Anytime Email and Work-Life Balance: An Exploration into the Views of Adventist Schools Australia Employees

Email has extended its reach beyond the traditional workplace into the non-work hours of employees, disrupting the work-life balance. What was once ‘anywhere any time’ has become ‘everywhere all the time’ (Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2013). This study examines the effects of email intrusion on work-life balance from the perspective of a Christian faith-based organisation, which has the additional dimension of espousing a ‘healthy’ balance between work and life. A survey of 500 employees of such an organisation, attracting 208 respondents, found that nearly all employees owned mobile devices that enable them to access work email outside work time,and that they frequently use these devices when not at work to access work emails. The employees perceived that anytime work emails have provided them with increased flexibility, but at the same time generated greater and frequently unrealistic expectations of them, by parents, students and to a minor degree school administrators. These employees also often felt that these anytime emails led them to working longer hours, generated a sense of being overloaded, contrary to the espoused values of a work and life balance and the importance of family. For these employees the solution to the anytime work email intrusion and resulting stress is not some external control. To most of these employees external control would be much too restrictive and teaching was perceived to be and has always been more than just an 8.30am to 3.30pm responsibility

Epigenetic and Genetic Factors in the Cellular Responses to Radiations and DNA-damaging Chemicals

DNA-damaging agents are widely used as therapeutic tools for a variety of disease states. Many such agents are considered to produce detrimental side effects. Thus, it is important to evaluate both therapeutic efficacy and potential risk. DNA-damaging agents can be so evaluated by comparison to agents whose therapeutic benefit and potential hazards are better known. We propose a framework for such comparison, demonstrating that a simple transformation of cytotoxicity-dose response patterns permits a facile comparison of variation between cells exposed to a single DNA-damaging agent or to different cytotoxic agents. Further, by transforming data from experiments which compare responses of 2 cell populations to an effects ratio, different patterns for the changes in cytotoxicity produced by epigenetic and genetic factors were compared. Using these transformations, we found that there is a wide variation (a factor of 4) between laboratories for a single agent (UVC) and only a slightly larger variation (factor of 6) between normal cell response for different types of DNA-damaging agents (x-ray, UVC, alkylating agents, crosslinking agents). Epigenetic factors such as repair and recovery appear to be a factor only at higher dose levels. Comparison in the cytotoxic effect of a spectrum of DNA-damaging agents in xeroderma piginentosum, ataxia telangiectasia, and Fanconi's anemia cells indicates significantly different patterns, implying that the effect, and perhaps the nature, of these genetic conditions are quite different

Should Pastors Be Available All the Time?

New technology in the form of 24/7 email brings with it increased expectations of begin available, adding to the pressures of work-life balance for employees. Few studies have explored this from the perspective of the Christian pastor, and none within the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) pastoral context. We extend the literature in this area by examining the impact of increased work-email on the work-life balance of SDA local church pastors. Based on responses from Australian SDA local church pastors we find that while pastors find there are some advantages in the flexibility offered by 24/7 work email, it also increases the work pressures on them, impacting on stress and relationships. Effective work-life balance is becoming more difficult for the SDA local church pastor to achieve

Adapting the International System of Units to the twenty-first century

We review the proposal of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité International des Poids et Mesures, CIPM), currently being considered by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférences Générales des Poids et Mesures, CGPM), to revise the International System of Units (Le Système International d’Unitès, SI). The proposal includes new definitions for four of the seven base units of the SI, and a new form of words to present the definitions of all the units. The objective of the proposed changes is to adopt definitions referenced to constants of nature, taken in the widest sense, so that the definitions may be based on what are believed to be true invariants. In particular, whereas in the current SI the kilogram, ampere, kelvin and mole are linked to exact numerical values of the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram, the magnetic constant (permeability of vacuum), the triple-point temperature of water and the molar mass of carbon-12, respectively, in the new SI these units are linked to exact numerical values of the Planck constant, the elementary charge, the Boltzmann constant and the Avogadro constant, respectively. The new wording used expresses the definitions in a simple and unambiguous manner without the need for the distinction between base and derived units. The importance of relations among the fundamental constants to the definitions, and the importance of establishing a mise en pratique for the realization of each definition, are also discussed

