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Academia
Selected AbstractsMEASURING OCCUPATIONAL SEX SEGREGATION: ACADEMIA IN AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, 1989 TO 2000ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 3 2002JUDITH RICH First page of article [source] Dancing with the Devil: Partnering with Industry but Publishing in Academia,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 4 2007V. Daniel R. Guide Jr ABSTRACT We believe that partnering with industry can lead to research that is relevant, rigorous, and refreshing. Our experiences show that the potential benefits of partnering with industry are enormous, but that this is not an easy route for academics interested in operations research modeling or empirical methods. The need for grounded business research is greater now than ever, and, while academics have made great progress, there are still numerous opportunities to demonstrate the relevance of our research. We discuss how to establish industry contacts, identify fruitful academic,industry projects, and publish the resulting research. [source] The Thin End of the Wedge: Foreign Women Professors as Double Strangers in AcademiaGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 3 2008Barbara Czarniawska The impetus for this study was an observation that many of the first women to obtain chairs at European universities were foreigners. Our initial attempt to provide a statistical picture of this proved impossible, because there were numerous problems deciding the contents of such concepts as ,first', ,university professor' and ,foreigner'. We have therefore focused on four life stories. It turns out that being a ,double stranger', a woman in a masculine profession and a foreigner , is not, as one might think, a cumulative disadvantage. Rather, it seems that these two types of strangeness might cancel out one another, permitting these women a greater degree of success than was allowed their native sisters. This situation however, provides little psychological comfort, hence the metaphor of the wedge: opening the doors but suffering from double pressure. [source] The Inclusion of Female PhD Students in Academia: A Case Study of a Swedish University DepartmentGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2003Ulf Elg The article introduces a framework for understanding women's entry into the academic world and how it interacts with internal departmental structures and practices. It presents three specific strategies applied by a group of women to gain a doctorate and acceptance in their department. Few previous studies have stressed women's strategies to cope with the organizational setting in academia. The article draws on previous research on women in academia and how organizational characteristics influence women's careers. It is based on a case study of a Swedish university department. Sweden is often recognized for creating favourable working conditions for women. Yet the Swedish academic world is very male-dominated at the top and even the medium level. It is also more common than in many other Western countries that academics stay on at the department where they graduated. Therefore, a PhD is often a first step in a career within that department. [source] Science, Medicine, Academia, and the Future of the ACVIMJOURNAL OF VETERINARY INTERNAL MEDICINE, Issue 3 2007DACVIM, Jeffrey Toll VMD No abstract is available for this article. [source] McCarthyism, Academia, and Anthropology: The Old and The NewNORTH AMERICAN DIALOGUE (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2005Tim Sieber First page of article [source] Learning to Become a Geographer: Reproduction and Transformation in AcademiaANTIPODE, Issue 4 2006Harald Bauder First page of article [source] Geographic Flexibility in Academia: A Cautionary NoteBRITISH JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, Issue 2009Julia Richardson Having the flexibility to pursue an international career is increasingly common in many professions. Based on two qualitative studies of international academics, this paper focuses on academia. Commencing with a discussion about the different dimensions of flexibility in academia it focuses specifically on geographic flexibility, understood as the ability to pursue a career across international boundaries. Drawing on conceptions of an international community of scholars operating in a science context and specific national and institutional contexts the paper explores the experiences of international academics. It also considers the ,modes of engagement' they use to navigate the demands of those contexts. The findings suggest that while academia as a profession may be characterized by geographic flexibility a certain tension exists between academia and the national and institutional contexts within which academics must operate. It is noted that it is internationally mobile academics who are currently paying the price of those tensions and offers a cautionary note to those who are contemplating such a career move. It also suggests that academics can adopt certain ,modes of engagement' in order to maintain, transform or subvert those institutional challenges. [source] A Windows-based interface for teaching image processingCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION, Issue 2 2010Melvin Ayala Abstract The use of image processing in research represents a challenge to the scientific community interested in its various applications but is not familiar with this area of expertise. In academia as well as in industry, fundamental concepts such as image transformations, filtering, noise removal, morphology, convolution/deconvolution among others require extra efforts to be understood. Additionally, algorithms for image reading and visualization in computers are not always easy to develop by inexperienced researchers. This type of