Coordenadores do Título IX como burocratas de nível de rua nas escolas dos Estados Unidos: Desafios para enfrentar a discriminação sexual na era #MeToo

Sex discrimination in educational contexts is an ongoing problem despite the passage of Title IX in 1972. Many schools have not aligned their policies with new laws protecting students from bullying and harassment, and many professionals are unaware of their new obligations in regards to new state regulations. This article presents the findings from semi-structured interviews with 10 participants reporting on the roles and responsibilities of Title IX coordinators in their K-12 school districts. Title IX coordinators were difficult to locate and recruitment was a challenge in this study. However, our findings indicate a strong alignment with Lipsky’s concept of “street-level bureaucrats” (1971, 2010). We found that these school administrators had autonomy and discretion in interpreting and enacting their duties, however they lacked time, information, and other resources necessary to respond properly to the stated duties in their position. They reported spending very little time on Title IX-related duties, many felt under-supported and under-prepared, and few had comprehensive understanding of their responsibilities. We conclude with recommendations for policy and practice regarding the training and supports of Title IX coordinators and related gender equity efforts in K-12 schools.La discriminación sexual en contextos educativos es un problema continuo a pesar de la aprobación del Título IX en 1972. Muchas escuelas no han alineado sus políticas con nuevas leyes que protegen a los estudiantes de la intimidación y el acoso, y muchos profesionales desconocen sus nuevas obligaciones con respecto a regulaciones estatales Este artículo presenta los hallazgos de entrevistas semiestructuradas con 10 participantes que informan sobre los roles y responsabilidades de los coordinadores del Título IX en sus distritos escolares K-12. Los coordinadores del Título IX fueron difíciles de localizar y el reclutamiento fue un desafío en este estudio. Sin embargo, nuestros hallazgos indican una fuerte alineación con el concepto de Lipsky de "burócratas a nivel de calle" (1971, 2010). Descubrimos que estos administradores escolares tenían autonomía y discreción para interpretar y cumplir sus deberes, sin embargo, carecían de tiempo, información y otros recursos necesarios para responder adecuadamente a los deberes establecidos en su puesto. Informaron que dedicaron muy poco tiempo a los deberes relacionados con el Título IX, muchos se sintieron insuficientemente apoyados y poco preparados, y pocos tenían una comprensión exhaustiva de sus responsabilidades. Concluimos con recomendaciones de políticas y prácticas con respecto a la capacitación y el apoyo de los coordinadores del Título IX y los esfuerzos relacionados con la equidad de género en las escuelas K-12.A discriminação sexual em ambientes educacionais é um problema contínuo, apesar da aprovação do Título IX em 1972. Muitas escolas não alinharam suas políticas com novas leis que protegem os alunos de intimidação e assédio, e muitos profissionais desconhecem seus direitos. novas obrigações com relação aos regulamentos estaduais Este artigo apresenta os resultados de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com 10 participantes que relatam os papéis e responsabilidades dos coordenadores do Título IX em seus distritos escolares K-12. Os coordenadores do Título IX foram difíceis de localizar e o recrutamento foi um desafio neste estudo. No entanto, nossos resultados indicam um forte alinhamento com o conceito de "burocratas de rua" de Lipsky (1971, 2010). Descobrimos que esses administradores escolares tinham autonomia e discrição para interpretar e cumprir suas obrigações, no entanto, eles não tinham tempo, informações e outros recursos necessários para responder adequadamente aos deveres estabelecidos em sua posição. Eles relataram que gastaram muito pouco tempo em tarefas relacionadas ao Título IX, muitos se sentiram insuficientemente apoiados e despreparados, e poucos tinham uma compreensão abrangente de suas responsabilidades. Concluímos com recomendações e práticas de políticas relacionadas à formação e apoio de coordenadores do Título IX e esforços relacionados à eqüidade de gênero nas escolas do ensino fundamental e médio

Integration of Holonomic Thinking in Educational Leader-ship Development Courses

Educational leaders are prime observers of their school performance and progress. As leaders and active participants in the steps towards school improvement, they must take into consideration diverse stakeholders’ opinions, ideas and beliefs, and technical aspects such as data analysis while engaging in the decision-making process. This practice can be enhanced by considering the circumstances and all stakeholders involved from a holonomic viewpoint rather than an egocentric viewpoint. This article explores the holonomic conceptual platform and its strategies as a conduit to broaden emergent school leaders’ perspectives

