Plenary 1: Leading for Change Together

Overview of Leading for Change consortium and diversity benchmarks – Leading for Change Planning Committee Leadership Panel: Bridgewater State University President Dana Mohler-Faria; Bristol Community College President John J. Sbrega; Vice President Sylvia Spears representing Emerson College President Lee Pelton; Vice Chancellor Enku Gelaye representing University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy Discussion at tables regarding consortium and diversity benchmarks proposal

LEADing together: Partnerships for a Healthier DeKalb

Background: In 2014, the DeKalb County Board of Health (DCBOH) received a three-year Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant to work with community partners to address health disparities among African Americans in DeKalb County. The project, called Local Efforts toward Addressing Disparities in DeKalb (LEAD DeKalb), relies on a network of partnerships to implement community-based interventions that promote healthy eating and physical activity among African Americans throughout low-income parts of DeKalb County. Methods: The evaluation team developed an online survey to assess LEAD DeKalb staff and partner satisfaction with the partnerships created and the work completed through LEAD DeKalb thus far (n=20, response rate of 71.4%). The 20-question survey was adapted primarily from two sources: the Wilder Collaboration Factors Inventory and the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool. Data analysis was limited to basic descriptive information such as frequencies, percentages, and averages, with comparisons made between DCBOH staff and partners. Results: Partners reported that their organization benefits from being involved in the partnership and attributed a variety of factors to the success of the partnership, including: bringing together diverse stakeholders; exchanging information/knowledge; sharing resources; and developing a shared mission and goals. Identifying new partners and developing a sustainability plan that includes funding, community support, and strong partnerships were identified as areas for improvement. Relevant qualitative findings from key informant interviews were also presented. Conclusions: Two main themes emerged from the data: (1) the network of partnerships is valuable and strong, but may benefit from new partners, and (2) resources (especially funding) are critical for implementing and sustaining the work of the partnership. Taken together, these findings suggest that partnerships are best conceptualized as ongoing processes rather than tasks to complete; and expanding social networks and learning communities allows partners to leverage social, human, and financial capital well beyond the grant period

Leading together, learning together: music education and music therapy students' perceptions of a shared practicum

The health benefits of musical engagement extend across the lifespan, with research documenting developmental and quality of life outcomes in senior adulthood. Whilst the psychological functions of music include three broad domains: cognitive, emotional and social, the social factors of music consumption have been, for the most part, ignored. This project is predicated on the understanding that students "construct" their own knowledge through engagement with others. It also reflects the belief that it is possible to link the world of learning with a world of action through a reflective process with small cooperative learning groups.This article reports on a collaborative creativity leadership project implemented by music therapy and music education students. In particular, it explores the perceptions of the students as they employed a teaching/therapeutic intervention with ageing participants from a local private retirement village. The project involved lyric rewriting and singing performance. Drawing on the students' reflective journals and interview transcripts, four themes emerged relating to students' perceptions of the learning experience. These themes were: learning about facilitating, learning about self, learning about the musical process, and learning about the context/ageing. Each of these themes is explored before conclusions about the process of leading a creative collaboration are drawn. The implications of this analysis extend beyond the context of a retirement village, and into various educational and therapeutic contexts where creative collaboration is facilitated

Exclusive vector meson production with a leading neutron in photon - hadron interactions at hadronic colliders

In this paper we study leading neutron production in photon - hadron interactions which take place in $pp$ and $pA$ collisions at large impact parameters. Using a model that describes the recent leading neutron data at HERA, we consider exclusive vector meson production in association with a leading neutron in $pp/pA$ collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The total cross sections and rapidity distributions of $\rho$, $\phi$ and $J/\Psi$ produced together with a leading neutron are computed. Our results indicate that the study of these processes is feasible and that it can be used to improve the understanding of leading neutron processes and of exclusive vector meson production.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Counterterms/M-theory Corrections to D=11 Supergravity

We construct a local on-shell invariant in D=11 supergravity from the nonlocal four-point tree scattering amplitude.Its existence, together with earlier arguments, implies non-renormalizability of the theory at lowest possible, two loop, level. This invariant, whose leading bosonic terms are exhibited, may also express the leading, "zero-slope", M$-$theory corrections to its D=11 supergravity limit.Comment: 16 pages RevTe

Direct construction of a cubic selfinteraction for higher spin gauge fields

Using Noether's procedure we directly construct a complete cubic selfinteraction for the case of spin s=4 in a flat background and discuss the cubic selfinteraction for general spin s with s derivatives in the same background. The leading term of the latter interaction together with the leading gauge transformation of first field order are presented.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, v.2 minor changes, references added, v.3 accepted in Nucl.Phys.