International Counterparts Research Articles

Introduction to the Special Issue on China’s Relations with Its Neighbors: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues

Introduction to the Special Issue on China’s Relations with Its Neighbors: Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Issues Yafeng Xia (bio) China shares borders with more countries than any other state in the world today. It shares land borders with fourteen nations: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam. China also shares maritime borders with eight countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, North Korea, the Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam. Its neighbors include big and/or powerful states (such as India, Japan, and Russia), nuclear powers (i.e., India, North Korea, Pakistan, and Russia), and unstable states, such as Afghanistan. China’s neighborhood comprises the largest economic region in the world and the highest concentration of great powers and nuclear powers in the world. China’s surge to global power in the twenty-first century has caused endless debate about the implications of its rise for international politics and global stability in general and the dynamics of the US global role in particular. China is now one of the defining factors in the Asia Pacific international configuration as the rise of China has created “shock waves” in the policy choices of its neighboring countries. China’s neighboring countries are also on the frontier of transformative international developments, which often involve the United States and other powers. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, concerns over China’s rise, along with China’s territorial and maritime disputes with its neighbors (such as the June 2017 China-India border standoff on Doklam, the China-Japan dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, and the South China Sea issue) and various emergencies in its neighborhood (such as the North Korean nuclear crisis, armed conflict in [End Page 485] northern Myanmar in November 2016, and the terrorist attack in Rakhine State in western Myanmar in August 2017), many of which are rooted in the Cold War era, complicate China’s relations with its neighbors. How will China deal with its neighbors given its growing power? Global interest in China’s historic engagement on its periphery has markedly increased as international leaders, analysts, policymakers, and scholars seek to understand and predict China’s current and future relations with these countries. Over the last twenty years, empirical studies of China’s relations with its neighbors during the Cold War have evolved into a prominent discipline in the field of contemporary Chinese diplomatic history, even in the entire field of history. The increasing availability of a greater amount of archival documentation, the influence of new Western historical trends, the Chinese government’s practical needs in handling relations with its neighbors, and the growing attention of international scholars are the driving forces of this change. In comparison with their international counterparts, mainland Chinese scholars have advantages in accessing and employing historical documents in this regard. They have also attempted to form certain broad theoretical frameworks for interpreting this history. In this introduction I first discuss the background behind the rise of empirical studies of China’s relations with its neighbors during the Cold War. I introduce some of the representative works of Chinese scholars that have been published in the last two decades. I then highlight the main arguments and contributions of the five articles featured in this special issue and conclude by pointing to future directions of the field. Historical Documentation, Methodology, and the Contemporary Concerns In the Chinese academic world, studies of China’s relations with its neighbors have been attached to China’s diplomatic history. But those studies, usually in the form of consulting reports, news analyses, and commentaries for national strategic decisionmaking, rarely relied on primary sources. For various reasons those studies failed to understand the historical essence of specific issues and [End Page 486] thus were unable to offer foresight in their policy suggestions. They provided opinions solely on a tactical, and not a strategic, level (Yu 2018). In the twenty-first century, major changes have taken place, most of which are reflected in the use of the official documents of China and target countries, the entry of younger scholars into the field, and the formation of relatively stable research teams. Thus, Chinese scholars...

