Concession Bargaining: Legal and Practical Considerations in Light of Recent NLRB and Court Decisions

The significant increase in employer proposals for concessions at the collective bargaining table has resulted in controversial decisions re-defining some of the bargaining rights and obligations of both management and unions. The author discusses the legal and practical differences between concession bargaining during the term of a collective bargaining agreement and at contract termination, examines the financial disclosure requirement which frequently arises, and analyzes the recent NLRB and court decisions which have a significant impact on this area of the law

Employment Discrimination—the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Deferral Quagmire

The deferral requirements of the equal employment provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were intended to insure state participation in the enforcement of the Act and to lighten the caseload of the E.E.O.C. Their implementation, however, has raised numerous problems that have diminished the effectiveness of the Act. The author traces the history and purpose of these deferral requirements, discusses the problems they have created and suggests some possible solutions

Concession Bargaining: Legal and Practical Considerations in Light of Recent NLRB and Court Decisions

The significant increase in employer proposals for concessions at the collective bargaining table has resulted in controversial decisions re-defining some of the bargaining rights and obligations of both management and unions. The author discusses the legal and practical differences between concession bargaining during the term of a collective bargaining agreement and at contract termination, examines the financial disclosure requirement which frequently arises, and analyzes the recent NLRB and court decisions which have a significant impact on this area of the law

Employment Discrimination—the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Deferral Quagmire

The deferral requirements of the equal employment provisions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were intended to insure state participation in the enforcement of the Act and to lighten the caseload of the E.E.O.C. Their implementation, however, has raised numerous problems that have diminished the effectiveness of the Act. The author traces the history and purpose of these deferral requirements, discusses the problems they have created and suggests some possible solutions

Sigmoid Neural Transfer Function Realised by Percolation

An experiment using the phenomenon of percolation has been conducted to demonstrate the implementation of neural functionality (summing and sigmoid transfer). A simple analog approximation to digital percolation is implemented. The device consists of a piece of amorphous silicon with stochastic bit-stream optical inputs, in which a current percolating from one end to the other defines the neuron output, also in the form of a stochastic bit stream. Preliminary experimental results are presented

Understanding The Use Of Social Technologies During A Life Transition: Men's Experience with Fertility Problems

Transition to parenthood is a common experience but one that can be particularly challenging for people who have difficulty in conceiving. Men are reportedly likely to feel isolated and stigmatised when they experience fertility problems and are more likely to turn to sources of social technology for support than approach healthcare services. We share our findings from two studies with data from two different sources; online forum comments and semi-structured qualitative interviews to explore how and why men use technology when they experience fertility problems. We report our findings in relation to the proposed workshop themes

General practitioners' knowledge, attitudes and views of providing preconception care: a qualitative investigation

Background: Preconception health and care aims to reduce parental risk factors before pregnancy through health promotion and intervention. Little is known about the preconception interventions that general practitioners (GPs) provide. The aim of this study was to examine GPs’ knowledge, attitudes, and views towards preconception health and care in the general practice setting. Methods: As part of a large mixed-methods study to explore preconception care in England, we surveyed 1,173 women attending maternity units and GP services in London and interviewed women and health professionals. Seven GPs were interviewed, and the framework analysis method was used to analyse the data. Findings: Seven themes emerged from the data: Knowledge of preconception guidelines; Content of preconception advice; Who should deliver preconception care?; Targeting provision of preconception care; Preconception health for men; Barriers to providing preconception care; and Ways of improving preconception care. A lack of knowledge and demand for preconception care was found, and although reaching women before they are pregnant was seen as important it was not a responsibility that could be adequately met by GPs. Specialist preconception services were not provided within GP surgeries, and care was mainly targeted at women with medical conditions. GPs described diverse patient groups with very different health needs. Conclusion: Implementation of preconception policy and guidelines is required to engage women and men and to develop proactive delivery of care with the potential to improve pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. The role of education and of nurses in improving preconception health was acknowledged but remains under-developed

"I feel like only half a man"

Infertility can place a significant burden on couples and individuals when trying to conceive. Approximately 20-30% of all cases of infertility are due to male-related factors. Whatever the cause of difficulty in conceiving, little is known about how men find support when dealing with fertility issues, or when or how online resources are being used. This paper reports on a qualitative study of anonymous online posts (N = 603) from forums related to fertility that are used by men. We analysed this data using thematic analysis to understand how men are using online forums as a resource when experiencing fertility issues. We found that online forums play a valued role in facilitating connections between men experiencing an often stigmatised condition. These forums offer men accessible and private spaces which allow for more open discussion, helping them to make sense of their situation. We discuss our findings in relation to Genuis and Bronstein’s model of finding a "new normal" and present our elaborated model of finding a "new normal" in the context of experiencing fertility problems

Biomarker Discovery by Sparse Canonical Correlation Analysis of Complex Clinical Phenotypes of Tuberculosis and Malaria

Biomarker discovery aims to find small subsets of relevant variables in ‘omics data that correlate with the clinical syndromes of interest. Despite the fact that clinical phenotypes are usually characterized by a complex set of clinical parameters, current computational approaches assume univariate targets, e.g. diagnostic classes, against which associations are sought for. We propose an approach based on asymmetrical sparse canonical correlation analysis (SCCA) that finds multivariate correlations between the ‘omics measurements and the complex clinical phenotypes. We correlated plasma proteomics data to multivariate overlapping complex clinical phenotypes from tuberculosis and malaria datasets. We discovered relevant ‘omic biomarkers that have a high correlation to profiles of clinical measurements and are remarkably sparse, containing 1.5–3% of all ‘omic variables. We show that using clinical view projections we obtain remarkable improvements in diagnostic class prediction, up to 11% in tuberculosis and up to 5% in malaria. Our approach finds proteomic-biomarkers that correlate with complex combinations of clinical-biomarkers. Using the clinical-biomarkers improves the accuracy of diagnostic class prediction while not requiring the measurement plasma proteomic profiles of each subject. Our approach makes it feasible to use omics' data to build accurate diagnostic algorithms that can be deployed to community health centres lacking the expensive ‘omics measurement capabilities