Challenging Theme Research Articles

Law of Private Investment Funds

The new edition of The Law of Private Investment Funds offers a practical analysis of the legal and regulatory issues that arise in connection with the structuring, formation, and operation of private investment funds, including hedge funds, private equity funds, real estate funds, and other non-retail collective investment vehicles. The book provides a unique analysis of these funds on a pan-asset class basis, as well as from a US, UK, and European perspective. The themes of investor protection and fiduciary challenge are considered in the context of the various sources available for investor protection including the substantive rights and obligations under general law, and voluntary and statutory rights of regulation. The author considers the various aspects of running private investment funds against the backdrop of regulation and investor protection. Issues such as structuring and launching, and marketing private investment funds are considered in full. The author also looks at the governance challenge where limited partnerships and offshore companies are concerned. The book identifies governance as a key issue for private investment fund participants and discusses in depth several ways in which managers and fund participants can improve the governance of their funds. In addition it analyses the consequences and impact of the recent global financial crisis on private funds, and the response of the US, UK, and European regulators. The new edition includes increased coverage of best practice and industry guidelines, including the ILPA Guidelines for private equity funds, and the MFA's Best Practices for hedge funds. It also provides discussion of new regulatory regimes in the US and EU, including the Dodd Frank Act and AIFMD.

“Getting a piece of the clinical research pie” – Why translational research should matter to you

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) estimates that it takes an average of 17 years for only 14 percent of scientific discoveries to become standard treatment in the community. In developing the Roadmap for Medical Research (2004), the NIH identified three themes of challenges to biomedical researchers: 1) New Pathways to Discovery, 2) Research Teams of the Future, 3) Re‐engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise. As a foundational science, anatomy is well positioned as a discipline to address all three themes of challenges. We discuss success strategies for establishing interdisciplinary collaborations with clinicians that specifically address areas of research directly related to the “new” anatomical sciences, including biological pathways and networks, structural biology, molecular libraries, nanotechnology, bioinformatics and computational biology, and biomedical imaging. We also highlight funding mechanism pathways and public‐private partnerships available to researchers to foster high‐risk/ high‐reward research, enable the development of transformative tools and methodologies, fill fundamental knowledge gaps, and change academic culture to foster collaboration.

A method for developing standardised interactive education for complex clinical guidelines

BackgroundAlthough systematic use of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand internationally endorsed Clinical Practice Guideline for Perinatal Mortality (PSANZ-CPG) improves health outcomes, implementation is inadequate. Its complexity is a feature known to be associated with non-compliance. Interactive education is effective as a guideline implementation strategy, but lacks an agreed definition. SCORPIO is an educational framework containing interactive and didactic teaching, but has not previously been used to implement guidelines. Our aim was to transform the PSANZ-CPG into an education workshop to develop quality standardised interactive education acceptable to participants for learning skills in collaborative interprofessional care.MethodsThe workshop was developed using the construct of an educational framework (SCORPIO), the PSANZ-CPG, a transformation process and tutor training. After a pilot workshop with key target and stakeholder groups, modifications were made to this and subsequent workshops based on multisource written observations from interprofessional participants, tutors and an independent educator. This participatory action research process was used to monitor acceptability and educational standards. Standardised interactive education was defined as the attainment of content and teaching standards. Quantitative analysis of positive expressed as a percentage of total feedback was used to derive a total quality score.ResultsEight workshops were held with 181 participants and 15 different tutors. Five versions resulted from the action research methodology. Thematic analysis of multisource observations identified eight recurring education themes or quality domains used for standardisation. The two content domains were curriculum and alignment with the guideline and the six teaching domains; overload, timing, didacticism, relevance, reproducibility and participant engagement. Engagement was the most challenging theme to resolve. Tutors identified all themes for revision whilst participants identified a number of teaching but no content themes. From version 1 to 5, a significant increasing trend in total quality score was obtained; participants: 55%, p=0.0001; educator: 42%, p=0.0004; tutor peers: 57%, p=0.0001.ConclusionsComplex clinical guidelines can be developed into a workshop acceptable to interprofessional participants. Eight quality domains provide a framework to standardise interactive teaching for complex clinical guidelines. Tutor peer review is important for content validity. This methodology may be useful for other guideline implementation.

Unemployment and Possible Alterations of Personality Traits: The Case of the General Causality Orientations

The investigation of the unemployment consequences is a challenging theme in current psychological research. The recent controversy on the nature of general causality orientations (GCO’s) as personality traits stood as a reason for this study. Considering that prolonged unemployment is a significant life event, we investigated the stability in time (as a condition for a personality trait) of GCO’s for a sample of unemployed and we compared the results to those obtained from a sample of employed individuals. The first measure took place in April 2007, the second in September 2007 and the third in November 2011. The results indicated a higher level of control orientation for the unemployed in T3 and a significant positive growth of impersonal orientation for the same sample. Among the research limits were the poor data collection about the reasons of unemployment, family structure, job search behaviors and economic status. Language: English

Ethical challenges for psychologists conducting humanitarian work.

This article describes the ediical challenges that psychologists face when doing international humanitarian aid work. It is based on personal experience and uses the framework of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists to reflect on the unique challenges when doing such work. The article is organized around themes of ediical challenges under the following headings: limitation of resources, local political pressure, local cultural and social realities, challenges to confidentiality, problems in obtaining consent, sequelae of colonial history, individual versus population interests, and tolerance of differences in standards. Examples illustrate these points. Keywords: humanitarian work, ethical conflicts, principles of ethics, standards Resume Cet article decrit les difficultes d'ordre ethique avec lesquelles doivent composer les psychologues s'adonnant a du travail humanitaire international. Il s'appuie sur des experiences personnelles et utilise les fondements du Code canathen de deontologie professionnelle des psychologues pour examiner les defis particuliers que presente ce genre de travail. L'article s'articule autour des themes suivants, qui se rapportent aux problemes d'ethique : limites des ressources, pressions politiques locales, realites culturelles et sociales locales, difficultes relatives a la confidentialite, problemes pour l'obtention du consentement, sequelles du colonialisme, interets personnels versus interets collectifs, et tolerance a l'egard des ecarts par rapport aux normes. Des exemples illustrent ces divers sujets. Mots-cles : travail humanitaire, conflits ethiques, principes ethiques, normes.' Is it possible to maintain ethical standards while working on humanitarian missions? Humanitarian work for psychologists, although personally fulfilling, is also full of professional challenges. While working with Medecins Sans Frontieres on a number of missions, I was confronted regularly with ethical dilemmas that at times allowed for adaptive solutions but at other times remained persistent and unresolved. The key objective of this article is to review the types of ethical challenges that psychologists face when they are involved in humanitarian work on a mission. These challenges are presented in light of the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (CPA, 2000). To achieve this objective, the article offers real-life examples to illustrate some of the dilemmas the humanitarian worker has to face. The examples include how certain solutions were attempted, which might have been quite different if applied in the Canadian context at home. Recently, a vast number of humanitarian crises have engaged the energies of international aid organisations, also referred to as nongovernmental organisations (NGOs). These NGOs provide health care and support for physical and psychological needs to populations suffering from human-made or natural disasters. Little research has been done on the ethical challenges encountered by medical and nursing professionals participating in humanitarian aid work, and even less is available on the specific challenges faced by psychologists on a mission. The involvement of psychologists in humanitarian missions is a fairly new concept. Medecins Sans Frontieres was founded in 1971 after the Biafran famine by a group of French physicians and journalists; however, it was only in the late nineties that mental health workers were systematically recruited as well. A main target of mental health worker assignments was dealing with the sequelae of rape. Rape tragically has become a weapon of war - an attempt to create disequilibrium. In recent years, this has applied to African countries such as the Congo, Sudan, and even more close to home, now in Haiti. Such a situation creates a role for mental health workers that goes beyond mere medical crisis management. Psychologists' work on a mission can be quite varied. To provide a context for understanding the inherent ethical challenges, below is a list of the types of work I was engaged in; namely, when working one-on-one with patients: * identify target groups needing psychological services * set up a triage system to assess and respond to needs * assess available psychological resources and prepare intervention strategies * provide psychological treatment and support to survivors * coordinate outreach to the identified target group * identify and maintain a local referral network * provide psycho-education and social-education material. …

