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Dallas Bible College existed under several names from 1940 to 1985. It was a member of the American Association of Bible Colleges. Although never prosperous, the institution did have an educational niche. This study explores the reasons behind the close of the school in 1985. It surveys the previous history but emphasizes the events from 1983 to 1985. The study investigates the change of mission, location, and name which occurred in the final year of existence. Also included is an extended study of disunity on the board of directors. Exploration is made of reasons why no strong leadership emerged to step in and save the school as it was on its downward path.

Das politische Phänomen ‚fragiler Staaten’ betrifft die Grundfesten des Völkerrechts, und hat dennoch wenig Beachtung in der Rechtswissenschaft gefunden. Staaten, die formal rechtlich anerkannt sind, aber faktisch kaum in der Lage sind, grundlegende staatliche Funktionen auszuüben, beeinträchtigen Funktion und Effektivität der Völkerrechtsordnung. Die Völkerrechtsordnung hängt entscheidend von der Existenz einer effektiven Regierung ab, die zumindest in der Lage ist, Rechte und Pflichten auszuüben und an den internationalen Beziehungen teilzunehmen. In der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit beispielsweise ist die Existenz eines Staates mit rechtlich anerkannter und faktisch handlungsfähiger Regierung eine Grundvoraussetzung für den Transfer finanzieller Ressourcen. Diese Arbeit zeigt mit Blick auf Recht und Praxis der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit, dass ‚fragile Staaten’ zwar kein rechtliches Phänomen sind, aber der Umgang von Internationalen Organisationen mit den Herausforderungen fragiler Staatlichkeit durchaus von rechtlicher Relevanz ist. Sie untersucht die formellen und informellen Regeln, die Entwicklungsorganisationen wie die Weltbank für den Umgang mit Staaten mit kaum handlungsfähiger Regierung erlassen haben. Das Resultat ist eine kritische Analyse des sozial konstruierten Phänomens und seiner folgenreichen Übersetzung in rechtliche Regularien. / The political phenomenon of ‘fragile states’ concerns international law’s very foundations, and has yet received little attention from legal scholarship. States that have the legal status of states, but are in fact unable to fulfill even the most basic functions, pose a fundamental problem to the functioning and effectiveness of the international legal order. It crucially depends on the existence of governments with the minimum level of capacity necessary to exercise rights and obligations, and to partake in international cooperation. In development cooperation, for instance, the existence of a state with an authorized and competent government is a basic condition for the transfer of financial assistance. This study looks at the law and practice of development cooperation to show that ‘fragile states’ are a phenomenon beyond law, but how international organizations have addressed the challenges of engaging with fragile states may well be of legal significance. It analyzes the formal and informal rules that development organizations – the World Bank, and a range of regional organizations – have adopted to address the lack or severe limitation of government effectiveness in certain countries. The result is a critical analysis of the discourse on fragile states, and how it has shaped the rule-making activities of international organizations.

Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, la notion de Failed State est utilisée dans les relations internationales pour décrire des États rencontrant des difficultés à exercer un monopole de la violence légitime sur leur territoire. La thèse se pose la question de savoir dans quelle mesure cette notion a pu jouer un rôle dans les rapports de domination en cours dans les relations internationales. L’étude montre que la notion a été créée par un communauté épistémique et des entrepreneurs de sens avant tout américains et proposait en effet un système de représentation selon lequel le salut des Failed State reposerait avant tout sur la mise en place de politiques très intrusives de la part des États les plus puissants de la planète. L’étude poursuit en montrant que ce système de représentation, créé à grands frais par un ensemble d’acteurs académiques, médiatiques et philanthropiques, n’a toutefois pas toujours réussi à justifier la mise en place des politiques intrusives souhaitées. A travers de nombreuses études de cas (Afghanistan, Haïti, Irak, Somalie, Palestine, Liban, Libéria, Soudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivie, Pakistan, Colombie, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinée-Bissau et République centrafricaine), le travail démontre que la notion de Failed State n’a pas toujours eu l’efficacité souhaitée et a au contraire été détournée, parfois avec succès, pour résister aux politiques perçues comme intrusives par des acteurs prétendument dominés. L’étude conclut que si il est théoriquement possible de dominer par les idées, il est aussi possible de résister aux idées par les idées. // Since the end of the Cold War, the notion of Failed State is used in international relations in order to describe States that have difficulties to exercise a monopoly of legitimate violence on their territory. The thesis raises the question of how this concept influenced the relations of domination in the international relations. The study shows that the concept of Failed State was created by an epistemic community and a group of entrepreneurs primarily based in the United States. The notion promoted a system of representation based on the idea that the salvation of the Failed States rested on their acceptance of very intrusive policies leaded by the most powerful States of the world. The study also shows that this representation system, created at great expense, has not always been able to justify the intrusive policies it was designed to legitimize. Through numerous case studies (Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon, Liberia, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Pakistan, Colombia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Central African Republic), it is shown that notion of Failed State has not always reached the efficiency desired by its creators and has instead been used, sometimes successfully, to resist policies perceived as intrusive by the allegedly “dominated” actors. The study concludes that while it is theoretically possible to rule with ideas, it is also possible to resist ideas with ideas.

Failed fuel refers to the breach in the fuel-clad of an irradiated fuel assembly in a nuclear reactor. Neutron detection or gamma detection is commonly used in Failed Fuel Detection and Locating (FFDL) system to monitor the activity of the coolant. Though these methods offer specific advantages under different conditions of the coolant, providing both types of detectors in FFDL system is impractical. This limitation is the motivation for the detector system developed in the present work. In the present work, effort has been made for realising a detector system for simultaneous measurement of neutron and gamma activity of the coolant, thus offering a two-parameter basis for failed fuel detection. NE213 liquid scintillator was chosen for this work as it has good detection capability for both neutrons and gammas. Additionally, the neutrons and gammas interacting with NE213 detector can be separated based on pulse shape discrimination. The work reported in this thesis includes fabrication details and different steps followed in assembling the NE213 detector. Details of experimental set-up developed for pulse height analysis and pulse shape analysis are covered. Results of experiments carried out to study the response of the NE213 detector to gamma and neutron sources using pulse height analyser are presented. The absolute gamma efficiency and relative gamma efficiency of NE213 detector are calculated. Neutron–gamma separation capability of NE213 detector based pulse shape analysis system is reported. Application of the developed detector system to analyse the coolant activity in FFDL system in a reactor is described. Response of the detector is compared with the existing FFDL system at different power levels of the reactor. Since failed fuel is a rare event, it was simulated using neutron and gamma sources. Pulse shape analysis spectra obtained under simulated failed fuel condition are presented.

As the needs of society changed, states faced increasing pressure from the federal government to raise educational standards. States adopted rigorous standards, however many students failed to meet defined proficiency levels, necessitating summer school attendance or grade retention. Factors associated with academic failure have been extensively documented in the academic literature. The factors identified in the research can be organized into six categories, including motivation, age and ability, withdrawal from school, parents and guardians, school practices, and teacher practices. The purpose of the current study was to explore middle school students’ perceptions of factors which contributed to the academic outcomes necessitating enrollment in academic courses in summer school, and what factors they believe could have made a positive impact. This study focused on the following research questions: How did middle school students, enrolled in one or more academic courses in summer school, perceive (1) academic outcomes and to what these were attributed, (2) the relationship among ability, effort, and outcome, (3) sources and levels of motivation, (4) sources and levels of school bonds, (5) interactions and relationships with school personnel, and (6) the role and level of involvement of adults in their academic lives? A qualitative, ethnographic design, with detailed descriptions of the methodological considerations and rich, thick narrative, was used to explore the research questions. Seventeen middle school students, repeating academic courses in summer school, were interviewed. Emergent themes were identified from inductively coded interviews. The analysis revealed that participants primarily accepted responsibility for academic outcomes but also identified distractions as a contributing factor. Teachers were seen as playing a role in both creating and removing distractions. Participants perceived work ethic as positively correlated with intelligence, and perceptions of ability tended to be related to duration of exerted effort. Negative social bonds were perceived as adversely affecting participants’ academic performance, and participants reported few positive interactions or relationships with school personnel. Negative consequences were the primary means used by adults to motivate participants, and too little, too late characterized active adults engagement in participants’ academics. Perceived levels of effort exerted and concern exhibited by an adult paralleled academic outcomes.

