A New Method for the Characterization of the Degree of Fire Damage to Gypsum Wallboard for Use in Fire Investigations

A new method to characterize the degree of fire damage to gypsum wallboard is introduced, implemented, and tested to determine the efficacy of its application among novices. The method was evaluated by comparing degree of fire damage assessments of novices with and without the method. Thirty-nine “novice” raters assessed damage to a gypsum wallboard surface, completing 66 ratings, first without the method, and then again using the method. The inter-rater reliability was evaluated for ratings of damage without and with the method. For novice fire investigators rating degree of damage without the aid of the method, ICC(1,2) = 0.277 with 95% CI (0.211, 0.365), and with the method, ICC(2,1) = 0.593 with 95% CI (0.509, 0.684). Results indicate that the raters were more reliable in their analysis of the degree of fire damage when using the method, which support the use of standardized processes to decrease the variability in data collection and interpretation.     

Political factors in the fall of RolIs-Royce

Abstract. While economic and technological difficulties greatly reduced Rolls-Royce's viability, its passing into receivership can be adequately explained only by invoking additional (and largely political) factors. In the absence of any automatic criteria for aborting a losing project, the Conservative government of the day responded to an abundance of consistently negative politioal implications. Unfortunately for its continued survival, the Rolls-Royce development of an RB-211 engine for Lockheed was civilian, not military; prosaic, not meta-phoric; ostensibly private, not openly governmental; internationally fluctuating, not domestically controllable; a weak coalition, not a strong partnership; profit oriented, not ideologically based; and narrowly subsidized, not internally fund-able. The Conservative response was probably not unique; and a Labour government wodd Iikely have reacted to these implications in roughly the same way. It is to the circumambient political factors rather than to determinative economic considerations, however, that the decisions reached by either party would be primarily traceable. Sommaire. Des difficultés économiques et technologiques réduisirent de beau-coup la viabilité de Rolls-Royce, mais sa mise en faillité ne peut vraiment s'expIi-quer qu'en invoquant d'autres facteurs complémentaires, surtout politiques. En I'absence de tout critère automatique pour faire avorter un projet non rentable, le gouvernement conservateur du moment réagit à une multitude d'implications politiques, toutes négatives. Malheureusement pour Rolls-Royce, la création d'un moteur RB-211 pour Lockheed était une entreprise civile et non pas militaire; prosaïque et non pas métaphorique; manifestement privée et non pas ouverte-ment gouvernementale; sujette à des fluctuations internationales et non pas contrôlable à I'échelle nationale; dirigée par une coalition faible et non pas par une association forte; à buts lucratifs et non pas idéologiques; subventionnée de facon limitée et non pas financée de I'intérieur. La réaction des conservateurs n'a sans doute rien de très étonnant et un gouvernement travailliste aurait sans doute, en gros, réagi de la même façon à ces données. Ce sont à des facteurs politiques ambiants plutòt qu'à des considérations économiques déterminantes qu'il faudrait attribuer avant tout les décisions prises par l'un ou I'autre parti.     

Is a Fixer-Upper Actually a Downer? Homeownership,Gender, Work on the Home,and Subjective Well-being

This article investigates whether homeownership provides psychological benefits, particularly as mediated through the act of working on the dwelling. It examines whether work on the home potentially increases subjective well-being (SWB) for home occupants because such work improves the dwelling or because the work is fulfilling and promotes feelings of mastery and control. It also investigates whether homeowners are more likely to perform such work compared with renters. The article finds that homeownership is associated with somewhat elevated life satisfaction, but that homeowners tend to experience less intense positive affect than renters. Homeowners spend much more time working on the home than renters. Strong links between work on the home and life satisfaction are not found, but certain types of home work activities—such as interior or exterior decoration and repairs and yard work—tend to be experienced as psychologically meaningful. Gender also plays a role in the division of home labor and the psychological costs and benefits of homeownership and work on the home. Women are much more likely than men to clean the interiors of dwellings, an activity associated with poor affect. Men perform more of most of the other types of work on the home; in homeowning households these burdens tend to balance each other out, but in renting households there tends to be a dramatic disparity in terms of work on the home, raising concerns about gender inequity.     

The future of political campaigning: the American example

The Internet will provide a way to force direct democracy to the fore, replacing many of the prerogatives now reserved for representative democracy. This is especially true in Europe where the continental integration of the economy has not been matched by integrated political democracy. Lobbying in the UK will become less relevant as the EU comes to predominate. Lobbying in the future will have to be directed downward — to mobilise the public — rather than upward, attempting to influence the Parliament. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications.