From where does the Red Tory speak?, Phillip Blond, theology and public discourse

This is the author's pdf version of an article published in Political Theology. The article can be found at www.politicaltheology.com/PT/This journal examines the role of theology in the public discourse of Philip Blond

Grensoverschrijdend inlenen van arbeid in de bouw:een branche-impressie

Product- en diensteninnovatie in internationale arbeidsbemiddeling worden bemoeilijkt door onduidelijkheid en onzekerheid. In dit working paper van het Expertisecentrum Grensoverschrijdend Inlenen van Arbeid wordt beschreven wat de huidige stand van zaken is in de bouwnijverheid. Ook worden relevante cijfers gepresenteerd over de bouwarbeidsmarkt en komen ontwikkelingen in de bedrijfstak op het gebied van grensoverschrijdend inlenen van arbeid aan de orde. Het paper eindigt met een vooruitblik op de verdere ontwikkeling van (tijdelijke arbeids)migratie in de bouwnijverheid

The assessment of oral squamous cell carcinoma:A study on sentinel lymph node biopsy, lymphatic drainage patterns and prognostic markers in tumor and saliva

Around 20-30% of the patients with a small tumor of the oral mucosa will have metastasis to one of the lymph nodes in the neck. It is important to predict the presence or absence of lymph node metastases to choose the optimal neck treatment for the individual patient. Lymph node metastases are frequently too small to detect by MRI or CT scan. In the past, a substantial number of lymph nodes of the neck were removed by surgery and microscopically examined postoperatively to find these lymph node metastases. However, the majority of the patients receive prophylactic surgery of the neck and consequently risk the morbidities related to this surgery without having lymph node involvement. Therefore, the less invasive sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) procedure was introduced in head and neck cancer. The sentinel lymph node (SLN) is the first lymph node affected with metastases. With the SLNB procedure, only the SLN is removed and microscopically examined. Only in patients with a metastasis-positive SLN, the other lymph nodes in the neck are removed by second surgery.Koos Boeve studied the SLNB procedure in small oral cavity tumors and concluded that this technique is a reliable procedure to detect lymph node metastasis in the neck. He concluded also that the SLNB procedure is useful in patients with previous treatment of the neck, in whom it is most likely that lymphatic drainage patterns are altered. The SLNB procedure provides important information about individual drainage patterns.Moreover, Boeve studied also the possibility to predict lymph node metastasis using molecular characteristics of the oral cavity tumor. His research showed that the expression of several proteins might predict the presence of metastases in both sentinel lymph nodes and non-sentinel lymph nodes. In the end, Boeve detected the presence of tumor specific DNA in saliva of patients with an oral cavity tumor. This is a potential technique to use saliva for screening for oral cavity tumors or to detect recurrences of oral cavity tumors after initial treatment

The Milk and Medicine Program Evaluation: Lusaka, Zambia

The HIV and AIDS epidemic is sweeping through Zambia, Africa at an unsettling rate. This epidemic plays a dramatic part in the increase of orphans and vulnerable children. The Christian Alliance for Children in Zambia (CACZ), a faith-based, non-governmental organization implemented its Milk and Medicine Program in 2004. CACZ’s goal is, “to improve child health and strengthen families to prevent child abandonment and institutionalization.” The program distributes nutritional supplements, medicine and limited social work support for those involved in the program. It has served approximately 300 children since its inception. This research seeks to understand the efficacy of the Milk and Medicine Program. The purpose of this on going research, conducted annually through 2012, is to provide an understanding of the aggregate data to enable CACZ to provide services to orphans and vulnerable children so that they may thrive. This particular study analyzed over ten variables that included weight and age comparisons to Zambian normal growth charts for a sample size of 118 children. It was found that upon admission to the program, 92 (78%) children were underweight. At the conclusion of the 2009 study period, 77 (65%) of the children remained underweight. Based on these findings, recommendations for improving the program included increasing the amount of formula based on weight and age, adding vitamin and mineral supplements, improving and standardizing record keeping, and adding distributing sites. The results demonstrated a strong relationship between length of time in program and weight gained and supported the case for long-term infant feeding programs for orphaned and vulnerable children

The Bidirectional Relationship Between Mothers And Their Infants: A Study Of Dyads Using The Still-Face Paradigm

