The big squeeze: work, home and care in 2012

The Australian Work and Life Index (AWALI) survey measures how work intersects with other life activities, as seen by a randomly selected representative group of 2,887 working Australians.In recent years a number of major events have influenced Australians’ work, personal, family and community lives. The global financial crisis commenced in 2007/8 and international financial markets have experienced continuing instability. The Fair Work Act 2009 introduced a number of changes to the regulation of work. These included a new net of National Employment Standards that incorporated a formal right for some workers to request flexibility or extended unpaid parental leave from 1 January 2010. A national system of paid parental leave came into effect in January 2011. At the same time, the Australian labour force has continued to evolve, with increasing participation of women, declining rates of participation amongst men, an aging workforce and a continuing shift in the composition of employment away from manufacturing and agriculture towards the services sector

IGERT: Predoctoral Training in Functional Genomics of Model Organisms

The objective of this IGERT project is to initiate an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional degree program in Functional Genomics of Model Organisms supported by an interactive faculty from the University of Maine, the Jackson Laboratory, and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. The major challenge for biological and biomedical research for the foreseeable future is to understand how the information encoded within a genome determines the development and functioning of a living organism. To move from the level of DNA sequence to an understanding of the molecular interplay producing the final traits of an individual will require a continuum of experimental approaches ranging from experimental genomics, molecular biology, and novel biophysical methodologies, to advanced data screening schemes and computational techniques. Traditional alignments of the biologically based disciplines will be insufficient to solve the complex problems associated with functional genomics. Genome projects, regardless of the organism, will rely increasingly on the physical and computational sciences. The increased need for interdisciplinary research will require scientists trained to work interactively in multiple disciplines. This program introduces a new educational paradigm, developed to train students to move freely among the disciplines needed to investigate genome function. Students receive training in the biological, physical and computational sciences through a combination of core and advanced courses, intensive workshops, and research seminars. Emphasis is placed on a high-quality research environment and a tutorial relationship between the student and her/his mentors and program committee. Central to the students\u27 training in interdisciplinary research will be the use of a paired mentoring system, a concept referred to as twinning. The primary mentor plays a role similar to the traditional graduate advisor and comes from the student\u27s primary area of research. The secondary mentor comes from a second discipline, and each student develops a research project dependent upon interdisciplinary collaborations.IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the multidisciplinary backgrounds and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries. In the fifth year of the program, awards are being made to twenty-one institutions for programs that collectively span the areas of science and engineering supported by NSF

International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP) History, Process, Priority Themes and Way Forward

The road towards the declaration of an IYRP by the United Nations has been long and rocky, perhaps mirroring the relative lack of understanding by some governments of the importance of rangelands and pastoralists for a sustainable world, compared to the focus on other sectors such as forest or cropland sustainability. The idea was first discussed at the International Rangeland (IRC) and Grassland (IGC) Congress held in Hohhot, China in 2008. The creation of an International Support Group (ISG) in 2015 helped to provide a stronger rational and the integration of social dimensions. This has led to a growing partnership of national, regional, and international organizations. Numerous events were conducted at international meetings between 2015 and 2021 to solicit support for an IYRP. In 2018, UN Environment published a Gap Analysis of knowledge about rangelands and pastoralism that helped to further highlight the significant neglect of these issues in both academic and development circles. Under the leadership of the Government of Mongolia, the proposal for designation of an IYRP was officially presented in 2019 to the Committee on Agricultural Secretariat of FAO. This historical background provides instructive lessons on how global perceptions can change through strong partnerships. In anticipation of obtaining this designation a comprehensive list of monthly themes has been developed by the ISG to guide countries on outreach and educational activates to take place prior to and during the IYRP. This guidance provides a vision of multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches towards integrating the social, economic, environmental and political aspects of sustainability in rangelands and pastoralism. At this Congress resolutions will be submitted to the IRC and IGC for delegate support of this overall effort, including recommendations for Continuing Committee members of both the IRC and IGC along with the ISG to assist individual countries in developing IYRP-related programs

The Role of Gender and How it Relates to Conflict Management Style and School Culture

This investigation focused on principals, by gender, and the impact that the principals\u27 conflict management style had on cultural aspects in schools. Findings were: principals with a conflict management style that is high in dominating show lower school culture scores in professional development, and, conversely, principals with a conflict management style that is high in initiating indicate higher school culture scores in teacher collaboration. When split by gender, the findings were: male principals whose conflict management style is dominating receive lower school culture scores in teacher collaboration, while female principals whose conflict management style was viewed as integrating receive higher school culture scores in professional development and teacher collaboration

The Role of Gender and How it Relates to Conflict Management Style and School Culture

This investigation focused on principals, by gender, and the impact that the principals\u27 conflict management style had on cultural aspects in schools. Findings were: principals with a conflict management style that is high in dominating show lower school culture scores in professional development, and, conversely, principals with a conflict management style that is high in initiating indicate higher school culture scores in teacher collaboration. When split by gender, the findings were: male principals whose conflict management style is dominating receive lower school culture scores in teacher collaboration, while female principals whose conflict management style was viewed as integrating receive higher school culture scores in professional development and teacher collaboration

