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Effective Response (effective + response)
Selected AbstractsAn accelerated FFT algorithm for thermoelastic and non-linear compositesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING, Issue 11 2008V. Vinogradov Abstract A fast numerical algorithm to compute the local and overall responses of non-linear composite materials is developed. This alternative formulation allows us to improve the convergence of the existing method of Moulinec and Suquet (e.g. Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng. 1998; 157(1,2):69,94). In the present method, a non-linear elastic (or conducting) material is replaced by infinitely many locally linear thermoelastic materials with moduli that depend on the values of the local fields. This makes it possible to use the advantages of an algorithm developed by Eyre and Milton (Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 1999; 6(1):41,47), which has faster convergence. The method is applied to compute the local fields as well as the effective response of non-linear conducting and elastic periodic composites. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Unraveling the Role of Mitochondria During Oxidative Stress in PlantsIUBMB LIFE, Issue 4 2001Harvey Millar Abstract The sedentary habit of plants means that they must stand and fight environmental stresses that their mobile animal cousins can avoid. A range of these abiotic stresses initiate the production in plant cells of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species that ultimately lead to oxidative damage affecting the yield and quality of plant products. A complex network of enzyme systems, producing and quenching these reactive species operate in different organelles. It is the integration of these compartmented defense systems that coordinates an effective response to the various stresses. Future attempts to improve plant growth or yield must consider the complexity of inter-organelle signaling and protein targeting if they are to be successful in producing plants with resistance to a broad range of stresses. Here we highlight the role of pre-oxidant, anti-oxidant, and post-oxidant defense systems in plant mitochondria and the potential role of proteins targeted to both mitochondria and chloroplasts, in an integrated defense against oxidative damage in plants. [source] Zimbabwe's Drought Relief Programme in the 1990s: A Re-Assessment Using Nationwide Household Survey DataJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2006Lauchlan T. Munro Zimbabwe's Drought Relief Programme was hailed in the 1980s and 1990s as an effective response to a food crisis in a poor country. International observers in particular credited the Programme with preventing famine and protecting livelihoods. Even before the current political turmoil and the ensuing politicisation of Drought Relief that have afflicted Zimbabwe since 2000, Zimbabwean authors were more sceptical about the effectiveness of Drought Relief. Both sides in the debate, however, failed to substantiate their arguments with national household survey data on who got what kind of assistance from Drought Relief, but rather relied on administrative data, qualitative interviews or sub-national surveys. Drawing its inspiration from WHO's minimum evaluation procedure, this article uses data from four nationwide household surveys in 1992,1993 and 1995,1996 and various definitions of poverty to ask whether Drought Relief provided poor people with relevant, timely and adequate assistance in the 1990s. The analysis suggests that Drought Relief was effective in supporting drought-affected smallholders during the 1990s. Drought Relief generally had a slight pro-poor bias. Unfortunately, Drought Relief since 2000 has a very different character. [source] After Dark and Out in the Cold: Part-time Law Students and the Myth of ,Equivalency'JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 2 2009Andrew Francis This paper presents the findings of the first major research study of part-time law students. It argues that many face multiple disadvantages, largely unrecognized by universities, whose emphasis on the formal equivalency of part-time and full-time law degrees ignores the distinctive backgrounds and needs of part-time students. As a result, many are marginalized, impacting on their retention, overall performance, and work prospects. It is also argued that the context within which part-time law students experience legal education contributes to a collective habitus which may structure what is ,thinkable' for their futures. Such concerns are of particular importance given the strong vocational drive amongst part-time law students. An effective response requires action by both universities and the legal profession. Without this, part-time legal education will remain a fundamentally paradoxical experience, offering broader access to legal practice for non-traditional entrants, while continuing to inhibit their chances of success by entrenching their difference in the eyes of the profession. [source] Global Public Health Implications of a Mass Gathering in Mecca, Saudi Arabia During the Midst of an Influenza PandemicJOURNAL OF TRAVEL MEDICINE, Issue 2 2010Kamran Khan MD Background. Every year millions of pilgrims from around the world gather under extremely crowded conditions in Mecca, Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj. In 2009, the Hajj coincided with influenza season during the midst of an influenza A (H1N1) pandemic. After the Hajj, resource-limited countries with large numbers of traveling pilgrims could be vulnerable, given their limited ability to purchase H1N1 vaccine and capacity to respond to a possible wave of H1N1 introduced via returning pilgrims. Methods. We studied the worldwide migration of pilgrims traveling to Mecca to perform the Hajj in 2008 using data from the Saudi Ministry of Health and international air traffic departing