A Work-Filled Retirement: Workers' Changing Views on Employment and Leisure-Full Report

A new national Work Trends survey finds that nearly 7 in 10 American workers plan to continue to work full- or part-time for pay following retirement from their main job. Another 14% plan to work as volunteers, while only 13% expect to stop working entirely. The report, based on a poll of 800 American workers conducted between May and mid-June 2005, also finds that older workers believe they are treated unfairly by employers, and also raises workers' concerns about the financial soundness of Social Security and Medicare

Investigating Privacy and Security Challenges of mHealth Applications

Privacy and mHealth are fast becoming an important influence on the U.S. healthcare system. The most visible element of mHealth is the profusion of mobile phone applications, especially ones related to wellness. Before researchers can fully examine the impact of mHealth on healthcare, barriers to use need to be addressed. One of the barriers most cited by medical professionals and patients is lack of adequate privacy and security policies and regulation for mHealth apps. In this paper the current state of data security in mobile apps is investigated by conducting a physical forensics analysis of several widely used mHealth applications. We report on the kinds of personal data that can be uncovered both before and after applications are removed and/or secured on a mobile device. These results can be used to develop a set of recommendations that can help to inform users, developers and policy stakeholders of best practices in this area. We also introduce a policy framework for mHealth apps and discuss future work

Inner ear dysfunction in caspase-3 deficient mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Caspase-3 is one of the most downstream enzymes activated in the apoptotic pathway. In caspase-3 deficient mice, loss of cochlear hair cells and spiral ganglion cells coincide closely with hearing loss. In contrast with the auditory system, details of the vestibular phenotype have not been characterized. Here we report the vestibular phenotype and inner ear anatomy in the caspase-3 deficient (<it>Casp3</it>^<it>-/-</it>) mouse strain.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Average ABR thresholds of <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>-/- </it>}mice were significantly elevated (<it>P </it>< 0.05) compared to <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/- </it>}mice and <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/+ </it>}mice at 3 months of age. In DPOAE testing, distortion product 2F1-F2 was significantly decreased (<it>P </it>< 0.05) in <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>-/- </it>}mice, whereas <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/- </it>}and <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/+ </it>}mice showed normal and comparable values to each other. <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>-/- </it>}mice were hyperactive and exhibited circling behavior when excited. In lateral canal VOR testing, <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>-/- </it>}mice had minimal response to any of the stimuli tested, whereas <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/- </it>}mice had an intermediate response compared to <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/+ </it>}mice. Inner ear anatomical and histological analysis revealed gross hypomorphism of the vestibular organs, in which the main site was the anterior semicircular canal. Hair cell numbers in the anterior- and lateral crista, and utricle were significantly smaller in <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>-/- </it>}mice whereas the <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/- </it>}and <it>Casp3</it>^{<it>+/+ </it>}mice had normal hair cell numbers.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results indicate that caspase-3 is essential for correct functioning of the cochlea as well as normal development and function of the vestibule.</p

The tactical mimicry of social enterprise strategies: acting ‘as if’ in the everyday life of third sector organizations

Using England as a paradigmatic case of the „enterprising up ‟ of the third sector through social enterprise policies and programs, this article sheds light on resistance as enacted through dramaturgical identification with government strategies. Drawing from a longitudinal qualitative research study, which is interpreted via Michel de Certeau‟s theory of the everyday, we present the case study of Teak, a charitable regeneration company, to illustrate how its Chief Executive Liam „acted as ‟ a social entrepreneur in order to gain access to important resources. We establish „tactical mimicry ‟ as a sensitizing concept to suggest that third sector practitioners ‟ identification with the normative premises of „social enterprise ‟ is part of a parasitical prosaics geared toward appropriating public money. While tactical mimicry conforms to strategies only in order to exploit them, its ultimate aim is to increase potentials of collective agency outside the direct influence of power. The contribution we make is threefold: first, we extend the recent debate on productive resistance by highlighting how „playing the game ‟ without changing existing relations of power can nevertheless produce largely favorable outcomes. Second, we suggest that recognition of the productive potential of tactical mimicry requires methodologies which pay attention to the spatial and temporal dynamics of resistance. And third, we argue that explaining „social enterprise‟ without consideration of the non-discursive, mainly financial resources made available to those who identify with it, necessarily risks overlooking a crucial element of the dramaturgical dynamic of discourse

