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X-ray momentum coupling coefficients, CM, were determined by measuring stress waveforms in planetary materials subjected to impulsive radiation loading from the SNL Z-machine. Targets were prepared from iron and stone meteorites, dunite (primarily magnesium rich olivine) in solid and powder forms (~5 - 300 m grains), and Si, Al, and Fe. All samples were ~1 mm thick and, except for Si, backed by LiF single-crystal windows. The spectra of the incident x-rays included thermal radiation (blackbody 170 - 237 eV) and line emissions from the pinch material (Cu, Ni, Al, or stainless steel). Target fluences of 0.4 - 1.7 kJ/cm² at intensities 43 - 260 GW/cm² produced front surface plasma pressures of 2.6 - 12.4 GPa. Stress waves driven into the samples were attenuating due to the short ~5 ns duration of the drive pulse. CM was determined using the fact that an attenuating wave impulse is constant, and accounted for the mechanical impedance mismatch between samples and window. Values ranged from 0.8 - 3.1 x 10-5 s/m. CTH hydrocode modeling of x-ray coupling to porous and fully dense silica corroborated experimental results and extrapolations to other materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past two decades have brought a profound expansion of knowledge of near earth objects (NEO). If creatively exploited, NEOs can significantly increase human safety while reducing costs of exploration and development of the moon, Mars and the solar system. Synergistically, the ability to defend the Earth from devastating impacts will become very effective. A spherical volume having a radius equivalent to the moon’s orbit, 400,000 km, is visited every day by approximately ten NEOs having diameters of ∼10 meters, while ∼30 meter diameter encounters occur about once per month. Because these objects are usually very faint and only within detectable range for a few days, they require specialized equipment to discover them with high probability of detection and to enable accurate determination of orbital parameters. Survey systems are now being implemented that are cataloging many thousands of objects larger than 30 meters, but numerous advantages will result from extending the complete NEO census down to 10 meter diameters. The typical compositions of such NEOs will range from ∼80% that are low density dust & rock “rubble piles” to perhaps 2% containing heavy metals—properties well known from meteorite samples. It is quite possible that there will also be some fragments of short period comets that are rich in water ice and other volatile components. In this paper we will propose a set of new technologies and strategies for exploiting NEO resources that can yield important space development breakthroughs at much lower costs than existing concepts. Solar powered “Tugboats” deployed at the space station can rendezvous with carefully selected NEOs and steer them into captured orbits in the lunar L4 & L5 regions. Robotic equipment will then modify them for a plethora of benefits. Notably, the problem of radiation shielding against the Van Allen belts, solar flares and cosmic rays will be solved. Free transportation from low earth orbit to the moon and beyond will be feasible via shielded habitats in elliptical orbits. Large, comfortable habitats for long duration trips to Mars and beyond can be built. Propulsion for orbital transfer and maneuvering of heavy payloads can be accomplished by solar energized ejection of NEO materials. Industries can be developed based upon reconditioning materials for use in space and recovery of heavy metals for use on Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If preservation and prosperity of humanity on the Earth and human settlement of space are our goals, we should concentrate on a commercial path to get there. Commercial enterprise has a long history of fortuitously aiding scientific progress. We expect radical changes in the cost of earth to orbit transportation, and in the methods and efficacy of deep space transportation, within the next two decades. A successful space tourism industry, beginning with suborbital tourism, will greatly drive down the cost of access to orbit over the next 15 years. Inexpensive transportation to low Earth orbit is the first requirement for a great future on the High Frontier. Inexpensive means the cost associated with a mature transportation system. A mature system has a cost of three to five times the cost of the propellant. The first cheap, reliable and highly reusable rocket engines are just now appearing in vehicles. With an assured market and high flight rate, the heretofore glacial progress in reducing the cost of space transportation is likely to become rapid. This is the first critical enabling example of synergy between free market economics and scientific and technical progress in space. It will not be the last. New high power switches and ultracapacitors developed for the automotive market make possible cheap, robust and reliable mass driver engines. In space construction, using masses of nonterrestrial materials make the gravity tractor technique much more capable than previous schemes to maneuver asteroids. Ion propulsion will continue to improve and the first solar sails will be flown. Advanced robotics will allow remarkable improvements in productivity. The computing power available to robots began to follow the exponential Moore’s law less than decade ago. The first commercial autonomous mobile robots appeared in late summer 2006. Humans, however, will be required for the foreseeable future in repair and supervisory roles, particularly in unstructured settings such as asteroid mines. The evolution from small tourist stations of the next decade to large space hotels will make economical the use of fully closed life-support systems. These could be considered the first space colonies. Derivatives of these commercial space hotels may form suitable Moon and asteroid mining habitats. Using nonterrestrial materials is a key to opening the space frontier. Dozens of rendezvous missions to Near Earth Objects will be needed to assay their resources and to plan rational NEO diversion. The development of NEO mining techniques serves two purposes, raw materials supply and planetary defense. We need economical trajectories to and from these bodies. These trajectories must not only be economical in terms of delta V or time, but in dollars, and in the time value of money, factors not generally considered by the OMB. Satellite solar power stations may be a $500 billion per year market worldwide and cheap nickel steel from asteroids may be an enabler of power satellite construction. One asteroid of the right size and composition in a suitable orbit could open this market. Platinum group metals may be an important export, either as a primary product, or as a byproduct of nickel steel alloy production. Other products, derived from carbon, may also be important. The first economical product from an asteroid mine is likely to be water, for propellant or life-support and radiation shielding in space hotels. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sketches the emergence of neo-liberal approaches in world health policy, reviews the logic of New Public Management (NPM) in the health sector, examines reforms for the delivery of health services through public/private partnerships, and suggests strategies for public policy that take capacity into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Western constructs of a non-Western ?other? have been used to justify conquest and colonialism in the Muslim world for over two centuries. These constructs have been both racialized and gendered and continue to function with remarkable consistency in contemporary times. This paper will use the case study of Afghanistan to demonstrate hegemonic reinforcement of contemporary anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US, specifically focusing on its gendered dimensions, which served as the central rationale for the US invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001. We give primary attention to the use of the veil in constructing the ?subjugated Muslim woman? in the West, and the discursive use of ?liberating Muslim women? as a euphemism for Western cultural, economic, and military conquest of the Muslim world. In addition to being forwarded by the media, these discourses have been repackaged as ?feminist? and ?womens issues? and forwarded by female leaders across the political spectrum, who were instrumental in garnering support for the invasion. The US conquest of Afghanistan was devastating for Afghan women and we seek to analyze these discourses in hopes of exposing the economic motives behind the invasion, debunking the myth of ?liberation through occupation?, and moving towards an anti-racist feminism that can support the survival and self-determination of Afghan women and men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neo-institutional theory argues that the institutionalization of organizational structures and practices depends in part on their degree of resonance with dominant cultural logics. This literature has less to say about how new practices get imbued with meaning over time, but research on theorization, framing, and ?field frames? provides useful ways of approaching this issue. To contribute to this dynamic cultural account of institutionalization, this paper analyzes the rise of a particular set of emerging corporate social/environmental responsibility practices?namely, private systems for monitoring and certifying labor and environmental conditions. Certification and monitoring arose in two very different fields in the 1990s?the apparel field, where they have been used to address labor issues, and the forest products field, where they have been used to address environmental issues. As practices of certification and monitoring rose to prominence in each of these industries, they got re-framed in ways that changed their meanings, connotations, and uses. I chart this process through detailed coding of trade industry journals from two journals in each industry from 1987 to 2000. In apparel, the industry discourse initially associated monitoring and certification with concerns about compliance with domestic labor laws, but these practices later got re-framed as useful tools for firms to use in responding to social movement pressures. Forest certification was initially framed by industry actors as a way to fend off external pressures from activists and governments. But later, certification got connected with a discourse about profit potentials and ?sustainability? the makings of a ?business case? for certification came into place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neo-institutional organizations theory has birthed a vital research agenda utilizing the conceptual tool of the organizational field, or sector, or niche, or market, to explore the role of norms and values in the field in structuring organizational form and behavior. Employing ethnographic data from a three-year case study of a hybrid organization (a nonprofit organization operating a string of business enterprises), this paper builds on Neil Fligstein’s work establishing a micro foundation for neo-institutional organizations theory. Melding key concepts from Anthony Giddens? structuration theory and the literature that surrounds it with the neo-institutional theoretic concept of the organizational field, this paper develops a framework for exploring the institutionalization process, whereby norms and organizing logics from the field become integrated into structures within an organization, from the standpoints of different groups of strategic actors within a social enterprise model. The analysis shows that institutionalization in action is a highly contentious process involving ongoing negotiation by knowledgeable actors who act strategically to engage, or reject, the value-laden structures in which they are working and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, the policies for transforming higher education in South Africa will serve as the primary background to explore the complex relationship between the country?s national-liberation struggle to overcome its racially divided history, and its post-apartheid future. In an effort to highlight how progressive reforms that contributed to both the end of apartheid and the emergence of an equity agenda spearheaded by the African National Congress (ANC) government have nonetheless been limited by the divisive racial policies of the past, a case study is presented involving the University of the Western Cape (UWC). More specifically, it examines UWC?s radical transformation from a so-called ?bush? college created by the apartheid state for the education of Coloured or mixed-race peoples to South Africa?s first non-racial, ANC-aligned, open admission institution. The historical lessons we can learn from UWC?s transformation should inform the debate over the ANC government?s recent decision to reduce the number of South African public higher education institutions over the next two years. Influenced by the World Bank?s neo-liberal prescriptions for post-secondary institutions in developing countries, the need to restructure the South African higher education system has centered around the promotion of core market values characterizing the so-called ?global economy? that emphasize the importance of fiscal restraint, standardization, efficiency, research productivity, to an emphasis on competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys the existing array of sociological theories of the news and considers the relevance of sociology?s New Institutionalism in organizational theory for the study of journalism. It is the contention here that New Institutionalism remedies the political and cultural deficits in most existing social theories of the news. By highlighting how news organizations and journalists are embedded in broader fields of news producers and also politics, NI reveals both the limits and possibilities that journalism confronts as it works to fulfill its ideal role in democratic society. This paper explicates one version of NI?s applicability to media studies by focusing on how journalism is entangled in the conflicts and values of the ?political field,? beyond the more limited of domain of journalism proper. We then consider the utility of this theory for explaining turn-of-the-20th-century transformations in journalism. Between 1865 and 1920, the American press redefined its highest ideals as well as its most mundane organizational practices. It changed from an avidly partisan press to a sober ?objective? media. New Institutionalism helps highlight how these transformations in journalism’s mission reflected and refracted more overarching shifts in the American political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese Avant-Garde art holds a notably disconcerting place in both the domestic and global arenas of cultural production. This art grew up under the crossfire of both the authoritarian state and an unappreciative domestic audience, and suffered from the resurgence of intense marketization and privatization in the Post-Tiananmen era. This paper will discuss extensively the process of the commercialization of Chinese Avant-Garde art as well as the consequences it suffered following its integration into the international art market. It will show that Western acknowledgement and promotion has become the single most important goal for the Post-Tiananmen Chinese Avant-Garde artists. Common practices of the artists include, but are not limited to: commercializing the content of their works, deliberately utilizing stylistic modification and self-essentialization to cater to perceived Western preferences, competing for Western exposure over the internet, sensationalizing extremely violent forms of expression to attract the attention of international media, and forming exclusionary circles to alienate lesser known artists. I argue in this paper that when globalization entered a new era in which coercion is no longer commonplace, cultural imperialism, in the more implicit form of hegemonic practice carried out by the third-world cultural workers, has become the new form of colonization in today?s world. Possibilities for decolonization and the reclaiming of autonomy are also discussed at the end of the paper. The data used in this paper were drawn from extensive interviews with Chinese artists, curators, art dealers, and Western agents; as well as numerous internet resources and previous publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper to attempts to provide a link between IT development in India to the cultural evolution of the IT professional with specific emphasis on Bangalore which is spearheading the highest investments in this sector in India.. The main argument that besides just being competitive in terms of cheap labor in this arena, the successes of IT professionals are also guided by a work ethic which I term as the ?neo traditional knowledge ethic? has been concurrent with the global spread of capital and labour in creating network societies in bridging the local culture of software developers to the global without negating traditions. This leads to my sociological quest in this paper which is based on research findings to understand what the social contributions are in making Indian software developers /entrepreneurs globally competitive despite the various social impediments of traditions, patronage etc which are still part of India?s modernizing society. I prepare the concept of ?the neo traditional knowledge ethic? to establish the foundations of the Indian IT professional within the rationalization of certain cultural values which I argue have restructured and not evicted Hindu notions of caste and kinship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States has a long-standing interest in the political events of South Asia. This paper focuses on the continuity and change in the nature of U.S. hegemony in this region after the end of Cold War, and more particularly after September 11. Having witnessed the collapse of the state in Afghanistan and the potential for state failure in a nuclear Pakistan, the concerns relating to this region are extensive. Religious fundamentalism, social and political instability, cross-border terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and environmental crisis are just few of the problems addressed in the paper. The variety of potential dangers emanating from this region makes this region and U.S. policy towards it a paramount concern for both theory and practice of international relations. At the theoretical level, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether the continued use of the neo-realist theory is justified, based on its record of past policy successes and failures. One of the core arguments against neo-realism is that its level of analysis is too rigid, thus failing to recognize internal constraints in state affairs, particularly the social and cultural factors. After examining the foundation and application of the neo-realist policies of the U.S. toward the region, this paper evaluates the success or failure of U.S. policy in terms of addressing the important concerns of the region. This evaluation is based on an analysis of the stated goals compared to the results of policy actions. The paper