Summer Faculty Internships: An Attractive Faculty Development Alternative

The objective of any faculty development program is to provide an environment, an opportunity for growth and renewal. At Tarrant County Junior College South Campus, an imaginative program has been established as a partnership between the College and local businesses and industries. Since the summer of 1992, computer science faculty members have participated in summer faculty internships in which they are placed in a local organization for six weeks and work along side the computer professionals of that organization day by day. This internship program provides faculty opportunities for reviving technical skills, learning new skills, observing first-hand the impact of the computer revolution, and rekindling the flame of enthusiasm for their profession and discipline. Results of the first two summer programs are summarized and payoffs both to the host organization and to the academic institution are described

COLLECTIVE POLITICS OF FOODGRAINS MARKETS IN SOUTH ASIA

Summary With the help of case material from Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Bangladesh, the politics of market organization is examined. Political parties do not have consistent positions on private trade and are responded to opportunistically by foodgrains traders. Traders are politically active in a variety of local religious and social service institutions within which they build networks. The commodity association is the principal arena of mercantile politics. Formed defensively in response to threats by the state or by unionized labour, they have developed systematic lobbying capability. They have also developed self?regulatory functions, extending to physical security, law and order and enforcement of the terms of participation of smaller traders. The article concludes by discussing the implications of such politics for state intervention. Resumé La politique collective des marchés de graine alimentaire en Asie du sud L'article examine l'aspect politique de l'organisation des marchés sous forme d'études de cas au Tamil Nadu, au Bengal de l'Ouest, et au Bangladesh. La position des partis politiques sur le commerce privé est ni uniforme ni constante, ainsi la réponse des négociants en graine alimentaires y est opportuniste. L'activité politique des négociants se constate dans une variété d'institutions locales (religion; services sociaux) au sein desquelles elles fondent des réseaux. L'association commoditaire est le plus important foyer de la politique mercantile. Formées en tant que réponse défensive à la menace de l'état ou de la syndicalisation de la main?d'oeuvre, ces associations ont développé des capacités de sollicitation systématique. Elles ont également développé des fonctions autorégulatrices qui pénètrent jusque dans la sécurité physique, l'ordre public, et la mise en vigueur des termes de participation qui contrôlent les moins importants négociants. L'article aboutit à une discussion des implications des politiques de ce genre sur l'intervention de l'état. Resumen La política colectiva de los mercados de granos en Asia del sur Se examinan en este artículo las políticas de organización de mercado con la ayuda de información proveniente de experiencias en Tamil Nadu, Bengala Occidental y Bangladesh. Los partidos políticos no mantienen posiciones consistentes con respecto al comercio privado y reciben reacciones oportunistas por parte de los comerciantes en granos. Estos últimos son políticamente muy activos en una variedad de instituciones de servicio sociales y religiosas dentro de las cuales construyen redes de comunicación. La asociación de productores es el principal escenario de la política mercantil. Formada como defensa a las amenazas del estado o de los sindicatos, ha desarrollado una sistemática capacidad para cabildeos. También has desarrollado funciones auto?regulatorias, que se extienden hasta la seguridad física, el orden público y la aplicación efectiva de los términos de participación de los pequeños comerciantes. El artículo concluye examinando las implicaciones que estas pautas pueden tener para la intervención estatal

A checklist for clinical trials in rare disease: Obstacles and anticipatory actions-lessons learned from the FOR-DMD trial

Background: Trials in rare diseases have many challenges, among which are the need to set up multiple sites in different countries to achieve recruitment targets and the divergent landscape of clinical trial regulations in those countries. Over the past years, there have been initiatives to facilitate the process of international study set-up, but the fruits of these deliberations require time to be operationally in place. FOR-DMD (Finding the Optimum Steroid Regimen for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) is an academic-led clinical trial which aims to find the optimum steroid regimen for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 5 years (July 2010 to June 2015), anticipating that all sites (40 across the USA, Canada, the UK, Germany and Italy) would be open to recruitment from July 2011. However, study start-up was significantly delayed and recruitment did not start until January 2013. Method: The FOR-DMD study is used as an example to identify systematic problems in the set-up of international, multi-centre clinical trials. The full timeline of the FOR-DMD study, from funding approval to site activation, was collated and reviewed. Systematic issues were identified and grouped into (1) study set-up, e.g. drug procurement; (2) country set-up, e.g. competent authority applications; and (3) site set-up, e.g. contracts, to identify the main causes of delay and suggest areas where anticipatory action could overcome these obstacles in future studies. Results: Time from the first contact to site activation across countries ranged from 6 to 24 months. Reasons of delay were universal (sponsor agreement, drug procurement, budgetary constraints), country specific (complexity and diversity of regulatory processes, indemnity requirements) and site specific (contracting and approvals). The main identified obstacles included (1) issues related to drug supply, (2) NIH requirements regarding contracting with non-US sites, (3) differing regulatory requirements in the five participating countries, (4) lack of national harmonisation with contracting and the requirement to negotiate terms and contract individually with each site and (5) diversity of languages needed for study materials. Additionally, as with many academic-led studies, the FOR-DMD study did not have access to the infrastructure and expertise that a contracted research organisation could provide, organisations often employed in pharmaceutical-sponsored studies. This delay impacted recruitment, challenged the clinical relevance of the study outcomes and potentially delayed the delivery of the best treatment to patients. Conclusion: Based on the FOR-DMD experience, and as an interim solution, we have devised a checklist of steps to not only anticipate and minimise delays in academic international trial initiation but also identify obstacles that will require a concerted effort on the part of many stakeholders to mitigate