A key question in the study of minority representation is whether descriptive representatives provide superior substantive representation. Neglected in this literature is the distinction between two forms of substantive representation: rhetoric versus policy. We provide a systematic comparison of presidential minority representation along these two dimensions. Barack Obama was the first African American president, yet his substantive representation of African Americans has not been fully evaluated. Using speech and budget data, we find that relative to comparable presidents, Obama offered weaker rhetorical representation, but stronger policy representation, on race and poverty. While we cannot rule out non-racial explanations, Obama’s policy proposals are consistent with minority representation. His actions also suggest that descriptive representatives may provide relatively better policy representation but worse rhetorical representation, at least when the constituency is a numerical minority. We thus highlight an understudied tension between rhetoric and policy in theories of minority representation.

This study reports an evaluation of a 10-day training course in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT). The course comprised both formal CBT workshops and clinical case supervision, and was evaluated on measures of trainee satisfaction, trainee- and assessor-rated measures of CBT skill, and clinical outcomes for a subgroup of trainees' patients. The course was well received by trainees and their post-training therapy tapes were rated significantly higher on both trainee- and assessor-rated measures of CBT skills. In addition, trainees achieved significantly better outcomes with their patients after the training course than before, suggesting that the training impacted not only on their skills but also on their effectiveness in routine clinical practice. The limitations of the study and implications for future research in training are discussed.

We have used Auger spectroscopy to monitor chemical reactions during solid phase epitaxy by contact reaction in the Ni/Si(ll1) ultrathin film system. We show that coexisting phases may be separated by numerically fitting the composite Si LVV lineshape using a linear combination of single phase “fingerprint” spectra. Sytematic measurements of coverage and temperature conditions are compiled into a kinetic phase diagram. Comparison with conventional (1000Å) thin film data suggest that the reactions forming Ni2Si and NiSi at > 20 Å thickness are bulk diffusion limited, while surface diffusion dominates at lower coverage. On the other hand, the formation of NiSi2 appears to be nucleation limited at all coverages, with dramatic variations in reaction rate with film thickness. This is discussed in terms of a competition between surface and bulk free energies.

We introduce quantitative Auger lineshape analysis methods to study the room temperature reaction of nickel on Si(111). We show that coexisting phases may be separated by numerically fitting the composite lineshapes using a linear combination of single phase “fingerprint” spectra, obtained by scraping bulk compounds in situ. The reaction proceeds in three stages. For nickel coverage below 1 Å, the growth is layerwise, forming NiSi2. For nickel coverage from 3 to 12 Å, islands of Ni2Si are formed. For nickel coverage above 12 Å, islands of pure nickel are formed. The overlayer reactions appear to be a kinetically limited form of Stranski-Krastanov growth, with multiple compound formation.