Nanocrystalline materials are polycrystalline solids with grain size in the nanometer range (< 100nm), which have been found to exhibit superior properties such as high magnetic permeability and corrosion resistance, as well as a considerably increase of strength when compared with their coarse grain counterparts. All those improved properties are attributed to the high volume fraction of grain boundaries (GBs). However, the high density of GBs brings a large amount of excess enthalpy to the whole system, making the nanostructures unstable and suffer from severe thermal or mechanical grain growth. In order to maintain the advantageous properties of nanocrystalline materials, it is necessary to stabilize GB and inhibit grain growth. While alloying has been found to be an effective way of achieving stabilized nanocrystalline metal alloys experimentally, the direct quantification of solute effects on GB motion still poses great challenge for investigating thermal stability of general nanocrystalline materials. In this research, impurity segregation and solute drag effects on GB motion were investigated by extending the interface random-walk method in direct molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that the GB motion was controlled by the solute diffusion perpendicular to the boundary plane. Based on the simulation results at different temperatures and impurity concentrations, the solute drag effects can be well modeled by the theory proposed by Cahn, Lücke and Stüwe (CLS model) more than fifty years ago. However, a correction to the original CLS model needs to be made in order to quantitatively predict the solute drag effects on a moving GB.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

The purpose of this study was to depict and analyze the components of the process by which the Northwest Indiana Curriculum Evaluation Project was applied from a theoretical model of curriculum evaluation which had been developed by Drs. James McElhinney and Richard Kunkel of Ball State University. This task was accomplished through participant observation. In this capacity the participant observer initially recorded the events, insights, and anecdotes which occurred while at the same time, he served as the project director. These recorded observations were then used as a basis for designing a questionnaire which was administered to the team leaders of the project. This instrument, which used a semantic differential as a rating scale, attempted to solicit the team leaders' perceptions and reactions to many concepts about the project which had originally been identified through participant observation.The questionnaire and other data, which was accumulated, as well as the study itself, were organized and presented within the framework of five sequential phases. These were as follows: 1. Phase I - Training Workshops for Data Collectors 1. Phase II - Interviews and Observations3. Phase III - Administration of Questionnaires4. Phase IV - Organization of Data5. Phase V - Writing of Individual Building ReportsThe final section of the study attempted to determine how the team leaders felt about the project once their direct involvement had been completed. Attention was also accorded to what would and should be done with the final project results in the various participating school corporations.Based upon the data and findings of the study, it was concluded that the theoretical model of curriculum evaluation investigated was an effective vehicle with which to collect data and accurately describe the curricular offerings of a given school.In addition, it was determined that public school personnel can be trained to serve effectively as data collectors within the model in a relatively short period of time (In this case, a one and one-half day workshop proved sufficient). However, much of the success or failure of such an undertaking appeared to be determined by the personal and professional qualifications of the consultant who conducted the training workshops. It was also found that the potential for success of a curriculum evaluation project such as the Northwest Indiana Curriculum Evaluation Project would have been enhanced by increasing the man-day commitment of participating school corporations so as to accommodate unexpected time and personnel problems which occurred; by budgeting for more adequate secretarial services; and by providing more adequate storage and office space in which to house the permanent staff required for such a project.Beyond the initial approval which was given by the chief administrator of each participating school corporation, the attitude which the superintendent extended to the project significantly influenced the attitudes which his subordinates displayed as participating data collectors.Other conclusions obtained from the study were: communication plays a vital role in determining the success or failure of a curriculum evaluation project; certain professional public school personnel seem threatened by involvement in curriculum evaluation projects; cooperative curriculum evaluation projects possess a high potential as in-service programs; students tend to be more frank in their responses to the inquiries made by data-collectors than are teachers; professional educators recognize a need for curricular change based on systematically acquired evidence, and the advent of a curriculum evaluation project in and of itself is unlikely to foster significant curricular change.

In the South Africa mining industry women have been subjected to unfair discrimination due to their gender or sex, for thousands of years. The aim of this study is to establish if women discrimination still exists in this sector by exploring the experiences of women in this mining sector. More and more women are being employed in the mines, but it is not clear if they are subjected to discrimination or not. The research method for this study consists of a literature review and an empirical study. The aim of the literature review was to discuss the research done by others on the subject matter and their findings. Information gathered is used as a base for compiling the questionnaire which is used in the interviews that are conducted during the study. A qualitative phenomenological research method was used for the empirical study because of its effectiveness in identifying intangible factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, and ethnicity, which are imperative for this study. The results of the study confirm that discrimination still exists in the mining industry. The evidence of this form of discrimination is in men's negative attitudes which are a problem that women have to deal with on daily basis. Men's negative attitudes create a hostile work environment for women that comprise of: disrespecting women, undermining of their capabilities, unequal treatment of women versus men, physically and verbally harass and I or abuse them, sex segregation and glass ceilings Few discrimination cases are reported to management because of fear of victimisation, fear of being seen as cry babies and because there is a perception that management is not supportive to women, therefore it's no use reporting a case because nothing will be done to discipline the perpetrator. The conclusion reached is that most mining organisations are faced with challenges of effectively implementing and managing change. Transformation policies are implemented but there is no internal and external (from government) monitoring, evaluation and verification systems. There is also limited buy in from people (middle and lower management) who are supposed to implement the policies. For effective transformation to happens these are the key issues that must be addressed. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

