International Perspectives on the State-as-Parent: Naı¨ve Idealism or Reluctant Pragmatism

link to article http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pop4.v8.1/issuetocToo many children remain at risk of harm, regrettably, in all too many societies. This is despite the almost universal acceptance of the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Its intention, arguably somewhat naı¨vely, is to create two state imperatives: to protect children against threats of harm; and to advance their welfare. Governments, however, have evidenced a pragmatic reluctance to meet these challenges, perhaps a product of conflicting community expectations on the appropriate role of the state, combined with a scarcity of public resources. For the state to meet its UNCRC obligations requires it to have three crucial capacities. The first is the governance capacity to be able to take the necessary actions to prevent or correct the harm experienced by children. The second is the organizational capacity to direct sufficient resources to do what needs to be done in a timely manner, in a culturally sensitive way, and without causing them other forms of harm. The third is the epistemological capacity to know when it is in the “best interests” of children for the state, in the “public interest,” to stop particular child practices or to separate particular children from their families in order to provide the care and protection they need. These are the ultimate challenges facing governments if they wish to achieve the vision of the state as the protector and promoter of the best interests of children that is embedded in the UNCRC, to which almost all states have committed

Science communication on YouTube: factors that affect channel and video popularity

YouTube has become one of the largest websites on the Internet. Among its many genres, both professional and amateur science communicators compete for audience attention. This article provides the first overview of science communication on YouTube and examines content factors that affect the popularity of science communication videos on the site. A content analysis of 390 videos from 39 YouTube channels was conducted. Although professionally generated content is superior in number, user-generated content was significantly more popular. Furthermore, videos that had consistent science communicators were more popular than those without a regular communicator. This study represents an important first step to understand content factors, which increases the channel and video popularity of science communication on YouTube

Structuring for high reliability: HR practices and mindful processes in reliability-seeking organizations

This paper theoretically and empirically connects the literature on high-reliability organizations (HROs) to a broader set of organizations, which we call reliability-seeking organizations. Unlike HROs, which operate high-hazard technologies, reliability-seeking organizations operate in high-hazard environments. Reliability-seeking organizations are tightly coupled to their unpredictable and complex environments in such a manner that although the human mortality rate is low, the risk of small failures amplifying into organizational mortality is high. To cope with these environments, reliability-seeking organizations organize to remain open and flexible to emerging information and achieve the reliability demanded by their environments—intensity of innovation. These organizations utilize skilled temporary employees, positive employee relations, and an emphasis on training to innovate, and, in turn, generate greater financial performance. We test these hypotheses using a sample of 184 initial public offering (IPO) software firms that conducted their IPO between 1993 and 1996 and our results are consistent with our theorizing. Firms that utilized these human resource practices innovated more frequently and firms with more innovations had higher stock prices over time. Our findings combine to suggest a theoretical model of structural antecedents of a different type of reliability—intensity of innovation Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35038/1/221_ftp.pd

Framework for contextualized learning ecosystems

Proceedings of: 6th European Conference of Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2011, Palermo, Italy, September 20-23, 2011Using mobile personal devices to interact with pervasive smart learning objects and services that create contextualized learning ecosystems can enhance both the learning outcomes and the motivational states of students. This paper defines and analyzes several pervasive learning ecosystems in which students at the Carlos III University of Madrid interact with contextualized learning objects and services. The technology defining the contextualized learning environments is first introduced and later used in two user experiments. These experiments provide data both about the learning outcomes for students after interacting with smart learning objects and services and about the motivational impact that the use of these technologies have on themThe research leading to these results has been partially funded by the ARTEMISA project TIN2009-14378-C02-02 within the Spanish "Plan Nacional de I+D+I", the Madrid regional community projects S2009/TIC-1650 and CCG10-UC3M/TIC-4992 and the SOLITE CYTED Program 508AC0341. Thanks to INNOVISION for providing the NFC tags for this experiment. Gustavo Ramirez- Gonzalez is funded by the EU Programme Alban, scholarship number E06D101768CO and by the Universidad del Cauca

Model Checking Branching Properties on Petri Nets with Transits (Full Version)

To model check concurrent systems, it is convenient to distinguish between the data flow and the control. Correctness is specified on the level of data flow whereas the system is configured on the level of control. Petri nets with transits and Flow-LTL are a corresponding formalism. In Flow-LTL, both the correctness of the data flow and assumptions on fairness and maximality for the control are expressed in linear time. So far, branching behavior cannot be specified for Petri nets with transits. In this paper, we introduce Flow-CTL* to express the intended branching behavior of the data flow while maintaining LTL for fairness and maximality assumptions on the control. We encode physical access control with policy updates as Petri nets with transits and give standard requirements in Flow-CTL*. For model checking, we reduce the model checking problem of Petri nets with transits against Flow-CTL* via automata constructions to the model checking problem of Petri nets against LTL. Thereby, physical access control with policy updates under fairness assumptions for an unbounded number of people can be verified.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Boys don’t cry: Trauma, trauma narrative and masculine practice among young male who engaged in harmful sexual behaviour

Compelling evidence suggests that majority of young men who engaged in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) were subjected to various forms of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. This research explores lived experience of a group of young men who engaged in HSB, what sense they made of it and how their positioned themselves towards these events including HSB, so they are able to maintain their self-integrity. It also explores impact of lived experience with consideration for broader family and cultural discourses. Transition to Adulthood Attachment Interview and Semi-structured interview were employed and Dynamic- Maturation Model of attachment were utilised for this research since it differentiates for dismissed and pre-occupied trauma spectrums. Findings highlighted that all of the young men presented mainly with complex unresolved dismissed trauma or loss and some with both types of trauma. Furthermore, they employed dominant hegemonic culturally shared discourses of masculinity to make sense of their lived experience. The ways in which experiences of trauma shaped the HSB pathway that developed is discussed. </jats:p

Troglitazone, a PPAR-γ activator prevents endothelial cell adhesion molecule expression and lymphocyte adhesion mediated by TNF-α

BACKGROUND: Cytokine mediated induction of the mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule-1(MAdCAM-1) expression is associated with the onset and progression of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). RESULTS: Using western blotting and cell-based ELISA, we show in this study that troglitazone, an activator of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ), widely used in the treatment of diabetes, has as well recently been highlighted as protective in models of inflammation and cancer. We found that troglitazone (10–40 μM), significantly reduced the TNF-α (1 ng/ml) mediated induction of endothelial MAdCAM-1 in a dose-dependent manner, achieving a 34.7% to 98.4% reduction in induced MAdCAM-1. Trogliazone (20μM) reduced TNF-α induced VCAM-1, ICAM-1 and E-selectin expression. Moreover, troglitazone significantly reduced α4β7-integrin dependent lymphocyte adhesion to TNF-α cultured endothelial cells. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that PPAR-γ agonists like troglitazone may be useful in the clinical treatment of IBD

Using Ownership as an Incentive

Agency theory is used to develop hypotheses regarding the effects of ownership proliferation on firm performance. The authors examine the effects of chief executive officer (CEO) ownership, executive team ownership, and all employee ownership in addition to the moderating effect of risk on firm survival and stock price. Firms with low CEO ownership outperform those with high levels of CEO ownership across all levels of risk, but the effect is most pronounced for low-risk firms. Executive team ownership is negatively related to firm performance, whereas ownership for all employees is positively associated with firm performance, particularly for higher risk firms.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67316/2/10.1177_1059601199244003.pd