concludes with suggestions for a more realistic understanding of the problems in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The admission procedures of most North American universities provide an interesting but unexplored case for studying contemporary power and knowledge relations. These procedures, which apply different sets of admission requirements to domestic and non-domestic applicants, evaluate the latter mainly on the grounds of their scores from standardized tests, such as TOEFL and GRE, that are developed and promoted by US networks of commercial and educational expertise. This paper explores the role of such mundane and benign techniques of evaluation in disciplining and governing foreign populations at a distance, and thus in reinforcing the exercise of a neo-liberal hegemonic knowledge based power. It suggests that the complex and multiple ways in which this power is exercised cannot be captured by simplistic and dichotomist ideological positions that perceive the exercise of power in today?s neo-liberal world just as a form of domination or exploitation. It argues for the usefulness of Foucaultian governmentality perspective, which seeks to identify the technologies of government, that link the conduct of individuals and organizations to socio-political objectives through ?action at a distance mechanisms?, in exploring the real nature of contemporary neo-liberal rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnoregional political parties are converging in their support for acclerated continental integration in the developed West. This trend is considered and explained with attention to globalization and the dynamic of party competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the conditions under which nationalist political parties in Eastern and Western Europe are able to attract meaningful electoral support in national elections. Our aim is to explore how certain objective political, social, and economic conditions that inform voters’ subjective appraisals of nationalist parties’ claims and promises drive overall electoral results. As a second order concern, we are interested in understanding if and how the dynamics of nationalist political support differ substantively as we move geographically from Western to Eastern Europe. Here, we explore whether the same kinds of variables matter for nationalist parties in the West and the East and, if so, whether these variables play the same kind of role or have the same degree of importance for countries with quite dissimilar economic conditions, political legacies, social experiences, and historical memories. We argue that a full account of the determinants of nationalist voting must take into account this breadth in nationalist political parties and the diversity of country settings; we employ two-rounds of pooled regression analysis for more than 160 political parties in 89 national election cycles in 33 countries across Eastern and Western Europe. Our preliminary findings indicate economic, institutional, social and historical variables have significant effects across Europe, but in different ways. Our findings suggest that nationalist political parties in Eastern and Western Europe do well under different conditions, and that the dynamics of nationalist electoral support are, in some aspects, geographically bounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is the military and economic rise of China a threat to powers such as Japan and the United States? This paper examines this question using the theoretical predictions of realist theories (classical realism, neo-realism, and power transition theory), liberal theories (classical liberalism and neo-liberalism), and constructivist theory. While the qualitative analysis of Chinese, American, and Japanese behavior indicates some support for each theory, classical liberalism and constructivism are most strongly supported by the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the discussions of Giddens (1979, 1984) and Archer (1993), the dual discussions between agency/structure and culture/structure had been seen as the centrality context of analytical unit in a modern society. Whereas, the structure and the culture interweave and penetrate within the social-political system, as well as their exist is relatively autonomous form one another. Furthermore, some culture theorists recognize culture as the means by which orderliness patterned relations are maintained in a society and they tend to be concerned with the symbolic that is social norms and values shared in the cognitive and active structure. This paper wants to argue and reexamine the claim of ¡§cultural theory¡¨ which believes a theory of culture must create measures of culture that allow the space for the comparisons across time and space, and relative values to embed into social relations and institutions. In addition, this paper indicates the particular cultural factors and provides the power of explanation in the construction of policymaking circumstance and active system of social behavior. Overall, the cultural factor becomes a potential promoter in the process of policymaking. By the discussion of the articulation between Neo-Confucianism thought (top-down system) and the patriarchal system (bottom-up system), this paper provides why and how the articulation effects to formulate a strained potential control and structural shape different policy manipulations and interactive constructions in the policymaking process of Taiwan. The specific dual system constructs the transmission of cultural shadow to influence the policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many post-colonial governments concurrently promote micro-enterprise development while repressing the success their quintessential micro-entrepreneurs, street vendors. Focusing on the case of Trinidad, I argue that a contradiction of state policy occurs because micro-enterprise development, an internationally promoted development strategy is incongruous with the historically and nationally defined problem of street vending. At the global level, micro-entrepreneurship is promoted because its compatibility with neo-liberalism. Locally, street vending is still viewed as a social problem. State actors, guided by the culture of poverty thesis, continue to perceive street vendors as individuals who earn just enough to get by and who must be managed. State actors implement micro-enterprise development in order to comply with the neo-liberal