Strategies for Systemic Change:Youth Community Organizing to Disruptthe School-to-Prison Nexus

The school disciplinary landscape across the United States changed significantly through the enactment of policies that criminalize students’ behaviors during the 1990s and 2000s. Schools began to involve the police and criminal legal system in school disciplinary issues that used to be handled by school administrators. This shift led youth of Color1 to increasingly come into contact with the juvenile legal system through school suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to alternative schools—what we characterize as the school-toprison nexus. Conceptualizing the school-to-prison pipeline as a nexus, or interlocking system of power over youth, allows us to understand how the criminalization of youth is a systemic problem that demands structural change and interventions across multiple levels of analysis and settings, including local schools, school districts, police departments, and state policies. Although important research has documented the ways that Black and Latino youth are referred to the juvenile legal system through punitive school policies, there has been less attention to the actions youth are taking to critique and dismantle these policies. Youth community organizing (YCO) against the school-to-prison nexus represents an arena of youth activism that deserves further attention and analysis. In this chapter, we define YCO as groups that create spaces for young people to think critically about their everyday social conditions, identify root causes of social problems, and build political power and voice to create policy solutions and change in their communities (Ginwright, Noguera, & Cammarota, 2006; Kirshner, 2015; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul- Adil, 1999)

Where our Girls at? The Misrecognition of Black and Brown girls in schools

Black and brown girls remain too often at the margins not only in society at large and in our schools but also in our research and writing about schools. Herein we argue for careful consideration of the specific ways that their raced and gendered identities render these girls vulnerable and put them in jeopardy so that educators and scholars do not become complicit in their marginalization. We focus on dynamics of invisibility and hypervisibility. While these dynamics may seem to be diametrically opposite, both involve the process of what scholar Nancy Fraser (2000) calls “misrecognition” (p. 113)

Good vibrations: Do electrical therapeutic massagers work?

Health, leisure and beauty activities are increasing in popularity, with a particular emphasis on self-help and alternative health practices. One product type that has increased sales with this expansion is the hand-held electric massager. These are products that use vibration as a means of alleviating muscular strains and pains, as well as promoting relaxation. Paradoxically, these products are extremely popular as gifts, but are soon discarded. A multi-disciplinary research team was commissioned by a British manufacturer of electrical consumer products to investigate user attitudes and perceptions of existing massagers, to identify areas of user dissatisfaction. The manufacturer was also concerned about a possible stigma attached to these products because of an association with sex aids. This paper provides an account of the perceptions of both consumers and therapists regarding the use of these products. Identifying the differences between the perceptions of consumers and therapists should help provide a basis for effective integration of user needs, manufacturer requirements, designers’ skills and sound therapeutic practice. The results provide insight to support the development of more effective hand-held massagers

User-centred design and the focus group: developing the student designer's empathic horizons.

User-centred design is now established as an important aspect of design training. This approach employs the centrality of the user both as resource and focus for design. Developing this the authors put forward the concept of an individual designer’s empathic horizon (McDonagh-Philp and Denton, 1999). This can be defined as the individual’s range of understanding and empathy for user experiences in different contexts. It is suggested that the further a designer can develop their empathic horizon the better they are able to design for given ranges of users. This paper firstly examines the concepts of user-centred design and individual designer’s empathic horizon. The paper makes proposals as to how user-centred design approaches could be employed at a school-level to develop the individual student designer’s empathic horizon. Attention will be paid to the concept of development and progression

SUGAMMADEX versus neostigmine after ROCURONIUM continuous infusion in patients undergoing liver transplantation

