The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap, Spring 2017 Edition

This guide provides key facts about the gender pay gap in the United States, along with explanations and resources. Information is organized around five common questions:1. What is the pay gap?2. How does the pay gap affect women of different demographics?3. What causes the pay gap?4. How can I make a difference?5. What should I do if I experience sex discrimination at work

Educating the Army's Jedi

This dissertation examines the decisions taken during the development of the concept for the School of Advanced Military Studies and its subsequent refinement in the first ten years of its history. The other line of inquiry in the dissertation is the development, introduction and refinement of the concept of operational art and the operational level of war into U.S. Army doctrine, primarily in the 1982, 1986 and 1993 versions of Field Manual 100-5, Operations

Identifying Trippers and Non-Trippers Based on Knee Kinematics During Obstacle-Free Walking

Trips are a major cause of falls. Sagittal-plane kinematics affect clearance between the foot and obstacles, however, it is unclear which kinematic measures during obstacle-free walking are associated with avoiding a trip when encountering an obstacle. The purpose of this study was to determine kinematic factors during obstacle-free walking that are related to obstacle avoidance ability. It was expected that successful obstacle avoidance would be associated with greater peak flexion/dorsiflexion and range of motion (ROM), and differences in timing of peak flexion/dorsiflexion during swing of obstacle-free walking for the hip, knee and ankle. Three-dimensional kinematics were recorded as 35 participants (young adults age 18–45 (N = 10), older adults age 65+ without a history of falls (N = 10), older adults age 65+ who had fallen in the last six months (N = 10), and individuals who had experienced a stroke more than six months earlier (N = 5)) walked on a treadmill, under obstacle-free walking conditions with kinematic features calculated for each stride. A separate obstacle avoidance task identified trippers (multiple obstacle contact) and non-trippers. Linear discriminant analysis with sequential feature selection classified trippers and non-trippers based on kinematics during obstacle-free walking. Differences in classification performance and selected features (knee ROM and timing of peak knee flexion during swing) were evaluated between trippers and non-trippers. Non-trippers had greater knee ROM (P = .001). There was no significant difference in classification performance (P = .193). Individuals with reduced knee ROM during obstacle-free walking may have greater difficulty avoiding obstacles

Expectations of Library Schools in the Preparation of Future Library Environment: Perspectives of African Countries

The paper focused on the expectations of library schools in the training and preparation of future librarians. The desk research and brainstorming with professional colleagues were combined as approach for eliciting the data for the study. The highlights of the paper include review of library and information science education, libraries and librarianship in developing countries; justification for preparing future librarians in developing countries for the digital environment, review of the status of library and information science education in selected countries. The various expectations of library schools in the digital environment identified includes inclusion of digital library courses in LIS education, restructuring and reviewing of courses offered in library schools, provision of functional and well-equipped practical laboratories and learning resources, intensive exchange programmes, recruitment of skilled and qualified staff in library schools and inclusion of stakeholders to harmonize curriculum used in training librarians in Africa. The challenges to preparation / training of future librarians were identified. The position of the paper is that library schools in developing countries should be repositioned to be able to produce graduates that are adequately equipped to function effectively in the digital environment. Keywords: Developing Countries, Digital Environment Librarians, Library Schools, Trainin

Stabilization of resveratrol in blood circulation by conjugation to mPEG and mPEG-PLA polymers: Investigation of conjugate linker and polymer composition on stability, metabolism, antioxidant activity and pharmacokinetic profile

