Healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia (KSA) perceive stress differently according to gender but not in cortisol levels - an immunoassay study

Background: Working in the healthcare sector is generally regarded as stress inductive, which hampers performance, yet one demanding constant accuracy. This dichotomy has led to numerous investigations on the impact from perceived stress on hospital workers but focused primarily on employing psychological methods to determine perceived stress. This study sought to employ an arguably more objective measure of chronic stress on female healthcare professionals in Saudi Arabia, by assaying the concentration of hair cortisol (HCC) in parallel with stress questionnaires. Methods: Pharmacists, nurses and lab workers participated in providing hair samples. Cortisol levels were subsequently quantified using immunoassay methods. Investigations considered the variables of age, gender, and smoking, hair coloring or bleaching or working in shifts on both stress perception and HCC. Results: On average chronic stress was perceived comparably between the different healthcare professions and not differ significantly against the female control group. However, chronic stress differed significantly between genders within the healthcare profession. In contrast, HCC levels showed no direct relation to stress perception with respect to either gender or profession. HCC did, however, show steady decreases with respect to age, as an indirect measure of experience, that contrasted against the identical scores for stress perception. Finally, night shifts, smoking or hair colouring did not produce a significant change on HCC in the healthcare cohorts. Conclusions: Women in the healthcare profession perceive stress higher irrespective of profession compared to men. Also show a pattern of decreasing levels of cortisol with increasing age despite reporting similar stress perception against younger participants

Phase Separation Driven by External Fluctuations

The influence of external fluctuations in phase separation processes is analysed. These fluctuations arise from random variations of an external control parameter. A linear stability analysis of the homogeneous state shows that phase separation dynamics can be induced by external noise. The spatial structure of the noise is found to have a relevant role in this phenomenon. Numerical simulations confirm these results. A comparison with order-disorder noise induced phase transitions is also made.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Postscript figures included in text. LaTeX (with Revtex macros

Kamil Kubik: The Artist and Copyright Observed

For over 60 years—from the time he fled his native Czechoslovakia in 1948 until his death in August 2011—Kamil Kubik created amazing oil paintings and pastels. His art graces the walls of The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, the Old Ebbett Grill in Washington, DC, and the homes of Presidents, Governors, and celebrities. Many of his works were also printed as lithographs and serigraphs, and sold at more affordable prices than the four-to-five figures that he received for the originals. Fortunately, he was not dependent on the sale of these prints, as most of the original works were unprotected by copyright, and many of the prints were unauthorized reproductions. Copyright law is the key protection for the artistic and economic interests of an author. For a working artist, copyright law can be a vital tool in defending his personal property interests. As such, the result of the particular copyright law in effect at a specific point in time is dramatic and binary—a work is either under copyright or in the public domain; there is no middle ground. This essay examines the parallel relationship between Kamil’s biography and the copyright law that affected his works. What role did copyright law play, and how did his relationship with copyright provide insight into our own relationships with copyright law? Kamil’s life, as seen through the lens of copyright presents an opportunity to observe how the law interacted with an artist during the mid-20th through early 21st century. He produced artwork that spanned several distinct eras of United States copyright law, and his works created abroad add an additional dimension to their legal quagmire. The laws of copyright dramatically changed in the United States alone at least three times during Kamil’s lifetime. The complexity of the interaction between copyright law and Kamil’s work is not unique. Though this article chronicles his travels, his art, and how his copyright rights changed through time and space, it could be the story of many visual artists. The essay is important for 20th century visual artists themselves and their estates, and may provide valuable insight to museums and others interested in digitizing artists’ works. By focusing on Kamil’s journey, we hope to illuminate the intricacies, peculiarities, and sorrows that make up the copyright story of 20th century artists

Arts in the Small Community: Essays and Supplements Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan

The Arts in the Small Community: Essays and Supplements Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Arts in the Small Community: A National Plan. Eight essays and fourteen supplements from the original project provide the intellectual framework and the practical exploration of empowering arts in democratic America. The 1966 version is the original National Plan, while the 2006 version includes the stirring language of the original, but recognizes all of the dramatic progress in community arts development that took place between 1966 and 2006. It was intended to be a do-it-yourself manual to help local arts activists focus their work.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/msl_ae_ebooks/1002/thumbnail.jp

Billy Elliot The Musical: visual representations of working-class masculinity and the all-singing, all-dancing bo[d]y

According to Cynthia Weber, ‘[d]ance is commonly thought of as liberating, transformative, empowering, transgressive, and even as dangerous’. Yet ballet as a masculine activity still remains a suspect phenomenon. This paper will challenge this claim in relation to Billy Elliot the Musical and its critical reception. The transformation of the visual representation of the human body on stage (from an ephemeral existence to a timeless work of art) will be discussed and analysed vis-a-vis the text and sub-texts of Stephen Daldry’s direction and Peter Darling’s choreography. The dynamics of working-class masculinity will be contextualised within the framework of the family, the older female, the community, the self and the act of dancing itself

Corporate Venture Management in SMEs : evidence from the German IT consulting industry

Nowadays, there is a continuous need for many corporations to renew their business portfolio strategically in anticipation of changes in the business environment (e.g., technological change). The ongoing booming of founding international start-ups suggests that small entrepreneurial teams are an effective means to develop new businesses. Corporations should be able to benefit from this form of self-organized innovation when entering novel business domains for strategic renewal. However, corporations that establish small entrepreneurial teams (corporate ventures) are facing two obstacles. First, corporate ventures often fail for reasons that are not well explored. Second, it remains unclear how the partial successes may be improved to large successes. Although the key success factors remain ambiguous, there is little hope that corporate ventures will be successful without effective management. Since an empirical model for corporate venture management does not exists so far, the thesis formulates and answers the following problem statement: How can corporate management effectively manage corporate ventures? Building on qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, a model for effective corporate venture management is developed and tested statistically in the German IT consulting industry. The research results reveal some of the essential management principles through which corporate management can increase corporate venture success systematically.Algorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog

Pressure-induced insulating state in an organic superconductor

The electronic-transport properties of the quasi-two-dimensional organic superconductor β″–(BEDT-TTF)₂SF₅CH₂CF₂SO₃, where BEDT-TTF stands for bisethylenedithio-tetrathiafulvalene, have been investigated in magnetic fields up to 15 T and under hydrostatic pressure up to about 14 kbars. Shubnikov–de Haas data reveal a nonmonotonic pressure dependence of the holelike Fermi surface, a roughly linear increase of the electron g factor, and an approximately linear decrease of the cyclotron effective mass. By assuming that the latter reflects the pressure-induced reduction of the superconducting coupling parameter λ the rapid reduction of the superconducting transition temperature Tc(p) can be reasonably well described by the modified McMillan equation. Above about 12 kbars the material becomes insulating with an activated resistive behavior. This first-order metal-insulator transition has a hysteresis of about 3 kbars. This unexpected behavior is assumed to be of structural origin, although clear changes of electronic band-structure properties precede the phase transition