Women’s participation in organisationally-assigned expatriation: an assignment type effect?

This article examines women’s participation in long-term, short-term, rotational and commuter organisationally-assigned expatriation. It explores the effects of assignment length, pattern and accompanied/unaccompanied status on career contribution and home/family life outcomes. This triangulated research draws upon e-mail correspondence with 71 current female expatriates to learn about assignment types undertaken and future assignment intentions; and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 26 of these assignees, and 14 Human Resource professionals in two case study oil and gas firms. This research is set within the theoretical frame of rational choice which suggests that couples engage co-operatively in their division of labour to maximise lifetime earnings, with women prioritising home and family over career prospects. The research finds that long-term assignments enable women to maximise or achieve high levels of both career and family outcomes. Alternative ‘flexpatriate’ assignments provide lower quality career potential and familial relationships, leading to career and/or family compromise/sacrifice. A model is presented to explain women’s assignment preferences in meeting career and family life objectives, extending rational choice theory into the expatriate context. Increasing use of flexpatriation may inhibit expatriate gender diversity

Investigating the association between obesity and asthma in 6- to 8-year-old Saudi children:a matched case-control study

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated an association between obesity and asthma, but there remains considerable uncertainty about whether this reflects an underlying causal relationship. Aims: To investigate the association between obesity and asthma in pre-pubertal children and to investigate the roles of airway obstruction and atopy as possible causal mechanisms. Methods: We conducted an age- and sex-matched case–control study of 1,264 6- to 8-year-old schoolchildren with and without asthma recruited from 37 randomly selected schools in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The body mass index (BMI), waist circumference and skin fold thickness of the 632 children with asthma were compared with those of the 632 control children without asthma. Associations between obesity and asthma, adjusted for other potential risk factors, were assessed separately in boys and girls using conditional logistic regression analysis. The possible mediating roles of atopy and airway obstruction were studied by investigating the impact of incorporating data on sensitisation to common aeroallergens and measurements of lung function. Results: BMI was associated with asthma in boys (odds ratio (OR)=1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08–1.20; adjusted OR=1.11, 95% CI, 1.03–1.19) and girls (OR=1.37, 95% CI, 1.26–1.50; adjusted OR=1.38, 95% CI, 1.23–1.56). Adjusting for forced expiratory volume in 1 s had a negligible impact on these associations, but these were attenuated following adjustment for allergic sensitisation, particularly in girls (girls: OR=1.25; 95% CI, 0.96–1.60; boys: OR=1.09, 95% CI, 0.99–1.19). Conclusions: BMI is associated with asthma in pre-pubertal Saudi boys and girls; this effect does not appear to be mediated through respiratory obstruction, but in girls this may at least partially be mediated through increased risk of allergic sensitisation

An econometric analysis of the demand surge effect

In case of a natural catastrophe there is an increased demand for skilled labor and materials which in turn leads to significant price increases that should be taken into account in the forecast of catastrophe losses. Such price effects are referred to as Demand Surge effects. The paper at hand presents an extensive econometric analysis and modeling of the Demand Surge effect. We find that Demand Surge is positively influenced by the total amount of repair work, by alternative catastrophes in the same region in close temporal proximity, and by a higher amount of insurance claims per event. Furthermore, the Demand Surge effect is more pronounced if the construction sector is in a growth stage. In contrast, a higher capacity of the construction sector has a restraining effect on Demand Surge. In addition, if we restrict the data to very severe catastrophes, we observe a saturation effect according to which a wage increase for building services before a catastrophe reduces the Demand Surge effect

Care in the time of catastrophe: citizenship, community and the ecological imagination

Published without an abstract

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer-response evaluation and prediction of response to treatment using dynamic contrast-enhanced and diffusion-weighted MR imaging

Objective To explore the predictive value of MRI parameters and tumour characteristics before neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and to compare changes in tumour size and tumour apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) during treatment, between patients who achieved pathological complete response (pCR) and those who did not. Methods Approval by the Regional Ethics Committee and written informed consent were obtained. Thirty-one patients with invasive breast carcinoma scheduled for NAC were enrolled (mean age, 50.7; range, 37–72). Study design included MRI before treatment (Tp0), after four cycles of NAC (Tp1) and before surgery (Tp2). Data in pCR versus non-pCR groups were compared and cut-off values for pCR prediction were evaluated. Results Before NAC, HER2 overexpression was the single significant predictor of pCR (p=0.006). At Tp1 ADC, tumour size and changes in tumour size were all significantly different in the pCR and non-pCR groups. Using 1.42×10−3 mm2/s as the cut-off value for ADC, pCR was predicted with sensitivity and specificity of 88% and 80%, respectively. Using a cut-off value of 83% for tumour volume reduction, sensitivity and specificity for pCR were 91% and 80%. Conclusion ADC, tumour size and tumour size reduction at Tp1 were strong independent predictors of pCR

Reliability and validity of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire (ITQOL) in a general population and respiratory disease sample

Objective: To evaluate feasibility, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire (ITQOL) for parents of pre-school children with 12 scales (103-items) covering physical and psychosocial domains and impact of child health on parents, in comparison with the TNO-AZL Pre-school Children Quality of Life Questionnaire (TAPQOL). Methods: Parents of children from a random general population sample (2 months-4 years old; n = 500) and of an outpatient clinic sample of children with respiratory disease (5 months-51/2 years old; n = 217) were mailed ITQOL and TAPQOL questionnaires; a retest was sent after two weeks. Results: Feasibility: The response was ≥80% with few missing and non-unique ITQOL-answers (25% at maximum score). Internal consistency: All Cronbach's α >0.70. Test-retest Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were moderate or adequate (≥0.50; p < 0.01) for 10 ITQOL-scales. Validity: ITQOL-scales, with a few exceptions, correlated better with predefined parallel TAPQOL scales than with non-parallel scales. Five to eight ITQOL-scales discriminated clearly between children with few and with many parent-reported chronic conditions, between children with and without doctor-diagnosed respiratory disease and with a low and a high parent-reported medical consumption (p < 0.05). Conclusions: This study supported the evidence that the ITQOL is a feasible instrument with adequate psychometric properties. The study provided reference ITQOL scores for gender/age subgroups. We recommend repeated evaluations of the ITQOL in varied populations, especially among very young children, including repeated assessments of test-retest characteristics and evaluations of responsiveness to change. We recommend developing and evaluating a shortened ITQOL version

Women, wellbeing and Wildlife Management Areas in Tanzania

Community-based wildlife management claims pro-poor, gender-sensitive outcomes. However, intersectional political ecology predicts adverse impacts on marginalised people. Our large-scale quantitative approach draws out common patterns and differentiated ways women are affected by Tanzania’s Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs). This first large-scale, rigorous evaluation studies WMA impacts on livelihoods and wellbeing of 937 married women in 42 villages across six WMAs and matched controls in Northern and Southern Tanzania. While WMAs bring community infrastructure benefits, most women have limited political participation, and experience resource use restrictions and fear of wildlife attacks. Wealth and region are important determinants, with the poorest worst impacted