Review of Light the Fuse by Vince Rocco Vargas

Light the Fuse by Vincent “Rocco” Vargas is pseudo memoir offering guidance in the military to civilian transition and navigating everyday struggles of uncertainty. In Post-9/11 America, there is no shortage of current and former service members doing their best to provide the veteran community with their take on the “self-help book.” Since September 11, 2001, more than 2.7 million service members have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn (Hautzinger, Howell, Scandlyn, & Wool, 2015). This continual conduit of service members experiencing war and returning to the civilian world has flooded the industry with literature. From the endless supply of Navy Seal recounts of intense combat operations, to the lesser known vantage point of the loggie at war, it is all there. Light the Fuse (2018) focuses on the concept of transition; not just the military to civilian transition that so many service members struggle with, but also the concept of life as a continual transition

Discovering the Leader Within: Learning Leadership through Service (2nd Edition)

Discovering the Leader Within: Learning Leadership through Service (2nd edition) is a resource guide for students participating in a service-learning course in leadership studies. More precisely, this workbook is designed to enhance the reflection and assessment components of students’ service-learning projects. Students are challenged to develop in all aspects of human development: cognitive, behavioral and affective domains. Students are challenged cognitively, in exploring the capacities of being knowledgeable about the leadership process; behaviorally, in making use of new skills to demonstrate their leadership abilities; and affectively, in examining one’s own attitudes and self-efficacy in affecting positive change for the common good.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/leadership_oer/1000/thumbnail.jp

Supporting the Student Service Member and Veteran Population as Learners: An Exploratory Study of Academic Motivation and Best Practices in Student Services at a State Comprehensive University

This article explores best practices in student services for Student Service Members and Veterans (SSM/V) learners at a Midwestern state comprehensive university (SCU.) The Military Learner Academic Success Perception Survey (MLASPS) was administered to a small but targeted cohort population of SSM/V’s enrolled in a customized Associate of Applied Science (AAS) program through the institution’s new centralized student support center for SSM/V’s. The research team collected data related to the enrolled students’ perceived academic preparedness, student service needs, and academic motivation. Results informed the center about how to best serve SSM/V’s in persisting through graduation. Results may also be valuable for other universities in the early phases of launching military-student initiatives and partnerships. Additionally, this research contributes to the literature surrounding academic motivation and retention/persistence of the SSM/V population and adds to the literature on the Academic Motivation Scale – College Version AMS-C28 survey instrument

Faculty Perceptions of the Essential Elements Of Leadership Across Generations and Sex

This exploratory quantitative study, whose population consisted of full-time faculty at a Midwestern state university, measures perceptions of the degree of essentiality of ten elements of effective leadership, and whether or not those perceptions were significantly different across generational cohort (baby boomer, GenX, and millennial) and/or biological sex (male, female). Current literature on generational cohort/gender and perceptions of effective leadership is equivocal at best. This study attempted to fill gaps in existing literature, as applied to faculty in higher education contexts. The essential elements of leadership identified for this study were: influence, promoting teamwork, change facilitation, authority, collaborative dialogue, risk-taking, followership, emotional intelligence, ethical behavior, and self-awareness. A survey of full-time faculty members (n=105) at a state comprehensive university revealed self-awareness, ethical behavior, and promoting teamwork as being most essential, while risk-taking, use of authority, and influence were identified as least essential. Additionally, the only element that produced a significant interaction effect was influence. These findings suggest that generational cohort and biological sex have an extraordinarily minor impact on faculty perceptions of the essential elements of leadership, which is counter to existing literature and suggests a trend towards broad congruence in perceptions about leadership across sex and generations

Majoring in Leadership: Issues of Consistency and Credibility

The field of Leadership Studies struggles with issues of consistency and credibility. Based on prior surveys of undergraduate leadership majors, it is evident that the field is not unified. Other multidisciplinary fields of study, which have more defined elements (e.g. Women’s Studies and African American Studies), are not burdened with the need to constantly define and/or defend their curriculum. This discussion presents the argument that increasing consistency among programs could lead to increased credibility as a field and a foundation moving leadership degree programs forward

Análise metagenômica da comunidade bacteriana de vacas com distúrbios reprodutivos.

