Violent crime as old as the Bible: Boko Haram uses rape as a weapon of war

Days after Nigerian security forces freed 234 women from Boko Haram’s stronghold in Nigeria’s Sambisa forest it was reported that at least 214 (91%) of them were pregnant. The women were among nearly 700 rescued from the Islamic terrorist group in operations and have been taken to safe camps in Borno State where they will be offered medical and pre-natal care and counselling. It is not yet known whether any of the 230 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram from their school in the town of Chibok in April 2014 were among them

Farewell Terry Pratchett: a psychological analysis of Discworld

Terry Pratchett, the incredibly prolific fantasy author and creator of the bestselling Discworld series, has died aged 66. He was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago. Pratchett set 40 of his novels in his most famous creation, Discworld. This is a place in which magic is the natural rule and the way to deal with life and its problems. Here, the “scientist” is held in either mild disdain or open disbelief

Are You There God? Whether we Pray Harder or Endure Wrath Depends on the Religious Doctrine of Providence

This article gives a Christian perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic, relating it to the apocalypse narrative found in the Book of Revelations, in addition to the doctrinal idea of Divine Providence. The article discusses providential fatalism, providential activism, providential exclusivism, providential punitivism, and providential interventionism

Aphasia teaching by the experts: A collaborative approach to undergraduate education

Background information DMU4 is a once monthly conversation group for people with aphasia (PWA). It started in 2008 and is part of the Aphasia Leicester Group, an organisation created and run by PWA. The main purpose of the DMU4 conversation group is to give PWA an opportunity to meet and practise talking. Since October 2009 the group has provided teaching for second year Speech and Language Therapy students. Theoretical teaching is provided alongside the DMU4 learning experience to encourage students to link theory to practice. The conversation group learning opportunity also responds to clinical teacher feedback from student feedback that suggested that second year students would benefit from more confidence and greater skill in talking to PWA. Student training Although DMU4 is not directly modelled on the conversational partner scheme outlined by McVicker, Parr, Pound and Duchan (2007), the conversation group has adapted elements of the CONNECT training programmes to suit undergraduate conversation training. Before the group students are asked to prepare themselves by reading one of three noteworthy conversation based resources: Kagan & Gailey (1993), Kagan (1998) & Simmons-Mackie (1998). In a lecturer led pre group tutorial students are asked to discuss these papers and also discuss their perceptions about: their role in the group, how to start a conversation with a PWA, how to synthesise theory with practice and how to design an aphasia friendly feedback sheet. Students then participate in a two hour conversation group. In the first hour students experience talking to a PWA. At the end of the hour the students receive feedback from their conversational partner using the aphasia friendly feedback sheet created in the pre group tutorial. After coffee the students have a new conversation with different conversational partner and at the end of this hour the students receive feedback from their new partner. At the end of the group students are asked to evaluate the DMU4 learning experience and reflect on what they have learnt in a post group tutorial led by a PWA. Teaching evaluation Quantitative module evaluation has suggested that students think that the DMU4 experience is valuable. Qualitative module evaluation also suggested that students have benefiited from the experience as they reported gains in theoretical understanding (understanding of aphasia), gains in skill levels (increased ablity to use multi modality communication and increased ability to know how to adapt their level of language) and gains in clinical confidence. References KAGAN, A. & GAILEY, G. (1993) Functional is not enough: Training conversation partners for aphasic adults. In A. Holland & M. Forbes (Eds.) Aphasia Treatment: World Perspectives. San Diego: Singular Press. KAGAN, A. (1998). Supported conversation for adults with aphasia: Methods and resources for training conversation partners. Aphasiology, 12, 9, 816-830. McVICKER, S., PARR, S., POUND, C. & DUCHAN, J. (2007) The communication partner scheme: a project to develop long term, low cost access to conversation for people living with aphasia. Aphasiology, 23, 1, 52-71. SIMMONS MACKIE, N. (1998) Communiciation strategies used by “good” vs “poor” speaking partners of individuals with aphasia. Aphasiology, 12, 9, 831-838

Community conversation toolkit

"The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures is a 2year project to create a national action agenda for strengthening the United States' approach to protecting the public from harmful chemical exposures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are project sponsors. National Conversation partners have developed this Community Conversation Toolkit to assist community leaders in hosting local meetings to gather input on public health and chemical exposure issues.We are seeking people interested in hosting a community conversation between April and June of 2010. The toolkit includes: Outreach tips for recruiting participants; Instructions for hosting and guiding a community conversation; A brief background paper on the issue of public health and chemical exposures; A discussion guide to prompt conversations; and Instructions and materials for providing the National Conversation team a summary of the conversation's major outcomes." - p. 2Section 1: Introduction -- Section 2: Outreach tips -- Section 3: Instructions for conveners and facilitators -- Section 4: Understanding the issues -- Section 5: Discussion guide -- Section 6: Summary template -- Section 7: Sign-in sheetMode of access: Internet.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.Title from title screen (viewed on May 7, 2010)

National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures.Chemical Emergencies Work .Group final report

"The National Conversation on Public Health and Chemical Exposures is a collaborative project, supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The National Conversation vision is for chemicals to be used and managed in ways that are safe and healthy for all people. The project's goal is to develop an action agenda with clear, achievable recommendations that can help government agencies, tribes, and other organizations strengthen their efforts to protect the public from harmful chemical exposures. The National Conversation Leadership Council will author the action agenda, utilizing input from six project work groups and members of the public who chose to participate in web dialogues and community conversations and offer comments. National Conversation work groups were formed to research and make recommendations on the following six crosscutting public health and chemical exposures issues: monitoring, scientific understanding, policies and practices, chemical emergencies, serving communities, and education and communication. This report is the product of the Chemical Emergencies work group's deliberations. While issued to the National Conversation Leadership Council, the work group hopes that this report will be of value to others in a position to act on the recommendations contained herein. CDC and ATSDR worked with several groups to manage the National Conversation, including RESOLVE, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the effective use of consensus building in public decision-making, the American Public Health Association, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials. These organizations and others helped ensure that a broad range of groups and individuals were engaged throughout this collaborative process, including government agencies, professional organizations, American Indian/Alaska Native tribes (AI/AN), community and non-profit organizations, health professionals, business and industry leaders, and members of the public" - p. 1"November 2010."Mode of access: Internet.System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.Title from title screen (viewed on December 4, 2010).Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-31)

Gendering the careers of young professionals: some early findings from a longitudinal study. in Organizing/theorizing: developments in organization theory and practice

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales