Beautiful Disease: The Story of Angelina Jolie’s Mastectomy in the American Media

In 2013 Angelina Jolie revealed in a New York Times editorial that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy earlier that year. This qualitative study examines the social meaning of that Times piece. Using fantasy theme analysis, I unearth the story the American media told about Jolie, her surgery and her editorial. I find that newspapers and magazines dramatized Jolie’s gender traits and portrayed her as an ultra-feminine hero protected from the physical and social threats of breast cancer

The Ocean Container by Patrik Sampler

Review of Patrik Sampler\u27s The Ocean Containe

AB 109 and its Impact on Prison Overcrowding and Recidivism: A Policy Analysis

California experienced escalating issues with prison overcrowding from the late 1970s to 2010, as the prison population skyrocketed to unprecedented highs. This article will discuss the problem of prison overcrowding, and one recent policy intervention implemented to decrease overcrowding and offender recidivism rates, the Public Safety Realignment Act (AB 109). After providing background on the Public Safety Realignment Act, this article will analyze the effectiveness of the policy and make recommendations

A solution to fashion textile un-sustainability

Today, polarisation of the fashion textile industry has already begun as smart, intelligent and conscientious fashion emerges as a backlash to the experience of choice fatigue, poor quality, dumb design and greenwash. But the process, development and manufacture of fashion textiles is complex. And the demand, both customer and industry driven, for new integrated product policies,2 designed to minimise environmental impacts by looking at all phases of a product's life cycle, is problematic due to complexity and a lack of networking tools. This article explores these issues through the construct of the department store of the future

Visualisation techniques, human perception and the built environment

Historically, architecture has a wealth of visualisation techniques that have evolved throughout the period of structural design, with Virtual Reality (VR) being a relatively recent addition to the toolbox. To date the effectiveness of VR has been demonstrated from conceptualisation through to final stages and maintenance, however, its full potential has yet to be realised (Bouchlaghem et al, 2005). According to Dewey (1934), perceptual integration was predicted to be transformational; as the observer would be able to ‘engage’ with the virtual environment. However, environmental representations are predominately focused on the area of vision, regardless of evidence stating that the experience is multi sensory. In addition, there is a marked lack of research exploring the complex interaction of environmental design and the user, such as the role of attention or conceptual interpretation. This paper identifies the potential of VR models to aid communication for the Built Environment with specific reference to human perception issues

Preparing for and adapting to climate change impacts: Next steps for the Washington state department of National Resources Aquatic Resources Program

In response to a growing body of research on projected climate change impacts to Washington State’s coastal areas, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Aquatic Resources Program (the Program) initiated a climate change preparedness effort in 2009 via the development of a Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (the Strategy)i. The Strategy answers the question “What are the next steps that the Program can take to begin preparing for and adapting to climate change impacts in Washington’s coastal areas?” by considering how projected climate change impacts may effect: (1) Washington’s state-owned aquatic landsii, (2) the Program’s management activities, and (3) DNR’s statutorily established guidelines for managing Washington’s state-owned aquatic lands for the benefit of the public. The Program manages Washington’s state-owned aquatic lands according to the guidelines set forth in Revised Code of Washington 79-105-030, which stipulates that DNR must manage state-owned aquatic lands in a manner which provides a balance of the following public benefits: (1) Encouraging direct public uses and access; (2) Fostering water-dependent uses; (3) Ensuring environmental protection; (4) Utilizing renewable resources. (RCW 79-105-030) The law also stipulates that generating revenue in a manner consistent with these four benefits is a public benefit (RCW 79-105-030). Many of the next steps identified in the Strategy build off of recommendations provided by earlier climate change preparation and adaptation efforts in Washington State, most notably those provided by the Preparation and Adaptation Working Group, which were convened by Washington State Executive Order 70-02 in 2007, and those made in the Washington Climate Change Impacts Assessment (Climate Impacts Group, 2009). (PDF contains 4 pages

Comparative marketing performance between the Peruvian Cooperatives and the Intermediaries: Acopagro cooperative vs. Intermediaries- a Case Study