Accidents, Americana, and Automobility: 1950s Irish Car Culture

Accidents, Americana, and Automobility:1950s Irish Car Culture Leanne Blaney (bio) The immediate postwar period represents something of a paradox to contemporary historians. J. J. Lee, following the tradition of his peers, uses the term "malaise" to describe postwar Ireland.1 Henry Patterson wrote that "Ireland's postwar history contrasts with that of most Western European states, where the war proved to be a watershed in social, economic, and political terms. Neutrality and the isolation of the war years had served to consolidate a conservative nationalism based on protectionism, a strong Catholic moral community, and an irredentism in relation to Northern Ireland."2 These views correlated with the recollections of powerful contemporaries who lived through the era, including the Irish minister for finance Frank Aiken. Aiken painted a particularly bleak image of Ireland's prospects in the postwar era when he complained that Ireland was "a small country [with] a small population which is dwindling and limited national resources…. Our economic position was relatively stagnant for a long period before the war. It has not since improved."3 The fact that in the decade proceeding 1951 approximately 412,000 people emigrated from the country in search of better opportunities only provides further verification for these views.4 Among others, Mary E. Daly has argued that such judgment fails to recognize the psychological shift that occurred during the Second [End Page 242] World War and Emergency years. As Daly observed, this shift altered the expectations and ambitions of the Irish public, so that conditions that had been deemed satisfactory prior to the war were now no longer considered appropriate. Citing the increasing pressure on the government to provide additional jobs on local-authority road schemes despite "the fact that employment was running at 29,000 or 10,000 above the prewar figures," Daly noted that postwar expectations of what Irish life should entail were now greater than they had ever been, but that they did not reflect the realities of daily life within Ireland.5 Eamon de Valera alluded to this in 1947 when he remarked that farm laborers no longer wished to work on Sundays, instead preferring to "go off to a game; they see other people off every Sunday, and they do not see why they should not be off."6 In Northern Ireland the psychological shift and development in expectations was fueled by the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS), National Insurance, National Assistance, and other social-policy legislation (including the 1947 Education Act) implemented by order of Westminster, which was actively engaged in cultivating a welfare state in postwar Britain. Though the impact of these services was diluted because the Northern Irish government based in Stormont seized "the opportunity to develop a system imbued with a distinctly unionist flavor, reflecting their core values of minimal state intervention, conservatism, and the protection of personal freedoms," it was still apparent that living standards and the acceptance of what was deemed satisfactory had been irrevocably altered.7 Nowhere were these high expectations more visible than on the roads. Since the ignition of the Irish love affair with the motorcar following the importation of John Brown's French Serpollet steam car in 1896, motorization within Ireland had steadily grown.8 In 1906, ten years after the car had first arrived in Ireland and three years after the country had successfully staged its first international motorsport, [End Page 243] the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup Race, only 2,040 private cars were registered in a country with a population of over 3.2 million.9 This yielded a ratio of one car per 1,579 persons. By the onset of World War II this ratio had decreased to one car per 44 persons as just over 95,000 private cars were now registered among a total population of over 4.2 million.10 While these figures pale in comparison to international counterparts such as the United States, where 23.1 million cars had been registered by 1929; Belgium, where car ownership reached 350,000 by 1939; or the United Kingdom, where over two million cars were registered in 1940, they demonstrate that Irish automobility was already thriving in the prewar period...

Where to visit, what to drink? A cross-national perspective on wine estate brand personalities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to illustrate how brand personality and its dimensions can be applied to wine tourism, and how a content analysis of the text taken from a wine estate’s website can be used to derive a snapshot of how brand personality is communicated.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the text analysis software DICTION to identify the extent to which each estate’s website communicates the brand personality dimensions of excitement, competence, ruggedness, sincerity and sophistication, and then agglomerates the scores of individual estates within a region to overall scores for the country or wine region in which they are located.FindingsMajor findings are that the southern hemisphere producers, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, communicate all five brand personality dimensions to a greater extent than do the northern hemisphere regions of Bordeaux and Napa. Furthermore, while the levels of brand personality communication may differ, all countries and regions seem to follow the same pattern, or stated differently, emphasize the same brand personalities as their international counterparts. Excitement is the main dimension communicated, and then sincerity. Ruggedness and competence are communicated to a lesser extent and sophistication is hardly communicated at all.Research limitations/implicationsThe countries/regions selected for the study are among the most popular tourist destination wineries within five of the world’s prominent wine producing countries and regions. However, this selection is arbitrary and were also carefully chosen merely by the simplicity and convenience afforded by a Google search. The results are also an aggregation of the wineries within a region and does not give any indication of the brand personality of a single website for a winery with in a region, which might be very different from the aggregation.Practical implicationsWine tourism is a big business for many wine estates as well as regional and national economies, generating huge potential for economic growth and job creation above and beyond the production and sale of wine. The paper offers a practical insight for wineries that want to portray themselves to the world and especially to their target customers. At a general level, the approach illustrated here provides a way for those who manage wine tourism at the national, regional and estate levels to gauge whether the personality of their brand is being communicated online as they intend it to be.Social implicationsWine tourism is very social in nature, and the findings in this study offers a unique understanding of how customers could perceive their destination especially where they are looking to experience the wine estate among similar minded people. A wine estate marketer might wish to be conveying a personality of sophistication and competence, and then be informed by a study like this that the brand is instead being communicated as exciting and sincere.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates the use of powerful content analysis software, DICTION, to determine the extent to which this text specifically communicates dimensions of brand personality, and in broader terms gives a feel for the tone of text. Regular use of the technique helps wine marketing decision makers to track their own brand’s personality as well those of competitors over time.