Radiative cooling in collisionally and photo ionized plasmas

We discuss recent improvements in the calculation of the radiative cooling in both collisionally and photo ionized plasmas. We are extending the spectral simulation code Cloudy so that as much as possible of the underlying atomic data is taken from external databases, some created by others, some developed by the Cloudy team. This paper focuses on recent changes in the treatment of many stages of ionization of iron, and discusses its extensions to other elements. The H-like and He-like ions are treated in the iso-electronic approach described previously. Fe II is a special case treated with a large model atom. Here we focus on Fe III through Fe XXIV, ions which are important contributors to the radiative cooling of hot, 1e5 to 1e7 K, plasmas and for X-ray spectroscopy. We use the Chianti atomic database to greatly expand the number of transitions in the cooling function. Chianti only includes lines that have atomic data computed by sophisticated methods. This limits the line list to lower excitation, longer wavelength, transitions. We had previously included lines from the Opacity Project database, which tends to include higher energy, shorter wavelength, transitions. These were combined with various forms of the g-bar approximation, a highly approximate method of estimating collision rates. For several iron ions the two databases are almost entirely complementary. We adopt a hybrid approach in which we use Chianti where possible, supplemented by lines from the Opacity Project for shorter wavelength transitions. The total cooling including the lightest thirty elements differs significantly from some previous calculations

Kyawthuite, Bi^(3+)Sb^(5+)O_4, a new gem mineral from Mogok, Burma (Myanmar)

Kyawthuite, Bi^(3+)Sb^(5+)O_4, is a new gem mineral found as a waterworn crystal in alluvium at Chaung-gyi-ah-le-ywa in the Chaung-gyi valley, near Mogok, Burma (Myanmar). Its description is based upon a single sample, which was faceted into a 1.61-carat gem. The composition suggests that the mineral formed in a pegmatite. Kyawthuite is monoclinic, space group I2/c, with unit cell dimensions a = 5.4624(4), b = 4.88519(17), c = 11.8520(8) Å, β = 101.195(7)°, V = 310.25(3) Å^3 and Z = 4. The colour is reddish orange and the streak is white. It is transparent with adamantine lustre. The Mohs hardness is 5½. Kyawthuite is brittle with a conchoidal fracture and three cleavages: {001} perfect, {110} and {110} good. The measured density is 8.256(5) g cm^(–3) and the calculated density is 8.127 g cm^(–3). The mineral is optically biaxial with 2V = 90(2)°. The predicted indices of refraction are α = 2.194, β = 2.268, γ = 2.350. Pleochroism is imperceptible and the optical orientation is X = b; Y ≈ c; Z ≈ a. Electron microprobe analyses, provided the empirical formula (Bi^(3+)_(0.82)Sb^(3+)_(0.18))_(Σ1.00)( Sb^(5+)_(0.99)Ta^(5+)_(0.01))_(Σ1.00)O_4. The Raman spectrum is similar to that of synthetic Bi^(3+)Sb^(5+)O_4. The infrared spectrum shows a trace amount of OH/H_2O. The eight strongest powder X-ray diffraction lines are [d_(obs) in Å(I)(hkl)]: 3.266(100)(112), 2.900(66)(112), 2.678(24)(200), 2.437(22)(020, 14), 1.8663(21)(024), 1.8026(43)(16,220,204), 1.6264(23)(224,116) and 1.5288(28)(312, 32). In the crystal structure of kyawthuite (R_1 = 0.0269 for 593 reflections with F_o > 4σF), Sb^(5+)O_6 octahedra share corners to form chequerboard-like sheets parallel to {001}. Atoms of Bi^(3+), located above and below the open squares in the sheets, form bonds to the O atoms in the sheets, thereby linking adjacent sheets into a framework. The Bi^(3+) atom is in lopsided 8 coordination, typical of a cation with stereoactive lone electron pairs. Kyawthuite is isostructural with synthetic β-Sb_2O_4 and clinocervantite (natural β-Sb_2O_4)