environment has lead to an adverse situation where most students and researchers develop their own image processing code for operations which are already standards in image processing, a redundant process which only exacerbates the situation. The research proposed in this article, with the aim to resolve this dilemma, is to propose a user-friendly computer interface that has a dual objective which is to free students and researchers from the learning time needed for understanding/applying diverse imaging techniques but to also provide them with the option to enhance or reprogram such algorithms with direct access to the software code. The interface was thus developed with the intention to assist in understanding and performing common image processing operations through simple commands that can be performed mostly by mouse clicks. The visualization of pseudo code after each command execution makes the interface attractive, while saving time and facilitating to users the learning of such practical concepts. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 213,224, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20171 [source] Seine: a dynamic geometry-based shared-space interaction framework for parallel scientific applicationsCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 15 2006L. Zhang Abstract While large-scale parallel/distributed simulations are rapidly becoming critical research modalities in academia and industry, their efficient and scalable implementations continue to present many challenges. A key challenge is that the dynamic and complex communication/coordination required by these applications (dependent on the state of the phenomenon being modeled) are determined by the specific numerical formulation, the domain decomposition and/or sub-domain refinement algorithms used, etc. and are known only at runtime. This paper presents Seine, a dynamic geometry-based shared-space interaction framework for scientific applications. The framework provides the flexibility of shared-space-based models and supports extremely dynamic communication/coordination patterns, while still enabling scalable implementations. The design and prototype implementation of Seine are presented. Seine complements and can be used in conjunction with existing parallel programming systems such as MPI and OpenMP. An experimental evaluation using an adaptive multi-block oil-reservoir simulation is used to demonstrate the performance and scalability of applications using Seine. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Academic Research Training for a Nonacademic Workplace: a Case Study of Graduate Student Alumni Who Work in ConservationCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009MATTHEW J. MUIR educación en conservación; formación de graduados; habilidades para el trabajo; programas universitarios Abstract:,Graduate education in conservation biology has been assailed as ineffective and inadequate to train the professionals needed to solve conservation problems. To identify how graduate education might better fit the needs of the conservation workplace, we surveyed practitioners and academics about the importance of particular skills on the job and the perceived importance of teaching those same skills in graduate school. All survey participants (n = 189) were alumni from the University of California Davis Graduate Group in Ecology and received thesis-based degrees from 1973 to 2008. Academic and practitioner respondents clearly differed in workplace skills, although there was considerably more agreement in training recommendations. On the basis of participant responses, skill sets particularly at risk of underemphasis in graduate programs are decision making and implementation of policy, whereas research skills may be overemphasized. Practitioners in different job positions, however, require a variety of skill sets, and we suggest that ever-increasing calls to broaden training to fit this multitude of jobs will lead to a trade-off in the teaching of other skills. Some skills, such as program management, may be best developed in on-the-job training or collaborative projects. We argue that the problem of graduate education in conservation will not be solved by restructuring academia alone. Conservation employers need to communicate their specific needs to educators, universities need to be more flexible with their opportunities, and students need to be better consumers of the skills offered by universities and other institutions. Resumen:,La educación en biología de la conservación a nivel licenciatura ha sido calificada como ineficaz e inadecuada para formar a los profesionales que se requieren para resolver problemas de conservación. Para identificar cómo la educación a nivel licenciatura puede satisfacer las necesidades del ámbito laboral en conservación, sondeamos a profesionales y académicos sobre la importancia de habilidades particulares del trabajo y la percepción de la importancia de esas mismas habilidades en la universidad. Todos los participantes en el sondeo (n = 189) fueron alumnos del Grupo de Graduados en Ecología de la Universidad de California en Davis y obtuvieron el grado basado en tesis entre 1973 y 2008. Los académicos y profesionales encuestados difirieron claramente en sus habilidades, aunque hubo considerablemente mayor acuerdo en las recomendaciones de capacitación. Con base en las respuestas de los participantes, los conjuntos de habilidades en riesgo de no ser consideradas en los programas educativos son la toma de decisiones y la implementación de políticas, mientras que las habilidades de investigación tienden a ser sobre enfatizadas. Sin embargo, los profesionales en diferentes puestos de trabajo requieren una variedad de conjuntos de habilidades, y sugerimos que los constantes llamados a ampliar la capacitación para responder a esta multitud de labores