traditional knowledge, academic teaching, and clinical care found themselves clashing with new theories of illness and medical care underpinned by pioneer disciplines like parasitology, bacteriology, and anatomopathology and an experimental clinical practice focused on tropical diseases which afflict the poor. This new set of theoretical and social references which affected public health-care policy saw its decadence when it was appropriated by an ideology that argued that the Afro-Brazilian population was racially and culturally inferior. Two new disciplines--criminal physical anthropology and legal medicine--contributed to the development of specialized knowledge within intellectual circles. At the same time, they were placed at the service of the ruling order, reinforcing principles and devices that the elite utilized to keep itself in power. This hybrid structure constitutes the legacy of barbarianism which is sundering today's civilization.

Local systems and social development

This paper considers the role of ‘local systems’ in today's civilization. The renaissance of local systems—taking place over the last 10 years, and which is manifest in people's behaviour as well as in the growing interest by social science in those systems—is connected, beyond doubt, with the crisis in both economy and society, and with attempts to reconstruct them. This phenomenon can be observed in both socialist and capitalist countries. Is this renaissance just a fleeting fashion or, quite the contrary, does it mean that local systems can become significant for further development? This is an important problem, which should become a topic of a wider discussion that the present study is meant to start.

The development of a system for the evaluation of electromagnetic interference with pacemaker function: hazards in the aircraft environment.

It has been recognized for many years that the electromagnetic (EM) environment within aircraft presents a potential hazard to the subject with a pacemaker. Most of the information currently available is, however, several years old and may not be strictly relevant to modern pacemakers and the electromagnetic environment found in today's civil aircraft. In mid 1986 it was therefore decided to investigate the effect on a number of currently available unipolar pacemakers of typical levels of electromagnetic interference encountered in civil aircraft.

Planning Education: Let's Forget It for Civil Engineers

Civil engineers interact with planners at various levels and should, arguably, have some formal training in that discipline. The arguments against such formal training are: 1 Today's civil engineer...

Designing Noise Barriers Using Expert System China

The expert system is a relatively new application of artificial intelligence technology that is beginning to emerge in the field of civil engineering. This new computer‐aided tool has the potential to significantly affect the way today's civil engineer assesses and solves complex problems. An expert system named CHINA (Computerized Highway Noise Analyst) has been developed that is capable of interacting with an existing FORTRAN model that aids an engineer in acoustically designing a highway noise barrier. CHINA executes the design model, interprets the results, and decides if those results are valid. If they are not, CHINA determines new input parameters and re‐executes the design model until a satisfactory design is obtained. Three actual highway noise abatement problems are examined in detail and the design solution from CHINA and a human expert are compared. The results of this comparison indicate that CHINA is capable of designing highway noise barriers that are at least equal, in terms of performance...

Today's Civil Service

Dermot Englefield (ed) 1985 Harlow: Longman 200 pp price £9.95 ISBN 0 582 90336 X It is vital that cooperation between civil servants and businessmen be improved and extended. As a guide to the work of the Civil Service with Parliament and industry, this book aims to bridge the gap between policy makers and businessmen by promoting better understanding of the Civil Service and also by looking ahead to ways of continually developing this relationship.

Correction: Today's Western and World Civilization College Texts: A Review

Correction: Today's Western and World Civilization College Texts: A Review