Double First-class Construction and China's Contribution to Economics Development

As the crown of social sciences, the discipline construction of economics is of great significance to China's double first-class construction, especially the world first-class discipline construction, and also provides important reality guidance for comprehensively deepening the reform in China to achieve the modernization of state governance. This paper firstly analyzes the matching of the world first-class economics discipline construction with the double first-class strategy orientation, then explores the difficulties and breakthroughs China's world first-class economics discipline construction suffers, and elaborates China's contribution to economics development and innovation. It argues that China's world first-class economics discipline construction needs to conduct the evaluation in accordance with academic standards of international counterparts, and research issues including China should be the concern of international counterparts, so it needs to improve the evaluation system of the discipline classification, strengthen the original research and gather high-level talents to make a breakthrough. Meanwhile, aiming at the development and innovation of economics in China, it points out that there are three directions in which China's economics academia can and should make great contributions, namely the exploration of historical endowments and modern value of China's traditional economic thought, the innovation of original theoretical and methodology research and theoretical abstraction & sublimation based on the practice of China's economic reform development.

Is TB Testing Associated With Increased Blood Interferon-Gamma Levels?

The Republic of Ireland reports a relatively low prevalence of Johne’s disease (JD) compared to international counterparts. Postulated reasons for this include a lower average herd size and a grass-based production system. Ireland also engages in high levels of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) testing. As interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) is believed to play a key role in protecting against JD, it is our hypothesis that administration of purified protein derivative (PPD), as part of the bTB test, is associated with a systemic increase in IFN-γ production, which may potentially limit clinical progression of the disease. We studied 265 cows (202 Friesian and 63 “Non-Friesian,” e.g., JerseyX, Norwegian Red) to assess IFN-γ levels and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) antibody response before and after the bTB test. As part of the compulsory annual bTB test, avian and bovine PPD were administered at two separate cervical sites. To assess IFN-γ production, blood samples were taken before and 72 h after PPD administration. MAP antibody response was assessed before and 10 days post-PPD administration. A significant increase in MAP antibody response was identified post-bTB compared to pre-bTB response (p < 0.001). Additionally, IFN-γ production significantly increased at the post-bTB time point (p < 0.001) compared to the pre-bTB test readings. This may indicate a beneficial effect of bTB testing in controlling JD.

Current Status of Herbal Drug Standards in the Indian Pharmacopoeia.

The benefits of herbal drugs were well understood way back. They have been used for the promotion of health and medical purposes - in disease conditions. It is a conventional belief that herbal drugs have no side effects, are cheaper and locally available. Among Indian systems of medicines, herbs/herbal formulations are used to a larger extent. The quality control of the marketed herbs/herbal formulations is important for acquiring optimum therapeutic benefit as well as for expanding global outreach. Therefore, herbal drug standards are important. Reference standards, the Indian Pharmacopoeia Reference Substances especially the botanical reference substances and the phytochemical reference substances are required for comparison of quality of herbal drugs. The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission has initiated the process of providing Indian Pharmacopoeia Reference Substances to the stakeholders. Therefore, this article provides an overview of the history and the status of herbal drug standards in the current and forthcoming issues of Indian Pharmacopoeia. In Indian Pharmacopeia, efforts have been made for the harmonization of standards with international counterparts wherever possible. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Creating socialization and intercultural citizenship among binational volunteers: Mexican volunteers’ perspectives on an immersion training model

