Examining the Role of Perceived Religious Privilege

“Does perceived privilege surrounding religious affiliation in the workplace affect employees’ reactions to organizational justice?” We analyze what role, if any, religious diversity plays in the workplace; specifically what effects this diversity may have on employees\u27 feelings and behaviors. We examine responses of 35 working adults attending Franklin University using a non-probability online questionnaire. The data show that religion is mentioned during interpersonal interactions, people do perceive that co-workers receive immunities based on their religion, and people are treated differently and worse because of their religious preference. The results, while a small dataset, show that religious diversity does have an effect on a workplace environment and with further investigation we would have more of an understanding of how this diversity impacts employees and the workplace as a whole.https://fuse.franklin.edu/forum-2013/1016/thumbnail.jp

Basic studies of baroclinic flows

A fully nonlinear 3-dimensional numerical model (GEOSIM), previously developed and validated for several cases of geophysical fluid flow, has been used to investigate the dynamical behavior of laboratory experiments of fluid flows similar to those of the Earth's atmosphere. The phenomena investigated are amplitude vacillation, and the response of the fluid system to uneven heating and cooling. The previous year's work included hysteresis in the transition between axisymmetric and wave flow. Investigation is also continuing of the flows in the Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell (GFFC), a low-gravity Spacelab experiment. Much of the effort in the past year has been spent in validation of the model under a wide range of external parameters including nonlinear flow regimes. With the implementation of a 3-dimensional upwind differencing scheme, higher spectral resolution, and a shorter time step, the model has been found capable of predicting the majority of flow regimes observed in one complete series of baroclinic annulus experiments of Pfeffer and co-workers. Detailed analysis of amplitude vacillation has revealed that the phase splitting described in the laboratory experiments occurs in some but not all cases. Through the use of animation of the models output, a vivid 3-dimensional view of the phase splitting was shown to the audience of the Southeastern Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Conference in March of this year. A study on interannual variability was made using GEOSIM with periodic variations in the thermal forcing. Thus far, the model has not predicted a chaotic behavior as observed in the experiments, although there is a sensitivity in the wavenumber selection to the initial conditions. Work on this subject, and on annulus experiments with non-axisymmetric thermal heating, will continue. The comparison of GEOSIM's predictions will result from the Spacelab 3 GFFC experiments continued over the past year, on a 'back-burner' basis. At this point, the study (in the form of a draft of a journal article) is nearly completed. The results from GEOSIM compared very well with the experiments, and the use of the model allows the demonstration of flow mechanics that were not possible with the experimental data. For example, animation of the model output shows that the forking of the spiral bands is a transient phenomenon, due to the differential east-west propagation of convection bands from different latitudes

Basic studies of baroclinic flows

Computations were completed of transition curves in the conventional annulus, including hysteresis effect. The model GEOSIM was used to compute the transition between axisymmetric flow and baroclinic wave flow in the conventional annulus experiments. Thorough testing and documentation of the GEOSIM code were also completed. The Spacelab 3 results from the Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell (GFFC) were reviewed and numerical modeling was performed of many of the cases with horizontal temperature gradients as well as heating from below, with different rates of rotation. A numerical study of the lower transition to axisymmetric flow in the baroclinic annulus was performed using GEOSIM

LinkedIn Blunders: A Mixed Method Study of College Students’ Profiles

Although a significant need exists for college students to market their job skills effectively to potential employers, no prior research systematically analyzed the quality of information included in college students’ LinkedIn profiles. This study used a marketing framework to evaluate the effectiveness of information in LinkedIn profiles posted by current and former community college students. The mixed method study analyzed 340 publicly available LinkedIn profiles for students who reported attending 89 community colleges in the United States. The results suggest many college students may not understand how to use a LinkedIn profile to market their skills to potential employers. Key sections were often left blank and profiles failed to communicate students’ unique value proposition. Content analysis revealed 75% of profiles contained an experience section with poor to below average descriptions. Comparative analysis found profiles for unemployed individuals and those seeking a new position were significantly worse than profiles for their employed counterparts. Additionally, LinkedIn profiles for students from large community colleges had significantly more writing errors than profiles for students attending medium-size community colleges. After discussing implications of the research, recommendations based on the study’s results are suggested for career service staff, educators, and students

