Imagining oneself in a stereotyped role may stifle generalized tendencies to support social change

Imagining oneself in a stereotyped role may not only increase women's endorsement of stereotypes about women and science, but also stifle broader concerns about social change. In the experiment, 81 women imagined themselves on a stereotypical or a counter-stereotypical career path (vs. a control condition). Participants in the stereotypical imagery condition endorsed to a higher extent the stereotypes about women and science, and crucially, were more resistant to social change in general. Stereotype endorsement mediated the relationship between exposure to stereotypes and resistance to social change. Results imply that tackling occupational gender stereotypes is crucial not only because they exclude women from male-dominated careers, but also because of a potentially pervasive negative impact on broader egalitarian concerns.

Pharmacy legislation:public protector or professional hindrance?

Pharmacy originates from a background of medication compounding and supply. More recently, this role has developed away from an absolute focus on the supply of pharmaceuticals with, for example, the advent of pharmacist prescribing. Nevertheless, for a majority of the profession, medication supply remains a core activity. Regulation of the pharmacy profession is now the responsibility of the General Pharmaceutical Council, although up until 27 September 2010, this role fell to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB). Before this change, in one of the most high-profile legal cases involving a pharmacist in a professional capacity, R. v Lee, a pharmacist was prosecuted firstly for gross negligence manslaughter, later revised to offences under the Medicines Act 1968, for a single error relating to medication supply, and was given a suspended custodial sentence. Offences against sections 64 or 85 of the Medicines Act are absolute offences and there is no due diligence defence. Prosecution of a pharmacist for the supply of incorrect medication may seem a measured course of action to protect the public from the wrongful supply of potent pharmacotherapeutic agents; however, further analysis of Lee indicates that this approach may be counterproductive. An appeal of the original conviction in the Lee case has resulted in a clarification of the interpretation of section 85(5); however currently, prosecutions under section 64 are still a possibility. Owing to the seriousness of a criminal conviction under section 64, this continuation will potentially stifle the profession's ability to learn from dispensing errors. © The Author [2013]. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.

Safety criteria for the private spaceflight industry

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) has set specific rules and generic guidelines to cover experimental and operational flights by industry forerunners such as Virgin Galactic and XCOR. One such guideline Advisory Circular (AC) 437.55-1[1] contains exemplar hazard analyses for spacecraft designers and operators to follow under an experimental permit. The FAA's rules and guidelines have also been ratified in a report to the United States Congress, Analysis of Human Space Flight Safety[2] which cites that the industry is too immature and has 'insufficient data' to be proscriptive and that 'defining a minimum set of criteria for human spaceflight service providers is potentially problematic' in order not to 'stifle the emerging industry'. The authors of this paper acknowledge the immaturity of the industry and discuss the problematic issues that Design Organisations and Operators now face.