The Intercultural Skills Graduates and Businesses in Europe Need Today

It was the aim of the two surveys with European graduates and employers respectively to investigate the importance of intercultural competencies and skills for student employability and business success for European enterprise, now and in the future. The two surveys gave important insights into key factors that support the development of intercultural skills and competencies for graduates and employers across four countries and five different European regions, as well as five distinct universities. Our analysis shows clearly that one of the most important factors is the key role of experience with, and exposure to, people from different cultural backgrounds. Both students and employers scored much higher on important intercultural competencies such as cultural empathy, cognitive flexibility, open-mindedness, and tolerance for ambiguity, if they had frequent interactions with people from other cultures. This was also true for speaking at least one or more foreign languages at an intermediate or advanced level. Foreign language competence is an important intercultural skill not only for communication but also an important way in which cultural empathy and cognitive flexibility are learned and trained. In line with these results, both students and employers who had more exposure to different cultures also felt there was more need to pay attention to intercultural issues and support the development of intercultural skills than those with less experience of different cultures. Furthermore, our results from both the student and the employer surveys seem to reflect differences between more urban/metropolitan centres and more rural areas with smaller towns. London and Bursa are the two largest cities and the most metropolitan areas in our sample with a more multicultural population, whereas Worcester and Leuven are both smaller cities and the regions with the least ethnic diversity. Halmstad falls somewhere in between with a similar size and ethnic composition of the city and region as Worcester and Leuven, but the university itself has a very multicultural and mature student body that is very similar to LSBU in central London. While we cannot directly influence these regional differences in urbanisation and multiculturalism it is certainly important to be aware of them

The Intercultural Skills Graduates and Businesses in Europe Need Today

This ERASMUS+ funded project, “Developing the cross-cultural skills of graduates in response to the needs of European enterprise”, is developed in response to recent research highlighting the importance of intercultural competencies for graduates wanting to work in Europe, the employers’ needs, and the intercultural competencies and skills higher education institutions provide. This project aims to develop the intercultural competencies of graduates in the EU by enhancing the quality and relevance of their knowledge and skills to enable them to be active professionals in the European working environment. Five Higher Education Institutions have participated in this study: University of Worcester (Project lead, UK), London South Bank University (UK), UC Leuven-Limburg (Belgium), Halmstad University (Sweden), and Bursa Uludağ University (Turkey). The diversity of these partners, their respective regional and national contexts, and their experience in working together with regional businesses are central to achieve the project aims. As the first output of the project, this report presents results based on two types of analysis methods and data collected from four European countries (UK, Sweden, Belgium, and Turkey). Firstly, two surveys and the quantitative analysis of data collected from 585 student surveys responses and 403 employer survey responses and secondly, on an analysis of qualitative data collected through 50 interviews with employees in European organizations and 50 interviews with students studying in European universities

Pelvic mass associated with raised CA 125 for benign condition: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Raised CA 125 with associated pelvic mass is highly suggestive of ovarian malignancy, but there are various other benign conditions that can be associated with pelvic mass and a raised CA 125.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of 19 year old, Caucasian British woman who presented initially with sudden onset right sided iliac fossa pain and on imaging was found to have 9.8 × 4.5 cm complex cystic mass in right adnexa with a raised CA 125 of 657, which was initially thought to be highly suspicious of cancer but was subsequently found to be due to pelvic inflammatory disease on histology.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This case highlights the fact that though a pelvic mass with raised CA 125 is highly suggestive of malignancy, pelvic inflammatory disease should always be considered as a differential diagnosis especially in a young patient and a thorough sexual history and screening for pelvic infection should always be carried out in these patients.</p

Determination of Turbine Blade Life from Engine Field Data

It is probable that no two engine companies determine the life of their engines or their components in the same way or apply the same experience and safety factors to their designs. Knowing the failure mode that is most likely to occur minimizes the amount of uncertainty and simplifies failure and life analysis. Available data regarding failure mode for aircraft engine blades, while favoring low-cycle, thermal mechanical fatigue as the controlling mode of failure, are not definitive. Sixteen high-pressure turbine (HPT) T-1 blade sets were removed from commercial aircraft engines that had been commercially flown by a single airline and inspected for damage. Each set contained 82 blades. The damage was cataloged into three categories related to their mode of failure: (1) Thermal-mechanical fatigue, (2) Oxidation/Erosion, and (3) "Other." From these field data, the turbine blade life was determined as well as the lives related to individual blade failure modes using Johnson-Weibull analysis. A simplified formula for calculating turbine blade life and reliability was formulated. The L(sub 10) blade life was calculated to be 2427 cycles (11 077 hr). The resulting blade life attributed to oxidation/erosion equaled that attributed to thermal-mechanical fatigue. The category that contributed most to blade failure was Other. If there were there no blade failures attributed to oxidation/erosion and thermal-mechanical fatigue, the overall blade L(sub 10) life would increase approximately 11 to 17 percent

