Can Communist economies transform incrementally? China's experience

The authors try to answer important questions. How important is the phasing of political and economic liberalization and the active (versus passive) role of the state in reform? What lessons can be learned about comprehensive top-down reform as opposed to experimental bottom-up reforms; fast versus slow liberalization and opening up of the economy; the need to establish full private property rights at the beginning of reform; and reform's implications for welfare and distribution? Can China's excellent performance be linked toparticular reform measure, or does it reflect distinctive initial conditions or social or demographic factors? Is China's performance sustainable without more comprehensive transformation, or does it reflect transient gains that are substantially exhausted? Among the lessons China offers are the following. Partial reform can succeed in raising productivity in agriculture and industry; industrial productivity has grown very rapidly in the nonstate sector but also in state enterprises. A"big bang"is not economically necessary unless justified by the need to address macroeconomic imbalances. There may be virtue in a decentralized"bottom-up"approach to reform. Rapid privatization is not necessary for successful reform, but it is important to diversify ownership and encourage the entry of new firms. Small scale privatization and the liberalization of distribution and service sectors are likely to have the fastest payoff in the reform of property rights. China's rapid growth momentum and macroeconomic stability cannot be sustained without further reforms, including the reform of banking, taxation, and property rights.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Municipal Financial Management

Extensible Automated Constraint Modelling

In constraint solving, a critical bottleneck is the formulationof an effective constraint model of a given problem. The CONJURE system described in this paper, a substantial step forward over prototype versions of CONJURE previously reported, makes a valuable contribution to the automation of constraint modelling by automatically producing constraint models from their specifications in the abstract constraint specification language ESSENCE. A set of rules is used to refine an abstract specification into a concrete constraint model. We demonstrate that this set of rules is readily extensible to increase the space of possible constraint models CONJURE can produce. Our empirical results confirm that CONJURE can reproduce successfully the kernels of the constraint models of 32 benchmark problems found in the literature

ENERGY RETURN OF DIFFERENT SHAPES OF TRACK SPIKES

Different track spike designs (pin, pyramid, post, Christmas tree, and modified Christmas tree) are all touted as being advantageous for track and field performance, but these claims have not been tested and reported in peer-reviewed literature. The purpose of this study was to examine how track spike design impacted energy return on a Mondo track surface. Load-deformation curves of the spikes driven by a machine into the track surface were determined and the energy absorbed and the energy returned by each spike was calculated. On the Mondo track surface, the modified Christmas tree design generated significantly more energy return than the other spike designs while the pin spike absorbed (and therefore returned) significantly less energy than the other spike designs. This information could useful for athletes and coaches looking to enhance performance on a Mondo track

ENERGY RETURN OF DIFFERENT DESIGNS OF TRACK SPIKES

INTRODUCTION: Advances in technology and design have generated changes to the traditional track spike. Today, there are a number of different spike shapes, the four most common being needle, pyramid, post, and Christmas tree and modified Christmas tree (the last two are also referred to as “compression tier”) (see Figure 1). Running magazines, product advertisements, coaches, and manufacturers make claims about the potential effects of each type of spike design and their use in different situations. To our knowledge, these types of claims and other information regarding spikes or track surfaces, have not been tested and reported in the peer-reviewed literature. METHODS: The purpose of this preliminary study was to examine whether different shaped spikes elicit quantifiable differences in energy return on a Mondo track surface, the most commonly used at track venues. Five different shaped spikes all 7mm in length were used in this study (see Figure #1). The spikes chosen are those commonly used by athletes on various indoor and outdoor track surfaces. The load-deformation between the spikes the track was measured using a Bose Electroforce 3200 (Eden Praire, MN) testing device. OneWay ANOVAs using Sigma Plot 10.5 (Systat Inc., Richmond, CA) were performed to test for significant differences between spikes. Tukey post-hoc comparisons were performed at the p=0.05 level. RESULTS: Figure 2 shows the ANOVA results [F (4,49)=54.78, p<.001] and Tukey post-hoc comparison for the energy returned. The MTREE spike generated the greatest amount of energy returned and was significantly different from the other spikes (p<=0.05). The PYRA spike generated second largest amount of energy returned and was significant different from the PIN and POST spikes. The PIN or needle spike, as expected, had the least amount of energy returned. All spikes penetrated the track surface. DISCUSSION: The notion that compression spikes have less track penetration is unfounded. All the spikes tested penetrated the track under loads less than 105 N. Considering that vertical ground reaction force (GRF) increases linearly during walking and running from 1.2 BW to approximately 2.5 BW at 6.0 m s−1 and remains constant during forward lean sprinting at higher speeds, the likehood of any of the tested spikes not penetrating the Mondo track surface seems improbable (Keller et al., 1996). For the Mondo track the spike with the largest energy return was the MTREE design. This MTREE provided the largest spike surface area, which helped it to compress the track. The common PIN design provided the least energy return but absorbed the least amount of energy. All the compression spikes seem to provide larger amounts of energy return when compared to the PIN. The measured energy returned by the various spikes is relatively small (N*mm). However, for this study, the energy return was determined for only one spike while most sprint shoes have a sole plate with up to 10 mounted spikes. While it is difficult to assess how much of the energy returned in the spike-track surface interaction might actually aid the sprinter, these findings are nevertheless noteworthy. It is not uncommon for results in sprint races to be separated by only thousandths of a second, where even small levels of energy return could potentially make the difference between winning or losing a race. CONCLUSION: This study shows that spike design affects the amount of energy returned and absorbed by a Mondo track surface. While all of the spikes tested penetrated the track surface, the modified Christmas tree design returned the most energy on the Mondo surface. Knowledge of which spike design offers the highest energy return on the various track surfaces that athletes compete on could be useful to coaches and athletes, as well as, spike and track manufacturers and thus is worthy of further investigation

