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Since the introduction of Local Management of Schools(LMS) as a result of the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA),the role of the school governing body has evolved and been refined by successive legislative acts and consequent regulations. In recognition of this development, governing bodies have been the subject of a number of research studies eg Kogan et al (1984), Earley (1994), Deem et al (1995) and Scanlon et al (1999), all examining a range of themes from role and context, composition and early development, citizenship and effectiveness. Suchr esearchp rovides the context for this study into the role of the Chair of a school governing body. Other than Esp and Saran (1995), Sheam et al (1995) and Scanlon et al (1999), little research has been conducted into the role of the Chair. It is the contention of this study that, through incremental legislative acts, statutory instruments, circulars and other official DfEE documentation, the role of the Chair has become central not only to the workings of the governing body but also central to the operation of school governance as seen through the eyes of the DfEE. This position has, however, not been a planned progression of deliberate steps but an unplanned incremental development. The Chair of governors, it is argued here, has emerged as a"key player" in the operation of school governance. The research was conducted in four LEAs in the North East of England using a number of research instruments which included a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, diary recording, recorded observations and documentation analysis. The questionnaire was sent to all Chairs of governors in three LEAs - Northshire, Newshire and Sunshire. The sample was 320 and the response rate was 43%. The interviews were conducted with twelve Chairs in three LEAs with the author's LEA of Southshire replacing Sunshire. Three interviews were also conducted with the Governor Training Co-ordinators in three LEAs in the region. Eight Chairs of governors were invited to record a structured diary for a period of four weeks and six Chairs did so. Three governing body meetings in the author's LEA were observed and recorded using an observation schedule. Finally, in addition to the close scrutiny of all legislative acts since 1980 with regard to education and school governance and other official documentation, minutes of meetings of school governing bodies in Southshire for the academic year 1998-99 were examined. The findings from this localised study show that the Chairs' perceive themselves as "key players", with the Head teacher, in the operation of school business. This is supported by factors such as the amount of time spent by Chairs on school business, their role in the committee structure of governing bodies, their working relationships with Heads and the routes of contact to the WEE and LEA. Whilst pressures continue to grow and the pace of change quickens, Chairs feel that they are able to cope. Evidence of tensions in the relationships between Chair and Head were found to be less than expected and where they did exist, they were largely as a result of difficult inter-personal relationships rather than policy differences. The research also shows a lack of formal and informal contact between Chairs. There is no self-supporting network at local, regional or national level. Chairs' acknowledged the importance of training but were willing to demote its priority in the face of other factors eg budgets. Chairs did not access training for themselves. The research concludes with the need to re-assess the role of the Chair in the light of the key functions now allocated to the position by legislation and the growing significance the position has in the operation of effective school governance.

Surfactant flooding in carbonate matrix acidizing treatment has been widely used for changing the wettability of the rock and to achieve low IFT values. Optimizing the type of surfactant and concentration for the specific oil field is very important in order to avoid formation damage and to reduce the treatment cost. We built an experimental procedure for screening the right surfactant to alter the wettability and aid in acidizing of Pekisko formation, Canada, which is strongly oil-wet and has high viscosity oil. Five surfactants were tested out of which three are cationic, one amphoteric and the other one was a fluoro-surfactant. Measurements were made of interfacial tension with different surfactant types/concentrations in brine with the oil and xylene, critical micelle concentration of each surfactant, solubility characteristics of the surfactants, compatibility of the chemical additives, wettability of the core after treating with surfactants, and core flooding in the laboratory to simulate matrix acidizing. From the results obtained we noted that the fluoro-surfactant can cause formation damage due to precipitation in the brine. So the compatibility of every chemical additive should be tested first. The use of xylene as a pre-flush solution lowered the CMC and hence reduced the cost of the surfactant treatment. Aromox, an amine based surfactant was best suited for matrix acidizing treatment of the Pekisko formation.

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an overview of ETFE foil, as it applies to pneumatic cushion cladding, with a focus on creep behavior of the material. Characteristics of ETFE, including weight, optics, insulation, flexibility, environmental properties, fire performance, cushion span and other features are discussed, and, where possible, are compared to the characteristics of glass panels used in similar applications. Relevant chemical and mechanical properties of ETFE are given. Load carrying concepts of tension structures and inflated cushions are discussed, as well as structural design methods for ETFE cushions. Several prominent structures constructed using ETFE foil are introduced and benefits and design issues associated with these structures are reviewed. When used in cushion applications, ETFE films are placed in constant tension, and are therefore subject to creep. Quantifying this creep is desirable so that it can be predicted during the design phase. Therefore, this thesis summarizes the findings of other researchers in the area of creep of ETFE as well as the general mechanical behavior of the material, and presents the results of uniaxial creep tests done for the purpose of this study. These tests included 24 hour uniaxial creep tests done at four stress levels on both the transverse and longitudinal directions of three different brands of film. Two thicknesses of the third film were acquired and both were tested. The stress levels were chosen to coincide with typical design tensile stresses for ETFE film, and to be similar to the levels tested by other researchers. The effects of the different stresses, brands, directions and thicknesses are evaluated and discussed. Three seven day creep tests were also done on one of the films, each at a different stress level. Constitutive viscoelastic and viscoplastic models were developed to represent the 24-hour creep data. The viscoelastic models were based on a four-element Kelvin model and the viscoplastic models were based on a power-law model. The model parameters were determined from the data using linear least squares fitting. Models were also developed for the seven day creep data. Several of these models were based only upon the first 24 hours of data, and were used to determine the applicability of the 24-hour creep models to long-term behavior. It was found that while a viscoelastic model appears to fit long-term creep most closely, the 24-hour models are inadequate for modeling longer time frames. Another method is required for predicting long-term creep. Nonlinear fitting of the parameters is recommended as a possible alternative for creating more accurate models. Longer-term creep tests are also recommended. Tensile tests were also done on the films to confirm mechanical properties supplied by the film manufacturers. Good agreement to the given values was found in the test data.

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Thesis (Ph. D. - Hydrology and Water Resources) - University of Arizona. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 372-381).

Thèses (M.Sc.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2002. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 20 juin 2006). Publié aussi en version papier.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 145 p. : ill. (some col.). Advisors: David L. Tomasko and L. James Lee, Dept. of Chemical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-145).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-272).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.