Real life learning. Alternative to clinical skills development

1. Pressure from educational institutions on clinical facilities necessitates the creation of alternative strategies that enable students to develop clinical skills outside the artificial atmosphere of a nursing laboratory or the formal clinical setting. 2. Assignments covering grief and loss experienced by the elderly; problems in performing activities of daily living experienced by the non-elderly; and existential anxieties experienced by the elderly help students to realize that such problems are not confined to those residing in institutional settings. 3. Each of these assignments sensitizes students to the practical reality of a variety of theoretical frameworks, which provides students with the opportunity of applying theory to practice in a nonthreatening environment.     

Educating Women: Gender Inequalities among Canadian University Graduates*

Dans le présent article, les auteurs proposent une analyse comparative des revenus et du chomage dliommes et de femmes diplômés universitaires entre 1978 et 1988. Les résultats montrent que le sexe continue d'exercer une influence importante sur ces données; le rapport global hommes-femmes est en effet passé de 84% a 91%. Seule une petite partie de l'écart des revenus peut s'expliquer par des différences entre les hommes et les femmes au regard du recrutement sur le marché du travail. Les auteurs considèrent ces résultats révélateurs de la ségrégation entre les hommes et les femmes, et que celle-ci mène à des différences dans les cheminements de carrière. De plus, pour l'avenir, ils prévoient que, tandis que l'écart des revenus continuera probablement de diminuer, les formes d'inégalité entre les diplômés seront peut-ôtre de plus en plus marquées, surtout que l'écart des revenus est en déclin parmi les cohortes récentes. This paper compares male versus female income and unemployment for three cohorts of university graduates between 1978 and 1988. Results show that gender became a weaker predictor of these outcomes, with the female-male earning ratio growing from 84% to 91% over this period. Nonetheless, a notable wage gap remained in later cohorts, and for one cohort income disparities widened with time in the labour market. Moreover, only a relatively small portion of the earnings gap could be attributed to male-female differences in market endowments. The authors interpret these results as illustrating gender segregation within occupations that result in disparate earning trajectories. Also, it is suggested that while the wage gap will likely continue to shrink, future patterns of inequality among graduates may become increasingly uneven, especially since real wages are declining among recent cohorts.     

Estimating the Probability of Human Error by Incorporating Component Failure Data from User-Induced Defects in the Development of Complex Electrical Systems

This article proposes a methodology for incorporating electrical component failure data into the human error assessment and reduction technique (HEART) for estimating human error probabilities (HEPs). The existing HEART method contains factors known as error-producing conditions (EPCs) that adjust a generic HEP to a more specific situation being assessed. The selection and proportioning of these EPCs are at the discretion of an assessor, and are therefore subject to the assessor's experience and potential bias. This dependence on expert opinion is prevalent in similar HEP assessment techniques used in numerous industrial areas. The proposed method incorporates factors based on observed trends in electrical component failures to produce a revised HEP that can trigger risk mitigation actions more effectively based on the presence of component categories or other hazardous conditions that have a history of failure due to human error. The data used for the additional factors are a result of an analysis of failures of electronic components experienced during system integration and testing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The analysis includes the determination of root failure mechanisms and trend analysis. The major causes of these defects were attributed to electrostatic damage, electrical overstress, mechanical overstress, or thermal overstress. These factors representing user-induced defects are quantified and incorporated into specific hardware factors based on the system's electrical parts list. This proposed methodology is demonstrated with an example comparing the original HEART method and the proposed modified technique.     

What future for the Global Aid for Trade Initiative? Towards an assessment of its achievements and limitations

As with any form of contemporary global governance, the impact of the global Aid for Trade Initiative (2006) has been mixed. However, to dismiss it as a failure would be premature. The co‐ordination system established was based on best‐practice techniques of governance in a diverse non‐hierarchical environment, such as the international development community. This form of co‐operation cannot overcome global economic and political asymmetries, but it can be effective in several respects. In particular, the Initiative led to increased funding for AfT and kick‐started a range of initiatives and technical advances; while the monitoring process has evolved significantly to give voice to new actors and issues. Although the future of the AfT Initiative is uncertain, its achievements merit careful consideration.     

用价值观领导——这是全球500强企业CEO们推崇的做法!

在认清自己的过程中，你必须理解自己的价值观和领导原则。有些领导者把自己的价值观称为自己的“道德指针”。诺华制药的丹尼尔．魏思乐发现，“大多数人内心都有一个道德指针在告诉自己应该往哪个方向前进”。强生公司前任主席兼CEO吉姆·伯克说：“如果没有一个道德指针，你的事业就会陷入一片混乱。”     

别让高薪CEO带来低绩效

薪酬一旦与绩效考核脱节，就会导致董事会成员的不负责任。这样的董事会可能会将企业和员工置于一个危险的境地。近日来，公众对企业CEO过高薪酬的反对与愤怒可谓愈演愈烈。这并不是没有原因的。有太多的CEO即使在绩效低下的情况下，仍然可以按时拿到数目不菲的高额薪水。     

Medicine and the Aesthetic Invalidation of Disabled People

Contemporary disability discourse is marked by a struggle between medical and social meanings and models. The latter reflects the aspirations and youthful radicalism of the disability movement, while the former regards itself as the legitimate voice of truth in all matters associated with bodily function and process. This paper argues that the battle lines between these two camps need not be redrawn. Despite hints to the contrary, the proposed extension of the social model to accommodate a sociology of impairment does not involve a rapprochement with the medical model. On the contrary, a sociological account of impairment seeks to augment the armoury of the social model by developing one of its weaknesses, namely the cultural critique of medicine. This paper examines some of the ways in which medicine has been involved in the 'aesthetic invalidation' of disabled people and proposes that 'geneticization' is an important current contributor to this form of disability discrimination.