Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century

At the beginning of the 21st century, a new social arrangement of work poses a series of questions and challenges to scholars who aim to help people develop their working lives. Given the globalization of career counseling, we decided to address these issues and then to formulate potentially innovative responses in an international forum. We used this approach to avoid the difficulties of creating models and methods in one country and then trying to export them to other countries where they would be adapted for use. This article presents the initial outcome of this collaboration, a counseling model and methods. The life-designing model for career intervention endorses five presuppositions about people and their work lives: contextual possibilities, dynamic processes, non-linear progression, multiple perspectives, and personal patterns. Thinking from these five presuppositions, we have crafted a contextualized model based on the epistemology of social constructionism, particularly recognizing that an individual's knowledge and identity are the product of social interaction and that meaning is co-constructed through discourse. The life-design framework for counseling implements the theories of self-constructing [Guichard, J. (2005). Life-long self-construction. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 5, 111-124] and career construction [Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counselling: putting theory and research to work (pp. 42-70). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley] that describe vocational behavior and its development. Thus, the framework is structured to be life-long, holistic, contextual, and preventive.

Delimitation of the Right to Life by Healthcare Professionals: Up to what point should the right to life be protected?

This article explores the medical care standard required by law for terminally illpatients and the possibility of limiting therapeutic efforts while respecting the duediligence expected from doctors. To this end, circumstances are identified in whichthe doctor is forced to choose between two possible actions: to guarantee the right tolife by continuing treatment, or to limit the right to healthcare by limiting therapeuticefforts. Two cases taken from English Common Law were reviewed that decided onthe factual problem at hand. In our country, the Constitutional Court established aline of jurisprudence on the role of the doctor in deciding whether or not to continuetreatment for a terminally ill person. Lastly, jurisprudence precedents are presentedalong with a comparative analysis of the solutions given in Great Britain andin Colombia.

Microbiological Shelf Life of Pasteurized Milk in Bottle and Pouch

Shelf life of pasteurized milk in Brazil ranges from 3 to 8 d, mainly due to poor cold chain conditions that prevail throughout the country and subject the product to repeated and/or severe temperature abuse. This study evaluated the influence of storage temperature on the microbiological stability of homogenized whole pasteurized milk (75 degrees C/15 s) packaged in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottle and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) pouch, both monolayer materials pigmented with titanium dioxide (TiO(2)). The storage temperatures investigated were 2, 4, 9, 14, and 16 degrees C. Microbiological evaluation was based on mesophilic and psychrotrophic counts with 7 log CFU/mL and 6 log CFU/mL, respectively, set as upper limits of acceptability for maintaining the quality of milk. The microbiological stability for pasteurized milk packaged in HDPE bottle and stored at 2, 4, 9, 14, and 16 degrees C was estimated at 43, 36, 8, 5, and 3 d, respectively. For milk samples packaged in LDPE pouch, shelf life was estimated at 37, 35, 7, 3, and 2 d, respectively. The determination of Q(10) and z values demonstrated that storage temperature has a greater influence on microbiological shelf life of pasteurized milk packaged in LDPE pouch compared to HDPE bottle. Based on the results of this study, HDPE bottle was better for storing pasteurized milk as compared to LDPE pouch.

A Higher Life : A Postcolonialist Analysis of Coetzee's Disgrace

J M Coetzee’s Disgrace deals with race and power in contemporary, post-colonial South Africa. This prize-winning novel is written after the country's first all-race elections, in 1994. It has therefore most often been analyzed as a representative for the writing of the new South Africa, where the social problems relating binary oppositions such as black – white, native – immigrant, powerless – powerful, are stressed. More specifically the shift of power within the above mentioned pairs is in focus. This is also the case for this essay, but instead of analyzing the realistic elements in the book it will examine the imaginary complexity of the opera Byron in Italy, which is created by the protagonist, David Lurie. This essay aims to widen the concept of “native” regarding post-colonial theory by looking at the peculiarity of Lurie’s situation; him being a representative of the white population in South Africa. By using post-colonial theory this essay aims at showing that Lurie can be seen as a white native, and that his process of writing the opera can be seen as symbolizing the evolutionary phases a colonized nation goes through in order to develop a national culture, as described by Franz Fanon.

John Martyn Harlow: 'obscure country physician?'

