Tortures in law enforcement structures of the Republic of Tajikistan

Introduction ?Eradication of torture is the deed of conscience of everyone and each person. Pain and suffering of each separate victim surmount the political, religious and cultural barriers, and therefore we, all of us, are obliged to put efforts and aspire to the one common purpose ? to human World whereat there is no place for torture?. (ICRVT, 1) The issues related to human rights have become the main component of everyday activity of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan. During the independence years Tajikistan has ratified the significant number of international agreements, pacts and other legal documents in the area of human rights, thus being taken commitments to develop and protect various human rights and freedoms. As human rights are inalienable, all people without any exclusions posses and use them. Alongside with that sometimes there may appear a desire to deprive this or that group of people of their rights completely or partially. There is a viewpoint that a person who committed a crime or charged for a crime, he ignored the rights and freedoms of victims and thus deprived himself of all his rights and we can behave in the same way towards him. But let us not forget that if we shall deprive some certain groups of their rights and freedoms and subject them to tortures, by that we threaten after all our humaneness and violate hundreds-years established principles and norms of humanism. The torture is one of the violations of human rights which today the international community and human rights advocates all around the globe are most anxious of. What is it torture? One of the best definitions of torture is that written in Convention against torture (CAT) which runs as follows: ?Torture means any action in which to any person it is caused intentionally physical or mental pain or suffering for obtaining from him or the third person information or acknowledgment (avowal), to punish him or the third person for action(s) he did, and also to frighten or force him or the third person, or, by any other reason which is based upon discrimination of any form, when such pain or suffering inflicted by a state official or other person who is acting as an official character or by their solicitation or with their knowledge or tacit consent. (Jiffar, 6)? The torture is used as kind of punishment with the purpose of obtaining information or to force detained person to give testimony against him or to give avowal of guilt. And yet, the torture is used for frightening of detainees, for keeping them in a state of shock and in inaction. The main aim of torture is infliction of maximal possible physical and mental pain, however debarring death, and thereby to make detainee to give in.

Breakdown and Review of Where the Wild Things Are

Breakdown and Review of 'Where the Wild Things Are' Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak  has become a classic. Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal as the Most Distinguished Picture Book of the Year, it was first published by HarperCollins in 1963. When Sendak wrote the book, the theme of dealing with dark emotions was rare in childrens literature, especially in picture book format. Story Summary After more than 50 years, what keeps the book  popular is not the impact of the book on the field of childrens literature, it is the impact of the story and the illustrations on young readers. The plot of the book is based on the fantasy (and real) consequences of a little boys mischief. One night Max dresses up in his wolf suit and does all kinds of things he shouldnt, like chasing the dog with a fork. His mother scolds him and calls him a WILD THING! Max is so mad he shouts back, ILL EAT YOU UP! As a result, his mother sends him to his bedroom without any supper. Maxs imagination transforms his bedroom into an extraordinary setting, with a forest and an ocean and a little boat that Max sails in until he comes to a land full of wild things. Although they look and sound very fierce, Max is able to tame them with a single glance. They all realize Max is ..the most wild thing of all and make him their king. Max and the wild things have a fine time creating a rumpus until Max begins to want to be †¦where someone loved him best of all. Maxs fantasy ends when he smells his dinner. Despite the wild things protests, Max sails back to his own room where he finds his supper waiting for him. The Books Appeal This is a particularly appealing story because Max is in conflict with both his mother and his own anger. Despite the fact that he is still angry when he is sent to his room, Max does not continue his mischief. Instead, he gives free rein to his angry emotions through his fantasy, and then, comes to a decision that he will no longer let his anger separate him from those whom he loves and who love him. Max is an engaging character. His actions, from chasing the dog to talking back to his mother are realistic. His emotions are also realistic. Its quite common for children to get angry and fantasize about what they could do if they ruled the world and then calm down and consider the consequences. Max is a child with whom most 3- to 6-year-olds readily identify. Summing Up the Impact of the Book Where the Wild Things Are is an excellent book. What makes it so extraordinary is the creative imagination of both Maurice Sendak the writer and Maurice Sendak the artist. The text and the artwork complement one another, moving the story along seamlessly. The transformation of Maxs bedroom into a forest is a visual delight. Sendaks colored pen and ink illustrations in muted colors are both humorous and sometimes a little scary, reflecting both Maxs imagination and his anger. The theme, conflict, and characters are ones with which readers of all ages can identify, and  is a book that children will enjoy hearing again and again. Publisher: HarperCollins, ISBN: 0060254920

