Economic Obstacles to Education in Ireland

This policy note highlights the costs of sending a child to school in Ireland and explores the extent to which these represent a significant economic barrier to schooling for low-income families. It also evaluates the efforts to reduce early school leaving and examines the increasing commodification of education in Ireland

How the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Stalled COVID-19 for 22 Months and Managed its First Significant Community Transmission

OBJECTIVE: The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is a remote Pacific island territory with a population of 47 329 that successfully prevented the significant introduction of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) until late 2021. This study documents how the response to the introduction of COVID-19 in CNMI in 2021 was conducted with limited resources without overwhelming local clinical capacity or compromising health service delivery for the population. METHODS: Data from COVID-19 case investigations, contact tracing, the Commonwealth\u27s immunization registry and whole genome sequencing were collated and analysed as part of this study. RESULTS: Between 26 March 2020 and 31 December 2021, 3281 cases and 14 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in CNMI (case fatality rate, 0.4%). While notification rates were highest among younger age groups, hospitalization and mortality rates were disproportionately greater among those aged \u3e 50 years and among the unvaccinated. The first widespread community transmission in CNMI was detected in October 2021, with genomic epidemiology and contact tracing data indicating a single introduction event involving the AY.25 lineage and subsequent rapid community spread. Vaccination coverage was high before widespread transmission occurred in October 2021 and increased further over the study period. DISCUSSION: Robust preparedness and strong leadership generated resilience within the public health sector such that COVID-19 did not overwhelm CNMI\u27s health system as it did in other jurisdictions and countries around the world. At no point was hospital capacity exceeded, and all patients received adequate care without the need for health-care rationing

Leadership: Interpreting Life Patterns and their Managerial Significance

Purpose of this paper: To illuminate the managerial significance of life patterns and to assist development of qualitative methodology. Design/methodology/approach: The theoretical proposition of a Manager Quad (MQ) is empirically examined. Interview data from 16 managers are analysed using an interpretive frame. Methods of meaning generation are illustrated and this provides greater transparency and credibility of findings. Findings: Managers' characteristics are found to form thematic distinctions corresponding with outcomes of leader effectiveness and individual success. Research limitations/implications: The evidence suggests the worth of future qualitative research using explicit interpretive methods. Practical implications: Managers as mentors for leader development should be chosen according to the category in which they are assigned by research evidence. What is original/value of paper: The paper has value for researchers, management educators and practitioners. The importance of life patterns in the leader/manager debate is suggested with inferences drawn regarding management education

Northwest Forest Plan The First 20 Years (1994-2013): Watershed Condition Status and Trend

We used two data sets to evaluate stream and upslope/riparian condition for sixth-field watersheds in each aquatic province within the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) area. The stream evaluation was based on stream sampling data collected from 2002 to the 2013 (214 watersheds) as part of an eight year repeating (rotating) sample design. We are currently halfway through our second rotation of stream sampling, and have repeated 110 watersheds since the second rotation began in 2009. The analysis presented in this report uses roughly half the number of watersheds as was originally intended by the sample design since re-visitation will not be completed until 2017. In the meantime, we compare the first rotation of visits (2002-2009) to the first four years of the second rotation (2010-2013) giving us a general idea of current patterns. To evaluate stream condition we used a reference condition nearest neighbor statistical approach to calculate the stream physical habitat scores based on substrate, wood, and pool metrics for each watershed. Macroinvertebrates and water temperature were analyzed separately from physical habitat and provide additional assessment of overall watershed condition. Scores for both stream and upslope/riparian conditions were normalized to fall between 0 (poor) and 100 (good)

Subfossil lemur discoveries from the Beanka Protected Area in western Madagascar

A new fossil site in a previously unexplored part of western Madagascar (the Beanka Protected Area) has yielded remains of many recently extinct vertebrates, including giant lemurs (Babakotia radofilai, Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Pachylemur sp., and Archaeolemur edwardsi), carnivores (Cryptoprocta spelea), the aardvark-like Plesiorycteropus sp., and giant ground cuckoos (Coua). Many of these represent considerable range extensions. Extant species that were extirpated from the region (e.g., Prolemur simus) are also present. Calibrated radiocarbon ages for 10 bones from extinct primates span the last three millennia. The largely undisturbed taphonomy of bone deposits supports the interpretation that many specimens fell in from a rock ledge above the entrance. Some primates and other mammals may have been prey items of avian predators, but human predation is also evident. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) suggest that fossils were local to the area. Pottery sherds and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates with cut and chop marks indicate human activity in previous centuries. Scarcity of charcoal and human artifacts suggests only occasional visitation to the site by humans. The fossil assemblage from this site is unusual in that, while it contains many sloth lemurs, it lacks ratites, hippopotami, and crocodiles typical of nearly all other Holocene subfossil sites on Madagascar