The measurement of training opportunities course outcomes: an effective policy tool?

Training Opportunities is an active labour market policy initiative, and part of a response to the entrenched problems of unemployment in Aotearoa New Zealand. The funding and implementation of Training Opportunities are determined in part by a particular system for measuring course outcomes. This paper argues that this measuring system should not be used for policy development, due to measurement errors and problems assigning causality to the intervention. Consequently, various disincentives arise that contradict the objectives of Training Opportunities. While accountability is important, the over-reliance on the narrowly defined Training Opportunities outcomes undermines the ability of providers to assist the unemployed, and thereby contribute to the policy goals of reducing unemployment and labour market disadvantage in New Zealand

A critical appraisal of the works of Louis MacNeice

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe purpose of the dissertation is to appraise the qualities of Louis MacNeice's poetry, to discover its relationship to his critical theories, and to determine its development since his first important work in the nineteen-thirties. That there has been a development has not always been recognized; there have been no full length studies of MacNeice's work, and the short discussions of his poetry have been primarily concerned with his place in the Auden Group. Poetry, MacNeice came to believe, is essentially a communication of some truth, rising out of the poet's own experience but bearing an essential relationship to more universal truths, grounded in a belief held by the poet but shared by other men, and striving through the ritual of its expression to extend its grasp of truth beyond the limits of empirical reality to the Unknown. The poet's duty is to find an organic relationship with the life of the community that he may speak to the common man. The changing themes in MacNeice's poetry are the result of his attempt to apply these theories [TRUNCATED

Mummies in the Closet: A Cultural Reading of Women Murderers

Lizzie Seal entwickelt in ihrer kulturkriminologischen Auseinandersetzung Women, Murder and Femininity: Gender Representations of Women Who Kill (2010) eine Typologie von fünf Weiblichkeitsdiskursen, die auf Geschlechterkonstruktionen in gerichtlichen und außergerichtlichen Repräsentationen mordender Frauen basieren (die Hexe, die maskuline Frau, die versehrte Persönlichkeit, die Muse und/oder Drahtzieherin sowie die ehrbare Frau). Ihre Analyse, die sich auf Archivdokumente britischer Mordfälle der 1950er/60er Jahre sowie auf Repräsentationen berühmt berüchtigter Mörderinnen stützt, gibt Aufschluss über die erzieherische Funktion der Geschlechterkonstruktionen. Darüber hinaus gewährt Seals Untersuchung Einblicke in die symbolische Bedeutung von Weiblichkeit im Großbritannien der 1950er/60er Jahre.In her book Women, Murder and Femininity: Gender Representations of Women Who Kill (2010) Lizzie Seal develops a typology of five discourses of womanhood as they appear in cultural and legal narratives surrounding unusual murders committed by women: discourses of the witch, the masculine woman, the damaged personality, the muse and/or mastermind, and the respectable woman. Seal’s close reading of original archival material of 1950s/60s British murder cases as well as of portrayals of notorious women killers sheds light on the disciplinary nature of the discourses with regard to gender, and offers insights into symbolic meanings of femininity in 1950s/60s British culture

The reformation in Sweden and its culmination under Gustavus Adolphus

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1929. No page 109. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

Beziehung zwischen der Körperzusammensetzung und dem endokrinen crosstalk von Geweben bei älteren Menschen

Increased demographic pressure due to a rising life expectancy and growing proportion of older adults in the total population results in challenges for the state, society, economy and healthcare sector. Aging-associated changes in body composition and hormone production favor the development of an obese osteosarcopenic phenotype that is characterized by sarcopenia (reduced muscle mass and/or muscle strength), osteoporosis (low bone mineral density) and increased body fat (overweight/obesity). This triad of conditions results in adverse health outcomes including a higher risk of frailty, cognitive impairment and mortality. The present thesis contributes to an improved diagnosis of a low muscle mass that is needed for secondary prevention and therapy. In addition, analysis of the hormonal crosstalk between skeletal muscle, bone and adipose tissue leads to a better understanding of the etiology of the obese osteosarcopenic phenotype.Der zunehmende demografische Wandel durch die steigende Lebenserwartung und den kontinuierlich wachsenden Anteil älterer Erwachsener an der Gesamtbevölkerung führt zu Herausforderungen für den Staat, die Gesellschaft, die Wirtschaft und den Gesundheitssektor. Altersbedingte Veränderungen der Körperzusammensetzung und der Hormonproduktion begünstigen die Entwicklung eines adipösen osteosarkopenen Phänotyps, der durch Sarkopenie (reduzierte Muskelmasse und/oder Muskelkraft), Osteoporose (niedrige Knochenmineraldichte) und erhöhtes Körperfett (Übergewicht/Adipositas) gekennzeichnet ist. Diese Triade übt negative gesundheitliche Folgen aus wie ein erhöhtes Risiko für Gebrechlichkeit, kognitive Beeinträchtigungen und Mortalität. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag für eine verbesserte Diagnose einer niedrigen Muskelmasse, die für die Sekundärprävention und Therapie erforderlich ist. Darüber hinaus trägt die Analyse des hormonellen Zusammenspiels zwischen Skelettmuskel, Knochen und Fettgewebe zu einem erweiterten Verständnis der Ätiologie des adipösen osteosarkopenen Phänotyps bei

Robert Browning and music.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University N.B.:Page 44 is mislabeled. No content is missing

Enfants en surpoids, quelles conséquences sur la vie scolaire ?