Priority Themes and Issues for the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists

The objective of the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism (IYRP) is to increase world-wide awareness and recognition of the value and contributions of rangelands and pastoralists. The aim is to influence country policies, legislation, and programs; and to encourage development, research, extension and educational initiatives that will lead to sustainability of rangelands and pastoral/livestock systems. Although each country should decide on how they would celebrate the IYRP, the adoption of a global framework of 12 monthly themes will help to a) provide suggestions and ideas, b) highlight urgent and topical issues, and c) show how pastoralism and rangelands across the globe share similar issues and concerns. This paper proposes major themes, such as: including securing access to rangelands by pastoralists; services for pastoralists; climate change; biodiversity and ecosystems services; water use; sustainable consumptions of livestock products; indigenous knowledge and culture; women, youth and innovative technologies. These define the global priority issues in the social, economic, environmental, and governance nexus

Older people’s views and experiences of engagement in standardised patient simulation

Background - The last two decades have witnessed initiatives aimed at improving the care of older people, including educating nurses so that they are equipped with the skills to care for older people with frailty and complex multimorbidities. It has been suggested that involvement of older service-users in nurse education can facilitate the development of nurses’ caring skills by promoting understanding of the reality of older people’s situations. One method of involving older service-users is standardised patient simulation. While some recent studies have acknowledged the importance of considering standardised patients’ experiences and perceptions of simulation, to-date few have focused specifically on the experiences of older people. Methods - In this qualitative study, data was collected via focus groups whereby older people were invited to discuss their views and experiences of involvement in SPS. Data were analysed using open coding. Findings - Four themes emerged from the data, demonstrating that involving older people in SPS may be beneficial for their wellbeing. The four themes were: ‘using personal experiences to improve care’, ‘having a sense of purpose’, ‘preparation and support for SPS’, and ‘feeling appreciated’. Discussion - Whilst most participants reported that they enjoyed the SPS activities, engagement appeared to have had a much deeper significance for them. Many participants’ responses suggested that involvement assisted them to ‘make sense’ of their experiences of illness and healthcare, and also gave a sense of purpose, of belonging and of being valued. Conclusion - Findings support the need for nurse educators to consider developing SPS programmes that involve older people

The United States Agricultural Information Network: Accomplishments through strategic collaboration

For more than thirty years the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) has been a major player in the dissemination and preservation of agricultural information. Beginning as a network of institutions, USAIN early on restructured to an individual-based organization. As a community of practice, USAIN members conduct work through committees and interest groups and maintain close communication through a variety of outlets. Biennial conferences offer face-to-face networking opportunities, and conference scholarships have been successful in engaging potential new members directly in organizational activities. The results of a survey of scholarship winners provide insights into perceptions of the organization and the benefits of membership. Through the years, USAIN also has initiated and supported projects that have helped build a more efficient and effective agricultural information system to inform and educate a broad range of audiences involved in the areas of agriculture, food, and nutrition. These include a national preservation program, a national text-digitizing project, the AGRICOLA database, and the Agriculture Network Information Collaborative (AgNIC). This paper chronicles the history of the organization and the impact it has had on agricultural information professionals and national agricultural information initiatives

Modelling of Brain Deformation After Decompressive Craniectomy.

Hyperelastic finite element models, with either an idealized cylindrical geometry or with realistic craniectomy geometries, were used to explore clinical issues relating to decompressive craniectomy. The potential damage in the brain tissue was estimated by calculating the volume of material exceeding a critical shear strain. Results from the idealized model showed how the potentially damaged volume of brain tissue increased with an increasing volume of brain tissue herniating from the skull cavity and with a reduction in craniectomy area. For a given herniated volume, there was a critical craniectomy diameter where the volume exceeding a critical shear strain fell to zero. The effects of details at the craniectomy edge, specifically a fillet radius and a chamfer on the bone margin, were found to be relatively slight, assuming that the dura is retained to provide effective protection. The location in the brain associated with volume expansion and details of the material modeling were found to have a relatively modest effect on the predicted damage volume. The volume of highly sheared material in the realistic models of the craniectomy varied roughly in line with differences in the craniectomy area.TLF acknowledges funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). BW is supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, the Max Weber-Programm and the Stiftung Maximilianeum. AGK is supported by a Royal College of Surgeons of England Research Fellowship (funded by the Freemasons and the Rosetrees Trust), a National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Fellowship and a Raymond and Beverly Sackler Studentship. PJH is supported by a NIHR Research Professorship and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10439-016-1666-

The Morrison Mercantile

Students in the PSU Real Estate Development Workshop produce a development plan for 12 properties located on the Central Eastside Industrial District (CEID). These properties are owned by the Pelett Family. Their task was to produce an original development plan, including the development concept, the market analysis, the conceptual design, economic analysis, capital and operations budget, and management plan