Exposure assessment to support on-farm risk characterisation for pesticides

C. D. Brown, K. Lewis, and A. Hart, ‘Exposure assessment to support on-farm risk characterisation for pesticides’ paper presented at the European Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), 26 -29 August 20001, Copenhagen, Denmark.Peer reviewe

SONARANOS refRActiONS

Poetry by Kathleen Brown

Excerpts from "City Disappearing"

The flood came while they were in bed,rain drops on the windows refracted the city lights on their covers.Their bodies were turned away from one another,the storm chucked torrents but the fight they hadthe night before was heavier water in the room... ......Find full piece in .pdf below

Minority Counselor Multicultural Competence in the Current Sociopolitical Climate

A key component of professional orientation in the field of mental health is the ability to provide counseling that is culturally competent. Counselor preparatory education, ethical codes, professional organizations and regulating bodies recognize cultural competence as a cornerstone of clinical practice. It is especially important during a time in which cultural and racial minorities combat a tumultuous sociopolitical climate. American society has seen an exponential rise in anxiety, depression, and helplessness secondary to the 2016 Presidential Election. For minority counselors, providing multiculturally competent counseling in the face of extreme oppression, and during a period of apparent resurgence in overt systemic injustices, may prove daunting. This dissertation examined how the current sociopolitical climate has affected minority counselors’ ability to deliver culturally competent counseling via a phenomenological examination of their lived experiences. Descriptive narratives of eight minority clinical mental health counselors from geographically and culturally diverse areas were captured and thematized. Findings of this dissertation study indicated five (4) key themes: impact and importance of minority membership on identity, increase in awareness, atmosphere created by the current administration, and educational and training needs. Clinical implications, educational considerations, and future directions for research are discussed

Liderança de Directores nas Escolas "Contra todos os Prognósticos”... os Defensores para Justiça Social e Equidade

To explore the role that principal leadership plays in shaping school performance, this article draws on data from eight high schools that are “beating the odds” (i.e., they are outperforming expectations and have done so consistently for five or more years). Beating the Odds (BTO) schools were chosen strategically for their ability to produce high rates of learning with challenging student populations. By cultivating the elements of will and capacity, the principals in these BTO schools worked actively to promote organizational commitment and to hold both individual teachers and groups of teachers responsible for learning outcomes. BTO principals effectively recruited, retained, and strengthened their faculties through supervision, professional development, and professional learning communities. Driven by a common commitment to the organization and its goals, and by administrative and professional accountability, teachers and principals created a disciplined environment for learning and implemented a distinctive set of curricular, instructional, and assessment practicesEste artículo se basa en datos de ocho escuelas secundarias “contra todo pronóstico” (BTO, según sus siglas en inglés), es decir, escuelas que superan sus expectativas y lo han hecho constantemente durante cinco o más años para explorar el papel que juega el liderazgo del director sobre el rendimiento escolar Las escuelas fueron elegidas estratégicamente por su capacidad para producir altas tasas de aprendizaje con poblaciones desafiantes. Gracias a la voluntad y a su capacidad, los directores de las escuelas BTO trabajaron activamente para promover el compromiso organizacional y para que los profesores se sintieran responsables de los resultados de aprendizaje. Directores BTO seleccionados fortalecieron sus facultades a través de la supervisión, el desarrollo profesional, y las comunidades profesionales de aprendizaje. El compromiso común con la organización y sus objetivos, y la responsabilidad administrativa y profesional impulsó a los maestros y directores a crear un ambiente disciplinado para el aprendizaje donde implementar un conjunto distintivo de prácticas curriculares, de enseñanza y evaluaciónEste artigo é baseado em dados de oito escolas secundárias "Contra todos os Prognósticos" (BTO, de acordo com sua sigla em Inglês), ou seja, escolas que excedam suas expectativas e têm feito de forma consistente durante cinco ou mais anos para explorar o papel da principais lideranças sobre o desempenho escolar. As escolas foram estrategicamente escolhidos pela sua capacidade de produzir altas taxas de aprender com as populações difíceis. Graças à vontade e capacidade, os diretores das escolas BTO trabalhou ativamente para promover o comprometimento com a organização e para os professores responsáveis pelos resultados da aprendizagem sentir. Diretores selecionados BTO reforçaram as suas faculdades, através de supervisão, desenvolvimento profissional, e comunidades de aprendizagem profissional. O compromisso comum com a organização e os seus objectivos, a responsabilidade administrativa e profissional exortou os professores e diretores para criar um ambiente de aprendizagem disciplinado, onde a implementação de um conjunto distinto de práticas curriculares, ensino e avaliaçã

Schools of Excellence AND Equity? Using Equity Audits as a Tool to Expose a Flawed System of Recognition