Towards 0–impact Buildings and Built Environments: Review of the SB10 Conference Western Europe

The SB10 Conference Western Europe chose a challenging theme: towards 0–impact buildings and built environments. Looking back at the event which took place from the 11th up to the 13th of October in Maastricht, Heusden–Zolder, Liege and Aachen, we can conclude that this has been taken up very well by the 190 participants. The limits and ambitions were pushed, both by keynote speakers and paper authors. Most papers included the 0– ambition in their paper, and the authors explored the consequences of such ambition. Sometimes leading to lively discussions during and after presentations. The organization of the conference by Zuyd university, Cedubo, Haute Ecole de la Province de Liege and Fachhochschule Aachen was an inspiration to organize the conference itself in the four different cities in the Euregion.

The DIADEM and Beyond

Among the many challenges in understanding the functions of healthy and diseased brain is our limited ability to thoroughly analyze its structure and activity at neuronal, circuit and network levels. Despite the advent of computer technology, neuronal reconstructions are still largely performed by hand. Reconstructing a single cell may take months, presenting a bottleneck to progress. To meet this challenge, the DIADEM (Digital Reconstruction of Axonal and Dendritic Morphology) Challenge provided incentives for the development of computer algorithms to support accurate high-speed, automated three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of neuronal projections. Together with the sponsors of the DIADEM Challenge, several Institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) co-sponsored the DIADEM Scientific Conference in conjunction with the final phase of the DIADEM Challenge. The conference brought together computational scientists and experimental neuroscientists to evaluate the advances made by the finalist teams, to summarize stateof-the-art technologies, and to discuss the remaining challenges and future research directions. Over sixty scientists attended the conference, including many postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. The conference opened with remarks by the sponsors, which was followed by an overview of “The Future of Connectomics” by keynote speaker Dr. Jeff Lichtman of Harvard University. The original articles, mini-reviews, and commentaries published in this special issue of Neuroinformatics address central themes of the DIADEM Challenge. This editorial provides a brief summary of the Challenge and the Conference. Additional DIADEM legacy material can be found at the DIADEM Challenge website coordinated and maintained by Dr. Giorgio Ascoli’s laboratory (http:// diademchallenge.org).

Lightweight Named Entity Extraction for Korean Short Message Service Text

In this paper, we propose a hybrid method of Machine Learning (ML) algorithm and a rule-based algorithm to implement a lightweight Named Entity (NE) extraction system for Korean SMS text. NE extraction from Korean SMS text is a challenging theme due to the resource limitation on a mobile phone, corruptions in input text, need for extension to include personal information stored in a mobile phone, and sparsity of training data. The proposed hybrid method retaining the advantages of statistical ML and rule-based algorithms provides fully-automated procedures for the combination of ML approaches and their correction rules using a threshold-based soft decision function. The proposed method is applied to Korean SMS texts to extract person’s names as well as location names which are key information in personal appointment management system. Our proposed system achieved 80.53% in F-measure in this domain, superior to those of the conventional ML approaches.

Len Barton, inclusion and critical disability studies: theorising disabled childhoods

Len Barton has pioneered the sociological study of education in the areas of disability studies and inclusive education. This paper addresses an argument developed by Len Barton that social exclusion, of which disablism is one element, (1) has many compounding forms of differing exclusions, (2) is not a natural but a socially constructed process, (3) has no single factor that can remove it and (4) is in constant need of conceptual analysis. Our paper aims to address each of these four challenging themes in relation to the contemporary societal position of disabled children, their families and key professionals that work around them, with a specific focus on schools. First, we explore the ways in which disabled childhoods are imbricated with other forms of exclusion. Second, we consider the ways in which ‘disability’, ‘impairment’ and ‘child’ are consistently being reproduced in particular and often contradictory ways by disability discourses. Third, we consider the need to work with numerous forms of educational intervention that address the exclusion of disabled children. Fourth, we conclude with an appeal to develop disability studies in ways that build on the shoulders of (social model) greats – such as Len Barton – whilst being receptive to other transformative perspectives from queer, feminist and postcolonial studies.