Experiência de ensino aprendizagem com o auxílio de codificação e Matemática

Anais do II Seminário Seminário Estadual PIBID do Paraná: tecendo saberes / organizado por Dulcyene Maria Ribeiro e Catarina Costa Fernandes — Foz do Iguaçu: Unioeste; Unila, 2014Este trabalho objetiva demonstrar atividade desenvolvida, com alunos do Ensino Médio do Colégio Estadual Bibiana Bitencourt, na disciplina de Matemática, aplicada pelos integrantes do PIBID de Matemática da Faculdade Guairacá, com supervisão do professor Jefferson e coordenação do professor Leocir. A atividade refere-se a uma prova da I Gincana de Matemática do Ensino Médio do CE Bibiana Bitencourt. Além de demonstrar a atividade pretende-se elencar os motivos que levaram ao uso dessa prova e como a atividade pode auxiliar no desenvolvimento do raciocínio lógic

Percepciones del alumnos de enfermería sobre la dimensión humana dentro de su aprendizaje

This study aimed to identify and interpret the perceptions presented by undergraduate students of a Nursing course after internship in Mental Health. Twelve nursing undergraduate students at the Nursing School of ABC Foundation - Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil were interviewed. These interviews using a semi-structure script were performed and recorded in August 2004. Through Content Analysis, thematic modality, four categories were identified, 1. mental health: providing understanding of the other; 2. respect for the human being: the importance of listening, 3. mental health: contributing for a contextualized view of the patient and 4. nursing graduation: undesirable "signs and symptoms" of the profession. The analysis and the discussion of these categories suggest the possibility of teaching based on the human condition. Thus, we support the idea of new research been carried out, considering that the Mental Health discipline must be valued in the Political and Pedagogical projects of the Nursing Undergraduate Courses.Los objetivos de este estudio fueron identificar e interpretar las percepciones de los alumnos de Graduación de Enfermería posteriores a las prácticas de Salud Mental. Fueron grabadas 12 entrevistas con alumnos de Enfermería de la Facultad de la Fundación ABC - Santo André, São Paulo, Brasil, en agosto de 2004, utilizándose para ello, una guía semi-estructurada. El Análisis de Contenido, en su modalidad temática fue empleada para la identificación de cuatro categorías temáticas: 1. salud mental: proporcionando la comprensión del otro; 2. respeto por lo humano: la importancia de escuchar; 3. salud mental: contribución en la visión en el contexto del paciente y 4. graduación en enfermería: "signos y síntomas" indeseados por la profesión. Del análisis y la discusión de esas categorías se vislumbró la posibilidad de una enseñanza basada en la condición humana. De esa forma, se defiende la idea de que nuevos estudios deben realizarse, tendiendo en consideración que el curso de Salud Mental debe ser valorizado dentro de los Proyectos Políticos Pedagógicos dentro de la Graduación en Enfermería.Os objetivos deste estudo foram identificar e interpretar as percepções apresentadas por alunos de um Curso de Graduação de Enfermagem após o estágio de Saúde Mental. Foram gravadas 12 entrevistas com acadêmicos de Enfermagem da Faculdade da Fundação ABC - Santo André, São Paulo, Brasil, em agosto de 2004, utilizando-se de roteiro semi-estruturado. Por meio da Análise de Conteúdo, modalidade temática, foram identificadas quatro categorias: 1. saúde mental: proporcionando a compreensão do outro; 2. respeito pelo humano: a importância de ouvir; 3. saúde mental: contribuindo para uma visão contextualizada do paciente e 4. graduação em enfermagem: "sinais e sintomas" indesejáveis da profissão. A análise e a discussão dessas categorias representaram o vislumbramento da possibilidade de um ensino pautado na condição humana. Dessa forma, defende-se, aqui, a idéia de que novos estudos devam ser realizados, mas já considerando que a disciplina Saúde Mental deve ser valorizada nos Projetos Políticos Pedagógicos dos Cursos de Graduação em Enfermagem

Casting Shadows on Holographic Reconstruction

In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, we study several holographic probes that relate information about the bulk spacetime to CFT data. The best-known example is the relation between minimal surfaces in the bulk and entanglement entropy of a subregion in the CFT. Building on earlier work, we identify "shadows" in the bulk: regions that are not illuminated by any of the bulk probes we consider, in the sense that the bulk surfaces do not pass through these regions. We quantify the size of the shadow in the near horizon region of a black hole and in the vicinity of a sufficiently dense star. The existence of shadows motivates further study of the bulk-boundary dictionary in order to identify CFT quantities that encode information about the shadow regions in the bulk. We speculate on the interpretation of our results from a dual field theory perspective.Comment: 42 pages, 38 figure