Authority, Power and Distributed Leadership

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of an article accepted for publication in Management and Education following peer review. The version of record, Philip Woods, ‘Authority, power and distributed leadership’, Management and Education, Vol 30(4): 155-160, first published online 28 September 2016, is available online via doi: 10.1177/0892020616665779 © 2016 British Educational Leadership, Management & Administration Society (BELMAS) Published by SAGE.A much greater understanding is needed of power in the practice of distributed leadership. This article explores how the concept of social authority might be helpful in achieving this. It suggests that the practice of distributed leadership is characterized by multiple authorities which are constructed in the interactions between people. Rather than there being a uniform hierarchy (relatively flat or otherwise) of formal authority, organizational members may be ‘high’ in some authorities and ‘low’ in others, and people’s positioning in relation to these authorities is dynamic and changeable. The article maps different forms of authorities, provides illustrations from educational institutions, and concludes with implications for educational leadership. A key conclusion is that everyone is involved in the ongoing production of authorities by contributing to who is accepted as or excluded from exercising authority and leadershipPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Validation of methods for converting the original Disease Activity Score (DAS) to the DAS28

© The Author(s) 2018.The Disease Activity Score (DAS) is integral in tailoring the clinical management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and is an important measure in clinical research. Different versions have been developed over the years to improve reliability and ease of use. Combining the original DAS and the newer DAS28 data in both contemporary and historical studies is important for both primary and secondary data analyses. As such, a methodologically robust means of converting the old DAS to the new DAS28 measure would be invaluable. Using data from The Early RA Study (ERAS), a sub-sample of patients with both DAS and DAS28 data were used to develop new regression imputation formulas using the total DAS score (univariate), and using the separate components of the DAS score (multivariate). DAS were transformed to DAS28 using an existing formula quoted in the literature, and the newly developed formulas. Bland and Altman plots were used to compare the transformed DAS with the recorded DAS28 to ascertain levels of agreement. The current transformation formula tended to overestimate the true DAS28 score, particularly at the higher end of the scale. A formula which uses all separate components of the DAS was found to estimate the scores with a higher level of precision. A new formula is proposed that can be used by other early RA cohorts to convert the original DAS to DAS28.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Community-based rangeland management in Namibia improves resource governance but not environmental and economic outcomes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: Hypotheses and analytical methods for this research were pre-registered prior to analysis through the American Economic Association’s RCT registry and are available online (https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2723). Data used for this research are accessible at the Millennium Challenge Corporation website (https://data.mcc.gov/evaluations/index.php/catalog/138/study-description) and will also be linked to on the Innovations for Poverty Action dataverse. In the publicly available data, some numerical outliers have been censored in order to preserve the anonymity of the survey respondents. This censoring does not affect the direction and statistical significance of our results. Access to uncensored data is available upon request from the Millennium Challenge Corporation or the corresponding author, subject to approval by the Millennium Challenge Corporation.Code availability: Data analysis was conducted in R and Stata. All code needed to replicate the figures and tables in this paper and the Supplementary Information is available, with accompanying datasets, through the Millennium Challenge Corporation at (https://data.mcc.gov/evaluations/index.php/catalog/138/study-description) and will also be linked to on the Innovations for Poverty Action dataverse.Classic theories suggest that common pool resources are subject to overexploitation. Community-based resource management approaches may ameliorate tragedy of the commons effects. Here we use a randomized evaluation in Namibia’s communal rangelands to study a comprehensive four-year program to support community-based rangeland and cattle management. We find that the program led to persistent and large improvements for eight of thirteen indices of social and behavioral outcomes. Effects on rangeland health, cattle productivity and household economics, however, were either negative or nil. Positive impacts on community resource management may have been offset by communities’ inability to control grazing by non-participating herds and inhibited by an unresponsive rangeland sub-system. This juxtaposition, in which measurable improvements in community resource management did not translate into better outcomes for households or rangeland health, demonstrates the fragility of the causal pathway from program implementation to intended socioeconomic and environmental outcomes. It also points to challenges for improving climate change–adaptation strategies.Millennium Challenge Corporatio