Saudi Arabia after the 2008 Hajj using worldwide airline ticket sales data. We used gross national income (GNI) per capita as a surrogate marker of a country's ability to mobilize an effective response to H1N1. Results. In 2008, 2.5 million pilgrims from 140 countries performed the Hajj. Pilgrims (1.7 million) were of international (non-Saudi) origin, of which 91.0% traveled to Saudi Arabia via commercial flights. International pilgrims (11.3%) originated from low-income countries, with the greatest numbers traveling from Bangladesh (50,419), Afghanistan (32,621), and Yemen (28,018). Conclusions. Nearly 200,000 pilgrims that performed the Hajj in 2008 originated from the world's most resource-limited countries, where access to H1N1 vaccine and capacity to detect and respond to H1N1 in returning pilgrims are extremely limited. International efforts may be needed to assist resource-limited countries that are vulnerable to the impact of H1N1 during the 2009 to 2010 influenza season. [source] Principles for hearing grievances, and an effective responseALTERNATIVES TO THE HIGH COST OF LITIGATION, Issue 3 2008Caroline Rees Two CPR Fall 2007 Meeting panelists re-team to expand their focus on corporate social responsibility and its relationship to conflict resolution. First, John Sherman, of Westborough, Mass., describes why his employer, energy provider National Grid, focuses substantial business efforts on giving communities a voice in its efforts. Caroline Rees, of Cambridge, Mass., examines the need for grievance mechanisms to address inevitable local conflicts. Both authors provide practical advice based on adaptable existing models. [source] Law, ethics and pandemic preparedness: the importance of cross-jurisdictional and cross-cultural perspectivesAUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 2 2010Belinda Bennett Abstract Objective: To explore social equity, health planning, regulatory and ethical dilemmas in responding to a pandemic influenza (H5N1) outbreak, and the adequacy of protocols and standards such as the International Health Regulations (2005). Approach: This paper analyses the role of legal and ethical considerations for pandemic preparedness, including an exploration of the relevance of cross-jurisdictional and cross-cultural perspectives in assessing the validity of goals for harmonisation of laws and policies both within and between nations. Australian and international experience is reviewed in various areas, including distribution of vaccines during a pandemic, the distribution of authority between national and local levels of government, and global and regional equity issues for poorer countries. Conclusion: This paper finds that questions such as those of distributional justice (resource allocation) and regulatory frameworks raise important issues about the cultural and ethical acceptability of planning measures. Serious doubt is cast on a ,one size fits all' approach to international planning for managing a pandemic. It is concluded that a more nuanced approach than that contained in international guidelines may be required if an effective response is to be constructed internationally. Implications: The paper commends the wisdom of reliance on ,soft law', international guidance that leaves plenty of room for each nation to construct its response in conformity with its own cultural and value requirements. [source] Forced Displacement in Darfur, Sudan: Dilemmas of Classifying the CrimesINTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2008Klejda Mulaj ABSTRACT The ongoing forced displacement in Darfur has occasioned renewed interest in the phenomena of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Whereas the international response to the conflict has been considered promptly and elaborately by various analysts, few have paid sufficient attention, in the first instance, to the controversy surrounding the debate about the definition of the situation and the classification of crimes involved. Following an overview of the current conflict, the unfolding analysis seeks to show that the terminological debate reveals discrepancies in legal definitions and interpretations that may suggest that existing law may be inadequate to fully capture the nature of the crimes committed in Darfur. Confusion with the terminology has contributed to making the conflict more intractable. In addition, disagreement on a common definition of the situation has tended to justify inaction or limited involvement on the part of the international community. This article suggests that it is therefore necessary to resolve the terminological debate in order to ensure that no energy is wasted in arguing about the indeterminacy of the terms in the future and effective responses to mass violations of human rights are crafted in a timely fashion. [source] 9.,Human Rights: Historical Learning in the Shadow of ViolenceAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Article first published online: 18 FEB 200, Richard T. Peterson This paper emphasizes the historical dimension of human rights understood as a social ethic. Rather than timeless principles, human rights and the universality proper to them emerge in a process of suffering, conflict, political assertion, and institutional change. We can understand them as historical yet also universal by seeing that human rights arise in processes of social learning that take place in an increasingly globalized world. Such learning often has advanced in the face of dramatic violence, for example, the bombing of Hiroshima. But the demands on a global social ethic today are not only a matter of responding to threats and acts of dramatic violence in isolation. Attention to the example of Hiroshima suggests that the problem of violence is bound up with other questions about the regulation of emerging technical powers in a context of inequality and social conflict. To what extent can an ethic centered on human rights provide