Labor market integration of returned educational migrants in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan has experienced increasing educational migration, and many of these students hope to return home after graduating. The ability of returned migrants to succeed in Turkmenistan’s labor market is complicated by a variety of factors, including variation in educational quality across countries, intrusive state regulation of foreign education, and Turkmenistan’s large informal sector. Based on a survey of 98 Turkmen citizens, this study compares the career trajectories and perceptions of the labor market of people educated in Turkmenistan to those educated elsewhere. Because men and women undertake different strategies of educational migration, it also compares patterns of labor market integration by gender. Country of education does appear to matter for employment in Turkmenistan, but the effect is most prominent immediately after graduation. Women were less likely to be employed in Turkmenistan, partly because they were more likely to have been educated abroad, and more likely to have a partner abroad.     

流动的母职:乡城迁移中的母职协商

本研究通过对北京家政女工的深度访谈和田野调查,考察了乡城迁移女性的母职认知与实践。文章指出乡城迁移家政女工的母职认知具有双重面向——经济供养与生活照料。经济供养构成了她们母职的重要部分,而生活照料依然是具有道德和情感压力的母职内容。这种母职认知的双重性,挑战了以抚育为第一要义的母职界定,开启了在二者之间进行权宜性转换的可能。在具体实践中,乡城迁移家政女工采取各种策略进行应对,不仅通过现代通信手段进行"远程照料",而且通过"阶段性迁移"来弥合母职双重面向之间的张力。本研究凸显了母职作为意识形态和作为实践之间的差异,并为探究中下层女性母职协商的复杂性提供了启示。     

Internal validation of reduced PCR reaction volume of the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit from blood samples on FTA cards

The onus of proof in criminal cases is beyond any reasonable doubt, and the issue on the lack of complete internal validation data can be manipulated when it comes to justifying the validity and reliability of the X-chromosomal short tandem repeats analysis for court representation. Therefore, this research evaluated the efficiency of the optimized 60% reduced volumes for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification using the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit, as well as the capillary electrophoresis (CE) sample preparation for blood samples on Flinder's Technology Associates (FTA) cards. Good-quality DNA profile (3000–12,000 RFU) from the purified blood sample on FTA card (1.2 mm) were obtained using the optimized PCR (10.0 μL of PCR reaction volume and 21 cycles) and CE (9.0 μL Hi-Di™ Formamide and 0.3 μL DNA Size Standard 550 [BTO] and 27 s injection time) conditions. The analytical and stochastic thresholds were 100 and 200 RFU, respectively. Hence, the internal validation data supported the use of the optimized 60% reduced PCR amplification reaction volume of the Qiagen Investigator® Argus X-12 QS Kit as well as the CE sample preparation for producing reliable DNA profiles that comply with the quality assurance standards for forensic DNA testing laboratories, while optimizing the analytical cost.     

A new conceptual framework to strengthen internal corporate image: A stakeholder-inclusive perspective

The potential influence that internal stakeholders’ image of the organisation could have on external stakeholders’ image of the organisation, is strongly supported in the literature. This research project attempted to address the need for an approach that facilitates employee engagement, coupled with a leadership approach that allows collaboration, inclusion and cooperation within the organisation, to strengthen internal corporate image. This article reports on the results of the second phase of this research project, where a proposed stakeholder-inclusive conceptual framework for strengthening the internal corporate image, built from a stakeholder-inclusive perspective as depicted in the King III report on corporate governance, was explored in practice. A quantitative, self-administered web-based survey was conducted with the 2014 winners of the Deloitte Best Company to Work For (BCTWF) survey. The results not only indicated that these organisations’ practices resonate with the proposed stakeholder-inclusive framework, but also that the principles of the framework, namely stakeholder theory; integrated internal communication; peace arena; stakeholder engagement by means of the AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard (AA1000SES) and responsible leadership and stewardship correlate with one another. The stakeholder-inclusive conceptual framework expands on the body of knowledge on corporate image and provides corporate communication professionals with a guide for strengthening their organisation’s internal corporate image, which could serve as starting point for strengthening the external corporate image and eventual corporate reputation.     

