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The effects of organizational and job characteristics on employees’ organizational commitment in arts -and- culture organizations
No full textPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nature of organizational commitment among
employees of Palestinian arts-and-culture organizations and to examine the combined effect and role of
organizational and job characteristics in shaping employees’ commitment.
Design/methodology/approach – An on-site employee survey was conducted in 20 distinct local
not-for-profit arts-and-culture organizations, where the respondent sampling frame constituted of 190
individuals with a response rate of 48 per cent. Confirmatory factor analysis was used in this study to
confirm the original scale structure for study constructs and evaluate their distinctiveness in the
Palestinian context.
Findings – Results from structural equation modeling analysis revealed a reasonable rather than a
good fit of the model to the data. The current study recognized organizational and job characteristics as
critical determinants of employees’ commitment, particularly its affective component; which was also
found to be the most accurate description of organizational commitment in arts-and-culture
organizations.
Research limitations/implications – Consistent with the social exchange theory, an emphasis
should be placed on employees’ perception of organizational and job characteristics. This study
advocates for combining organizational characteristics with job characteristics in light of their
significant association with commitment in the context of motivational theories.
Practical implications – This study empirically demonstrates the positive effects of
organizational and job characteristics on employees’ evaluation of their organization. Managers of
arts-and-culture organizations should maintain a proper alignment of organizational values with
those of the employees and create a working environment that meets employees’ psychological and
career needs.
Originality/value – This study makes a valuable contribution to the existing body of research and
adds to a very limited number of studies investigating organizational commitment in arts-and-culture
organizations, validating the structure of commitment and its antecedents in a non-Western context and
showing the multi-dimensionality of the concept
Parkin Somatic Mutations Link Melanoma and Parkinson’s Disease
No full textAuthors include:Lotan Levin, Shani Srour, Jared Gartner, Oxana Kapitansky, Nouar Qutob, Shani Dror ,
Tamar Golan , Roy Dayan , Ronen Brener , Tamar Ziv, Mehdi Khaled , Ora Schueler-Furman,
Yardena Samuels , Carmit LevyEpidemiological studies suggest a direct link between melanoma and Parkinson’s disease (PD); however, the underlying molecular basis is unknown. Since mutations in Parkin are the major driver of early-onset PD and Parkin was recently reported to play a role in cancer development, we hypothesized that Parkin links melanoma and PD. By analyzing whole exome/genome sequencing of Parkin from 246
melanoma patients, we identified five non-synonymous mutations, three synonymous mutations, and one splice region variant in Parkin in 3.6% of the samples. In vitro analysis showed that wild-type Parkin plays a tumor suppressive role in melanoma development resulting in cell-cycle arrest, reduction of metabolic activity, and apoptosis. Using a mass spectrometry-based analysis, we identified potential Parkin substrates in melanoma and generated a functional protein association network. The activity of mutated Parkin was assessed by protein structure modeling and examination of Parkin E3 ligase activity. The Parkin-E28K mutation impairs Parkin ubiquitination activity and abolishes its tumor suppressive effect. Taken together, our analysis of genomic sequence and in vitro data indicate that Parkin is a potential link between melanoma and Parkinson’s disease. Our findings suggest new approaches for early diagnosis and treatment against both disease
Automatic Identification of articulation disorders for Arabic children speakers
No full textAutomatic identification of articulation disorders in children’s speech is very important for the diagnosis and monitoring of speech therapy. In this work, acoustic features (MFCC) have been used with the two most commonly used classification techniques in the speaker and language identification area, GMM-UBM and I-vector, for identifying
three types of articulation disorders associated with phoneme [r] from Arabic children’s speech. The sound [r] has been selected as it is the most common pronunciation problem that children suffer from. The impact of [r] location in a word on the speech disorders has been investigated by considering words with [r] in the beginning, middle and end We achieved up to 75% accuracy with our I-vector system and 61% for our GMM-UBM system. Performance of these two systems are improved to 92.5% and 83.4%, respectively, when disorder classes are combined into one clas
Molecular characterization and antibiotic susceptibility profiles of Helicobacter pylori isolated from patients with Gastrodeudenal diseases in Jordan
No full textHelicobacter pylori is a major cause of more than 80% of chronic active gastritis and other gastrodeudonal diseases worldwide. Successful treatment of H. pylori routinely requires the use of multiple agents with different mechanisms including compounds inhibiting acid secretion in conjunction with antibiotics. However, recent data showed the emergence of resistant clinical strains particularly against metronidazole and clarithromycin. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of and the susceptibility of H. pylori isolates recovered from patients with gastrodeudonal diseases to several antimicrobial agents
The political economy of Palestinian women’s labour market participation
No full textPalestinian women’s formal labour market participation has been an intriguing phenomenon, mainly due to its striking features. These include: one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the world, yet a highly fluctuating one. This is particularly odd in light of the fact that Palestinian women have high educational rates. By 2000, Palestinian girls had higher school enrolments rates and lower dropout rates than boys. Girls’ primary and secondary school enrolment ratios are also higher than boys within the entire MENA region (UNESCO, 2009). At the same time, Palestinian society is not as conservative as other neighbouring countries (including Saudi Arabia), yet female labour force participation rates are lower amongst Palestinian women.
