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Based on analyses of Maclean's ranking data pertaining to Canadian universities published over the last 24 years, we present a summary of statistical findings of annual ranking exercises, as well as discussion about their current status and the effects upon student welfare. Some illustrative tables are also presented. Using correlational and cluster analyses, for each year, we have found largely nonsignificant, inconsistent, and uninterpretable relations between rank standings of universities and Maclean's main measures, as well as between rank standings and the many specific indices used to generate these standings. In our opinion, when assessed in terms of their empirical characteristics, the annual data show generally that this system of ranking is highly limited in terms of its practical or academic value to students. Among other difficulties with the interpretation of ranks, we also discuss the possibility that ranking exercises have unintended, though potentially serious, negative consequences for the intellectual and personal welfare of students.

In a recent edition of Globalizations, Hickel and Trainer discuss the degrowth and The Simpler Way movement in regard to the global South. This author contributes a different point of view to the discussion using the world-systems analysis and highlights that to have any successful movement able to address global challenges, the differences between the South and North in terms of economic and political systems must be considered. Many South countries have rentier oligarchic systems, which require Western researchers to be more cautious about what they propose in terms of transitions. Furthermore, an effective solution for global challenges must go beyond behavioural or national strategies and be structural at the global level. This author claims that complete economic and political independence of the South from the capitalist world-economy is the only solution that can address global environmental and inequality challenges and should be considered as a long-term vision by degrowth and the TSW movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a study, utilising phenomenological methodology, which used interview and video narratives to collect data from 10 young people with autism and their parents. Data analysis employed multistage, primarily ethnomethodological methods in order to interpret and understand experiences of autism. The study found that parents, arguably influenced by the medical and psychological perspectives through which 'autism' has evolved, problematise what children with autism do as pathological. This article juxtaposes parents' understandings against how children with autism, themselves, account for what they do, by exploring respective accounts of children's obsessions and ritualistic behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell proliferation is a key factor in sex determination where a size increase relative to the XX gonad is one of the first signs of testis differentiation. Moreover, proliferation of Sertoli cells during development is important in building up the stock of supporting cells necessary for subsequent successful fertility. Because proliferation is such an essential part of testis development, the hypothesis under long-term investigation is that it is under fail-safe control by multiple alternative growth factors. This study was undertaken to investigate the role of glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) on developing mouse Sertoli cellsin vitro.Sertoli cells, isolated from mouse embryos at three stages of testis development, were maintained for 2–7 daysin vitro(div) in the presence or absence of GDNF at 1, 10 and 100 ng mL−1. Overall the presence of extracellular matrix gel had little effect on proliferative activity, but encouraged expression of the epithelial phenotype. A statistically significant difference in proliferation, assessed by immunocytochemical staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen, was seen with GDNF at embryonic day (E)12.5 after 2 div (at both 10 and 100 ng mL−1,P < 0.001) and 7 div (at both 10 and 100 ng mL−1,P < 0.05); at E13.5 after 3 div (at both 10 and 100 ng mL−1,P < 0.05) and at E14.5 after 7 div (100 ng mL−1,P < 0.01), compared with controls cultured without growth factor. In conclusion, GDNF stimulates mitosis throughout this critical developmental window. Thein vitroapproach used here is a useful adjunct to the knockout mouse model and has been applied to show that GDNF exerts a proliferative effect on developing mouse Sertoli cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]