Pre-clinical evaluation of contraceptive steroids: regulatory requirements and scientific expectations

The development of new contraceptive steroids placed great pressures on regulatory agencies. There was insufficient time to develop a novel pre-clinical safety evaluation, hence their toxicity in animals was assessed as with other drugs. The approach of regulatory agencies to toxicity and carcinogenicity testing of these steroids are discussed and evaluate

Features of an e-learning environment which promote critical and creative thinking: choice, feedback, anonymity, and assessment

I discuss features that are important for creative and critical thinking which should be recreated in e-learning applications. Anonymity maximizes chances for development of creativity and for objective and accurate assessment. I also describe a ‘quadruple anonymity’ system implemented at Nowy Sacz Business School – National-Louis University in Poland, the goal of which is to improve objectivity of thesis evaluation by referees. E-learning environment is ideal for implementing functionalities which make choice, feedback, and controlled anonymity easily available to the users to be effective, feedback should be appropriately timed, incremental, impartial, and impersonal. Evaluation of student or employee performance or of proposed ideas or solutions should rely on explicitly stated quantitative criteria, developed along well thought-through measurement scales and utilising proper descriptive statistics and visualisation methods. A description of the nominal group heuristic method is provided as an example of a heuristic method which relies on creativity, anonymity and unbiased evaluation

A Future View of Mental Health

Hogg Foundation for Mental Healt

The Role of Sibling Configuration in Identity and Career Development

This synthetic literature review examines the characteristics of sibling configurations— which refer to the ordinal position of siblings, age spacing, and sex composition—in a traditional family setting. A general review of the literature on sibling configurations and relationships is presented, and their potential roles in the development of personality traits, self-concept and identity, and career choices are explored. This synthesis describes how sibling birth rank is affiliated with generalized personality traits and likelihood of siblings with these traits identifying with corresponding career interest-types associated with Holland’s vocational theory. Suggestions for future research include empirical studies investigating these connections, such the use of qualitative studies that examine the insights and experiences of all sibling groups, including those that represent less traditional configurations

POSTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDERS (PTSD) FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: A TRANSDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

Background: Psychotraumatization continues to be a pervasive aspect of life in the 21st century all over the world so we should better understand psychological trauma and PTSD for the sake of prevention and healing. Method: We have made an overview of available literature on PTSD to identify explanatory models, hypotheses and theories. Results: In this paper we describe our transdisciplinary multiperspective integrative model of PTSD based on the seven perspective explanatory approach, on the fifth discipline, the art and practice of the learning organization as well as on the method of multiple working hypotheses.Trauma vulnerability, strengths, resilience and posttraumatic growth are key concepts that enable an integration of the distinct perspectives into a coherent transdisciplinary multiperspective explanatory and treatment model of PTSD. Conclusion: PTSD is a complex highly disabling and suffering disorder where the past is always present in people haunted by the dread frozen in memory of the traumatic events. However, PTSD also represents an oportunity for psychological and spiritual growth due to the human ability to adapt and thrive despite experiencing adversity and tough times

Literature Review on the Solar Energy Potential for Botswana

Renewable energy sources are easily accessible and clean to the environment. Solar energy is one of the best forms of renewable energy, particularly for a country such as Botswana. Paradoxically, Botswana finds herself importing electricity and experiencing power cuts, yet she has abundant sunshine almost all-year round that could be converted to electric power. This paper seeks to investigate through literature search, the potential for Botswana to convert her copious solar radiation into solar energy. A comparison of different forms of renewable energy are made. Particular attention is drawn to the case of Australia which has experience in use of solar energy and has a similar climate to that of Botswana. Findings from literature search reveal that Botswana stands a great chance of using solar power to improve the livelihood of its people and businesses. Recommendations to policy makers and the private sector are that there is urgent need to put in place policies, regulations and frameworks to support solar generation and reduce reliance on electricity importation and coal production which is not sustainable. The authors propose a conceptual model to help policy makers in implementing solar energy projects in Botswana

The Socially Responsible Organization

This book explores the nature of the socially responsible organization, specifically the role of crisis management in creating a socially responsible organization. It applies the Myers-Briggs Personality Typology (MBPTI) and the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Framework to issues such as responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, regulation of tech companies, and infrastructure. Dr. Mitroff lists the major arguments given in regards to these issues and subjects them to the strongest possible scrutiny and critique to hold both individuals and organizations accountable to the larger responsibilities we share as global citizens. This is an open access book

Roadmap to Gridlock: The Failure of Long-Range Metropolitan Transportation Planning

Federal law requires metropolitan planning organizations in urban areas of more than 50,000 people to write long-range (20- to 30- year) metropolitan transportation plans and to revise or update those plans every 4 to 5 years. A review of plans for more than 75 of the nation's largest metropolitan areas reveals that virtually all of them fail to follow standard planning methods. As a result, taxpayers and travelers have little assurance that the plans make effective use of available resources to reduce congestion, maximize mobility, and provide safe transportation facilities. Nearly half the plans reviewed here are not cost effective in meeting transportation goals. These plans rely heavily on behavioral tools such as land-use regulation, subsidies to dense or mixed-use developments, and construction of expensive rail transit lines. Nearly 40 years of experience with such tools has shown that they are expensive but provide negligible transportation benefits. Long-range transportation planning necessarily depends on uncertain forecasts. Planners also set qualitative goals such as "vibrant communities" and quantifiable but incomparable goals such as "protecting historic resources." Such vagaries result in a politicized process that cannot hope to find the most effective transportation solutions. Thus, long-range planning has contributed to, rather than prevented, the hextupling of congestion American urban areas have suffered since 1982. Ideally, the federal government should not be in the business of funding local transportation and dictating local transportation policies. At the least, Congress should repeal long-range transportation planning requirements in the next reauthorization of federal surface transportation funding. Instead, metropolitan transportation organizations should focus planning on the short term (5 years), and concentrate on quantifiable factors that are directly related to transportation, including safety and congestion relief

Software Project Failure Process Definition

Many researchers have attempted to identify the factors behind software project failures and their solutions from various perspectives. However, systematic and integrated process definitions of failure as process models for success are lacking. This study aims to build a process definition for software project failure as an anti-pattern by identifying the main phases and their relationships in terms of team behavior. We researched software engineering literature and case studies to gather information about critical incidents and repeating behaviors of teams in failed projects into a novel dataset. Grounded theory was employed to build a theoretical foundation for failure phase definitions from the collected data. The design structure matrix and Bayesian belief network were used for the quantitative assessment of the transitions between phases. The results revealed that common behavioral patterns occurred in approximately 89 percent of the case studies, supporting the decision to consider software project failure as a process. The proposed failure process definition has a simple structure that uses everyday concepts for phase names and reveals the critical behaviors leading a software project to failure Thus, it provides critical insights for software professionals, non-technical stakeholders, and managers to evaluate the progress of their projects and design strategies to avoid failure