Development of Multisector Alliances (MSAs): Organization and Leadership. ACES Working Papers, 2012

The research team reviewed numerous several multi- sectoral entities and identified nine GGNs that became the subject of our case studies. The research team conducted semi-structured interviews with executives and staff from each of these GNNs and prepared a profile, including a description of the unique evolution of the organization, goals and objectives, organizational structure and governance arrangements for each GGN. The following list provides an overview of the nine GGNs profiled: 1. Every Woman Every Child is an unprecedented global effort that mobilizes and amplifies action by governments, multilaterals, the private sector, research centers, academia and civil society to address life-threatening health challenges facing women and children globally. 2. HERproject catalyzes global partnerships and local Networks to improve female workers’ general and reproductive health in eight emerging economies. 3. R4 Rural Resilience Initiative is a cutting-edge, strategic, large-scale partnership between the public and private sectors to innovate and develop better tools to help the world’s most vulnerable people build resilient livelihoods. 4. Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups, investors and international organizations that aims to improve transparency and accountability in the extractives sector. 5. Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases works with international partners at the highest level of government, business and society to break down the logistical and financial barriers to delivering existing treatments for the seven most common neglected tropical diseases. 6. Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is an alliance that supports public-private partnerships to increase access to the missing nutrients in diets necessary for people, communities and economies to be stronger and healthier. 7. Inter-Agency Network For Education in Emergencies is a global Network of individuals and representatives from NGOs, United Nations and donor agencies, governments, academic institutions, schools and affected populations working to ensure all persons have the right to a quality and safe education in emergencies and post- crisis recovery. 8. mHealth Alliance works with diverse partners to advance mobile-based or mobile-enhanced solutions that deliver health through research, advocacy, support for the development of interoperable solutions and sustainable deployment models. 9. The Rainforest Alliance is a global non-profit that focuses on environmental conservation and sustainable development and works through collaborative partnerships with various stakeholders.

Sandcastles of hope? Civil society organizations and the working conditions of migrant farmworkers in North America

This research explores whether civil society organizations (CSOs) can contribute to more effectively regulating the working conditions of temporary migrant farmworkers in North America. This dissertation unfolds in five parts. The first part of the dissertation sets out the background context. The context includes the political economy of agriculture and temporary migrant labour more broadly. It also includes the political economy of the legal regulations that govern immigration and work relations. The second part of the research builds an analytical model for studying the operation of CSOs active in working with the migrant farmworker population. The purpose of the analytical framework is to make sense of real-world examples by providing categories for analysis and a means to get at the channels of influence that CSOs utilize to achieve their aims. To this end, the model incorporates the insights from three significant bodies of literature—regulatory studies, labour studies, and economic sociology. The third part of the dissertation suggests some key strategic issues that CSOs should consider when intervening to assist migrant farmworkers, and also proposes a series of hypotheses about how CSOs can participate in the regulatory process. The fourth part probes and extends these hypotheses by empirically investigating the operation of three CSOs that are currently active in assisting migrant farm workers in North America: the Agricultural Workers Alliance (Canada), Global Workers’ Justice Alliance (USA), and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (USA). The fifth and final part draws together lessons from the empirical work and concluded that CSOs can fill gaps left by the waning power of actors, such as trade unions and labour inspectorates, as well as act in ways that these traditional actors can not.

HOLDING HANDS WHILE PARTING WAYS: EXAMINING ALLIANCE TREATY RENEGOTIATION

This study investigates the renegotiation of security alliances, specifically the structural conditions surrounding their revision. Although the field of international relations offers a rich discussion of the formation and violation of alliance treaties, few scholars have addressed the reasons why alliance members amend security obligations. After the formation of an alliance, a member may become dissatisfied owing to changes in the external and domestic security environments. A failure to address this discontent increases the risk of alliance breakdown. Members manage their alliance relationship through a negotiation process or intra-alliance bargaining in the search for a new arrangement that can endure. Factors that help to show commitment to the alliance and communicate a set of feasible solutions are crucial if members are to find a mutually acceptable arrangement. By taking these factors into account, allies are more likely to revise an existing treaty. Examining a set of bilateral alliances dating from 1945 to 2001, this research demonstrates that public requests for renegotiation compel allies to change the status quo. It is found that alliance-related fixed assets and the formation of external alliances increase the likelihood of treaty revision, though institutionalization of an alliance does not help to resolve interest divergence. In addition, this study examines the strategy of delay in intra-alliance bargaining. Allies may postpone a dispute by ignoring it while working to maintain the alliance. Tension among allies thus increases, but the alliance endures. I examine three alliances in order to illustrate this renegotiation process. Among these, the Anglo-Japanese alliance demonstrates two successful renegotiations that prolonged a wavering alliance relationship; the Sino-Soviet alliance is an example of failure owing to the lack of substantive cooperation; and the US-Taiwan alliance during the 1970s demonstrates successful use of a strategy of delay that appeases a dissatisfied member.

