Magic Wand Research Articles

Anti-proliferative effect of Oyster mushroom, Pleurotus from Florida (misnomer) P. florida (Agaricomycetes) against HeLa and SIHA cervical cancer cells: Mushroom-boon for cancer therapies

Introduction and Aim: Worldwide, people are suffering from the increased risk of cancer due to change in lifestyle, feeding habit and quality of food. To overcome this global problem, Mushroom act as a magic wand. The recent investigations reveal that cancer prevalence is inversely proportional to the intake of mushroom; this is because of its proteins, vitamins, carbohydrate and antioxidants contents.
 Materials and Methods: Among various species of mushrooms, Pleurotus mushrooms are considered as nutraceuticals i.e. it has nutritional and medicinal values. However, mushroom products and extracts possess immunomodulating and direct cytotoxic effect on cancer cells.
 Results: The results from the present study shows the potential cytotoxic effect of Pleurotus from Florida against cervical cancer (SIHA) cell line through apoptosis. When SIHA cells were incubated with varying concentration of methanolic extract of Pleurotus from Florida for time (48 hrs). The MTT assay revealed the cytotoxic activity of MME of Pleurotus from Florida in a dose dependent manner. The cell cycle analysis of the SIHA cells revealed that MME of Pleurotus from Florida have anti-cancerous activity.
 Conclusion: The study could be concluded as the Pleurotus from Florida extract can be useful in the treatment of cervical cancers. The chemical compounds present in the P. from Florida might be useful in the development of drug for the treatment of cancer patients.

Of Metaphors and Magic Wands: Are Corporations Really People?

The metaphor that corporations are people has been around for at least 150 years. While the metaphor that money is speech is more recent, both metaphors conceal some basic problems. Yet both metaphors are implicitly used in Supreme Court jurisprudence, most infamously in the 2010 Citizens United decision. This paper challenges both metaphors, and suggests new ones: corporations are tools, and money is a megaphone. If we use those metaphors to think about the corrupting influence of money in our political system, perhaps we could get to more sensible decisions. The paper ends with a survey of current efforts around the country to overturn Citizens United through an amendment to the United States Constitution.

Managing post-privatisation challenges: a review of Nigeria’s electricity sector

ABSTRACT Often privatisation is perceived as a magic wand that would eliminate the ineffectiveness in service provisioning. But usually, this does not happen, especially in most economically, politically, and administratively weak countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study is to interrogate the policy options towards managing post-privatisation challenges. Using historical data sourced from official documents, media clips, extant literature and other documentary sources, the paper examines the post-privatisation collaboration efforts of the Nigerian government to ensure the success of the privatisation of the electricity infrastructure. The author argues that privatisation should not be seen as a one-off conclusive activity in which the government divests from a privatised entity and at best merely regulates, but rather should be perceived as a continuous process of collaboration with the private sector through interventionist role of the government to improve and sustain service delivery to the citizens.

“I Don’t Really Know What the Magic Wand Is to Get Yourself in There”: Women’s Sense of Organizational Fit as Coach Developers

Building on the body of research that has addressed the experiences of female coaches, the present study examines women’s role as coach developers. English football served as the context for the research. Figures demonstrate women are underrepresented in this role more so than they are as coaches, and their distribution across the coach developer pathway is unevenly balanced, with most women qualified at Level I of the pathway. Using the concept of ‘organizational fit’, the research connects the experiences of the 10 coach developers interviewed, to the structural practices of their national and local governing bodies. These practices were symptomatic of the organizations’ culture that is created and upheld by masculine ideals. Work expectations and the environment were structured on the image of men as coaches and coach developers. Cultural barriers to women’s sense of organizational fit were specifically found to be: the incentive to progress (return on investment from higher coaching qualifications), the degree of organizational support and nurture, and the opportunity to progress and practice. Consequently, organizational expectations and values do not support the ambitions of women to climb the coach developer career ladder, and restrict their sense of choice and control. Future research should direct its attention towards a greater interrogation of aspects of sport organizational culture that may serve to ‘push’ female coaches away from its core, or alternatively, pull them closer to engage and make use of their expertise and abilities as coach developers.

