'Arrimarse a los buenos' : Necesidades vitales y artificiales en el Lazarillo

La presente nota analiza el recorrido de Lázaro de Tormes a través de su estadía con diferentes amos e identifica varios elementos que le permiten afirmar que la multiplicidad de sentidos, sobre la cual trabaja la obra, responde a un proyecto integral de crítica y puesta en evidencia de la crisis de los diversos sistemas de relaciones sociales: financiero, de intercambio, religioso, judicial, relaciones interpersonales, de costumbres. El autor señala como fuente de dicha crisis la falta de distinción entre necesidades reales y aparienciales

'Arrimarse a los buenos' : Necesidades vitales y artificiales en el Lazarillo

La presente nota analiza el recorrido de Lázaro de Tormes a través de su estadía con diferentes amos e identifica varios elementos que le permiten afirmar que la multiplicidad de sentidos, sobre la cual trabaja la obra, responde a un proyecto integral de crítica y puesta en evidencia de la crisis de los diversos sistemas de relaciones sociales: financiero, de intercambio, religioso, judicial, relaciones interpersonales, de costumbres. El autor señala como fuente de dicha crisis la falta de distinción entre necesidades reales y aparienciales

'Arrimarse a los buenos' : Necesidades vitales y artificiales en el Lazarillo

La presente nota analiza el recorrido de Lázaro de Tormes a través de su estadía con diferentes amos e identifica varios elementos que le permiten afirmar que la multiplicidad de sentidos, sobre la cual trabaja la obra, responde a un proyecto integral de crítica y puesta en evidencia de la crisis de los diversos sistemas de relaciones sociales: financiero, de intercambio, religioso, judicial, relaciones interpersonales, de costumbres. El autor señala como fuente de dicha crisis la falta de distinción entre necesidades reales y aparienciales

Grassland management activity data : current sources and future needs

Estimates of potential and actual C sequestration require areal information about various types of management activities. Forest surveys, land use data, and agricultural statistics contribute information enabling calculation of the impacts of current and historical land management on C sequestration in biomass (in forests) or in soil (in agricultural systems). Unfortunately little information exists on the distribution of various management activities that can impact soil C content in grassland systems. Limited information of this type restricts our ability to carry out bottom-up estimates of the current C balance of grasslands or to assess the potential for grasslands to act as C sinks with changes in management. Here we review currently available information about grassland management, how that information could be related to information about the impacts of management on soil C stocks, information that may be available in the future, and needs that remain to be filled before in-depth assessments may be carried out. We also evaluate constraints induced by variability in information sources within and between countries. It is readily apparent that activity data for grassland management is collected less frequently and on a coarser scale than data for forest or agricultural inventories and that grassland activity data cannot be directly translated into IPCC-type factors as is done for IPCC inventories of agricultural soils. However, those management data that are available can serve to delineate broad-scale differences in management activities within regions in which soil C is likely to change in response to changes in management. This, coupled with the distinct possibility of more intensive surveys planned in the future, may enable more accurate assessments of grassland C dynamics with higher resolution both spatially and in the number management activities.

International students using online information resources to learn : complex experience and learning needs

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study which investigated 25 international students’ use of online information resources for study purposes at two Australian universities. Using an expanded critical incident approach, the study viewed international students through an information literacy lens, as information-using learners. The findings are presented in two complementary parts: as a word picture that describes their whole experience of using online information resources to learn; and as a tabulated set of critical findings that summarises their associated information literacy learning needs. The word picture shows international students’ resource use as a complex interplay of eight inter-related elements: students; information-learning environment; interactions (with online resources); strengths-challenges; learning-help; affective responses; reflective responses; cultural-linguistic dimensions. In using online resources, the international students experience an array of strengths and challenges, and an apparent information literacy imbalance between their more developed information skills and less developed critical information use. The critical findings about information literacy needs provide a framework for developing an inclusive informed learning approach that responds to international students’ complex information using experiences and needs. While the study is situated in Australia, the findings are of potential interest to educators, information professionals and researchers worldwide who seek to support learning in culturally diverse higher education contexts.

A review of the educational needs of nurses administering cancer chemotherapy in rural and remote areas of Queensland

This paper describes current issues in chemotherapy nursing practice in rural and remote Australia. There is a trend to refer chemotherapy clients back to their rural and remote health facility for treatment from major oncology centres in Australia. However, it is increasingly apparent that the majority of nurses administering chemotherapy in smaller centres lack the theoretical and clinical knowledge to ensure optimum client outcomes and nurse/client safety. There are also issues unique to rural and remote life which will influence optimum chemotherapy service delivery. The research program described in the paper will ascertain the education requirements of rural and remote nurses administering chemotherapy and the design and delivery of a chemotherapy education package specific to the rural and remote context. Similar programs will ensure the best standards of chemotherapy practice in non-metropolitan areas by enhancing the practical and theoretical knowledge base of rural and remote nurses.

The effect of microstructure on the decrease of the apparent Young's Modulus in DP 780 steel

Currently, there is a significant effort into developing novel multiphase microstructures to further improve the strength/ductility combination of advanced high-strength steels. To achieve this, the effect of the microstructure on sheet formability needs to be further understood. In this study, the effect of the microstructure on the variation of the elastic modulus in loading and unloading of DP 780 steel has been investigated. Five microstructures with varying volume fractions of ferrite and martensite were generated using different heat treatment cycles. Tension tests were performed to different strain values and the Young’s Modulus during loading and unloading was determined. The test results show that the reduction in unloading modulus with prestrain depends on the volume fraction and hardness of the martensitic phase.

