Governmental Control of Research in Positive Eugencis

This article examines the potential societal problems that would accompany the implementation of eugenics programs and considers possible mechanisms for dealing with these problems. Governmental control of research in positive eugenics is identified as a practical means of preempting the undesirable consequences of scientific advances. Since proposed government research controls would infringe upon academic freedom of inquiry, the constitutional issues raised by this clash are framed and analyzed

Governmental Control of Research in Positive Eugencis

This article examines the potential societal problems that would accompany the implementation of eugenics programs and considers possible mechanisms for dealing with these problems. Governmental control of research in positive eugenics is identified as a practical means of preempting the undesirable consequences of scientific advances. Since proposed government research controls would infringe upon academic freedom of inquiry, the constitutional issues raised by this clash are framed and analyzed

Clocking hadronization in relativistic heavy ion collisions with balance functions

A novel state of matter has been hypothesized to exist during the early stage of relativistic heavy ion collisions, with normal hadrons not appearing until several fm/c after the start of the reaction. To test this hypothesis, correlations between charges and their associated anticharges are evaluated with the use of balance functions. It is shown that late-stage hadronization is characterized by tightly correlated charge/anticharge pairs when measured as a function of relative rapidity.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Insecticide resistance and the future of malaria control in Zambia.

BACKGROUND: In line with the Global trend to improve malaria control efforts a major campaign of insecticide treated net distribution was initiated in 1999 and indoor residual spraying with DDT or pyrethroids was reintroduced in 2000 in Zambia. In 2006, these efforts were strengthened by the President's Malaria Initiative. This manuscript reports on the monitoring and evaluation of these activities and the potential impact of emerging insecticide resistance on disease transmission. METHODS: Mosquitoes were captured daily through a series of 108 window exit traps located at 18 sentinel sites. Specimens were identified to species and analyzed for sporozoites. Adult Anopheles mosquitoes were collected resting indoors and larva collected in breeding sites were reared to F1 and F0 generations in the lab and tested for insecticide resistance following the standard WHO susceptibility assay protocol. Annual cross sectional household parasite surveys were carried out to monitor the impact of the control programme on prevalence of Plasmodium falciparum in children aged 1 to 14 years. RESULTS: A total of 619 Anopheles gambiae s.l. and 228 Anopheles funestus s.l. were captured from window exit traps throughout the period, of which 203 were An. gambiae malaria vectors and 14 An. funestus s.s.. In 2010 resistance to DDT and the pyrethroids deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and permethrin was detected in both An. gambiae s.s. and An. funestus s.s.. No sporozoites were detected in either species. Prevalence of P. falciparum in the sentinel sites remained below 10% throughout the study period. CONCLUSION: Both An. gambiae s.s. and An. funestus s.s. were controlled effectively with the ITN and IRS programme in Zambia, maintaining a reduced disease transmission and burden. However, the discovery of DDT and pyrethroid resistance in the country threatens the sustainability of the vector control programme

A pre-intervention study of malaria vector abundance in Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea: Their role in malaria transmission and the incidence of insecticide resistance alleles

BACKGROUND: Following the success of the malaria control intervention on the island of Bioko, malaria control by the use of indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLITN) was extended to Rio Muni, on the mainland part of Equatorial Guinea. This manuscript reports on the malaria vectors present and the incidence of insecticide resistant alleles prior to the onset of the programme. METHODS: Anopheles mosquitoes were captured daily using window traps at 30 sentinel sites in Rio Muni, from December 2006 to July 2007. The mosquitoes were identified to species and their sporozoite rates, knockdown resistance (kdr) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) sensitivity measured, to define the role of vector species in malaria transmission and their potential susceptibility to insecticides. RESULTS: A total of 6,162 Anopheles mosquitoes were collected of which 4,808 were morphologically identified as Anopheles gambiae s.l., 120 Anopheles funestus, 1,069 Anopheles moucheti, and 165 Anopheles nili s.l.. Both M and S molecular forms of Anopheles gambiae s.s. and Anopheles melas were identified. Anopheles ovengensis and Anopheles carnevalei were the only two members of the An. nili group to be identified. Using the species-specific sporozoite rates and the average number of mosquitoes per night, the number of infective mosquitoes per trap per 100 nights for each species complex was calculated as a measure of transmission risk. Both kdr-w and kdr-e alleles were present in the S-form of An. gambiae s.s. (59% and 19% respectively) and at much lower frequencies in the M-form (9.7% and 1.8% respectively). The kdr-w and kdr-e alleles co-occurred in 103 S-form and 1 M-form specimens. No insensitive AChE was detected. CONCLUSION: Anopheles gambiae s.s, a member of the Anopheles gambiae complex was shown to be the major vector in Rio Muni with the other three groups playing a relatively minor role in transmission. The demonstration of a high frequency of kdr alleles in mosquito populations before the onset of a malaria control programme shows that continuous entomological surveillance including resistance monitoring will be of critical importance to ensure the chosen insecticide remains effective

