17 research outputs found
ICT in Education Reform in Cambodia: Problems, Politics, and Policies Impacting Implementation
No full textThis article serves as a critique of an ICT in education reform in the nation of Cambodia. Although an ICT in education policy was adopted by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, tangible, quantifiable, and measured progress of this reform has, to date, been limited in nature. Hence, to understand the limitations of this reform, the author uses Kingdon's multiple streams model to investigate streams of policy, problems, and politics. This model allowed the author to explore existing data, events, and experiences in a robust manner. The current research is an analysis of policy papers, government documents, IGO briefs, personal experiences, and other nations' experiences with similar ICT in education reform movements. It was determined that failure to fully address the political stream has caused stress on the adoption process of this reform and has, in effect, slowed its progress. (c) 2008 by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Consumer valuation of alternative meat origin labels
No full textResults from a split-sample survey of the U.S. population reveal consumers prefer meat products carrying origin information to unlabeled alternatives. Consumers are largely unaware of origin labeling laws and are indifferent to an important aspect of the implementation of current mandatory country of origin information rules in the U.S. In particular, consumers value meat products labeled “Product of North America” approximately the same as “Product of United States.” Despite the similarity of these two labels, they have vastly different implications in terms of trade and segregation costs. Our results suggest that a transition from one label to the other is equally satisfying for the consumer while being less costly for processors and more acceptable to trade partners
THE ROLE OF CURVATURE IN ESTIMATING ACCURATE DUAL FUNCTIONS
No full textA production function highly concave in inputs will have a dual profit function less convex in prices. Even large variations in prices will cause little variation in input usage and output, resulting in poor profit function estimates. This is demonstrated using Monte Carlo simulation with various curvatures and error structures.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,
Summoning Queer Spirits Through Performance in AIDS Mourning Publics
No full textabstract: Here I explore three varieties of theatrical responses to the cultural amnesia brought about by what scholars have termed “post-AIDS” rhetoric. Specifically, I examine how AIDS history plays, AIDS comedies, and solo plays provide opportunities for theatregoers to participate in, or reflect on the absence of, what I call “AIDS mourning publics.” I understand these publics to be both the groupings of people that gather around a text, film screening, play performance, or event that was created in response to loss due to AIDS, and the text, screenplay, or play text itself when circulated. In these publics participants work through their grief, make political interventions, and negotiate the meanings of AIDS history for gay men whose sexual awakening occurred before and after the development of protease inhibitors. I join theories of grieving, affect in performance, and the public sphere to study these communal events. I use films, plays, and critical reviews to identify how mourning through performance can be therapeutic for cultural and social actors despite activists' and scholars' sole attention to the counterpublicity of these events. Still, counterpublicity remains an important concern because many in the dominant US public sphere consider AIDS to be a benign “manageable condition” in affluent countries like the US. As such, I also present a dramaturgy of mourning and counterpublicity in twenty-first century US AIDS drama and solo performance with attention focused upon how dramatists and solo performers are inviting spectators to engage with, and find new meaning within, this epidemic. For example, I investigate how pairing mourning with genres like comedy produces political interventions within the space between laughing and astonishment. My dramaturgy of mourning also examines recurring themes such as ghosts, the past, intergenerationalism, and AIDS amnesia to interpret how performers have framed individual and collective loss to challenge spectators' understanding of AIDS history. To support my claims I use sources from the New York Public Library Manuscripts and Archives Division, gay and lesbian community newspapers, personal interviews, and my own experiences as a spectator viewing productions of The Normal Heart, thirtynothing, and The VOID.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Theatre 201
Proteomics FASTA Archive and Reference Resource
No full textA FASTA file archive and reference resource has been added to ProteomeCommons.org. Motivation for this new functionality derives from two primary sources. The first is the recent FASTA standardization work done by the Human Proteome Organization's Proteomics Standards Initiative (HUPO-PSI). Second is the general lack of a uniform mechanism to properly cite FASTA files used in a study, and to publicly access such FASTA files post-publication. An extension to the Tranche data sharing network has been developed that includes web-pages, documentation, and tools for facilitating the use of FASTA files. These include conversion to the new HUPO-PSI format, and provisions for both citing and publicly archiving FASTA files. This new resource is available immediately, free of charge, and can be accessed at http://www.proteomecommons.org/data/fasta/. Source-code for related tools is also freely available under the BSD license.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58584/1/1756_ftp.pd
