Re-thinking of "Chintanakan Mai" (new thinking) : new perspective for understanding Lao PDR

To date, many previous studies have viewed "Chintanakan Mai" (New Thinking), which was introduced in 1986, as one of the most important factors required for understanding present-day Laos. They tend to see the year 1986 as a watershed in Lao history and divide the history after 1975 into two periods before and after 1986: a period of socialism and a period of reform or market economy, respectively. Therefore, they are likely to see the current changes in Laos as the result or achievement of the reform started in 1986. The year 1986 is always a starting point for understanding Laos today. However, I suggest a different perspective and attempt to re-examine "Chintanakan Mai." "Chintanakan Mai" is not a watershed in Lao history, but rather a temporary slogan to advance postwar reconstruction. In this paper, I try to establish a new perspective for understanding Laos today.

Taiwan strait crises and Chiang Kai-shek's strategic thinking : a perspective from the Taiwan's archive

This paper uses Taiwan's archival documents to reexamine the two Taiwan Strait crises and the characteristics of Chiang Kai-shek's strategic thinking. Section 2 examines the oscillation of U.S. policy concerning the ROC's offensive toward mainland China and the defense of the Da-chen islands before and after the initiation of the First Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1954-1955. Doing so will highlight the contradictory U.S. attitude that contributed to the crisis and weakened its ability to control Chiang. Section 3 focuses on Chiang Kai-shek's strategic vision toward East Asia. In particular, this section focuses on his strategic thinking and tries to assess whether or not he was a "reckless" or "irrational" leader as often described in the previous research on his personality.

Thinking Space

Artículo de la revista de Shanghai "Minax" que analiza el pensamiento sobre el espacio como el motor principal de las investigaciones en diversos proyectos de Alberto Campo Baeza. Se analizan el proyecto "Entre Catedrales", la "Casa Moliner", la "Caja de Ahorros de Granada", el "Museo de la Memoria" y la "Guardería de Benetton". El artículo se centra en las ideas espaciales que existen en cada uno de estos proyectos.

Reliability and quality in the area of statistical thinking in Engineering

There is remarkable growing concern about the quality control at the time, which has led to the search for methods capable of addressing effectively the reliability analysis as part of the Statistic. Managers, researchers and Engineers must understand that 'statistical thinking' is not just a set of statistical tools. They should start considering 'statistical thinking' from a 'system', which means, developing systems that meet specific statistical tools and other methodologies for an activity. The aim of this article is to encourage them (engineers, researchers and managers) to develop a new way of thinking.

Building lean thinking in a telecom software development organization: strengths and challenges.

The potential shown by Lean in different domains has aroused interest in the software industry. However, it remains unclear how Lean can be effectively applied in a domain such as software development that is fundamentally different from manufacturing. This study explores how Lean principles are implemented in software development companies and the challenges that arise when applying Lean Software Development. For that, a case study was conducted at Ericsson R&D Finland, which successfully adopted Scrum in 2009 and subsequently started a comprehensible transition to Lean in 2010. Focus groups were conducted with company representatives to help devise a questionnaire supporting the creation of a Lean mindset in the company (Team Amplifier). Afterwards, the questionnaire was used in 16 teams based in Finland, Hungary and China to evaluate the status of the transformation. By using Lean thinking, Ericsson R&D Finland has made important improvements to the quality of its products, customer satisfaction and transparency within the organization. Moreover, build times have been reduced over ten times and the number of commits per day has increased roughly five times.The study makes two main contributions to research. First, the main factors that have enabled Ericsson R&D?s achievements are analysed. Elements such as ?network of product owners?, ?continuous integration?, ?work in progress limits? and ?communities of practice? have been identified as being of fundamental importance. Second, three categories of challenges in using Lean Software Development were identified: ?achieving flow?, ?transparency? and ?creating a learning culture?

