Centering Disability in Technology Policy: Issue Landscape and Potential Opportunities for Action (Plain Language Version)

Technology has a lot of power. Technology can make the world more inclusive. Technology can make the world more fair.Many people are marginalized in the world. This means they deal with discrimination. Other people treat them badly. Sometimes, laws are unfair to marginalized people. People can be marginalized because of their race or skin color (racism). People can be marginalized because of their gender (sexism or gender-based oppression). People can be marginalized because of their disability (ableism). Technology can help marginalized people be safer. Technology can help marginalized people take control of their lives. Technology can help marginalized people earn money too.But technology doesn't always help marginalized people. Technology often hurts marginalized people instead. Technology can make discrimination worse. This is even worse for people who are marginalized in more than one way, like disabled people of color.This report is about technology and disability issues. Two organizations worked together to write it. Then they got help from another group. Those groups are the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). AAPD and CDT talked to 20 leaders in disability and technology advocacy. Then they wrote this report, with help from the Freedman Consulting company.This report will help other organizations work on disability and technology issues. This report will help other organizations include disabled people. This report says how technology organizations can include disability. It also gives ideas for disability organizations to advocate on technology issues. Some technology issues are related to important disability advocacy issues. This report also talks about challenges for disability and technology organizations working together

Centering Disability in Technology Policy: Issue Landscape and Potential Opportunities for Action

Technology has the power to create a more just and inclusive society by providing greater autonomy, safety, economic opportunity, and convenience for historically marginalized groups. However, all too often, technology instead exacerbates existing discrimination and the structural barriers faced by historically marginalized groups, including people of color, women, and people with disabilities, and especially those who experience intersecting forms of oppression.Undertaken as a collaboration between the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) with the support of Freedman Consulting, this report is intended to help public interest organizations do more inclusive, effective work at the intersection of technology and disability issues in the United States. Based on conversations with 20 disability and technology leaders, this report will explore issue areas and ways where technology justice organizations can better integrate a disability lens into their work. In addition, issues surfaced in this report may help disability groups identify meaningful opportunities to engage on technology policy issues and advance their often-long-standing priorities. Along with identifying policy issues at the intersection of disability and technology, this report will also highlight the challenges and needs that must be addressed in order to break down barriers between siloed fields and do more effective work.Historically, technology has played a significant role in improving the quality of life, and in certain instances, longevity, for many disabled people. This report is not meant to contest or stand in denial of that reality. In taking an intersectional approach, this report aims to ensure that the pursuit of technologies to create opportunity and lower barriers for some does not create inequities or limitations for others. Technology has great potential to improve life and autonomy for people with disabilities, but it also requires equitable and inclusive development, thoughtful, responsive implementation and oversight, and a commitment to identifying and mitigating harms to already-marginalized communities

Multiomic features associated with mucosal healing and inflammation in paediatric Crohn's disease

Background The gastrointestinal microbiota has an important role in mucosal immune homoeostasis and may contribute to maintaining mucosal healing in Crohn's disease (CD). Aim To identify changes in the microbiota, metabolome and protease activity associated with mucosal healing in established paediatric CD. Methods Twenty‐five participants aged 3‐18 years with CD, disease duration of over 6 months, and maintenance treatment with biological therapy were recruited. They were divided into a low calprotectin group (faecal calprotectin 100 μg/g, “mucosal inflammation,” n = 11). 16S gene‐based metataxonomics, 1H‐NMR spectroscopy‐based metabolic profiling and protease activity assays were performed on stool samples. Results Relative abundance of Dialister species was six times greater in the low calprotectin group (q = 0.00999). Alpha and beta diversity, total protease activity and inferred metagenomic profiles did not differ between groups. Pentanoate (valerate) and lysine were principal discriminators in a machine‐learning model which differentiated high and low calprotectin samples using NMR spectra (R2 0.87, Q2 0.41). Mean relative concentration of pentanoate was 1.35‐times greater in the low calprotectin group (95% CI 1.03‐1.68, P = 0.036) and was positively correlated with Dialister. Mean relative concentration of lysine was 1.54‐times greater in the high calprotectin group (95% CI 1.05‐2.03, P = 0.028). Conclusions This multiomic study identified an increase in Dialister species and pentanoate, and a decrease in lysine, in patients with “mucosal healing.” It supports further investigation of these as potential novel therapeutic targets in CD