Robust relation between temporal discounting rates and body mass
No full textWhen given the choice between 110 in 1 week, certain people are more likely to choose the immediate, yet smaller reward. The present study examined the relations between temporal discounting rate and body mass while accounting for important demographic variables, depressive symptoms, and behavioral inhibition and approach. After having their heights and weights measured, 100 healthy adults completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Behavioral Inhibition Scale/Behavioral Approach Scale. Overweight and obese participants exhibited higher temporal discounting rates than underweight and healthy weight participants. Temporal discounting rates decreased as the magnitude of the delayed reward increased, even when other variables known to impact temporal discounting rate (i.e., age, education level, and annual household income) were used as covariates. A higher body mass was strongly related to choosing a more immediate monetary reward. Additional research is needed to determine whether consideration-of-future-consequences interventions, or perhaps cognitive control interventions, could be effective in obesity intervention or prevention programs
Identification of early predictive imaging biomarkers and their relationship to serological angiogenic markers in patients with ovarian cancer with residual disease following cytotoxic therapy
No full textBackground: Patients with recurrent ovarian cancer often achieve partial response following chemotherapy, resulting in persistent small volume disease. After completion of treatment, the dilemma of when to initiate subsequent chemotherapy arises. Identification of biomarkers that could be used to predict when subsequent treatment is needed would be of significant benefit.Design: Twenty-three patients with advanced ovarian cancer and residual asymptomatic disease following chemotherapy underwent dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) at study entry, 4, 8, 12, 18 and 26 weeks or disease progression. A subgroup of patients provided plasma samples within which a panel of angiogenic biomarkers was quantified.Results: By 4 weeks, significant differences in whole tumour volume, enhancing fraction and Ca125 were observed between patients whose disease progressed by 26 weeks and those who remained stable. Significant correlations between plasma soluble vascular endothelial growth factor recptor-1 (sVEGFR-1) and sVEGFR-2 concentrations, and blood volume and tumour endothelial permeability surface area product measured by DCE-MRI were observed.Conclusions: Imaging markers have a potential role in early prediction of disease progression in patients with residual ovarian cancer and may supplement current measures of progression. The correlation of DCE-MRI and serological biomarkers suggests that tumour angiogenesis affects these markers through common biological means and warrants further investigation. © The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved
Exploring indirect impacts of COVID-19 on local health systems from the perspectives of health workers and higher education stakeholders in the Philippines using a phenomenological approach
No full textBACKGROUND: Our study aimed to explore the experiences of stakeholders from local government units, health facilities and higher education institutions on the delivery of non-COVID-19 health services after the initial wave of the pandemic. METHODS: Twenty-nine public health workers, thirteen university staff, and four hospital administrators in the Philippines participated. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, we analysed transcripts from six focus group discussions conducted online between March and June 2021. FINDINGS: The COVID-19 pandemic made the routine health programs inaccessible due to hesitancy among patients to visit health facilities, a shift in public health priorities, and lack of students to augment the existing workforce. Public health workers reported stress and mental health exhaustion. Apart from fear of infection during service provision, public health workers and university staff experienced work overload, pressure to learn new technology, and webinar fatigue. Mental health problems have surfaced as health workers and young people have become more affected while support services remain insufficient. Public health workers have reported actions to maintain service delivery in the new normal such as use of telehealth and social media. However, issues on workforce wellbeing and digital equity posed adaptation challenges. Participants suggested partnership with higher education institutions as pivotal to position local health systems towards recovery. INTERPRETATION: The rapid change in the service landscape highlights the importance of sustainable partnerships, effective workforce management, equitable digital innovations, and promoting mental wellbeing to preserve community, school, and occupational health and rebuild resilient local health systems in low-resourced areas. FUNDING: This research is proudly supported by the Australia-ASEAN Council, Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
