The Right to Mission in Human Rights Law, “Mission to Amish People” and “Jews for Jesus”

This paper examines the position of international human rights law towards missionary or proselytizing activities with a special focus on the American context. By evaluating UN legal acts such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1960 Arcot Krishnaswami Study and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief and the American Convention of Human Rights, it investigates the extent to which such activities fall within the scope of the right to free speech and to freedom of religion for religious organizations (corporate freedom of religion). This is exemplified by looking at two Evangelical religious organizations founded for the purpose of luring away groups of believers from their original religious communities: “Mission to Amish People”, targeting the Amish People, and “Jews for Jesus”, aimed at the Jewish community. The clash of one religious community which considers mission a fundamental element of its religion (as many Evangelical churches do) with a religious community who is highly skeptical about mission (such as the Amish or Jews) constitute the extreme test case of the right to free speech and to corporate freedom of religion. Given the highly various importance which mission can play in different religions, the article suggests to solve each case individually by carefully examining the content of each religious doctrine

Secure Food in the Field : A Study on Food Safety at Norrbotten Air Force Wing

EU-förordning 178/2002 beskriver att livsmedel inte får släppas ut på marknaden om de inte är säkra för konsumenten. I Försvarsmakten är det delar av den egna personalen som har ansvaret att leverera mat till soldater i fält, vilket kräver noggrann hantering och förberedelse för att säkerställa hög livsmedelssäkerhet. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka och kartlägga eventuella problemområden inom livsmedelssäkerhet när förplägnadstroppen vid Norrbottens flygflottilj levererar mat i en fältmiljö. Av tidsbegränsande skäl gjordes avgränsningar till att fokusera på områden rörande personlig hygien, kontaminering samt utbildning och kunskap. Metoden som nyttjades för datainsamling var en semistrukturerad intervju med kockar som arbetar vid flottiljen, där materialet sedan transkriberades och analyserades tematiskt utifrån den matrisbaserade Framework-metoden. Resultatet visade att det främst finns brister i utbildning och kunskap hos förbandet i stort snarare än hos kockarna. Förplägnadstroppen har en grundförståelse för livsmedelssäkerhet, även om kunskapen är fragmentarisk och ger uppfattningen att utbildningen är mer praktisk än teoretisk. Däremot framkom det att övriga delar av förbandet har tydliga brister när det gäller grundläggande kunskap om livsmedelssäkerhet och hygien. Det framkom även att förplägnadstroppen upplever att andra delar av förbandet inte delar troppens syn på vikten av en god livsmedelssäkerhet. Vidare framkom i resultatet att förplägnadstroppen har goda förutsättningar för personlig hygien och har etablerat goda arbetsmetoder och rutiner för att minska risken för kontaminering vid fältgrupperingar. Trots detta finns det utmaningar med yttre kontaminering och korskontaminering, särskilt när utomstående personal hjälper till med exempelvis diskning utan adekvat utbildning. I diskussionen föreslås åtgärder för att stärka livsmedelssäkerhetskulturen på Norrbottens flygflottilj, dels genom att utbilda all personal i grunderna kring livsmedelshygien. Att utse en förplägnadsansvarig med mandat att driva frågan för och utbilda inom livsmedelssäkerhet föreslås som en annan åtgärd. Det föreslås även att bredda denna studie genom att inkludera fler perspektiv, exempelvis genom att intervjua fler personer inom förbandet men även undersöka fler förband för att kunna dra bredare slutsatser kring livsmedelssäkerhet inom Försvarsmakten.In the European Regulation 178/2002, it is stated that food should not be placed on the market if it is not safe for consumers. In the Swedish Armed Forces, parts of the own personnel are responsible for delivering food to soldiers in the field, which requires appropriate handling and preparation to ensure high food safety. This study aimes to investigate and identify potential areas of concern regarding food safety when the cooks at Norrbotten Air Force Wing deliver food in a field environment. Due to time constraints, the focus was narrowed down to areas related to personal hygiene, contamination, and education and knowledge. The data collection method employed was semi-structured interviews with the cooks working at the wing, followed by transcription and thematic analysis using the Framework method. The results indicated that the main deficiencies lie in the education and knowledge of the overall unit rather than the cooks themselves. The cooks have a basic understanding of food safety, although the knowledge is fragmented, suggesting that the training is more practical than theoretical. However, it was evident that other parts of the unit have poor knowledge of food safety and hygiene. It was also revealed that the cooks perceive a lack of understanding among other parts of the unit regarding the importance of good food safety practices. Furthermore, the results showed that the cooks have favorable conditions for personal hygiene and have established good working methods and routines to minimize the risk of contamination during field operations. However, challenges remain in terms of external contamination and cross-contamination, particularly when external personnel assist with tasks such as dishwashing without adequate training. The discussion suggests measures to strengthen the food safety culture at Norrbotten Air Force Wing, including providing basic training in food hygiene to all personnel. The appointment of a designated person responsible for sustenance services, with the authority to act for and provide education on food safety, is also proposed. Additionally, it is recommended to broaden this study by including more perspectives, such as interviewing additional personnel within the unit and investigating other units within the Swedish Armed Forces, enabling broader conclusions regarding food safety practices