Trends in support for research and development of cool season food legumes in the developing countries

In addition to their role in human nutrition, food legumes are an integral part of farming systems world wide in diversifying cropping systems and maintaining soil fertility. 1996 world production is around 57 million tonnes. The population in developing countries is expected to be 6.06 billion by 2010, and the demand for food legumes is expected to be around 110.65 million tonnes. This poses a challenge to scientists and policy makers to meet this demand. The growth trends during 1990-94 for area, production, and productivity globally were negative, with few exceptions. Many countries in Asia need to increase production by at least 50% by 2010, and double it by 2020, to meet the needs of the growing population. The current research and development (R&D) thrusts, in developing countries, are geared towards increased production, but with varied success. An increased reliance on plant breeding and extensive cultivation of legumes in marginal areas has led to over-exploitation of the limited genetic resources. Some national governments (eg Turkey and India) have programmes to increase production, but early successes have plateaued, and shifts in direction are needed. The major proportion (50-75%) of R&D funds in developing countries is allocated to staple cereals, and only a small portion of the remaining budget is available for legumes. The following strategies are suggested to strengthen support for food legume research: integrated cropping systems management (variety+agronomic practices+crop rotations) to bridge the yield gap in different agroclimatic conditions; strategic research to breach yield ceilings and develop cultivars that can produce high and stable yields in better-endowed environments and thus compete with cereals; strengthen research collaboration within and among national programmes and with the international agricultural research centres; increase the role of regional, networks and working groups to enhance technical cooperation among developing countries; increase the collaboration between public and private sectors and exploit their comparative advantages to achieve mutual goals; and create Food Legume Councils (that include farmers, traders, and exporters) which support R&D by levying taxes or cesses on commodities and value-added products

Trends in support for research and development of cool season food legumes in the developing countries

In addition to their role in human nutrition, food legumes are an integral part of farming systems world wide in diversifying cropping systems and maintaining soil fertility. 1996 world production is around 57 million tonnes. The population in developing countries is expected to be 6.06 billion by 2010, and the demand for food legumes is expected to be around 110.65 million tonnes. This poses a challenge to scientists and policy makers to meet this demand. The growth trends during 1990-94 for area, production, and productivity globally were negative, with few exceptions. Many countries in Asia need to increase production by at least 50% by 2010, and double it by 2020, to meet the needs of the growing population. The current research and development (R&D) thrusts, in developing countries, are geared towards increased production, but with varied success. An increased reliance on plant breeding and extensive cultivation of legumes in marginal areas has led to over-exploitation of the limited genetic resources. Some national governments (eg Turkey and India) have programmes to increase production, but early successes have plateaued, and shifts in direction are needed. The major proportion (50-75%) of R&D funds in developing countries is allocated to staple cereals, and only a small portion of the remaining budget is available for legumes. The following strategies are suggested to strengthen support for food legume research: integrated cropping systems management (variety+agronomic practices+crop rotations) to bridge the yield gap in different agroclimatic conditions; strategic research to breach yield ceilings and develop cultivars that can produce high and stable yields in better-endowed environments and thus compete with cereals; strengthen research collaboration within and among national programmes and with the international agricultural research centres; increase the role of regional, networks and working groups to enhance technical cooperation among developing countries; increase the collaboration between public and private sectors and exploit their comparative advantages to achieve mutual goals; and create Food Legume Councils (that include farmers, traders, and exporters) which support R&D by levying taxes or cesses on commodities and value-added products

Research ethics committees: agents of research policy?

The purpose of this commentary is to describe the unintended effects ethics committees may have on research and to analyse the regulatory and administrative problems of clinical trials. DISCUSSION: The Finnish law makes an arbitrary distinction between medical research and other health research, and the European Union's directive for good clinical trials further differentiates drug trials. The starting point of current rules is that clinical trials are lesser in the interest of patients and society than routine health care. However, commercial interests are not considered unethical. The contrasting procedures in research and normal health care may tempt physicians to continue introducing innovations into practice by relying on unsystematic and uncontrolled observations. Tedious and bureaucratic rules may lead to the disappearance of trials initiated by researchers. Trying to accommodate the special legislative requirements for new drug trials into more complex interventions may result in poor designs with unreliable results and increased costs. Meanwhile, current legal requirements may undermine the morale of ethics committee members. CONCLUSION: The aims and the quality of the work of ethics committees should be evaluated, and a reformulation of the EU directive on good clinical trials is needed. Ethical judgement should consider the specific circumstance of each trial, and ethics committees should not foster poor research for legal reasons