University College Roosevelt

Dignification of victims is understood as the process of restoring their dignity, which is their full and equal status as human beings with autonomy and material, social and natural conditions for a good or dignified life. We discuss how civil servants’ understanding of a dignified victim affects how they implement material reparations. In turn, we explore how the implementation of material reparation affects the dignification of victims, according to victims. Using a life-story approach, we conducted 13 semi-structured interviews with civil servants and victims’ leaders. This sample allowed us to analyse a cumulation of over 20 years of dedicated work with victims in the region. We identified four themes that civil servants consider necessary for a process of victim dignification: participation, empowerment, de-stigmatisation and dignified listening. We explain how these themes can have the non-intended consequence of ignoring or denying some important elements for the recognition of victims’ dignity.

Previous studies have shown that exposure to gender stereotypes has a detrimental impact on women’s performance. In chess, it has been demonstrated that the performance level of women is negatively influenced when they are exposed to negative stereotypes about their ability to play chess. However, it is still largely unclear whether the influence of a negative stereotype of women’s ability to play chess is only limited to their level of performance, or whether it could also affect their opponent’s performance. The present study investigated this reversed stereotype threat in online chess playing an unrated game. It was expected that a chess player’s performance would be influenced by the gender of their opponent. However, the participants’ online opponent was neither a female nor male chess player, but rather, unknown to the participants, it was a computer program that either played with a male or female nickname. The results showed that participants who played against a female nickname played less well, lost more games, and made more mistakes and blunders than participants who played against a male nickname. In sum, findings indicate that, in chess, the influence of a gender stereotype is not limited to the group the stereotype is targeted at, but also reduces the performance of the opponent’s level of play, leading to a reversed stereotype threat.

Despite advances in immunosuppressive prophylaxis and overall supportive care, gastrointestinal (GI) graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major, lethal side effect after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). It has become increasingly clear that the intestinal epithelium, in addition to being a target of transplant-related toxicity and GVHD, plays an important role in the onset of GVHD. Over the last two decades, increased understanding of the epithelial constituents and their microenvironment has led to the development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic interventions, with the potential to protect the intestinal epithelium from GVHD-associated damage and promote its recovery following insult. In this review, we will discuss intestinal epithelial injury and the role of the intestinal epithelium in GVHD pathogenesis. In addition, we will highlight possible approaches to protect the GI tract from damage posttransplant and to stimulate epithelial regeneration, in order to promote intestinal recovery. Combined treatment modalities integrating immunomodulation, epithelial protection, and induction of regeneration may hold the key to unlocking mucosal recovery and optimizing therapy for acute intestinal GVHD.

This article discusses the potential and limits of municipal solidarity with refugees to offer solutions to some of the acute problems caused by the lack of international and intra-European Union (EU) solidarity. It focuses on the Greek island of Tilos, which in contrast to the nearby hotspot islands has developed a reception model that safeguards refugees’ rights, preserves social cohesion, and contributes to local development. The article shows that spontaneous expressions of municipal solidarity can be gradually transformed into sustained commitment to refugee reception, and highlights the opportunity that municipal solidarity opens up for strengthening refugee protection in the EU. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Aim To study the hypothesis that COPD patients who do not achieve seroprotective levels after influenza vaccination, are a less immune-competent group with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality. Methods 578 patients included in the COMIC cohort had pre- and post-vaccination stable state blood samples in which influenza-vaccine specific antibodies were measured. Post-vaccination titers of ≥40 were considered protective and indicative of being immuno-competent. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Morbidity was defined as time till first severe acute exacerbation in COPD (severe AECOPD) and time till first community acquired pneumonia (CAP). Results 42% of the patients achieved seroprotective levels to both H1N1 and H3N2 after vaccination. Seroprotective levels to H3N2 were markedly higher (96%) than to H1N1(43%). Having seroprotective levels to both H1N1 and H3N2 was not associated with less morbidity (severe AECOPD HR 0.91 (95% 0.66–1.25; p = 0.564) (CAP HR 1.23 (95% 0.75–2.00; p = 0.412)) or lower mortality (HR 1.10(95% 0.87–1.38; p = 0.433)). Conclusion In a large well-characterized COPD cohort only the minority of patients achieved seroprotective titers to H1N1 and H3N1 after the yearly influenza vaccination. While achieving seroprotection after vaccination can be considered a surrogate marker of being immunocompetent, this was not associated with lower morbidity and mortality. Whether this means that the immune status is not a relevant pheno/endotype in COPD patients for the course of their disease or that seroprotection is not an adequate (surrogate) marker to define the immune status in COPD needs to be further studied.

