An approximate solution method for boundary layer flow of a power law fluid over a flat plate

The work in this paper deals with the development of momentum and thermal boundary layers when a power law fluid flows over a flat plate. At the plate we impose either constant temperature, constant flux or a Newton cooling condition. The problem is analysed using similarity solutions, integral momentum and energy equations and an approximation technique which is a form of the Heat Balance Integral Method. The fluid properties are assumed to be independent of temperature, hence the momentum equation uncouples from the thermal problem. We first derive the similarity equations for the velocity and present exact solutions for the case where the power law index n = 2. The similarity solutions are used to validate the new approximation method. This new technique is then applied to the thermal boundary layer, where a similarity solution can only be obtained for the case n = 1.

Uranium reserve, nuclear fuel cycle delusion, CO2 emission from the sea, and electricity supply: reflections after the fuel meltdown of Fukushima nuclear power units

The Great Tohoku-Kanto earthquake and resulting tsunami has brought considerable attention to the issue of the construction of new power plants. We argue in this paper, nuclear power is not a sustainable solution to energy problems. First, we explore the stock of uranium-235 and the different schemes developed by the nuclear power industry to exploit this resource. Second, we show that these methods, fast breeder and MOX fuel reactors, are not feasible. Third, we show that the argument that nuclear energy can be used to reduce CO2 emissions is false: the emissions from the increased water evaporation from nuclear power generation must be accounted for. In the case of Japan, water from nuclear power plants is drained into the surrounding sea, raising the water temperature which has an adverse affect on the immediate ecosystem, as well as increasing CO2 emissions from increased water evaporation from the sea. Next, a short exercise is used to show that nuclear power is not even needed to meet consumer demand in Japan. Such an exercise should be performed for any country considering the construction of additional nuclear power plants. Lastly, the paper is concluded with a discussion of the implications of our findings.

Interpersonal Power: A Review, Critique, and Research Agenda

Power is a fundamental force in social relationships and is pervasive throughout various types of interactions. Although research has shown that the possession of power can change the powerholder, the full extent of power's consequences on individuals' decision making capabilities and social interactions within organizations is not fully understood. The goal of this paper is to review, synthesize, and critique the literature on power with a focus on its organizational and managerial implications. Specifically, we propose a definition of power that takes into account its three defining characteristics-having the discretion and means to enforce one's will-and summarize the extant literature on how power influences individuals' thoughts, emotions, and actions both in terms of prosocial and antisocial outcomes. In addition, we highlight important moderators of power and describe ways in which it can be studied in a more rigorous manner by examining methodological issues and pitfalls with regard to its measurement and manipulation. We also provide future research directions to motivate and guide the study of power by management scholars. Our desire is to present a thorough and parsimonious account of power's influence on individuals within an organizational context, as well as provide a foundation that scholars can build upon as they continue to make consequential contributions to the study of power.

Heritability of renal function in hypertensive families of African descent in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean).

BACKGROUND: We estimated the heritability of three measures of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in hypertensive families of African descent in the Seychelles (Indian Ocean). METHODS: Families with at least two hypertensive siblings and an average of two normotensive siblings were identified through a national hypertension register. Using the ASSOC program in SAGE (Statistical Analysis in Genetic Epidemiology), the age- and gender-adjusted narrow sense heritability of GFR was estimated by maximum likelihood assuming multivariate normality after power transformation. ASSOC can calculate the additive polygenic component of the variance of a trait from pedigree data in the presence of other familial correlations. The effects of body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, natriuresis, along with sodium to potassium ratio in urine and diabetes, were also tested as covariates. RESULTS: Inulin clearance, 24-hour creatinine clearance, and GFR based on the Cockcroft-Gault formula were available for 348 persons from 66 pedigrees. The age- and gender-adjusted correlations (+/- SE) were 0.51 (+/- 0.04) between inulin clearance and creatinine clearance, 0.53 (+/- 0.04) between inulin clearance and Cockcroft-Gault formula and 0.66 (+/- 0.03) between creatinine clearance and Cockcroft-Gault formula. The age- and gender-adjusted heritabilities (+/- SE) of GFR were 0.41 (+/- 0.10) for inulin clearance, 0.52 (+/- 0.13) for creatinine clearance, and 0.82 (+/- 0.09) for Cockcroft-Gault formula. Adjustment for BMI slightly lowered the correlations and heritabilities for all measurements whereas adjustment for blood pressure had virtually no effect. CONCLUSION: The significant heritability estimates of GFR in our sample of families of African descent confirm the familial aggregation of this trait and justify further analyses aimed at discovering genetic determinants of GFR.

