Direct memberships in foreign copyright collecting societies as an entrepreneurial opportunity for music publishers – needs,challenges, opportunities and solutions

Journal of Cultural Economics - In the competitive, increasingly international music business, publishers are developing new ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the monetization of the...     

A Symbiosis of Access: Proliferating STEM PhD Training in the U.S. from 1920–2010

Minerva - Over the course of the 20th century, unprecedented growth in scientific discovery was fueled by broad growth in the number of university-based scientists. During this period the American...     

Using Quality Systems to Improve Performance

Many organizations have adopted a wide variety of approaches in introducing selected practices for achieving control of the quality of their products and services. Some of these piecemeal applications of the Quality Sciences have been successful–to varying degrees and for a time. However, the only approach that achieves long-term success is that requiring a complete cultural change in most organizations– involving a refocusing of all activities performed by everyone toward mutually intersupportive efforts to reach a common objective. In a word, a Quality System is required. In this paper, I have attempted to portray the basic considerations involved in developing and installing such a system. This is accomplished by describing some of the background of the system concept, certain of the internal and external features of a Quality System, and, to complete the picture, a semi-fictitious recital of the experiences of a company that has decided to embark on the Quality System journey.     

The Impact of Receivers’ Nationality and Cultural Orientation on the Effects of Fear Appeals in Health Communication

Participants from the Netherlands (n = 52), China (n = 50), and South Africa (n = 166) either read a self-targeted or a family-targeted fear appeal message about chlamydia. Seven aspects of individual cultural orientation were measured, and six effects of the different messages. Interactions between nationality and target of threat were found on perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, and danger control. Only for perceived susceptibility, a difference in cultural orientation partly explained this interaction. The outcomes add to the doubts about claims in earlier literature about the relevance of receivers’ nationality and cultural orientation for developing a fear appeal message.     

Leg amputation side determines performance in curve sprinting: a case study on a Paralympic medalist

The lower limb kinetics of curve sprinting in amputees are not well described in the literature, particularly with respect to the effect of the side of amputation. This is an issue due to the importance of the knowledge for prosthetic design and classification of athletes. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the influence of side of amputation on curve sprinting performance in athletes with a unilateral leg amputation. A three-dimensional motion analysis system (Vicon), four force plates (Kistler) and a modified mathematical human model (ALASKA) were used to compare clockwise and counter clockwise curve sprinting lower limb kinematics and kinetics of a Paralympic medalist with a left-sided knee exarticular amputation. Results reveal that vertical ground reaction force application and total vertical impulse were lower when the affected limb was at the inside of the curve. The unaffected limb showed joint mechanics different to those established for non-amputee athletes and might contribute better to propulsion when being the inside limb. Curve sprinting biomechanics and the ability to attain high radial velocities are directly dependent on the side of amputation relative to the curve direction in a unilateral amputee athlete of highest performance level.     

Comfort assessment of running footwear: Does assessment type affect inter-session reliability?

Assessing comfort of running footwear reliably is challenging. The purpose of this study was to compare the intra-rater reliability between different assessment types, to calculate intra-individual reliability scores and to evaluate the effect of rater selection based on individual reliability scores on group level reliability. Three assessment types: ranking, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), and Likert Scale (LS) were provided twice in six separate sessions among 30 participants, who assessed comfort of five shoes after treadmill running. Spearman's rho provided an evaluation of inter-session relative reliability and typical error as a measure of absolute reliability for each assessment type. Ranking (r?=?0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.61–0.78) yielded the highest relative reliability for overall comfort, followed by VAS (r?=?0.67, 95% CI 0.56–0.75) and LS (r?=?0.63, 95% CI 0.52–0.72), with large-scale overlaps of CIs between assessment types. The same order of assessment types was found for the percentage of reliable raters (r?≥?0.7) with 60% in ranking scale, 47% in VAS and 37% in LS. Forming subgroups corresponding to the intra-individual reliability substantially increased group level reliabilities. Based on measures of relative reliability, an extreme reduction in resolution as provided by the ranking from pairwise comparisons seems to be a valuable tool in footwear comfort assessments if assessment time is of minor importance. No preference can be provided for the two investigated rating scales. Besides the assessment type, a selection of the best raters in additional reliability checks seems to be a prerequisite for further comfort-related studies.     

Keep calm and carry on: moral panic,predatory publishers,peer review,and the emperor's new clothes

The moral panic over the impact of so-called predatory publishers continues unabated. It is important, however, to resist the urge to simply join in this crusade without pausing to examine the assumptions upon which such concerns are based. It is often assumed that established journals are almost sacrosanct, and that their quality, secured by peer review, is established. It is also routinely presumed that such journals are immune to the lure of easy money in return for publication. Rather than looking at the deficits that may be apparent in the practices and products of predatory publishers, this commentary invites you to explore the weaknesses that have been exposed in traditional academic journals but are seldom discussed in the context of predatory publishing. The inherent message for health and medical services staff, researchers, academics, and students is, as always, to critically evaluate all sources of information, whatever their provenance.     

A “Deleterious” Driver: The “First Teacher” Reform in Sweden

This article investigates the implementation of the “förstelärare” or “First teacher” reform in Sweden. We draw upon the insights of a superintendent, union official, principal, three First teachers, and two of their colleagues in one school, and recent literature on career development reform. We employ Michael Fullan’s overview of the “right” and “wrong” drivers of educational reform to analyse the extent to which the First Teacher initiative cultivated productive “professional capital.” The research reveals: how broader national policy aims were in clear tension with municipal-wide school development, and school-level development efforts; the perverse effects of a strong focus upon salary on professional conduct; and how an emphasis upon teachers’ roles per se undermined the espoused policy focus on enhancing teaching. The research cautions against the problematic effects of the initiative on more profession-oriented prerogatives, and how more external, “deleterious,” drivers of reform militate against more productive professional capital.