ABSTRACTInternational non-profit organizations (INGOs) were traditionally established to facilitate dialogue and bridge cultures. In order for INGOs to successfully carry out their objectives, global activists must work together in a culturally sensitive and responsible manner. The current article examines a volunteer training model that was designed to promote meaningful interactions between binational volunteers. The training, based on a Spanish-immersion and homestay experience, was piloted among volunteers at an INGO on the Mexico-US border. Results suggest that the immersion training model allowed volunteers to reassess and ultimately strengthen their relationships with their international counterparts while developing intercultural citizenship skills.

A review of China’s climate governance: state, market and civil society

ABSTRACTThis article disaggregates the often complex, hierarchical and still-evolving structure of China’s climate governance into three dimensions: the state, the market and civil society. The three dimensions are not exclusive of each other but overlap in many important respects, and their roles and relative levels of importance in China’s climate governance have changed over time. The state determines the blueprint of all climate change policies and management, reflecting an essential condition of China’s political economy and public administration. It sets overall targets and goals, and also acts as a supervising framework, sometimes enabling, at other times constraining, the activities of the market and civil society. The latter two dimensions, however, have become more important in recent years. Market-based policies, particularly emissions trading systems, are becoming an important tool for emissions control. Civil society has also begun to play a more active role in climate governance, an indication of which is the growing number of environmental NGOs, and their growing collaboration with international counterparts. All three dimensions and the ways in which they overlap will remain crucial to climate governance in China into the foreseeable future.Key policy insightsAs the world’s largest GHG emitter, China faces increasing pressure to control its emissions and shift to a low-carbon economy.This pressure is both international and domestic, reflecting China’s central role in global mitigation efforts, as well as the growing demand by citizens for better environmental conditions.In the period after the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, the evolution of China’s climate governance – with corresponding shifts in the roles of state, market and civil society – will continue to have significant implications for the global effort to combat climate change.

Prevalence and determinants of antibiotic exposure in infants: A population‐derived Australian birth cohort study

The aim of this study was to describe antibiotic exposure in Australian infants during the first year of life, focusing on antibiotic class, indication, risk factors associated with exposure and comparison with international counterparts. The Barwon Infant Study is a birth cohort study (n = 1074) with an unselected antenatal sampling frame from a large regional centre in Victoria, Australia. Longitudinal data on infection and medication were collected at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months by parental questionnaire and from general practitioner and hospital records. Predictors of questionnaire non-completion were identified. A total of 660 infants with complete serial data were comprehensively examined. Antibiotic exposure was calculated as (i) antibiotic prescriptions and (ii) antibiotic days-exposed per person-year. Mean antibiotic prescription rate was 0.92 prescriptions (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.83-1.02) per person-year, with the highest rates in those aged <1 month (1.50 (95% CI, 1.09-1.91) per person-year). A total of 50.0% of infants were exposed to at least one antibiotic in their first year of life. Increasing number of siblings was associated with increased antibiotic exposure. Penicillin with extended spectrum (365 of 661 antibiotic prescriptions, 52.6%) and cephalosporins (12.0%) were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics. One fifth of antibiotics were prescribed for respiratory tract infections and bronchiolitis. Australian infants in this large population-based study are exposed to considerably more antibiotics than the majority of their international counterparts. Interventions aimed at addressing avoidable prescribing by medical practitioners and modifiable risk factors associated with antibiotic exposure may reduce antibiotic use.

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PROFILES FOR THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF IRANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Ongoing efforts to strengthen internationalization have increased the numbers of international students in institutions of higher learning. Such inflows will clearly place local institutions on par with many of their international counterparts. This paper explores the significance of higher education’s internationalization with regard to leadership competencies and systems management. The objective is to examine a wide range of priorities that qualify a successful leader as well as an effective ‘systems profile’ for the internationalization of higher education and its profile on the internationalization of Iranian higher education. The authors analyze differences between leaders and managers as their core focus. Required criteria for effective leaders and team management are discussed with a specific view towards the internationalization of higher education. A qualitative approach applies and findings demonstrate how both leadership’s and management’s contributions and skills combine to accomplish the task. As a detailed synopsis, this paper provides prime incentive for future investigations of educational enterprises. It presents a substantiated framework for the systematic development of prudent internationalized institutions of higher education, particularly in Iran.

