Participatory Technology Assessment for Mars Mission Planning: Public Values and Rationales

Public support and interest are needed to design an ambitious human spaceflight program. However, it is difficult to understand what the public values and would support. And it is even more challenging and rare to consider public views prior to actually developing a mission. Participatory technology assessment (pTA) is a method that aims to understand public preferences and values in order to inform upstream government decision-making. We assess a recently completed experiment in pTA, the "Informing NASA's Asteroid Initiative" project. Through a cooperative agreement with NASA, the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST) network conducted a pTA-based forum on NASA's Asteroid Initiative and the Journey to Mars. ECAST organized two citizen forums in Phoenix, Arizona and Boston, Massachusetts in November 2014, with a total of 183 citizens selected so as to minimize self-selection biases. This paper focuses on the "Journey to Mars" session, which had the primary goal of soliciting citizen perceptions about different Mars exploration scenarios and mission planning approaches. Citizens were given background information about three potential Mars exploration scenarios that NASA could carry out: 1) Crewed orbital mission to direct robots on the surface of Mars; 2) Short exploratory crewed mission to the surface of Mars; and 3) establishing a permanent settlement. Citizens then engaged in structured facilitated discussions about their preferences among the scenarios and NASA's mission planning approach. Using a grounded theory coding approach, we analyzed participants' written rationales and dialogue about Mars exploration. In general, participants did not show a strong preference for any particular mission profile, but there was a slight preference for the crewed orbital robotics scenario. Participants who supported this approach saw it as the quickest, safest, and least costly road to a successful mission. However, many participants were interested in seeing "boots on the ground," as they believed this would propel scientific advancement, increase excitement about space exploration, and make humans a "two-planet species.

REVIEW: Peachtree Creek: A Natural and Unnatural History of Atlanta’s Watershed

Review of the non-fiction book Peachtree Creek: A Natural and Unnatural History of Atlanta’s Watershed, by David R. Kaufman

Uncovering New Roles For The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AHR) In Breast Cancer

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that is responsive to many exogenous and endogenous ligands. AHR is of particular interest in cancer, and has been shown to play roles in tumor progression. As such, it has received growing attention as a possible chemotherapeutic target. Obesity increases the risk of breast cancer, complicates treatment of breast cancer, and stimulates the growth of larger, more aggressive mammary tumors. Many breast tumors in obese women are estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and, while targeting hormone receptors like ER is beneficial, many obese women see a recurrence of their cancer after standard chemotherapy regimens. Breast tumors also highly express AHR, which has made AHR targeting compounds (both agonists and antagonists) the subject of intense research in breast cancer models over the last decade. Our laboratory has uncovered several novel aspects of AHR signaling in response to cytokines, growth factors, and environmental toxicants, specifically the prototypical AHR agonist, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) which underlie its role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. We found that silencing AHR expression in breast tumor cells can block the growth response to adipokines (adipocyte-secreted factors), which are secreted into the breast tumor microenvironment by adipocytes. We have also shown AHR recruitment to the cyclin D1 (CCND1) gene promoter to increase the expression of this important oncogene involved in cell cycle progression upon insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-2 stimulus. AHR was also found to be necessary for basal and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) induced expression of superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2), which encodes manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), a crucial protein in the oxidative stress pathway. Finally, we have shown AHR is needed for the expression of solute carrier family 7 (amino acid transporter light chain, L system) member 5 (SLC7A5), which encodes L-type amino acid transporter 1 (LAT1) in breast tumor cells. The findings presented in this dissertation suggest targeting the AHR with antagonists to treat breast cancer would be the most beneficial strategy, as AHR has been implicated in several aspects of tumor initiation and progression

No. 65: Brain Drain and Regain: The Migration Behaviour of South African Medical Professionals

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that the cost to South Africa in lost investment in training from the emigration of health physicians to Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom amounts to USD1.4 billion. Previous studies have predicted that medical migration from South Africa is unlikely to subside in the short and medium term as health professionals and trainees exhibit very high emigration potential. This report provides an updated (2013) picture of the state of mind of South African health professionals. It also allows an assessment of whether professional attitudes and perceptions have changed between 2007 and 2013 including (a) whether levels of satisfaction with work and life in South Africa have improved or worsened; (b) whether emigration potential has declined or intensified amongst health professionals and (c) whether the “brain drain” from South Africa is likely to continue. These questions are of particular relevance given various changes in the health sector since 2007. Return migration has been advocated internationally as an antidote to the brain drain and an important downstream benefit for countries of origin in the South. This report therefore provides important new information about the implications of health professional return migration to South Africa. Another strategy adopted by some countries is to use immigration policy as a means of dealing with health professional shortages. South Africa is a destination country for health professionals from some countries although, with the exception of official schemes to temporarily import Cuban and Tunisian doctors, this is not official policy. Significantly, the medical professions have only just appeared on the government scarceskills lists that have been published for nearly a decade. This survey provided an opportunity to profile a sub-group of non-South African doctors to assess whether they are more inclined to remain in the country than their South African counterparts. The current survey was developed in collaboration with the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa as part of a CIHR-funded global project on health professional migration from India, Jamaica, the Philippines and South Africa. The questionnaire was hosted on the MEDpages website and potential respondents were invited by email to complete the survey. A total of 1,383 completed questionnaires were received from physicians, dentists and pharmacists – a response rate of 7%

Brain Drain and Regain: The Migration Behaviour of South African Medical Professionals (Migration Policy Series No. 65)