In the South Africa mining industry women have been subjected to unfair discrimination due to their gender or sex, for thousands of years. The aim of this study is to establish if women discrimination still exists in this sector by exploring the experiences of women in this mining sector. More and more women are being employed in the mines, but it is not clear if they are subjected to discrimination or not. The research method for this study consists of a literature review and an empirical study. The aim of the literature review was to discuss the research done by others on the subject matter and their findings. Information gathered is used as a base for compiling the questionnaire which is used in the interviews that are conducted during the study. A qualitative phenomenological research method was used for the empirical study because of its effectiveness in identifying intangible factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, and ethnicity, which are imperative for this study. The results of the study confirm that discrimination still exists in the mining industry. The evidence of this form of discrimination is in men's negative attitudes which are a problem that women have to deal with on daily basis. Men's negative attitudes create a hostile work environment for women that comprise of: disrespecting women, undermining of their capabilities, unequal treatment of women versus men, physically and verbally harass and I or abuse them, sex segregation and glass ceilings Few discrimination cases are reported to management because of fear of victimisation, fear of being seen as cry babies and because there is a perception that management is not supportive to women, therefore it's no use reporting a case because nothing will be done to discipline the perpetrator. The conclusion reached is that most mining organisations are faced with challenges of effectively implementing and managing change. Transformation policies are implemented but there is no internal and external (from government) monitoring, evaluation and verification systems. There is also limited buy in from people (middle and lower management) who are supposed to implement the policies. For effective transformation to happens these are the key issues that must be addressed. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

The segregation of disabled people is often perceived of as a form of oppression that acts as a means of exclusion from mainstream society. Disability rights activists and theorists have worked to end segregation as a form of oppression using the social model of disability and drawing on feminist theory. Feminist use of disengagement as a tool for empowerment is one component of feminist theory that has been left unexplored as it relates to disability. This work explores the role of segregation within the disability rights movement and within the development of the activist identity for disabled people. Based on the individual and collective experiences of six participants, all of whom are activists who attended segregated summer camps, I use a thematic analysis to reframe segregation as Empowering Exclusivity. This reframing has the potential to shift the strategic goals of the disability rights movement away from binary understandings of integration and segregation and towards a critical analysis of full inclusion and empowerment. / Graduate / 0700 / 0453 / julia.munk@gmail.com

The inability of the social sciences to contribute to the better understanding of the intraurban problems of contemporary society has provided the primary influence for an approach that is strongly grounded in the method and philosophy of social analysis. The underlying aim is to reinterpret the 'theory 1 of residential differentiation away from the classical ecology of the Chicago School and towards Neo-Marxism. The thesis divides into three main sections. The first discusses the theoretical formation of social science using, partially, the conceptual outline of Strasser with the aim of making the geographer not only.re cognise his own perspective (ideology) but also of locating this and competing perspectives in time and social structure. Metaphysical theories of society are examined and the myths of orthodox positivist social analysis, particularly the Chicago School and later factorial ecologists, are critically evaluated. The second section is an orthodox empirical analysis of the spatial extent and the concentration of deprivation utilising standard statistical techniques. The operationalising of this part of the research is based on data collected for Bradford County Borough. The main data source has been the 1971 Census Small Ward Library for 632 enumeration districts. Fifty-four variables have been selected to cover the complete range of demographic, ethnic, migratory, economic activity, social, commuting and housing characteristics likely to be relevant. A large range of single and multi-factor indices of deprivation have been computed in the positivist tradition to delineate Housing Action Areas and General Improvement Areas. For example, a multi-factor index has been computed using 14 census variables by transforming them into Z-scores with means of zero and unit variance; these have been used to give a composite . index of the spatial coincidence of areas with high levels of deprivation. The central tenets of ecological theory are derived from several factorial ecologies and cluster analyses (both R- and Q- mode). The technical and methodological problems of multifactor designs are discussed at length and concluded as providing serious 'negative 1 effects in which error compounding can further detract from the soundness of the corpus of ecological theory. The third and final section is a re-evaluation of the patterns of segregation observed in the factor ecological maps that attempts to consider the dialectics of post industrial capitalist society. The differentiating factor of social groups in space is seen to lie in the broader forces of class structuration. The primary force is the power relation between capital and labour, though it is also recognised that secondary (or, better, supportive) forces arise from the necessity of preserving the process of capital accumulation. The key theoretical link between the primary social relation and the role of space is made with the help of Lamarche's exposition on the concept of the circulation of capital. The aim of the thesis is to achieve higher levels of explanation for the segregation of different social groups throughout, and for the social networks of housing intermediaries within, urban spaceparticularly as this is revealed by the disadvantaged members of society.

Zugl.: Freiburg (Breisgau), Univ., Diss., 2005

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Univ., veränd. Magisterarbeit, 2005

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references.