Book Review: "The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy"

Stephanie Kelton’s persuasive and clever new book _The Deficit Myth_ does a very good job explaining Modern Monetary Theory to new readers, but however fun the book, it is utterly wrong. The standard accounting is correct: it actually costs something when the government spends money. Having an unfettered printing press isn't a magic wand and doesn’t give us more options. It merely gives the Fed greater license to cause boom/bust cycles and redistribute wealth to politically connected insiders.

Rethinking Payment and Incentives for a Healthy Early Childhood.

If there were such a thing as a magic wand to pass policies to improve the health of young children, pediatricians would make great use of it. Taken to scale, interventions such as universal pre-K, universal home visiting, quality child care, and family support services could help millions of children thrive. Absent a magic wand, however, the real-world challenge is that investments in prevention are often unconscionably small.

Mergers and acquisitions in the contemporary business markets: The differences and similarities between them, and the significance of the allusion that ‘mergers seldom produce the expected benefits that managers wish for’

Mergers and acquisitions have been popular in the time past, where organizations pride themselves by engaging in that venture to develop and promote their businesses to achieve competitive advantage. However, in the modern technological business dispensation, it has been a different ball game all together. This is due to the abandonment of the significance associated with the concept that mergers and acquisitions produce the expected gains that management look for. Currently, the magic wand found for organizations is to integrate backward / forward within the industry’s processing line or value chain for expansion and achievement of competitive advantage. This has been made possible, because organizations in the same market and value chain could easily integrate backward / forward to expand their businesses for success, as being practiced by the Japanese and most American companies in the vehicular and computer industries, respectively. Furthermore, the previous belief in the myth that mergers and acquisitions produce the expected results that managers look for, is now vilified. It therefore, behooves on organizations to integrate backward / forward within their market / supply chain for expansion, and consequently work hard to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

Значение мотивационных «порогов» в процессе цифровизации экономических отношений

In the presented article, it is proved that the universal introduction of the Internet has strengthened the widely spread idea that success in the economy depends on information technologies. The fascination with this “magic wand” veiled another personality, which is that the economy is formed in an innovative way by innovative specialists. Including multibillion-dollar investments and innovative technologies have all the chances to become real cargo, if there are no people able to ensure the operation of these technologies and investments. Man is a generator and implementer of innovations. And the means for this is his creative intelligence and constant work. Technologies, especially pioneering ones, of course change the economy in an unprecedented way, but this process is not started mechanically, but only when specialists are motivated to update and modify. In addition, the more difficult the technique and technology, the stronger must be the motivation that encourages the employee to make significant and difficult, and sometimes risky, efforts to master new knowledge.

A strategy for empowering clinicians and increasing innovation: the Magic Wand Initiative.

Clinicians play a critical role in recognizing, initiating, and adopting innovative solutions to clinical problems. Increasing clinician involvement in problem-based innovation will help identify and solve unmet medical needs. The overall objective of our program was to increase clinician involvement in problem-based innovation. We pioneered and piloted the "Magic Wand" Initiative (MWI) at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Dermatology, by inviting clinical faculty to voluntarily participate in problem-driven innovation. The primary outcome was the number of unmet clinical needs identified and pursued by clinicians, who were 'activated' to initiate problem-based innovation. Other objectives were to enhance clinician-to-clinician dialogue and to develop specific strategic framework for clinician-led, problem-driven research. This pilot MWI was started in 2013 with an announcement at dermatology faculty meeting inviting all clinical faculty to participate on volunteer basis. Academic dermatologists were the main participants in this program. They also contacted, collaborated and worked with research faculty, industry experts and lawyers. Out of 30 unmet needs identified by clinicians participating in MWI, eight are actively being pursued by clinicians. Three of those cases presented here have achieved publications, grant funding, prototype devices and product for patient use. In conclusion, MWI is an innovative approach that educates and equips clinician to identify and solve problems and engages them as leaders in their healthcare ecosystem. MWI has achieved concrete measurable success, affirming that if clinicians are empowered and supported to identify and solve existing unmet medical problems, new and innovative solutions can be invented to improve patient care.

History and evolution of shoulder arthroscopy

The invention of the incandescent light bulb by Edison in 1879, led to the introduction of the laparo-thoracoscope in 1910. Attempts were made to use this device in the knee joint as well. Development of the arthroscope really took off after the introduction of “cold-light” and rod lens optical system by Hopkins in 1960. Kenji Takagi and later Masaki Watanabe get the credit for developing the modern form of arthroscopy. The spillover of knee arthroscopy into the shoulder was inevitable and began in 1980’s. Shoulder arthroscopy started with instability repair, followed by subacromial decompression. Through the 1980’s and 1990’s, with the development in biotechnology, more sophisticated tools and anchors became available leading to refinement of instability repair procedures. The 2000’s saw improvement in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair techniques including the double- row and trans-osseous equivalent. The last decade has witnessed the development of more complex arthroscopic procedures such as Latarjet and Superior Capsule Reconstruction. However, arthroscopic surgery continues to be equipment intensive and we need to remind ourselves that the arthroscope is no “magic wand” and good clinical evaluation continues to prevail.

Innovations: not the magic wand for COVID-19

We are in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and our healthcare systems have never looked so vulnerable and fragile. Humanity has put a brave face, and healthcare providers are our new warriors. From clapping for carers to lighting a diya (lights made of clay) or showering flowers on hospitals, we have given the token of appreciation to our front-line workers. But this sense of gratitude has been marred by the disturbing reports of lack of personal protective equipment at the front line. COVID-19 has just put a magnifying glass at the fault-lines within our health supplies and delivery systems, and our misplaced priorities. Innovation often optimises costs by reducing redundancies. The most glaring pitfall of this approach was the mad rush for ventilators in early 2020. ABCDs (Ambu bag compression …

Magic Wands and Monkey Brains: Is Labor Ready to Lead Society in the New Struggle Over Data?

Based on extensive conversations with Uber, Lyft, and Ola drivers across multiple cities in the United States and India, this article argues that gig/platform work operates through a reorganization of established labor process with data at the center of such changes. Not only is data central to a dynamic restructuring of labor processes but data as “value” moves across multiple production processes enabling a new spatiotemporal fix. Data as “value/capital” thus enters a potentially endless cycle of value creation and appropriation. This makes possible for the labor movement to move away from narrow business unionism and instead build a new politics that has at its center data as unaccounted value produced by workers.

Waving the Magic Wand: An Argument for Reorganizing the Aridlands around Watersheds

Irrigation remains the primary means of sustaining urbanization and stabilizing agricultural productivity in arid America. In the contest for the West, water is both wealth and power. Today’s struggle to overturn water scarcity is traceable through a long history of legislation overseeing land regulation, property speculation, societal development, and cultural attitudes, real and perceived, inscribed within the America’s aridlands. In reality, there is no magic wand - no miraculous technology - that alone will fulfill the needs of all who have been promised abundance in the aridlands. This paper proposes that revisiting John Wesley Powell’s 1893 proposal for aridland development in the context of today’s ecological conditions catalyzes an alternative response to today’s predictions of changing climates, and can provide the basis of an approach to the aridlands which builds from the enmeshed relationship between social and environmental systems.

Egyptian Truncated Female Figurines in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow

The paper represents the first detailed publication of three Ancient Egyptian figurines from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (I, 1a 5882, I, 1a 5900, I, 1a 5912). They be-long to the group of small figurines usually depicting naked women lacking legs below the knees. Their key features are complex lush hairstyles; detailed elaboration of both the front and the reverse surface; various types of jewelry. The figurines are dated back to the late Middle Kingdom and Second Intermediate Period. The figurine I, 1a 5882 (12.1 cm) is made of bright blue (turquois) faience and represents the most typical example of truncat-ed figurines of the early phase of their existence. The figurines I, 1a 5900 (11.5 cm) and I, 1a 5912 (9.8 cm) are made of limestone and belong to the end phase. Moreover, figurine I, 1a 5912 represents a rare type of naked female carrying a small child. The paper exam-ines in detail the appearance of three figurines (hairstyles, jewelry, tattoos etc.) in the cul-tural and historical context of the period. Truncated figurines were in different ways in-terpreted in historiography: dolls, the Divine Mother, concubines, dancing girls, fertility figurines. The authors of the paper analyze basic points of view on functions of truncated figurines and make conclusion that they belonged to the feminine domestic rites connect-ed to conception, birth, health of a child and a mother and in a broader sense to fertility that is directly associated with the goddess Hathor. It is no coincidence that they are found together with paddle-dolls, clappers, magic wands, mirrors, figurines of hippopota-mi, monkeys, lions, Besit, Ipi/Taweret. These are objects connected one way or another with birth, childhood, fertility. The category of fertility was of particular importance dur-ing the antiquity. High infant mortality and frequent infant and maternal death during la-bour made people especially protect everything connecting to conception, birth, health of a child and a mother.

Identification for Development It Is Not: ‘Inclusive and Trusted Digital ID Can Unlock Opportunities for the World’s Most Vulnerable.’- a Review

This review and annotated version of a July 2019 World Bank blog post on digital ID examines and challenges the favorable claims made about the benefits of digital ID by its main advocate, the World Bank and its Identification for Development (ID4D) practice. The essence of their claims is: digital ID includes those left out, and (digital) identification will deliver (economic) development. There is no satisfactory, robust evidence for these claims, which might well be the reason why the claims are mostly made in qualitative and, often, in ambiguous and vague terms. The champions also have ridden the wave of the Sustainable Development Agenda, especially with regards to ‘leaving no one behind’ (financial inclusion) and ‘SDG 16.9’ re ‘a legal identity for all by 2030’. These objectives have been married to digitization, digital ID and biometrics that the apostles of this agenda swish as magic wand (the ‘biometrics revolution’) that separates the waters and leads to the promised land in record time (even by 2022 according to one of the high priests). But scratch the surface and a different economic policy agenda becomes unmistakable. In fact the gospel comes down to: ‘service-oriented, digital ID’ will lower the cost of doing business. But at the same time it entails commodification of people’s data, and leads to ‘surveillance capitalism’. People’s rights to a legal identity are secondary, or, at best, will trickle down in the process. In this review we look at costs and benefits of digital ID in a more formal format, by looking at a number of relevant studies of benefits and costs of digital ID (and digital society) for the world, India, the United States, Zambia, Haiti, Ireland, the Netherlands, Uganda and the United Kingdom. In a next chapter we examine more specifically and quantitatively the claims that (new, digital) national ID systems make good on the promise of financial inclusion. Evidence to that effect, or to the contrary, is sparse. But what data there are—for the world, India, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, Pakistan, Uganda and Zambia—we present in this paper, and the data contradict the identification for inclusion gospel. That is especially ironic for Indonesia that holds the world record for digital ID project fraud (such fraud being common in digital ID projects). As for India: its Aadhaar ID, indirectly, led in 2019 to an explosion of social unrest, putting a blood-stained bookend to digital ID for unsustainable development, and laying bare the fallacy of Aadhaar as a source of ‘robust ID.’

Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus

Reviewed by: Can Bears Ski? by Raymond Antrobus Deborah Stevenson, Editor Antrobus, Raymond Can Bears Ski?; illus. by Polly Dunbar. Candlewick, 2020 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536212662 $16.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 5-8 yrs Our protagonist bear cub goes through his day missing things—greeting from friends, the leadups to jokes—and he is puzzled by adults repeatedly asking him, “Can bears ski?” (“I shrug. I’m not sure I heard him right”). A conversation between Bear Dad and teacher leads to a visit to an audiologist, where therapy and hearing aids eventually open up the sounds of the world and reveal that the repeated question is actually “Can you hear me?” (“Whoa . . . is life this loud?”). Noted British poet Antrobus draws on his own personal experience of childhood deafness in a narrative that succinctly conveys the isolation of deafness but also the complexity of sensory experience—Little Bear is awakened by his dad’s thumping vibrations as well as his calls, and his focus on the crunch of the snow means the more distant greeting of a friend goes unheard. The book realistically avoids a magic wand approach and acknowledges the cognitive strain of working to hear people (and the normal kid strain of having to keep track of small, easy-to-misplace devices). Dunbar’s digital art recalls the work of Laura Vaccaro Seeger in its sturdy coziness, and the love between Dad and child is evident in every shared scene. This would be a useful partner to those books about kids learning they need glasses, and it would also help ease the way of youngsters going the hearing aid route. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Beyond the magic wand: methodological developments and results from integrated Lidar survey at the ancient Maya Center El Pilar

ABSTRACT Large-scale Lidar surveys have revitalized interest in regional settlement studies in the Maya Lowlands. Remotely identified features in Lidar imagery must be verified on the ground, with results of ground-truthing studies forming the basis of reliable, comparative databases for understanding ancient Maya land use and modification. The El Pilar Project integrates data generated by established survey methods with Lidar imagery to construct more complete pictures of settlement distribution, landscape modification, and human-environment interactions. This paper describes the results of Lidar-guided survey at El Pilar along with the protocol our project developed to systematize data collection and increase the efficiency of survey. The methods we describe have proven effective for investigating Maya settlement patterns at the site scale and locating features difficult to discern in Lidar imagery.

Letting Kids Drive

Years ago, I met an educator named Diane Tavenner who blew my socks off. We'd been invited by Bill and Melinda Gates to give what amounted to a private TED talk, followed by discussion, on what kids need to thrive in every sense of the word. When it was her turn, Diane told the story of Summit Public Schools. As Diane described a day in the life of a Summit student, I leaned in, rapt with wonder. Summit students, she explained, take responsibility for their own learning. Sure, they get a ton of support—much more attention and personalized instruction than in a typical public school. But their primary job is not to do as they are told. Instead, their mission is to develop authentic interests and a sense of purpose. Only when students have a reason for learning, Diane said, do they bring their full attention and energy to their work. Recently, Diane wrote a book about all she's learned. During her book tour, I had the opportunity to interview Diane before a crowd of parents and educators. “If you had a magic wand and could change one thing about American schools,” I asked, “what would it be?”

Dynamic Amodal Completion Through the Magic Wand Illusion.

In the Magic Wand effect, an overlying figure of the same color as its background is revealed by the motion of a wand behind it. The occluding figure is inferred by integration of the occluding edge information over time. The overlying figure is perceived by modal completion, while the wand and the background underneath are perceived by amodal completion. This illusion is compared with its predecessor from nearly two centuries ago, the Plateau Anorthoscopic Illusion, in which an object is recognizable when moved behind a slit.

Firm performance: is organizational learning capability the magic wand?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on human resource practices contribution to retail SMEs performance through its role in developing organizational learning capability (OLC).Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional design was adopted, where data were collected from a sample of 214 managers of retail SMEs, utilizing a survey questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe results indicate that incentive reward has the strongest significance on firm performance with a stronger influence on economic performance. Performance appraisal has the greatest effect on system perspective, followed by the impact of employee selection on managerial commitment (MC). MC strongly affects firm performance while openness and experimentation influences satisfaction performance. Additionally, OLC fully mediates the relationship between high-performance human resource management (HRM) practices and firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsIt did not include large organizations nor consider other SME contextual variables which may otherwise exert significant impact on OLC.Practical implicationsA profound understanding of distinctive high-performance HRM practices effect on firm performance and the needed employee capabilities that would assist organizations to implement strategies to attain sustainable competitive advantage.Originality/valueThe study advances knowledge on HRM practices among SMEs by proposing that distinctive high-performance HRM practices can leverage OLC to enhance firm performance.