Beyond Constituencies: NonProfit Boards and the Public

In 1997, the Kettering Foundation commissioned The Harwood Group to write a major study on the relationship between boards of directors and the public. The study was based on interviews with 75 board presidents from across the United States, distributed evenly among public school boards, local pass-through organizations such as the United Way, and community foundations and civic organizations. A major finding of the original study was that board members' responses to challenges of their public credibility might actually worsen their situation. The Harwood research raises two basic questions: 1. Does this board mind-set vary among nonprofit industries?2. Are nonprofit organizations that do not define their primary mission as civic more able, paradoxically, to develop deeper understanding of their communities and ties to the public than civic specialists such as pass-throughs, community foundations, and civic organizations?In response to these questions we undertook an informal ethnographic study to either reinforce the Harwood findings or to point to a particular industry or industries deserving of more extensive research. Interviews with members of 15 nonprofit boards: seven human service organizations focused on families and youth, four arts organizations, and four international nongovernmental organizations focused on both public accountability and the relationship of boards to the larger public beyond constituencies

Use of Nasonia vitripennis to Evaluate Genomic Imprinting and Haplodiploid Inheritance

During fertilization, male and female gametes fuse and a diploid organism is generated. However, in some cases, not all of the genes from a parental genome are expressed. Such instances are known as genomic imprinting—when a gene from the genome of one parent is expressed and the respective gene from the other parental genome is silenced. When the gene that is meant to be expressed is absent or not functioning correctly, a genetic disorder can occur. In humans, such genetic disorders include Prader-Willi, Angelman, Beckwith-Wiedemann, and Silver-Russell syndromes. This experiment studies the effects of genomic imprinting in the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis. This organism undergoes macro scale genomic imprinting during its sexual reproduction. When male genes are present in fertilized eggs, female offspring are produced. Conversely, when male genes are absent in unfertilized eggs, male offspring are produced. The results of the experimentation with Nasonia vitripennis strongly support the use of haplodiploid inheritance in the sexual reproduction of this species. Specifically, cross results for eyecolor exclude inheritance via standard dominant/recessive genetics. In summary, this study focuses on the sexual reproduction of Nasonia vitripennis through haplodiploid inheritance, the relevance to genomic imprinting, and how studying genomic imprinting in Nasonia vitripennis allows for understanding of the genomic imprinting in humans

Black Women at Work in Corrections in the Era of Mass Incarceration: Documenting Demographic Changes in the New York City Department of Correction

Recent work has popularized the idea that mass incarceration arose in the wake of the civil rights movement to maintain the social and economic subordination of African Americans previously enforced under Jim Crow. This discussion has not accounted for the many black Americans working in corrections, particularly in large metropolitan jail systems. This paper documents the increase in black women working as correction officers and administrators in the New York City Department of Correction since the late 1970s and explores the implications of this growth on the strict racial argument about mass incarceration. Using administrative and archival sources, it argues that the Department has been a site of professional advancement for black women and that the timing of this demographic shift suggests that carceral expansion in part enabled black women to gain a foothold in a traditionally white and male profession. It argues that these are good jobs that have offered economic security and political power to black women in corrections, and that this evidence highlights the inadequacy of strictly racial arguments about the causes and consequences of mass incarceration. Finally, it argues that an accurate demographic picture of workers in corrections is critical for advocates of racial justice and decarceration

Heme Oxygnase-1 Produced by a Human Monocytic Cell Line (U-937) After Exposure to Brevetoxin (PbTx-2)

In lieu of an abstract, below is the first paragraph of the paper. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) along the west coast of Florida are the result of a large proliferation of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. The harmful nature of these algal blooms is the result of potent neurotoxins, specifically referred to as brevetoxins, which are released from K. brevis. PbTx-2 is one of the most abundant brevetoxins during HABs of K brevis and results in extreme mortality of marine wildlife and health implications for humans such as Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (NSP) and immunosuppression. The cellular response to PbTx-2 is not as well known, which was the focus of this research. Oxidative stress, in the form of depleted glutathione and elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide, peroxidase, and/or heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), is a common defensive response of human cells to a toxin. It was hypothesized that human cells would produce an elevated level of HO-1 in the presence of PbTx- 2 in comparison to cells without PbTx-2. The purpose of this research was to quantify the amount of HO-1 produced by a human monocytic cell line (U-937) when treated with PbTx-2 and use this as an indicator of the level of oxidative stress. Results supported that human cells did undergo oxidative stress in the presence of PbTx-2 and produced an elevated level of HO-1

