Third European Quality of Life Survey – Quality of Life in Europe: Families in the Economic Crisis

[Excerpt] The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) provides a reliable picture of the living conditions and the social situation of Europeans before and during the economic crisis. But how has the crisis affected families with children? Children are more at risk of poverty or social exclusion than the overall population in a majority of countries; hence, it is important to understand how the crisis has affected households with children. This report describes the changing quality of life across the EU for different types of families with children and compares their living standards and social situation. Families are divided into two main groups: lone-parent families, working or not, and living alone or with relatives; couples with children, both dual and single earners, and again, living as a family unit or with other relatives. Potential patterns that may be related to different family policy approaches are identified by looking at differences between four groups of countries, classified on a spectrum from those with the most flexible family policies to those with the most traditional policies

Expanding Opportunities for Student Inquiry and Research

Student Inquiries in Research (SIR) Students perform research either on or off campus on “I” days (usually Wednesdays) during the academic year Some students also do SIR summer research It is not required, however about 2/3 of the students will do an SIR project The goal of the program is to teach students how to carry out authentic research Every student will give a presentation on their research at IMSAloquium in Apri

The Effects of Geriatric Sexual Orientation on Caregiver Reactions to Resident Sexual Behavior Within Long-Term Care Facilities

Within the paucity of literature regarding older adult sexuality, a larger dearth exists concerning biases of long-term care facility staff toward gay and lesbian older adult residents. Prior literature has documented that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals\u27 perceive that they do not receive the same quality of care as that of heterosexual individuals within long-term care facilities. Thus researchers aimed to evaluate whether these biases truly exist within care facilities that can prevent holistic care from being comprehensively provided to everyone regardless of sexual orientation. 153 residential care facility staff members from two separate facilities read one of three vignettes. Each vignette described a scenario in which a staff member walks in on two residents engaging in sexual activity. Residents\u27 gender was manipulated in the three vignettes (male/female, male/male, female/female). Following this, participants completed two questionnaires assessing their views toward older adult sexuality, as well as their opinions on how well the staff member responded to the situation. Although no main effects were discovered for vignette type, exploratory analysis yielded that the facility where participants were employed was significantly related to their levels of situation approval. Along with this main effect, an interaction effect was discovered between vignette and facility type with caregivers\u27 situational approval level. More specifically, Facility 2\u27s mean values were significantly higher (indicating less staff member approval) for the male/female and female/female vignettes as compared to Facility 1\u27s vignette approval ratings. Researchers did not confirm their hypothesis that male/male relationships would be stigmatized, but postulate that this could be reflective of the preponderance of male residents in facility 2. Furthermore researchers believe that the significant main and interaction effects discovered are indicative of overall pathologizing of older women\u27s sexuality as lower approval rates for women existed across both facilities

Vorkommen von Sitaris muralis (FORSTER) im Kreis Kleve (NRW)

Bei der Renovierung eines Fachwerkhauses in Wankum (Kreis Kleve, NRW) wurden im Sommer 2002 die alten luftgetrockneten Lehmziegel in den Gefachen restlos beseitigt. Dadurch wurden zahllose Brutkammern von Wildbienenarten, die lehmverfugte Gemäuer als Nistplätze besiedeln, zerstört und die Lebensgrundlage u.a. für eine individuenstarke Pelzbienenpopulation (Anthophora plumipes) wurde vernichtet. Über die Bergung und Umsiedlung der Tiere einschließlich ihrer Bauten wird hier berichtet

Verification of a Prolog compiler - first steps with KIV

This paper describes the first steps of the formal verification of a Prolog compiler with the KIV system. We build upon the mathematical definitions given by Boerger and Rosenzweig in [BR95]. There an operational semantics of Prolog is defined using the formalism of Evolving Algebras, and then transformed in several systematic steps to the Warren Abstract Machine (WAM). To verify these transformation steps formally in KIV, a translation of deterministic Evolving Algebras to Dynamic Logic is defined, which may also be of general interest. With this translation, correctness of transformation steps becomes a problem of program equivalence in Dynamic Logic. We define a proof technique for verifying such problems, which corresponds to the use of proof maps in Evolving Algebras. Although the transfor- mation steps are small enough for a mathematical analysis, this is not sufficient for a successful formal correctness proof. Such a proof requires to explicitly state a lot of facts, which were only impli- citly assumed in the analysis. We will argue that these assumptions cannot be guessed in a first proof attempt, but have to be filled in incrementally. We report on our experience with this `evolutionary\u27 verification process for the first transformation step, and the support KIV offers to do such incremental correctness proofs