If John Martyn Harlow is known at all in the neurosciences, it is because he was the physician who attended Phineas Gage and followed up his case. Although Harlow's brief but insightful accounts of the changes in Gage's personality are fairly well recognized, and his skill in treating Gage often acknowledged, Harlow himself is, for the most part, the shadowy figure caught by the self-depreciatory characterization of the subtitle of this paper. Although his contribution to the neurosciences was singular, literally and figuratively, he deserves a place in the history of the subject. Harlow's training in antiphlogistic therapy can be seen in his treatment of Gage and in his evaluation of its results. As a medical student, he was also exposed to phrenological doctrine, the influence of which can also be seen in his  appreciation and explanation of some aspects of Gage's behaviour.  Manuscript materials, newspaper reports, and other little known material are used here to evaluate Harlow's contributions to medicine and to the medical, political, and civic life of Cavendish, Woburn, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

A new roadmap to life: media, culture, and modernity in the United Arab Emirates

Critical to the vision of a new United Arab Emirates is an educated, skilled workforce that fuels the intelligent growth needed in a knowledge-based economy. As the country begins developing its version of that economy, the mediated, transparent environment fundamental to this process will carry with it new visions of (and possibilities for) living life. If peaceful change is to be achieved, a transitional generation faces the conundrum of adapting the best that modernity can offer while retaining the best of tradition. As have others, this study suggests two things: that (1) media literacy, growing in part from education, is correlated with urbanization and a changing infrastructure, and that (2) media in all its forms is inseparable from the outcome of this drive to modernization.

Conceptualization, measurement, and application of quality of life for persons with intellectual disabilities: report of an international panel of experts

In this article a number of issues involving the concept of quality of life as applied to persons with intellectual disabilities are summarized, and a number of agreed-upon principles regarding its conceptualization, measurement, and application are presented. We realize that the concepts and models presented in this article will vary potentially from country to country, and even from area to area within countries. The cross-cultural understanding of the concept of quality of life is in its infancy, and we hope that the discourses resulting from the material presented in this article will facilitate both cross-cultural understanding and collaborative work. The article reflects current thought about the conceptualization, measurement, and application of this increasingly important and widely used concept in the field of intellectual disabilities and sets the stage for its continuing development.

Beyond the Threshold: Life in the New Russia

Amanda Sprang spent nine months, from September of 1995 to May of 1996, studying at Colby College's program in St. Petersburg, Russia. Through contacts made during previous trips to Russia in middle and high school, Amanda was able to quickly rekindle her old friendships and make new ones with many young Russians from different backgrounds. The following work is a collection of twelve essays about life in the New Russia. The essays are framed by a foreword and an epilogue that help place the entire work in a historical context. Although the theme of each essay emerges from a particular incident, within every story Amanda has addressed numerous topics relating to Russian life in today’s changing society. Her first essay, “Art Klinika," takes place in an avant-garde night club in St. Petersburg, and includes a brief yet impressionable, encounter with three young Russian men. “The Birthday Party” recalls a wild evening at the home of her close friend, showing how the Russians greet special occasions. Both the third and fourth essays take place in Moscow, where Amanda returns to visit old friends. These two essays portray the lives of the new economic elite in comparison with the average citizen, as well as show how young Russians face the new challenges that greet them. "Politics Russian Style" recalls a political rally in St. Petersburg, and attempts to shed light on the wacky political world of an infant democracy. Chapters Six through Ten take place away from the western cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, as Amanda brings us to the cold, mysterious land of Siberia in the dead of winter. She recounts her five day train ride with a retired, high-powered, Communist party official, her experiences in the provincial city of Irkutsk, and a brief trip to a Buddhist monastery and, later, an excursion to Lake Baikal. Back in St. Petersburg, Chapter Eleven gives a humorous account of a ski trip with several Russian friends. Amanda finishes her work with her final chapter, “The Dacha," which describes a weekend spent at a Russian country home with her friend's family.

Predicting time trade-off health state valuations of adolescents in four Pacific countries using the assessment of quality-of-life (AQoL-6D) instrument

Objectives: Pacific Obesity Prevention in Communities (OPIC) is a community-based intervention project targeting adolescent obesity in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Tonga. The Assessment of Quality of Life Mark 2 (AQoL-6D) instrument was completed by 15,481 adolescents to obtain a description of the quality of life associated with adolescent overweight and obesity, and a corresponding utility score for use in a cost–utility analysis of the interventions. This article describes the recalibration of this utility instrument for adolescents in each country.

Methods: The recalibration was based on country-specific time trade-off (TTO) data for 30 multiattribute health states constructed from the AQoL-6D descriptive system. Senior secondary students, in a classroom setting, responded to 10 health state scenarios each. These TTO interviews were conducted for 24 groups, comprising 279 students in the four countries resulting in 2790 completed TTO scores. The TTO scores were econometrically transformed by regressing the TTO scores upon predicted scores from the AQoL-6D to produce country-specific algorithms. The latter incorporated country-specific “corrections” to the Australian adult utility weights in the original AQoL.

Results: This article reports two methodological elements not previously reported. The first is the econometric modification of an extant multi-attribute utility instrument to accommodate cultural and other group-specific differences in preferences. The second is the use of the TTO technique with adolescents in a classroom group setting. Significant differences in utility scores were found between the four countries.