Balancing benefits and harms of treatments for acute bipolar depression

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"Assessing and comparing physical environments for nursing home residents: Using new tools for greater research specificity"

Michael J. Miller is an Assistant Professor of Social and Administrative Sciences in Pharmacy (Pharmacy Practice) in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. He can be contacted at [email protected]: We developed and tested theoretically derived procedures to observe physical environments experienced by nursing home residents at three nested levels: their rooms, the nursing unit, and the overall facility. Illustrating with selected descriptive results, in this article we discuss the development of the approach. Design and Methods: On the basis of published literature, existing instruments, and expert opinion about environmental elements that might affect quality of life, we developed separate observational checklists for the room and bath environment, unit environment, and facility environment. We trained 40 interviewers without specialized design experience to high interrater reliability with the room-level assessment. We used the three checklists to assess 1,988 resident room and bath environments, 131 nursing units, and 40 facilities in five states. From the data elements, we developed quantitative indices to describe the facilities according to environmentally relevant constructs such as function-enhancing features, life-enriching features, resident environmental controls, and personalization. Results: We reliably gathered data on a large number of environmental items at three environmental levels. Environments varied within and across facilities, and we noted many environmental deficits potentially relevant to resident quality of life. Implications: This research permits resident-specific data collection on physical environments and resident-level research using hierarchical analysis to examine the effects of specific environmental constellations. We describe practice and research implications for this approach.Copyright 2006 by The Gerontological Society of America.This study was funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under a master contract to the University of Minnesota

Abnormal bone mineral accrual in adolescent girls with anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is increasingly common in adolescent girls and occurs at a time of peak bone mass formation. Osteopenia is common in adolescent girls with AN, and in a cross-sectional study, we have reported low bone formation markers in such girls. To determine the impact of chronic undernutrition on bone mineral accrual in contrast to healthy controls, we prospectively measured bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, bone metabolism markers, and nutritional and hormonal status at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months in 19 adolescent girls with AN (mean +/- SEM, 15.4 +/- 0.4 yr) and 19 controls of comparable chronological and skeletal age. Overall, nutritional status in subjects with AN improved (mean percentage increase in body mass index from baseline, 9.2 +/- 1.9% and 15.2 +/- 2.6% at 6 and 12 months, respectively), with 11 subjects having recovered weight at 12 months. However, lumbar BMD at 12 months (AN, 0.88 +/- 0.02 g/cm(2), vs. control, 0.98 +/- 0.03 g/cm(2); P = 0.008) remained significantly reduced in AN compared with controls, even in recovered subjects. This was due to significant increases in lumbar BMD in controls vs. no change in AN subjects over the year (0.003 +/- 0.001 g/cm(2).month vs. 0.000 +/- 0.001 g/cm(2).month, respectively; P = 0.04). The most significant determinant of change in lumbar BMD at 12 months was change in lean body mass in both AN (r = 0.62; P = 0.008) and control (r = 0.80; P = 0.0006) groups. There were significant increases in surrogate markers of bone turnover in subjects with AN compared with controls as assessed by osteocalcin (AN, 0.9 +/- 0.4 micro g/liter.month, vs. control, -1.1 +/- 0.4 micro g/liter.month; P = 0.0007), bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (AN, 0.6 +/- 0.5 U/liter.month, vs. control, -1.5 +/- 0.4 U/liter.month; P = 0.002), deoxypyridinoline [AN, 0.1 +/- 0.1 nmol/mmol creatinine (cr).month, vs. control, -0.4 +/- 0.1 nmol/mmol cr.month; P = 0.005], and N-telopeptide (AN, 4 +/- 4 nmol BCE/mmol cr/month, vs. control, -9 +/- 4 nmol BCE/mmol cr/month; P = 0.01). Changes in IGF-I levels over the year were highly correlated with changes in bone turnover over the same period in AN (osteocalcin, r = 0.77; P = 0.001; deoxypyridinoline, r = 0.66; P = 0.01). A rise in N-telopeptide over the year was correlated with an increase in all bone mineral measures, including lumbar bone mineral content (r = 0.58; P = 0.03) and BMD (r = 0.53; P = 0.05) and total bone mineral content (r = 0.69; P = 0.006) and BMD (r = 0.69; P = 0.006) in the AN group. Therefore, despite recovery over 1 yr, poor bone mineral accrual persists in adolescent girls with AN in contrast to rapid bone accrual in healthy girls. Normalization of bone turnover markers occurs in association with nutritional recovery and an increase in the nutritionally dependent bone trophic factor IGF-I. A rise in bone turnover markers may be an early indicator of increase in BMD in recovering girls with AN

