Beyond Bilbao : rethinking flagship cultural development and planning in three California cities

Since the widely publicized revitalization success story of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, local governments have been scrambling to create their own flagship cultural projects. Because of the broad public sponsorship of such projects, urban planners need a full understanding of the associated potentials and problems. However, little research specifically examines the localized complexities of the flagship cultural strategy. Examining projects in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, the article illustrates that much more than impressive architecture influences their catalytic ability. Flagship cultural projects are highly dependent on a variety of contextual factors and, therefore, should be positioned to build on existing arts and related commercial activity rather than gamble that they will generate new development from scratch.

The core role of the nurse practitioner: practice, professionalism and clinical leadership.

AIM: To draw on empirical evidence to illustrate the core role of nurse practitioners in Australia and New Zealand. BACKGROUND: Enacted legislation provides for mutual recognition of qualifications, including nursing, between New Zealand and Australia. As the nurse practitioner role is relatively new in both countries, there is no consistency in role expectation and hence mutual recognition has not yet been applied to nurse practitioners. A study jointly commissioned by both countries' Regulatory Boards developed information on the core role of the nurse practitioner, to develop shared competency and educational standards. Reporting on this study's process and outcomes provides insights that are relevant both locally and internationally. METHOD: This interpretive study used multiple data sources, including published and grey literature, policy documents, nurse practitioner program curricula and interviews with 15 nurse practitioners from the two countries. Data were analysed according to the appropriate standard for each data type and included both deductive and inductive methods. The data were aggregated thematically according to patterns within and across the interview and material data. FINDINGS: The core role of the nurse practitioner was identified as having three components: dynamic practice, professional efficacy and clinical leadership. Nurse practitioner practice is dynamic and involves the application of high level clinical knowledge and skills in a wide range of contexts. The nurse practitioner demonstrates professional efficacy, enhanced by an extended range of autonomy that includes legislated privileges. The nurse practitioner is a clinical leader with a readiness and an obligation to advocate for their client base and their profession at the systems level of health care. CONCLUSION: A clearly articulated and research informed description of the core role of the nurse practitioner provides the basis for development of educational and practice competency standards. These research findings provide new perspectives to inform the international debate about this extended level of nursing practice. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The findings from this research have the potential to achieve a standardised approach and internationally consistent nomenclature for the nurse practitioner role.

The role of the rule of law in virtual communities

There is a severe tendency in cyberlaw theory to delegitimize state intervention in the governance of virtual communities. Much of the existing theory makes one of two fundamental flawed assumptions: that communities will always be best governed without the intervention of the state; or that the territorial state can best encourage the development of communities by creating enforceable property rights and allowing the market to resolve any disputes. These assumptions do not ascribe sufficient weight to the value-laden support that the territorial state always provides to private governance regimes, the inefficiencies that will tend to limit the development utopian communities, and the continued role of the territorial state in limiting autonomy in accordance with communal values. In order to overcome these deterministic assumptions, this article provides a framework based upon the values of the rule of law through which to conceptualise the legitimacy of the private exercise of power in virtual communities. The rule of law provides a constitutional discourse that assists in considering appropriate limits on the exercise of private power. I argue that the private contractual framework that is used to govern relations in virtual communities ought to be informed by the values of the rule of law in order to more appropriately address the governance tensions that permeate these spaces. These values suggest three main limits to the exercise of private power: that governance is limited by community rules and that the scope of autonomy is limited by the substantive values of the territorial state; that private contractual rules should be general, equal, and certain; and that, most importantly, internal norms be predicated upon the consent of participants.

Response to “Topical agent therapy for prevention and treatment of radiodermatitis : a meta-analysis”

To the Editor; It was with interest that I read the recent article by Zhang et al. published in Supportive Care in Cancer [1]. This paper highlighted the importance of radiodermatitis (RD) being an unresolved and distressing clinical issue in patients with cancer undergoing radiation therapy. However, I am concerned with a number of clinical and methodological issues within this paper: (i) the clinical and operational definition of prophylaxis and treatment of RD; (ii) the accuracy of the identification of trials; and (iii) the appropriateness of the conduct of the meta-analyses...

The analytical solution and numerical solution of the fractional diffusion-wave equation with damping

Fractional partial differential equations have been applied to many problems in physics, finance, and engineering. Numerical methods and error estimates of these equations are currently a very active area of research. In this paper we consider a fractional diffusionwave equation with damping. We derive the analytical solution for the equation using the method of separation of variables. An implicit difference approximation is constructed. Stability and convergence are proved by the energy method. Finally, two numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness of this approximation.

A poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) knitted scaffold for tendon tissue engineering: an in vitro and in vivo study

We have designed a composite scaffold for potential use in tendon or ligament tissue engineering. The composite scaffold was made of a cellularized alginate gel that encapsulated a knitted structure. Our hypothesis was that the alginate would act as a cell carrier and deliver cells to the injury site while the knitted structure would provide mechanical strength to the composite construct. The mechanical behaviour and the degradation profile of the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) knitted scaffolds were evaluated. We found that our scaffolds had an elastic modulus of 750 MPa and that they lost their physical integrity within 7 weeks of in vitro incubation. Autologous rabbit mesenchymal stem cell seeded composite scaffolds were implanted in a 1-cm-long defect created in the rabbit tendon, and the biomechanical properties and the morphology of the regenerated tissues were evaluated after 13 weeks. The regenerated tendons presented higher normalized elastic modulus of (60%) when compared with naturally healed tendons (40%). The histological study showed a higher cell density and vascularization in the regenerated tendons.