'We don't learn democracy, we live it!' : consulting the pupil voice in Scottish schools

As the education for citizenship agenda continues to impact on schools, there is a need to begin the discussion around examining the kind of initiatives that can push it forward. In Scotland the proposals should, it is argued, permeate the curriculum throughout the school. Yet there is the fear that the responsibility of all can become the responsibility of none. This paper examines, through case study research carried out by the authors, initiatives in schools designed to take forward the citizenship agenda in the light of children's rights. The first two relate to firstly the impact of pupil councils in primary schools and secondly the impact of discussing controversial issues in the primary classroom. The third outlines the impact on values and dispositions of developing more participatory, democratic practice in the classroom. The paper concludes by calling for both more initiatives of this type and more evaluation of their worth

Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law

Gindis, David, Ernst Freund as Precursor of the Rational Study of Corporate Law (October 27, 2017). Journal of Institutional Economics, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2905547, doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2905547The rise of large business corporations in the late 19th century compelled many American observers to admit that the nature of the corporation had yet to be understood. Published in this context, Ernst Freund's little-known The Legal Nature of Corporations (1897) was an original attempt to come to terms with a new legal and economic reality. But it can also be described, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, as the earliest example of the rational study of corporate law. The paper shows that Freund had the intuitions of an institutional economist, and engaged in what today would be called comparative institutional analysis. Remarkably, his argument that the corporate form secures property against insider defection and against outsiders anticipated recent work on entity shielding and capital lock-in, and can be read as an early contribution to what today would be called the theory of the firm.Peer reviewe

Tamoxifen for prevention of breast cancer: extended long-term follow-up of the IBIS-I breast cancer prevention trial

© Cuzick et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(14)71171-

Festchrift: A Collection of Essays on Architectural History

A collection of essays on architectural history prepared by the Northern Pacific Coast Chapter Society of Architectural Historians dedicated to Professor Marion Dean Ross, chapter founder, on the occasion of his 65th birthday

