Mi Cuerpo, Nuestra Responsabilidad: Using Photovoice to describe the assets and barriers to sexual and reproductive health among Latinos in North Carolina

Latinos in North Carolina experience disparities in sexual and reproductive health. To identify and explore assets for and barriers to sexual and reproductive health in the Latino community, an academic-community partnership engaged community health workers (CHW) in Photovoice, a participatory qualitative research methodology. Five sessions were completed in which CHW agreed on photo assignments and discussed the photos. Themes included the role of men, cultural taboos, and the effect of undocumented immigrant status on access to resources. Findings were presented at a community forum. Building on the strengths of CHW to reduce barriers to sexual and reproductive health is a viable strategy to address disparities

First European quality of life survey: time use and work-life options over the life course

This report addresses the key issue of time use and work–life options over the life course. The report aims to contribute to current debates on the subject, placing them in the wider context of 25 European countries and viewing them from a life course perspective. It considers the ways in which the institutional and policy framework can be expected to affect actual and preferred patterns of time use over the life course, focusing on distinct stages of the life course. It investigates individuals’ views on available working time options, while exploring their preferences regarding measures designed to help them reconcile their different time-demanding commitments.Institute for Advanced Studies and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Linving and Working Condition

Effect of different stellar galactic environments on planetary discs - I. The solar neighbourhood and the birth cloud of the Sun

We have computed trajectories, distances and times of closest approaches to the Sun by stars in the solar neighbourhood with known position, radial velocity and proper motions. For this purpose, we have used a full potential model of the Galaxy that reproduces the local z-force, the Oort constants, the local escape velocity and the rotation curve of the Galaxy. From our sample, we constructed initial conditions, within observational uncertainties, with a Monte Carlo scheme for the 12 most suspicious candidates because of their small tangential motion. We find that the star Gliese 710 will have the closest approach to the Sun, with a distance of approximately 0.34 pc in 1.36 Myr in the future. We show that the effect of a flyby with the characteristics of Gliese 710 on a 100 au test particle disc representing the Solar system is negligible. However, since there is a lack of 6D data for a large percentage of stars in the solar neighbourhood, closer approaches may exist. We calculate parameters of passing stars that would cause notable effects on the solar disc. Regarding the birth cloud of the Sun, we performed experiments to reproduce roughly the observed orbital parameters such as eccentricities and inclinations of the Kuiper belt. It is now known that in Galactic environments, such as stellar formation regions, the stellar densities of new born stars are high enough to produce close encounters within 200 au. Moreover, in these Galactic environments, the velocity dispersion is relatively low, typically σ∼ 1-3 km s−1. We find that with a velocity dispersion of ∼1 km s−1 and an approach distance of about 150 au, typical of these regions, we obtain approximately the eccentricities and inclinations seen in the current Solar system. Simple analytical calculations of stellar encounters effects on the Oort Cloud are presente

Major regulators of microRNAs biogenesis Dicer and Drosha are down-regulated in endometrial cancer

Alterations in microRNAs expression have been proposed to play role in endometrial cancer pathogenesis. Dicer and Drosha are main regulators of microRNA biogenesis and deregulation of their expression has been indicated as a possible cause of microRNAs alterations observed in various cancers. The objective of this study was to investigate Dicer and Drosha genes expression in endometrial cancer and to analyze the impact of clinicopathological characteristics on their expression. Fresh tissue samples were collected from 44 patients (26 endometroid endometrial carcinoma and 18 controls). Clinical and pathological data were acquired from medical documentation. Dicer and Drosha genes expressions were assessed by qRT-PCR using validated reference genes. Dicer and Drosha expression levels were significantly lower in endometrial cancer samples comparing to controls. Dicer was down-regulated by the factor of 1.54 (p = 0.009) and Drosha gene mean expression value was 1.4 times lower in endometrial cancer group versus control group (p = 0.008). Down-regulation of Dicer significantly correlated with decreased expression of Drosha (coefficient value 0.75). Decreased expression of Drosha correlated with higher histological grade and was influenced by BMI. Lower Dicer expression was found in nulli- and uniparous females comparing to multiparous individuals (p = 0.002). Neither the FIGO stage nor the menstrual status had significant influence on the expression of studied genes. This study revealed for the first time that expression alterations of main regulators of microRNAs biogenesis are present in endometrial cancer tissue and could be potentially responsible for altered microRNAs profiles observed in this malignancy

'Come on! He Has Never Cooked in His Life!' New Alternative Masculinities Putting Everything in Its Place

