Human Resources University

Abstract To date, most efforts to decolonise curricula have focussed on the arts and humanities, with many believing that science subjects are objective, unbiased, and unaffected by colonial legacies. However, research is shaped by cultural and historical context, and inequities exist in funding, publishing and acknowledging scientific achievements. Our curricula reflect these inequities, perpetuating bias to future generations of scientists. We examined attitudes and understanding towards decolonising and diversifying the curriculum among students and teaching staff in the biomedical sciences at the University of Bristol, to discover whether our current teaching practice is perceived as inclusive. We used a mixed methods study including surveys of staff (N=71) and students (N=121) and focus groups. Quantitative data showed that staff and students think decolonising the curriculum is important, but this is more important to female respondents (p<0.001). Students are less aware than staff of current efforts to decolonise the curriculum, while students from minority ethnic groups feel less represented by the curriculum than white students. Thematic analysis of qualitative data revealed three themes that are important for a decolonised curriculum: rediscovery, representation and readiness. We propose that this ‘3Rs framework’ could guide future efforts to decolonise and diversify the curriculum in the biomedical sciences and beyond.

Abstract This chapter reviews recent advances in the NK modeling literature conceptualizing organizational change and innovation as a search over a complex landscape. It discusses both strengths and limitations of this perspective and delineates potential for future research directions. The key argument is that the NK model in its traditional form may be exhausting the theoretical insights that it can provide to the field. However, substantial modifications and extensions of the NK model or new classes of landscape models may provide fresh perspectives. Specifically, we consider the modeling efforts that endogenize the landscape construction as the next frontier in this literature. We also discuss several recent studies that incorporate various extensions of the NK model and allow for agent-driven changes to the landscape.

Abstract Nonprofit child care centers are frequently observed to produce child care which is, on average, of higher quality than care provided in commercial child care centers. In part, this nonprofit advantage is due to different input choices made by nonprofit centers—lower child‐staff ratios, better‐educated staff and directors, higher rates of professional development for staff. Nonprofit centers may have an additional productivity advantage, due to unmeasured staff motivation and abilities or to better management of the production of good‐quality child care. However, where nonprofit and for‐profit child care firms compete in the same local markets, we speculate that this extra advantage should only appear where demand is sufficiently “thick” to permit a quality differentiation strategy to be financially viable for nonprofits. We estimate the effect of nonprofit status on quality, controlling for differences in financial resources available to the center, differences in the clientele served, and differences in staff and center inputs. In this conventional examination, nonprofit status has a moderately positive impact on quality. However, when we account for the unobserved heterogeneity and separate markets into “thick” and “thin,” a particularly strong nonprofit advantage is found in thick markets, but no productivity advantage for nonprofits is found in thin markets. This finding suggests a clear role for nonprofit organizations in improving the cost‐quality trade‐off faced by parents, but also identifies the market conditions that affect the ability of nonprofit managers to employ this advantage. © 2009 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

The most important, immediate source of sulfur (S) for agricultural crops is the soil, but the soil supply is augmented by anthropogenic and natural S additions. In either case, lichen S contents provide a means for evaluating the effective S supply. Thus, lichen S content may be a way of determining locations where S emissions are large and extensive and why soil levels may vary from sufficient to deficient. Lichen S and phosphorus (P) contents were determined in two contrasting areas of the North Central United States, one east and one west of the Mississippi River. Mean contents were in µg g−1 S 4100 and P 1550 in Area East and S 2100 and P, 1660 in Area West. Population density and S emissions are much greater in Area East. Sulfur deficiencies are not generally recognized there. Area West includes regions that range from severely S deficient to adequate in soil S, with regions that are borderline predominating. Lichen S in the Gulf Coast Plain area and northwest of the Great Lakes was in the range 1000–2000 µg g−1. Sulfur deficiencies are well documented in the region, suggesting that 2000 µg g−1 lichen S‐represents a boundary between near adequate and S‐deficient crops unless soil sources are adequate. An east‐west lichen S transect from southern Indiana to southwest Missouri suggests that a response to S fertilizer can be expected if the soil is sandy or lichen S is less than 2000 µg g−1 and crops are well supplied with other nutrients. High‐S contents observed along the transect may have resulted from long‐distance S transport from cities along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the west shore of Lake Michigan. Lichen S contents along transects from Ontario, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico ranged from 6000 µg g−1 near the Great Lakes to 1000 µg g−1 near the Gulf of Mexico. By using 2000 µg g−1 as the desired S level, half of the area is, to a certain extent, potentially S deficient.

ABSTRACTThe market orientation of the 1992 European Community programme has given way to a range of other projects involving institutional integration. Issues such as European Monetary Union and the EC Social Charter now dominate the Community's policy agenda. Inducing this shift from ‘negative’ to ‘positive’ integration was a growing realisation that institutional interventions are required to secure and coordinate the integration process. This paper examines the nature of the EC Social Charter as a positive coordination mechanism. First the controversies surrounding the adoption of the Charter are outlined. Then an appraisal is made of how the clauses of the Charter' accompanying action programme and recently published draft Directives affect existing national systems of labour market regulation. The conclusion is that although the Charter does not constitute a move towards a harmonised employment regime, it is a serious attempt to bring about greater coherence in Community labour markets.

Staff from a health education project in Eket village in Cross River State, Nigeria collected 1985-1986 height and weight data from at least 286 preschool children. Results from the 1 way analysis of variance tests revealed that age significantly affected mean weights for age and for height (p.01). For example, between 1 and 2 years of age the weights for age and for height fell substantially due to a decrease in breast feeding and introduction of solid foods. Similarly, birth rank significantly accounted for mean height for age (p=.01) and mean weight for age (p.01). For instance, the mean height for age and mean weight for age fell for 2nd born children. After the 2nd child, they climbed to the point where at the 6th child and greater the means were greater than for the 1st born. Number of children in the household only significantly affected mean weight for age (p=.01). A single child ranked significantly better in weight for age and weight for height than households with 2-6 children. After the 3rd child, however, a steady increase in mean percentile rank occurred with each additional child. In fact, mean percentile weight for age values of all the children in households of 7 or more children were higher than for any other household size. Observations of field staff supported the hypothesis that, in large families, the older children care and nurture the younger siblings and do not have high demands to work in the fields and maintain the households thereby accounting for the superior nutritional status for children in families of 7 or more children. Nevertheless overall nutritional status of 28% of the children were severely malnourished. Further, current nutritional status of 14% were severely malnourished. Moreover 36% ranked as chronically malnourished.