In the Peruvian jungle, there are two main cocoa marketing channels: the intermediaries and the cooperative. For example, the Acopagro Cooperative, a Peruvian organization, has contributed to the shift from illegal crops like coca to an alternative crop like cocoa which gives small scale farmers a sustainable welfare. Despite the fact that the Acopagro cooperative benefits their members by paying a fair price, supplying technical assistance and credit, many farmers still prefer commercializing their cocoa via the intermediaries. A further analysis of cocoa prices was carried out through personal interviews and a survey made between December 2009 and January 2010, of 243 farmers in Juanjui, San Martin, Peru's main cocoa production area. The outcomes demonstrate that there is not so much difference between the cocoa price that the farmers receive from the Cooperative versus through the intermediaries. The main difference is that Acopagro cooperative divides its surplus income among its members at the end of each fiscal year. These results are consistent with previous analysis1 that proved participant farmers are better paid for their product than non-participants. Moreover, there are significant differences in the agri-marketing functions performed by each marketing channel. Farmers who prefer to commercialize via the intermediaries do not choose this marketing channel mainly due to their desire to be independent in the market or their low cocoa production. Because high economies of scale are required for large volumes of produce, the cooperative should attract small scale farmers who distribute cocoa through intermediaries to become Acopagro members in order to satisfy international market demands.Acopagro cooperative, Peruvian jungle, intermediaries, cocoa, price, agri-marketing channel, marketing channel., Agribusiness,

Does Corporate Culture Matter for Firm Policies?

Economic theories suggest that a firm's corporate culture matters for its policy choices. We construct a parent-spinoff firm panel dataset that allows us to identify culture effects in firm policies from behavior that is inherited by a spinoff firm from its parent after the firms split up. We find positive and significant relations between spinoff firms' and their parents' choices of investment, financial, and operational policies. Consistent with predictions from economic theories of corporate culture, we find that the culture effects are long-term and stronger for internally grown business units and older firms. Our evidence also suggests that firms preserve their cultures by selecting managers who fit into their cultures. Finally, we find a strong relation between spinoff firms' and their parents' profitability, suggesting that corporate culture ultimately also affects economic performance. These results are robust to a series of robustness checks, and cannot be explained by alternatives such as governance or product market links. The contribution of this paper is to introduce the notion of corporate culture in a formal empirical analysis of firm policies and performance.Economics of corporate culture; firm policies; firm performance

Probabilistic Mass-Radius Relationship for Sub-Neptune-Sized Planets

The Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of planets with radii $<4\ R_\oplus$, paving the way for the first statistical studies of the dynamics, formation, and evolution of these sub-Neptunes and super-Earths. Planetary masses are an important physical property for these studies, and yet the vast majority of Kepler planet candidates do not have theirs measured. A key concern is therefore how to map the measured radii to mass estimates in this Earth-to-Neptune size range where there are no Solar System analogs. Previous works have derived deterministic, one-to-one relationships between radius and mass. However, if these planets span a range of compositions as expected, then an intrinsic scatter about this relationship must exist in the population. Here we present the first probabilistic mass-radius relationship (M-R relation) evaluated within a Bayesian framework, which both quantifies this intrinsic dispersion and the uncertainties on the M-R relation parameters. We analyze how the results depend on the radius range of the sample, and on how the masses were measured. Assuming that the M-R relation can be described as a power law with a dispersion that is constant and normally distributed, we find that$M/M_\oplus=2.7(R/R_\oplus)^{1.3}$, a scatter in mass of$1.9\ M_\oplus$, and a mass constraint to physically plausible densities, is the "best-fit" probabilistic M-R relation for the sample of RV-measured transiting sub-Neptunes ($R_{pl}<4\ R_\oplus$). More broadly, this work provides a framework for further analyses of the M-R relation and its probable dependencies on period and stellar properties.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal on April 28, 2016. Select posterior samples and code to use them to compute the posterior predictive mass distribution are available at https://github.com/dawolfgang/MRrelatio