Respond Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Respond - Essay Example In her responses to the questions asked in the quiz, the writer makes it clear that those around her are very (if not the most) important people her line of work. In her previous experience she worked with someone whose communication skills were wanting and she doesn’t want a repeat of the same with both her superiors and colleagues at work. She is also honest with herself and admits that patience is a skill that she will need to develop farther as she seeks to improve herself and become a more effective communicator. She is proud of the communication skills she developed as a student in college and looks forward to using them in resolving conflicts at work. The writer is honest with herself and admits that she lacks the confidence to speak in front of people. This stems from her lack of confidence in her abilities and probably the fear of making mistakes. Not all is lost, however. Teaching has made her confidence grow day by day. Rightly so, she is optimistic that the progress will lead to better careers opportunities for her in future, as long as the progress and growth continues

Course Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Course Project - Research Paper Example Organizations main aim is to achieve their objective goals. They usually meet challenges and they must beat them to achieve these goals as a team. Challenges create different conflicts among members of the organisation both within and the general environment in which the firm is based. Most people believe that conflict will lead to unfavourable results but this is not true. Conflict has both good and bad impacts. There are different strategies and styles that have been created to solve the problem of conflict in the organisation. Misunderstanding in an organisation usually comes about due to differences in viewpoints, competition, different ideas and this usually has different effects. This is something common that occurs in organisation now days. Some of the effects that conflict can bring include change in the organisation. This is achieved by modification of policies to manage and resolve conflict. It also leads to new innovations, improve goal congruence, results to sub optimization and lastly it wastes a lot of time. How an individual responds and manages conflict usually determines the success of the organisation. According to Bar-Siman-Tov and Yaacov conflict arises due to differences in ideas. It has a great impact on employee turnover, morale and litigation (57-9). This usually affects the success and development of organization. The main objective of conflict management and resolution is to promote learning team results. Suggestions by Tidwell and Alan say that efficiency and effectiveness in the company’s setting (24-6). This will usually lead to good outcomes. There are five ways which have been suggested to avoid conflict if it arises (Dana 61). Collaboration is one way of solving conflict. Here it emphasizes that every affected part idea is regarded. The basic idea here is that considering every individual opinion will

Public Attitudes Towards Health

Public Attitudes Towards Health 2.1 Dianne Salvador Attitudinal determinants: Public attitudes 1. The public concepts of what health is 2. The public concepts of what illness is 3. The importance the public put on health 4. Public attitudes towards health and medical professionals 1. The concept of health refers to a person’s social, mental and physical health. According to the World health Organization health is a characterize of a complete physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and social well being of a person in terms of being free from any ailments or diseases. The community health professional place a strong importance on wellness it includes the quality to established a potential fulfilling and productive life. A client and a health care providers often define wellness and health in different ways. One in every of the foremost vital things in life is to be healthy not simply physically, however mentally and showing emotion likewise. 2. Concepts of Illness Is a personal state in which the person feels unhealthy physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, developmental or the spiritual functioning is weakened or impaired contrast with previous experience. Illness are refers to the subjective sense of feeling sick or feeling unwell illness does not define a specific pathology it refers to a person’s subjective experience of it, such as discomfort, tiredness, anxiety, confusion or general malaise. The way patient address symptoms sometimes it influenced culturally and social background. illness is a wickedness and unpleasantness it is a unhealthy condition of a body and mind. A person’s health was greatly influenced by ventilation, noise, cleanliness, diet, temperature.Cultural differences affect patients’ attitudes about medical care and their ability to understand, manage, and cope with the course of an illness, the meaning of a diagnosis, and the consequences of medical treatment. culture specific values inf luence patient roles and expectations, how much information about illness and treatment is desired, how death and dying will be managed, bereavement patterns, gender and family roles, and processes for decision making. 