Ce travail a pour but d’approfondir le sujet du surpoids. Tout d’abord, les aspects physiologiques et relationnels seront abordés. Ils permettront de répondre notamment aux questions suivantes: qu’est-ce-ce que le surpoids ? Quelles sont ses conséquences sur le corps humain ? Existe-t-il une forme de discrimination envers les élèves en surpoids ? Cette première partie prend sa source dans les ouvrages théoriques liés au surpoids et au harcèlement moral. Ensuite, un aspect pratique sera présenté et analysé, il correspond aux entrevues menées avec quatre enfants en surpoids qui participent à un programme visant l’équilibre ou la perte de poids. Les résultats des différents aspects indiquent qu’une discrimination existe au sein des établissements scolaires et qu’il est difficile de la déceler dans un premier temps et de la limiter par la suite. La conclusion propose des résultats propres au contexte de la recherche et quelques pistes d’action transposables dans des situations d’enseignement

Training the 'disadvantaged' unemployed: Policy frameworks and community responses to unemployment

This research examines active labour market policy, and in particular, training schemes targeted towards unemployed individuals who are the most disadvantaged in the labour market in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The purpose of this research is to first, highlight the main tensions between the current policy frameworks for the design and the practice of such training. The second purpose is to offer explanations for these tensions by highlighting the competitive free-market and rational individualistic assumptions that underpin the current frameworks and, in particular, how these constrain the 'choices' and possibilities for the most disadvantaged unemployed. The study identifies and examines State Active Neoliberalism, as a specific place-time articulation of neoliberalism, adopted by two successive Labour-led governments in New Zealand from 1999-2005. Thirdly, a community development theoretical framework is proposed to underpin recommendations that could support more enabling and empowering policies for the most disadvantaged unemployed and the organisations that seek to assist them. The thesis draws on case studies of major State-funded training schemes for long-term unemployed individuals to illustrate the 'on-the-ground' consequences of the discursive shifts in policy rhetoric. This research combines an in-depth, qualitative field research approach with a critical analysis of policy frameworks and political representations of unemployment, training and labour market issues in documents, publications and communications. The findings of this research are that a competitive quasi-market for training provision and the increased reliance on narrow outcome measurements, position commercial imperatives ahead of assisting the most disadvantaged unemployed. In order to remain viable, training organisations are increasingly faced with the need to sacrifice social motivations for commercial survival. This situation erodes the scope, at the local level, for services that are relevant to the various needs and circumstances of disadvantaged unemployed people. While the overarching policy discourses maintain that training schemes serve the needs of the most disadvantaged unemployed, policy mechanisms and competitive labour market contexts undermine such objectives. Not only are the most disadvantaged unemployed people frequently unable to access services claiming to be for their benefit, they are by definition less likely to succeed in the context of competitive labour markets and individualised society

Functional characterisation of the hypertrehalosaemic hormone from the Indian stick insect Carausius morosus: metabolic and myotropic studies

Neuropeptides of the adipokinetic hormone/red pigment concentrating hormone (AKH/RPCH) family are well known as regulators for many physiological processes in insects, notably energy metabolism, and a possible role in myostimulation. The Indian stick insect Carausius morosus contains two members of this family, hypertrehalosaemic hormone I and II (Carmo-HrTH-I and -II). Both these are decapeptides and they differ only at position 8, where the tryptophan of Carmo-HrTH-I is C‐mannosylated. It is known that Carmo-HrTHs increase the carbohydrate (trehalose) concentration in the haemolymph via a G protein-coupled receptor. The current study seeks to identify which part of the HrTH amino acid sequence is necessary to interact with the receptor on the fat body of C. morosus to trigger a response (hypertrehalosaemia) eventually leading to the release of carbohydrates into the haemolymph. In addition, the role of Carmo-HrTHs in stimulating the heart rate through myostimulation was also investigated. Two biological assays were used to assess the potencies of various analogues, in comparison to that of the native peptides: (1) the carbohydrate-mobilizing assay assessed the increase in levels of carbohydrates; and (2) the semi-exposed heart assay assessed the increase in heart rates. The current study confirmed that both Carmo-HrTH-I and -II are capable of increasing the haemolymph carbohydrates in ligated stick insects. The results of the current study revealed, for the first time, that these peptides also similarly stimulate the heart rate of the stick insect. Thus, Carmo-HrTH-II was used as a lead peptide in the current study on which various naturally-occurring AKH peptides and systematically altered analogues were based. The selected naturally-occurring AKH peptides had a single or double amino acids replacement in comparison to Carmo-HrTH-II and some were octapeptides. Each systematically altered analogue of the native Carausius HrTH II had a single amino acid replaced with alanine. Additionally, two analogues that lacked the N-terminal pyroglutamate residue or had a free threonine acid at the C-terminus instead of an amide were also tested. The results showed that the N- or C- terminal modified analogues have no hypertrehalosaemic activity in C. morosus and are also incapable of increasing the heart rate of this insect as high as Carmo-HrTH-II. This suggests that the blocked termini are important features, for both peptide protection and receptor binding. The structural requirements of C. morosus receptor(s) for Carmo-HrTHs appear to be very specific. The receptor(s) do not accept octapeptides and only four out of the fourteen decapeptides elicited at least 46% of the biological activity as compared to the native peptide and the rest (ten) were not active. This implies that the HrTHs receptor (s) for C. morosus do not tolerate the replacement of most single amino acids. In the heart assay, known cardio-stimulatory peptides were applied to the semi-exposed heart of C. morosus to establish the potential extent of cardioexcitation. The results of this study revealed that crustacean cardioactive peptide and proctolin are capable of increasing the heart beat rate of the stick insect more than the AKH/RPCH peptides. It was also shown that the stick insect heart beat rate can be inhibited by octopamine. This is the first study to investigate, in detail, the importance of structural features of the hypertrehalosaemic hormones of the Phasmatodea insects, and is therefore an important contribution to designing environmentally friendly insect-specific pesticides