Social Entrepreneurship and Social Transformation

This study provides a comparative analysis of seven cases of social entrepreneurship that have been widely recognized as successful. The paper suggests factors associated with successful social entrepreneurship, particularly with social entrepreneurship that leads to significant changes in the social, political and economic contexts for poor and marginalized groups. It generates hypotheses about core innovations, leadership, organization, and scaling up in successful social entrepreneurship. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the practice of social entrepreneurship, for further research, and for the continued development of support technologies and institutions that will encourage future social entrepreneurship.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 15. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers

Terahertz difference frequency response of pdd in two-laser experiments

In previous work we reported observations of a thermal response from Pd cathodes electrolyzed in heavy water stimulated by a single diode laser. In more recent experiments, stimulation was done using two overlapping weak laser beams, and the cell was observed to respond to the difference frequency. The cell responded to three difference frequencies in the THz range at 8.2 THz, at 15.1 THz, and at 20.8 THz. The first two of these frequencies can be associated with optical phonon frequencies of PdD with zero velocity. We examine the conjectures that the response at 20.8 THz is due to deuterium in vacancies in the gold coating, or due to hydrogen contamination

Social Entrepreneurship: Leadership that Facilitates Societal Transformation-An Exploratory Study

This study provides a comparative analysis of seven cases of social entrepreneurship that have been widely recognized as successful. The paper suggests factors associated with successful social entrepreneurship, particularly with social entrepreneurship that leads to significant changes in the social, political and economic contexts for poor and marginalized groups. It generates hypotheses about core innovations, leadership, organization, and scaling up in successful social entrepreneurship. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the practice of social entrepreneurship, for further research, and for the continued development of support technologies and institutions that will encourage future social entrepreneurship

Is platelet activating factor (PAF) an important mediator in bronchial asthma?

The development of selective PAF receptor antagonists may provide a novel approach to the treatment of human bronchial asthma. In preclinical animal models of human asthma, PAF receptor antagonists have been found to be efficacious in blocking antigen-induced changes in lung function. However, the majority of these models involve acute inflammatory events and transient changes in lung function and, therefore, their relevance to human asthma is questionable. In a recent study with a primate model of chronic airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness, we have shown that treatment with a PAF receptor antagonist had no effect on reducing chronic inflammation and hyperresponsiveness. Similarly, recent studies in human asthmatics with PAF receptor antagonists have failed to show efficacy in blocking allergen-induced airway responses or to have any steroid sparing effects in patients with ongoing asthma. Thus, it seems that PAF may not be a key mediator which can be blocked and thereby provide therapy for bronchial asthma

A PAF receptor antagonist inhibits acute airway inflammation and late-phase responses but not chronic airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness in a primate model of asthma

We have examined the effects of a PAF receptor antagonist, WEB 2170, on several indices of acute and chronic airway inflammation and associated changes in lung function in a primate model of allergic asthma. A single oral administration WEB 2170 provided dose related inhibition of the release of leukotriene C4 (LTC4) and prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) recovered and quantified in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid obtained during the acute phase response to inhaled antigen. In addition, oral WEB 2170 treatment in dual responder primates blocked the acute influx of neutrophils into the airways as well as the associated late-phase airway obstruction occurring 6 h after antigen inhalation. In contrast, a multiple dosing regime with WEB 2170 (once a day for 7 consecutive days) failed to reduce the chronic airway inflammation (eosinophilic) and associated airway hyperresponsiveness to inhaled methacholine that is characteristic of dual responder monkeys. Thus, we conclude that the generation of PAF following antigen inhalation contributes to the development of lipid mediators, acute airway inflammation and associated late-phase airway obstruction in dual responder primates; however, PAF does not play a significant role in the maintenance of chronic airway inflammation and associated airway hyperresponsiveness in this primate model

Why do men self-harm? A literature review

This critical review developed and analysed two key strands. One strand examined the reasons why men self-harm; the other examined effective ways to educate staff about self-harm. These strands were interweaved to develop an in-depth and informative review to help educate and inform staff who work with and support men who self-harm. A systematic search strategy was conducted to find primary research articles for analysis and evaluation. Three key themes emerged: interpersonal relationships; attitudes and educating staff. This review recommends that staff should be encouraged to change their behaviour and view themselves and their relationships differently. This can have a positive impact on developing and maintaining therapeutic relationships