The Little Paint Site: A Classic Toyah Camp on the South Llano River, Kimble County, Texas

On behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted testing and data recovery investigations at the Little Paint site (41KM226), a prehistoric multi-component site in the US 377 right-of-way along the South Llano River in Kimble County, Texas. While the site revealed Archaic and Late Prehistoric components, the earlier components were stratigraphically intermixed. Consequently, data recovery focused almost entirely on a discrete Toyah component, which, based on earlier test excavations conducted in August and September 2006, had previously been determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as a State Archeological Landmark. SWCA performed the investigations under Texas Antiquities Permits 4184 and 4318. Kevin A. Miller served as Principal Investigator. The excavations recovered approximately 102 m2 of a stratigraphically-discrete Toyah component consisting of rock-lined hearths, Perdiz points, Cliffton points, a bird-bone bead, bone-tempered ceramics, bifaces, scrapers (notably end scrapers on blade-flakes), various informal lithic tools, drills, awls, debitage, and faunal remains. Based on the assemblage, the site is interpreted as a Toyah basecamp as indicated by a diversity of tool forms and site furniture. The component has good integrity, is vertically and horizontally discrete, and contains a substantial amount of archaeological materials. The suite of 16 radiometric dates indicates intermittent Toyah occupations between 240 and 570 years ago, a time range that is generally consistent with recognized span of the Toyah assemblage. The archaeological assemblage and site structure, however, suggests a possible single Toyah occupation. While not a focal point of the data recovery investigations, the excavations also recovered mixed Archaic components below the Toyah component. Artifacts include diagnostic point styles that indicate Late Archaic to early Late Prehistoric occupations, representing 1,000 to 2,000 years of the regional cultural chronology compressed within a thin stratum. Based on the findings, the depositional conditions below the Toyah component, as was previously determined by the testing data, were found to be generally not conducive to the formation of stratigraphic separation of the successive occupations. This compression resulted in intermixing of components and poor integrity. Below the mixed Archaic zone, deeply buried Middle to Early Archaic deposits were identified. These retained a better potential for significant isolable strata, but these deeper deposits were beyond the project impacts and therefore were not the subject of mitigative efforts. The deeper deposits are preserved by avoidance. As previously determined and further substantiated by the data recovery investigations, the Little Paint site, because of the Toyah component and perhaps earlier deposits, is eligible for National Register of Historic Places listing under Criterion D, 36 CFR 60.4, and eligible for State Archeological Landmark designation under Criteria 1 and 2 of the Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Antiquities Code of Texas, 13 TAC 26.8. The excavations have mitigated the adverse effects of the US 377 bridge replacement by recovering the vast majority of the Toyah component within the area of potential effect of the roadway undertaking. No further archaeological work is recommended. Portions of the site outside of the right-of-way have not been fully evaluated. The artifacts and records from the project are curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies, Texas State University

Expression and localization of estrogen receptor-β in annulus cells of the human intervertebral disc and the mitogenic effect of 17-β-estradiol in vitro

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence suggests that estrogens exert effects in different tissues throughout the body, and that the estrogen receptor β (ERβ) may be important for the action of estrogen (17-β-estradiol) on the skeleton. The cellular localization of ERβ in the human intervertebral disc, however, has not yet been explored. METHODS: Human disc tissue and cultured human disc cells were used for immunocytochemical localization of ERβ. mRNA was isolated from cultured human disc cells, and RT-PCR amplification of ERβ was employed to document molecular expression of this receptor. Cultured human disc cells were tested to determine if 17-β-estradiol stimulated cell proliferation. RESULTS: In this report data are presented which provide evidence for ERβ gene expression in human intervertebral disc cells in vivo and in vitro. Culture of annulus cells in the presence of 10(-7) M 17-β-estradiol significantly increased cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide new insight into the biology of cells in the annulus of the intervertebral disc