Afghanistan and Oman Personal reflections on a profound contrast

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Rashomon Playbill

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Harkin\u27s Hall Rashomon by Fay and Michael Kanin. Based on stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa October 27-30, 1976, 8:00PM Director, R.L. Pelkington, O.P. Technical Director, John Garrity Stage Manager, Lisa Callahan House Manager, Mary Beth White Stage and Lighting Design, R.L. Pelkington, O.P. and Carl Gudenius Cast: Priest - Peter Cameron, Wigmaker - William Harrison, Bandit - Robert Perry, Wife - Angela Davis, Medium - Deborah Iacono, Woodcutter - Arthur DeCaprio, Deputy - Robert Matson, Husband - Nicholas Walker, Mother - Eileen R. Rauschhttps://digitalcommons.providence.edu/rashomon_pubs/1002/thumbnail.jp

An Assessment of Colorado's Charter Schools: Implications for Policy

The number of Colorado charter schools has grown from one in 1993, the year the legislature passed the Charter Schools Act, to ninety-six in 2004. Over this time period, Colorado’s education policy has become increasingly favorable toward charter schools. Among the significant changes from the original charter school bill that have since been enacted are these: removing the original cap of 60 on the number that could be created; increasing the per pupil funding that local school districts are required to pass on to the charter school (from 80% to 95%); and requiring that local districts share virtually all forms of funding with charter schools, including capital construction and Amendment 23 dollars. The implementation of the state-level Charter School Institute in 2004, which provides new or existing charter schools with complete autonomy from local school districts, is the latest and most far-reaching legislation. It virtually abandons the principle of local control and is likely to further accelerate the pace of charter school growth in Colorad

Adoption and use of health information technology in physician practice organisations: systematic review

Background Health information technology (HIT) has the potential to improve clinical outcomes, increase health provider productivity and reduce healthcare costs. Over half of all patient care is delivered in physician practice organisations, yet adoption and utilisation of HIT in these groups lags behind inpatient facilities. Objective To better understand current utilisation rates along with benefits and barriers to HIT adoption in physician practice organisations. Methods Published literature on the adoption and use of HIT in physician practice organisations within the USA between 12 January 2004 and 12 January 2009 and indexed in MEDLINE and EMBASE was included in the systematic review. Grey literature was also searched. Studies related to the adoption and use of HIT in hospitals and community health centres were excluded. Results A total of 119 articles were eligible for inclusion in the review. Adoption rates across physician groups remain low, with between 9% and 29% of practices having implemented electronic medical records. HIT improves clinical outcomes, increases the use of vaccinations and improves medication adherence. Furthermore, HIT adoption leads to cost savings for physician groups, improves staff productivity and enriches patient_provider interactions. The largest barrier to HIT adoption in physician groups is the high initial and ongoing costs of electronic systems. Lack of sufficient training, a disorganised or non-receptive practice culture and technological problems such as inadequate connectivity appear to impede effective HIT use. Conclusions HIT has the potential to positively impact on physician practice organisations, although significant and diverse barriers block adoption. Research into these obstacles should be coupled with efforts to understand barriers to effective implementation after HIT adoption

Decomposition Analyses Applied to a Complex Ultradian Biorhythm: The Oscillating NADH Oxidase Activity of Plasma Membranes Having a Potential Time-Keeping (Clock) Function

Seasonal decomposition analyses were applied to the statistical evaluation of an oscillating activity for a plasma membrane NADH oxidase activity with a temperature compensated period of 24 min. The decomposition fits were used to validate the cyclic oscillatory pattern. Three measured values, average percentage error (MAPE), a measure of the periodic oscillation, mean average deviation (MAD), a measure of the absolute average deviations from the fitted values, and mean standard deviation (MSD), the measure of standard deviation from the fitted values plus R-squared and the Henriksson-Merton p value were used to evaluate accuracy. Decomposition was carried out by fitting a trend line to the data, then detrending the data if necessary, by subtracting the trend component. The data, with or without detrending, were then smoothed by subtracting a centered moving average of length equal to the period length determined by Fourier analysis. Finally, the time series were decomposed into cyclic and error components. The findings not only validate the periodic nature of the major oscillations but suggest, as well, that the minor intervening fluctuations also recur within each period with a reproducible pattern of recurrence. biological clockdecomposition analysesultradian rhythmtemperature compensationcircadian rhythmcultured cells