Food allergy: Validation of the French version of the FAQLQ-PF Quality of Life Questionnaire

Background: It has been previously shown with English speaking children that food allergy clearly affects their quality of life. The first allergy quality of life questionnaire has been validated in English in 2008, however to date no questionnaire was available in French. Objectives: To validate the French version of the Food Allergy Quality of Life Questionnaire- Parent Form (FAQLQ-PF) already existing version developed and validated in English by DunnGalvin et al. Methods: The questionnaire was translated from English to French by two independent French-speaking translators and retranslated by an independent English-speaking translator. We then recruited 30 patients between 0 and 12 years with a food allergy. Parents of these children answered the questionnaire during a clinic visit. The results obtained were then analysed and compared with the results provided by DunnGalvin's study and the Food Allergy independent Measure (FAIM). Results: 27 questionnaires were fully completed and available for analysis. Median age was 6 years with a range from 18 months to 12 years. We had a girl/boy ratio of 1:1.14. A Cronbach's a correlation index of 0.748 was found. Validity was demonstrated by significant correlations between FAQLQ-PF and the FAIM. Conclusion: The French version of the FAQLQ was validated and will permit to assess degree of Quality of Life for French-speaking children with food allergy. It will be an important tool for clinical research and will allow research collaboration between French and English speaking research teams.

Biophysical requirements of power-supply systems: nuclear energy and fossil energy

The report presents a grammar capable of analyzing the process of production of electricity in modular elements for different power-supply systems, defined using semantic and formal categories. In this way it becomes possible to individuate similarities and differences in the process of production of electricity, and then measure and compare “apples” with “apples” and “oranges” with “oranges”. For instance, when comparing the various unit operations of the process of production of electricity with nuclear energy to the analogous unit operations of the process of production of fossil energy, we see that the various phases of the process are the same. The only difference is related to characteristics of the process associated with the generation of heat which are completely different in the two systems. As a matter of facts, the performance of the production of electricity from nuclear energy can be studied, by comparing the biophysical costs associated with the different unit operations taking place in nuclear and fossil power plants when generating process heat or net electricity. By adopting this approach, it becomes possible to compare the performance of the two power-supply systems by comparing their relative biophysical requirements for the phases that both nuclear energy power plants and fossil energy power plants have in common: (i) mining; (ii) refining/enriching; (iii) generating heat/electricity; (iv) handling the pollution/radioactive wastes. This report presents the evaluation of the biophysical requirements for the two powersupply systems: nuclear energy and fossil energy. In particular, the report focuses on the following requirements: (i) electricity; (ii) fossil-fuels, (iii) labor; and (iv) materials.

Deciding where to belong: gender differences in educational trajectories and migration in a rural Spanish town

From an anthropological perspective, formal post-secondary schooling is not an abstractentity with an intrinsic value that everyone finds desirable, but rather one alternative among many that young people evaluate from their different positions in the social field. The problem discussed in this paper is the diverging life trajectories that young men and women in a concrete rural context, at the end of the 20th century, shape for themselves at the ages of 14-16, a moment of decision created by national legislation regarding mandatory education (LGE, 1970, General Education Law, and LOGSE, 1990, General Organic Law of the Education System). Despite a strong cultural norm of equal inheritance divided among all children, male and female, and despite the equal educational opportunities provided by the Spanish State, different meanings of possession and use-rights over land and the resulting culturally accepted gendered division of work converge to orient men and women differently towards post-secondary schooling. Observation of the age, gender, and civil status structure of the population led to the preliminary query: Why do men and women, in this town, behave differently with respect to migration and marriage? The main hypothesis was that women’s longer school trajectories and resulting migration and men’s anchoring in the town and their higher rates of celibacy were not drastic changes in values, in the positional-relational sense of Bourdieu (1988, 2002), but the current outcome of previously existing dissimilar relations to property that produce dissimilar mobility. Through their schooling and work choices, young men and women, at very early ages, locate themselves in, or decide to belong to, different contexts that later reveal very different possibilities of finding marriage partners. This paper is based on an ethnographic study of a small rural town (302 inhabitants in 1950; 193 in 2000) near Leon. Although this paper deals with the situation in the final decades of the 20th century, we must also consider the first half of the century, where some elements that shape this situation have their roots. Fieldwork was carried out between 1988 and 2001, in periods of differing length and intensity. The social subjects discussed here are the domestic unit and its component members. They were studied in conjunction, analyzing the life-trajectory decisions of specific persons in the framework of the domestic unit and the relations among people and property which comprise it. The tried-and-true methods of ethnographic research –participant observation, interviews, and life-histories, etc.- were employed. Archival research was also important for producing demographic data. Demographic analysis, the analysis of the composition and transformation of domestic units, and the creation of life trajectories were among the principal techniques used. The theoretical analysis was oriented by Bourdieu’s (2002) framework of the social field, habitus, and difference.