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has experienced a significant outflow of health professionals. The out-migration of health professionals from the country is part of a broader global trend of health professional migration from the Global South to the Global North. In the health sector, this “brain drain” has led to a significant decline in the quality of care in affected countries. The costs of health professional migration for countries of origin are usually measured in terms of lost investment in training and the gaps in medical care left by their departure. One recent study, for example, estimated that the cost to South Africa in lost investment in training from the emigration of health physicians to Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom amounts to USD1.4 billion. Previous studies have predicted that medical migration from South Africa is unlikely to subside in the short and medium term as health professionals and trainees exhibit very high emigration potential. This report provides an updated (2013) picture of the state of mind of South African health professionals. It also allows an assessment of whether professional attitudes and perceptions have changed between 2007 and 2013 including (a) whether levels of satisfaction with work and life in South Africa have improved or worsened; (b) whether emigration potential has declined or intensified amongst health professionals and (c) whether the “brain drain” from South Africa is likely to continue. These questions are of particular relevance given various changes in the health sector since 2007. Return migration has been advocated internationally as an antidote to the brain drain and an important downstream benefit for countries of origin in the South. This report therefore provides important new information about the implications of health professional return migration to South Africa. Another strategy adopted by some countries is to use immigration policy as a means of dealing with health professional shortages. South Africa is a destination country for health professionals from some countries although, with the exception of official schemes to temporarily import Cuban and Tunisian doctors, this is not official policy. Significantly, the medical professions have only just appeared on the government scarceskills lists that have been published for nearly a decade. This survey provided an opportunity to profile a sub-group of non-South African doctors to assess whether they are more inclined to remain in the country than their South African counterparts. The current survey was developed in collaboration with the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa as part of a CIHR-funded global project on health professional migration from India, Jamaica, the Philippines and South Africa. The questionnaire was hosted on the MEDpages website and potential respondents were invited by email to complete the survey. A total of 1,383 completed questionnaires were received from physicians, dentists and pharmacists – a response rate of 7%

To cut a long story short:an analysis of formulaic sequences in short written narratives and their potential as markers of authorship

Previous research into formulaic language has focussed on specialised groups of people (e.g. L1 acquisition by infants and adult L2 acquisition) with ordinary adult native speakers of English receiving less attention. Additionally, whilst some features of formulaic language have been used as evidence of authorship (e.g. the Unabomber’s use of you can’t eat your cake and have it too) there has been no systematic investigation into this as a potential marker of authorship. This thesis reports the first full-scale study into the use of formulaic sequences by individual authors. The theory of formulaic language hypothesises that formulaic sequences contained in the mental lexicon are shaped by experience combined with what each individual has found to be communicatively effective. Each author’s repertoire of formulaic sequences should therefore differ. To test this assertion, three automated approaches to the identification of formulaic sequences are tested on a specially constructed corpus containing 100 short narratives. The first approach explores a limited subset of formulaic sequences using recurrence across a series of texts as the criterion for identification. The second approach focuses on a word which frequently occurs as part of formulaic sequences and also investigates alternative non-formulaic realisations of the same semantic content. Finally, a reference list approach is used. Whilst claiming authority for any reference list can be difficult, the proposed method utilises internet examples derived from lists prepared by others, a procedure which, it is argued, is akin to asking large groups of judges to reach consensus about what is formulaic. The empirical evidence supports the notion that formulaic sequences have potential as a marker of authorship since in some cases a Questioned Document was correctly attributed. Although this marker of authorship is not universally applicable, it does promise to become a viable new tool in the forensic linguist’s tool-kit

Renewing Health Governance: A Case-Study of Newfoundland and Labrador

There were several new policy reforms and discourses that intersected with the Canadian health public agenda during the 1990s. Despite new circumstances and widespread Pan-Canadian pressure and leadership calling for common health reforms, these transformations across jurisdictions or policy fields were not “inevitable” as often forecast by boosters. Our objective is to better understand the role of local contextual factors (culture, institutions, and interests) and how these have influenced provincial experiences with policy reforms. These contextual factors do not exercise similar degrees of influence upon policy change. Our goal is to explore and evaluate how health care reform evolved in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL)

A review of radio frequency identification technologies and impacts on the hospital supply chain: 2002–2012

Supply costs are the second largest expenditure in hospitals, accounting for more than one third of the average operating budget. RFID technology can reduce these costs, improve patient safety, and supply chain management by increasing the ability to track and locate equipment, as well as monitoring theft prevention, distribution management, and patient billing. Findings of this study have shown that the application of RFID on medical equipment and supplies have resulted in efficiency increase in healthcare with lower costs and increased quality services. Even though the cost of RFID implementation is decreasing, the total expenditures are still significant and the return on investment remains unclear

Impact of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Technologies on the Hospital Supply Chain: A Literature Review

Supply costs account for more than one-third of the average operating budget and constitute the second largest expenditure in hospitals. As hospitals have sought to reduce these costs, radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology has emerged as a solution. This study reviews existing literature to gauge the recent and potential impact and direction of the implementation of RFID in the hospital supply chain to determine current benefits and barriers of adoption. Findings show that the application of RFID to medical equipment and supplies tracking has resulted in efficiency increases in hospitals with lower costs and increased service quality. RFID technology can reduce costs, improve patient safety, and improve supply chain management effectiveness by increasing the ability to track and locate equipment, as well as monitoring theft prevention, distribution management, and patient billing. Despite ongoing RFID implementation in the hospital supply chain, barriers to widespread and rapid adoption include significant total expenditures, unclear return on investment, and competition with other strategic imperatives