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The purpose of this paper is to experimentally validate the crack growth control based on the topological derivative of the famous Rice's integral.

Single edge notch tensile specimens with two configurations were tested. Displacement fields near notch were experimentally obtained using the digital image correlation method. These displacements were used to verify the minimization of the associated shape functional, which is defined in terms of the Rice's integral, when a set of controls (holes) positioned according to the topological derivative information, is inserted. Based on the Griffth's energy criterion, this minimization represents an improvement in the fracture toughness of cracked bodies.

The experimental tests confirmed that a decrease around 27% in the value of the associated shape functional can be obtained following this approach. Therefore, the results allow us to conclude that the predictive methodology for crack growth control based on the topological derivative is feasible.

This is the first work concerning experimental validation of crack growth control based on the topological derivative method.

In the paper an approach for crack nucleation and propagation phenomena in brittle plate structures is presented.

The Francfort–Marigo damage theory is adapted to the Kirchhoff and Reissner–Mindlin plate bending models. Then, the topological derivative method is used to minimize the associated Francfort–Marigo shape functional. In particular, the whole damaging process is governed by a threshold approach based on the topological derivative field, leading to a notable simple algorithm.

Numerical simulations are driven in order to verify the applicability of the proposed method in the context of brittle fracture modeling on plates. The obtained results reveal the capability of the method to determine nucleation and propagation including bifurcation of multiple cracks with a minimal number of user-defined algorithmic parameters.

This is the first work concerning brittle fracture modeling of plate structures based on the topological derivative method.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive list of student‐led, campus‐based climate change initiatives, and offers details on many specific cases. The paper also documents the roles students have played and considers the larger youth engagement implications. Many of these initiatives can be replicated elsewhere, thereby providing a starting point for students wanting to begin an initiative or providing ideas for other campus stakeholders wanting to engage students in initiatives.

Campus reports were collected by the Sierra Youth Coalition from 65 Canadian Universities and Colleges. This qualitative information was coded for student‐led climate‐related initiatives, and for the roles students played in those initiatives. The patterns were identified and clustered, and are presented in this paper.

Students were found to be successfully leading eight different types of campus climate change‐related initiatives, both with the support of other campus stakeholders and without this support. Students were also found to be able to successfully take on a variety of types of leadership roles in these initiatives. Youth engagement ranged from socialization to influence to power, depending on the type of initiative.

A limitation of this research is that only 65 of the approximately 227 colleges and universities in Canada participated. Also, it is possible that some schools may not have reported all student‐led initiatives, or all the student roles. In addition, the data were limited to the 2007/2008 academic year, so is limited to the initiatives which occurred in that year.

This paper presents different types of student‐led climate change initiatives, the roles students have played in these initiatives, and the implications for youth engagement in creating climate change solutions. It contributes to the climate change, the campus sustainability, and the social movements literatures.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse Malaysia's shift towards results‐based management in two key areas of the public service: budgeting and human resource management. More specifically, it shows how and to what extent the values of results‐based management have been incorporated in the Malaysian public sector and describes their constraints and challenges.

The paper adopts a combination of descriptive and analytical methods and is mainly based on secondary sources of data and information. While it provides a systematic and comprehensive review of recent reform initiatives, it also focuses on the discrepancies between policies and practices in terms of actual implementation.

Although Malaysia has followed the global trend by introducing results‐based management in public governance, evidence shows that the implementation of the new approach is far from satisfactory. The paper argues that while personnel management and budgetary reforms have helped overcome many of the anomalies of the traditional approach, the current practice in these areas continues to suffer from major inadequacies and limitations.

The issues and challenges identified in the paper and the policy implications proposed should aid the formulation of strategies and measures intended to support results‐based management in Malaysia and other similar contexts.

The paper adds to the limited knowledge in this field. Managing for results is new in Malaysia and hence scholarly literature on the subject is scarce. The findings of the paper and the lessons drawn would be of practical significance to all those interested in this area – especially the policy makers and practitioners in Malaysia's public service. They are also expected to have wider relevance to public governance in other similar contexts.

States that community development has been promoted as a process, a method, a programme, a movement and a paradigm, but that efforts at definition tend to divert attention from the key concern in this field: what kinds of organizations are most effective in actually doing community development? Posits that the main determinants of what is done in society today are laid down by governments and large corporations; these organizations cannot give people a sense of identity and purpose beyond the job and the daily round of work. Proposes that mediating structures can do so. Reveals that these are organizations which stand between the individuals and the larger entities of society. Examines, using Cape Breton Island as context, a potential role for the university as a mediating structure in community development.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries (GLs) initiative approach to advocacy and how it informs, guides, and integrates impact data to support sustainability of GL program results.

The paper defines advocacy in the context of GL, and explores the GL grant planning process, tools, and collaboration between advocacy and impact specialists. Results are demonstrated through grantee examples that illustrate a variety of approaches to library advocacy using impact data at local, country, and regional levels.

The paper demonstrates the importance of identifying community needs, designing impact measures to demonstrate how libraries help to address those needs, and the variety of ways impact evidence can be used to effectively advocacy for public libraries. This basic formula can be applied to advocacy efforts ranging from a broad national policy to a small incremental change in perceptions of libraries by local decision makers.

This paper reinforces the essential link between library impact measurement data and successful advocacy.