Diploma thesis title: Opinions and Attitudes of Unsuccessfully Moving Younger School Age Children toward Physical Activities Aims (goals): The main aim of the diploma thesis was to state opinions and attitudes of unsuccessfully moving younger-school-age children toward physical activities. Another aim was to create an overview of terms regarding the movement failure in the theoretical part. Further aim was to compare the opinions and attitudes of so defined children toward the physical activities to results of Kaplan (2001) and Holický (2011) and to monitor anthropometric characteristics of observed files. Methodology: The work was developed by using the method of Kaplan's research (2011). The research identified unsuccessfully moving children using a motoric testing. With this procedure the files for the subsequent determination of the characteristics of the unsuccessfully moving children were defined. Then, two types of questionnaires were used to research the opinions and attitude of the children toward the physical activities. Results: The results revealed the unsuccessfully moving children do a physical activity three times a week and occasionally. The pupils of the S2 file spend most of the time inactively, for instance by engaging themselves in computer activities or garden games. The group...

Mediante a teoria do discurso de Ernesto Laclau, a tese analisa as concepções de Estados Falidos e nation-building presentes em documentos produzidos durante a administração George W. Bush. Almejamos entender como o fracasso estatal foi concebido como um evento eminentemente doméstico, assim como as ideias de que a democracia liberal é a melhor instituição para os Estados Falidos, e que os EUA possuem capacidade reconhecida para reconstruir Estados. Nossas hipóteses são as seguintes: primeiramente, por meio de premissas do institucionalismo da escolha racional, a história dos Estados Falidos é vista de maneira pejorativa, julgada à luz do desenvolvimento político e econômico ocidental. Em segundo lugar, a democracia é aqui compreendida como um significante vazio, visto que, seria não apenas o melhor e mais justo sistema político e econômico, mas também aquele que permitiria que países executassem de maneira mais eficiente funções estatais consideradas essenciais. Finalmente, com base em uma série de estudos de casos, os documentos apresentam uma visão dos EUA enquanto país historicamente engajado em nation-building, começando com as intervenções na Alemanha e no Japão ao final da Segunda Guerra Mundial, até as recentes operações no Afeganistão e no Iraque após os atentados de 11 de setembro de 2001. / Using Ernesto Laclaus discourse theory, this dissertation analyzes the conceptions of failed states and nation-building presented in documents produced during George W. Bushs administration. We intend to understand how it was possible to conceive state failure as an essentially domestic event, as well as the ideas that democracy is the best institution for failed states and that the U.S has a proven capacity to rebuild states. Our hypotheses are the following: firstly, through assumptions based upon rational choice institutionalism, the history of failed states is seen in a depreciative manner by being judged in light of a Western model of economic and political development. Secondly, democracy is here understood as an empty signifier, given that it is not only the best and the fairest political and economic system, but also the one that today enables countries to perform essential state tasks in a more efficient fashion. Finally, through a series of case studies, the documents present the idea that the U.S is historically engaged in nation-building, from the occupations of Germany and Japan at the end of World War II to the recent interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq after the September 11th, 2001, attacks.

Sistemas distribuídos representam uma plataforma ideal para implementação de sistemas computacionais com alta confiabilidade e disponibilidade devido a redundância fornecida por um grande número de estações interligadas. Falhas de um servidor podem ser contornadas pela reconfiguração do sistema. Entretanto falhas em seqüência que afetem múltiplas estações comprometem não apenas o desempenho do sistema, mas também a continuidade do serviço e sua confiabilidade. Assim, servidores falhos, que tenham sido isolados do sistema, devem ser reintegrados tão logo quanto possível para não comprometer a disponibilidade do sistema computacional. Este trabalho trata da atualização do estado de servidores e da troca de informação que o servidor recuperado realiza para integrar-se aos demais membros do sistema através de um procedimento chamado reintegração do servidor. E assumido um ambiente distribuído que garante alta confiabilidade em aplicações convencionais através da técnica de replicação de arquivos. O servidor a ser reintegrado faz parte de um grupo de replicação e volta a participar ativamente do grupo tão logo seja reintegrado. Para tanto, considera-se a estratégia de replicação por copia primaria e um sistema distribuído experimental, compatível com o NFS, desenvolvido na UFRGS para aplicar a reintegração de servidor. Os métodos de atualização de arquivos para a reintegração do servidor foram implementadas no ambiente UNIX. / Distributed systems are an ideal platform to develop high reliable computer applications due to the redundancy supplied by a great number of interconnected workstations. Failed stations can be masked reconfiguring the system. However, sequential faults, that affect multiple stations, not just decrease the performance of the system, but also affect the continuity of the service and its reliability. Thus, failed stations working as servers, that have been isolated from the system, should be reintegrated as soon as possible to not impair the system availability. This work is exactly about methods to update the state of failed servers. It deals also with the change of information that the recovered server accomplishes to be integrated to the other members of the service group through a process called reintegration of server. It is assumed a distributed environment that guarantees high reliability in conventional applications through replication of files. The server to be reintegrated is part of a replication group and it participates actively of the service group again as soon as it is reintegrated. Our approach is based on a primary copy. The file actualization methods to the reintegration of server were implemented in an UNIX environment. To illustrate our approach we will describe how the integration of repaired server can be made a fault-tolerant system. The experimental distributed system, compatible with NFS, was designed at the UFRGS.

THE MEXICAN HYDRA: HOW CALDERÓN’S PURSUIT OF PEACE LED TO THE BLOODIEST WAR IN MEXICAN HISTORY. WILL THE MEXICAN PEOPLE INHERIT A FAILED STATE IN 2012? Abstract Marco Antonio Pinon-Farah The drug-war in Mexico (2006-present) has accelerated at a chilling rate, claiming the lives of 35,000 Mexican people. Since President Felipe Calderón assumed office, Mexico has been battling an internal beast unlike any it has known, the Mexican Hydra. Like the mythical creature, the Mexican cartels have proven capable of not only combating the government forces, but also of regenerating and strengthening themselves in the face of increasing government scrutiny and the loss of several prominent Mexican cartel leaders. Feuding between individual cartels and the Mexican government continue to maintain a significant portion of the country, particularly the states of Chihuahua and Sinaloa, in a paralytic state of fear. Struggling to maintain the safety of all people in Mexico, the military must also contend with the reality that it is often outgunned by the increasingly powerful drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs). Given the historical accusations of corruption in Mexican judicial, military, and police authorities, this branch of the government is constantly fighting for the trust and support of the Mexican people in order to fulfill its duties and obligations. The moral guide of Mexican society since Spanish conquest, the Catholic Church, has been notably missing from the debate until recent years in which it has chosen to speak up more frequently on behalf of those who have suffered human rights violations. In recent months, the Church and the State have been working towards a partnership to publicly condemn the violence and fear that has become all too common in Mexico. This state of chaos has been further examined by the musical phenomenon, “el narcocorrido,” (drug song). Derived from the “corrido,” one of Mexico’s most valued methods of cultural expression and storytelling, this new take on the genre provides a controversial view and analysis of the Mexican drug-trafficker. Much like the American gangsta-rap genre, the narcocorrido glamorizes the lives of individuals who are considered criminals by society. With police being criticized and the government accused of corruption and abuse, the narcocorrido is a manifestation of the sentiments of many Mexican people past and present. This cultural force allows for a greater understanding of the complexity of the drug-war in Mexico, in that it is not simply a struggle between the people and the drug industry, but rather it exposes the nature of the war for what it truly is, a battle between one Mexican presidential administration and the drug trafficking industry. President Calderón’s strategy has been successful in eliminating various important Mexican DTO leaders, however it also has been responsible for a rise in violence between the cartels and government. His strategy has left thousands dead and set a precedent for future Mexican presidents in that they are now all committed to this war, for a withdrawal from the conflict would be catastrophic for the Mexican state. Calderón is already struggling to maintain his government’s legitimacy, and it is becoming increasingly true that his state verges on failure due to its inability to guarantee and protect the rights afforded to its citizens by the Mexican Constitution.