Structural change and the emergence of the Brazilian MNEs

PurposeThe internationalization of local Brazilian firms is a very recent phenomenon, especially when considered in terms of the accelerated growth in the number of Brazilian‐owned multinational companies and the intensity of foreign investment that began in the year 2000. While the specialized literature has focused increasing attention on this new trend, the profound transformation of Brazilian production during the 1990s remains a challenging theme for researchers. This paper aims to analyze the changes undertaken by Brazilian firms in pursuit of competitiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe data utilized were furnished by the Institute for Applied Economic Research, a governmental think tank, that has combined and expanded upon the main Brazilian databases that provide reliable information about industrial firms: the Annual Survey of Industry carried out by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE); the Annual Social Information Report, conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Employment; the Foreign Trade Secretariat, under the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, and the Industrial Survey of Technological Innovation also sponsored by the IBGE. This procedure allows to access extremely wide‐ranging analyses covering businesses responsible for more than 90 percent of value added by Brazilian industry.FindingsThe principal finding of this paper indicates that enormous changes in business strategy occurred in the 1990s, modifying Brazilian companies' historical orientation towards the internal market. Significant increases in exports and outward foreign direct investment, consequently led a significant group of Brazilian companies to compete in more sophisticated markets. These new strategies of internationalization are supported by these companies' systematic pursuit of innovative processes. Aggregate data from internationalizing companies show that the most advanced group, characterized in this paper as “A‐class companies,” exhibit a standard of competitiveness, salaries, investment in R&D and new product launches found only in Brazil within the local subsidiaries of foreign multinationals.Originality/valueVarious studies have attempted to capture the difficulties and barriers that the Brazilian economy faced at the beginning of economic liberalization. Despite their differences, most of the analyses are confined at the macro level and make the ease and rapid expansion of internationalizing companies a surprising observation. In contrast, this paper emphasizes microeconomic factors and argues that the changes that occurred throughout the 1990s within the structure and strategies of Brazilian businesses were for the most part overshadowed by macro visions (especially those focused on fighting inflation). To capture these changes, especially those that had an impact on improved competitiveness, a new methodological approach has been designed.

Defining and managing career challenges for mid-career and senior stage pediatric hematologist/oncologists

A workshop at the 2008 ASPHO Annual Meeting functioned as the first step in a systematic needs assessment of the particular challenges to satisfaction and success in the middle and senior phases of career development for pediatric hematologist/oncologists (PHOs). The 61 ASPHO members who attended were randomly distributed to small discussion groups based on self-identified career stage. Groups completed challenge forms for each issue identified as pertinent to their own stage of professional development. A total of 71 forms with useable data were generated by the groups. The largest number of challenges described (26) clustered around themes of Work-Life Balance followed by Transition and Succession (18), Management and Finances (15), and Keeping up to Date (13). Mid-career groups were more likely to identify Work-Life Balance challenges while senior stage groups were more likely to articulate Succession and Management challenges. The article describes the demographics of the workshop participants, summarizes the content of challenge themes and the associated suggestions for management. It is hoped that this effort will assist educational and career planning efforts by individuals, institutions, and ASPHO as a professional society.

