Expanding Impact through Evaluation: Insights from the Packard Foundation's Work on Children's Health Insurance

This report explores the Packard Foundation's experience with program evaluation as a strategic intervention in its work on children's health insurance and presents some of the principal lessons learned from that experience. The report also highlights the value of being opportunistic and adaptive to changing circumstances. The Packard Foundation experience suggests that to have a major impact on the issues that it cares about, a foundation has to be on the lookout for windows of opportunity to advance its agenda, and must be highly strategic in leveraging those opportunities if and when they occur

Nezgode·od električne struje u svijetlu Faradayevih simbola

The author sets forth his views on the distribution of electric current within the body at the moment of an electrical accident, and on the antagonism and the Interaction of the electric current and living matter. He puts forward the opinion that the changes in the tissue should form the basis for the interpretation of clinical symptoms and for a rational therapy.Predmet ove rasprave je star kao historija čovječanstva; već se u mitologiji spominju žrtve udarca munje. Zbog velikog napretka u električnoj tehnologiji i zbog njezine primjene u industriji postao je taj problem naročito akutan. Različiti medicinski stručnjaci započeli su istraživanja o učinku električne traume na živi organizam. Primjenom nekih teorema elektrofizike i upotrebom mjernih instrumenata postignuti su neki teorijski uspjesi, ali je terapija žrtava električne traume malo napredovala. Naprotiv, uvukle su se u ta znanstvena mišljenja dvije naročite pogreške, koje imaju sudbonosan utjecati još i sada: 1. Nagli prestanak svih znakova života u času električnog udara krivo se interpretira kao prestanak života (t. j. zbog ventrikularne fibrilacije), a to bi značilo, da su svi pokušaji oživljavanja unesrećenoga beznadni. Štoviše, praktično iskustvo o električnim nezgodama naučilo nas je, da mnogi liječnici pozvani na mjesto, gdje se dogodila nezgoda od električne struje, misle da ne treba da učine ništa drugo, nego da potpišu smrtovnicu. 2. Na mnogim je mjestima postala opća praksa, da se sve vanjske ozljede žrtava električnih nezgoda smatraju za opekline (combustio electrica); budući da se opekline smatraju za septička stanja, ta t. zv, »septička žarišta« često se uklanjaju primarnom amputacijom ekstremiteta

Charge Dependence of Temperature-Driven Phase Transitions of Molecular Nanoclusters: Molecular Dynamics Simulation

Phase transitions (liquid-solid, solid-solid) triggered by temperature changes are studied in free nanosized clusters of TeF_6 (SF_6) with different negative charges assigned to the fluorine atoms. Molecular dynamics simulations at constant energy show that the charge increase from q_F=0.1 e to q_F=0.25 e shifts the melting temperature towards higher values and some of the metastable solid states disappear. The increased repulsive interaction maintains the order in molecular systems at higher temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figures; presented at the conference on computational physics, Aachen (2001) accepted for publication in Comp.Phys.Com

Osmo - Power. Osmotic Work; Energy Production from Osmosis of Fresh Water/Sea-Water Systems

It is imperative that new and ecologically acceptable energy sources are made available. Solar energy is a source which seems to be inexhaustible and free of pollution hazards. One vast source, which can be considered to be a solar energy source consists of the system fresh water/sea water. Fresh water is continually removed by the hydrological cycle where water evaporates from the ocean due to solar radiation and is eventually precipitated again in the form of fresh water feeding various rivers. Fresh water and ocean (salt) water mix when rivers flow into the oceans. The different chemical potentials are equalized due to this mixing in estuaries not producing any work similarly as when gas escapes into a vacuum. However, the difference in chemical potentials of sea water and fresh water can be utilized and made to produce work if the mixing is allowed to proceed via semi- permeable membranes, that is to say if use is made of the osmotic process. This would be equivalent to producing work letting steam move a piston which has a counter pressure slightly lower than the steam pressure. This work can be transformed into electrical energy. In other words use is made of the osmotic process

Exploring the Atmosphere of Neoproterozoic Earth: The Effect of O2_{2} on Haze Formation and Composition

Previous studies of haze formation in the atmosphere of the Early Earth have focused on N$_{2}$/CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$ atmospheres. Here, we experimentally investigate the effect of O$_{2}$ on the formation and composition of aerosols to improve our understanding of haze formation on the Neoproterozoic Earth. We obtained in situ size, particle density, and composition measurements of aerosol particles produced from N$_{2}$/CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$/O$_{2}$ gas mixtures subjected to FUV radiation (115-400 nm) for a range of initial CO$_{2}$/CH$_{4}$/O$_{2}$ mixing ratios (O$_{2}$ ranging from 2 ppm to 0.2\%). At the lowest O$_{2}$ concentration (2 ppm), the addition increased particle production for all but one gas mixture. At higher oxygen concentrations (20 ppm and greater) particles are still produced, but the addition of O$_{2}$ decreases the production rate. Both the particle size and number density decrease with increasing O$_{2}$, indicating that O$_{2}$ affects particle nucleation and growth. The particle density increases with increasing O$_{2}$. The addition of CO$_{2}$ and O$_{2}$ not only increases the amount of oxygen in the aerosol, but it also increases the degree of nitrogen incorporation. In particular, the addition of O$_{2}$ results in the formation of nitrate bearing molecules. The fact that the presence of oxygen bearing molecules increases the efficiency of nitrogen fixation has implications for the role of haze as a source of molecules required for the origin and evolution of life. The composition changes also likely affect the absorption and scattering behavior of these particles but optical properties measurements are required to fully understand the implications for the effect on the planetary radiative energy balance and climate.Comment: 15 pages, 3 tables, 8 figures, accepted in Astrophysical Journa

Did melting glaciers cause volcanic eruptions in eastern California? Probing the mechanics of dike formation

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94661/1/jgrb14086.pd