Determining HR Knowledge, Skill and Ability (KSA) Gaps Through Interaction with the Organizational Talent Pool

[Excerpt] Technology makes our lives easier and we love it; and so do our shareholders. We work faster, have higher output, and are better connected than any other civilization in history. The problem with this recent evolutionary adaptation is that it\u27s slowly replacing one of our first—the ability to communicate face to face. We bombard each other with emails and text messages, but have difficulty walking fifteen feet from our cubical to ask a simple question of our co-worker. The problem doesn\u27t lie in the act of communicating (we have that covered #ThankYouTwitter); it lies in our preferred medium. Electronic communication may never completely replace face-to-face interaction, but it is creating the potential for lazy business practices, especially in Human Resources and talent development

Collective Identity in Germany: An Assessment of National Theories

Beginning in the 18th century, the question of what makes a nation has occupied a prominent place in German politics. From the national theories of the 18th-century German Romantics, who identified cultural and ethnic factors as being the key determinants, to modern civic nationalists and postnationalists, who point to liberal civic values and institutions, the importance of collective identity and how it is oriented has remained an important topic for German scholars and policymakers. Using survey research, I assess the accuracy and relevance of these theories in contemporary German society. I find that, contrary to the optimism of modern thinkers, German collective identity remains aligned with the national theories of the Romantics, resulting in ethnic discrimination and heightened fears over the loss of culture through external ideological and ethnic sources

Pawsitive Purpose: The Impact of Autism Assistance Dogs on Levels of Participation and Engagement in Occupations of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Importance: The World Health Organization recognizes that participation is important to an individual’s health and wellbeing; yet children with autism spectrum disorder participate in activities less frequently and with less variety compared to neurotypical children. Objective: To describe the role of autism assistance dogs in promoting participation and engagement in occupations and activities of daily living (ADLs) of children with autism spectrum disorder. Design: Two semi-structured interviews from a narrative perspective were conducted with each of four participants. Interpretative phenomenology and Creswell’s thematic analysis were used to code and analyze qualitative data. Setting: Interviews were conducted by video interview. Participants: Four volunteer parents/primary handlers of their child’s autism assistance dog participated in the study. Inclusion criteria: Family must have had an autism assistance dog for greater than one year prior to the start of the study. Outcomes and Measures: Develop codes and theoretical perspectives to better understand the lived experience of autism assistance dog users. Results: The role of autism assistance dogs is multifactored; these dogs improve children’s participation and engagement across all domains of occupation. All the participants reported that the benefits of autism assistance dogs outweigh the challenges associated with owning/using an assistance dog. Conclusions and Relevance: Autism assistance dogs are a valuable, alternative form of adaptive equipment for children with ASD that can serve a broad purpose in increasing participation in daily life. What This Article Adds: The four stories provided reveal that advocating for and assisting families in acquiring an autism assistance dog along with helping families to best use the dogs to support participation of their children is an area of practice and is an appropriate location for occupational therapy practitioners to concentrate interventions in when working with families with children with ASD

Increased Interleukin-6 Activity Associated with Painful Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Women after Breast Cancer Treatment

Accumulating evidence suggests that neural-immune interactions are involved in the development of painful chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, particularly through the increased release of proinflammatory cytokines. The purpose of this study was used to evaluate levels of interleukin [IL]-6 and IL-6 receptors in women with breast cancer after the conclusion of chemotherapy who either had painful symptoms of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN group, N = 20) or did not experience CIPN symptoms (Comparison group, N = 20). CIPN participants had significantly higher levels of IL-6 and soluble IL-6R (sIL-6R) compared to women without CIPN symptoms (P < .001 for both). In addition, soluble gp130, which blocks the IL-6/sIL-6R complex from binding to gp130 within the cellular membrane, was significantly lower (P < .01). Circulating concentrations of sIL-6R were inversely correlated with the density of IL-6R on the cell surface of monocytes in the total sample (r = −.614, P = .005). These findings suggest that IL-6 transsignaling may be an important biological mechanism associated with the persistence of painful CIPN symptoms, with potential implications for symptom management and research

Smartphones: A potential discovery tool

The anticipated wide adoption of smartphones by researchers is viewed by the authors as a basis for developing mobile-based services. In response to the UNLV Libraries’ strategic plan’s focus on experimentation and outreach, the authors investigate the current and potential role of smartphones as a valuable discovery tool for library users

Chinese strategic partnerships: A new form of alliance politics

During the 14th National Party Congress in 1992, Jiang Zemin declared that China would never seek alliances nor pursue hegemony. Indeed, since 1961, China has formed formal alliances with mutual defense clauses with only two countries: North Korea and the Soviet Union. Given the US’ alliance network, which extends deep into East Asia and Oceania, many scholars predict that China would seek similar security arrangements to deter potential aggression. However, very little research has been conducted to answer the question of why China has remained persistent in rejecting alliance formation as a viable strategy despite popular notions of increasing Chinese nationalism and assertiveness. As a first cut into this question, I argue through a qualitative case study of Chinese foreign relations that China\u27s stratagem of using less formal partnerships to fulfill the role of formal alliances is driven by three motivations: 1) the structural conditions for alliance formation have not been met, 2) China prioritizes the strategic flexibility which partnerships provide over deeper commitments that would equalize its dyadic relationships, and 3) China is viewed as an undesirable ally among other states. As such, China’s partnerships function as a means of forming linkages with other states, exerting a limited degree of leverage, and imposing potential costs on states considering opposing core Chinese interests while maintaining a high degree of flexibility in their policy options