Iodine in plant-based dairy products is not sufficient in the UK : a market survey

Acknowledgements A.A. thanks the Saudi Arabia Cultural Bureau and Ministry of Education for financial support. No AI was used in the writing process and in the final manuscript. One artistic image was generated using AI technology as part of the graphical abstract.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mechanisms of continence and surgical cure in female and male SUI: Surgical research initiatives

Aims To report the conclusions of the Think Tank on mechanisms of incontinence and surgical cure in female and male SUI: surgical research initiatives during the ICI‐RS meeting in 2010. Methods The sub‐group considered five areas for future research in stress urinary incontinence (SUI); (i) epidemiology and public health efforts in SUI, (ii) the basic sciences examining the physiology and pathophysiology of the continence mechanism, (iii) diagnostic techniques and clinical assessment of SUI, (iv) the future of treatment and surgical cure, and (v) the separate issue of male SUI. Results Roadblocks to progress were identified for each of the five directions. Conclusions Future research directions are suggested for each of these areas. Neurourol. Urodynam. 30:704–707, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87181/1/21139_ftp.pd

Predicting speech fluency and naming abilities in aphasic patients

There is a need to identify biomarkers that predict degree of chronic speech fluency/language impairment and potential for improvement after stroke. We previously showed that the Arcuate Fasciculus lesion load (AF-LL), a combined variable of lesion site and size, predicted speech fluency in patients with chronic aphasia. In the current study, we compared lesion loads of such a structural map (i.e., AF-LL) with those of a functional map [i.e., the functional gray matter lesion load (fGM-LL)] in their ability to predict speech fluency and naming performance in a large group of patients. The fGM map was constructed from functional brain images acquired during an overt speaking task in a group of healthy elderly controls. The AF map was reconstructed from high-resolution diffusion tensor images also from a group of healthy elderly controls. In addition to these two canonical maps, a combined AF-fGM map was derived from summing fGM and AF maps. Each canonical map was overlaid with individual lesion masks of 50 chronic aphasic patients with varying degrees of impairment in speech production and fluency to calculate a functional and structural lesion load value for each patient, and to regress these values with measures of speech fluency and naming. We found that both AF-LL and fGM-LL independently predicted speech fluency and naming ability; however, AF lesion load explained most of the variance for both measures. The combined AF-fGM lesion load did not have a higher predictability than either AF-LL or fGM-LL alone. Clustering and classification methods confirmed that AF lesion load was best at stratifying patients into severe and non-severe outcome groups with 96% accuracy for speech fluency and 90% accuracy for naming. An AF-LL of greater than 4 cc was the critical threshold that determined poor fluency and naming outcomes, and constitutes the severe outcome group. Thus, surrogate markers of impairments have the potential to predict outcomes and can be used as a stratifier in experimental studies

The Progression of β-amyloid Deposition in the Frontal Cortex of the Aged Canine

Brains from 41 aged canines (≥10 years of age) were examined immunohistochemically to characterize the laminar distribution and age-related progression of β-amyloid (Aβ) in frontal cortex. We classified the Aβ patterns into four distinct types. Type I was characterized by small, faint deposits of Aβ in deep cortical layers. Type II consisted of diffuse deposits of Aβ mainly in layers V and VI. Type III had both dense plaques in superficial layers, and diffuse deposits in deep layers. Finally, Type IV had solely dense plaques throughout all layers of cortex. We compared the Aβ distribution pattern between the Old canines (10–15 years, n=22) and the Very Old canines (\u3e15 years, n=19). The Old group primarily had negative staining, or Type I and Type II patterns of amyloid deposition (73%). Conversely, the Very Old group had predominantly Types II, III and IV deposits (89.5%), a difference that was significant (Pβ deposition in canine frontal cortex is a progressive age-related process beginning with diffuse deposits in the deep cortical layers followed by the development of deposits in outer layers. In support of this hypothesis, the deeper layer diffuse plaques in the Very Old group of dogs also contain the largest proportion of β-amyloid with an isomerized aspartic acid residue at position 7, indicating that these deposits had been present for some time. We also observed fiber-like Aβ immunoreactivity within regions of diffuse Aβ deposits. These fibers appeared to be degenerating neurites, which were negative for hyperphosphorylated tau. Therefore, these fibers may represent a very early form of neuritic change that precede tau hyperphosphorylation or develop by an alternative pathway