Explaining the Crisis of the European Migration and Asylum Regime

Since 2013, the European migration and asylum regime has entered a phase of crisis, which reveals the deep interdependencies between its different components (including intra-EU mobility) and the unbalanced nature of its normative foundations. This original structural fragility had not fundamentally compromised the overall functioning of the regime until two major exogenous factors (the economic crisis, with its asymmetrical impact on the eurozone, and the wave of political instability and conflicts on the southern shore of the Mediterranean) brought its intrinsic limits to the point of rupture. The ongoing, highly contentious process of reform of the European migration and asylum regime is an unprecedented and crucially important test of the capacity of one the European Union’s key sectors to evolve under pressure and to adapt to a rapidly and deeply changing geopolitical, economic and demographic environment.     

Securitising Migration: The European Union in the Context of the Post-2011 Arab Upheavals

The migration-security nexus, already at the heart of EU policymaking before the 2011 Arab uprisings, became acute after the forced displacements from Syria and the deterrence measures introduced. The internalisation by broader publics of “security knowledge” regarding migration contributed to the securitisation move. However, the construction of migration into a security-laden notion goes beyond both the adoption of deterrence measures and the straightforward association of migration with state as well as societal (in)security. Through the lens of its cooperative tools with its southern neighbours, the EU has built complex interdependencies between migration, post-2011 regional stabilisation and security. In order to read the EU’s securitised migration politics properly, the migration-security nexus must be embedded in its social, geopolitical and temporal fields. Perceptions of geopolitical threats, concurrent strains and divergences over European integration and immigration constitute an enabling terrain for the politics of securitisation.     

Construct validity and internal reliability of the Finnish risk and needs assessment form

Validation of risk and needs assessment instruments used to predict, and reduce, recidivism and misconduct is of ethical, practical and scientific importance. We argue for a focus on variable (i.e. changeable over time) risk factors, and that validation begins with establishing construct validity. The Finnish Risk and Needs Assessment Form, in Finnish Riski- ja tarvearvio (RITA), is a semi-structured interview form adapted from the Offender Assessment System used in England and Wales and consists primarily of variable risk factors. In this study, we examined the construct validity and internal reliability of RITA. The results suggest that the original RITA sections do not provide an adequate statistical model for describing the relationship between scored questions, and we, therefore, offer an improved model. In our proposed model, several scores are influenced by more than one dimension of risk and the dimensions correlate with each other considerably. We suggest that the dimensions that can be measured with RITA are Problems managing economy, Alcohol problems, Resistance to change, Drug abuse and associated behaviour, Aggressiveness and Employment problems. All factors except Drug abuse and associated behaviour had very good internal reliability. We propose this new model to be used in future research with, and in development of, RITA.     

论公共政策公共性的内在意蕴

公共政策是适应社会公共生活而产生的行为规范,同时也构成了社会公共生活的重要组成部分。在社会公共生活中,公共政策以公共利益为取向、以公共权力为依托、以公共秩序为归宿。这构成了公共政策公共性的内在意蕴。公共政策在公共权力的支撑下,通过对社会价值的权威性分配来实现公共利益,从而也为社会公共生活建立起新的公共秩序。这是公共政策对社会公共生活的价值所在。     

延安时期中国共产党发展对内对外关系的经验与启示

延安时期,中国共产党在毛泽东的领导下,在处理各种复杂的关系中表现出高超的政治智慧和斗争艺术,使党与人民之间保持了鱼水交融的关系,党与国民党、党与世界反法西斯阵营各个国家之间的关系基本上呈现出良性互动态势;延安经验表明,人民的拥护与支持,是我党发展与国民党和其他国家关系的基础,而妥善处理与国民党和其他国家之间的关系,又能促进根据地的民主建设。我党在上述方面积累的成功经验,对今天解决内政外交问题具有借鉴和参考价值。     

刘少奇对正确处理人民内部矛盾理论的贡献

刘少奇善于研究人民内部矛盾理论,他不仅较早地注意和提出了人民内部矛盾问题,而且具有许多独创性的见解,他的主要贡献体现在：最早提出“人民内部矛盾”的概念,开拓了两类矛盾学说的先河;明确指出人民内部矛盾是国内的主要矛盾;论述了人民内部矛盾的主要表现和群众闹事的原因;阐明了正确处理人民内部矛盾的途径和方法。对新时期正确认识和妥善处理人民内部矛盾、努力构建社会主义和谐社会具有重要的借鉴意义。