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Academic Interest (academic + interest)
Selected AbstractsResurgent Academic Interest in the Council on Foreign RelationsPOLITICS, Issue 1 2001Inderjeet Parmar This article is based around a review of five books on the Council on Foreign Relations, an elite American foreign affairs think-tank, written during the 1990s. It aims to consider some of the reasons for this upsurge in academic interest in the CFR, the character of the books themselves, and how they approach and analyse the organisation. In so doing, the article takes a critical stance to the literature and suggests what a more adequate theoretical approach to the CFR might look like. [source] Economic Capabilities, Choices and Outcomes at Older Ages,FISCAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2006James Banks Abstract Intense policy and academic interest in the ,economics of ageing' has come about as a result of the demographic trends that have been experienced over the last 50 years and that are projected for the next 50 years. Key economic policy issues relate to the design of public pensions, welfare systems, healthcare and invalidity benefits, and the regulation of private pensions and other retirement saving. This paper presents an overview of the beginnings of a research agenda targeted towards increasing the empirical evidence on these issues in England and providing extensive data for subsequent research. The paper focuses on summarising some recent data on how individuals' economic circumstances, and in particular the ability and willingness to work, change from age 50 onwards. This will be a key factor in determining the ability of economic institutions to adjust to new socio-demographic equilibria in which individuals are living for longer. Further issues for more extensive empirical research are also identified. [source] The Rise of World History Studies in Twentieth-Century ChinaHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 8 2010Luo Xu The essay is a brief survey of the rise of world history studies in China. It traces the origin of the political and academic interest in the world outside of China back to the mid-nineteenth century, and discusses the growth and changes in the institution, curriculum, and ideology in China's world history field in the twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first century. The emphasis of the essay is on the development of world history studies during the six decades of the People's Republic of China after 1949, first under Soviet influence, and then under Western influence. It also addresses Chinese historians' persistent effort to search for their own identity and build a Chinese system of world history studies. [source] Managing Contradiction: Civic Stratification and Migrants'Rights,INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW, Issue 1 2003Lydia Morris Political and academic interest in cross-national migration has generated two very different and potentially polarized positions. One perspective emphasizes the continuing power of the nation state, while the other sees migration, and more specifically migrants' rights, as the manifestation of an emergent ,post-national' society. This article offers a conceptual framework which addresses this polarization through the concept of civic stratification (Lockwood, 1996). In illustrating its application, the study shows how such an approach goes beyond a traditional citizenship framework (e.g., Marshall, 1950) in considering degrees of partial membership, but remains cautious with respect to claims about universal, transnational rights. [source] High-molar-mass polypropene with tunable elastic properties by hafnocene/borate catalystsJOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 16 2006Tanja Seraidaris Abstract Elastic polypropene has gained growing industrial and academic interest as a thermoplastic elastomer. In this study, "rac"- and "meso"-dimethylsilyl(3-benzylindenyl)(2-methylindenyl)hafnium dichloride complexes (Hfr and Hfm, respectively), activated with [NHMe2Ph][B(C6F5)4]/triisobutyl aluminum, were used in propene polymerization. Using these catalyst systems, we obtained polymers with high molar masses, up to 550 kg/mol, and moderate isotacticities between 34 and 52%. By varying the polymerization conditions, we could modify the polymer microstructure and molar mass. 13C NMR was used to calculate the polymer pentad sequence distributions. The crystalline parts of the polymers were analyzed with the differential scanning calorimetry successive self-nucleation and annealing (SSA) technique. The SSA thermograms revealed that Hfr produced polypropene with a more uniform lamellar structure than Hfm. The mechanical properties were tested with dynamic mechanical analysis creep-recovery tests. In the series, the polymers with the lowest isotacticities and therefore lowest crystallinities showed the best elastic properties. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 4743,4751, 2006 [source] Science teachers' perceptions of the school environment: Gender differencesJOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING, Issue 4 2009Shwu-yong L. Huang Abstract Because the school environment has been shown to play an important role in teacher and student performance, we undertook research into the assessment of school environment, differences between female and male science teachers' perceptions of their school environments, and associations between these school environment perceptions and teachers' background characteristics. Although gender differences in science education have attracted both public concern and academic interest, little research has specifically addressed this issue in terms of the school environment. Data were collected from a large sample of 300 female and 518 male science teachers from secondary schools in Taiwan. Statistically significant gender differences were found in most aspects of the school environment, with female science teachers perceiving greater collegiality among teachers, higher gender equity among students, and stronger professional interest, and with male science teachers perceiving lower work pressure and better teacher,student relations. Gender differences in science teachers' perceptions of collegiality, work pressure, and gender equity in the school environment persisted even after controlling for teachers' background and school characteristics. Among the implications are recommendations about administrative policy for improving the school environment for both male and female teachers and about future research on factors associated with teachers' perceptions. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 404,420, 2009 [source] Controlled free-radical polymerization of vinyl chlorideJOURNAL OF VINYL & ADDITIVE TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Dietrich Braun Owing to the importance of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) as the second-largest plastic in volume after the polyolefins and above styrene polymers, the control of the free-radical polymerization of vinyl chloride (VC) is of high industrial and academic interest. But still the term "controlled" polymerization is not yet clearly defined. Often it is used for quasi-living polymerizations with equilibrium reactions in the initiation and/or termination step or for the control of the molecular weight distribution (MWD), but it can also be applied to several structural aspects such as stereochemistry, branching, or special technical properties. In the present article, the control of chain growth and chain transfer is discussed. It has been well known for many years that the propagation step in the VC polymerization is terminated to a large degree by the rather frequent and temperature-dependent chain transfer of the growing macromolecules to the monomer. Therefore, the degree of polymerization is strongly governed by the polymerization temperature. However, this transfer step does not result in a controlled or a narrow MWD. By means of free-radical nitroxide-mediated polymerization of VC in suspension, PVC with a narrower MWD can be obtained also at higher polymerization temperatures. The resulting PVC with nitroxide end groups can act as a macro-initiator for various monomers, resulting in two-block copolymers, which are, e.g., interesting compatibilizers in blends with PVC. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 11:86,90, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers [source] Increasing the Photovoltaic EfficiencyLASER TECHNIK JOURNAL, Issue 1 2010Laser Doping of Crystalline Solar Cells Driven by falling prices and competitive pressure manufacturers of photovoltaic cells are seeking for new methods and cell concepts to reduce production costs and increase cell efficiency. Developments which have been of more academic interest over the past years are close to find their way into volume production. While laser applications are already standard for structuring of thin film PV glass panels, they are not yet widely established in the silicon-wafer-based cell manufacturing, which still represents more than 80% of the photovoltaic market. However, without adding too much complexity to the process flow most of the new cell concepts are only feasible by introduction of laser processes. [source] Resurgent Academic Interest in the Council on Foreign RelationsPOLITICS, Issue 1 2001Inderjeet Parmar This article is based around a review of five books on the Council on Foreign Relations, an elite American foreign affairs think-tank, written during the 1990s. It aims to consider some of the reasons for this upsurge in academic interest in the CFR, the character of the books themselves, and how they approach and analyse the organisation. In so doing, the article takes a critical stance to the literature and suggests what a more adequate theoretical approach to the CFR might look like. [source] A comparative study on camphorsulphonic acid modified montmorillonite clay based conducting polymer nanocompositesPOLYMER COMPOSITES, Issue 5 2010Ufana Riaz Nanotechnology has emerged as a subject of immense academic interest and excitement in the past few decades. The immediate goal of this science aims at the production of high performance nanomaterials. The present study reports comparative investigations on the in situ polymerization of polyaniline (PANI), and its derivatives poly(1-naphthylamine) (PNA) and poly(o -toluidine) (POT) within the camphor sulphonic acid (CSA) modified montmorillonite (MMT) layers. The polymerization as well as intercalation of the conducting polymers was confirmed by FT-IR, UV-visible spectroscopies, and XRD studies, whereas the morphology of the nanocomposites was analyzed by TEM studies. It was found that the PANI derivatives (PNA and POT) revealed higher intercalation as compared with PANI. The morphology of nanocomposites was found to be governed by the type of conducting polymer intercalated. A large variation in the morphology as well as particle size was observed between the nanocomposites of PANI and its derivatives. The conductivity was found to be in the range of 10,3,10,2 S·cm,1. POLYM. COMPOS., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers [source] An Economic Ethics for the AnthropoceneANTIPODE, Issue 2010J. K. Gibson Graham Abstract:, Over,Antipode's,40 years our role as academics has dramatically changed. We have been pushed to adopt the stance of experimental researchers open to what can be learned from current events and to recognize our role in bringing new realities into being. Faced with the daunting prospect of global warming and the apparent stalemate in the formal political sphere, this essay explores how human beings are transformed by, and transformative of, the world in which we find ourselves. We place the hybrid research collective at the center of transformative change. Drawing on the sociology of science we frame research as a process of learning involving a collective of human and more-than-human actants,a process of co-transformation that re/constitutes the world. From this vision of how things change, the essay begins to develop an "economic ethics for the Anthropocene", documenting ethical practices of economy that involve the being-in-common of humans and the more-than-human world. We hope to stimulate academic interest in expanding and multiplying hybrid research collectives that participate in changing worlds. [source] Cardiovascular measures independently predict performance in a university coursePSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Mark D. Seery Abstract The factors that predict academic performance are of substantial importance yet are not understood fully. This study examined the relationship between cardiovascular markers of challenge/threat motivation and university course performance. Before the first course exam, participants gave speeches on academics-relevant topics while their cardiovascular responses were recorded. Participants who exhibited cardiovascular markers of relative challenge (lower total peripheral resistance and higher cardiac output) while discussing academic interests performed better in the subsequent course than those who exhibited cardiovascular markers of relative threat. This relationship remained significant after controlling for two other important predictors of performance (college entrance exam score and academic self-efficacy). These results have implications for the challenge/threat model and for understanding academic goal pursuit. [source] | |||||||||||||