AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING SPECIAL EDUCATION DIRECTORS IN SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICY

Educational administrators assume that government-imposed policies are foundational to everyday decision-making in their respective districts; however, inherent to policies are the interpreters and the ramifications of their interpretations. Personnel responsible for interpreting and implementing new special education policy, in Local Education Agencies (LEAs), are the local directors of special education. This study examined the role of networking and the spread of isomorphic pressures by isolating the factors influencing special education directors in the implementation of federal, state, and local policy at the local level. Faced with the challenge of implementing IDEIA 2004, South Carolina directors of special education confronted tough implementation decisions, which increased networking and pressured directors of special education to succumb to isomorphic pressures. This qualitative, grounded theory study isolated the factors that influence the decision-making of directors of special education when faced with the implementation of new policy. The findings support the propositions, which were built on explanatory relationships and give meaning to the emergent theory grounded in the data of this study and practical to everyday decision-making among directors of special education

Soil Microbial Community Dynamics in Response to Prescribed Extreme Fires Following \u3ci\u3eJuniperus virginiana\u3c/i\u3e Invasion in the Loess Canyons of Nebraska

In Nebraska and other regions of the Great Plains, the conifer Juniperus virginiana (eastern redcedar) is converting grasslands to dense woodlands. This is driven by the interacting drivers of fire suppression, altered grazing regimes, climate change and other anthropogenic factors, impacting the provisioning of ecosystem services. This vegetation state transition modifies water resource regulation and biogeochemical cycles leading to altered edaphic properties including soil microbial community composition. To restore these grasslands and control J. virginiana spread, prescribed extreme burns are implemented as a management tool through local prescribed burn associations. We hypothesized that the alternative state transition to dense J. virginiana woodlands leads to a corresponding state transition below-ground that persists post-extreme burn and may facilitate J. virginiana re-establishment. To address this hypothesis, paired grasslands and J. virginiana woodlands in the Loess Canyons of Central Nebraska were subjected to one prescribed extreme burn between 2005 and 2019 to provide a natural burn chronosequence. We quantified J. virginiana re-establishment, soil chemistry, soil microbial biomass and microbial community composition in these paired sites across the chronosequence. Our results partially supported our hypothesis where differences in edaphic variables between J. virginiana sites and grassland sites observed post-burn were largely temporary; however, differences in soil magnesium and microbial community composition were more persistent (\u3e 14 years post-burn). Soil magnesium values were significantly higher in the J. virginiana sites both pre-burn and post-burn across the 14 year chronosequence. Microbial communities were also distinct between J. virginiana and grassland sites pre-burn and across the burn chronosequence. Rapid recovery and/or persistence of specific edaphic factors and soil microbial communities in J. virginiana woodlands post-burn may facilitate early J. virginiana re-establishment. Restoration of historical fire intervals is needed to prevent long term changes to soil function that may facilitate J. virginiana re-establishment. Advisors: Tala Awada and Rhae A. Drijbe

Development of a Dysphagia Management Protocol for Older Residents in a Care Home Setting. (abstract only)

Purpose: The aim of this study is to develop a co-designed dysphagia management protocol for older residents living in a care home setting. Method: A qualitative study is being conducted within four care homes in a region in the North of England; these were purposively selected to ensure representation of a range of care models across the care home sector. A literature search was conducted to establish good practice in the management of dysphagia in care homes. The findings from the literature review informed the development of semi-structured interview/focus group guides. Eight focus groups have been conducted with 40 members of the nursing and care assistant team and semi-structured interviews conducted with four nursing home managers. These have explored the assessment and management of dysphagia and the barriers and opportunities for improvement in dysphagia management. Interviews will also be conducted with residents (n=16) and nominated relatives, and quality managers (n=4). The interview and focus group data are being analyzed using the Framework Approach. Results: The literature review and preliminary data analysis suggest the following emerging themes: Lack of integrated approaches to education and training; Enablers and barriers to effective dysphagia management; Impact of relationship with other health care professionals on dysphagia management. Conclusion: These findings will lead to the co-design of a protocol for optimizing nutrition and hydration which is based on evidence and best practice principles and which can be adopted in the care home setting. This protocol will be produced by January 2018. The study has been funded by the Abbeyfield Foundation

What Do Tweens Think about Fashion Apparel Brands? An Exploration of Tween’s Perceptions about Brand Personality

When preparing advertisements directed towards consumers, it is imperative to know who the target market is and how they view specific brands. When targeting Generation Z tweens, it is crucial to understand who they are as consumers and what they look for in the products they purchase. The Generation Z segment can be described who was born from 1998 and will continue to be born until approximately 2018 (Brock, Ulrich, & Connell, 2010). The word “tween” is a recent term defining the age gap between childhood and adolescence, ranging from ages 8 to 13 (Brock et al., 2010)

