California Restaurant Workers Seeking Justice at the Workplace

According to a finding by the Economic Policy Institute, about $2 billion in wages are stolen from workers in California every year. A report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) found that over 1 in 10 workers in California are paid less than the state minimum wage. To an individual worker, the stolen wages can equal more than two months’ rent, three months of childcare, and nearly a year’s worth of groceries for themselves and their family. These workers are oftentimes people of color, women, and immigrants in the restaurant industry

California’s 2023 Legislative Cycle: Governor Newsom Provides Victories and Losses for the Labor Movement

During the 2023 legislative cycle, the California Legislature sent more than 900 bills to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk for his review. Of the 900 bills, thirteen bills were sponsored by the California Labor Federation (CLF) in support of major labor initiatives. The CLF is a coalition of 1,200 unions dedicated to protecting workers. The CLF indicated that this past legislative year was a “fantastic year for organized labor in the [California] State Legislature,” specifically, thirteen of its sponsored bills passed the California Legislature and arrived at the Governor’s desk for his review. Below is a preview of two workers’ rights bills signed into law (SB 616 and SB 497) and two workers’ rights bills vetoed by Governor Newsom (SB 799 and AB 1356)

Cross-Cultural Issues in Psychotherapy: An Ethical Perspective

According to the US Census Bureau, minorities will become the majority of the population in the next fifty years. It is, therefore, imperative that psychology is able to serve this quickly changing population. In order for the field of psychology to stay up to date, it must train professionals who are competent to work with these diverse populations. This paper examines the issues that psychologists face in their cross-cultural interactions in therapy, supervision, and education as a result of micro aggressions. It also looks into how therapists can become multiculturally competent through training, research, and exposure to diverse population

Influence of Trait Mindfulness on COVID-19 Anxiety in College Students

Among the battery of physical symptoms and signs that COVID-19 imposes, the pandemic has also sparked an increase in anxiety across the globe. The emotional responses that this death reminder has triggered can be understood through terror management theory (TMT). TMT postulates that anxiety of death drives much of human behavior. Combined with the additional stressors that college students experience, this mortality reminder has the potential to affect students’ mental health considerably. Mindfulness-based therapies have shown significant promise in treating physical and psychological symptoms in multiple studies. Studies also consistently suggest that mindfulness, either as trait or practice, may be inversely related to anxiety through emotion regulation. These studies suggest that trait mindfulness offers a therapeutic benefit towards handling existential anxiety. This investigation explores the influence of trait mindfulness on anxiety caused by COVID-19 among college students. Over the past 30 years, TMT research has repeatedly used a mortality salience (MS) induction in which participants describe what they think would happen to them as they die and after they are dead, including any emotions aroused by the thought of their own death. There is no potential risk to the participants; in the more than 300 published studies that have used MS manipulation, significant deleterious effects for participants have not been found. In this study, participants are asked to “Briefly describe the emotions that the thought of [your own death due to COVID-19 (i.e., MS condition)/watching TV (i.e., control condition)] arouses in you� and to “Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you physically as you [die due to COVID-19 (i.e., MS)/watch TV (i.e., control)] and once you [are physically dead due to COVID-19 (i.e., MS)/have watched TV (i.e., control)]." Participants then complete the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, followed by a delay task, which consists of the Positive and Negative Affective Schedule. Participants will then complete the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). We predict that participants with higher levels of trait mindfulness will report lower scores on CAS as a result of mortality salience