Resveratrol is naturally occurring phytochemical with diverse biological activities such as chemoprevention, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant. But undergoes rapid metabolism in the body (half life 0.13h). Hence Polymer conjugation utilizing different chemical linkers and polymer compositions was investigated for enhanced pharmacokinetic profile of resveratrol. Ester conjugates such as α-methoxy-ω-carboxylic acid poly(ethylene glycol) succinylamide resveratrol (MeO-PEGN-Succ-RSV) (2 and 20 kDa); MeO-PEG succinyl ester resveratrol (MeO-PEGO-Succ-RSV) (2 kDa); α-methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-co-polylactide succinyl ester resveratrol (MeO-PEG-PLAO-Succ-RSV) (2 and 6.6kDa) were prepared by carbodiimide coupling reactions. Resveratrol-PEG ethers (2 and 5 kDa) were synthesized by alkali-mediated etherification. All polymer conjugates were fully characterized in vitro and the pharmacokinetic profile of selected conjugates was characterized in rats. Buffer and plasma stability of conjugates was dependent on polymer hydrophobicity, aggregation behavior and PEG corona, with MeO-PEG-PLAO-Succ-RSV (2 kDa) showing a 3h half-life in rat plasma in vitro. Polymer conjugates irrespective of linker chemistry protected resveratrol against metabolism in vitro. MeO-PEG-PLAO-Succ-RSV (2 kDa), Resveratrol-PEG ether (2 and 5 kDa) displayed improved pharmacokinetic profiles with significantly higher plasma area under curve (AUC), slower clearance and smaller volume of distribution, compared to resveratrol

IVOA Recommendation: VOResource: an XML Encoding Schema for Resource Metadata Version 1.03

This document describes an XML encoding standard for IVOA Resource Metadata, referred to as VOResource. This schema is primarily intended to support interoperable registries used for discovering resources; however, any application that needs to describe resources may use this schema. In this document, we define the types and elements that make up the schema as representations of metadata terms defined in the IVOA standard, Resource Metadata for the Virtual Observatory [Hanicsh et al. 2004]. We also describe the general model for the schema and explain how it may be extended to add new metadata terms and describe more specific types of resources

Development Discourse on Language of Instruction and Literacy: Sound Policy and Ubuntu or Lip Service?

Both humanist and quality concerns should have made language of instruction a priority in educational development, yet there has been no clear trajectory. This study explores whether the advantages of L1-based approaches as documented in the scholarly literature have been reflected in the development discourse over time, based on an analysis of all twelve UNESCO Global Monitoring Reports. We investigated three hypotheses using macro-analyses on the frequency of language-in-education mentions and the co-occurrence of these with mentions of early grade reading, and a micro-analysis of content associated with language. While we found no consistent trend in language-in-education terms over time, there has been more mention in reference to early grade reading, challenging support for longer-term use of L1 to support learning. More detailed mentions of language, however, appear to be aligned with sound policies and practices, and simple mentions presume that L1-based approaches are important for effective educational development

Eye movements reveal a similar Positivity Effect in Chinese and UK older adults

The “positivity effect” (PE) reflects an age-related increase in the preference for positive over negative information in attention and memory. The present experiment investigated whether Chinese and UK participants produce a similar PE. In one experiment we presented pleasant, unpleasant and neutral pictures simultaneously and participants decided which picture they liked or disliked on a third of trials respectively. We recorded participants’ eye movements during this task and compared time looking at, and memory for, pictures. The results suggest that older but not younger adults from both China and UK participant groups showed a preference to focus on and remember pleasant pictures, providing evidence of a PE in both cultures. Bayes Factor analysis supported these observations. These findings are consistent with the view that older people preferentially focus on positive emotional information, and that this effect is observed cross-culturall

Does Predation Influence the Seasonal and Diel Timing of Moose Calving in Central Ontario, Canada?

Birth synchrony is well documented among ungulates and is hypothesised to maximize neonate survival, either by minimizing the risk of predation through predator swamping or by synchronising birthing with increased seasonal food availability. We used encapsulated vaginal implant transmitters to locate and capture neonatal moose calves and document the seasonal and diel timing of parturition in two adjacent study areas with different predation pressure in central Ontario, Canada. We tested the hypothesis that predation promotes earlier and more synchronous birth of moose calves. Across both areas, proportionately more births occurred during the afternoon and fewer than expected occurred overnight. Mean date of calving averaged 1.5 days earlier and calving was also more synchronous in the study area with heavier predation pressure, despite average green-up date and peak Normalized Difference Vegetation Index date occurring 2 days later in this study area than in the area receiving lighter predation pressure. We encourage analysis of data on timing of parturition from additional study areas experiencing varying degrees of predation pressure to better clarify the influence of predation in driving seasonal and diel timing of parturition in temperate ungulate