Agronomic Management of Indigenous Mycorrhizas

Many of the advantages conferred to plants by arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) are associated to the ability of AM plants to explore a greater volume of soil through the extraradical mycelium. Sieverding (1991) estimates that for each centimetre of colonized root there is an increase of 15 cm3 on the volume of soil explored, this value can increase to 200 cm3 depending on the circumstances. Due to the enhancement of the volume of soil explored and the ability of the extraradical mycelium to absorb and translocate nutrients to the plant, one of the most obvious and important advantages resulting from mycorrhization is the uptake of nutrients. Among of which the ones that have immobilized forms in soil, such as P, assume particular significance. Besides this, many other benefits are recognized for AM plants (Gupta et al, 2000): water stress alleviation (Augé, 2004; Cho et al, 2006), protection from root pathogens (Graham, 2001), tolerance to toxic heavy metals and phytoremediation (Audet and Charest, 2006; Göhre and Paszkowski, 2006), tolerance to adverse conditions such as very high or low temperature, high salinity (Sannazzaro et al, 2006), high or low pH (Yano and Takaki, 2005) or better performance during transplantation shock (Subhan et al, 1998). The extraradical hyphae also stabilize soil aggregates by both enmeshing soil particles (Miller e Jastrow, 1992) and producing a glycoprotein, golmalin, which may act as a glue-like substance to adhere soil particles together (Wright and Upadhyaya, 1998). Despite the ubiquous distribution of mycorrhizal fungi (Smith and Read, 2000) and only a relative specificity between host plants and fungal isolates (McGonigle and Fitter, 1990), the obligate nature of the symbiosis implies the establishment of a plant propagation system, either under greenhouse conditions or in vitro laboratory propagation. These techniques result in high inoculum production costs, which still remains a serious problem since they are not competitive with production costs of phosphorus fertilizer. Even if farmers understand the significance of sustainable agricultural systems, the reduction of phosphorus inputs by using AM fungal inocula alone cannot be justified except, perhaps, in the case of high value crops (Saioto and Marumoto, 2002). Nurseries, high income horticulture farmers and no-agricultural application such as rehabilitation of degraded or devegetated landscapes are examples of areas where the use of commercial inoculum is current. Another serious problem is quality of commercial available products concerning guarantee of phatogene free content, storage conditions, most effective application methods and what types to use. Besides the information provided by suppliers about its inoculum can be deceiving, as from the usually referred total counts, only a fraction may be effective for a particular plant or in specific soil conditions. Gianinazzi and Vosátka (2004) assume that progress should be made towards registration procedures that stimulate the development of the mycorrhizal industry. Some on-farm inoculum production and application methods have been studied, allowing farmers to produce locally adapted isolates and generate a taxonomically diverse inoculum (Mohandas et al, 2004; Douds et al, 2005). However the inocula produced this way are not readily processed for mechanical application to the fields, being an obstacle to the utilization in large scale agriculture, especially row crops, moreover it would represent an additional mechanical operation with the corresponding economic and soil compaction costs. It is well recognized that inoculation of AM fungi has a potential significance in not only sustainable crop production, but also environmental conservation. However, the status quo of inoculation is far from practical technology that can be widely used in the field. Together a further basic understanding of the biology and diversity of AM fungi is needed (Abbott at al, 1995; Saito and Marumoto, 2002). Advances in ecology during the past decade have led to a much more detailed understanding of the potential negative consequences of species introductions and the potential for negative ecological consequences of invasions by mycorrhizal fungi is poorly understood. Schwartz et al, (2006) recommend that a careful assessment documenting the need for inoculation, and the likelihood of success, should be conducted prior to inoculation because inoculations are not universally beneficial. Agricultural practices such as crop rotation, tillage, weed control and fertilizer apllication all produce changes in the chemical, physical and biological soil variables and affect the ecological niches available for occupancy by the soil biota, influencing in different ways the symbiosis performance and consequently the inoculum development, shaping changes and upset balance of native populations. The molecular biology tools developed in the latest years have been very important for our perception of these changes, ensuing awareness of management choice implications in AM development. In this context, for extensive farming systems and regarding environmental and economic costs, the identification of agronomic management practices that allow controlled manipulation of the fungal community and capitalization of AM mutualistic effect making use of local inoculum, seem to be a wise option for mycorrhiza promotion and development of sustainable crop production

Wheat-barley hybridization – the last forty years

Abstract Several useful alien gene transfers have been reported from related species into wheat (Triticum aestivum), but very few publications have dealt with the development of wheat/barley (Hordeum vulgare) introgression lines. An overview is given here of wheat 9 barley hybridization over the last forty years, including the development of wheat 9 barley hybrids, and of addition and translocation lines with various barley cultivars. A short summary is also given of the wheat 9 barley hybrids produced with other Hordeum species. The meiotic pairing behaviour of wheat 9 barley hybrids is presented, with special regard to the detection of wheat– barley homoeologous pairing using the molecular cytogenetic technique GISH. The effect of in vitro multiplication on the genome composition of intergeneric hybrids is discussed, and the production and characterization of the latest wheat/barley translocation lines are presented. An overview of the agronomical traits (b-glucan content, earliness, salt tolerance, sprouting resistance, etc.) of the newly developed introgression lines is given. The exploitation and possible use of wheat/barley introgression lines for the most up-to-date molecular genetic studies (transcriptome analysis, sequencing of flow-sorted chromosomes) are also discussed