Joining hands across the seas: The genesis of IASAS

This paper will outline the journey, personal and organisational, taken by me with many friends of student affairs and services around the world to envision and then create a new global professional association – the International Association of Student Affairs and Services (IASAS). It has been a rather long journey, one that was not without bumps and barriers. While it took over 20 years to get IASAS from the germ of an idea to its current successes, it has proven to be well worth the struggle. IASAS serves as a platform that promotes and allows discussion of issues and best practices in our field: higher education student affairs and services. No matter that there are great differences in delivery methods, breadth of service, views of the student, and sometimes conceptual underpinnings, when focusing on the student, all these differences are celebrated in the context of common values, and make for interesting discussions by practitioners coming from over 30 countries. I have been privileged to be at the centre of most of the efforts to form IASAS, a process not unlike the birthing and raising of a child (of which I have four). The reader will quicklysee the parallels that bring the disappointments on one hand that are easily overshadowed by the joys of seeing your child grow and develop into adolescents and, eventually, adults. So goes the following personal and reflexive account of the genesis of IASAS

Joining hands across the seas: The genesis of IASAS

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Use of key performance indicators in histological dissection

Aims: Reports into standards in the National Health Service and quality in pathology have focused on the way we work in pathology and how to provide assurance that this is of a high standard. There are a number of external quality assurance schemes covering pathology and histopathology specifically; however, there is no scheme covering the process of histological surgical dissection. This is an area undergoing development, emerging from the sole preserve of medically qualified pathologists to a field populated by a number of highly trained biomedical scientists, but remains without any formal quality assurance. Methods: This work builds on Barnes, taking the guidance of the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS)to form a series of key performance indicators relating to dissection. These were developed for use as an indicator of individual practice, highlighting areas of variation, weakness or strength. Once identified, a feedback event provided opportunities to address these errors and omissions, or to enable areas of strength to be shared. Results: The data obtained from the checklists demonstrate a large variation in practice at the outset of this study. The use of the checklists alone served to reduce this variation in practice, the addition of the training event showed further reduction in variation. The combination of these two tools was an effective method for enhancing standardisation of practice. Conclusions: The results of this work show that training events serve to reduce variation in practice by, and between, dissectors, driving up standards in dissection— directly addressing the needs of the modern pathology service

Difference in Self-concept of Individuals Enrolled and Not Enrolled in a Weight Reduction Program

Food, Nutrition and Institution Administratio

The Suitability of Available Industrial Arts Textbooks for the Subject Area of Woodworking

The problem of this study was to determine the degree of suitability of the available industrial arts textbooks for classroom use in the subject area of woodworking. In order to arrive at satisfactory conclusions relative to the problem, it was necessary to seek answers to the following questions. 1. What textbooks are available for teachers of industrial arts for the subject area of woodworking? 2. How can the textbooks be classified according to subject area and grade level? 3. Are criteria available for use in determining the suitability of woodworking textbooks for a sound industrial arts program? 4. Are the available textbooks suitable for classroom use in the area of woodworking

Profitability of Installment Loans for Banks

For my capstone project, I have studied the profitability of installment loans for banks. To begin my paper, I start with the history of consumer credit: how it began, what it is now, and the legislation that rules it. I then go on to explain the different types of loans that are regulated by the legislation. These different types of loans are then broken down into two subtypes that are the focus of the paper -- direct and indirect loans. These loans are explained from the overall banking perspective. Next, I apply the information given in the start of the paper to a direct example using actual data gathered from a midsize bank in the DeKalb area. This actual data is put through a regression analysis to arrive at a final decision about which type of loan, direct or indirect, is more profitable for the bank.B.S. (Bachelor of Science

Nature of News: Effects of Added Levels of Conflict and Prominence

This study used a two-dimensional news model to explore "the nature of-news" and to investigate the news decision-making of 10 newspaper city editors. The primary objectives were to determine the similarities and differences of news value and news selection of the editors.Mass Communication

Evolutionary origins of sensation in metazoans: functional evidence for a new sensory organ in sponges

Background: One of the hallmarks of multicellular organisms is the ability of their cells to trigger responses to the environment in a coordinated manner. In recent years primary cilia have been shown to be present as 'antennae' on almost all animal cells, and are involved in cell-to-cell signaling in development and tissue homeostasis; how this sophisticated sensory system arose has been little-studied and its evolution is key to understanding how sensation arose in the Animal Kingdom. Sponges (Porifera), one of the earliest evolving phyla, lack conventional muscles and nerves and yet sense and respond to changes in their fluid environment. Here we demonstrate the presence of non-motile cilia in sponges and studied their role as flow sensors. Results: Demosponges excrete wastes from their body with a stereotypic series of whole-body contractions using a structure called the osculum to regulate the water-flow through the body. In this study we show that short cilia line the inner epithelium of the sponge osculum. Ultrastructure of the cilia shows an absence of a central pair of microtubules and high speed imaging shows they are non-motile, suggesting they are not involved in generating flow. In other animals non-motile, 'primary', cilia are involved in sensation. Here we show that molecules known to block cationic ion channels in primary cilia and which inhibit sensory function in other organisms reduce or eliminate sponge contractions. Removal of the cilia using chloral hydrate, or removal of the whole osculum, also stops the contractions; in all instances the effect is reversible, suggesting that the cilia are involved in sensation. An analysis of sponge transcriptomes shows the presence of several transient receptor potential (TRP) channels including PKD channels known to be involved in sensing changes in flow in other animals. Together these data suggest that cilia in sponge oscula are involved in flow sensation and coordination of simple behaviour. Conclusions: This is the first evidence of arrays of non-motile cilia in sponge oscula. Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that the cilia are sensory, and if true, the osculum may be considered a sensory organ that is used to coordinate whole animal responses in sponges. Arrays of primary cilia like these could represent the first step in the evolution of sensory and coordination systems in metazoans. © 2014 Ludeman et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd