Suchergebnisse

While much has been written about US–China strategic rivalry, no study to the authors' knowledge has conducted an empirical analysis of this rivalry. This article fills this gap by investigating whether and how this rivalry affects a country's response to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The findings of this article indicate that certain aspects of bilateral strategic ties indeed have strong effects on a country's reaction to the Chinese bank. More specifically, shorter distance to higher a level of partnership with, and more arms purchase from Beijing lead to faster accession to the AIIB, while the shorter distance to Washington results in slower accession, controlling for other factors. In addition, economically developed countries appear to be consistently more eager to join the Beijing-led bank than economically underdeveloped countries.(J Contemp China/GIGA)

The Berlin Fellowship Collection, 1952-2015 consists of physical and digital materials received from the Berlin Fellowship U.S.A. and Berlin Fellowship, Germany. The records document the activities of an informal group of Presbyterian laypeople and pastors who maintained an ecumenical visitation ministry with Christians in the German Democratic Republic, 1961-1996. Formats include subject files, correspondence, photographs, reports, minutes, financial records, clippings, scrapbooks, publications, audio cassettes, and digital files. Materials were created from 1952-1996.

My thesis researches life after art school for international students who are seeking legal employment opportunities in the U.S after receiving higher education under F-1 visa status. Drawing on recent immigration/visa policies and addressing student's psychological pressure/ fear of not getting a job after leaving art institutions, I developed and conducted workshops that incorporated information from immigration attorneys and international alumni and piloted it at SAIC under the supervision and through partnership with International Student Affair's director Lawrence Rodriguez. My research questions were: In what ways do soon-to-graduate international students need help and support navigating the visa process? How can a workshop that brings together alumni who have navigated the process, legal experts and international students help address these needs? The first part of this research involved analyzing content of SAIC's Professional Practice courses (eg: PROFPRAC 3900), followed by conducting interviews with faculties and staffs from CAPX- SAIC's career center and SAIC's International Student Affairs to discuss these student services, as well as to address possible ways to improve pre-existing resources to support graduating international students. The second part involved research into non-profit organizations outside of the SAIC community that support international artists such as Law for the Creative Art (LCA)- a nonprofit organization with volunteering lawyers who support creative business and individuals' art practices to find an immigration attorney. Followed by discussions and interviews with former F-1 art students who already received their higher education in the U.S to learn about their post-art school experience and their struggle with transitioning to join the outside workforce. My research also included a student survey on life after F-1. Based on the data collected from this survey, literature review, I created and conducted a workshop on the visa process and employment in the U.S for international students after art school. Through the course of my research, I discovered that there is a need for institutions of higher learning to: 1) Meet the needs and understand the challenges and disadvantages international students have compared to their domestic peers; 2) Provide services for international students, including the resources on government policy and 3) Establish greater connections and follow up with international alumni.

How can labour market institutions make workers confident about their economic future? While quantitative studies have repeatedly shown that countries' labour market regulations and policies are related to variations in workers' perceived job security, these studies did not explain how these institutions affect workers' perceptions and expectations. This study seeks to close this gap by analysing qualitative interview data collected on employees in Germany and the U.S. during the great financial crisis (2009-2010). The study's main finding is that policies vary in their effectiveness at making workers feel secure about their jobs. While unemployment assistance can reduce workers' worries about job loss, dismissal protection does not seem to effectively increase workers' confidence that their jobs are secure. Overall, employees know relatively little about the policies and regulations that are meant to protect them and have limited trust in their effectiveness. Individual and organisational characteristics seem to be more relevant for employees' feelings of job security than national-level policies. In particular, comparisons with others who have lower levels of protection increase workers' perceived security. These insights are particularly important in light of the ongoing changes in the world of work that are making workers' lives more uncertain and insecure

This study examines reader responses to opinion editorials about women in combat and contributes to the literature on women in the military by explaining how contests over sex–gender essentialism and diversity underlie public debates about individual rights and military effectiveness. Comments in favor of women's ground combat exclusion use a logic of averages to promote essentialist thinking about men and women. They categorize women as inferior soldiers and argue that desegregation puts individual soldiers and the nation at risk. Conversely, comments in favor of integration advance a view of sex–gender diversity that places men and women along a continuum with overlapping qualities, suggesting further that giving exceptional women the freedom to serve in ground combat will advance both equality and military readiness. We argue that public commentary about women in combat concerns more than the military, underlying this discourse are distinct conceptions and expectations of men and women.

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

RATIONALE: Current guidelines recommend thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) alone as the best test to detect and monitor thyroid dysfunction, yet free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3) are commonly ordered when not clinically indicated. Excessive testing can lead to added economic burden in an era of rising healthcare costs, while rarely contributing to the evaluation or management of thyroid disease. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate our institution's practice in ordering thyroid function tests (TFTs) and to identify strategies to reduce inappropriate FT4 and FT3 testing. METHODS: A record of all TFTs obtained in the San Antonio Military Health System during a 3-month period was extracted from the electronic medical record. The TFTs of interest were TSH, FT4, thyroid panel (TSH + FT4), FT3, total thyroxine (T4), and total triiodothyronine (T3). These were categorized based on the presence or absence of hypothyroidism. RESULTS: Between August 1 and October 31, 2016, there were 38 214 individual TFTs ordered via 28 597 total laboratory requests; 11 486 of these requests were in patients with a history of hypothyroidism. The number (percent) of laboratory requests fell into these patterns: TSH alone 14 919 (52.14%), TSH + FT4 7641 (26.72%), FT3 alone 3039 (10.63%), FT4 alone 1219 (4.26%), TSH + FT4 + FT3 783 (2.74%), and others 996 (3.48%); 36.0% of TFTs ordered were free thyroid hormones. Projected out to a year, using Department of Defense laboratory costs, $317 429 worth of TFTs would be ordered, with free thyroid hormone testing accounting for $107 720. CONCLUSION: Inappropriate ordering of free thyroid hormone tests is common. In an era of rising healthcare costs, inappropriate thyroid function testing is an ideal target for efforts to reduce laboratory overutilization, which in our system, could save up to $120 000 per year. Further evaluation is needed to determine strategies that can reduce excessive thyroid hormone testing.