The Greek campaign : 'Freyberg's circus enters a Balkan imbroglio' : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Defence Studies at Massey University

In April 1941, the New Zealand Division of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force fought its first campaign in Greece. Not-withstanding the campaign's short duration it had significant effect on the New Zealand Division. The Division suffered over 2,500 casualties and it lost all of its heavy equipment. The Greek Campaign also exposed the duplicity of the British Government and High Command who sent the Division to Greece without fully informing the New Zealand Government of the risks that course would entail. As a Dominion within the Commonwealth, pursuing an independent foreign policy, the New Zealand Government wished to have its Expeditionary Force integrated with the British but also expected to be fully informed about the use of its military formations. The conduct of the Balkan campaign so excised the New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser that he sought independent advice about General Freyberg's competency and also sought an explanation on the conduct of the battle fiom the United Kingdom's Chief of Staff. Why did the New Zealand Government send its Army so far away from New Zealand when there was a potential threat in the Pacific from Japan? How well prepared were these citizen soldiers in training and equipment for the battles in Greece? To elucidate the above the purpose of this thesis is to answer the following five questions examining New Zealand's involvement in the Greek Campaign of 1947: 1. What was the political and strategic rationale of sending the 2nd New Zealand Division to Greece? 2. How well did the training and composition of the New Zealand Division prepare them for war in Greece? 3. How suitable for command were the major protagonists in the 2nd New Zealand Division? 4. How well did the New Zealand Army's equipment compared with that of the German Army-(das Heer)? 5. How did the morale of the New Zealand citizen soldiers stand up after their first campaign? The method of research to answer these questions were: l. Interviewing, or sending questionnaires to survivors of the campaign; 2. Interviewing experts who have an academic interest in the campaign; 3. Examining original material in the National Archives, the Turnbull Library and the Kippenberger Memorial Library at Waiouru Army Museum; 4. Obtaining relevant written material in book reviews and articles from libraries and private individuals

NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES TEACHER PERFORMANCE PAY: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM INDIA

ABSTRACT Performance pay for teachers is frequently suggested as a way of improving education outcomes in schools, but the theoretical predictions regarding its effectiveness are ambiguous and the empirical evidence to date is limited and mixed. We present results from a randomized evaluation of a teacher incentive program implemented across a large representative sample of government-run rural primary schools in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The program provided bonus payments to teachers based on the average improvement of their students' test scores in independently administered learning assessments (with a mean bonus of 3% of annual pay). At the end of two years of the program, students in incentive schools performed significantly better than those in control schools by 0.28 and 0.16 standard deviations in math and language tests respectively. They scored significantly higher on "conceptual" as well as "mechanical" components of the tests, suggesting that the gains in test scores represented an actual increase in learning outcomes. Incentive schools also performed better on subjects for which there were no incentives, suggesting positive spillovers. Group and individual incentive schools performed equally well in the first year of the program, but the individual incentive schools outperformed in the second year. Incentive schools performed significantly better than other randomly-chosen schools that received additional schooling inputs of a similar value

Basic science232. Certolizumab pegol prevents pro-inflammatory alterations in endothelial cell function