Health of War-Affected Karen Adults 5 Years Post-Resettlement

Background: An estimated 140 000 refugees from Burma have resettled to the USA since 2009, comprising 21% of total resettlement in the USA over the last decade. Our objective was to describe patterns of longitudinal health outcomes in a cohort of Karen refugees resettled in the USA for 5 years, and to translate these findings to a primary healthcare context. Methods: The study was a retrospective cohort study focused on the analysis of the first 5 years of electronic health records of a sample of 143 Karen refugees who were initially resettled between May 2011 and May 2013. Results: Through descriptive, inferential and survival statistics, we described patterns of retention in primary care, biometric trends, condition prevalence and survival probabilities. Highest prevalence health conditions documented at any point in the 5-year period included diagnoses or symptoms associated with pain (52%); gastrointestinal disturbance (41%); metabolic disorder (41%); infectious process (34%); mental health condition (31%) and central nervous system disorder (24%). Conclusions: This study is the first retrospective longitudinal analysis of patterns of health in Karen refugees originating from Burma and resettled to the USA. Findings identified in the 5-year, the post-resettlement period provided important clinical insights into the health trajectories of war-affected populations. Burden of illness was high although results did not demonstrate the extent of trauma-associated physical health conditions reported in the literature. Indicators such as significant increases in body mass index (BMI), the overall prevalence of dyslipidaemia and others suggested that the cohort may be exhibiting an early trajectory towards the development of these conditions. Authors summarize potential protective factors experienced by the cohort that promoted aspects of health frequently challenged in forced migration

Ancient DNA Reveals Genetic Continuity in Mountain Woodland Caribou of the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada

We examine the mitochondrial genetic stability of mountain woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories, over the last 4000 years. Unlike caribou populations in the Yukon, populations in the Northwest Territories show no evidence for mitochondrial genetic turnover during that period, which indicates that they were not adversely affected by the widespread deposition of the White River tephra around 1200 years ago. We detect moderate genetic differentiation between mountain woodland and barren-ground caribou in both territories, lending support to the current subspecies designations. In addition, we identify moderate genetic differentiation between Northwest Territories and western Yukon mountain woodland caribou, suggesting that there has been minimal mixing of matrilines between these herds.Nous examinons la stabilité génétique mitochondriale des caribous des bois des montagnes (Rangifer tarandus caribou) qui ont évolué dans les monts Mackenzie et dans la chaîne de Selwyn, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, ces 4 000 dernières années. Contrairement aux populations de caribou du Yukon, les populations de caribou des Territoires du Nord-Ouest ne montrent aucun signe de rotation génétique mitochondriale pendant cette période, ce qui indique qu’ils n’ont pas été affectés de manière défavorable par le dépôt à grande échelle du téphra de la rivière White, il y a environ 1 200 ans. Nous détectons une différentiation génétique modérée entre le caribou des bois des montagnes et le caribou de la toundra dans les deux territoires, ce qui vient appuyer les désignations actuelles de sous-espèces. Par ailleurs, nous avons dénoté une différenciation génétique modérée entre le caribou des bois des montagnes des Territoires du Nord-Ouest et celui de l’ouest du Yukon, ce qui laisse croire qu’il y aurait eu peu de mélanges matrilinéaires entre ces troupeaux

The CMS Integration Grid Testbed

The CMS Integration Grid Testbed (IGT) comprises USCMS Tier-1 and Tier-2 hardware at the following sites: the California Institute of Technology, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Florida at Gainesville. The IGT runs jobs using the Globus Toolkit with a DAGMan and Condor-G front end. The virtual organization (VO) is managed using VO management scripts from the European Data Grid (EDG). Gridwide monitoring is accomplished using local tools such as Ganglia interfaced into the Globus Metadata Directory Service (MDS) and the agent based Mona Lisa. Domain specific software is packaged and installed using the Distrib ution After Release (DAR) tool of CMS, while middleware under the auspices of the Virtual Data Toolkit (VDT) is distributed using Pacman. During a continuo us two month span in Fall of 2002, over 1 million official CMS GEANT based Monte Carlo events were generated and returned to CERN for analysis while being demonstrated at SC2002. In this paper, we describe the process that led to one of the world's first continuously available, functioning grids.Comment: CHEP 2003 MOCT01