conducirán a un desbalance en la enseñanza de otras habilidades. Algunas habilidades, como el manejo de programas, pueden desarrollarse en proyectos colaborativos o de capacitación en el trabajo. Argumentamos que el problema de la educación en biología de la conservación a nivel licenciatura no se resolverá solo con la reestructuración de la academia. Los empleadores deben comunicar sus requerimientos específicos a los educadores, las universidades deben ser más flexibles con sus oportunidades y los estudiantes necesitan ser mejores consumidores de las habilidades ofrecidas por las universidades y otras instituciones. [source] Leadership: a New Frontier in Conservation ScienceCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 4 2009JIM C. MANOLIS estrategia; influencia; liderazgo; manejo; política Abstract:,Leadership is a critical tool for expanding the influence of conservation science, but recent advances in leadership concepts and practice remain underutilized by conservation scientists. Furthermore, an explicit conceptual foundation and definition of leadership in conservation science are not available in the literature. Here we drew on our diverse leadership experiences, our reading of leadership literature, and discussions with selected conservation science leaders to define conservation-science leadership, summarize an exploratory set of leadership principles that are applicable to conservation science, and recommend actions to expand leadership capacity among conservation scientists and practitioners. We define 2 types of conservation-science leadership: shaping conservation science through path-breaking research, and advancing the integration of conservation science into policy, management, and society at large. We focused on the second, integrative type of leadership because we believe it presents the greatest opportunity for improving conservation effectiveness. We identified 8 leadership principles derived mainly from the "adaptive leadership" literature: recognize the social dimension of the problem; cycle frequently through action and reflection; get and maintain attention; combine strengths of multiple leaders; extend your reach through networks of relationships; strategically time your effort; nurture productive conflict; and cultivate diversity. Conservation scientists and practitioners should strive to develop themselves as leaders, and the Society for Conservation Biology, conservation organizations, and academia should support this effort through professional development, mentoring, teaching, and research. Resumen:,El liderazgo es una herramienta crítica para la expansión de la influencia de la ciencia de la conservación, pero los avances recientes en los conceptos y práctica del liderazgo son subutilizados por los científicos de la conservación. Más aun, en la literatura no hay una fundamentación conceptual ni definición de liderazgo en la ciencia de la conservación. Aquí nos basamos en nuestras experiencias de liderazgo, nuestra lectura de literatura sobre liderazgo y discusiones con líderes selectos de la ciencia de conservación para definir liderazgo para la ciencia de la conservación, resumir un conjunto exploratorio de principios de liderazgo aplicables a la ciencia de la conservación y recomendar acciones para expandir la capacidad de liderazgo entre los científicos y los practicantes de la conservación. Definimos dos tipos de liderazgo de la ciencia de la conservación: configuración de la ciencia de la conservación mediante investigación original, y avance hacia la integración del liderazgo en la ciencia de la conservación en la política, el manejo y la sociedad en general. Nos centramos en el segundo tipo de liderazgo porque consideramos que presenta la mejor oportunidad para mejorar la efectividad de la conservación. Identificamos ocho principios de liderazgo derivados principalmente de la literatura sobre "liderazgo adaptativo": reconocer la dimensión social del problema; alternar entre acción y reflexión frecuentemente; obtener y mantener atención; combinar fortalezas de múltiples líderes; extender el alcance mediante redes de relaciones; organizar el esfuerzo estratégicamente; evitar conflictos productivos y desarrollar la biodiversidad. Los científicos y los practicantes de la conservación deberían esforzarse para desarrollarse como líderes y la Sociedad para la Biología de la Conservación, las organizaciones de conservación y la academia deberían respaldar este esfuerzo mediante el desarrollo profesional, la tutoría, la enseñanza y la investigación. [source] Package design in the halls of academiaDESIGN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2002Joseph Bottoni This is a snapshot of how one school handles the challenge of package design. The work comes from students at the University of Cincinnati. Professor Joseph Bottoni explains that the goals of the concise 10-week assignment are to develop a package with a strong retail presence,clearly conveying content; reaching consumers emotionally, as well as rationally; and responsibly conserving resources. The outcomes are imaginative and diverse. [source] Beyond the Corporate SphereDESIGN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, Issue 1 2000Roger Sametz MUCH OF THE thinking and best practices related to branding and design in the corporate realm are of great value in the not-for-profit sector,particularly academia. Roger Sametz reframes fundamental branding strategies to better fit the academic culture, details the steps necessary to build a strong brand in this context, and shares examples of work Sametz Blackstone has done for several institutions. [source] Why should addiction medicine be an attractive field for young physicians?ADDICTION, Issue 2 2009Michael Soyka ABSTRACT Aims The clinical practice and science of addiction are increasingly active fields, which are attracting