Impact of Aid Reduction on Local Civil Society in Conflict-Affected States

This document represents a summary of the proceedings of the multi-stakeholder workshop “Impact of Aid Reduction on Local Civil Society in States in Transition,” held at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, November 2-3, 2015 and cosponsored by USIP, Kennesaw State University, CIFAL Atlanta, and the US Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute

The causes and consequences of nursing shortages: a helicopter view of the research.

In Australia, as in most industrialised countries, there is an acute shortage of registered nurses. While there are numerous research reports emanating from Canada, the United States and Great Britain that provide insight into reasons for this shortage, little comparable work has been undertaken in Australia. This paper presents an overview of the complex interlinking set of factors which cause or are the consequences of nursing shortages including lifestyle preferences, workforce composition, quality of work life and workload and the impact of organisational change and altered management practices. It is important that managers in Australian health care settings understand these issues in order to work towards developing sustainable solutions for retention

Cross-Modal Plasticity Results in Increased Inhibition in Primary Auditory Cortical Areas

Loss of sensory input from peripheral organ damage, sensory deprivation, or brain damage can result in adaptive or maladaptive changes in sensory cortex. In previous research, we found that auditory cortical tuning and tonotopy were impaired by cross-modal invasion of visual inputs. Sensory deprivation is typically associated with a loss of inhibition. To determine whether inhibitory plasticity is responsible for this process, we measured pre- and postsynaptic changes in inhibitory connectivity in ferret auditory cortex (AC) after cross-modal plasticity.We found that blocking GABAA receptors increased responsiveness and broadened sound frequency tuning in the cross-modal group more than in the normal group. Furthermore, expression levels of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) protein were increased in the cross-modal group. We also found that blocking inhibition unmasked visual responses of some auditory neurons in cross-modal AC. Overall, our data suggest a role for increased inhibition in reducing the effectiveness of the abnormal visual inputs and argue that decreased inhibition is not responsible for compromised auditory cortical function after cross-modal invasion. Our findings imply that inhibitory plasticity may play a role in reorganizing sensory cortex after cross-modal invasion, suggesting clinical strategies for recovery after brain injury or sensory deprivation

Patellins 3 and 6, two members of the Plant Patellin family, interact with the movement protein of Alfalfa mosaic virus and interfere with viral movement

This is the accepted version of the following article: Peiró Morell, A.; Izquierdo Garcia, AC.; Sanchez Navarro, JA.; Pallás Benet, V.; Mulet Salort, JM.; Aparicio Herrero, F. (2014). Patellins 3 and 6, two members of the Plant Patellin family, interact with the movement protein of Alfalfa mosaic virus and interfere with viral movement. Molecular Plant Pathology. 15(9):881-891. doi:10.1111/mpp.12146., which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12146.[EN] Movement proteins (MPs) encoded by plant viruses interact with host proteins to facilitate or interfere with intra- and/or intercellular viral movement. Using yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, we herein present invivo evidence for the interaction between Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) MP and Arabidopsis Patellin 3 (atPATL3) and Patellin 6 (atPATL6), two proteins containing a Sec14 domain. Proteins with Sec14 domains are implicated in membrane trafficking, cytoskeleton dynamics, lipid metabolism and lipid-mediated regulatory functions. Interestingly, the overexpression of atPATL3 and/or atPATL6 interfered with the plasmodesmata targeting of AMV MP and correlated with reduced infection foci size. Consistently, the viral RNA levels increased in the single and double Arabidopsis knockout mutants for atPATL3 and atPATL6. Our results indicate that, in general, MP-PATL interactions interfere with the correct subcellular targeting of MP, thus rendering the intracellular transport of viral MP-containing complexes less efficient and diminishing cell-to-cell movement.AP was a recipient of a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship from the program JAE Pre-Doc of Consejo superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. ACI-G was a recipient of a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship associated with the project BFU2008-00604. FA was a recipient of a contract Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2010-06169) Program of the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia of Spain. We thank L. Corachan for excellent technical assistance. This work was supported by grants BIO2011-25018 from the Direccion General de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnica, the Prometeo Program GV2011/003 from the Generalitat Valenciana and PAID-06-10-1496 from the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain).Peiró Morell, A.; Izquierdo García, AC.; Sanchez Navarro, JA.; Pallás Benet, V.; Mulet Salort, JM.; Aparicio Herrero, F. (2014). Patellins 3 and 6, two members of the Plant Patellin family, interact with the movement protein of Alfalfa mosaic virus and interfere with viral movement. Molecular Plant Pathology. 15(9):881-891. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.12146S88189115

Does civil society really democratize global governance? Examining transnational civil society engagement with the World Bank.

