Terms of abuse as expression and reinforcement of cultures

In this study terms of abuse are investigated in 11 different cultures. Spontaneous verbal aggression is to a certain extent reminiscent of the values of a certain culture. Almost 3000 subjects from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Croatia, Poland, Great Britain, USA, Norway, Greece, and The Netherlands were asked to write down terms of abuse that they would use given a certain stimulus situation, and in addition, to give their rating of the offensive character of those terms. A total set of 12,000 expressions was collected. The frequencies of the expressions were established, and the total list of expressions was reduced to 16 categories. Results point to some etic taboos, like sexuality and lack of intelligence. On the other hand clear differences across cultures were found, which cannot easily be explained by existing classifications of national cultures. Explanations are provided in terms of dimensions on which the 11 cultures differ.

Strategies for agricultural change and the UK balance of payments

The world food crisis, Britain's reliance on imported food and feedstuffs and balance of payments difficulties were some of the factors which lent weight to the call for increased self-sufficiency in Britain's agriculture in the 1970s. This project considers two main areas: an investigation of the impact of radical agricultural change, designed to increase self-sufficiency, on the balance of payments; and, an appraisal of the potential role of the food industry within a radically different food system. The study proceeded by: an examination of the principles of agricultural policy and its development in Britain; an overview of the mechanism and meaning of the balance of payments; a consideration of the debate on agricultural import saving; the construction of radical agricultural strategies; the estimation of effects of the strategies, particularly to the balance of. payments; the role of the food industry and possible innovations within the strategies; a case study of textured vegetable proteins; and, the wider implications of implementation of radical agricultural alternatives. Two strategies were considered: a vegan system, involving no livestock; and, an intermediate system, including some livestock and dairy cattle. The study concludes that although agricultural change could in principle make a contribution to the balance of payments, implementation of agricultural change cannot be justified for this purpose alone. First, balance of payments problems can be solved by more appropriate methods. Second, the UK' s balance of payments problem has disappeared for the time being owing to North Sea oil and economic recession. Third, the political and social consequences of the changes investigated would be unacceptable. Progress in UK food policy is likely to be in the form of an integrated food and health policy.

A comparative study of straw, perennial grasses and hardwoods in terms of fast pyrolysis products

The aim of this study is to characterise and compare fast pyrolysis product yields from straw, high yielding perennial grasses and hardwoods. Feedstocks selected for this study include: wheat straw (Triticum aestivum), switch grass (Panicum virgatum), miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus), willow short rotation coppice (Salix viminalis) and beech wood (Fagus sylvatica). The experimental work is divided into two sections: analytical (TGA and Py-GC-MS) and laboratory scale processing using a continuously fed bubbling fluidized bed reactor with a capacity of up to 1 kg/h. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) has been used to quantify pyrolysis products and simulate fast pyrolysis heating rates, in order to study potential key light and medium volatile decomposition products found in these feedstocks. Py-GC-MS quantification results show that the highest yields of furfural (0.57 wt.%), 2-furanmethanol (0.18 wt.%), levoglucosan (0.73 wt.%), 1,2-benzenediol (0.27 wt.%) and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (0.38 wt.%) were found in switch grass, and that willow SRC produced the highest yield of phenol (0.33 wt.%). The bio-oil higher heating value was highest for switch grass (22.3 MJ/kg). Water content within the bio-oil is highest in the straw and perennial grasses and lowest in the hardwood willow SRC. The high bio-oil and char heating value and low water content found in willow SRC, makes this crop an attractive energy feedstock for fast pyrolysis processing, if the associated production costs and harvest yields can be maintained at current reported values. The bio-oil from switch grass has the highest potential for the production of high value chemicals. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An interpretation of the energy variations of dispersion managed solitons in terms of effective average dispersion

We show that the variation in dispersion managed soliton energy that occurs as the amplifier position varies within the dispersion map, for a fixed map strength, can be interpreted using the concept of effective average dispersion. Using this concept we physically explain why the location of the amplifier can produce a greater or lesser energy enhancement factor than the lossless model. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Volunteering for success:mentoring as a form of student volunteering

Previous studies into student volunteering have shown how formally organized volunteering activities have social, economic and practical benefits for student volunteers and the recipients of their volunteerism (Egerton, 2002; Vernon & Foster, 2002); moreover student volunteering provides the means by which undergraduates are able to acquire and hone transferable skills sought by employers following graduation (Eldridge & Wilson, 2003; Norris et al, 2006). Within the UK Higher Education Sector, a popular mechanism for accessing volunteering is through formally organized student mentoring programmes whereby more ‘senior’ students volunteer to mentor less experienced undergraduates through a particular phase of their academic careers, including the transition from school or college to university. The value of student mentoring as a pedagogical tool within Higher Education is reflected in the literature (see for example, Bargh & Schul, 1980, Hartman,1990, Woodd, 1997). However, from a volunteering perspective, one of the key issues relates to the generally accepted conceptualisation of volunteering as a formally organized activity, that is un-coerced and for which there is no payment (Davis Smith, 1992, 1998; Sheard, 1995). Although the majority of student mentoring programs discussed in the paper are unpaid and voluntary in nature, in a small number of institutions some of the mentoring programs offered to students provide a minimum wage for mentors. From an ethical perspective, such payments may cause difficulties when considering potential mentors’ motivations and reasons for participating in the program. Additionally, institutions usually only have one or two paid mentoring programs running alongside several voluntary programmes – sometimes resulting in an over-subscription for places as paid mentors to the detriment of unpaid programs. Furthermore, from an institutional perspective, student mentoring presents a set of particular ethical problems reflecting issues around ‘matching’ mentors and mentees in terms of gender, race, ethnicity and religion. This is found to be the case in some ‘targeted’ mentoring programs whereby a particular demographic group of students are offered access to mentoring in an attempt to improve their chances of academic success. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the experiences and perceptions of mentors and mentees participating in a wide-range of different mentoring programs. It also analyzes the institutional challenges and benefits associated with managing large scale student volunteering programs. In doing so the paper adds to third sector literature by critiquing the distinctive issues surrounding student volunteering and by discussing, in-depth, the management of large groups of student volunteers. From a public policy perspective, the economic, educational, vocational and social outcomes of student volunteering make this an important subject meriting investigation. Little is known about the mentoring experiences of student volunteers with regards to the ‘added value’ of participating in campus-based volunteering activities. Furthermore, in light of the current economic downturn, by drawing attention to the contribution that student volunteering plays in equipping undergraduates with transferable ‘employability’ related skills and competencies (Andrews & Higson, 2008), this paper makes an important contribution to current educational and political debates. In addition to providing the opportunity for students to acquire key transferable skills, the findings suggest that mentoring encourages students to volunteer in other areas of university and community life. The paper concludes by arguing that student mentoring provides a valuable learning experience for student volunteer mentors and for the student and pupil mentees with whom they are placed.

Duppying yoots in a dog eat dog world, kmt:determining the senses of slang terms for the Courts

I describe and discuss a series of court cases which focus upon on decoding the meaning of slang terms. Examples include sexual slang used in a description by a child and an Internet Relay Chat containing a conspiracy to murder. I consider the task presented by these cases for the forensic linguist and the roles the linguist may assume in determining the meaning of slang terms for the Courts. These roles are identified as linguist as naïve interpreter, lexicographer, case researcher and cultural mediator. Each of these roles is suggestive of different strategies that might be used from consulting formal slang dictionaries and less formal Internet sources, to collecting case specific corpora and examining all the extraneous material in a particular case. Each strategy is evaluated both in terms of the strength of evidence provided and its applicability to the forensic context.