professionals from diverse disciplines such as psychology and neurobiology. Our scientific knowledge of the pathophysiology of addiction is rapidly growing, along with the variety of effective treatments available to clinicians. Yet, we believe that the medical specialties of addiction medicine/psychiatry are not attracting the interest and enthusiasm of young physicians. What can be done? Methods We offer the opinions of two experience addiction psychiatrists. Results In the US, there has been a decline in the number of psychiatrists seeking training or board certification in addiction psychiatry; about one-third of graduates with such training are not practicing in an addiction psychiatry setting. There is widespread neglect of addiction medicine/psychiatry among the medical profession, academia and national health authorities. This neglect is unfortunate, given the enormous societal costs of addiction (3,5% of the gross domestic product in some developed countries), the substantial unmet need for addiction treatment, and the highly favourable benefit to cost yield (at least 7:1) from treatment. Conclusions We believe that addiction medicine/psychiatry can be made more attractive for young physicians. Helpful steps include widening acceptance as a medical specialty or subspecialty, reducing the social stigma against people with substance use disorders, expanding insurance coverage and increasing the low rates of reimbursement for physicians. These steps would be easier to take with broader societal (and political) recognition of substance use disorders as a major cause of premature death, morbidity and economic burden. [source] What becomes of dental research trainees once they leave the Dental Research Institute?EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008An analysis over 53 years Abstract The careers of 131 dental research trainees were followed (1954,2007) to establish whether and how they utilised their research training in keeping with clinical research workforce needs. The Dental Research Institute database was used to obtain trainee demographic, teaching and research outputs which were examined according to degree types: PhD (18); MSc (55); MDent (42) and dropout (16). Current careers show that 48% are in exclusive private practice and 15% in exclusive academia with further 15% practitioners having academic links via sessional teaching or research at a dental school. Most (63%) have remained in South Africa but emigration is high amongst the PhD and MSc groups. Forty-one per cent of the cohort is of age ,55 years and 16% <40 years old. The 131 trainees have published 2287 peer-reviewed journal papers over their careers: quantity of research output is skewed towards degree type (PhD) and individuals (10% trainees produced 65% of all publications). Recent trainees have little research experience prior to their training and a lower subsequent research output than earlier trainees. PhDs have participated in research for the greatest length of time (29.1 years). Academic teaching is heavily reliant on older and PhD trainees. It is proposed that a threshold of four publications be used to indicate minimum research skills and a period of formal academic teaching taken into account when advocating criteria to assess clinical research workforce requirements. [source] Nonvolatile Memory Concepts Based on Resistive Switching in Inorganic MaterialsADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 4 2009Thomas Mikolajick Abstract Solid state memories play an important role for the electronic systems used in today's information society. The classical approach of charge storage is expected to reach its physical scaling limits very soon. New storage effects are therefore receiving significant interest from industry and academia. In the paper we summarize recent results on resistive switching effects in inorganic materials obtained in the research groups of the authors. We discuss the implications of these results for the suitability of the investigated material systems as well as for the direction of further research. [source] PERSPECTIVE: TEACHING EVOLUTION IN HIGHER EDUCATIONEVOLUTION, Issue 10 2002Brian J. Alters Abstract., In the past decade, the academic community has increased considerably its activity concerning the teaching and learning of evolution. Despite such beneficial activity, the state of public understanding of evolution is considered woefully lacking by most researchers and educators. This lack of understanding affects evolution/science literacy, research, and academia in general. Not only does the general public lack an understanding of evolution but so does a considerable proportion of college graduates. However, it is not just evolutionary concepts that students do not retain. In general, college students retain little of what they supposedly have learned. Worse yet, it is not just students who have avoided science and math who fail to retain fundamental science concepts. Students who have had extensive secondary-level and college courses in science have similar deficits. We examine these issues and explore what distinguishes effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher education in general and evolution education in particular. The fundamental problem of students' prior conceptions is considered and why prior conceptions often underpin students' misunderstanding of the evolutionary concepts being taught. These conceptions can often be discovered and addressed. We also attend to concerns about coverage of course content and the influence of religious beliefs, and provide helpful strategies to improve college-level teaching of evolution. [source] The Invisible (Inaudible) Woman: Nursing in the English AcademyGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2005Liz Meerabeau Nursing is numerically a far larger academic discipline than medicine, and