Viscoelastic gels of guar and xanthan gum mixtures provide long-term stabilization of iron micro- and nanoparticles

Iron micro- and nanoparticles used for groundwater remediation and medical applications are prone to fast aggregation and sedimentation. Diluted single biopolymer water solutions of guar gum (GG) or xanthan gum (XG) can stabilize these particles for few hours providing steric repulsion and by increasing the viscosity of the suspension. The goal of the study is to demonstrate that amending GG solutions with small amounts of XG (XG/GG weight ratio 1:19; 3 g/L of total biopolymer concentration) can significantly improve the capability of the biopolymer to stabilize highly concentrated iron micro- and nanoparticle suspensions. The synergistic effect between GG and XG generates a viscoelastic gel that can maintain 20 g/L iron particles suspended for over 24 h. This is attributed to (i) an increase in the static viscosity, (ii) a combined polymer structure the yield stress of which contrasts the downward stress exerted by the iron particles, and (iii) the adsorption of the polymers to the iron surface having an anchoring effect on the particles. The XG/GG viscoelastic gel is characterized by a marked shear thinning behavior. This property, coupled with the low biopolymer concentration, determines small viscosity values at high shear rates, facilitating the injection in porous media. Furthermore, the thermosensitivity of the soft elastic polymeric network promotes higher stability and longer storage times at low temperatures and rapid decrease of viscosity at higher temperatures. This feature can be exploited in order to improve the flowability and the delivery of the suspensions to the target as well as to effectively tune and control the release of the iron particle

The first microbial colonizers of the human gut: composition, activities, and health implications of the infant gut microbiota

The human gut microbiota is engaged in multiple interactions affecting host health during the host's entire life span. Microbes colonize the neonatal gut immediately following birth. The establishment and interactive development of this early gut microbiota are believed to be (at least partially) driven and modulated by specific compounds present in human milk. It has been shown that certain genomes of infant gut commensals, in particular those of bifidobacterial species, are genetically adapted to utilize specific glycans of this human secretory fluid, thus representing a very intriguing example of host-microbe coevolution, where both partners are believed to benefit. In recent years, various metagenomic studies have tried to dissect the composition and functionality of the infant gut microbiome and to explore the distribution across the different ecological niches of the infant gut biogeography of the corresponding microbial consortia, including those corresponding to bacteria and viruses, in healthy and ill subjects. Such analyses have linked certain features of the microbiota/microbiome, such as reduced diversity or aberrant composition, to intestinal illnesses in infants or disease states that are manifested at later stages of life, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and metabolic disorders. Thus, a growing number of studies have reported on how the early human gut microbiota composition/development may affect risk factors related to adult health conditions. This concept has fueled the development of strategies to shape the infant microbiota composition based on various functional food products. In this review, we describe the infant microbiota, the mechanisms that drive its establishment and composition, and how microbial consortia may be molded by natural or artificial interventions. Finally, we discuss the relevance of key microbial players of the infant gut microbiota, in particular bifidobacteria, with respect to their role in health and disease

Measurement batch differences and between-batch conversion of Alzheimer's disease cerebrospinal fluid biomarker values

Introduction: Batch differences in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker measurement can introduce bias into analyses for Alzheimer's disease studies. We evaluated and adjusted for batch differences using statistical methods. Methods: A total of 792 CSF samples from 528 participants were assayed in three batches for 12 biomarkers and 3 biomarker ratios. Batch differences were assessed using Bland-Altman plot, paired t test, Pitman-Morgan test, and linear regression. Generalized linear models were applied to convert CSF values between batches. Results: We found statistically significant batch differences for all biomarkers and ratios, except that neurofilament light was comparable between batches 1 and 2. The conversion models generally had high R2 except for converting P-tau between batches 1 and 3. Discussion: Between-batch conversion allows harmonized CSF values to be used in the same analysis. Such method may be applied to adjust for other sources of variability in measuring CSF or other types of biomarkers