Given this context, the chapter will consider the supply and demand determinants of female labour market participation in order to provide a better understanding of the reasons behind the low participation rates of Palestinian women. In terms of organisation, this chapter starts by providing a brief literature review of the determinants of participation in the labour market. Section 3 then moves to examine the characteristics of women’s participation and employment in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The chapter then focuses on the political, economic and social barriers facing women in the labour marke
Measuring the health-related sustainable development goals in 188 countries: a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015
No full textBackground In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015).
Methods We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 healthrelated SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990 and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed as the geometric mean of the rescaled indicators by SDG target. We used spline regressions to examine the relations between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI, a summary measure based on average income per person, educational
attainment, and total fertility rate) and each of the health-related SDG indicators and indices.
Findings In 2015, the median health-related SDG index was 59∙3 (95% uncertainty interval 56∙8–61∙8) and varied widely by country, ranging from 85∙5 (84∙2–86∙5) in Iceland to 20∙4 (15∙4–24∙9) in Central African Republic. SDI was a good predictor of the health-related SDG index (r²=0∙88) and the MDG index (r²=0∙92), whereas the non-MDG index had a weaker relation with SDI (r²=0∙79). Between 2000 and 2015, the health-related SDG index improved by a median of 7∙9 (IQR 5∙0–10∙4), and gains on the MDG index (a median change of 10∙0 [6∙7–13∙1]) exceeded that of the nonMDG index (a median change of 5∙5 [2∙1–8∙9]). Since 2000, pronounced progress occurred for indicators such as met need with modern contraception, under-5 mortality, and neonatal mortality, as well as the indicator for universal health coverage tracer interventions. Moderate improvements were found for indicators such as HIV and tuberculosis incidence, minimal changes for hepatitis B incidence took place, and childhood overweight considerably worsened. Interpretation GBD provides an independent, comparable avenue for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs. Our analysis not only highlights the importance of income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement but also emphasises that investments in these areas alone will not be suffi cient. Although considerable progress on the health-related MDG indicators has been made, these gains will need to be sustained and, in many cases, accelerated to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The minimal improvement in or worsening of health-related indicators beyond the MDGs highlight the need for additional resources to eff ectively address the expanded scope of the health-related SDG
Global, regional, and national levels of maternal mortality, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015.
No full textBackground In transitioning from the Millennium Development Goal to the Sustainable Development Goal era, it is imperative to comprehensively assess progress toward reducing maternal mortality to identify areas of success, remaining challenges, and frame policy discussions. We aimed to quantify maternal mortality throughout the world by underlying cause and age from 1990 to 2015. Methods We estimated maternal mortality at the global, regional, and national levels from 1990 to 2015 for ages 10–54 years by systematically compiling and processing all available data sources from 186 of 195 countries and territories, 11 of which were analysed at the subnational level. We quantified eight underlying causes of maternal death and four timing categories, improving estimation methods since GBD 2013 for adult all-cause mortality, HIVrelated maternal mortality, and late maternal death. Secondary analyses then allowed systematic examination of drivers of trends, including the relation between maternal mortality and coverage of specifi c reproductive health-care services as well as assessment of observed versus expected maternal mortality as a function of Socio-demographic
Index (SDI), a summary indicator derived from measures of income per capita, educational attainment, and fertility.
Findings Only ten countries achieved MDG 5, but 122 of 195 countries have already met SDG 3.1. Geographical disparities widened between 1990 and 2015 and, in 2015, 24 countries still had a maternal mortality ratio greater than 400. The proportion of all maternal deaths occurring in the bottom two SDI quintiles, where haemorrhage is the dominant cause of maternal death, increased from roughly 68% in 1990 to more than 80% in 2015. The middle SDI quintile improved the most from 1990 to 2015, but also has the most complicated causal profi le. Maternal mortality in the highest SDI quintile is mostly due to other direct maternal disorders, indirect maternal disorders, and abortion, ectopic pregnancy, and/or miscarriage. Historical patterns suggest achievement of SDG 3.1 will require 91% coverage
of one antenatal care visit, 78% of four antenatal care visits, 81% of in-facility delivery, and 87% of skilled birth attendance.
Interpretation Several challenges to improving reproductive health lie ahead in the SDG era. Countries should establish or renew systems for collection and timely dissemination of health data; expand coverage and improve quality of family planning services, including access to contraception and safe abortion to address high adolescent fertility; invest in improving health system capacity, including coverage of routine reproductive health care and of more advanced obstetric care—including EmOC; adapt health systems and data collection systems to monitor and reverse the increase in indirect, other direct, and late maternal deaths, especially in high SDI locations; and examine their own performance with respect to their SDI level, using that information to formulate strategies to improve performance and ensure optimum reproductive health of their populatio