order of international development. A world-systems analysis of households is fruitful in the development of a theoretical understanding the expansion of micro-enterprise development. Petty market operations, such as street vending, are permanently displacing state welfare for the subsistence of households. Neo-liberals promote micro-enterprise development because it is consistent with privatization. However, this policy conflicts with local political and urban concerns and offers no solution to the lack of affordable and available business locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using longitudinal data from 433 large American corporations, we examine the rise of the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) between 1964 and 1994. From no COOs in 1964 69% of the firms in our sample named a COO between 1966 and 1994,. After 1985, the fad quieted down. What explains the rapid rise in the popularity of COOs? First, growing firms were most likely to name COOs to handle expanding executive functions. Second, the COO title spread among diversified corporations to recognize the distinct duties of officers in charge of day-to-day operations of the principal business units. Those duties became increasingly distinguishable from the duties of the Chief Executive Officer, who was charged with handling long-term strategy. Third, highly profitable firms created COO positions to allow their executives to focus on strategic decisions. They did so in part because they had the luxury of doing so. As the COO position became more popular in the 1970s, the effects of diversification and profitability disappeared. This confirms the Tolbert/Zucker thesis that after a certain threshold of diffusion, new organizational practices become part of the standard managerial corpus and spread beyond the firms for which they were first prescribed, in this case diversified firms. We modify the Tolbert/Zucker thesis with a luxury-becomes-necessity hypothesis, for we find that whereas at first the COO position was a luxury that CEOs of highly profitable firms could afford, it became a structural necessity, such that firm profitability no longer affected adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical analysis shows that the early 1980s employers' offensive was launched to restore capitalist profitability. Neo-liberal transformative action aimed to reorder post-war capitalism's structural and institutional arrangements, and to shift the balance of class forces in capital's favor. This neo-liberal reordering unleashed the economic transforming tendencies of state nationalization, market contestability, and factor mobility ("coercive competition") on all nations. The importance of coercive competition is that it simultaneously acted on and transcended domestic institutional-policy frameworks as it weakened the political-economic power of organized labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important tasks of contemporary economic discourse is to demonstrate that globalization is a neutral scientific concept. This perspective allows for the justification of certain neo-liberal policies. Thus, the political decision makers of developed countries indicate criteria of good governance, performance, and economic austerity; in a word, they indicate the proper economic policies of development. In the same way, decision makers of developing countries also believe and apply the models coming from North. There is even heated competition among political decisions makers of developing countries to prove their commitment to such policies. How do these people arrive at this competition? Why do they internalize such values, without doubt? This paper tries to show that in spite of claims of universalism, the economic discourse of globalization, far from scientifically objective, is in fact, part of the process of ?neo-liberal socialization?. Indeed, the economic discourse is a circuit of socialization. For this reason, globalization is a means of ?neo-liberal socialization?. We will see how, from its framework of thought through its channels of execution, the current economic globalization creates violence. In light of the works of Michel Foucault, Marcel Mauss, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, I will work on the concept of symbolic violence, proposed by Pierre Bourdieu. Based on the writings of Kant, Hegel, Marx, Weber, and Habermas, I will show also how values operate in symbolic violence. Finally, employing the Zelizer circuit, I will give examples of symbolic violence in monetary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neo-instituitional theory draws our attention to the cultural aspects of organizations. In this paper, we draw on neo-institutional theory to explore the emergence and evolution of two types of organizations that are especially shaped by ideology. Specifically, we examine women's bookstores and Christian bookstores, which are deeply influenced by feminist ideology and evangelical ideology respectively. Drawing on both interviews and archival materials, including the journals of the two trade associations, we illustrate how beliefs and ideologies shape these two industries. For instance, we examine the divergent logics of the two types of organizations: the logic of profit maximization in the Christian bookstore industry and the logic of the "collective good" in the women's bookstore industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the capacity of Native American tribal governments to exercise their treaty rights in order to upset status quo political configurations. Indeed, I focus primarily upon the ways in which an increasing number of Native American tribes have successfully guaranteed federal support for tribally initiated economic and cultural reclamation projects. Critical to the success of several of these reclamation projects has been the legal recognition by federal courts of rights that are contained within treaties (some of which date from as early as the 18th century) that were signed between the United States government and a host of Native American tribes. Equally important for the success of tribal reclamation efforts, however, has been the willingness of tribes to mobilize their treaty rights in order to enforce federal and state compliance with the provisions that they promise. These sorts of legal claims, and the responses to them by various actors, are the focus of my paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]