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how equity audits can be used as a tool to expose disparate achievement in schools that, on the surface and to the public, appear quite similar. To that end, the researcher probed beyond surface-level performance composite scores into deeper, more hidden data associated with state-recognized "Honor Schools of Excellence." How is "excellence" defined and operationalized in these schools? Are these schools "excellent" for all students? Can a school really be classified by the state as "excellent" and yet still have significant "gaps" and disparities? If so, is the state's formula used to identify exemplary schools too simple, dogmatic, and institutionally flawed? Through the use of equity audits, quantitative data was collected to scan for systemic patterns of equity and inequity across multiple domains of student learning and activities within 24 elementary schools. The intent was to document and distinguish between schools that are promoting and supporting both academic excellence (small gap schools; SGS) and systemic equity and schools that are not (large gap schools; LGS). Results reveal that although demographic, teacher quality, and programmatic audits all indicated a fair amount of equity between SGS and LGS, the achievement audit between both types of schools indicated great disparities. By controlling for or eliminating some of the external variables and internal factors often cited for the achievement gaps between white middle-class children and children of color or children from low-income families, the findings from this study raise more questions than answers. Results do indicate that equity audits are a practical, easy-to-apply tool that educators can use to identify inequalities objectively

Transformative Adult Learning Strategies: Assessing the Impact on Pre-Service Administrators\u27 Beliefs

The purpose of this article is to explore the effects of an alternative, transformative andragogy, i.e., the art and science of helping others to learn, designed to be responsive to the challenges of preparing educational leaders committed to social justice and equity

The Development and Validation of a Self-Efficacy Tool for People over 60 with Venous Leg Ulceration

Venous leg ulceration has a high recurrence rate. Patients with healed or frequently recurring venous ulceration are required to perform self-care behaviours to prevent recurrence or promote healing, but many find these difficult to perform. Bandura’s self-efficacy theory is a widely used and robust behaviour change model and underpins many interventions designed to promote self-care in a variety of chronic conditions. By identifying areas where patients may experience difficulty in performing self-care, interventions can be developed to strengthen their self-efficacy beliefs in performing these activities successfully. There are currently a variety of self-efficacy scales available to measure self-efficacy in a variety of conditions; but not a disease-specific scale for use with venous ulcer patients. The aim of this study, therefore, was to develop a disease-specific, patient-focused self-efficacy scale for patients with healed venous leg ulceration. Phase 1 consisted of a qualitative design and used focus group methodology to generate an item pool for potential inclusion into the scale from the patients’ perspective. In phase 2, factor analysis using equamax orthogonal rotation methods was used to reduce the items from 60 to 30, resulting in 5 major domains: general self-care; daily self-care tasks; normal living; developing expertise and avoiding trauma. Preliminary reliability studies indicated that the developed scale, VeLUSET© has good internal consistency, with an overall Cronbach alpha of .929 and a strong test-re-test reliability. Furthermore, correlation with the General Self-Efficacy Scale demonstrated a strong positive relationship between the two scales. These results indicate that the VeLUSET©, although still in the early validation stages, is a reliable instrument to measure venous leg ulcer patients’ self-efficacy in performing self-care tasks within clinical practice. The development of this disease-specific tool has now filled a gap in the research on managing patients with healed venous leg ulceration

Preparing Turnaround Principals via Race-to-the-Top Initiative: Lessons Learned from Regional Leadership Academies

Great schools need great leaders! In fact, according to recent research by Seashore Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom and Anderson (2010), “To date we have not found a single case of a school improving its student achievement record in the absence of talented leadership (p.9).” As such, North Carolina’s Race-to-the-Top (RttT) grant earmarked approximately $17.5 million to “increase the number of principals qualified to lead transformational change in low-performing schools in both rural and urban areas” (NCDPI, 2010, p.10). To accomplish this, the state established three Regional Leadership Academies (RLAs) “approved for certifying principals [and] designed to . . . provide a new model for the preparation, early career support, and continuous professional development of school leaders” (NCDPI, 2010, p.10). This article describes the independent evaluation of this initiative including the recruitment, selection, training, placement, and expenditure processes associated with each of the three academies. Keywods: Principal Preparation, Turnaround Principals, Race-to-the-Top Initiative, Alternative Licensure Programs, Evaluatio

Screening Mammography Compliance in Rural and Urban Women in Tennessee

Between 1990 and 2002, breast cancer mortality rates decreased by over 2% each year. Regular screening mammography is largely credited with the decline as it permits detection of breast cancer at its most treatable stage. In the United States approximately 75% of women over forty years of age report mammography screening within the past two years. However, rates vary by age, income, education, and residence. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of screening mammography compliance in women living in rural and urban areas of Tennessee; as well as the associated risk factors with special emphasis on risk associated with rural residence. Using combined data from the Tennessee Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (2001 and 2003), compliance with having accessed a screening mammogram within a two-year period was examined for a sample of 1922 women 40 years and older. Demographic, behavioral, and health-related variables were used to explore associations with compliance. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to identify the association between residence and compliance. The prevalence of screening mammography compliance (71.3% 95% CI 67.4-75.2) in women living in rural areas of Tennessee was significantly different from the prevalence of compliance in women living in urban areas (78.3% 95% CI 75.9-80.7). Significantly higher rates of compliance were associated with income ≥ $50,000, having at least a high school education, having health insurance, having a personal healthcare giver, non-smoking, recent use of alcohol, recent clinical breast exam or Pap test, and meeting the Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) recommendation for physical activity. After controlling for all other factors, residence was not significantly associated with likelihood of compliance. Specific to rural women, identifying a personal healthcare giver and smoking status were significantly associated with increased likelihood of compliance. These associations can be used by health educators and service providers for identifying at-risk population and making programmatic decisions