Lava geochemistry as a probe into crustal formation at the East Pacific Rise

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 25, no. 1 (2012): 89–93, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2012.06.Basalt lavas comprise the greatest volume of volcanic rocks on Earth, and most of them erupt along the world's mid-ocean ridges (MORs). These MOR basalts (MORBs) are generally thought to be relatively homogeneous in composition over large segments of the global ridge system (e.g., Klein, 2005). However, detailed sampling of two different regions on the northern East Pacific Rise (EPR) and extensive analysis of the samples show that fine-scale mapping and sampling of the ridge axis can reveal significant variations in lava chemistry on both small spatial and short temporal scales. The two most intensely sampled sites within the EPR Integrated Study Site (ISS) lie on and off axis between 9°17'N and 10°N, and from a wide region centered around 9°N where two segments of the EPR overlap (see Fornari et al., 2012, Figure 3, in this issue). The chemical composition of erupted lavas, similar to the genotype of an organism, can be used by igneous petrologists to trace the evolution of magmas from the mantle to the seafloor. The extensive and detailed geochemical studies at the EPR highlight how a thorough understanding of the variability in lava compositions on small spatial scales (i.e., between lava flows) and large spatial scales (i.e., from segment center to segment end and including discontinuities in the ridge crest) can be used in combination with seafloor photography, lava morphology, and bathymetry to provide insights into the magmatic system that drives volcanism and influences hydrothermal chemistry and biology at a fast-spreading MOR.Grants that supported EPR ISS field and laboratory studies for our research programs include: MRP: OCE-0138088, OCE-0819469, OCE-825265, OCE-638406, OCE-527077, OCE-535532; DJF: OCE-9819261, OCE-0525863, OCE-0838923, OCE-0096468, OCE-0732366, and OCE-0112737

Net neutrality discourses: comparing advocacy and regulatory arguments in the United States and the United Kingdom

Telecommunications policy issues rarely make news, much less mobilize thousands of people. Yet this has been occurring in the United States around efforts to introduce "Net neutrality" regulation. A similar grassroots mobilization has not developed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe. We develop a comparative analysis of U.S. and UK Net neutrality debates with an eye toward identifying the arguments for and against regulation, how those arguments differ between the countries, and what the implications of those differences are for the Internet. Drawing on mass media, advocacy, and regulatory discourses, we find that local regulatory precedents as well as cultural factors contribute to both agenda setting and framing of Net neutrality. The differences between national discourses provide a way to understand both the structural differences between regulatory cultures and the substantive differences between policy interpretations, both of which must be reconciled for the Internet to continue to thrive as a global medium

Net neutrality discourses: comparing advocacy and regulatory arguments in the United States and the United Kingdom

Telecommunications policy issues rarely make news, much less mobilize thousands of people. Yet this has been occurring in the United States around efforts to introduce "Net neutrality" regulation. A similar grassroots mobilization has not developed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe. We develop a comparative analysis of U.S. and UK Net neutrality debates with an eye toward identifying the arguments for and against regulation, how those arguments differ between the countries, and what the implications of those differences are for the Internet. Drawing on mass media, advocacy, and regulatory discourses, we find that local regulatory precedents as well as cultural factors contribute to both agenda setting and framing of Net neutrality. The differences between national discourses provide a way to understand both the structural differences between regulatory cultures and the substantive differences between policy interpretations, both of which must be reconciled for the Internet to continue to thrive as a global medium

P-rex1 cooperates with PDGFRβ to drive cellular migration in 3D microenvironments

Expression of the Rac-guanine nucleotide exchange factor (RacGEF), P-Rex1 is a key determinant of progression to metastasis in a number of human cancers. In accordance with this proposed role in cancer cell invasion and metastasis, we find that ectopic expression of P-Rex1 in an immortalised human fibroblast cell line is sufficient to drive multiple migratory and invasive phenotypes. The invasive phenotype is greatly enhanced by the presence of a gradient of serum or platelet-derived growth factor, and is dependent upon the expression of functional PDGF receptor β. Consistently, the invasiveness of WM852 melanoma cells, which endogenously express P-Rex1 and PDGFRβ, is opposed by siRNA of either of these proteins. Furthermore, the current model of P-Rex1 activation is advanced through demonstration of P-Rex1 and PDGFRβ as components of the same macromolecular complex. These data suggest that P-Rex1 has an influence on physiological migratory processes, such as invasion of cancer cells, both through effects upon classical Rac1-driven motility and a novel association with RTK signalling complexes

A Youth Compendium of Physical Activities: Activity Codes and Metabolic Intensities

A Youth Compendium of Physical Activities (Youth Compendium) was developed to estimate the energy costs of physical activities using data on youth only