3. The focus of public health intermediate is to improve health and quality of life through the prevention and treatment of  disease  and other physical and mental health conditions, through  surveillance  of cases and  health indicators, and through the promotion of healthy behaviors. Some examples of common public health measures are the promotion of  hand washing, breastfeeding, family planning, vaccine preventable disease, and distribution of  condoms  to control the spread of  sexually transmitted diseases. The modern public health practice requires  multidisciplinary teams  of professionals including physicians  specializing in public health/community medicine/infectious disease,  epidemiologists, biostatisticians,public health nurses,  medical microbiologists,  environmental health officers/public health inspectors,pharmacists,  dental hygienists,  dietitians  and  nutritionists,  veterinarians, public health engineers, public health law yers,  sociologists, community development workers, communications experts,  bioethicists, and others. The  World Health Organization  (WHO) is the international agency that coordinates and acts on  global public health  issues. 4. The public is making more demands on health professionals and pursuing more engagement in decisions about their care. Dignity and respect and the relational aspects of care are core drivers of satisfaction of both health and social care services. There is important room for improvement in this aspect of care within the NHS, but particularly in social care. Attitudes among the public alter from the completely unconcerned to a small proportion of the public that has a strong views on privacy either from a sense of a private to privacy or because of some sensitive episode in the past that they wish to protect. the majority of the public seem to rely on trust in clinicians the health care system. it is clear that in modern healthcare the public are unclear on the potential roles of medical records. the public develop to be enhancing more comfortable with technology which may reduce fears over privacy but with growing expectation over security choice about access to their records. Reference: Caplan, Arthur L. 1993. The concepts of health, illness and disease. In: ed. William F. Bynum Roy Porter (eds.), Companion Encyclopaedia of the History of Medicine, London: Routledge, pp. 233–48. Detmer D. Your privacy or your health – will medical privacy legislation stop quality health care. Int J Qual Health Care 2000;12:1-3. http://www.slideshare.net/drjayeshpatidar/concept-of-illness

Discuss the roles of development learning Essay

The nervous system is responsible for the initiation, propagation and co-ordination of animal behaviour. How it is constructed and what factors are involved encompasses many fields of biology, from ethology and neurophysics to evolution. In this essay I will describe the roles of development learning and evolution in the construction of the nervous system and give experimental evidence that backs up these theories. Evolution Evolution deals with the origins of the nervous system, where it comes from determines how it will be constructed. This will have direct consequences on the relative fitness of an individual as the layout of the nervous system relates to how the animal behaves. Phylogeny is very important therefore to analyse how changes in the nervous system relate to the evolution of behaviour. The only realistic way of studying the evolution of nervous systems, particularly the events, which lead to, their current day form, is through comparative biology. By comparing closely related species in similar niches, the difference in their behaviour must have a genetic/nervous system origin. A good example of how behaviour can be genetic in origin and show that nervous systems can evolve to create different behavioural responses is found in deer. The white tailed deer odocoileus virginianus and the mule deer O. hemionus use different gaits when alarmed. The white deer gallop and the mule deer stott. This alone doesn’t confer that the difference is due to their nervous systems but the genetic origin for the behaviour is inferred when a cross between the two species results in a hybrid that bounds when alarmed. In order to attain quantitative data the use of complex nervous systems, such as mammals, is unfeasible. A simpler nervous system is better suited and comparisons can then be extrapolated for the more complex animals. Within the invertebrates the model organism is, as ever, Drosophila. Since its genome has been sequenced and the relatively short generation time it plays a key role in the study of all type of nervous system construction. Zebra fish have been termed â€Å"flies with backbones† and are perfect for the study of nervous system development in vertebrates. However these relatively simple organisms are still too complex to