Business strategies for achieving sustainable development in Africa

PurposeIn this editorial the Guest Editor attempts to link the idea of sustainable development in Africa to the different contributions that have been made by papers written on varied business disciplines.Design/methodology/approachThe papers in this special issue represent “best papers” that were selected during the 3rd International Business Conference (IBC) held in Zanzibar, Tanzania in 2009, addressing the theme of business challenges and sustainable solution, under the overarching conference theme of sustainable futures. The papers cover a wide range of business challenges and remedies in an interdisciplinary manner via a range of sub‐disciplines ranging from human resources management and entrepreneurship training to HIV/AIDS in the workplace and gender buying patterns of German tourists.FindingsPresenting the notion of sustainable development as a means of confronting business challenges is an interdisciplinary undertaking, in which business disciplines and business methods logically play a role. Although these papers address important business challenges that are pertinent to the development of Africa, they only implicitly and indirectly talk to sustainability philosophies or approaches. In essence, they address issues that have interesting implications for sustainable development and futures thinking and strategies albeit industry‐sector or firm levels.Originality/valueThe discussion in this special issue focuses on the implications of the contributions to the generic field of sustainable development. The main aim is to encourage academics to begin engaging with a kind of futures thinking, with particular focus on the main issues of sustainable development, whilst bearing in mind the principal aims of the millennium development goals for Africa.

Communication challenges of HPV vaccination

The UK has introduced a national human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation programme for girls aged 12-13 from autumn 2008. Previous research has explored public understanding of the causes of cervical cancer and found little awareness of the role of HPV. To explore GPs' and practice nurses' views of HPV vaccination, prior to implementation of the national immunisation programme, with a focus on their role and anticipated difficulties. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 GPs and practice nurses from practices in Hampshire and Wiltshire, in March 2008. The prevailing theme of new communication challenges was identified and these were connected to the activities of (i) explaining, (ii) consenting and (iii) managing conflicts between parents and their children with respect to vaccination decisions. The importance of decisions being fully informed was emphasized and concern was expressed about the adequacy of the information provided to girls and their parents in schools. Whether consent would be granted by the parent or by the child and how potential disagreements should be managed remained ambiguous. Participants considered it appropriate to offer the vaccine without parental consent if other criteria, such as an assessment of competency, were met. Success of the national immunization programme will depend on overcoming the challenges of providing explanations to ensure that individuals understand the potential benefits of HPV vaccination. Primary care can play an important role, but this study suggests there are fundamental issues that need further clarification.

TECHNEAU: Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap State of the art & Perspectives

The best papers from the three-day conference on Safe Drinking Water from Source to Tap June 2009 in Maastricht are published in this book covering the themes of challenges of the water sector and adaptive strategies, treatment, distribution, risk assessment and risk management, sensors and monitoring, small scale systems, simulation, alternative water supply & sources, consumer involvement, and future drinking water. Worldwide, the water supply sector is facing tremendous challenges. Ever new emerging contaminants and pathogens and aging infrastructures that are vulnerable for deliberate contamination pose a threat to the quality of water supplies. Shortage of good quality and readily treatable resources is increasing due to global warming, urbanisation and pollution from agriculture and industry. Regulators and consumers are becoming more demanding. Techneau - the largest European project on drinking water - addresses these challenges by developing adaptive supply system options and new and improved treatment and monitoring technologies. Future system options to be studied are flexible, small scale and multi-source supplies, utilising non conventional resources like brackish ground water, treated wastewater and urban groundwater. ISBN: 9781843392750 (Print) ISBN: 9781780401782 (eBook)

A Study on Straight-Line Tracking and Posture Control in Electric Bicycle

The development of automatic control for driving a bicycle is a challenging theme and is expected to be a human assist system. Previously, an acceleration-based method for stabilizing bicycle posture was proposed by the authors. In the experiments with this controller, the posture of the bicycle might be stabilized, but it is impossible to run on the desired trajectory, because there is no consideration with respect to a trajectory control. For the sake of expanding this system into more sophisticated equipment, a realization of the trajectory control for the bicycle is important. From the viewpoint of an assist system for human motion, a unified control of posture and trajectory brings a sophisticated function to a bicycle, and a high-performance bicycle is expected to be a convenient vehicle, similar to a small car. This paper proposes two strategies to stabilize bicycle posture and trajectory control that realizes a straight-line tracking: one is a lateral velocity controller, and the other is a steering function controller. The validity of the proposed approaches is evaluated by simulations and experiments.