Conclusion: Statistical results indicate that the AQoL-6D can be validly used in the economic evaluation of both the OPIC interventions and other adolescent programs.

Health-related quality of life is low in secondary school children in Fiji

The health and wellbeing of children in lower-income countries is the focus of much international effort, yet there has been very little direct measurement of this. Objective. The current objective was to study the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a general population of secondary school children in Fiji, a low middle-income country in the Pacific. Methods. Self-reported HRQoL was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 in 8947 school children (aged 12–18 years) from 18 secondary schools on Viti Levu, the main island of Fiji. HRQoL in Fiji was compared to that of school-aged children in 13 high- and upper middle-income countries. Results. The school children in Fiji had lower HRQoL than the children in the 13 comparison countries, with consistently lower physical, emotional, social, and school functioning and wellbeing. HRQoL was particularly low amongst girls and Indigenous Fijians. Conclusions. These findings raise concerns about the general functioning and wellbeing of school children in Fiji. The consistently low HRQoL across all core domains suggests pervasive underlying determinants. Investigation of the potential determinants in Fiji and validation of the current results in Fiji and other lower-income countries are important avenues for future research.

Innovation and technology policy (ITP) for catching up: a three phase life cycle framework for industrializing economies

Includes bibliography

Population ageing in the Caribbean: a four country study

Includes bibliography

Tourism life cycle, tourism competitiveness and upgrading strategies in the Caribbean

In the 1980s Butler adapted the life cycle product model to the tourism industry and created the “Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model”. The model recognizes six stages in the tourism product life cycle: exploration, investment, development, consolidation, stagnation and followed, after stagnation, by decline or revitalization of the product. These six stages can in turn be regrouped into four main stages. The Butler model has been applied to more than 30 country cases with a wide degree of success. De Albuquerque and Mc Elroy (1992) applied the TALC model to 23 small Caribbean island States in the 1990s. Following De Albuquerque and Mc Elroy, the TALC is applied to the 32 member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) (except for Cancun and Cozumel) to locate their positions along their tourism life-cycle in 2007. This is done using the following indicators: the evolution of the level, market share and growth rate of stay-over arrivals; the growth rate and market share of visitor expenditures per arrival and the tourism styles of the destinations, differentiating between ongoing mass tourism and niche marketing strategies and among upscale, mid-scale and low-scale destinations. Countries have pursued three broad classes of strategies over the last 15 years in order to move upward in their tourism life cycle and enhance their tourism competitiveness. There is first a strategy that continues to rely on mass-tourism to build on the comparative advantages of “sun, sand and sea”, scale economies, all-inclusive packages and large amounts of investment to move along in Stage 2 or Stage 3 (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico). There is a second strategy pursued mainly by very small islands that relies on developing specific niche markets to maintain tourism competitiveness through upgrading (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos), allowing them to move from Stage 2 to Stage 3 or Stage 3 to a rejuvenation stage. There is a third strategy that uses a mix of mass-tourism, niche marketing and quality upgrading either to emerge onto the intermediate stage (Trinidad and Tobago); avoid decline (Aruba, The Bahamas) or rejuvenate (Barbados, Jamaica and the United States Virgin Islands). There have been many success stories in Caribbean tourism competitiveness and further research should aim at empirically testing the determinants of tourism competitiveness for the region as a whole.

Adaptação transcultural do formulário POLST: Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment

Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva - FMB

An Analysis of Living Conditions in Rural Villages in China. A New Geography of the Country.

Analysts, politicians and international players from all over the world look at China as one of the most powerful countries on the international scenario, and as a country whose economic development can significantly impact on the economies of the rest of the world. However many aspects of this country have still to be investigated. First the still fundamental role played by Chinese rural areas for the general development of the country from a political, economic and social point of view. In particular, the way in which the rural areas have influenced the social stability of the whole country has been widely discussed due to their strict relationship with the urban areas where most people from the countryside emigrate searching for a job and a better life. In recent years many studies have mostly focused on the urbanization phenomenon with little interest in the living conditions in rural areas and in the deep changes which have occurred in some, mainly agricultural provinces. An analysis of the level of infrastructure is one of the main aspects which highlights the principal differences in terms of living conditions between rural and urban areas. In this thesis, I first carried out the analysis through the multivariate statistics approach (Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Analysis) in order to define the new map of rural areas based on the analysis of living conditions. In the second part I elaborated an index (Living Conditions Index) through the Fuzzy Expert/Inference System. Finally I compared this index (LCI) to the results obtained from the cluster analysis drawing geographic maps. The data source is the second national agricultural census of China carried out in 2006. In particular, I analysed the data refer to villages but aggregated at province level.