Daily drawing and writing activities in a preschool classroom

This literature review examined the effect of providing daily drawing and writing activities in a preschool classroom. Benefits, as well as concerns, were discussed. Guidelines were presented to help with establishing a classroom environment that would provide daily drawing and writing activities for children in a preschool classroom. Conclusions were also drawn from the literature and recommendations were made to assist administers and teachers with establishing a program that supports daily drawing and writing activities

La construction du genre dans le discours du développement international : le cas d’un projet de l’agence allemande de développement GIZ au Maroc

Ce mémoire se propose d’analyser la construction du genre dans le discours du développement exprimé au sein d’un programme mené par l’agence allemande de développement GIZ au Maroc. L’analyse d’une dizaine d’entretiens avec des gestionnaires de projet et des participantes a permis de faire ressortir leur propre construction du genre. À l’intérieur du discours développementaliste, le genre est façonné par divers acteurs (l’agence de développement, les institutions politiques locales, les associations féministes, etc.), ayant des capacités d’appropriation et d’adaptation. Ceci situe la construction du genre à l’intersection entre l’international et le local, le Nord et le Sud, l’universel et le spécifique. Le discours développementaliste tend parfois à normaliser le genre en tant que concept quantitatif, pragmatique, axé sur la performance et les résultats, au lieu d’en faire un enjeu politique. Par ailleurs, le genre est construit à partir des conceptions et représentations simplifiées des relations sociales entre hommes et femmes dans le tiers-monde et en Orient, prenant l’Occident comme référent. En s’inscrivant dans un cadre théorique féministe postcolonial, ce mémoire prête une attention particulière aux relations de pouvoir, aux représentations et aux discours, et s’oppose à l’essentialisme.This thesis aims to analyze the construction of gender in the development discourse expressed in a program conducted by the German development agency GIZ in Morocco. The analysis of about ten interviews with project managers and participants revealed the way they construct gender. Within the development discourse, gender is constructed by various actors (development agencies, local political institutions, feminist associations, etc.), with capacities for appropriation and adaptation. This places the construction of gender at the intersection between the international and the local, the North and the South, the universal and the specific. The development discourse tends sometimes to normalize gender as a measurable, pragmatic, performance- and result-oriented concept, instead of making it a political issue. On the other hand, gender is constructed by simplified ideas and representations of social relations between men and women in the Third World and in the East, taking the West as a referent. By adopting a feminist and postcolonial theoretical framework, this thesis pays particular attention to power relations, representations and discourses, and opposes itself to essentialism

Oxygen Tomography by Čerenkov-Excited Phosphorescence during External Beam Irradiation

The efficacy of radiation therapy depends strongly on tumor oxygenation during irradiation. However, current techniques to measure this parameter in vivo do not facilitate routine monitoring in patients. Herein, we demonstrate a noninvasive method for tomographic imaging of oxygen partial pressure (pO2 ) in deep tissue using the phosphorescence decay of an oxygen-sensitive probe excited by Čerenkov radiation induced by external beam radiotherapy. Tissue-simulating scattering phantoms (60 mm diameter with a 20 mm anomaly) containing platinum(II)-G4 (PtG4), a dendritic porphyrin-based phosphor, whose phosphorescence is quenched in the presence of oxygen, were irradiated with a clinical linear accelerator. The emitted phosphorescence was measured at various positions on the phantom boundary using a spectrograph coupled to an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD). At each position, PtG4 phosphorescence decay curves were measured by synchronizing the ICCD to the linear accelerator pulses. Tomographic images of phosphorescence yield and lifetime were recovered for phantoms with homogenous PtG4 concentrations and heterogeneous pO2 . Since PtG4 lifetime is strongly and predictably dependent on pO 2 through the Stern-Volmer relationship, tomographic images of pO 2 were also reported, and showed excellent agreement with independent oxygenation measurements. Translating this approach to the clinic could facilitate direct sensing of pO2 during radiotherapy

Collaborative Systems Thinking Research: Exploring Systems Thinking within Teams

This paper describes ongoing research that seeks to develop an empirical basis for collaborative systems thinking, defined as “an emergent behavior of teams resulting from the interactions of team members and utilizing a variety of thinking styles, design processes, tools, and communication media to consider system attributes, interrelationships, context and dynamics towards executing systems design”. This type of thinking is critically important to addressing engineering systems challenges, and the research seeks to inform and enable effective systems engineering practice in contemporary engineering enterprises. Focusing on the aerospace domain, collaborative systems thinking is examined through the alignment of enterprise culture and standard technical processes. This paper draws on a variety of literature to compose a definition of collaborative systems thinking and propose a research agenda going forward

Drosophila Kelch functions with Cullin-3 to organize the ring canal actin cytoskeleton

In addition to cross-linking F-actin, Drosophila Kelch is a component of a cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase complex required for morphogenesis of ring canals during oogenesis

Rapid spread of complex change: a case study in inpatient palliative care

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Based on positive findings from a randomized controlled trial, Kaiser Permanente's national executive leadership group set an expectation that all Kaiser Permanente and partner hospitals would implement a consultative model of interdisciplinary, inpatient-based palliative care (IPC). Within one year, the number of IPC consultations program-wide increased almost tenfold from baseline, and the number of teams nearly doubled. We report here results from a qualitative evaluation of the IPC initiative after a year of implementation; our purpose was to understand factors supporting or impeding the rapid and consistent spread of a complex program.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Quality improvement study using a case study design and qualitative analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews with 36 national, regional, and local leaders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compelling evidence of impacts on patient satisfaction and quality of care generated 'pull' among adopters, expressed as a remarkably high degree of conviction about the value of the model. Broad leadership agreement gave rise to sponsorship and support that permeated the organization. A robust social network promoted knowledge exchange and built on an existing network with a strong interest in palliative care. Resource constraints, pre-existing programs of a different model, and ambiguous accountability for implementation impeded spread.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A complex, hospital-based, interdisciplinary intervention in a large health care organization spread rapidly due to a synergy between organizational 'push' strategies and grassroots-level pull. The combination of push and pull may be especially important when the organizational context or the practice to be spread is complex.</p