Who Shrunk China? Puzzles in the Measurement of Real GDP

The latest World Bank estimates of real GDP per capita for China are significantly lower than previous ones. We review possible sources of this puzzle and conclude that it reflects a combination of factors, including substitution bias in consumption, reliance on urban prices which we estimate are higher than rural ones, and the use of an expenditure-weighted rather than an output-weighted measure of GDP. Taking all these together, we estimate that real per-capita GDP in China was 50% higher relative to the U.S. in 2005 than the World Bank estimates.

Investing in careers: What is career guidance worth?

Career describes our pathway through life, learning and work. It is how we make a difference in the world and how we balance the competing demands on our time. When individuals make good choices about their education and training, access decent work, balance their various responsibilities and develop and progress throughout life, we have well-functioning societies. We have done extensive costing work to estimate how much the government is currently spending on career guidance and to compare that to the level of spend in 2009. We estimate the figures as follows: • We currently spend £68 per person, per year on the delivery of career guidance to young people. The equivalent figure in 2009 (adjusted for inflation) was £159. • We currently spend £26 per person, per year on the delivery of career guidance to adults. The equivalent figure in 2009 (adjusted for inflation) was £35. The level of investment is one of the major issues that career guidance in England faces. However, it is not the only one. Funding is currently highly fragmented and dependent on a series of local decisions in schools, colleges, universities and local authorities. There is a desperate need to manage funding more strategically to ensure greater consistency. The career guidance workforce has also been depleted and the system has been de-professionalised. There is a need to take actions to improve quality and strengthen the professionalism of the system. The Career Guidance Guarantee represents is a thought through and costed plan to achieve the improvements that are needed. To implement it in full we would need to spend an additional £315m on youth careers services and an additional £235m on adult careers services. This equates to an average additional spend of £47 per person on career guidance for young people and an additional £6 per head on working age adults. This represents a very modest new investment, which when combined with the other reforms in the Career Guidance Guarantee would lead to a much more effective system. Career guidance is a powerful intervention that can make a substantial difference to the lives of those who are able to access it. Currently too few people in England are able to access career guidance or are even aware that services are available and those that do get it often find that it is too poorly resourced. Government needs to take a more strategic approach, professionalise the system and ensure its quality and begin a programme of new investment. The Career Guidance Guarantee represents a clear and costed blueprint as to how this can be achieved

Enhancing teaching and learning through dialogue: a student and staff partnership model

This paper explores a model for developing student and staff partnerships to enhance the quality of teaching and learning and situates the model in literature on student engagement. The model enables staff and students to step outside their normal roles and the traditional student-teacher relationship into a less pre-defined mode of interaction and liminal space where conversations about teaching and learning can take place. At the most transformative, this model enables academic staff to get a sense of learner perspectives and to view students as partners and collaborators while students develop insights into the perspectives of staff. The authors argue that the model represents an innovative approach to engaging students in a meaningful way in enhancing teaching and learning and has the potential to reframe the student-teacher relationship into a more collaborative one that goes beyond listening to students

Local DC electricity generated by photovoltaics (PV): Transforming the electricity infrastructure of the 21st Century

United States aging electricity infrastructure of generation, transmission and distribution facilities was built over the course of a century and is dominated by alternating current (AC). Most of the loads around us are direct current (DC) load. Commercial buildings have more than 80% DC loads. DC has many advantages over AC. Due to the advancements in power electronics today, DC infrastructure can be implemented with all the advantages of saving energy and improved reliability of the grid. By doing measurements of cell phones we will demonstrate the advantages of DC source over AC. We expect energy saving of about 25-30% by using DC in place of AC. At Edison\u27s time there was no local source of DC electricity. Today solar panels are available and the installed PV system cost is as low as $1.50 per peak watt. Due to growth of electric vehicles and grid storage, battery cost is also decreasing every day. Tesla (an electric car manufacturer) is going to build a Giga watt battery manufacturing plant in US. The combination of PV and battery storage will transform the electricity infrastructure of the 21st century

Motion Tracking System in Surgical Training

Introduction: Simulation technology is evolving and becoming the focus of attention in surgical training. The development of this technology in assessing open surgical skills is far behind when compared to minimally invasive surgery (MIS) training. Surgical skills such as suturing and tying surgical knots are assessed by an observational tool. It is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Therefore, we explored the potential use of motion tracking system as a non-observational assessment tool for basic surgical skills

Laparoscopic Repair of Postoperative Perineal Hernia

Perineal hernias are infrequent complications following abdominoperineal operations. Various approaches have been described for repair of perineal hernias including open transabdominal, transperineal or combined abdominoperineal repairs. The use of laparoscopic transabdominal repair of perineal hernias is not well-described. We present a case report demonstrating the benefits of laparoscopic repair of perineal hernia following previous laparoscopic abdominoperineal resection (APR) using a nonabsorbable mesh to repair the defect. We have demonstrated that the use of laparoscopy with repair of the pelvic floor defect using a non absorbable synthetic mesh offers an excellent alternative with many potential advantages over open transabdominal and transperineal repairs

Muscle oxygenation trends after tapering in trained cyclists

BACKGROUND: This study examined muscle deoxygenation trends before and after a 7-day taper using non-invasive near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). METHODS: Eleven cyclists performed an incremental cycle ergometer test to determine maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2)max = 4.68 ± 0.57 L·min(-1)) prior to the study, and then completed two or three high intensity (85–90% VO(2)max) taper protocols after being randomly assigned to a taper group: T30 (n = 5), T50 (n = 5), or T80 (n = 5) [30%, 50%, 80% reduction in training volume, respectively]. Physiological measurements were recorded during a simulated 20 km time trials (20TT) performed on a set of wind-loaded rollers. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results showed that the physiological variables of oxygen consumption (VO(2)), carbon dioxide (VCO(2)) and heart rate (HR) were not significantly different after tapering, except for a decreased ventilatory equivalent for oxygen (V(E)/VO(2)) in T50 (p ≤ 0.05). However, during the 20TT muscle deoxygenation measured continuously in the vastus medialis was significantly lower (-749 ± 324 vs. -1140 ± 465 mV) in T50 after tapering, which was concomitant with a 4.53% improvement (p = 0.057) in 20TT performance time, and a 0.18 L·min(-1 )(4.5%) increase in VO(2). Furthermore, when changes in performance time and tissue deoxygenation (post- minus pre-taper) were plotted (n = 11), a moderately high correlation was found (r = 0.82). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that changes in simulated 20TT performance appeared to be related, in part, to changes in muscle deoxygenation following tapering, and that NIRS can be used effectively to monitor muscle deoxygenation during a taper period

Dietary transition and obesity in selected Arabic-speaking countries: a review of the current evidence

Escalating obesity rates have become a significant public health problem in the Middle East and North Africa [‎MENA]‎ region and have been associated with shifts towards a westernized diet. This integrative review aimed to examine the current dietary trends and transitions and their association with obesity in Arabic-speaking countries of the MENA region. Relevant databases were searched for studies in MENA countries between 1998 and 2014 that investigated obesity trends and changes in dietary patterns at the regional level in all age groups. A total of 39 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All the articles noted that obesity was increasingly prevalent and that there was a significant dietary shift away from traditional dietary patterns; 51% reported a shift towards a westernized diet and half found that the western diet was correlated with increased obesity. Culturally relevant dietary health education and health promotion strategies are warranted to address both the dietary shifts towards the westernized diet and the increasing obesit