Grandparents raising grandchildren in Australia: exploring psychological health and grandparents’ experience of providing kinship care

This study explores relationships between the psychological health of grandparents raising grandchildren and grandchildren's social, emotional and behavioural issues. Fifty‐two grandparents raising grandchildren (Caregiving) and an age‐matched sample (N = 45) of grandparents who were not the primary caregivers of their grandchildren (Non‐caregiving) participated in the study. All participants completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale Questionnaire (DASS21), and grandparents in the caregiving group completed the Caregiver form of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a semi‐structured telephone interview. Grandparents in the Caregiving group scored higher on all three DASS21 subscales than the Non‐caregiving group. Statistically significant associations were found between grandparents’ DASS21 scores and grandchildren's SDQ scores. Qualitative analyses of interviews were conducted describing a priori themes of conflict, challenges and rewards, and emergent themes of no choice/option, duty and pride. Clinical implications of this study point to the importance of providing increased levels of psychological support for grandparents and grandchildren. Longitudinal studies are needed.

Gynaecologic surgery from uncertainty to science: evidence-based surgery is no passing fad

The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the least biased measure of the effectiveness of interventions, including surgical interventions. The aim was to review the available evidence base in gynaecologic surgery, to assess what progress has been made and to determine gaps in the evidence for clinical decision-making. Systematic reviews involving gynaecological surgery interventions were extracted from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Issue 2, 2007) and data were extracted for key primary outcomes from each of the randomized trials in the reviews. The reviews were categorized as to whether they had provided evidence of effectiveness for pre-defined outcomes of most relevance to patients. Of 371 reviews or protocols published on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (Issue 2, 2007), only 30 were completed reviews assessing surgical interventions. Seven reviews concluded there was evidence of a significant effect (whether beneficial or harmful) of the interventions studied for pre-defined primary outcomes; 11 reviews concluded there was some evidence of significant effects for primary outcomes along with some gaps for primary outcomes; 12 reviews concluded insufficient evidence of effectiveness. Common themes of unique methodological challenges and pitfalls with trials of surgical interventions were apparent. Cochrane reviews have gone a long way to establishing a sound evidence base in gynaecologic surgery: some gaps in the evidence have been eliminated and others highlighted. In general, gynaecology has been a specialty where surgical interventions have been well exposed to the scrutiny of RCTs compared with other surgical specialties.

Voicing their perceptions: Swazi women's folk songs

The aim of this article is to explore one way through which Swazi women voice their perceptions of themselves in relation to patriarchal values in Swaziland. The folk songs analysed in this article are composed orally and are passed down orally from one generation to the next. They belong to society and remain the property of society. Some members of society may use them for their own economic benefit. The songs to be analysed are those that relate to the themes of love, marriage, disappointment and challenge to patriarchal values. These songs are composed and sung with the intention of celebrating the pleasures of love within the institution of marriage. However, the same songs contain elements of satire which give them the potential to be used as “spears” for fighting for social justice and change in society.

El influjo de la vida de la Iglesia en la reflexión sobre su santidad durante el siglo XX y hasta el Concilio Vaticano II

In the first thirty years of the twentieth century, the life of the Church indicates challenging themes for ecclesiology. Three important areas of the «holiness of the Church» are indicated: theological reflection on the active role of lay people in the mission of the Church, the liturgical movement, and the growing importance of the way the whole Church witnesses Christ. The second part of the study proposes a more comprehensive reading of the changes of paradigm (from the mystical body of Christ to the people of God). The historical salvific vision was instrumental to understand that the holiness of the Church in via was not yet perfect, and it should not be understood only in terms of transcendence.

Women of Spirit: Leaders in the Counseling Profession

This phenomenological study documents the voices and experiences of 10 female leaders in the counseling profession. Two protégés of each leader were interviewed to gain additional perspectives about these leaders. Leaders described experiences, contexts, processes, and outcomes that characterized their roles as positional and nonpositional leaders. Leaders highlighted themes of opportunity, challenge, unique and common ways of being, and empowerment. Protégés confirmed and enriched the leaders' accounts. Recommendations for personal and professional development are included.