Attendant care program direct funding pilot evaluation

The Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care (DADHC) is piloting a direct funding project in conjunction with the Attendant Care Program (ACP). The direct funding pilot aims to complement the objectives of the ACP, which provides support to individuals with physical disabilities with a range of tasks and activities to allow them to live and participate in their communities. The evaluation compares three ACP funding options, which differ in who employs the attendant carers, who receives the funding from DADHC and who is responsible for management and reporting: • Employer model – the service provider is the attendant carers’ employer; in some organisations, clients can chose to participate in some attendant carer management decisions, such as recruitment. DADHC pays the funds to the service provider and the service provider is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. Thirty two service providers are registered with DADHC to provide this model. • Cooperative model – the client is the attendant carers’ employer; the service provider supplies administrative and management support. DADHC pays the funds to the service provider and the service provider is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. One provider offers this model. • Direct funding – the client is responsible for all attendant carer employment and management. DADHC pays the funds directly to the client, who is accountable to DADHC for the management of funds and reporting. The pilot project is providing funds directly to ten current ACP clients for the direct purchase of personal care services. This is intended to provide clients with greater control over the choice and management of the support they receive as well as to promote more flexible and responsive services for clients

Musculoskeletal Injuries Associated with Selected University Staff and Faculty in an Office Environment

A research team with backgrounds in occupational therapy, rehabilitation, policy and rulemaking, and prevention programs affecting occupational health and safety designed, validated, and analyzed an ergonomics survey of university staff and faculty. The purpose of the study was to validate identified risk factors from the literature contributing to work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMDs) in an office setting within a university setting. The study was also designed to determine differences between faculty and staff in the university setting and their exposure to physical risk factors to WRMDs. The results suggest faculty have their keyboard in awkward positions more frequently than staff, and staff had more experience with mechanical stress than faculty. The researchers recommend parameters for the design of a university ergonomics program based on employee and education, management commitment, medical case management, problem job identification, and development of solutions

Revolting talks of migrant workers and community organisers - a UK community psychology perspective

The United Kingdom’s neoliberal agenda has been theorised and commented on widely, notably around the austerity measures, worklessness and the Big Society. We respond to the call of the special issue, in centralising the importance of work for community engagement and individual identities. To explicate this we draw upon two areas of externally funded research undertaken with migrant workers and trainee community organisers to explore how individuals within these communities can be positioned as abject citizens. We engage with Imogen Tyler’s (2013) notion of revolting subjects to conceptualise the ways in which the particular positionings of subjects as revolting occurs within an English context. The paper engages explicitly with a critical community psychology stance to reflect on the consequences of the neoliberal agenda on paid and unpaid work within communities. We add to the call for community psychologists to explore, critique and challenge the current neoliberal codes that positions migrant workers and deprived communities as “revolting subjects”

Iron supplementation to treat anaemia in adult critical care patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Anaemia affects 60-80 % of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Allogeneic red blood cell (RBC) transfusions remain the mainstay of treatment for anaemia but are associated with risks and are costly. Our objective was to assess the efficacy and safety of iron supplementation by any route, in anaemic patients in adult ICUs.Electronic databases (CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE) were searched through March 2016 for randomized controlled trials (RCT)s comparing iron by any route with placebo/no iron. Primary outcomes were red blood cell transfusions and mean haemoglobin concentration. Secondary outcomes included mortality, infection, ICU and hospital length of stay, mean difference (MD) in iron biomarkers, health-related quality of life and adverse events.Five RCTs recruiting 665 patients met the inclusion criteria; intravenous iron was tested in four of the RCTs. There was no difference in allogeneic RBC transfusion requirements (relative risk 0.87, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.70 to 1.07, p = 0.18, five trials) or mean number of RBC units transfused (MD -0.45, 95 % CI -1.34 to 0.43, p = 0.32, two trials) in patients receiving or not receiving iron. Similarly, there was no difference between groups in haemoglobin at short-term (up to 10 days) (MD -0.25, 95 % CI -0.79 to 0.28, p = 0.35, three trials) or mid-term follow up (last measured time point in hospital or end of trial) (MD 0.21, 95 % CI -0.13 to 0.55, p = 0.23, three trials). There was no difference in secondary outcomes of mortality, in-hospital infection, or length of stay. Risk of bias was generally low although three trials had high risk of attrition bias; only one trial had low risk of bias across all domains.Iron supplementation does not reduce RBC transfusion requirements in critically ill adults, but there is considerable heterogeneity between trials in study design, nature of interventions, and outcomes. Well-designed trials are needed to investigate the optimal iron dosing regimens and strategies to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from iron, together with patient-focused outcomes.PROSPERO International prospective register of systematic reviews CRD42015016627 . Registered 2 March 2015

Developing Scholarly Teachers Through an SoTL Faculty Fellowship

The increasing interest in incorporating evidenced based teaching in higher education has created a pronounced need for faculty to learn the theory and practice of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This article describes a program designed to prepare faculty to (a) draw on existing SoTL studies when designing and implementing evidenced based teaching methods, (b) design SoTL studies to test the effectiveness of those methods, and (c) integrate their new knowledge of SoTL into the practice of “scholarly teaching.” This program has proven to be a successful model for incorporating evidenced based teaching into undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses at our university