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Enhances the Effects of Melodic Intonation Therapy

Research has suggested that a fronto-temporal network in the right hemisphere may be responsible for mediating melodic intonation therapy’s (MIT) positive effects on speech recovery. We investigated the potential for a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), to augment the benefits of MIT in patients with non-fluent aphasia by modulating neural activity in the brain during treatment with MIT. The polarity of the current applied to the scalp determines the effects of tDCS on the underlying tissue: anodal-tDCS increases excitability, whereas cathodal tDCS decreases excitability. We applied anodal-tDCS to the posterior inferior frontal gyrus of the right hemisphere, an area that has been shown both to contribute to singing through the mapping of sounds to articulatory actions and to serve as a key region in the process of recovery from aphasia, particularly in patients with large left hemisphere lesions. The stimulation was applied while patients were treated with MIT by a trained therapist. Six patients with moderate to severe non-fluent aphasia underwent three consecutive days of anodal-tDCS + MIT, and an equivalent series of sham-tDCS + MIT. The two treatment series were separated by 1 week, and the order in which the treatments were administered was randomized. Compared to the effects of sham-tDCS + MIT, anodal-tDCS + MIT led to significant improvements in fluency of speech. These results support the hypothesis that, as the brain seeks to reorganize and compensate for damage to left hemisphere language centers, combining anodal-tDCS with MIT may further recovery from post-stroke aphasia by enhancing activity in a right hemisphere sensorimotor network for articulation

Shared and distinct neural correlates of singing and speaking.

Using a modified sparse temporal sampling fMRI technique, we examined both shared and distinct neural correlates of singing and speaking. In the experimental conditions, 10 right-handed subjects were asked to repeat intoned ("sung") and non-intoned ("spoken") bisyllabic words/phrases that were contrasted with conditions controlling for pitch ("humming") and the basic motor processes associated with vocalization ("vowel production"). Areas of activation common to all tasks included the inferior pre-and post-central gyrus, superior temporal gyrus (STG), and superior temporal sulcus (STS) bilaterally, indicating a large shared network for motor preparation and execution as well as sensory feedback/control for vocal production. The speaking more than vowel-production contrast revealed activation in the inferior frontal gyrus most likely related to motor planning and preparation, in the primary sensorimotor cortex related to motor execution, and the middle and posterior STG/STS related to sensory feedback. The singing more than speaking contrast revealed additional activation in the mid-portions of the STG (more strongly on the right than left) and the most inferior and middle portions of the primary sensorimotor cortex. Our results suggest a bihemispheric network for vocal production regardless of whether the words/phrases were intoned or spoken. Furthermore, singing more than humming ("intoned speaking") showed additional rightlateralized activation of the superior temporal gyrus, inferior central operculum, and inferior frontal gyrus which may offer an explanation for the clinical observation that patients with non-fluent aphasia due to left hemisphere lesions are able to sing the text of a song while they are unable to speak the same words

Metabolic and Bariatric Endoscopy: A Mini-Review

We are currently in a worldwide obesity pandemic, which is one of the most significant health problems of the 21st century. As the prevalence of obesity continues to rise, new and innovate treatments are becoming available. Metabolic and bariatric endoscopic procedures are exciting new areas of gastroenterology that have been developed as a direct response to the obesity crisis. These novel interventions offer a potentially reversible, less invasive, safer, and more cost-effective method of tackling obesity compared to traditional bariatric surgery. Minimally invasive endoscopic treatments are not entirely novel, but as technology has rapidly improved, many of the procedures have been proven to be extremely effective for weight loss and metabolic health, based on high-quality clinical trial data. This mini-review examines the existing evidence for the most prominent metabolic and bariatric procedures, followed by a discussion on the future trajectory of this emerging subspecialty