Background: Cardiovascular disease is a major comorbidity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and a leading cause of death. Chronic systemic inflammation involving tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF) could contribute to endothelial activation and atherogenesis. A number of anti-TNF therapies are in current use for the treatment of RA, including certolizumab pegol (CZP), (Cimzia ®; UCB, Belgium). Anti-TNF therapy has been associated with reduced clinical cardiovascular disease risk and ameliorated vascular function in RA patients. However, the specific effects of TNF inhibitors on endothelial cell function are largely unknown. Our aim was to investigate the mechanisms underpinning CZP effects on TNF-activated human endothelial cells. Methods: Human aortic endothelial cells (HAoECs) were cultured in vitro and exposed to a) TNF alone, b) TNF plus CZP, or c) neither agent. Microarray analysis was used to examine the transcriptional profile of cells treated for 6 hrs and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysed gene expression at 1, 3, 6 and 24 hrs. NF-κB localization and IκB degradation were investigated using immunocytochemistry, high content analysis and western blotting. Flow cytometry was conducted to detect microparticle release from HAoECs. Results: Transcriptional profiling revealed that while TNF alone had strong effects on endothelial gene expression, TNF and CZP in combination produced a global gene expression pattern similar to untreated control. The two most highly up-regulated genes in response to TNF treatment were adhesion molecules E-selectin and VCAM-1 (q 0.2 compared to control; p > 0.05 compared to TNF alone). The NF-κB pathway was confirmed as a downstream target of TNF-induced HAoEC activation, via nuclear translocation of NF-κB and degradation of IκB, effects which were abolished by treatment with CZP. In addition, flow cytometry detected an increased production of endothelial microparticles in TNF-activated HAoECs, which was prevented by treatment with CZP. Conclusions: We have found at a cellular level that a clinically available TNF inhibitor, CZP reduces the expression of adhesion molecule expression, and prevents TNF-induced activation of the NF-κB pathway. Furthermore, CZP prevents the production of microparticles by activated endothelial cells. This could be central to the prevention of inflammatory environments underlying these conditions and measurement of microparticles has potential as a novel prognostic marker for future cardiovascular events in this patient group. Disclosure statement: Y.A. received a research grant from UCB. I.B. received a research grant from UCB. S.H. received a research grant from UCB. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Symbiotic Futures: Health, Well-being and Care in the Post-Covid World

The "Symbiotic Futures: Health, Well-being and Care in the Post-Covid World" project was jointly conceived by the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and the Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The project partnership involved a community of experts working across both organisations including the University of Glasgow’s new Mazumdar-Shaw Advanced Research Centre (ARC). Future experiences is a collaborative, futures-focused design project where students benefit from the input of a community of experts to design speculative future worlds and experiences based on research within key societal contexts. This iteration of the project asked the students to consider what happens in the Post-Covid landscape ten years from now, where symbiotic experiences of health, well-being and care have evolved to the extent that new forms of medical practice, health communities and cultures of care transform how we interact with each other, with professionals and the world around us. The GSA Innovation School’s final year BDes Product Design students and faculty formed a dynamic community of practice with health, wellbeing and care practitioners and researchers from The University of Glasgow and beyond. This gave the students the opportunity to reflect on the underlying complexities of the future of health, well-being and care, technological acceleration, human agency and quality of life, to envision a 2031 blueprint as a series of six future world exhibits, and design the products, services and system experiences for the people and environments within it. In the first part of the project (Stage 1), Future worlds are groups of students working together on specific topics, to establish the context for their project and collaborate on research and development. In this iteration of Future Experiences, the "Health, Well-being and Care" worlds were clustered together around ‘People focused’ and ‘Environment focused’, but also joined up across these groups to create pairs of worlds, and in the process generate symbiosis between the groups. These worlds were then the starting points which the students explored in their individual projects. The second part of the project (Stage 2) saw individual students select an aspect of their Future World research to develop as a design direction, which they then prototyped and produced as products, services, and/or systems. These are designed for specific communities, contexts or scenarios of use defined by the students to communicate a future experience. These Future experiences reflect the societal contexts explored during the research phase, projected 10 years into the future, and communicated in a manner that makes the themes engaging and accessible. The deposited materials are arranged as follows: 1. Project Landscape Map - A report and blueprint for the project that gives a visual overview of the structure and timeline of the project. 2. Stage one data folders - the data folders for stage one of the project are named after the themes the groups explored to create their Future Worlds. 3. Stage two data folders - the data folders for stage two of the project are named after the individual students who created the project