Organisational Learning of Absorptive Capacity and Innovation: Does Leadership Matter?

Following the process-based definition of absorptive capacity, this study seeks to explore the mediating role of transformational and transactional leadership styles in the relationship between the three learning processes of absorptive capacity and innovation. Based on a survey in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it was found that transformational leadership mediates the relationship between exploratory and transformational learning processes and innovation. It was also found that transactional leadership did not mediate the relationship between the internal exploitative learning process and innovation. Whilst several researchers have noted a need to develop a better theoretical understanding of the mechanisms explaining the interplay between absorptive capacity and innovation, we provide theoretical explanations of the underlying mechanism and further offer explanations as to why some firms are better able to convert external knowledge into strategic innovations when compared with others. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are delineated

The Nab Experiment: A Precision Measurement of Unpolarized Neutron Beta Decay

Neutron beta decay is one of the most fundamental processes in nuclear physics and provides sensitive means to uncover the details of the weak interaction. Neutron beta decay can evaluate the ratio of axial-vector to vector coupling constants in the standard model, $\lambda = g_A / g_V$, through multiple decay correlations. The Nab experiment will carry out measurements of the electron-neutrino correlation parameter $a$ with a precision of $\delta a / a = 10^{-3}$ and the Fierz interference term $b$ to $\delta b = 3\times10^{-3}$ in unpolarized free neutron beta decay. These results, along with a more precise measurement of the neutron lifetime, aim to deliver an independent determination of the ratio $\lambda$ with a precision of $\delta \lambda / \lambda = 0.03\%$ that will allow an evaluation of $V_{ud}$ and sensitively test CKM unitarity, independent of nuclear models. Nab utilizes a novel, long asymmetric spectrometer that guides the decay electron and proton to two large area silicon detectors in order to precisely determine the electron energy and an estimation of the proton momentum from the proton time of flight. The Nab spectrometer is being commissioned at the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab. We present an overview of the Nab experiment and recent updates on the spectrometer, analysis, and systematic effects.Comment: Presented at PPNS201

Leadership, staffing and quality of care in nursing homes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Leadership and staffing are recognised as important factors for quality of care. This study examines the effects of ward leaders' task- and relationship-oriented leadership styles, staffing levels, ratio of registered nurses and ratio of unlicensed staff on three independent measures of quality of care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey of forty nursing home wards throughout Norway was used to collect the data. Five sources of data were utilised: self-report questionnaires to 444 employees, interviews with and questionnaires to 13 nursing home directors and 40 ward managers, telephone interviews with 378 relatives and 900 hours of field observations. Separate multi-level analyses were conducted for quality of care assessed by relatives, staff and field observations respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Task-oriented leadership style had a significant positive relationship with two of the three quality of care indexes. In contrast, relationship-oriented leadership style was not significantly related to any of the indexes. The lack of significant effect for relationship-oriented leadership style was due to a strong correlation between the two leadership styles (<it>r </it>= 0.78). Staffing levels and ratio of registered nurses were not significantly related to any of the quality of care indexes. The ratio of unlicensed staff, however, showed a significant negative relationship to quality as assessed by relatives and field observations, but not to quality as assessed by staff.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Leaders in nursing homes should focus on active leadership and particularly task-oriented behaviour like structure, coordination, clarifying of staff roles and monitoring of operations to increase quality of care. Furthermore, nursing homes should minimize use of unlicensed staff and address factors related to high ratios of unlicensed staff, like low staff stability. The study indicates, however, that the relationship between staffing levels, ratio of registered nurses and quality of care is complex. Increasing staffing levels or the ratio of registered nurses alone is not likely sufficient for increasing quality of care.</p