Pathogenesis of Scleroderma

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65784/1/j.1365-4362.1984.tb05678.x.pd

Prediction of preterm birth with and without preeclampsia using mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors and maternal characteristics.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate if mid-pregnancy immune and growth-related molecular factors predict preterm birth (PTB) with and without (±) preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN:Included were 400 women with singleton deliveries in California in 2009-2010 (200 PTB and 200 term) divided into training and testing samples at a 2:1 ratio. Sixty-three markers were tested in 15-20 serum samples using multiplex technology. Linear discriminate analysis was used to create a discriminate function. Model performance was assessed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). RESULTS:Twenty-five serum biomarkers along with maternal age <34 years and poverty status identified >80% of women with PTB ± preeclampsia with best performance in women with preterm preeclampsia (AUC = 0.889, 95% confidence interval (0.822-0.959) training; 0.883 (0.804-0.963) testing). CONCLUSION:Together with maternal age and poverty status, mid-pregnancy immune and growth factors reliably identified most women who went on to have a PTB ± preeclampsia

Efficacy results of pimavanserin from a multi-center, open-label extension study in Parkinson's disease psychosis patients

This is the final version. Available on open access from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordIntroduction: Pimavanserin, a selective 5-HT2A inverse agonist/antagonist, was approved for hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis (PDP). We present durability of response with pimavanserin in patients with PDP for an additional 4 weeks of treatment. Methods: This was an open-label extension (OLE) study in patients previously completing one of three double-blind, placebo-controlled (Core) studies. All patients received pimavanserin 34 mg once daily. Efficacy assessments included the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) PD and H+D scales, Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Improvement and Severity scales and Caregiver Burden Scale (CBS), through 4 weeks in the OLE. Safety assessments were conducted at each visit. Results: Of 459 patients, 424 (92.4%) had a Week 4 efficacy assessment. At Week 4 (10 weeks total treatment), SAPS-PD mean (standard deviation) change from OLE baseline was -1.8 (5.5) and for SAPS-H+D was -2.1 (6.2) with pimavanserin 34 mg. Patients receiving placebo during the Core studies had greater improvements (SAPS-PD -2.9 [5.6]; SAPS-H+D -3.5 [6.3]) during the OLE. For participants treated with pimavanserin 8.5 or 17 mg during the Core studies, further improvement was observed during the OLE with pimavanserin 34 mg. The mean change from Core Study baseline for SAPS-PD score was similar among prior pimavanserin 34 mg and prior placebo-treated participants (-7.1 vs. -7.0). The CGI-I response rate (score of 1 or 2) at Week 4 was 51.4%. Adverse events were reported by 215 (46.8%) patients during the first 4 weeks of OLE. The most common AEs were fall (5.9%), hallucination (3.7%), urinary tract infection (2.8%), insomnia (2.4%), and peripheral edema (2.2%) 4 Conclusions: Patients previously on pimavanserin 34 mg during three blinded core studies had durability of efficacy during the subsequent 4 week OLE SAPS-PD assessment. Patients previously on blinded placebo improved after 4 weeks of OL pimavanserin treatment. These results in over 400 patients from 14 countries support the efficacy of pimavanserin for treating PDP.ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (San Diego, CA

Role of supplemental foods and habitat structural complexity in persistence and coexistence of generalist predatory mites

Variation in the strength of intraguild predation (IGP) may be related to habitat structural complexity and to additional resources outside the narrow predator-prey relationship. We studied the food web interactions on grape, which involves two generalist predatory mites. We evaluated the effects of grape powdery mildew (GPM) as supplemental food, and habitat structural complexity provided by domatia. Our findings suggest that structural and nutritional diversity/complexity promote predatory mite abundance and can help to maintain the beneficial mites - plants association. The effect of these factors on coexistence between predators is influenced by the supplemental food quality and relative differences in body size of interacting species