study fully and so scientists tend to use a part of a nervous system for detailed analysis. The Crustacean Stomatogastric Ganglion STG, which comprises of only 30 ganglions, is most popular for several reasons, mainly because it has been preserved for about 350 million years and is seen across many taxa. This allows for comparison on a smaller scale and although the overall synaptic circuitry is similar there are differences in the relative strength of connections and the amount of electrical coupling across the taxa. The reason why the STG is seen across so many taxa is because on the whole the nervous system is a very evolutionary conserved organ. This reflects its importance to an animal. As it is so conserved certain inferences can be made regarding the evolution of the nervous system. The first is that the neural networks must be pretty similar across species meaning that the nervous system is more of a generalist than a specialist. Therefore only small changes to the nervous system are needed in order to produce markedly different behaviours. It is these behaviours that are then subsequently acted upon by natural selection and contribute to the nervous system layout in the next generation. Development Once the genetic instructions that determine the constitution of the nervous system have been selected the next step in the construction of the nervous system is the subsequent application of that code, the development. The nervous system develops during embryogenesis and continues in some form or another throughout the animals’ life, but that latter stages of this development I shall relate to the learning part of this essay. From before we have learnt that the basic mechanisms for constructing a nervous system are highly conserved during evolution. There is a set of general tools that are used by all species and perhaps only a few specialist tools are needed in order to make an individual nervous system. The nervous systems building blokes are neurones, and since all cells derive from the fusion of the male and female gametes there must be factors telling cells to become neurones. The process of creating neurones is called neurogenesis and the mechanism is neural induction, the committal of cells to a neural fate. It appears that this process is a permissive one, one where the local inactivation of inhibitors in the ectoderm, creates neurones. The factors that drive neural induction are basic helix loop helix type proteins and homologues have been found in both vertebrates and invertebrates, thus stressing their importance. Also the helix loop helix is a very evolutionary old mechanism for gene regulation and the fact that neural cells can be coerced The next step is the creation of asymmetry in the ectoderm. This allows a more complex, coordinated nervous system to develop. The formation of layers, maps and modules is an essential feature of neural development in â€Å"higher† animals. The process of creating asymmetry, and so the nervous system as a whole, can be divided into three parts. 1. Pathway Selection The growing tips of the neurones travel great distances in order to reach their target. When confronted with a series of choice points they manage to travel in the right direction. 2. Target Selection Once the neurone has arrived in the correct neighbourhood the contact and recognise their correct target, usually a localised set of neurones. 3. Address Selection Refinement occurs as axonal terminals retract and expand to select a specific subset of cells from within the overall target. Capable of transforming a coarse, grained and overlapping projection into a refined and highly tuned pattern of connections. The mechanisms of these processes are still being elucidated although some basic principles have begun to crystallise. The development of connectivity most probably involves general â€Å"algorithmic† principles. The experiments performed in the last ten years have proved to provide strong evidence for many of the previous hypothesis. Pathway and Target Selection Mechanisms Axonal growth needs to be controlled in order for a functioning nervous system to develop, however this does not necessarily mean that the neurons have to be firing in order to be set up. The pathway and target selection mechanisms are believed to be autonomous, activity independent. This has been demonstrated by work done on Ambystomid Urodeles (Twitty and Johnson 1934). The embryos were paralysed with TTX for a period of days until the larvae would normally move and feed for themselves. At that point the TTX induced paralysis wore off and surprisingly the animals soon began to swim and eat in a remarkably normal fashion. In the 1970’s a theory developed that the innervation of muscles is largely at random, with patterns emerging later by the elimination of connections and cell death. This appears to be a very costly mechanism as neurones are being created only to soon be destroyed. This theory was abandoned when studies were performed on chicks (Landmesser 1978, 1980) and zebra fish (Eisen et al, 1986) that showed specific motor neurones innervate their target muscle with relatively few error from the outset. They possess unique identities that allow them to differentially respond to the choice point region, follow particular pathways and innervate specific muscle. Sperry first postulated the mechanism for the directionality of growth cone movement