Background: Rapid neuromuscular block reversal at the end of major abdominal surgery is recommended to avoid any postoperative residual block. To date, no study has evaluated sugammadex performance after rocuronium administration in patients undergoing liver transplantation. This is a randomized controlled trial with the primary objective of assessing the neuromuscular transmission recovery time obtained with sugammadex versus neostigmine after rocuronium induced neuromuscular blockade in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation. Methods: The TOF-Watch SX\uae, calibrated and linked to a portable computer equipped with TOF-Watch SX Monitor Software\uae, was used to monitor and record intraoperative neuromuscular block maintained with a continuous infusion of rocuronium. Anaesthetic management was standardized as per our institution's internal protocol. At the end of surgery, neuromuscular moderate block reversal was obtained by administration of 2 mg/kg of sugammadex or 50 mcg/kg of neostigmine (plus 10 mcg/kg of atropine). Results: Data from 41 patients undergoing liver transplantation were analysed. In this population, recovery from neuromuscular block was faster following sugammadex administration than neostigmine administration, with mean times\ub1SD of 9.4 \ub1 4.6 min and 34.6 \ub1 24.9 min, respectively (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Sugammadex is able to reverse neuromuscular block maintained by rocuronium continuous infusion in patients undergoing liver transplantation. The mean reversal time obtained with sugammadex was significantly faster than that for neostigmine. It is important to note that the sugammadex recovery time in this population was found to be considerably longer than in other surgical settings, and should be considered in clinical practice. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02697929 (registered 3rd March 2016)

Temporal Trends and Drivers of Mountain Lion Depredation in California, USA

Increasing human populations and expanding development across the globe necessitate continual progress in understanding and mitigating human–wildlife conflict. California, USA has the largest human population and at least half of the state is suitable mountain lion (Puma concolor) habitat. The juxtaposition of high human abundance within and adjacent to mountain lion habitat make California relevant for understanding human–large carnivore conflict. We compiled 7,719 confirmed incidents of mountain lions depredating domestic animals over a 48-year period (1972–2019) to examine temporal trends in mountain lion depredations as well as factors influencing annual depredation rates at the county level. Linear regressions demonstrated that the overall number of depredation events and those involving pets (e.g., dogs [Canis lupus familiaris] and cats [Felis catus]) and small hoofstock (primarily sheep [Ovis aries] and goats [Capra aegagrus hircus]) have increased significantly over time with small hoofstock comprising the majority of depredations. Poisson regression models revealed human density and agricultural productivity were negatively associated with increasing depredation rates while amount of suitable habitat and number of mountain lions removed in the previous year were positively associated with increasing depredation rates. In general, our results point to smaller-sized hoofstock operations in areas of suitable mountain lion habitat as key factors in predicting mountain lion depredations in California. Further, the permanent removal of offending individuals appears to increase the potential for conflict in the following year. Broadly speaking, improving husbandry standards for pets and small hoofstock living in areas occupied by large carnivores may be the most effective way to reduce human–predator conflict in California and elsewhere

Swainsonine Biosynthesis Genes in Diverse Symbiotic and Pathogenic Fungi

Swainsonine—a cytotoxic fungal alkaloid and a potential cancer therapy drug—is produced by the insect pathogen and plant symbiont Metarhizium robertsii, the clover pathogen Slafractonia leguminicola, locoweed symbionts belonging to Alternaria sect. Undifilum, and a recently discovered morning glory symbiont belonging to order Chaetothyriales. Genome sequence analyses revealed that these fungi share orthologous gene clusters, designated “SWN,” which included a multifunctional swnKgene comprising predicted adenylylation and acyltransferase domains with their associated thiolation domains, a β-ketoacyl synthase domain, and two reductase domains. The role of swnK was demonstrated by inactivating it in M. robertsii through homologous gene replacement to give a ∆swnK mutant that produced no detectable swainsonine, then complementing the mutant with the wild-type gene to restore swainsonine biosynthesis. Other SWN cluster genes were predicted to encode two putative hydroxylases and two reductases, as expected to complete biosynthesis of swainsonine from the predicted SwnK product. SWN gene clusters were identified in six out of seven sequenced genomes of Metarhzium species, and in all 15 sequenced genomes of Arthrodermataceae, a family of fungi that cause athlete’s foot and ringworm diseases in humans and other mammals. Representative isolates of all of these species were cultured, and all Metarhizium spp. with SWN clusters, as well as all but one of the Arthrodermataceae, produced swainsonine. These results suggest a new biosynthetic hypothesis for this alkaloid, extending the known taxonomic breadth of swainsonine producers to at least four orders of Ascomycota, and suggest that swainsonine has roles in mutualistic symbioses and diseases of plants and animals