Trade Technology and Employment: A case Study of South Africa

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of trade on employment in South Africa. Firstly, it considers the correlation between trade liberalisation and factor demand in South African manufacturing during the 1990s. Secondly, it investigates the impact of trade on labour using a Chenery (1979) style decomposition technique, following Edwards (2001a, 2001b, 2005b) and Jenkins (2002). It develops the earlier work by exploring both the indirect and the indirect effects and investigating variations in the regional impact of trade on factor demand during the 1990s. This suggests that technological change accounts for the bulk of jobs lost in manufacturing during the 1990s. To investigate, whether this reflects exogenous technological change or trade-induced technological change requires undertaking an econometric analysis and this explores the impact of trade on technological change through an induced labour demand model. This finds a strong effect of exogenous technological progress but only limited evidence that increased trade flows and trade liberalisation induced improvements in labour productivity.Trade; technology; employment; industrial panel

The Clock-Proxy Auction: A Practical Combinatorial Auction Design

We propose the clock-proxy auction as a practical means for auctioning many related items. A clock auction phase is followed by a last-and-final proxy round. The approach combines the simple and transparent price discovery of the clock auction with the efficiency of the proxy auction. Linear pricing is maintained as long as possible, but then is abandoned in the proxy round to improve efficiency and enhance seller revenues. The approach has many advantages over the simultaneous ascending auction. In particular, the clock-proxy auction has no exposure problem, eliminates incentives for demand reduction, and prevents most collusive bidding strategies.Auctions, Combinatorial Auctions, Market Design, Clock Auctions

What happens in group supervision? Exploring current practice in Australia

This article presents qualitative findings from a study of seven group coaching supervisors and 57 coaches participating in those groups. The purpose of the research was to further explore why people seek group supervision, what benefits they derive, and how group supervision works. Supervisors and coaches recognised the role of the supervisor in bringing together the right mix of coaches, in establishing and maintaining a clear working agreement, managing a clear process, and role modelling appropriate behaviours. A possible discrepancy in perspective between supervisors and coaches was observed, specifically the extent to which all participants adopt a systemic perspective

Race Director for Run for Randi 5k Road Race

This capstone project is a passion project of mine that I’ve been wanting to put on in efforts to bring awareness to domestic violence, and if the project goes as planned and reaches the goal, funds will be raised for Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Randi, a family friend of mine, lost her life to a domestic violence situation nine years ago, and every year my wife and I put on a benefit dinner with Randi’s family to raise funds for the YWCA, and this year in addition to the benefit dinner that is put on annual, we will be doing a 5k Road Race in the town of South Berwick, Maine

Selected topics in non-Euclidean geometry

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1930 E8

Where is the evidence: realising the value of grey literature for public policy and practice

This paper discusses the ways in which the internet has profoundly changed how we produce, use and collect research and information for public policy and practice, particularly focusing on the benefits and challenges presented by grey literature. The authors argue that grey literature (i.e. material produced and published by organisations  without recourse to the commercial or scholarly publishing industry) is a key part of the evidence produced and used for public policy and practice. Through surveys of users, producing organisations and collecting services a detailed picture is provided of the role, importance and economic value of grey literature. However, finding and accessing policy information is a time-consuming task made harder by poor production and management of resources and a lack of large-scale collection services able to host and make available  relevant, high-quality resources quickly and efficiently. The paper makes recommendations for changes that would maximise the benefits of grey literature in the public interest and seeks feedback from readers to inform the final report of the research project. Public policy work increasingly relies on a wide range of resources — some are traditional scholarly publications, but the majority are ‘grey literature’. Reports, discussion papers, briefings, reviews and data sets produced by government, academic centres, NGOs, think tanks and companies are heavily used and highly valued in policy and practice work, forming a key part of the evidence base. The huge amount of information and research published online provides unprecedented access to knowledge, from a wide range of sources, enabling a much greater level of understanding and participation in public interest issues. It also brings a number of challenges: searching, sifting, evaluating and accessing information and research are time-consuming and often frustrating tasks occupying a large portion of the work hours of those engaged in policy work. Online publishing also creates a new paradigm for those whose task it is to support policy and practice work through effective resource provision and information management. As a result, digital curation of policy resources, particularly grey literature, is dispersed and fragmented, creating a digital black hole of resources that are lost from online access over time. The aim of the Grey Literature Strategies research project is to investigate grey literature’s role and importance in policy work and find ways to enhance its value. A key method used was online surveys of producers, users, and collectors of information and research for policy and practice, conducted during 2013

Genetic and Immune Predictors for Hypersensitivity Syndrome to Antiepileptic Drugs

Hypersensitivity syndrome reactions (HSR) to antiepileptic drugs (AED) are associated with severe clinical cutaneous adverse reactions (SCAR).Our aims are: to assess HSRs to AEDs using the in vitro lymphocyte toxicity assay (LTA) in patients who manifested HSRs clinically, to correlate LTA results with the clinical syndrome, to correlate LTA results with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele B*1502 (HLA-B*1502) positivity in a Han Chinese-Canadian population, and to determine the cytokine network in this population. HSR patients developed fever and cutaneous eruptions in the presence or absence of organ involvement within 8 weeks of exposure to carbamazepine (CBZ), phenytoin (PHY) or lamotrigine (LTG). Control patients received AEDs without presenting HSR. We investigated 10 CBZ-HSR (4 presented with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)), 24 CBZ-controls, 10 PHY-HSR (4 presented with drug-induced liver injury (DILI)), 24 PHY-controls, 6 LTG-HSR (1 SJS and 1 DILI) and 24 LTG-controls. There were 30 Han Chinese individuals (14 HSR patients and 16 controls) in our cohort. LTA toxicity greater than 12.5%±2.5% was considered positive. Differences among groups were determined by analysis of variance. In addition, we measured cytokine secretion in the patient sera between 1 month and 3 years after the event. All Han Chinese individuals and 30% of Caucasians were genotyped for HLA-B*1502.A perfect correlation (r=0.92) was observed between positive LTA and clinical diagnosis of DILI and SJS/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). HLA-B*1502 positivity in Han Chinese is a predictor of CBZ-HSR and PHY-HSR. HLA-B*1502-negative Han Chinese receiving only CBZ or a combination of CBZ-PHY tolerated the drug(s) clinically, presenting negative CBZ-LTA and PHY-LTA. However, 3 patients presenting negative CBZ-LTA and PHY-LTA, as well as negative HLA-B*1502, showed positive LTG-LTA (38%, 28% and 25%, respectively), implying that they should not be prescribed LTG. Three patients had LTA positive to both PHY and CBZ, and 3 others had LTA positive to both PHY and LTG. Clinically, all six patients presented HSR to both drugs that they tested positive to (cross-reactivity). Patients were grouped based on the clinical presentation of their symptoms as only rash and fever or a triad that characterizes "true" HSR (rash, fever and DILI or SJS/TEN). Levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher in patient sera compared to control sera. More specifically, the highest levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α was measured in patients presenting "true" HSR, as were the apoptotic markers Fas, caspase 8 activity and M30. We concluded that LTA is sensitive for DILI and SJS/TEN regardless of drug or ethnicity. HSR prediction will prevent AED-induced morbidity. In Han Chinese, HLA-B*1502 positivity is a predictor for CBZ-HSR and PHY-HSR. Its negativity does not predict a negative LTG-HSR. There is cross-reactivity between AEDs. Additionally, T-cell cytokines and chemokines control the pathogenesis of SJS/TEN and DILI, contributing to apoptotic processes in the liver and in the skin