Book Review: Aviation History Lite

Review of The Wright Brothers by David McCullough (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015

Strategic approaches to science and technology in development

Watson, Crawford, and Farley examine the ways in which science and technology (S&T) support poverty alleviation and economic development and how these themes have been given emphasis or short shrift in various areas of the World Bank's work. Central to their thesis is the now well-established argument that development will increasingly depend on a country's ability to understand, interpret, select, adapt, use, transmit, diffuse, produce, and commercialize scientific and technological knowledge in ways appropriate to its culture, aspirations, and level of development. The authors go beyond this tenet, analyzing the importance of S&T for development within specific sectors. They present policy options for enhancing the effectiveness of S&T systems in developing countries, review previous experience of the World Bank and other donors in supporting S&T, and suggest changes that the World Bank and its partners can adopt to increase the impact of the work currently undertaken in S&T. The authors'main messages are: 1) S&T has always been important for development, but the unprecedented pace of advancement of scientific knowledge is rapidly creating new opportunities for and threats to development. 2) Most developing countries are largely unprepared to deal with the changes that S&T advancement will bring. 3) The World Bank's numerous actions in various domains of S&T could be more effective in producing the needed capacity improvements in client countries. 4) The World Bank could have a greater impact if it paid increased attention to S&T in education, health, rural development, private sector development, and the environment. The strategy emphasizes four S&T policy areas: education and human resources development, the private sector, the public sector, and information communications technologies.Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Decentralization,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Agricultural Research

Ultrasonic study of the elastic properties of calcium tungstate and other scheelites

A study of the elastic properties of the scheelite structure crystals CaW0(_4), CaMo0(_4), ArMo0(_4) and PbMo0(_4) is presented. The seven independent components of the elastic stiffness constant tensor of CaW0(_4) have been determined between 1.5 K and 300 K by pulse superposition measurements of ultrasound velocities. A computer fitting procedure has been used to obtain the elastic constants from the velocity data; this has allowed the elastic constants to be determined even though large energy flux deviations prevented the measurements of the velocities of the quasi-shear modes propagated in the [100] and [110] directions. Experiments on SrMo0(_4) single crystals have shown that similar difficulties were the cause of inconsistencies in recently published velocity data; a new, correct set of elastic constants for SrMo0(_4) has been determined. Scheelites belong to the TII Laue group. The signs of C(_16) and S(_16) depend on the definition of the sense of the +z axis with recpect to the atomic arrangement. A convention previously used for CaMo0(_4) has bee adopted, the Z axis sensehas been found in SrMo0(+4) by an x-ray method: in each material C(_16) has been shown to be negative. Elastic behaviour and wave propagation characteristic, and their orientation dependence in the four materials, have been compared and contrasted. The work has provided a new in-sight into the acoustic properties of TI and TII Laue group materials; in the latter the “axes of acoustic symmetry” in the (001) plane do not coincide with the and crystallographic directions (as in TI's) but deviate from them by angles which are between 15 and 23 in the scheelites studied. Knowledge of the positions of these axes should facilitate further ultrasonic studies

Merging Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Exposure Exercises to Treat Social Anxiety in a Teen

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) often develops during teenager years, and it is important to conceptualize developmentally appropriate interventions. Exposure therapy framed from a perspective of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) shows promise for decreasing pathology and increasing wellbeing. This case illustrates the process through which exposure therapy was integrated with ACT to elicit meaningful outcomes in a case of SAD with a 16-year-old female. Treatment outcomes assessed included engagement in values-based activities as well as assessments of depression, social anxiety, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, experiential avoidance, and contextually targeted school-based wellbeing. Intervention centered on learning ACT principles through relatable metaphors and experiential exercises and practicing them with values-guided social exposures. This integration resulted in increased engagement in socially meaningful experiences over time as well as associated changes in treatment outcomes. Treatment implications, guidelines, and recommendations are presented, including the need for skill-focused treatments, identifying deficits in psychological flexibility, and maintaining a compassionate yet growth-oriented course of treatment