'The heart of what we do': policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector

One of the stated aims of government policy in England is to put teaching, training,and learning at the heart of the learning and skills system. This paper provides a critical review of policies on teaching, learning and assessment in the learning and skills sector over the past five years. It draws upon data collected and analysed in the early stages of an ESRC-funded Teaching and Learning Research Programme project. Using evidence from policy sources, we argue that despite policy rhetoric about devolution of responsibility to the 'front line', the dominant 'images' that government has of putting teaching, learning and assessment at the heart of the Learning and Skills Sector involves a narrow concept of learning and skills; an idealisation of learner agency lacking an appreciation of the pivotal role of the learner/tutor relationship and a top-down view of change in which central government agencies are relied on to secure education standards

New Higgs Effects in B--Physics in Supersymmetry with General Flavour Mixing

We investigate the effect of general flavour mixing among squarks on the rare decays $\bar{B}\to X_s\gamma$, $\bar{B}_s\to\mu^+\mu^-$ and $\bar{B}_s-B_s$ mixing beyond the leading order in perturbation theory. We include all large $\tan\beta$--enhanced corrections whilst also taking into account the effects of general flavour mixing on the uncorrected quark mass matrix and ${\rm SU}(2)_L\times{\rm U}(1)_Y$ breaking. For $\bar{B}_s\to\mu^+\mu^-$ and $\bar{B}_s-B_s$ mixing we find that, in analogy to $\bar{B}\to X_s\gamma$, there appears a focusing effect which can reduce the contribution due to the $\delta_{RR}$ (and the $\delta_{LL}$) insertion by up to a factor of two at large $\tan\beta$ and $\mu>0$. A dependence on $\delta_{LR}$ and $\delta_{RL}$, that otherwise cancels to first order in the mass insertion approximation, is also reintroduced. Taking into account the current experimental bounds on $\Delta M_{B_s}$ and BR($\bar{B}_s\to\mu^+\mu^-$), we find that the insertions $\delta_{RL}$ and $\delta_{RR}$ can be significantly constrained compared to bounds obtained from $\bar{B}\to X_s\gamma$ only.Comment: version to appear in PLB, minor correction

Electromagnetic form factor of pion from N_f=2+1 dynamical flavor QCD

We present a calculation of the electromagnetic form factor of the pion in $N_f=2+1$ flavor lattice QCD. Calculations are made on the PACS-CS gauge field configurations generated using Iwasaki gauge action and Wilson-clover quark action on a $32^3\times64$ lattice volume with the lattice spacing estimated as $a=0.0907(13)$ fm at the physical point. Measurements of the form factor are made using the technique of partially twisted boundary condition to reach small momentum transfer as well as periodic boundary condition with integer momenta. Additional improvements including random wall source techniques and a judicious choice of momenta carried by the incoming and outgoing quarks are employed for error reduction. Analyzing the form factor data for the pion mass at $M_\pi \approx 411$ MeV and 296 MeV, we find that the NNLO SU(2) chiral perturbation theory fit yields $=0.441 \pm 0.046 {\rm fm}^2$ for the pion charge radius at the physical pion mass. Albeit the error is quite large, this is consistent with the experimental value of $0.452\pm 0.011 {\rm fm}^2$. Below $M_\pi\approx 300$ MeV, we find that statistical fluctuations in the pion two- and three-point functions become too large to extract statistically meaningful averages on a $32^3$ spatial volume. We carry out a sample calculation on a $64^4$ lattice with the quark masses close to the physical point, which suggests that form factor calculations at the physical point become feasible by enlarging lattice sizes to $M_\pi L\approx 4$.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figure