Generalized aggregate Quality of Service computation for composite services

This article addresses the problem of estimating the Quality of Service (QoS) of a composite service given the QoS of the services participating in the composition. Previous solutions to this problem impose restrictions on the topology of the orchestration models, limiting their applicability to well-structured orchestration models for example. This article lifts these restrictions by proposing a method for aggregate QoS computation that deals with more general types of unstructured orchestration models. The applicability and scalability of the proposed method are validated using a collection of models from industrial practice.

Management of periprosthetic joint infection after total hip arthroplasty using a Custom Made Articulating Spacer (CUMARS); the exeter experience

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after THA is a major complication with an incidence of 1-3%. We report our experiences with a technique using a custom-made articulating spacer (CUMARS) at the first of two-stage treatment for PJI. This technique uses widely available all-polyethylene acetabular components and the Exeter Universal stem, fixed using antibiotic loaded acrylic cement. Seventy-six hips were treated for PJI using this technique. Performed as the first of a two-stage procedure, good functional results were commonly seen, leading to postponing second stage indefinitely with retention of the CUMARS prosthesis in 34 patients. The CUMARS technique presents an alternative to conventional spacers, using readily available components that are well tolerated, allowing weight bearing and mobility, and achieving comparable eradication rates.

Better cars or older cars?: Assessing CO2 emission reduction potential of passenger vehicle replacement programs

The primary motivation for the vehicle replacement schemes that were implemented in many countries was to encourage the purchase of new cars. The basic assumption of these schemes was that these acquisitions would benefit both the economy and the environment as older and less fuel-efficient cars were scrapped and replaced with more fuel-efficient models. In this article, we present a new environmental impact assessment method for assessing the effectiveness of scrappage schemes for reducing CO2 emissions taking into account the rebound effect, driving behavior for older versus new cars and entire lifecycle emissions for during the manufacturing processes of new cars. The assessment of the Japanese scrappage scheme shows that CO2 emissions would only decrease if users of the scheme retained their new gasoline passenger vehicles for at least 4.7 years. When vehicle replacements were restricted to hybrid cars, the reduction in CO2 achieved by the scheme would be 6-8.5 times higher than the emissions resulting from a scheme involving standard, gasoline passenger vehicles. Cost-benefit analysis, based on the emission reduction potential, showed that the scheme was very costly. Sensitivity analysis showed that the Japanese government failed to determine the optimum, or target, car age for scrapping old cars in the scheme. Specifically, scrapping cars aged 13 years and over did not maximize the environmental benefits of the scheme. Consequently, modifying this policy to include a reduction in new car subsidies, focused funding for fuel-efficient cars, and modifying the target car age, would increase environmental benefits. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Protein loaded mesoporous silica spheres as a controlled delivery platform

Background The adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto mesoporous silica spheres (MPS) synthesized from silica colloids was studied employing real time in situ measurements. The stabilities of the BSA at different pH values, their isoelectric points and zeta potentials were determined in order to probe the interactions between the protein and the mesoporous silica. Results The pore size of MPS was designed for protein, and this, coupled with an in depth understanding of the physico-chemical characteristics of the protein and MPS has yielded a better binding capacity and delivery profile. The adsorption isotherm at pH 4.2 fitted the Langmuir model and displayed the highest adsorption capacity (71.43 mg mL-1 MPS). Furthermore, the delivery rates of BSA from the MPS under physiological conditions were shown to be dependent on the ionic strength of the buffer and protein loading concentration. Conclusion Economics and scale-up considerations of mesoporous material synthesized via destabilization of colloids by electrolyte indicate the scaleability and commercial viability of this technology as a delivery platform for biopharmaceutical applications.

Linking spatial stock dynamics and economics: Evaluation of indicators and fishery management for the travelling eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus)

Reduced economic circumstances havemoved management goals towards higher profit, rather than maximum sustainable yields in several Australian fisheries. The eastern king prawn is one such fishery, for which we have developed new methodology for stock dynamics, calculation of model-based and data-based reference points and management strategy evaluation. The fishery is notable for the northward movement of prawns in eastern Australian waters, from the State jurisdiction of New South Wales to that of Queensland, as they grow to spawning size, so that vessels fishing in the northern deeper waters harvest more large prawns. Bioeconomic fishing data were standardized for calibrating a length-structured spatial operating model. Model simulations identified that reduced boat numbers and fishing effort could improve profitability while retaining viable fishing in each jurisdiction. Simulations also identified catch rate levels that were effective for monitoring in simple within-year effort-control rules. However, favourable performance of catch rate indicators was achieved only when a meaningful upper limit was placed on total allowed fishing effort. Themethods and findings will allow improved measures for monitoring fisheries and inform decision makers on the uncertainty and assumptions affecting economic indicators.