National Institutes Of Health Consensus Development Project On Criteria For Clinical Trials In Chronic Graft-versus-host Disease: I. The 2014 Diagnosis And Staging Working Group Report.

The 2005 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference proposed new criteria for diagnosing and scoring the severity of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The 2014 NIH consensus maintains the framework of the prior consensus with further refinement based on new evidence. Revisions have been made to address areas of controversy or confusion, such as the overlap chronic GVHD subcategory and the distinction between active disease and past tissue damage. Diagnostic criteria for involvement of mouth, eyes, genitalia, and lungs have been revised. Categories of chronic GVHD should be defined in ways that indicate prognosis, guide treatment, and define eligibility for clinical trials. Revisions have been made to focus attention on the causes of organ-specific abnormalities. Attribution of organ-specific abnormalities to chronic GVHD has been addressed. This paradigm shift provides greater specificity and more accurately measures the global burden of disease attributed to GVHD, and it will facilitate biomarker association studies.

Neuromodulation approaches for the treatment of major depression: challenges and recommendations from a working group meeting

The use of neuromodulation as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) has recently attracted renewed interest due to development of other non-pharmacological therapies besides electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), deep brain stimulation (DBS), and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). METHOD: We convened a working group of researchers to discuss the updates and key challenges of neuromodulation use for the treatment of MDD. RESULTS: The state-of-art of neuromodulation techniques was reviewed and discussed in four sections: [1] epidemiology and pathophysiology of MDD; [2] a comprehensive overview of the neuromodulation techniques; [3] using neuromodulation techniques in MDD associated with non-psychiatric conditions; [4] the main challenges of neuromodulation research and alternatives to overcome them. DISCUSSION: ECT is the first-line treatment for severe depression. TMS and tDCS are strategies with a relative benign profile of side effects; however, while TMS effects are comparable to antidepressant drugs for treating MDD; further research is needed to establish the role of tDCS. DBS and VNS are invasive strategies with a possible role in treatment-resistant depression. In summary, MDD is a chronic and incapacitating condition with a high prevalence; therefore clinicians should consider all the treatment options including invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation approaches.

Working memory impairment in multiple sclerosis relapsing-remitting patients with episodic memory deficits

Episodic memory is impaired in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, possibly because of deficits in working memory (WM) functioning. If so, WM alterations should necessarily be found in patients with episodic memory deficits, but this has not yet been demonstrated. In this study we aimed at determining whether episodic memory deficits in relapsing-remitting MS are found in conjunction with impaired WM. We evaluated 32 MS patients and 32 matched healthy controls. Nineteen of the 32 patients had episodic memory impairment, and as a group only these individuals showed deficits in WM capacity, which may lead to difficulty in encoding, and/or retrieving information from episodic memory.

Explaining sleep duration in adolescents: the impact of socio-demographic and lifestyle factors and working status

