Changes

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. Spring\u27 s arrival. Birdsongs wake me at sunrise. Dusk creeps in a bit later each day. Newness surrounds me. The freshness of life is a sharp contrast to your painful absence from my world. The summer is not far from reach, but you are. Bitterly, I wonder why I can\u27t see you once more, why I can\u27t go back..

The Quintessential College Student

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay\u27s first paragraph. It is a beautiful autumn day. Colored leaves are falling as a young woman crosses the residential quad on her campus. She\u27s a first semester freshman and is on her way to the mailroom, praying to Heaven that there is a letter waiting for her. She hasn\u27t received any mail at all yet

Policymaking and Paid Family Leave: Revitalizing the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to all public agencies, public schools, private elementary schools, and companies with 50 or more employees. It is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons. Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. However, the FMLA has proven to be ineffective in meeting the needs of employees. This study examined 2012 U.S. Department of Labor FMLA surveys published by Abt Associates. The public-use file was examined to determine employee eligibility, employee awareness of the program, and leave-taking patterns. Following, this paper discussed the theoretical framework of public-policy intersectionality, social movement theory, and political mediation to discuss best practices in passing enhanced FMLA legislation. The study found that an ideal combination of political conditions, Democratic Party control of both houses, and advocacy paired with unions would further policy adoption of an updated FMLA policy

Cross-Cultural Communication Workshops

Immigration trends in BC and Canada have resulted in a dramatic shift in demographics, and reports indicate that this trend will continue. An important component of library services to multicultural communities is effective communication with customers from diverse backgrounds and languages. To address this communication challenge, BCLA's Diversity and Multicultural Services Committee has designed a cross-cultural communication workshop to help library staff build on exisiting skills and learn new strategies when serving New Canadians

The Impacts of Researcher Attire on Participant Performance in Psychological Experiments

While authority has been extensively studied by psychological researchers, there is a clear gap in the literature examining how authority works within research itself. Specifically, the current study examines how the attire of researchers affects participants’ obedience to their directives and participant perceptions of the researcher. The final sample of participants in the current study included 49 people, ages 17-54 years. Participants were shown a video of a researcher explaining the current study, with the researcher wearing either casual clothing, formal wear, or a white lab coat uniform. The researcher asked participants to give maximum effort on a series of tracing tasks that followed. The final tracing task was impossible, and the amount of time participants persevered on the task was operationalized as a proxy for obedience. Participants were then asked to rate the researcher on several measures, including scales for competence and warmth. The only significant finding in the current study was a correlation between competence and warmth ratings. Strengths and weaknesses of the current study are discussed, including the researchers’ concerns with the use of perseverance as a proxy for obedience, with some of the other stimuli in the study, and with online research in general. Avenues for future research into authority in psychological research is also discussed

Impact is crippling higher education. But it is still part of the solution

Now a fixture of the higher education landscape, the "impact agenda" is partly fuelled by a cost-benefit framework that encourages universities to focus on demonstrating the economic value of their interventions. As a consequence, a clear pattern emerges with the government as the main beneficiary of impact, not wider society. Tina Basi and Mona Sloane argue that REF 2021 offers the opportunity to frame a discussion on the purpose of universities that is less focused on economics and more focused on people and public engagement, returning closer to the Humboldtian model of higher education

Performance Modelling for Mobile Cellular Network Using Queueing System

Mobile networking technology has been in existence for more than twenty years, but only in the past decade has it become commercially popular. With computers however increasingly portable and networks more accessible, users are coming demanding to the same network services from mobile network as they have been accustomed to obtaining from stationary wireline networks. Mobile communication can be defined as any communications network in which at least one of the constituent entities (users, switches, or a combination of both) change location, relative one to another. One of the most important problems in the design of a cellular system is deciding on the optimal configuration of it. The designers must evaluate the possible con figurations of the system components and their characteristics in order to develop a system with greater efficiency. The parameters useful to measure different parts performance of the system are: voice quality, frequency spectrum efficiency and grade of service (GOS). The grade of service (GOS) gives a form to measure a system's performance, and with it the proportion of non-served calls can be known. GOS in cellular systems is effected not only by the systems traffic but also by cochannel interference (outage). In this thesis, the analytical study of the grade of service (GOS) degradation in presence of outage for the mobile communication with queueing system is wanted. Two analytical models are proposed, the first model is with fixed outage rate, while the second model is the traffic dependent outage, where the outage is often dependent on the number of channels in use. Thus, the number of channels in outage can be considered as an indicator of the traffic load variations in the system. The performance parameters considered for the study from the above models are queue length, waiting time and probability of delay. The analytical results can show the benefit for considering the queueing in the cellular network, and can be used by designers in choosing appropriate design parameters to meet requirements

Evaluating a new objective grading software for conjunctival hyperaemia

Background/ Aims: Standardised numeric grading scales are used in ophthalmic practice to improve consistency between clinicians in recording the severity of ocular conditions and to facilitate the monitoring of such changes. We investigated the intra- and inter-observer grading reliability and the agreement between subjective Cornea and Contact Lens Research Unit (CCLRU) and Efron grading scales as well as a new Advanced Ophthalmic Systems (AOS) software which uses an objective approach to grading conjunctival hyperaemia. Methods: One experienced observer graded n = 30 bulbar and n = 26 palpebral conjunctival hyperaemia images to 0.1 increments. Masked grading of randomised images was undertaken for all three methods, on two separate occasions. The agreement within and between the grading methods was assessed between sessions, and compared to the results of a novice observer. Results: There were no statistically significant differences (P > 0.05) between test and retest values. However, repeatability in the grading estimates of both bulbar and palpebral conjunctival hyperaemia was improved using the AOS grading method (R2 = 0.998; Coefficient of Repeatability CoR 0.10–0.13), compared to Efron (R2 = 0.926; CoR 0.62) and CCLRU (R2 = 0.885–0.911; CoR 0.50–0.78). Intraclass coefficient correlations (ICC) improved inter-observer agreement using objective (> 0.995) versus subjective methods (0.853–0.959). Conclusion: These subjective and objective grading methods are not interchangeable. Due to the excellent repeatability and improved agreement between experienced and novice observers, the objective grading method provides a more consistent approach when grading ocular abnormalities and may achieve greater reliability in record keeping and clinical monitoring in the future

Grim on Complete Multipartite Graphs

Grim is a deletion game played on the vertices of a graph. In this paper we will examine strategies for when Grim is played on complete multipartite graphs

CsF–Al<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> mediated rapid condensation of phenols with aryl halides: comparative study of conventional heating vs. microwave irradiation

Biaryl ethers and thio ethers are formed in high yields by the condensation of phenols and thiophenols with electron-deficient aryl halides using CsF supported on Al2O3 under microwave irradiation in solvent-free conditions