Sistema de solicitud de servicio para una institución educativa

Si bien es cierto que la actividad principal en una institución educativa es la enseñanza, existen actividades secundarias de índole administrativo que se realizan en sus ambientes. Los alumnos además de asistir a clases y exámenes, dedican una parte de su tiempo a trámites documentarios en las facultades. Ejemplos de documentos: constancia de egresado, certificado de estudios, constancia de tercio superior, constancia de bachiller, cambio de especialidad, etc. Asimismo, en toda institución educativa existen oficinas administrativas cuyas labores son de atender necesidades de diversa índole solicitado por otras oficinas. Necesidades como mantenimiento de muebles, telefonía, transporte, labores de pintura, mantenimiento de instalaciones eléctricas, mantenimiento de equipos, impresión y reproducción de documentos, etc. La presente tesis propone un Sistema de Solicitudes de Servicio para una institución educativa de apoyo a las actividades previamente descritas. Esto permitirá que: 1) Una persona (alumno o personal administrativo) solicite un documento o servicio usando el sistema. 2) A través de este sistema, la oficina reciba la solicitud y haga un seguimiento del mismo. Para el estudio, desarrollo e implantación del sistema se tomó como modelo a la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú aprovechando que el sistema satisface las metas trazadas dentro de su plan estratégico y el uso de tecnología de punta en sus actividades. Sin embargo, este sistema podría ser implantado en otras entidades similares dado que el análisis y diseño también serían válidos. La Tesis está organizada en 5 capítulos principales, seguidos de las conclusiones y anexos. En el primer punto, se describe la metodología y conceptos utilizados de tal forma que el lector pueda entender las herramientas usadas para el análisis y diseño del sistema presentado en los siguientes puntos. En el segundo punto, se describe los procedimientos actuales que involucran tramitar un documento de un alumno; y solicitar y atender un servicio a una oficina. También se detallan las necesidades encontradas para ir acercándonos a posibles soluciones. Sistema de Solicitud de Servicio para una Institución Educativa 3 En el tercer punto, se explica el diseño propuesto para estructurar los datos contenidos en cada formulario de solicitud de servicio; aplicando los conceptos de metadata y XML. Esta etapa es crítica para, más adelante, definir el diseño del sistema de solicitud de servicio. En el cuarto punto, se presenta el diseño propuesto que incluye: el modelo de datos que será la base del sistema y en el que se puede observar las relaciones que existen entre los datos; el modelo funcional, que ilustra las funciones que el sistema debe realizar y las aplicaciones propuestas. En el quinto punto, se menciona las funciones y procedimientos críticos del sistema para registrar grabar y presentar una solicitud de servicio haciendo uso de las herramientas de desarrollo para manejar datos XML.Tesi

The prevalence and prevention of sports-related dental trauma in Hong Kong adolescents

Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-37).Questionnaire in English and Chinese.published_or_final_versio

The role of gap junctions in inflammatory and neoplastic disorders (Review).

Gap junctions are intercellular channels made of connexin proteins, mediating both electrical and biochemical signals between cells. The ability of gap junction proteins to regulate immune responses, cell proliferation, migration, apoptosis and carcinogenesis makes them attractive therapeutic targets for treating inflammatory and neoplastic disorders in different organ systems. Alterations in gap junction profile and expression levels are observed in hyperproliferative skin disorders, lymphatic vessel diseases, inflammatory lung diseases, liver injury and neoplastic disorders. It is now recognized that the therapeutic effects mediated by traditional pharmacological agents are dependent upon gap junction communication and may even act by influencing gap junction expression or function. Novel strategies for modulating the function or expression of connexins, such as the use of synthetic mimetic peptides and siRNA technology are considered.Dr Gary Tse received a BBSRC Doctoral Training Award at the University of Cambridge and is grateful to the Croucher Foundation for its support of his non‑clinical and clinical assistant professorships. Dr Yin Wah Fiona Chan was supported by the ESRC for her research at the University of Cambridge

CD4+T cells do not mediate within-host competition between genetically diverse malaria parasites

Ecological interactions between microparasite populations in the same host are an important source of selection on pathogen traits such as virulence and drug resistance. In the rodent malaria model Plasmodium chabaudi in laboratory mice, parasites that are more virulent can competitively suppress less virulent parasites in mixed infections. There is evidence that some of this suppression is due to immune-mediated apparent competition, where an immune response elicited by one parasite population suppress the population density of another. This raises the question whether enhanced immunity following vaccination would intensify competitive interactions, thus strengthening selection for virulence in Plasmodium populations. Using the P. chabaudi model, we studied mixed infections of virulent and avirulent genotypes in CD4+T cell-depleted mice. Enhanced efficacy of CD4+T cell-dependent responses is the aim of several candidate malaria vaccines. We hypothesized that if immune-mediated interactions were involved in competition, removal of the CD4+T cells would alleviate competitive suppression of the avirulent parasite. Instead, we found no alleviation of competition in the acute phase, and significant enhancement of competitive suppression after parasite densities had peaked. Thus, the host immune response may actually be alleviating other forms of competition, such as that over red blood cells. Our results suggest that the CD4+-dependent immune response, and mechanisms that act to enhance it such as vaccination, may not have the undesirable affect of exacerbating within-host competition and hence the strength of this source of selection for virulence