THE AESTHETICS AND FORM OF JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON’S HYBRID UNDERSCORE FOR ‘THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING’

The project focuses on the challenges faced by the composer of The Theory of Everything , Jóhann Jóhannsson, in creating a timeless underscore for a movie that depicts a time period covering three decades.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-scoring/1048/thumbnail.jp

Post-Traumatic Growth in Cancer Survivors: Narrative Markers and Functions of The Experience\u27s Transformation

The concept that a traumatic experience, such as a cancer, can lead to a positive change and transformation of self, life and relationships was named as post-traumatic growth (PTG). A large amount of research measured PTG in cancer survivors arguing an interpretation of the construct as an outcome. Recently, qualitative research shows different types of narrative of PTG, but the narrative markers and their functions of transformation remain still unclear. Within a mixed-method, we aim to highlight the narrative markers and their transformative functions, underlying the PTG, within 12 cancer survivors’ narratives with medium/high and medium/low level of PTG. A redemptive sequence analysis was carried out. In the narratives with high/medium PTG we find a specific transformative function on-thinking focused transformation founded on the change/expansion of the own internal criteria to interpret the relationship with the world centralizing the self in the present and future; in the narratives with medium/low PTG we find an on-acting focused transformation, founded on the change of the operational procedures aimed to live centered on the present and on its moments

Planck/SDSS Cluster Mass and Gas Scaling Relations for a Volume-Complete redMaPPer Sample

Using Planck satellite data, we construct SZ gas pressure profiles for a large, volume-complete sample of optically selected clusters. We have defined a sample of over 8,000 redMaPPer clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), within the volume-complete redshift region 0.100 < z < 0.325, for which we construct Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect maps by stacking Planck data over the full range of richness. Dividing the sample into richness bins we simultaneously solve for the mean cluster mass in each bin together with the corresponding radial pressure profile parameters, employing an MCMC analysis. These profiles are well detected over a much wider range of cluster mass and radius than previous work, showing a clear trend towards larger break radius with increasing cluster mass. Our SZ-based masses fall ~24% below the mass-richness relations from weak lensing, in a similar fashion as the "hydrostatic bias" related with X-ray derived masses. We correct for this bias to derive an optimal mass-richness relation finding a slope 1.22 +/- 0.04 and a pivot mass log(M_500/M_0)= 14.432 +/- 0.041, evaluated at a richness lambda=60. Finally, we derive a tight Y_500-M_500 relation over a wide range of cluster mass, with a power law slope equal to 1.72 +/- 0.07, that agrees well with the independent slope obtained by the Planck team with an SZ-selected cluster sample, but extends to lower masses with higher precision.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Planck/SDSS Cluster Mass and Gas Scaling Relations for a Volume-Complete redMaPPer Sample