Educational pathways of minority youth in Norway: intersections of gender, ethnicity and social class

Educational aspirations during lower secondary school and choice of upper secondary education are important for young people’s future trajectories into higher education and labour market positions. In line with ideas about reflexive, autonomous individuals (Giddens, 1991), choice of education is often represented as a young person’ individual decision, and educational guidance as aimed at discovering what ‘fits’ an individual’s personality, interests and abilities. Educational aspirations and choices are also social patterns that are reproduced. Some population categories represent exceptions from expected patterns of social reproduction of educational level and professions. In several countries, one such category is young people from families with migration experiences (Lauglo, 2000; Modood, 2004). In Norway, students have a legal right to non-compulsory upper secondary schooling and 96 percent of the students continue from lower to upper secondary school. In spite of positive developments regarding minority youths’ completion of upper secondary and higher education in later years, studies still persistently show lower educational attainment among minority youth, particularly among boys (Fekjaer, 2006). However, in lower secondary school, minor ity youth tend to have markedly higher educational aspirations and stronger learning motivation than their majority peers, as well as greater effort in school and strong adherence to school values (Lauglo, 2000) despite lower educational attainment or lower socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, gender differences in educational aspirations seem to be smaller among minority youth. The principal objective of the study in progress that will be presented in this paper, is to describe how processes relating to gendered, ethnic and class-based identities influence young people’s educational choices. The study is undertaken as a PhD project in social anthropology. The methodological approach is ethnographic longitudinal fieldwork in two multicultural lower secondary schools in Oslo. The study is part of a larger project that also include quantitative analyses of longitudinal data covering 9th graders in Oslo 2006 through four data collections during lower and upper secondary school.

Influence of inter-electrode distance, contraction type, and muscle on the relationship between the sEMG power spectrum and contraction force.

INTRODUCTION: Spectral frequencies of the surface electromyogram (sEMG) increase with contraction force, but debate still exists on whether this increase is affected by various methodological and anatomical factors. This study aimed to investigate the influence of inter-electrode distance (IED) and contraction modality (step-wise vs. ramp) on the changes in spectral frequencies with increasing contraction strength for the vastus lateralis (VL) and vastus medialis (VM) muscles. METHODS: Twenty healthy male volunteers were assessed for isometric sEMG activity of the VM and VL, with the knee at 90° flexion. Subjects performed isometric ramp contractions in knee extension (6-s duration) with the force gradually increasing from 0 to 80 % MVC. Also, subjects performed 4-s step-wise isometric contractions at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 % MVC. Interference sEMG signals were recorded simultaneously at different IEDs: 10, 20, 30, and 50 mm. The mean (F mean) and median (F median) frequencies and root mean square (RMS) of sEMG signals were calculated. RESULTS: For all IEDs, contraction modalities, and muscles tested, spectral frequencies increased significantly with increasing level of force up to 50-60 % MVC force. Spectral indexes increased systematically as IED was decreased. The sensitivity of spectral frequencies to changes in contraction force was independent of IED. The behaviour of spectral indexes with increasing contraction force was similar for step-wise and ramp contractions. CONCLUSIONS: In the VL and VM muscles, it is highly unlikely that a particular inter-electrode distance or contraction modality could have prevented the observation of the full extent of the increase in spectral frequencies with increasing force level.

Validation of the French version of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC): Influence of gender and age on personality traits from 8 to 12 years

The study was designed to investigate the psychometric properties of the French version and the cross-language replicability of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC). The HiPIC is an instrument aimed at assessing the five dimensions of the Five-Factor Model for Children. Subjects were 552 children aged between 8 and 12 years, rated by one or both parents. At the domain level, reliability ranged from .83 to .93 and at the facet level, reliability ranged from .69 to .89. Differences between genders were congruent with those found in the Dutch sample. Girls scored higher on Benevolence and Conscientiousness. Age was negatively correlated with Extraversion and Imagination. For girls, we also observed a decrease of Emotional Stability. A series of exploratory factor analyses confirmed the overall five-factor structure for girls and boys. Targeted factor analyses and congruence coefficients revealed high cross-language replicability at the domain and at the facet levels. The results showed that the French version of the HiPIC is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing personality with children and has a particularly high cross-language replicability.

Gender, family and employment in comparative perspective: the realities and representations of rqual rpportunities in Britain and France

In this paper, we will explore how contrasting national discourses relating to women, and gender equality have been incorporated into and reflected in national policies. In the first section, we will outline the recent history of EU equal opportunities policy, in which positive action has been replaced by a policy of 'mainstreaming'. Second, we will describe the evolution of policies towards women and equal opportunities in Britain and France. It will be argued that whereas some degree of positive action for women has been accepted in Britain, this policy is somewhat alien to French thinking about equality - although pro-natalist French policies have resulted in favourable conditions for employed mothers in France. In the third section, we will present some attitudinal evidence, drawn from national surveys, which would appear to reflect the national policy differences we have identified in respect of the 'equality agenda'. In the fourth section, we will draw upon biographical interviews carried out with men and women in British and French banks in order to illustrate the impact of these cross-national differences within organizations and on individual lives. We demonstrate that positive action gender equality policies have made an important impact in British banks, while overt gender exclusionary practices still persist in the French banks studied. In the conclusion, we reflect on the European policy implications of our findings.