Bar Rat

My main influences are usually the people who surround me, and the experiences that I face because of those people. Working as a bartender has directly impacted my art. Faces, expressions, emotions and behaviors intrigue me. Bartending allows me to be a participant in and observer of many unique human interactions and social codes that I use as material for my work. I often photograph the people I interact with, especially while bartending, to use as source material. For a while I was focusing on extreme emotions such as grief, but I have become more interested in the nuances of people’s underlying feelings and behaviors. An example of this is a moment of introspection that flashes across a man’s face, or a hand gesture that a woman makes when telling a funny story. These instantaneous seconds of unguarded display are difficult to capture on camera and they are so ubiquitous that we rarely recognize them while they are happening. For me, work is most satisfying and deliberate when I am driven by specific psychological content, and the images I collect at the bar have been propelling me in this direction. I have been working mainly with oil paints for the last few years, but more recently I have been experimenting with other media including ink, gesso, pastels, acrylics, and collaged paper. Working with the materials I have on hand to create a compelling composition is a challenge I relish. I feel as though I am solving a problem when I use the tools I have nearby to make an interesting piece. There is an unfinished quality that flows through all of my pieces, regardless of how carefully considered they are. I am attracted to the rawness that is created by this unadorned formal practice. In my work, I cultivate a compositional playfulness and spirited mark-making

Organizational downsizing and the instrumental worker: Is there a connection?

A national population sample of 424 employees was used to explore the proposition that the widespread use of organizational downsizing by management has led employees to adopt a more instrumental orientation to the employment relationship. Contrary to predictions, employees who had never worked in a downsized firm (Controls), or who had been made redundant as a result of downsizing (Victims), reported stronger instrumentalist beliefs than those who had experienced at least one downsizing but had never been made redundant (Survivors). Employees who had experienced more downsizings were also more likely to report lower instrumentalism, by disagreeing with statements suggesting that work is a necessary evil, just something that has to be done in order to earn a living, and that money is the most important reason for having a job. The findings are discussed in the context of reactance theory and instrumentalism as a malleable socialized work attitude

Alien Registration- Macky, Sam (Lincoln, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/7369/thumbnail.jp

High-performance work systems and the instrumental employee

Employee instrumentalism, which has been defined as the belief that work is primarily a means to non-work ends rather than a central life interest, was investigated as a potential negative antithesis to employee job involvement, organisational commitment, trust in managers, and job satisfaction. Drawing on data from a representative national population survey, instrumentalism was found to be negatively related to commitment and involvement, but independent of the degree to which employees trust their managers and find satisfaction in their jobs. Furthermore, instrumentalism was found to be independent of managerial practices encompassed under the high-performance work systems (HPWS) rubric, suggesting it to be a stable socialised state that employees bring to their jobs rather than a response to the work environment. Practical implications are discussed

The psychological effects of unemployment: a review of the literature

The literature on the psychological effects of unemployment is reviewed, with particular attention being paid to the somewhat scarce New Zealand literature on the subject. Studies conducted at the macrosocial level are discussed, followed by studies that focus on the individual, with respect to physical health, mental health and psychological well-being, and social attitudes. The differential effect of unemployment on various social groups is examined, and the methodological deficiencies in some of the studies reviewed are summarized. In conclusion, it is suggested that the documented psychological ill-effects of unemployment should make us view rising levels of unemployment with concern

First experience with BAK-free travoprost 0.004% in topical glaucoma medication

Ahmed Salah Gado, Tamer Ahmed MackyDepartment of Ophthalmology, Cairo University, Cairo, EgyptObjectives: Benzalkonium chloride (BAK)-free travoprost 0.004% (Travatan Z®, Alcon Laboratories, Inc, Fort Worth, TX) is a new formulation that was developed with the aim of creating a formulation of travoprost that would maintain the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering efficacy and have an improved overall safety profile, particularly improved ocular surface tolerability.Methods: Thirty newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients were treated with BAK-free travoprost 0.004%. IOP readings were recorded at baseline before initiating treatment, at 4–6 weeks, and after 12 weeks of starting treatment. In addition, patient demographics, subjective symptoms (ie, burning, foreign-body sensation, itching, and stinging), and objective clinical signs such as conjunctival hyperemia were collected. Subjective symptoms were evaluated using a four-point scale ranging from “no symptoms,” “mild symptoms,” “moderate symptoms” to “severe symptoms.” As for clinical signs, severity of conjunctival hyperemia was evaluated. All other adverse events were collected.Results: BAK-free travoprost 0.004% provided an IOP decrease in all patients, with an overall mean of 28.3 ± 2.1 mmHg at baseline to a mean of 18.7 ± 1.6 mmHg at 4–6 weeks, and a mean of 18.4 ± 1.4 mmHg after 12 weeks. Both subjective symptoms and objective clinical signs were very few after treatment.Conclusion: The results demonstrate that BAK-free travoprost 0.004% is an effective, well tolerated, and safe medication in POAG patients.Keywords: primary open-angle glaucoma, POAG, benzalkonium chloride, Travata

Intrinsic, extrinsic or total rewards

No abstract

The psychological effects of unemployment: a review of the literature

The literature on the psychological effects of unemployment is reviewed, with particular attention being paid to the somewhat scarce New Zealand literature on the subject. Studies conducted at the macrosocial level are discussed, followed by studies that focus on the individual, with respect to physical health, mental health and psychological well-being, and social attitudes. The differential effect of unemployment on various social groups is examined, and the methodological deficiencies in some of the studies reviewed are summarized. In conclusion, it is suggested that the documented psychological ill-effects of unemployment should make us view rising levels of unemployment with concern

Carbon Amendments Influence Composition and Functional Capacities of Indigenous Soil Microbiomes

Soil nutrient amendments are recognized for their potential to improve microbial activity and biomass in the soil. However, the specific selective impacts of carbon amendments on indigenous microbiomes and their metabolic functions in agricultural soils remain poorly understood. We investigated the changes in soil chemical characteristics and phenotypes of Streptomyces communities following carbon amendments to soil. Mesocosms were established with soil from two field sites varying in soil organic matter content (low organic matter, LOM; high organic matter, HOM), that were amended at intervals over nine months with low or high dose solutions of glucose, fructose, malic acid, a mixture of these compounds, or water only (non-amended control). Significant shifts in soil chemical characteristics and antibiotic inhibitory capacities of indigenous Streptomyces were observed in response to carbon additions. All high dose carbon amendments consistently increased soil total carbon, while amendments with malic acid decreased soil pH. In LOM soils, higher frequencies of Streptomyces inhibitory phenotypes of the two plant pathogens, Streptomyces scabies and Fusarium oxysporum, were observed in response to soil carbon additions. Additionally, to determine if shifts in Streptomyces functional characteristics correlated with microbiome composition, we investigated whether shifts in functional characteristics of soil Streptomyces correlated with composition of soil bacterial communities, analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Regardless of dose, community composition differed significantly among carbon-amended and non-amended soils from both sites. Carbon type and dose had significant effects on bacterial community composition in both LOM and HOM soils. Relationships among microbial community richness (observed species number), diversity, and soil characteristics varied among soils from different sites. These results suggest that manipulation of soil resource availability has the potential to selectively modify the functional capacities of soil microbiomes, and specifically to enhance pathogen inhibitory populations of high value to agricultural systems