We investigated the effects of active workstations on cognitive control functions in individuals diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In a fully counterbalanced randomized control design, we examined the effects of cycling on a desk bike on phonological working memory (WM) in 18 adolescents with ADHD. Adolescents performed a phonological WM test across two separate sessions during which they either cycled or not. It was hypothesized that participants would perform better on the WM task while cycling as compared to seated-rest. Results showed that total WM performance was not affected by desk-bike cycling. Exploratory analyses suggested that cycling during more difficult trials (i.e., high WM demands) is beneficial for WM performance. More research is needed to shed light on how task difficulty moderates the potential compensatory effect of desk-bike cycling on WM performance in adolescent ADHD participants.

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In this chapter, the potential role of mindfulness training in the prevention of radicalization is discussed. After a discussion of the concept and different forms of mindfulness, the relation between mindfulness and radicalization is presented. Vulnerabilities making young people receptive to radicalization which can be addressed by mindfulness are mentioned. Next, interventions to foster mindfulness skills in school-aged children are discussed, together with empirical evidence of their effectiveness. The chapter ends with a description of the mechanisms underlying mindfulness and its effects.

In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of young peoples’ identity development for the prevention of radicalization. After an exploration of the concept of identity, the relation between identity development and radicalization, is discussed in the context of personal, social and cultural identities. More specifically, an explanation of how identity struggles can lead to receptiveness to radical groups is offered. Then, educational interventions meant to foster positive identity development are discussed. Empirical evidence of their effectiveness is also included.

This chapter focuses on the concept of political self-efficacy. First, it describes what political self-efficacy is and how a deficit in this domain may be related to radicalization. The chapter describes how individuals perceiving a lack of acceptable effective means of addressing their collective grievances can justify violence as a valid mean. These perceptions are to a large degree synonymous to an insufficient political self-efficacy and are often coinciding with limited knowledge. The authors also describe empirical evidence for these relations. Then, educational interventions aimed at increasing political self-efficacy and thereby preventing radicalization are discussed, as well as empirical evidence for their effectiveness.

This chapter describes the relevance of perspective taking and conflict resolution skills for the prevention of radicalization. First, it describes what perspective taking is and why it is important. Then, the authors discuss the relation between perspective taking and radicalization. Afterwards, the authors describe school interventions to increase the perspective taking and conflict resolution abilities of young people, as well as empirical evidence of the effectiveness of these interventions.

Imprinting of the specific molecular image of a given protein antigen into immunological memory is one of the hallmarks of immunity. A later contact with a related, but different antigen should not trigger the memory response (because the produced antibodies would not be effective). The preferential expansion of cross-reactive antibodies, or T-lymphocytes for that matter, by a related antigen has been termed the original antigenic sin and was first described by Thomas Francis Jr. in 1960. The phenomenon was initially described for influenza virus, but also has been found for dengue and rotavirus. The antibody dependent enhancement observed in feline coronavirus vaccination also may be related to the original antigenic sin. For a full interpretation of the effectivity of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2, as well as for the success of vaccination, the role of existing immunological memory against circulating corona viruses is reviewed and analyzed.

In the past decade or so, vulnerability has become a fairly prominent concept in human rights law. It has evolved from being an underlying notion to an explicit concept. This column takes stock of vulnerability's relationship to, and possible influence on human rights law, assessing the concept's potential and pitfalls. It focuses on the not altogether unrelated issues of migrants’ social rights and on the role of human rights in environmental protection. The discussion commences with a reflection on the potential of vulnerability to re-interrogate those aspects of the human rights paradigm that relate to environmental protection. The next section focuses on the potential of vulnerability to enhance migrants’ social rights within human rights law. Subsequently, it focuses on the pitfalls and the difficulties of the vulnerability concept. It concludes by offering an outlook for the future of the concept.

Local governments and transnational city networks (‘TCNs’) have been increasingly engaging with norm-generation in the traditionally state-centric international law and migration governance. We identified two modes of this engagement: participation in mainstream state-centric processes, and norm-generation within their own networks. Through four examples, his article identifies four functions of this jurisgenerative activity. Theexternal function is bringing local interests and expertise to influence international normative developments. The internal function is regulating local governments' behaviour towards their own citizens, creating and upholding standards. Through a horizontal function, local governments recruit peers and rally around normative documents that offer a compact, crystallised expression of their interests. The integrating function enables local governments to combine fragmented issues of international law in unified, practical toolkits for their own use. All throughout, TCNs challenge state-centric international law and their traditional exclusion from it by demonstrating competence and fluency in international norm-generation relating to migration.