The central goal of this study was to describe maternal, infant, and dyadic contributions to mother-infant interaction processes at 7 months postpartum; i.e., how both mother and infant contribute to the quality of the interaction, in an understudied mostly low-income, African American sample. Eighty-five mothers and their 7-month-old infants participated. Dyads were videotaped during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP) to analyze how a social stressor (maternal still-face) affects infant reactivity and mother-infant social interaction processes. The SFP includes 3 successive 2-minute episodes: normal play (baseline), maternal still-face, during which the mother holds a neutral, expressionless face, and resumption of normal play (reunion). Multiple dimensions of maternal and infant behavior and affect were scored from the videotapes by masked reliable coders. The data were analyzed using ANCOVAs, paired-sample t-tests, hierarchical linear regression, and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). The still-face effect was replicated in this sample, although infant sex did not moderate the results. APIM results provided evidence for bidirectional effects in mother-infant positive affective exchanges from baseline to reunion episodes, with larger effects observed for mothers’ positive affect during baseline play to infants’ positive affect during the reunion. Findings confirm that both mothers and infants contributed to dyadic interaction processes, but mothers appear to play a larger role in dyadic positive affect exchanges at 7 months postpartum

A national study of job satisfaction factors among faculty in physician assistant education

The purpose of this study was to examine the job satisfaction factors for physician assistant (PA) faculty. Job satisfaction factors were divided into two categories: intrinsic factors about the respondents (work itself and opportunities for advancement) and extrinsic factors about the institutional faculty support (salary, supervisory support, and coworker relations). The theoretical approach used in this study to examine job satisfaction among PA faculty was Herzberg’s (1966) two-factor theory of motivation. Additionally to enhance Herzberg’s theory regarding intrinsic and extrinsic factors, Smith, Kendall, and Hulin’s (1969) facet-specific job satisfaction theory (i.e., Job Description Index (JDI)) was utilized. A Web-based survey instrument was distributed by email communication to all PA faculty members who were affiliated with the Physician Assistant Education Association. This study evaluated physician assistant faculty’s attitudes and perceptions regarding job satisfaction. After expert panel review of the Web-based survey instrument, the total population of PA program faculty members (N = 1142) was asked to complete the survey. Five hundred eighteen faculty members responded, a 45% response rate. Frequencies, percentages, and appropriate summary statistics were computed for the personal and professional characteristics. Cronbach’s alpha was computed to measure the internal consistency of the five JDI factors and the overall job satisfaction scale. The mean and standard deviation for each factor was documented. Spearman’s correlation was computed for the JDI factors’ relationship to overall satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of overall satisfaction. Overall, PA faculty members were more satisfied than dissatisfied with their jobs. First, Web-based surveys are a relatively new methodology, and this study utilized this technique for collecting the data. Second, physician assistant faculty members are satisfied with four of the five JDI satisfaction factors. Third, PA faculty members are least satisfied with their academic salaries. Fourth, years of PA education experience was a significant predictor for overall job satisfaction and requires administrators to be aware of their PA faculty’s needs. Finally, this study did support Herzberg’s (1966) theory and Smith, Hulin, and Kendall’s (1969) theoretical framework

Specificity of motor contributions to auditory statistical learning

Statistical learning is the ability to extract patterned information from continuous sensory signals. Recent evidence suggests that auditory-motor mechanisms play an important role in auditory statistical learning from speech signals. The question remains whether auditory-motor mechanisms support such learning generally or in a domain-specific manner. In Experiment 1, we tested the specificity of motor processes contributing to learning patterns from speech sequences. Participants either whispered or clapped their hands while listening to structured speech. In Experiment 2, we focused on auditory specificity, testing whether whispering equally affects learning patterns from speech and non-speech sequences. Finally, in Experiment 3, we examined whether learning patterns from speech and non-speech sequences are correlated. Whispering had a stronger effect than clapping on learning patterns from speech sequences in Experiment 1. Moreover, whispering impaired statistical learning more strongly from speech than non-speech sequences in Experiment 2. Interestingly, while participants in the non-speech tasks spontaneously synchronized their motor movements with the auditory stream more than participants in the speech tasks, the effect of the motor movements on learning was stronger in the speech domain. Finally, no correlation between speech and non-speech learning was observed. Overall, our findings support the idea that learning statistical patterns from speech versus non-speech relies on segregated mechanisms, and that the speech motor system contributes to auditory statistical learning in a highly specific manner