Sendo animais economicamente explorados, patologias que afetam o gado tem uma conseqüência direta sobre a produção, levando a uma diminuição dos lucros. Micoplasmoses são fontes de diversos distúrbios reprodutivos que atingem o gado, como agalactia contagiosa, mastite, endometrite, placentite, aborto, infertilidade e vulvovaginite granular. O tratamento destas patologias pode ser muito desafiadora, impulsionando este estudo a compreender a dinâmica das comunidades bacterianas envolvidas na instalação da infecção e no desenvolvimento dos sintomas. Com este fim, amostras do trato genital de vacas saudáveis e vacas com sintomas de micoplasmose foram coletadas usando swabs. O material genético foi purificado e extraído dessas amostras e, após a amplificação do gene 16s, o seqüenciamento foi realizado pela plataforma de seqüenciamento Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine - PGM, usando reagentes do kit 200 (Life Technologies). Os resultados do seqüenciamento foram submetidos a programas de bioinformática para desenvolvimento e análise dos perfis microbianos comparativos. Os resultados mostram que em vacas saudáveis as bactérias colonizando o trato genital são em sua totalidade associadas ao hospedeiro e não patogênicas. A maioria era anaeróbia, apresentando um pH neutro como ótimo para crescimento bacteriano. Os dados da diversidade bacteriana do perfil com distúrbios reprodutivos sugerem uma mudança significativa no ambiente. Neste estado, bactérias anaeróbias, aeróbias e com requerimento de oxigênio facultativo estão presentes. O pH do trato genital de vacas doentes é mais ácido e a presença de oxigênio é um fator importante, indicando uma mudança ecológica na comunidade bacteriana. A quantidade total e a diversidade de gêneros bacterianos é maior nos indivíduos que apresentam os sintomas. Isto novamente sugere uma mudança ambiental, permitindo a colonização dos nichos presentes no trato genital por novas bactérias. A relação entre bactérias patogênicas aeróbias e anaeróbias nos indivíduos doentes pode representar um caso de sinergia bacteriana, em que diferentes bactérias trabalham em conjunto no desenvolvimento da infecção, uma condição observada em diversos modelos animais. Enterobacteriaceae e Bacteroides são os grupos mais numerosos presentes em ambos os estados. Enterobacteriaceae é conhecido por diminuir o pH local, inibindo a função dos neutrófilos através da produção de sucinato, enquanto Bacteroides dificulta a fagocitose através da competição com opsoninas. Isto diminui a opsonização de bactérias patogênicas, prejudicando a resposta imunológica a infecção. No perfil com distúrbios reprodutivos novas famílias emergem, como Pasteurellaceae, cujas espécie Histophilus somni é um conhecido patógeno oportunista de gato causando doenças nos sistemas respiratório, genital, nervoso e circulatório. Arcanobacterium pyogenes, outra espécie patogênica com relações ecológicas bem estudadas, Prevotella, Fusobacterium e Mycoplasma também estão presentes, agravando a infecção. Nossos dados sugerem que os sintomas não são resultantes da ação de um único patógeno e sim um reflexo de uma mudança ambiental favorável a colonização por diferentes bactérias patogênicas que trabalham em conjunto para causar a doença.Pathologies in cattle have a direct impact on production, leading to a profit decrease. Mycoplasmosis causes a range of reproductive disorders, such as contagious agalactia, mastitis, endometritis, placentitis, abortion, infertility and granular vulvovaginitis. The treatment of these pathologies can be specially challenging, driving this study to comprehend the dynamic of the bacterial communities involved in the instauration of the infection and symptoms development. To do so, samples of the genital tract from healthy cows and cows with symptoms of mycoplasmosis were collected using swabs. The genetic material was purified and extracted from these samples and, following amplification of the 16S RNA gene, sequencing of amplicon libraries was performed by the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine - PGM sequencing platform, using Sequencing kit 200 (Life Technologies) reagents. The sequencing results were submitted to bioinformatics programs for the development and analysis of the comparative microbial profiles. Our results show that in healthy cows the bacteria colonizing the genital tract were in totality host associated and non-pathogenic. The majority were anaerobic with a neutral pH optimal for bacterial growth. The data for the bacterial diversity in the profile with reproductive disorders suggests a significant change in the environment. In this state, anaerobic, facultative and aerobic genera are present. The pH of the genital tract of cows affected by the reproductive disorders is more acid and the presence of oxygen is an important factor, indicating an interesting shift in the ecology of the bacterial community. The total quantity and diversity of bacterial genera are higher in the affected individuals. This suggests an environmental change taking place, permitting new bacteria to colonize the genital tract niches. The relationship between anaerobic and aerobic pathogenic bacteria in the affected animals may be a case of bacterial synergy, in which different bacteria work together in the development of the infection, a condition observed in distinct animal models. Enterobacteriaceae and Bacteroides are the most numerous groups present in both the healthy and the affected states. Enterobacteriaceae are known for decreasing local pH, inhibiting neutrophil functions via succinate production, while Bacteroides difficult phagocytosis through competition with opsonins. This reduces bacteria opsonisation, hindering the immune response to infection. In the profile with reproductive disorders new families emerge, such as Pasteurellaceae, which species Histophilus somni is a known opportunistic cattle pathogen causing diseases in the respiratory, genital, nervous and circulatory systems. Arcanobacterium pyogenes, another pathogenic species with well studied ecologic relationships, Prevotella, Fusobacterium and Mycoplasma are also present, aggravating the infection. Our data suggests that the symptoms are not a result of a single pathogen, but rather a reflection of an environmental change favourable to colonization by different pathogenic bacteria that work together to cause disease

The Green Zone Initiative: Combining Virtual and Face-to-Face Training to Support Veterans in Higher Education

The purpose of the Green Zone Initiative is to address the needs of the nearly 700 student Veterans at a state comprehensive university who are enrolled either on campus or online. The number of service members reintegrating into civilian life is higher than at any time in history since the Vietnam War. As Traumatic Brain Injury is the signature wound of this war, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as the civilian-military divide are all having a monumental impact on our veteran population across America. Student Veterans re-entering civilian life and adjusting to college are under additional pressures which place them in a category of students who may need additional resources and supports to be successful. The purpose of the Green Zone Initiative is to educate and equip faculty and staff to identify those needs and provide support and direction to those resources

Frequency-dependent Drude damping in Casimir force calculations

The Casimir force is calculated between Au thin films that are described by a Drude model with a frequency dependent damping function. The model parameters are obtained from available experimental data for Au thin films. Two cases are considered; annealed and nonannealed films that have a different damping function. Compared with the calculations using a Drude model with a constant damping parameter, we observe changes in the Casimir force of a few percent. This behavior is only observed in films of no more than 300 $\AA$ thick.Comment: Proceedings of the meeting "60 years of Casimir effect", Brasilia, 200