Stoichiometry in Context: Inquiry-Guided Problems of Chemistry for Encouraging Critical Thinking in Engineering Students

This paper focuses on examples of educational tools concerning the learning of chemistry for engineering students through different daily life cases. These tools were developed during the past few years for enhancing the active role of students. They refer to cases about mineral water, medicaments, dentifrices and informative panels about solar power, where an adequate quantitative treatment through stoichiometry calculations allows the interpretation of data and values announced by manufacturers. These cases were developed in the context of an inquiry-guided instruction model. By bringing tangible chemistry examples into the classroom we provide an opportunity for engineering students to apply this science to familiar products in hopes that they will appreciate chemistry more, will be motivated to study concepts in greater detail, and will connect the relevance of chemistry to everyday life.

Vigilancia tecnológica: un aprendizaje adaptativo a través del pensamiento divergente Technological surveillance: an adaptive learning through divergent thinking

El estudio de la evolución tecnológica a partir de logros concretos de la humanidad es una forma de aproximación a la enseñanza de la ingeniería. Comprender que las tecnologías existentes son el resultado de un depurado proceso de creación/selección no es trivial. Por ello combinar un conocimiento deductivo profundo con un pensamiento divergente que favorezca la obtención de soluciones viables y creativas es fundamental en el contexto de incertidumbre económica actual. En este ensayo se comparan siete técnicas de enseñanza que pretenden favorecer el PD en una estrategia adaptativa para alumnos con distintos estilos cognitivos (AA) sobre la base de un proceso de vigilancia tecnológica (VT) aplicada a algunos objetos cotidianos y otros muy especializados.

Thinking way out of the box

l objeto de este trabajo es investigar sobre la arquitectura futurista mediante la figura de Jan Kaplický, el cual realizó planteamientos y arquitecturas que todavía hoy son realmente innovadoras e impactantes, centrando el tema en sus propuestas de vanguardia sobre lo doméstico. La obra elegida para este análisis es la House for a Helicopter Pilot (1979), una arquitectura nómada y cinética en que se habitaría una cápsula modular que puede elevar o bajar sus brazos hidráulicos y luego, una vez cansado el usuario del entorno, podría abandonarlo y encontrar otro lugar salvaje en que situarse. Al ser una obra no construida y utópica, sobre la que no hay apenas documentación, se propone como objetivo indagar sobre esta arquitectura alternativa que hoy en día sigue resultando innovadora, y realizar hipótesis explorando los detalles y objetos que aparecen en la escasa documentación existente, profundizando en las ideas utópicas de Jan Kaplicky

KDIGO-based acute kidney injury criteria operate differently in hospitals and the community—findings from a large population cohort

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We acknowledge the data management support of Grampian Data Safe Haven (DaSH) and the associated financial support of NHS Research Scotland, through NHS Grampian investment in the Grampian DaSH. S.S. is supported by a Clinical Research Training Fellowship from the Wellcome Trust (Ref 102729/Z/13/Z). We also acknowledge the support from The Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research. The Farr Institute is supported by a 10-funder consortium: Arthritis Research UK, the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the National Institute of Health Research, the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (Welsh Assembly Government), the Chief Scientist Office (Scottish Government Health Directorates) and the Wellcome Trust (MRC Grant Nos: Scotland MR/K007017/1).

Slow and fast dietary proteins differently modulate postprandial protein accretion

The speed of absorption of dietary amino acids by the gut varies according to the type of ingested dietary protein. This could affect postprandial protein synthesis, breakdown, and deposition. To test this hypothesis, two intrinsically 13C-leucine-labeled milk proteins, casein (CAS) and whey protein (WP), of different physicochemical properties were ingested as one single meal by healthy adults. Postprandial whole body leucine kinetics were assessed by using a dual tracer methodology. WP induced a dramatic but short increase of plasma amino acids. CAS induced a prolonged plateau of moderate hyperaminoacidemia, probably because of a slow gastric emptying. Whole body protein breakdown was inhibited by 34% after CAS ingestion but not after WP ingestion. Postprandial protein synthesis was stimulated by 68% with the WP meal and to a lesser extent (+31%) with the CAS meal. Postprandial whole body leucine oxidation over 7 h was lower with CAS (272 ± 91 μmol⋅kg−1) than with WP (373 ± 56 μmol⋅kg−1). Leucine intake was identical in both meals (380 μmol⋅kg−1). Therefore, net leucine balance over the 7 h after the meal was more positive with CAS than with WP (P < 0.05, WP vs. CAS). In conclusion, the speed of protein digestion and amino acid absorption from the gut has a major effect on whole body protein anabolism after one single meal. By analogy with carbohydrate metabolism, slow and fast proteins modulate the postprandial metabolic response, a concept to be applied to wasting situations.