Academics and practitioners alike recognize that global governance institutions suffer from a democratic deficit. A large body of literature suggests that civil society can reform global governance, but a countervailing body of work indicates that civil society may actually facilitate new forms of elite domination. This thesis seeks to contribute to this debate by examining the impact of civil society on policymaking at the World Bank. This thesis' core question is: 'Do data about the World Bank support the idea that civil society can democratize global governance.' Using three case studies, the thesis examines how civil society organizations engaging with the Bank interact with one another, set their agendas, and achieve their impacts, and how these organizations engage with local civil society and governments in developing countries. The resulting data are analyzed using a framework for democratic legitimacy derived from the work of Uhlin, Scharpf, and Dingwerth. The case studies reveal civil society is far more atomized than indicated in much of the literature. Strong ideological commitments, coupled with financial incentives, inhibit dialogue between organizations and make it difficult for international organizations to respond to the concerns of grassroots stakeholders. Civil society advocacy increases stakeholder control over the World Bank, but new channels of influence are controlled primarily by elite organizations based in the global North. Civil society organizations also utilize state power to achieve their objectives, soliciting the assistance of the Bank's major donors in ways that marginalize developing country governments. The thesis finds that civil society has abundant impact on the World Bank and that some impacts, like improved transparency and accountability, facilitate direct stakeholder influence over the institution. However, the thesis concludes that because transnational civil society consolidates that influence in the hands of a minority of stakeholders, it does not democratize the World Bank

The implications of staff 'churn' for nurse managers, staff, and patients

▶ In this article, the term "churn" is used not only because of the degree of change to staffing, but also because some of the reasons for staff movement are not classified as voluntary turnover. ▶ The difficulties for the nurse managing a unit with the degree of "churn" should not be under-estimated. ▶ Changes to skill mix and the proportions of full-time, agency, and temporary staff present challenges in providing clinical leadership, scheduling staff, performance management, and supervision. ▶ Perhaps more importantly, it is likely that there is an impact on the continuity of care provided in the absence of continuity of staffing. ▶ A greater understanding of the human and financial costs and consequences, and a willingness to change established practices at the institutional and ward level, are needed

Staff satisfaction and retention and the role of the Nursing Unit Manager

Despite recent increases in nursing recruitment in Australia, participation in the workforce is still below the numbers predicted to meet future needs. This paper discusses factors impacting on nurses' job satisfaction, satisfaction with nursing and intention to leave in public sector hospitals in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Staffing and patient data were collected on 80 medical and surgical units during 2004/5. This included a wide range of individual nurse data from a Nurse Survey; detailed and comprehensive staffing data including skill mix variables; patient characteristics; workload data; a profile of the ward's characteristics; and adverse event patient data. Nurses who were intending to remain in their job were more likely to be satisfied, be older, and have dependents. They were also likely to be experiencing good leadership and to have allied health support on the ward. Most nurses reported being satisfied with their profession, while a lower proportion reported satisfaction with their current position. Work environment factors such as nurses' autonomy, control over their practice and nursing leadership on the ward were statistically significant predictors of job satisfaction. This study will inform decision-making and policy for managers in both the public and private hospital sectors. This is the first large study which explored the work environment at the ward/unit level in public hospitals in NSW (Australia). It illustrates that there are no typical wards; each ward functions differently. The importance of nursing leadership at the ward level to job satisfaction, satisfaction with nursing and intention to leave, cannot be overstated. Crown Copyright © 2009

STONE WALLS, CHARACTERS, MOSS AND TREES – MULTILEVEL DOCUMENTATION OF INSCRIPTIONS AND GRAFFITI FROM DIFFERENT CENTURIES IN A FORMER SANDSTONE QUARRY

The Fingalshöhle near Illesheim, Germany, is today both an archaeological and a cultural heritage site. This paper will show the application and analysis of the combination of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and high resolution structured-light-scanning (SLS) as a multilevel documentation approach to help preserve this unique location with its graffiti and inscriptions from the past 300 years. The site is a decommissioned sandstone quarry which has been gradually taken over by nature. The quarry served as field quarters for troops during several wars, with soldiers carving inscriptions into the sandstone walls. In the later 18th and 19th centuries, the site attracted visitors, who also immortalised themselves. These witnesses to the site’s diverse history are threatened by the ever-increasing overgrowth of the quarry, and above all by weathering processes impacting the unprotected stone. Photographs show that over periods as short as the last 15 years, climatic effects have completely obliterated some inscriptions. The characters are thus slowly but steadily being erased. Since the decay could only be stopped with massive interventions to the quarry itself, the aim is that a documentation should preserve, at least in digital form, the current state, giving future generations the opportunity to experience and explore this multi-layered site. As well as recording the vulnerable inscriptions, the digitising process can in some cases make even the most severely degraded inscriptions legible once more. The processed data serves as documentation for the municipality, and can be used for future research approaches and monitoring purposes as well as dissemination

Nursing staffing, nursing workload, the work environment and patient outcomes

Nurse staffing (fewer RNs), increased workload, and unstable nursing unit environments were linked to negative patient outcomes including falls and medication errors on medical/surgical units in a mixed method study combining longitudinal data (5 years) and primary data collection. © 2011 Elsevier Inc