Objectives: To promote functional recovery in persons diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, vocational interventions have emerged over the last few decades which range from sheltered employment to supported employment in the community. Design: Using data from a 6-month vocational rehabilitation programme, we examined whether assessments of the therapeutic alliance were related to the quality of work performed in this work placement. Our first hypothesis was that stronger alliances would be related to better work performance. Second, we expected that client assessments of the TA would better predict outcomes than therapist assessments. Third, we expected that the discrepancy between assessment scores from the client and therapist (client rating minus therapist rating) would be a better predictor for outcome than individual assessments by the therapists or clients. Results: Clients systematically rated the alliance higher than therapists. Modelling the data longitudinally, we found both therapist and client ratings predictive of outcome, though client assessments over time were inversely related to work performance. Conclusions: Discrepancy in scores was also shown to be predictive of work performance during the program. Clinicians are advised to routinely assess the therapeutic alliance from both client and therapist perspectives and calculate the discrepancy between them as they may indicate ruptures are occurring and thus hamper the intervention. Practitioner points: Clinicians are advised to regularly assess the therapeutic alliance from both their own and the client's perspective. Growing discrepancy in scores may impede intervention effectiveness. Therapeutic alliance may help buffer against work stresses experienced by participants in a vocational programme. Be aware that therapists tend to rate the alliance lower than their clients.

Perceived discrimination, intergroup contact and acceptance are often encountered during acculturation processes. Based on large-scale survey data collected in the Netherlands among Antillean-Dutch, Moroccan-Dutch, Surinamese-Dutch, and Turkish-Dutch immigrant groups, relations were tested between acculturation antecedents (perceived discrimination, intergroup contact, and perceived acceptance), mediating conditions (cultural maintenance and cultural adoption), and acculturation outcomes (psychological and sociocultural outcomes). Confirmatory factor analyses pointed to adequate psychometric qualities for all concepts in the total group and to invariance in the four Dutch immigrant groups. Structural equation modeling revealed a very good fit for our model in the total group and the four immigrant groups. The acculturation model captured similar experiences, notwithstanding the different cultural backgrounds of the four groups. Experiencing discrimination had a direct negative effect on sociocultural and psychological outcomes such as well-being, and indirectly via cultural adoption. The frequency of immigrants’ contacts with various groups positively affected adopting the new culture and maintaining their own. This implies both attitudes are needed, that is, appreciating their background culture while also having a positive attitude toward Dutch society and more confidence in sociocultural skills. Surinamese-Dutch appeared to best fit the described acculturation process. However, there were also some differential effects. For example, for the Turkish-Dutch group, experiencing more discrimination did not result in a more negative attitude toward Dutch society. In addition, for Antillean-Dutch the frequency of contact with various cultures had no direct effect on mediating conditions. Further research should uncover general acculturation mechanisms without neglecting singular patterns within the various immigrant groups.

Formative assessment can be seen as an integral part of teaching and learning, as formative assessment affects students’ learning and vice versa. Students’ motivation can theoretically be placed at the centre of this reciprocal relationship, as formative assessment is assumed to affect students’ need satisfaction of autonomy, competence and relatedness, and consequently their autonomous motivation. In the current study, two assumptions were tested empirically: formative assessment contributes to students’ autonomous motivation and students’ need satisfaction functions as a mediator in this relationship. The results provided support for those assumptions and indicated that more perceived use of formative assessment is associated with more feelings of autonomy and competence, and more autonomous motivation. The current study demonstrated the benefits of studying formative assessment as practice and provides encouragement for teachers to start applying formative assessment in their classroom. The theoretical model provides teachers with guidelines for an optimal implementation of formative assessment and provides researchers with a framework to study the phenomenon of ‘formative assessment as practice’ in more depth.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has now rapidly spread around the world, causing an outbreak of acute infectious pneumonia. To develop effective and safe therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 has become the major global public health concern. Traditional medicine (TM)/herbal medicines (HMs) have been used to treat multiple epidemics in human history, which brings hope for the fight against COVID-19 in some areas. For example, in China, India, and South Korea with traditional medication history and theory, the governments issued a series of guidelines to support TM/HMs in the medication of COVID-19. In contrast, other countries e.g. North American and European governments are typically silent on these practices, unless to warn of possible harm and overselling. Such difference is due to the discrepancy in culture, history and philosophical views of health care and medication, as well as unharmonized policies and standards in the regulation and legalization of TM/HMs among different areas. Herein, we reviewed the responses and scientific researches from seven selected countries on the policies and legalization of TM/HMs to treat COVID-19, and also analyzed the major challenges and concerns to utilize the traditional knowledge and resource.

Using rich administrative data from a small Dutch liberal arts college, I study how the number of students enrolled in a course affects student grades and course evaluations. Exploiting variation across parallel sections of the same course taught by the same instructor, I show that class size has a significant negative effect on student grades in mandatory courses, but not in electives. I show similar results for various components of student course evaluations: perceived overall course quality, perceived amount learned, student participation and engagement. I interpret these findings to be consistent with class size affecting educational outcomes through student engagement.