in 1963 when he suggested the chemoaffinity hypothesis. Neuronal growth cones were specifically guided toward their correct targets by specific chemotactic cues and proposed gradients of chemical labels. The neurones enhance and transduce the signals from the extracellular matrix to remodel cytoskeletal elements. This form of gradient-mediated chemotaxis is essential in the formation of more complex structures such as layers and maps. However the directional sensing of neurones in a 2D field such as the tectum is strong evidence for guidance by gradients despite any molecular evidence. Theoretical analysis show that requirements for map formation are simple for target tissue; there must be at least one gradient for each of the tangential dimensions. For co-ordinated simultaneous development of the nervous system there must be a series of different gradients to ensure that neurones do not switch tracks or get confused when the tissue becomes saturated with the same molecule. This has been seen when the preferred neurone’s pathway has been ablated and they have chosen not to move down other axons. There is also compelling evidence for chemorepressor molecules which serve to deter axonal growth. Studies by Kampfhammer and Raper in the past 15 years have shown the mutual avoidance of the CNS axons and the PNS axons. Evidence is also accumulating that the developing midline of the CNS of both vertebrates and invertebrates provides both attractive and repulsive guidance cues. Many CAMs, integrins and extracellular matrix molecules have been implicated in growth cone guidance, owing to their expression in vivo. The experimental evidence for these molecules being directly responsible through the use of immunoassays and mutation is scare. One series of molecules has been identified though, small GTP proteins of the rho family that regulate the focal adhesion, membrane ruffling and filopodial protrusion of neurones. However assessing the accuracy of targeting is difficult. The mapping efficiency, although higher than simple dorsal-ventral distinctions is still far below the accuracy of some sections in the nervous system, namely vision. Other theories have had to be formulated in order to explain the increase in resolution. Selective cell death has been postulated but the one with the most evidence is activity dependent self-organisation. Address Targeting Activity dependent plasticity seems uniquely suited to refine local axonal projections beyond the accuracy achieved by genetic instruction alone. Schmidt and Edwards (1983) demonstrated the effects of activity dependent on creating a fine-grained map in the visual cortex of a fish. The fishes’ eye was crushed, if left to heal it eventually regenerated and regained the retinotectal map. If the regeneration was interrupted by the addition of TTX the fine-grained map failed to form although the coarse topographic map still formed. This suggests the relationship between refinement and neuronal activity. Further studies revealed that retinal ganglion cells fired synchronously, both during embryogenesis (intrinsic origin) and after (extrinsic origin), suggesting that it was not the neural activity per se but the temporal and spatial firing that refines axonal connections. So called â€Å"cells that fire together wire together†. But the converse is also true, that for any kind of axonal remodelling not only must appropriate connections be strengthened but inappropriate ones must be weakened. The evidence for the synchronous firing of neurones continuing into later life means that the environment is constantly altering the neural networks. Learning As we have learnt the constantly changing neural networks are directly related to the extrinsic information they receive. The definition of learning is the acquisition of new information and memory is the retention of that information over time. It is clear now how the two are related in terms of the nervous system, the process of learning effects the construction of the nervous system by the storage of the information gained. The acquisition of information may come in different forms, associative between two stimuli or non-associative such as habitualisation. However they do not directly alter the nervous system, the nervous system is altered by the way in which it decides to store this data. The first insight was made by Ebbinghaus (1913) where he determined different phases of memory storage. It was Milner who first made the distinction between short term and long-term memory, the two different types of data storage, which are separated on a temporal basis. Short-term storage involves functional changes in the strength of pre-existing synaptic connections. This was demonstrated by experiments on Alpysia. Conditioning was performed and it was reflected in the neural circuitry as a greatly enhanced strengthening of the input connections of the sensory neurones to their target cells. Murphy and Glanzman (1997) provide compelling evidence for the changes in synapse being causally involved in the learning of new information through their work on the receptors of glutamate in the synapses. Long-term memory storage involves the synthesis of new protein and the growth of new connections (Flexner et al 19650. Given this information how is short-term memory converted into long-term memory? The answer is not yet fully understood, but experiments have given some clues as t how it occurs. Serotonin is thought to be important (Kandel 1976) as it increases the intracellular concentration of the secondary messenger cAMP. Martin et al (1997) suggests that new genes are being activated in the nucleus have their products distributed widely, but that the products only persistently strengthen those synapses that have somehow been marked by short term facilitation. It also appears that the protein CREB is required for functional plasticity but it is not sufficient for morphological plasticity. The changes to the gross structure of the nervous system in response to learning can be seen in an experiment performed on monkeys that were trained to preferentially use only some fingers. The cortical representation of those fingers expanded (Merzenich and colleagues). This has also been demonstrated with violinists who show a disproportionate representation of their left hand (fingering hand) when compared to their right hand (bow movement). Conclusions The roles played by each factor described here each have their own specific effect on the construction of the nervous system. The evolutionary aspect controls the â€Å"blueprints† of the nervous systems that are hard coded into the DNA of the animal. However it is not specifically the genetic makeup of the nervous system that natural selection acts against, rather the phenotype of the nervous system, which is the combination of the developmental and the learning factors. The evolutionary factors alter the genotype, the only source of variation that can be passed down to their offspring. The development can only attempt to recreate the layout as specified by the different alleles; it cannot exceed them in terms of functionality. The true source of variation depends on the extrinsic information obtained and stored in memory, but that us not able to cross generations (with the exception of tradition) and so could be an explanation for the high evolutionary conservation of the nervous system. Bibliography Gierer, A & Muller, C. M 1995 development of layers maps and modules. Current Opinion o Neurobiology 5 91-97 Goodman, C. S & Shatz, C.J. 1993 Developmental mechanisms that generate precise patterns of neuronal connectivity Neuron 10 (Suppl. ). 77-98 Lumsden, A. & Jan, Y-N. 1997 Development. Editorial overview: the end of the beginning? Current Opinion in Neurobiology 7 3-6 Kandel, E. R. & Pittenger, C. 1999 The past, the future and the biology of memory storage Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society London B 354 2027-2052 Katz, P. S & Harris-Warwick R. M. 1999 The evolution of neuronal circuits underlying species-specific behaviour Current Opinion in Neurobiology 9 628-633.

Work Family Conflict

Hypotheses Hal- Individuals who report telecommuting will report less work-family conflict than those who do not report telecommuting. H2O – Individuals who report being able to take work home to complete will report less work-family conflict than those who do not report being able to take work home.. HA – Individuals who report having a flexible work schedule will report less work- family conflict than those who do not report having a flexible schedule. HA – Individuals who report taking a family leave will report less work-?family conflict than individuals who do not report taking a leave..HA – Reporting to a family-supportive supervisor will be related to the use of (a) telecommuting, (b) taking work home, (c) flexible hours, and (d) family leave. HA – There will be a negative relationship between reporting to a family-supportive supervisor and work-family conflict. HA – Having a family-supportive supervisor will mediate the relationship b etween (a) telecommuting, (b) taking work home, (c) flexible work hours, and (d) family leave and work-family conflict.Method Sample for the study was drawn from two sources (alumni of the College of Business f a public university and students enrolled in an evening MBA program there). Consent forms, questionnaires, and return mail envelopes were sent to alumni along with a letter requesting their participation. Only 12% of the alumni returned usable questionnaires. The low rate of returns was due to incorrect addresses and the fact that alumni were told they were only eligible to participate in the study if they were currently working and had a supervisor.For the MBA students, consent forms and questionnaires were distributed during class time. Students were told they only would fill out a questionnaire if they were employed by an organization. In total, 140 alumni and 71 MBA students returned questionnaires. Given the focus of the study was on work-family conflict, the only Indivi duals Include In the analyses were individuals who were working at least 35 hours per week and who had responsibility for whom an individual had responsibility. Given the sample inclusion criteria, the study ended up with a sample of 96 individuals (83 alumni and 13 MBA students).Of those individuals, 86 reported having childcare responsibility; eight individuals ported being responsible for another person, and two persons reported being responsible for both children and others. In order to ensure accuracy of the self- reported information, the alumni and the MBA students who returned questionnaires were asked to supply the name and address of a person whom they felt was quite familiar with their work and family life. A questionnaire was sent to those significant others along with a letter explaining why they were contacted.Of the 96 persons who comprised of the main sample, 53 questionnaires from significant others were received. Results Childcare responsibility, non-child responsi bility, and the use of family-friendly practices, questionnaire responses were made on a 7-point scale (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Participants were asked-?