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Current Decade (current + decade)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Yardsticks for industrial tomography

GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 4 2008
A. Vesnaver
ABSTRACT Seismic tomography has been developed and applied for decades in seismological applications and for basic research purposes. During the last decade, large-scale applications in the oil and gas industry became standard as tomostatics and velocity modelling for pre-stack depth migration. In this paper, I take a snapshot of some current industrial applications, quantifying practical aspects by yardsticks such as data and model size and I try to draw a road map for the current decade. [source]

States' Senior Residential Property Tax Abatements: Uncontroversial Benefit or Looming but Unrecognized Problem?

POLITICS & POLICY, Issue 4 2010
CHARLES LOCKHART
All the U.S. states create residential property tax abatement policies that provide important benefits for a rapidly growing older population. These policies vary sharply, and we seek to explain variation in their generosity. We employ regression in conjunction with a cross-sectional data set of the 50 states focused early in the current decade. Several variables prominent in explaining cross-state variation in other public policies exert only modest effects on these programs. Rather, the primary influence is a positive one for a cultural orientation toward government helping a broad swath of the citizenry. We attribute this unusual pattern of explanatory factors to (1) abatement programs' older target populations; (2) their tax expenditure status; and (3) their tendency to be categorized as economic development rather than social programs. This explanatory pattern holds theoretical importance inasmuch as it provides few constraints on the growth of at least some programs serving older citizens. Todos los estados de la Unión Americana establecen políticas de reducción de impuestos para las propiedades residenciales que dan beneficios importantes para la población, en rápido crecimiento, de adultos mayores. Estas políticas varían bruscamente y buscamos explicar la variación en su generosidad. Empleamos una regresión conjuntamente con datos transversales de 50 estados y enfocados en el principio de la década actual. Diversas variables que explican la variación entre estados en otras políticas públicas sólo ejercen efectos modestos en estos programas de reducción de impuestos. En cambio, la influencia más importante es una positiva para la orientación cultural relacionada con la ayuda del gobierno para una amplia porción de la ciudadanía. Atribuimos este diseño inusual de factores explicativos a: (1) la población objetivo de adultos mayores de estos programas de reducciones; (2) al estatus de los adultos mayores en los programas de reducciones y (3) a la tendencia de que la reducción de impuestos para las propiedades residenciales sea categorizada como desarrollo económico en lugar de programas sociales. Este patrón explicativo mantiene una importancia teórica dado que provee pocas restricciones para el desarrollo en el futuro de al menos algunos programas de ayuda a la ciudadanía de adultos mayores. [source]

United by a Common Language?

ANTIPODE, Issue 1 2008
India to Call Centre Offshoring, Trade Union Responses in the UK
Abstract:, The offshoring of business processes from the global North to low-cost countries of the global South has grown spectacularly in the current decade. Self-evidently, transnational relocation presents considerable challenges for organised labour since it suggests both a ,race to the bottom' in respect of pay, conditions and workers' rights and wholesale redundancies in the developed economies. This paper examines the specific case of the migration of call centres from the UK to India and trade union responses in both geographies. Informed by theoretical developments, insights and evidence from diverse disciplines and literatures, the authors concur particularly with Herod's conviction that union strategies to counter TNCs should not be counterposed between ,organising globally' and ,organising locally'and that ,organising at both scales simultaneously may best serve their goals'. Following reflection upon the nature of the call centre and consideration of important contradictions in the offshoring process, we present evidence of UK union responses ranging from the nationalistic, even xenophobic, to the internationalsist, and conclude that membership mobilisation on a principled basis has been key to the limited successes unions have achieved. The paper also evaluates developments in India and the emergence of an embryonic organisation UNITES which is attempting to organise its call centre and business process outsourcing (BPO) workforce. We conclude by considering the gap between the potential and the reality of effective internationally co-ordinated union activity. [source]

Diels,Alder "Click" Chemistry in Designing Dendritic Macromolecules

CHEMISTRY - A EUROPEAN JOURNAL, Issue 23 2009
Grégory Franc Dr.
Abstract Simple, versatile and green: Diels,Alder "click" chemistry is a simple, versatile and "greener" approach in the design of a diverse range of dendritic macromolecules (see scheme). In the current decade, design of dendritic macromolecules including dendrimers and polymers has reached a new era, mainly due to the remarkably successful and elegant synthetic routes that have been developed recently. This survey aims at demonstrating the potential of the Diels,Alder "click" chemistry, a very effective, simple and versatile synthetic tool in the formation of complex and functional nanometer-sized assemblies. The role of retro Diels-Alder reaction is also explored to highlight the increasing competitive potential of this strategy in the design of dendritic macromolecules of topical interest. The potential "green" nature of this methodology in constructing macromolecular assemblies is also evaluated. [source]