Previous studies found students who both work and attend school undergo a partial sleep deprivation that accumulates across the week. The aim of the present study was to obtain information using a questionnaire on a number of variables (e.g., socio-demographics, lifestyle, work timing, and sleep-wake habits) considered to impact on sleep duration of working (n=51) and non-working (n=41) high-school students aged 14-21 yrs old attending evening classes (19:00-22:30 h) at a public school in the city of So Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected for working days and days off. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to assess the factors associated with sleep duration on weekdays and weekends. Work, sex, age, smoking, consumption of alcohol and caffeine, and physical activity were considered control variables. Significant predictors of sleep duration were: work (p < 0.01), daily work duration (8-10 h/day; p < 0.01), sex (p=0.04), age 18-21 yrs (0.01), smoking (p=0.02) and drinking habits (p=0.03), irregular physical exercise (p < 0.01), ease of falling asleep (p=0.04), and the sleep-wake cycle variables of napping (p < 0.01), nocturnal awakenings (p < 0.01), and mid-sleep regularity (p < 0.01). The results confirm the hypotheses that young students who work and attend school showed a reduction in night-time sleep duration. Sleep deprivation across the week, particularly in students working 8-10 h/day, is manifested through a sleep rebound (i.e., extended sleep duration) on Saturdays. However, the different roles played by socio-demographic and lifestyle variables have proven to be factors that intervene with nocturnal sleep duration. ) The variables related to the sleep-wake cycle naps and night awakenings proved to be associated with a slight reduction in night-time sleep, while regularity in sleep and wake-up schedules was shown to be associated with more extended sleep duration, with a distinct expression along the week and the weekend. Having to attend school and work, coupled with other socio-demographic and lifestyle factors, creates an unfavorable scenario for satisfactory sleep duration

Working at night and work ability among nursing personnel: when precarious employment makes the diVerence

Purpose To test the association between night work and work ability, and verify whether the type of contractual employment has any inXuence over this association. Methods Permanent workers (N = 642) and workers with precarious jobs (temporary contract or outsourced; N = 552) were interviewed and Wlled out questionnaires concerning work hours and work ability index. They were classiWed into: never worked at night, ex-night workers, currently working up to Wve nights, and currently working at least six nights/2-week span. Results After adjusting for socio-demography and work variables, current night work was signiWcantly associated with inadequate WAI (vs. day work with no experience in night work) only for precarious workers (OR 2.00, CI 1.01- 3.95 and OR 1.85, CI 1.09-3.13 for those working up to Wve nights and those working at least six nights in 2 weeks, respectively). Conclusions Unequal opportunities at work and little experience in night work among precarious workers may explain their higher susceptibility to night work

Influence of pulse repetition rate on temperature rise and working time during composite filling removal with the Er : YAG laser

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of Er:YAG laser energy for composite resin removal and the influence of pulse repetition rate on the thermal alterations occurring during laser ablation. Materials and Methods: Composite resin filling was placed in cavities (1.0 mm deep) prepared in bovine teeth and the specimens were randomly assigned to five groups according to the technique used for composite filling removal. In group I (controls), the restorations were removed using a high-speed diamond bur. In the other groups, the composite fillings were removed using an Er: YAG laser with different pulse repetition rates: group 2-2 Hz; group 3-4 Hz; group 4-6 Hz; and group 5-10 Hz. The time required for complete removal of the restorative material and the temperature changes were recorded. Results: Temperature rise during composite resin removal with the Er: YAG laser occurred in the substrate underneath the restoration and was directly proportional to the increase in pulse repetition rate. None of the groups had a temperature increase during composite filling removal of more than 5.6 degrees C, which is considered the critical point above which irreversible thermal damage to the pulp may result. Regarding the time for composite filling removal, all the laser-ablated groups (except for group 5 [10 Hz]) required more time than the control group for complete elimination of the material from the cavity walls. Conclusion: Under the tested conditions, Er: YAG laser irradiation was efficient for composite resin ablation and did not cause a temperature increase above the limit considered safe for the pulp. Among the tested pulse repetition rates, 6 Hz produced minimal temperature change compared to the control group (high-speed bur), and allowed composite filling removal within a time period that is acceptable for clinical conditions.

Working in public health services in Brazil: The relationship between different rationalities

Success in a public health system is related to its ability to change its production process and to deal with general principles of the health system, such as universality and equity. The frameworks proposed by service marketing scholars have been developed primarily for private services; they focus on acceptance by the targeted client-users, and on the technical specifications of the new service delivery processes. Little attention has been given to the employees` point of view and their activities to maintain service operations modulated by innovation. In a public health system, workers make decisions in real time related to users` needs and the technical specifications of the process; therefore, it is very important to understand how the changes impact on employees` activities and on the quality delivered for citizens. This article discusses how changes implemented in Sao Paulo, Brazil impact the organizational parameters and working activities for front-line workers. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.