†On average, how many hours do you work per week? ‘ , â€Å"How many children do you have under your career, and â€Å"Do you have care giving responsibilities for someone other than a child? ‘ (coded 1 = no, 2 = yes).As noted in the study, in order to be included in the analyses, an individual had to be employed, have a supervisor, be working at least 35 hours per eek, and be responsible for a dependent. With regard to the mean number of hours worked, the 96 individuals comprising the main sample reported working 47. 21 hours (SD = 6. 21). In terms of child dependents, the mean number reported was 1. 89 (SD = 1. 08). In terms of being responsible for non-child dependents, of the ten individuals reporting such responsibility, no one reported being responsible for more than one person. 6 indi viduals reported taking work home (58%), 55 individuals reported working flexible hours (57%), 23 individuals reported using family leave (24%) and even individuals reported telecommuting (7%). Of the 96 employees in the sample, two reported using all four family-friendly practices, 12 reported using three practices, 24 reported using two practices, 49 reported using one practice, and nine individuals reported using no practices. Hypothesis 1 predicted that individuals who reported telecommuting would report less work-family conflict.This hypothesis was not supported for either self-reports of work-family conflict (r = -. 01) or reports of significant others (r = -. 07). Hypothesis 2 predicted that individuals who reported Ewing able to take work home to complete would report less work-family conflict. No support was found for this hypothesis for either self-reports of conflict (r = . 17) or significant other reports (r = . 10). In fact, for self-reports, the correlation attained a p. 05 level of statistical significance but in the direction opposite of that predicted. In contrast to the results for Hypothesis 1 and 2, Hypothesis 3 received strong support.Individuals who reported having flexible work hours also reported lower levels of work-family conflict (r = -. 22, p. 05). The results for significant other reports of conflict also supported Hypothesis 3 (r = -. 23, p. 05). In terms of Hypothesis 4 individuals who reported having made use of family leave reported lower levels of work-family conflict (r = -. 21, p. 05). On the other hand, significant other reports of conflict did not support Hypothesis 4 (r = -. 11). Hypothesis 5 predicted that individuals who reported to family-supportive supervisors would make greater use of family-friendly (r = . 8, p. 05) were significant at the . 05 level. Hypothesis 6 predicted that individuals porting to a family-supportive supervisor would report lower levels of work-family conflict. This hypothesis was supported both for self-reports of work-family conflict (r -? -. 54, p. 01) and significant other reports of conflict (r = -. 38, p. 01). In summary, with the exception of the relationship between taking work home to complete and self- reports of work-family conflict, all of the other relationships between the use of family-friendly practices and work-family conflict were mediated.Discussion The study hypothesized that telecommuting, taking work home, having flexible hours, ND taking a family leave each would be negatively related to reports of work-family conflict. Strong support for Hypothesis 3 (I. E. , the use of flexible hours was negatively correlated with both self-reports and significant other reports of work-family conflict). This information may prove to be advisable for many organizations to offer flexible hours to their employees. In addition to focusing on the use of family-friendly practices, the study also examined the effects of reporting to a family-supportive supervisor.It was f ound that reporting to such a supervisor was positively related to he use of flexible hours and family leave. In terms of the correlation (r = . 14) between having a family-supportive supervisor and telecommuting, it may be premature to dismiss this relationship because it did not meet the p. 05 threshold that was used throughout this paper (this correlation was significant at the p. 10 level). Criticism Limitations for this given study are as follow: The response rate for the alumni survey was lower than the study would have liked. Another limitation is the low base rate for a few of the variables that were examined (I. . The use of telecommuting). A third limitation to note was the educated nature of the sample (everyone in the sample was a college graduate). Application This study could be expanded to include a larger population of employees, such as non-college graduates. It could also be expanded to other professions/departments in the organization. In future studies, it might also be worthwhile to consider coworker support for balancing work and family responsibilities (e. G. , are coworkers willing to switch work days or work hours to accommodate family responsibilities? ).