The Queen's Men on tour: provincial performance in vernacular spaces in early modern England
No full textThe ongoing work lead by the Records of Early English Drama project into evidence for drama in England before the closing of the London theatres in 1642 has by now shown that visits to provincial towns, and performances in the spaces made available there, represented common practice for Elizabethan acting companies. The pivotal study made by Scott McMillin and Sally-Beth MacLean, The Queen’s Men and their Plays (1998), demonstrated the potential for tracking the career and plays of one particular company, while the Shakespeare and the Queen’s Men project in Canada showed the merits of exploring the Queen’s Men’s repertory in performance. However, until now such research has been conducted without fully considering the buildings in which such plays were once performed. The specific material, social and political conditions a venue and its occupants imposed on a visiting company had direct consequences for their performances, and it is only by situating performance within extant spaces that we can begin to realise the full potential of McMillin and MacLean’s research. However, until now the methodologies to do so had not been developed. This thesis shows that by combining archaeological and theatre historical research we can better understand the nature of provincial performance, and offers strategies for the exploration of early modern texts in performance in provincial venues
Traceability -- A Literature Review
No full textIn light of recent food safety crises and international trade concerns associated with food or animal associated diseases, traceability has once again become important in the minds of public policymakers, business decision makers, consumers and special interest groups. This study reviews studies on traceability, government regulation and consumer behaviour, provide case studies of current traceability systems and a rough breakdown of various costs and benefits of traceability. This report aims to identify gaps that may currently exist in the literature on traceability in the domestic beef supply chain, as well as provide possible directions for future research into said issue. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, there is a lack of a common definition of traceability. Hence identifying similarities and differences across studies becomes difficult if not impossible. To this end, this study adopts CFIA’s definition of traceability. This definition has been adopted by numerous other agencies including the EU’s official definition of traceability however it may or may not be acceptable from the perspective of major Canadian beef and cattle trade partners. Second, the studies reviewed in this report address one or more of five key objectives; the impact of changing consumer behaviour on market participants, suppliers incentive to adopt or participate in traceability, impact of regulatory changes, supplier response to crisis and technical description of traceability systems. Drawing from the insights from the consumer studies, it seems as if consumers do not value traceability per se, traceability is a means for consumers to receive validation of another production or process attribute that they are interested in. Moreover, supply chain improvement, food safety control and accessing foreign market segments are strong incentives for primary producers and processors to participate in programs with traceability features. However the objectives addressed by the studies reviewed in this paper are not necessarily the objectives that are of most immediate relevance to decision makers about appropriate traceability standards to recommend, require, subsidize etc. In many cases the research objectives of previous work have been extremely narrow creating a body of literature that is incomplete in certain key areas. Third, case studies of existing traceability systems in Australia, the UK, Scotland, Brazil and Uruguay indicate that the pattern of development varies widely across sectors and regions. In summary, a traceability system by itself cannot provide value-added for all participants in the industry; it is merely a protocol for documenting and sharing information. Value is added to participants in the marketing chain through traceability in the form of reduced transactions costs in the case of a food safety incident and through the ability to shift liability. To ensure consumer benefit and have premiums returned to primary producers the type of information that consumers value is an important issue for future research. A successful program that peaks consumer interest and can enhance their eating experience can generate economic benefits to all sectors in the beef industry. International market access will increasingly require traceability in the marketing system in order to satisfy trade restrictions in the case of animal diseases and country of origin labelling, to name only a few examples. Designing appropriate traceability protocols industry wide is therefore becoming very important.traceability, institutions, Canada, consumer behaviour, producer behaviour, supply chain, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Production Economics, D020, D100, D200, Q100,