The Kinesin-related Proteins, Kip2p and Kip3p, Function Differently in Nuclear Migration in Yeast

The roles of two kinesin-related proteins, Kip2p and Kip3p, in microtubule function and nuclear migration were investigated. Deletion of either gene resulted in nuclear migration defects similar to those described for dynein and kar9 mutants. By indirect immunofluorescence, the cytoplasmic microtubules in kip2Δwere consistently short or absent throughout the cell cycle. In contrast, in kip3Δ strains, the cytoplasmic microtubules were significantly longer than wild type at telophase. Furthermore, in the kip3Δ cells with nuclear positioning defects, the cytoplasmic microtubules were misoriented and failed to extend into the bud. Localization studies found Kip2p exclusively on cytoplasmic microtubules throughout the cell cycle, whereas GFP-Kip3p localized to both spindle and cytoplasmic microtubules. Genetic analysis demonstrated that the kip2Δ kar9Δ double mutants were synthetically lethal, whereas kip3Δ kar9Δ double mutants were viable. Conversely, kip3Δ dhc1Δ double mutants were synthetically lethal, whereas kip2Δ dhc1Δ double mutants were viable. We suggest that the kinesin-related proteins, Kip2p and Kip3p, function in nuclear migration and that they do so by different mechanisms. We propose that Kip2p stabilizes microtubules and is required as part of the dynein-mediated pathway in nuclear migration. Furthermore, we propose that Kip3p functions, in part, by depolymerizing microtubules and is required for the Kar9p-dependent orientation of the cytoplasmic microtubules.

Web-based distance continuing education: a new way of thinking for students and instructors

As people have more difficulty taking time away from work to attend conferences and workshops, the idea of offering courses via the Web has become more desirable. Addressing a need voiced by Medical Library Association membership, the authors developed a Web-based continuing-education course on the subject of the librarian's role in evidence-based medicine. The aim of the course was to provide medical librarians with a well-constructed, content-rich learning experience available to them at their convenience via the Web. This paper includes a discussion of the considerations that need to be taken into account when developing Web-based courses, the issues that arise when the information delivery changes from face-to-face to online, the changing role of the instructor, and the pros and cons of offering Web-based versus traditional courses. The results of the beta test and future plans for the course are also discussed.

Cloning and functional analysis of two gibberellin 3β-hydroxylase genes that are differently expressed during the growth of rice

We have cloned two gibberellin (GA) 3β-hydroxylase genes, OsGA3ox1 and OsGA3ox2, from rice by screening a genomic library with a DNA fragment obtained by PCR using degenerate primers. We have used full-scan GC-MS and Kovats retention indices to show function for the two encoded recombinant fusion proteins. Both proteins show 3β-hydroxylase activity for the steps GA20 to GA1, GA5 to GA3, GA44 to GA38, and GA9 to GA4. In addition, indirect evidence suggests that the OsGA3ox1 protein also has 2,3-desaturase activity, which catalyzes the steps GA9 to 2,3-dehydro-GA9 and GA20 to GA5 (2,3-dehydro GA20), and 2β-hydroxylase activity, which catalyzes the steps GA1 to GA8 and GA4 to GA34. Molecular and linkage analysis maps the OsGA3ox1 gene to the distal end of the short arm of chromosome 5; the OsGA3ox2 gene maps to the distal end of the short arm of chromosome 1 that corresponds to the D18 locus. The association of the OsGA3ox2 gene with the d18 locus is confirmed by sequence and complementation analysis of three d18 alleles. Complementation of the d18-AD allele with the OxGA3ox2 gene results in transgenic plants with a normal phenotype. Although both genes show transient expression, the highest level for OsGA3ox1 is from unopened flower. The highest level for OsGA3ox2 is from elongating leaves.