is situated in many more higher education institutions in England (over 50), whereas there are 21 medical schools. Like the rest of ,non medical education and training' it is purchased through a quasi-market. Despite the size of this market, however, nursing education has until recently been largely invisible in policy documents and the ambitions of nursing academics to develop their subject are seen as inappropriate. This article explores this invisibility and inaudibility, with particular reference to the 1997 Richards Report, Clinical Academic Careers and the 2001 Nuffield Trust report, A New Framework for NHS/University Relations. It draws on the work of Davies on the ,professional predicament' of nursing, to argue that, although the move of nursing education into higher education had the aim of improving its status, nursing has difficulty finding its voice within academia. As a result, issues which are salient for nursing (as for many of the health professions), such as a poor (or relatively poor) showing in the Research Assessment Exercise and the complexities of balancing research, teaching and maintaining clinical competence, are raised as high-profile issues only in medicine. [source] The Inclusion of Female PhD Students in Academia: A Case Study of a Swedish University DepartmentGENDER, WORK & ORGANISATION, Issue 2 2003Ulf Elg The article introduces a framework for understanding women's entry into the academic world and how it interacts with internal departmental structures and practices. It presents three specific strategies applied by a group of women to gain a doctorate and acceptance in their department. Few previous studies have stressed women's strategies to cope with the organizational setting in academia. The article draws on previous research on women in academia and how organizational characteristics influence women's careers. It is based on a case study of a Swedish university department. Sweden is often recognized for creating favourable working conditions for women. Yet the Swedish academic world is very male-dominated at the top and even the medium level. It is also more common than in many other Western countries that academics stay on at the department where they graduated. Therefore, a PhD is often a first step in a career within that department. [source] The Local Shape of Revolution: Reflections on Quantitative Geography at Cambridge in the 1950s and 1960sGEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2008Peter Haggett The "quantitative revolution" in human geography which swept across so many universities in the 1950s and 1960s had its main diffusion centers in a few locations which were to have global significance. Two critical early centers were the University of Washington in the Pacific Northwest and Lund University in southern Sweden. But the experience of change was different in different locations as the general forces of perturbation sweeping around academia were translated into local eddies with local repercussions. Here, small and somewhat random quirks at the outset, led eventually to fundamental divergences between adoption and rejection. The theme is illustrated by reference to changes which occurred at Cambridge, one of England's two oldest universities, as seen from the perspective of someone who,as undergraduate, graduate student, and later, faculty member,was caught up in these changes and took some small part in propagating them. Special attention is given to the role of two environmental scientists, Vaughan Lewis and Richard Chorley, in introducing changes and the way in which later developments in human geography drew on preceding experiences in physical geography. The reasons behind the "Cambridge variant" and the questions of how intellectual DNA is passed across the generations are discussed. [source] Telithromycin-associated hepatotoxicity: Clinical spectrum and causality assessment of 42 cases,HEPATOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Allen D. Brinker Telithromycin is the first of a new class of ketolide antibiotics with increased activity against penicillin-resistant and erythromycin-resistant pneumococci. This agent received approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 for treatment of upper and lower respiratory infections. Following market introduction, spontaneous reports of telithromycin-associated hepatotoxicity, including frank liver failure, were received. To address these reports, an ad hoc group with expertise in spontaneous adverse events reporting and experience in evaluating drug-induced liver injury was formed, including members of the FDA, other federal agencies, and academia. The primary objective of this group was to adjudicate case reports of hepatic toxicity for causal attribution to telithromycin. After an initial screening of all cases of liver injury associated with telithromycin reported to FDA as of April 2006 by one of the authors, 42 cases were comprehensively reviewed and adjudicated. Five cases included a severe outcome of either death (n = 4) or liver transplantation (n = 1); more than half were considered highly likely or probable in their causal association with telithromycin. Typical clinical features were: short latency (median, 10 days) and abrupt onset of fever, abdominal pain, and jaundice, sometimes with the presence of ascites even in cases that resolved. Concurrence in assignment of causality increased after agreement on definitions of categories and interactive discussions. Conclusion: Telithromycin is a rare cause of drug-induced liver injury that may have a distinctive clinical signature and associated high mortality rate. Consensus for attribution of liver injury to a selected drug exposure by individual experts can be aided by careful definition of terminology and discussion. (HEPATOLOGY 2009;49:250-257.) [source] International creative tension study of university students in South Korea and FinlandHUMAN FACTORS AND ERGONOMICS IN MANUFACTURING & SERVICE INDUSTRIES, Issue 6 2009Yoon Chang The goal of this research was to compare the creative tension of university students in South Korea and Finland at three different universities. The creative tension, or the gap between a personal vision and the current reality, was analyzed according to relevant competences in a project manager's work role. In this case, students acted as the project managers in their role of completing all the requirements of their degree. The application used for collecting and analyzing the data was Cycloid, a project manager's work role,based competence application and a model in the generic Evolute system supporting fuzzy logic applications. Data for 108 university students were collected online through self-evaluations. The application was able to identify the creative tension in each group of university students, and the results show major differences in creative tension across the universities (and also between countries). This type of in-depth analysis into the cultural perceptions of attributes offers valuable new information for academia and businesses in the assessment and improvement of multicultural understanding and cooperation in areas of mutual interest and business. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Work Roles and Careers of R&D Scientists in Network OrganizationsINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2005ALICE LAM Despite the burgeoning literature on the network organization as a new mode of innovation, we know little about how the flow of knowledge across organizational boundaries is intertwined with careers. This study explores the implications of the network model of R&D organization for the work roles and careers of R&D scientists within the changing relationship between industry and the academia. It examines how firms seek to resolve the tension between science and business by developing closer human resource ties with universities. It argues that firms have sought to construct "extended" internal labour markets (EILMs) between themselves and the universities with which they collaborate, leading to the formation of a hybrid scientific community straddling the two sectors. [source] The issue of gender within computing: reflections from the UK and ScandinaviaINFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001Maxine Robertson Abstract. Thispaper explores some of the reasons that may underlie the gender segregation and declining levels of female participation within the field of computing in Europe during the 1990s in both the professional (industrial) and academic spheres. The interrelationships between three areas , communicative processes, social networks and legitimizing claims to knowledge overlaid by gendered-power relations , are used to analyse and explain the existing situation. The paper draws upon statistical data to explore the extent of gender segregation and then focuses on the authors' own experiences within the UK and Scandinavia in order to explore some of the underlying causes. While direct discrimination does still occur, the paper suggests that indirect, deep-rooted discrimination is the major reason for the situation that currently exists. Drawing upon our own experiences in academia and business and acknowledging the importance of the institutional context, the paper offers a number of recommendations as to how the current situation may be improved. We suggest first that consideration is given to the pedagogical design and marketing of computing courses so that individuals are initially attracted to computing from far more diverse backgrounds, approaches and interests than at present. Second, we suggest that those with influence in the field reflect upon the constitution and behaviours of the informal networks in which they are involved and seek to include female researchers more actively here. Finally we suggest that consideration is given in more general terms to how the field may become more gender neutral and, thus, more inclusive in the future. Masculine discourses and ,hard' skills have dominated within computing for too long and contribute significantly to the declining participation of women within computing. [source] Life cycle assessment in management, product and process design, and policy decision making: A conference reportINTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2005Joyce Cooper On 24 September 2003, life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners and decision makers gathered at the InLCA/LCM Conference in Seattle, Washington, USA (see http://www.lcacenter.org/lnLCA-LCM03/index.html) to discuss the role of LCA in management, product design, process development, and regulatory/policy development decisions and to compare life cycle-based methods and tools with traditional product evaluation methods and tools. This article is a summary of that meeting and was prepared by the organizers as an overview of the many different technical, regulatory policy, and decision-making policy perspectives presented to an international gathering of participants representing academia and the industrial and regulatory communities. [source] Rational Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes Leading to Electrochemical Devices with Striking Applications,ADVANCED MATERIALS, Issue 15 2008Jie Yan Abstract As one-dimensional carbon nanostructures, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a member of the carbon family but they possess very different structural and electronic properties from other kinds of carbon materials frequently used in electrochemistry, such as glassy carbon, graphite, and diamond. Although the past decade has witnessed rapid and substantial progress in both the fundamental understanding of CNT-oriented electrochemistry and the development of various kinds of electrochemical devices with carbon nanotubes, the increasing demand from both academia and industry requires CNT-based electrochemical devices with vastly improved properties, such as good reliability and durability, and high performance. As we outline here, the smart functionalization of CNTs and effective methods for the preparation of devices would pave the way to CNT-based electronic devices with striking applications. [source] The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program and Emergency MedicineACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 4 2010Adam Landman MD ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:1,6 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Abstract Specialized research training for emergency physicians (EPs) may strengthen overall patient care through the development and improvement of clinical evidence in emergency care. One way an increasing number of emergency physicians have acquired these skills is through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program (CSP), a 2-year fellowship that trains physicians to be leaders in improving health care. In addition to providing training in health policy and health services research, the CSP emphasizes the translation of research into action through leadership training, program development, and community-based participatory research. This article provides an in-depth look at the CSP and its impact on emergency medicine (EM). To date, 41 EPs have trained through the program, with increasing numbers in recent years. Graduates have gone on to become leaders in academia, public health, private industry, and foundations. Past and present EM-trained Clinical Scholars are working to find creative solutions for the challenges posed by the U.S. health care system and improve the delivery of emergency care. Emergency physicians who wish to conduct research or work with communities, organizations, practitioners, and policy-makers to address issues essential to the health and well-being of all Americans should consider the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation CSP. [source] Technology in nursing scholarship: Use of citation reference managersINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2007Cheryl M. Smith ABSTRACT:, Nurses, especially those in academia, feel the pressure to publish but have a limited time to write. One of the more time-consuming and frustrating tasks of research, and subsequent publications, is the collection and organization of accurate citations of sources of information. The purpose of this article is to discuss three types of citation reference managers (personal bibliographic software) and how their use can provide consistency and accuracy in recording all the information needed for the research and writing process. The advantages and disadvantages of three software programs, EndNote, Reference Manager, and ProCite, are discussed. These three software products have a variety of options that can be used in personal data management to assist researchers in becoming published authors. [source] Urban mesh and ad hoc mesh networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Anders Nilsson Plymoth Mesh networking is currently gaining much attention, within both academia and industry. Mesh networking allows cheap and fast deployment of wireless services. It is regarded as a very promising solution for urban deployment scenarios as well as for temporary emergency response situations. Another related promising field is that of ad hoc wireless networking, which consists of mobile nodes that dynamically create and maintain a network without the need for any infrastructure. We propose a solution and architecture for urban mesh ad hoc networks, a network that combines mesh networking with ad hoc networks for urban environments. We present four types of ad hoc mesh and ad hoc mesh networks. The most general one consists of mesh nodes, called mesh points (MP), that act as a type of access point for user nodes (UN). The MPs have at least two interfaces: one which is used to communicate with UNs, and one which is used to maintain the mesh access network and transport data. These two interfaces can basically use any type of technology (IEEE 802.11 a/b/g, WiMax, etc.), and for capacity reasons it is generally regarded that the best solution is to let the mesh interface operate on a separate high-capacity channel or channels. An intricate part of these types of networks are routing and location services. In our solution, UN devices operate in ad hoc mode running an ad hoc routing protocol. This allows UNs that wish to communicate to connect directly in an ad hoc manner, or through an MP. An important question is therefore whether two UNs that wish to communicate should connect through the mesh or connect directly. We show that from a capacity point of view whether a UN should route its packets to the closest available MP, or through a ad hoc network, depends on the environment the network is located, the amount traffic and the type of protocols used. Since MPs need to know where to route packets within the mesh, i.e., locating the MP closest to the destination UN, each UN run a small application that registers the UN to the mesh network. In addition to the above features we have developed a new MAC that quickly queries two candidate nodes, which picks the candidate with the currently best radio conditions. This enable nodes to cope with deep dips in signal strength due to fast fading, a well-known problem in urban environments. We show that this new protocol achieves significantly lower delays. We also show that in dense urban environments performance and battery lifetime can be improved if ad hoc technologies are used. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 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