Using Planck satellite data, we construct SZ gas pressure profiles for a large, volume-complete sample of optically selected clusters. We have defined a sample of over 8,000 redMaPPer clusters from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), within the volume-complete redshift region 0.100 < z < 0.325, for which we construct Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect maps by stacking Planck data over the full range of richness. Dividing the sample into richness bins we simultaneously solve for the mean cluster mass in each bin together with the corresponding radial pressure profile parameters, employing an MCMC analysis. These profiles are well detected over a much wider range of cluster mass and radius than previous work, showing a clear trend towards larger break radius with increasing cluster mass. Our SZ-based masses fall ~24% below the mass-richness relations from weak lensing, in a similar fashion as the "hydrostatic bias" related with X-ray derived masses. We correct for this bias to derive an optimal mass-richness relation finding a slope 1.22 +/- 0.04 and a pivot mass log(M_500/M_0)= 14.432 +/- 0.041, evaluated at a richness lambda=60. Finally, we derive a tight Y_500-M_500 relation over a wide range of cluster mass, with a power law slope equal to 1.72 +/- 0.07, that agrees well with the independent slope obtained by the Planck team with an SZ-selected cluster sample, but extends to lower masses with higher precision.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Exploring Returnee Migrant Women, COVID-19 and Sustainability in Spain

The COVID-19 pandemic has signified an historical change in human mobility. By transforming the patterns of people on the move, it has highlighted gender-based inequalities and women’s vulnerabilities. The link between COVID-19 and return migration shapes returnees’ readaptation process in their home countries, as returnees are embedded in a limbo between the pandemic’s pressure on the policy and socio-economic setting, on one hand, and their efforts for reintegration, on the other. Due to the pandemic, the gender-based imbalance has increased existing gender gaps both in migration and return, exacerbating women’s vulnerability. Thus, personal aspirations and professional expectations of highly educated women are caught in a system of socio-economic and geographical (im)mobility, which represents the principal outcome in their relocation and readaptation process. Based on a qualitative methodology through the analysis of ten life histories of highly educated returnee migrant women, this paper sheds light on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their migratory trajectories, providing a typology of them. Findings stress the necessity for more sustainable measures and resources for life–work balance and gender-sensitive policies, to promote a better integration process into the local labour market; to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on returnee women, and to prevent the proliferation of mental health problems among returnee women

The Multifaceted Activity of the VirF Regulatory Protein in the Shigella Lifestyle

Shigella is a highly adapted human pathogen, mainly found in the developing world and causing a severe enteric syndrome. The highly sophisticated infectious strategy of Shigella banks on the capacity to invade the intestinal epithelial barrier and cause its inflammatory destruction. The cellular pathogenesis and clinical presentation of shigellosis are the sum of the complex action of a large number of bacterial virulence factors mainly located on a large virulence plasmid (pINV). The expression of pINV genes is controlled by multiple environmental stimuli through a regulatory cascade involving proteins and sRNAs encoded by both the pINV and the chromosome. The primary regulator of the virulence phenotype is VirF, a DNA-binding protein belonging to the AraC family of transcriptional regulators. The virF gene, located on the pINV, is expressed only within the host, mainly in response to the temperature transition occurring when the bacterium transits from the outer environment to the intestinal milieu. VirF then acts as anti-H-NS protein and directly activates the icsA and virB genes, triggering the full expression of the invasion program of Shigella. In this review we will focus on the structure of VirF, on its sophisticated regulation, and on its role as major player in the path leading from the non-invasive to the invasive phenotype of Shigella. We will address also the involvement of VirF in mechanisms aimed at withstanding adverse conditions inside the host, indicating that this protein is emerging as a global regulator whose action is not limited to virulence systems. Finally, we will discuss recent observations conferring VirF the potential of a novel antibacterial target for shigellosis