Non-medical prescribing in New Zealand: Is it achieving its aims?

Introduction: The increase in New Zealand’s (NZ) aging population and patients with multimorbidty are set to increase demand on an already strained primary healthcare sector. It is predicted that within 5 years there will be a large general practitioner (GP) shortage within NZ. As a result, re-orientation of healthcare services is needed to alleviate the pressure and to more closely align with patients' needs. Non-medical prescribing (NMP) is one initiative that has been introduced to enhance healthcare services however little is non-about the implementation of these roles, the aim was therefore to provide an update on the overall development of NMP in NZ. Methods: All claims for community dispensed medicines prescribed by a non-medical prescriber were extracted from the Pharmaceutical Collection, 2008-2015. This whole of population database contains prescription information for all community pharmacy dispensed medicines for all New Zealanders. Results: The total number of prescriptions by non-medical prescribers is increasing each year and in 2015, there was approximately 1 million prescriptions. Dentists prescribed the most with 348,130 items in 2015 whereas pharmacists prescribed the least with 7,518 items. There were also geographical disparities for the amount of items that have been prescribed and dispensed within New Zealand. In 2015, the Southern DHB had the highest number of prescribed items per patient with 14.32, whereas the Wairarapa DHB had the lowest with 6.71. The most commonly prescribed medicines were antibiotics, analgesics (paracetamol) and nutritional supplements. Discussion: Compared to our international counter-parts (e.g. the UK), NMP is in its infancy in NZ. Very little evaluation has been undertaken since these healthcare reforms were made, this is the first study to examine the rates of NMP in NZ. NZ now has 7 different professions working as non-medical prescribers (dentists, pharmacists, midwives, opticians, nurse practitioners, specialist diabetes nurses and dieticians). Rates of prescribing by this cohort are increasing, and appear to mainly be within their scope of prescribing. These findings can be used as a baseline to evaluate NMP over time and to develop policies around the implementation and integration of this service. Conclusions: Several health professionals can now prescribe medicines in NZ, they vary in the extent of their prescribing rights, the amount and the type of drugs they are currently prescribing. It is unknown if this initiative is improving access to care, making better use of the skills of health professionals, or contributing to the introduction of a flexible multi-disciplinary team as proposed. Lessons learned: - Non-medical prescribing accounts for approximately 2-4% of all medicines dispensed in New Zealand each year. - Regional variation may indicate that non-medical prescribing has been well integrated in specific regions - It is unknown if NMP is achieving it’s aims in NZ Limitations: Data for non-medical prescribers prescribing within a hospital environment is not captured in this database Suggestions for future research: Further research is need to determine: - Factors that influence the uptake and use of these roles - Patient opinion and acceptance of these roles - The impact of NMP on access to healthcare and patient outcomes

How to merge courses via Skype™? Lessons from an International Blended Learning Project

This study reports on an international project in which students taking the course Contemporary Issues in Turkish Politics in spring 2011 and fall 2011 at two institutions of higher education, ‘Gettysburg College’ in the United States and ‘Izmir University of Economics’ in Turkey, worked together in virtual learning environments to complete various tasks as part of their course work. The project employed a blend of traditional and technology-based teaching methods in order to introduce a technology like Skype in a bi-national learning environment in Turkey. Students collaborated and interacted with their international counterparts in two different virtual contexts. First, classrooms in the two countries were merged via Skype three times to conduct classroom-to-classroom discussion sessions on Turkish politics. Second, students were paired across locations to work on several assignments. In this paper, our goal is to present how Skype is used in a bi-national context as a blended teaching tool in an upper-level college course for instructors pursuing a similar exercise. In addition to outlining the process with a focus on Skype discussions and one-on-one student projects, we provide actual assignments and discussion questions. Students’ views elicited through surveys administered throughout the semester are presented alongside anecdotal evidence to reflect how the project was received. (Published: 18 July 2017)

Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Four HEIs in the Philippines

The last decades saw universities from all over the world experiencing increased pressure from the external environments because of globalization. It is a common understanding that internationalization is an institution’s ready response and/ or a reaction “to cope with the global academic environment” (Bernardo, 2003; Altbach and Knight, 2007). Many Higher Education Institutions’ (HEI) leaders in the Philippines like their international counterparts internationalize their institutions. This paper studied internationalization in four selected HEIs in the country. It reviewed their internationalization practices and /or approaches and its impact to faculty and students. The mixed method design through the case study approach was utilized where each HEI represented a case of internationalization in their respective institution. An interview guide on internationalization adapted from Hill and Green (2008) provided mainly the qualitative information; most quantitative data were taken from Student and Faculty Survey Questionnaire on Internationalization (Iuspa, 2010). Data were also gathered from document analysis. Findings of the study revealed that HEIs in the study varied in their range of internationalization practices, but intentions to internationalize were commonly academic and economic. Attitude of faculty and students toward internationalization was generally positive. However, there were some observed gaps that need to be addressed especially in maximizing faculty members’ and students’ opportunities for internationalization. Result of this study can offer the HEIs’ decision makers valuable information about their respective internationalization processes to guide them further in their strategic planning specifically in sustaining the thrust on internationalization.  Keywords: Globalization, internationalization motives, internationalization approaches, internationalization processes

Do socio-cultural factors influence college students\u2019 self-rated health status and health-promoting lifestyles? A cross-sectional multicenter study in Dalian, China

BackgroundAn unhealthy lifestyle of college students is an important public health concern, but few studies have been undertaken to examine the role of socio-cultural differences.MethodsFor this cross-sectional comparative study, data on college students’ health-promoting lifestyles (HPL), as measured using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP-II) scale, and self-rated health status (SRH) as measured by Sub-Optimal Health Measurement Scale (SHMS V1.0) were collected from 829 college students.ResultsThe sample of 829 college students included 504 (60.8%) Chinese and 325 (39.2%) international students. Chinese students had higher scores in overall health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) (P < 0.001, eta squared =0.113) and in all the six subclasses than their international counterparts. In relation to health status evaluation, the two groups varied in physiological health (P < 0.001, eta squared = 0.095) and social health (P = 0.020, eta squared = 0.007) but there was no significant difference in psychological health subscale (P = 0.156, eta squared = 0.002). HPL was predicted by financial status among the Chinese group and by student’s major, age and level of education in the international group. Body mass index (BMI) and financial status emerged as predictors of the three subscales of SHMS V1.0 in the Chinese group and also of physiological and psychological subscales in the international group. Gender was associated with psychological health in both groups. Smoking status was a predictor of psychological health in both groups and also of social health in the international group. The level of education emerged as a predictor of social health in the international group.Regression analyses revealed a significant association between health status and healthy lifestyle (P < 0.001). In reference to participants with “excellent” lifestyle, participants with moderate lifestyle were at a 4.5 times higher risk of developing suboptimal health status (SHS) (OR: 4.5,95% CI:2.2-9.99) and those with a ‘general’ lifestyle were at a 3.2 times higher risk SHS (OR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.5-7.18). Good and moderate HPLP-II levels of nutrition are associated with low risk of suboptimal health status (OR: 0,41 and 0,25, respectively). Participants in good and moderate HPLP-II levels of interpersonal relations are associated with higher risk of suboptimal health (OR:2,7 and 3,01 respectively) than those in excellent levels of HPLP-II.ConclusionCollectively, these findings provide a convincing body of evidence to support the role of socio-cultural factors as key determinants of the HPL and SRH of college students.

Animal welfare officers in Australian higher education: 3R application, work contexts, and risk perception.

Acceptance of the concept of replacement, refinement, and reduction (the 3Rs) and the need for their implementation is widespread in the research community, and is also backed by local governance requirements in many key jurisdictions. Yet concerns about underutilization of these concepts and practices remain. From a survey of animal welfare officers (AWOs) in Australia, the attitudes to, and the adoption of, 3Rs in Australian public universities is explored. The survey finds that Australian AWOs have considerable concerns about 3R uptake, with 44% agreeing that '3R possibilities often remain unused'. At the same time, these officers see access to relevant information, and the implementation of the 3Rs, as comparatively easy. Thus, a problem of under-implementation appears to exist. A number of explanations for this are put forward. AWOs are comparatively junior professional staff in the Australian university system, constrained from going beyond basic regulative functions and to the training and promotion of the 3Rs. When compared with their international counterparts, Australian AWOs spend less time providing information and advice on the 3Rs to researchers working in their institutions. Significantly, while AWOs tend to see themselves as being well supported institutionally, they have comparatively poor relationships with active researchers who are using animal models. The implications of this are examined, with recommendations for research institutions, as well as for further research.

INTERNATIONALIZATION OF MEDICAL EDUCATION – A PILOT STUDY USING A SHARED DIGITAL DISSECTOR AND EARLY PEER‐TO‐PEER STUDENT INTERACTION IN AMERICAN AND GERMAN CLINICAL GROSS ANATOMY COURSES

BackgroundInternationalization of medical education is important at a time of globalization and population migration. It can occur on several levels.The purpose of this pilot study was to address internationalization of medical education in the Clinical Gross Anatomy course in two areas ‐ on the student level via early peer‐to‐peer communication and on the teacher level via international exchange of teaching material.Material and MethodsIn the current pilot study we a) applied real‐time videoconferencing during the Clinical Gross Anatomy course to connect junior medical students from Germany and the United States and b) tested a US written digital iPad operated Anatomy dissector at a medical school in Germany. Questionnaires were sent to the students to get feedback on their experience with their international counterparts. Checklists were collected in order to get objective measures for successful adaption of the dissector into the German curriculum. Questionnaires were sent to the users of the iPad dissector.Resultsa) the majority of the students liked the international experience and asked for more sessions, as well as more structured interactions; b) the US written iPad operated dissector was liked by the users and easily adapted into a German Anatomy curriculum and resulted in equal if not better dissection results.ConclusionInternationalization of medical education on the student level and teacher level is possible and welcomed by students. Starting peer‐to‐peer interaction early in the Anatomy course can give Anatomy courses a new role in international medical education.Support or Funding InformationGrant of the Virgina Apgar Academy of Medical Educators, Columbia University

Bringing the transgovernmental in: the public service in the Canada-United States relationship

This article examines an often-overlooked dimension of Canada-United States relations : relations between Canadian and American public servants. Meetings between political leaders of Canada and the US may make front-page headlines, but it is the myriad of networks and interconnections between Canadian and American public servants that constitute the lion’s share of bilateral activity. Notwithstanding the multitude of daily cross-border, inter-departmental, and inter-agency interactions, there has been relatively little systematic theoretical or empirical attention to the public sector dimension of Canada-US relations. Public administration scholars tend to train their sights on the domestic level and pay little or no attention to the public management dimension of international affairs. A recently edited volume studying contemporary Canadian public administration does not examine these relations. International relations scholars, for their part, tend to oversimplify domestic politics and policy institutions. This text contributes to bridging this gap in the literature. It builds on the concept of transgovernmentalism, relations between legislative, executive, regulatory, and judicial players with their international counterparts. It examines the mechanisms and processes by which public sector players interact across borders (e.g., informal relations, formal agreements, joint organizations, etc.). The article explores the relationship between the degree of bilateral policy coordination in a policy field or issue area and the mechanisms of transgovernmental activity characterizing cross-border relations in that policy domain.

Meeting Regulatory Needs.

The world is experiencing change at an unprecedented pace, as reflected in social, cultural, economic, political, and technological advances around the globe. Regulatory agencies, like the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), must also transform in response to and in preparation for these changes. In 2014, the NRC staff commenced Project Aim 2020 to transform the agency by enhancing efficiency, agility, and responsiveness, while accomplishing NRC's safety and security mission. Following Commission review and approval in 2015, the NRC began implementing the approved strategies, including strategic workforce planning to provide confidence that NRC will have employees with the right skills and talents at the right time to accomplish the agency's mission. Based on the work conducted so far, ensuring an adequate pipeline of radiation protection professionals is a significant need that NRC shares with states and other government agencies, private industry, academia, as well as international counterparts. NRC is working to ensure that sufficient radiation protection professionals will be available to fulfill its safety and security mission and leverage the work of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, the Health Physics Society, the Organization of Agreement States, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Energy Agency, and others.

Methodological quality, completeness of reporting and use of systematic reviews as evidence in clinical practice guidelines for paediatric overweight and obesity.

Paediatric obesity rates remain high despite extensive efforts to prevent and treat obesity in children. We investigated the quality of the methodology and reporting within systematic reviews (SRs) underpinning paediatric content in US clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). In June 2016 we searched guideline clearinghouses and professional organization websites for guidelines published by national or professional organizations in the United States from January 2007 onwards. In our primary, a priori analysis, we used PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) and AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews) instruments to score SRs and meta-analyses that included paediatric populations and were cited by included CPGs. In a secondary, post hoc analysis, we determined the extent to which US CPGs use available, relevant SRs and meta-analyses compared with non-US CPGs. Eight US-based CPGs with 27 references to 22 unique SRs were found. AMSTAR and PRISMA scores were low overall, with only three SRs having 'high' methodological quality. Items dealing with bias assessments and search strategies had especially low scores. US CPGs were also older on average and cited fewer SRs than their international counterparts. Low quality scores and dated guidelines should be a cause for concern among practicing clinicians and a call to action for future guideline developers, publishers and research institutions.

Overview the Development of Muscle Skeletal Ultrasound in Mainland and Its Future

For a long period of time, the muscle skeletal ultrasound (MSU) has been major serviced in sports medicine in China. As some Chinese rheumatologists realize the value of ultrasound in rheumatism diseases, some doctors try to learn and master this skill. These attempts in the 1990 s, some scholars through practice in patients, some one even comparing with the autopsy results, to improve on the understanding of the pathology of sonographic findings. There were also many doctors going overseas, bring the advanced knowledge of rheumatism MSU back to China. On the basis of these early work, these pioneers tried to further promote the technology in mainland. These efforts, including through a variety of academic conference to introduce MSU, holding workshops, or taking refresher courses. At the same time, we also invite foreign experts to China, which help us to up-to-date the trend of this technology. On the basis of these efforts, every year, now more than 10 hospitals add to the queer to do MSU for rheumatism, and more than 100 doctors receive standardized musculoskeletal ultrasound training. There are tens of thousands of rheumatism patients accepted MSU exam every year, and the numbers quickly raising up to 100 thousands level. From the development of domestic MSU is accelerated developing. More and more centers can provide high quality training of MSU. There are five centers contributing training of MSU persistently. There are also dozens promotions of all kinds of meetings every year. The MSU has been extended from tier one and tier two cities, gradually to tier three cities, and in some economically developed areas, it has already entered tier four cities. More patients have the opportunity to receive this exam at hometown, which providing great help for early diagnosis of arthritis and the evaluation of accurate clinical outcomes. Same as international counterparts, the development of MSU will encounter some bottlenecks, such as rheumatism need higher performance of ultrasonic instrument and special setting and technical. The characteristic of ultrasound itself leads to the cost time of physicians in the exploration process, and the ultrasonic probing technique has the potential to optimize the demand and the potential. In China, there are some policy barriers for rheumatologist physician to do MSU, the related association is putting efforts to improve the situation. While Chinese health care system is also in reforming and severe changes, there will great enhance ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of rheumatism. Clinicians also recognized that the new information technologies have huge helps to MSU. In the near future, greatly change will appears in MSU, not only on the mode of exam but also the efficiency. In general, the development of MSU in mainland is flourishing, more and more doctors and center are involving this work, and more and more patients are benefiting from it.