Water to Thrive health needs assessment for Robit, Ethiopia

Developing countries suffer from an array of diseases, of which the developed world is unfamiliar. In order to facilitate the development of community interventions and streamline NGO partnership, needs assessments in targeted areas are conducted. The purpose of this assessment was to attain baseline descriptive data to further understand the needs of the village of Robit, Ethiopia. A trained team collected data from Austin based non-profit Water to Thrive (W2T) on June 1st and 2nd, 2011 through focus groups, key informant interviews, and individual surveys. Qualitative and quantitative data were paired to affirm the results of one another through triangulation. The results identified an apparent need for health intervention and education. Malaria, water-borne disease, respiratory issues (asthma, Upper respiratory tract infections), and maternal and child health were among the evident problems in Robit. There was a clear need for midwife training as well as water sanitation, latrine building, and general illness treatment. Poor road conditions and annual flooding of Robit plays an important role in the poor health and lack of food security of the village. While some evidence of social desirability and recall bias was found in the interview and survey data, the triangulation of findings provided important insights and validity to the needs assessment. ^

Translating knowledge into action: Information needs of decision-makers in healthcare

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the healthcare information needs of decision-makers in a local US healthcare setting in efforts to promote the translation of knowledge into action. The focus was on the perceptions and preferences of decision-makers regarding usable information in making decisions as to identify strategies to maximize the contribution of healthcare findings to policy and practice. Methods: This study utilized a qualitative data collection and analysis strategy. Data was collected via open-ended key-informant interviews from a sample of 37 public and private-sector healthcare decision-makers in the Houston/Harris County safety net. The sample was comprised of high-level decision-makers, including legislators, executive managers, service providers, and healthcare funders. Decision-makers were asked to identify the types of information, the level of collaboration with outside agencies, useful attributes of information, and the sources, formats/styles, and modes of information preferred in making important decisions and the basis for their preferences. Results: Decision-makers report acquiring information, categorizing information as usable knowledge, and selecting information for use based on the application of four cross-cutting thought processes or cognitive frameworks. In order of apparent preference, these are time orientation, followed by information seeking directionality, selection of validation processes, and centrality of credibility/reliability. In applying the frameworks, decision-makers are influenced by numerous factors associated with their perceptions of the utility of information and the importance of collaboration with outside agencies in making decisions as well as professional and organizational characteristics. Conclusion: An approach based on the elucidated cognitive framework may be valuable in identifying the reported contextual determinants of information use by decision-makers in US healthcare settings. Such an approach can facilitate active producer/user collaborations and promote the production of mutually valued, comprehensible, and usable findings leading to sustainable knowledge translation efforts long-term.^

Initializing the DSSAT-Century model: inverse calibration of carbon pools from apparent soil N mineralization

The CENTURY soil organic matter model was adapted for the DSSAT (Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer), modular format in order to better simulate the dynamics of soil organic nutrient processes (Gijsman et al., 2002). The CENTURY model divides the soil organic carbon (SOC) into three hypothetical pools: microbial or active material (SOC1), intermediate (SOC2) and the largely inert and stable material (SOC3) (Jones et al., 2003). At the beginning of the simulation, CENTURY model needs a value of SOC3 per soil layer which can be estimated by the model (based on soil texture and management history) or given as an input. Then, the model assigns about 5% and 95% of the remaining SOC to SOC1 and SOC2, respectively. The model performance when simulating SOC and nitrogen (N) dynamics strongly depends on the initialization process. The common methods (e.g. Basso et al., 2011) to initialize SOC pools deal mostly with carbon (C) mineralization processes and less with N. Dynamics of SOM, SOC, and soil organic N are linked in the CENTURY-DSSAT model through the C/N ratio of decomposing material that determines either mineralization or immobilization of N (Gijsman et al., 2002). The aim of this study was to evaluate an alternative method to initialize the SOC pools in the DSSAT-CENTURY model from apparent soil N mineralization (Napmin) field measurements by using automatic inverse calibration (simulated annealing). The results were compared with the ones obtained by the iterative initialization procedure developed by Basso et al., 2011.

On the Edge of the World: Trauma and Twinship Selfobject Needs in Mrs. Dalloway

Alienation and aloneness appear as common themes in the experience of those impacted by trauma. Self psychology theorists, including contemporary proponents of intersubjectivity theory, have also discussed the ways in which alienation and disconnection from others permeate the experience of post-traumatic stress disorder. This discussion has highlighted the importance and centrality of twinship selfobject needs in providing a relational home for the emotional pain associated with trauma. These phenomena are especially apparent when one encounters the experiences of those combat veterans who have attempted to readjust to society upon returning home from military service. Using self psychology and intersubjectivity theory, this paper explores the ways that fiction, specifically Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, can illuminate the ways that trauma negatively impacts twinship selfobject needs in combat veterans. In examining the character of Septimus Smith, this paper illustrates the estrangement, singularity, and alienation associated with post-traumatic stress, and how this state of being can collude with societal misunderstanding and repression to shatter the self's sense of belongingness with and connection to others.