Communicative acts of some women are perpetuating the dominance that DTM (Dominant Traditional Masculinities) have over both women and OTM (Oppressed Traditional Masculinities). Some women use language in a disdainful manner to reprimand oppressed men's behavior in daily life situations, the same behavior that such women would not reproach to DTM. But NAM (New Alternative Masculinities) are reacting to this. This article analyzes the communicative acts employed in all these situations, both those produced by women and DTM, as well as NAM's communicative acts in response to those offenses. Data was collected using communicative daily life stories of give women and three men with diverse profiles and different levels of participation in women's and men's movements. Findings highlight, from the transformative dimension of the communicative methodology, that the use of language of desire in NAM's reactions is effective not only to make justice with men who have never executed violence on women, but also to undermine the attractiveness of both DTM's behavior and the comments of some women on such behavior. These findings complement previous research on preventive socialization of gender violence by broadening scientific knowledge on NAM's communicative acts that prevent and eradicate gender-based violence. Further research ought to broaden the evidence of how some women who defend feminist values sometimes do not support and even tease or reprimand men who practice these values; moreover, an important line could analyze the way people talk about men with NAM attitudes to hold back reprimands in comparison to how people talk about men who follow a DTM model

Dealing with Variability in Process-aware Information Systems: Language Requirements, Features, and Existing Proposals

The increasing adoption of Process-aware Information Systems (PAISs), together with the variability of Business Processes (BPs) across different application contexts, has resulted in large process model repositories with collections of related process model variants. To reduce both costs and occurrence of errors, the explicit management of variability throughout the BP lifecycle becomes crucial. In literature, several proposals dealing with BP variability have been proposed. However, the lack of a method for their systematic comparison makes it difficult to select the most appropriate one meeting current needs best. To close this gap, this work presents an evaluation framework that allows analyzing and comparing the variability support provided by existing proposals developed in the context of BP variability. The framework encompasses a set of language requirements as well as a set of variability support features. While language requirements allow assessing the expressiveness required to explicitly represent variability of different process perspectives, variability support features reflect the tool support required to properly cover such expressiveness. Our evaluation framework has been derived based on an in-depth analysis of several large real-world process scenarios, an extensive literature review, and an analysis of existing PAISs. In this vein, the framework helps to understand BP variability along the BP lifecycle. In addition, it supports PAISs engineers in deciding, which of the existing BP variability proposals meets best their needs

VIVACE: A Framework for the Systematic Evaluation of Variability Support in Process-Aware Information Systems

CONTEXT The increasing adoption of process-aware information systems (PAISs) such as workflow management systems, enterprise resource planning systems, or case management systems, together with the high variability in business processes (e.g., sales processes may vary depending on the respective products and countries), has resulted in large industrial process model repositories. To cope with this business process variability, the proper management of process variants along the entire process lifecycle becomes crucial. OBJECTIVE The goal of this paper is to develop a fundamental understanding of business process variability. In particular, the paper will provide a framework for assessing and comparing process variability approaches and the support they provide for the different phases of the business process lifecycle (i.e., process analysis and design, configuration, enactment, diagnosis, and evolution). METHOD We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) in order to discover how process variability is supported by existing approaches. RESULTS The SLR resulted in 63 primary studies which were deeply analyzed. Based on this analysis, we derived the VIVACE framework. VIVACE allows assessing the expressiveness of a process modeling language regarding the explicit specification of process variability. Furthermore, the support provided by a process-aware information system to properly deal with process model variants can be assessed with VIVACE as well. CONCLUSIONS VIVACE provides an empirically-grounded framework for process engineers that enables them to evaluate existing process variability approaches as well as to select that variability approach meeting their requirements best. Finally, it helps process engineers in implementing PAISs supporting process variability along the entire process lifecycle

Towards Run-time Flexibility for Process Families: Open Issues and Research Challenges

The increasing adoption of process-aware information systems and the high variability of business processes in practice have resulted in process model repositories with large collections of related process variants (i.e., process families). Existing approaches for variability management focus on the modeling and configuration of process variants. However, case studies have shown that run-time configuration and re-confifiguration as well as the evolution of process variants are essential as well. Effectively handling process variants in these lifecycle phases requires deferring certain configuration decisions to the run-time, dynamically re-configuring process variants in response to contextual changes, adapting process variants to emerging needs, and evolving process families over time. In this paper, we characterize these flexibility needs for process families, discuss fundamental challenges to be tackled, and provide an overview of existing proposals made in this context