an ethics that can inform effective responses to these problems? To consider the promise of human rights, we look more closely at the kind of social learning they involve and explore in particular the role of social movements in forging new identities and reciprocities along with normative claims proper to a global public sphere (the anti-apartheid movement provides an example). We go on to see that these political experiences can inform interpretations of historical experience that can inform a widened sense of historical possibilities, both those missed in the past and those that confront us today. While this argument may thicken our sense of the promise of a human rights ethic, it remains speculative, not least because of the limited effectiveness of these norms in practice today. We close with the suggestion that nonetheless a coherent ethical response is possible, one that in the wealthy parts of the globe might take the form of an ethic of democratic responsibility. This would both represent a distinctive kind of learning and perhaps contribute to a wider advance of human rights. [source] Goat milk acceptance and promotion methods in Japan: The questionnaire survey to middle class householdsANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009Takeyuki OZAWA ABSTRACT A consumer questionnaire conducted with the purpose of ascertaining the acceptability of goat milk and related products in Japan was carried out on 345 guarantees of Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University in December 2006. 275 effective responses (79%) representing middle class urban households were returned. The results revealed that (1) 30% of respondents have experienced drinking goat milk and only 10% are aware of the current retail situation of goat milk and related products; (2) over 70% of goat milk drinkers raised goats by hand at some point in their past and their first experience drinking goat milk was in infancy; (3) those with experience in drinking goat milk expressed a vague evaluation and minimal understanding of drinking goat milk; (4) respondents who were inexperienced goat milk drinkers expressed a strong desire to taste and a weak desire to purchase goat milk; (5) respondents expressed low recognition regarding retailed goat milk products, but those who had already purchased goat milk products expressed a high evaluation and strong desire to purchase these products again; and (6) recognition of goat milk characteristics is low, but those with high recognition also rate goat milk highly. Goats are perceived as being ,mild and familiar.' It is necessary for those who manage goat husbandry to present goat milk and related product tasting opportunities to consumers. The key point is to make the functional differences between cow and goat milk clear and present the advantages of goat milk at the fore of this promotion. Goat milk should not be promoted merely as a drink that is similar to cow milk, but must be positioned as a functional drink or health food in order to expand the Japanese goat milk market. [source] The mismanagement of the assets of older people: the concerns and actions of aged care practitioners in QueenslandAUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 1 2003Cheryl Tilse Objective: To explore the types of financial abuse coming to their attention of aged care workers, the practice responses and the barriers to effective responses. Method: A mailed survey of 159 ACAT members, allied health professionals and other aged care workers across metropolitan, regional and remote Queensland. Results: Financial abuse is coming to the attention of a broad range of aged care workers. It takes a variety of forms with a consistent pattern reported across urbanlregionallrural locations and differing ethnic groups. Although a range of resources exists, one third of respondents reported limitations in their capacity to intervene appropriately. Conclusions: This complex area requires a greater understanding of the dimensions of financial abuse, further evaluation of the effectiveness of current mechanisms, professional and community education and additional support for workers seeking to intervene. [source] headspace: National Youth Mental Health Foundation: Making headway with rural young people and their mental healthAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2007Craig A. Hodges Abstract Mental health is the number one health issue affecting young people in Australia today, yet only one in four of these young people receive professional help. Approximately 14% of 12- to 17-year-olds and 27% of 18- to 25-year-olds experience mental health problems each year. However, many do not have ready access to treatment or are reluctant to seek that help. These issues might be exacerbated in the rural and remote regions of Australia where sociocultural barriers such as stigma, lack of anonymity and logistic difficulties including cost and availability of transport can hinder young people accessing mental health services. headspace: the National Youth Mental Health Foundation has been funded to address these issues. headspace will provide funding for the establishment of communities of youth services across Australia, provide national and local community awareness campaigns and plans, establish a centre of excellence that will identify and disseminate evidence-based practice in addressing youth mental health issues, and translate findings into education and training programs that are targeted at service providers to work with youth mental health. The communities of youth services will build the capacity of local communities to identify early, and provide effective responses to, young people aged 12,25 years with mental health and related substance use disorders. Specific approaches in rural, regional and remote areas will be developed as well as specific programs to involve young Indigenous people. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||