A consensus based approach to the development of a digital dysphagia management guide for care homes (abstract only)

Background Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is common in older people. Up to 75% of residents in nursing homes have swallowing difficulties. Effective management of dysphagia is complex and multi-dimensional. Without proper understanding of what is needed residents’ health and well-being are compromised. An integrated whole systems approach across both catering and clinical services is required. Aim To develop and evaluate an evidence based digital guide to effectively manage dysphagia in care homes. Study Design A consensus based, co-design approach was used to: Examine the evidence-base, views of residents, staff and company representatives to better understand management and shared decision-making in dysphagia care. Co-design a digital guide that promotes adoption of best practice. Conduct a validation process of the guide. Findings A purposive sample of four homes were recruited. Eight focus groups were conducted with 37 members of the workforce and individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 4 care home managers, 4 quality managers and 6 residents. Analysis determined four key themes around good practice: Training, Food, Quality and Safety, and Workforce. Themes were used to design a digital guide incorporating text, photographs and videos, to enable staff to use the evidence to support their residents to eat and drink safely. The Guide was piloted by 57 staff over 12 weeks. Remote monitoring of activity showed that pages were displayed a total of 1913 times, with Food as the most viewed section (33%). 73% of people reported the Guide helped them do their job more effectively and 88% would recommend the Guide to others. 90% reported the Guide was easy to use. Discussion Using a co-design approach to the development of a digital guide to support dysphagia management in care homes resulted in a resource which was evaluated positively for content, design and usability. Funding is now being sought for a large scale evaluation

A consensus based approach to the development of a digital dysphagia management guide for care homes (abstract only)

Background Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) is common in older people. Up to 75% of residents in nursing homes have swallowing difficulties. Effective management of dysphagia is complex and multi-dimensional. Without proper understanding of what is needed residents’ health and well-being are compromised. An integrated whole systems approach across both catering and clinical services is required. Aim To develop and evaluate an evidence based digital guide to effectively manage dysphagia in care homes. Study Design A consensus based, co-design approach was used to: Examine the evidence-base, views of residents, staff and company representatives to better understand management and shared decision-making in dysphagia care. Co-design a digital guide that promotes adoption of best practice. Conduct a validation process of the guide. Findings A purposive sample of four homes were recruited. Eight focus groups were conducted with 37 members of the workforce and individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 4 care home managers, 4 quality managers and 6 residents. Analysis determined four key themes around good practice: Training, Food, Quality and Safety, and Workforce. Themes were used to design a digital guide incorporating text, photographs and videos, to enable staff to use the evidence to support their residents to eat and drink safely. The Guide was piloted by 57 staff over 12 weeks. Remote monitoring of activity showed that pages were displayed a total of 1913 times, with Food as the most viewed section (33%). 73% of people reported the Guide helped them do their job more effectively and 88% would recommend the Guide to others. 90% reported the Guide was easy to use. Discussion Using a co-design approach to the development of a digital guide to support dysphagia management in care homes resulted in a resource which was evaluated positively for content, design and usability. Funding is now being sought for a large scale evaluation

Revolutionising Fish Ageing: Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy to Age Fish

The project aimed to evaluate the innovative application of NIRS as a reliable, repeatable, and cost-effective method of ageing fish, using otoliths of Barramundi and Snapper as study species. Specific research questions included assessing how geographic and seasonal variation in otoliths affects NIRS predictive models of fish age, as well as how the NIR spectra of otoliths change in the short-term (i.e., <12 months) and long-term (i.e., historical otolith collections) and what effect this has on the predictive ability of NIRS models. The cost-effectiveness of using NIRS to supplement standard fish ageing methods was also evaluated using a hypothetical case study of Barramundi

Calretinin is a novel candidate marker for adverse ovarian effects of early life exposure to mixtures of endocrine disruptors in the rat

Open Access via Springer Compact Acknowledgements This work was funded by the Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark, and by a grant from the European Commission 7th Framework Program CONTAMED (Contaminant mixtures and human reproductive health-novel strategies for health impact and risk assessment of endocrine disrupters, grant agreement no.: 215202), as well as the Medical Research Council (UK) (MR/L010011/1 to PAF) and the EU Horizon 2020 project FREIA (Grant Number 825100). We would like to thank Heidi Letting, the Animal facilities at DTU food, and the University of Aberdeen Proteomics Core Facility for their support and assistance in this work.Peer reviewedPublisher PD