The Future of Cancer and Collective Intelligence in the Post-Covid World

The Future of Cancer and Collective Intelligence in the Post-Covid World project was jointly conceived by the Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and the Institute of Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Graduating year Product Design students from the Innovation School were presented with a challenge-based project to produce a vision of the future based on current trends that relate to the Future of Cancer and Collective Intelligence in the Post-Covid World. Currently, cancer research and development occur in isolated pockets within stages across the cancer care continuum, which often negatively impacts on the potential for cancer professionals to exchange, integrate and share data, insights and knowledge across the framework. One of the most significant societal shifts currently taking place within Cancer and Collective Intelligence is the transformation from the siloed clinic point of care model to a seamless continuum of care with greater focus on prevention and early intervention, changing what it means to be someone living with cancer and a professional working within this context. From this new dynamic, emerges the concept of living-labs; transdisciplinary communities of practice involving people working within and living with cancer, capable, through collective intelligence-enabled systems and services, of generating knowledge which can be used locally, and shared globally, to deliver focused innovations across the whole cancer ecosystem. If collective intelligence holds the potential to truly connect people to people, and people to data, across diverse communities, linking peoples’ lived experiences locally and globally, what kinds of new health and care services might emerge to improve cancer control across the continuum from prevention, detection, treatment and survivorship, and what types of new roles might emerge for citizens, patients and community groups to collaboratively drive these forward with health professionals? In order to address this challenge, the GSA Innovation School’s final year Product Design students and faculty formed a dynamic community of practice with cancer practitioners and researchers from the Institute of Cancer Sciences at The University of Glasgow and beyond to envisage a 2030 cancer blueprint as a series of future world exhibits, and create the designed products, services and experiences for the people who might live and work within this ecosystem. This project involved the students working in partnership with an Expert Faculty composed of Cancer Physicians, Cancer Researchers, Social Scientists, Biomedical Engineers, Health Research Specialists, Past Patients, Digital Health Specialists, Design Experts and Government Agencies. The Expert Faculty was assembled from a range of local to global organisations including the University of Glasgow, the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, the Malawi Ministry of Health and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC is part of the World Health Organization). This project asked the students to embark on a speculative design exploration into future experiences of working and living with cancer ten years from now, where advances in collective intelligence have evolved to the extent that new forms and ecosystems of medical practice, cancer care and experiences of living with, through and beyond cancer transform how we interact with each other, with health professionals and the communities around us. This project was conceived and carried out during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the project the students positively used this situation to creatively embrace a digital studio practice and innovate around digital and remote access platforms and forums for collaboration, development and engagement. Thus, the designed products, services and experiences for the people who might live and work within the cancer ecosystem are presented as innovative, highly creative, fully immersive, experiential exhibits. The project was divided into two sections: The first was a collaborative stage based on Future Worlds. The worlds are groups of students working together on specific topics, to establish the context for their project and collaborate on research and development. These were clustered together around ‘Future Working’ and ‘Future Living’ but also joined up across these groups to create pairs of worlds, and in the process generate collective intelligence between the groups. The worlds clustered around ‘Future Working’ are Education, Care and Treatment, Prevention and Detection. Future Worlds clustered around ‘Future Living’ are Personal Wellbeing, Communicating Cancer, Beyond Cancer. The second stage saw students explore their individual response to their assigned Future World that had been created in the first stage. Each student developed their own research by iteratively creating a design outcome that was appropriate to the Future cancer World. This culminated in each student producing designed products, services or systems and a communication of the future experiences created. Throughout the project, the results were presented as a series live interactive digitally curated, virtual work-in-progress exhibitions for specific audiences including a special global event to participate in World Cancer Day on the 4th February 2021. An event which allowed the students to actively interact and discuss the project with a global audience of cancer community leaders. The deposited materials are arranged as follows: 1. Readme files - two readme files relate to tage one and stage two of the project as outlined above. 2. Project overview document - gives a visual overview of the structure and timeline of the project. 3. Stage one data folders - the data folders for stage one of the project are named by the six Future Worlds through which each group explored possible futures. 4. Stage two data folders - the data folders for stage two of the project are named for the individual students who conducted the work and organised by the Future World cluster they worked within