Mindfulness Program at Work

Develop and implement a mindfulness based stress reduction program that is easily accessible, effective, and utilized by staff to improve care quality and positively affect the wellbeing of CCH employees.https://digitalcommons.centracare.com/nursing_posters/1065/thumbnail.jp

Critical educational praxis in university ecosystems: enablers and constraints

Universities serve several important functions in society today through research, education, and community engagement, not least helping people to live meaningfully in society and create a world worth living in. A kind of practice that seems particularly important in fulfilling such responsibilities is critical educational praxis, a social-justice oriented, educational practice/praxis, with a focus on asking critical questions and creating conditions for positive change. Yet, the contemporary university is not exactly a niche for critical educational praxis. There are practices and arrangements within higher education that make the enactment of critical educational praxis challenging. This paper explores this concern by explicating the notion of critical educational praxis and examining enablers and constraints for critical educational praxis drawing on an empirical study conducted in one university setting. Our aim is to prompt consideration of the kind of university ecosystems currently being created, and the implications for academic communities and society.</p

National Outbreak of Salmonella Serotype Saintpaul Infections: Importance of Texas Restaurant Investigations in Implicating Jalapeño Peppers

BACKGROUND: In May 2008, PulseNet detected a multistate outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Saintpaul infections. Initial investigations identified an epidemiologic association between illness and consumption of raw tomatoes, yet cases continued. In mid-June, we investigated two clusters of outbreak strain infections in Texas among patrons of Restaurant A and two establishments of Restaurant Chain B to determine the outbreak's source. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted independent case-control studies of Restaurant A and B patrons. Patients were matched to well controls by meal date. We conducted restaurant environmental investigations and traced the origin of implicated products. Forty-seven case-patients and 40 controls were enrolled in the Restaurant A study. Thirty case-patients and 31 controls were enrolled in the Restaurant Chain B study. In both studies, illness was independently associated with only one menu item, fresh salsa (Restaurant A: matched odds ratio [mOR], 37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 7.2-386; Restaurant B: mOR, 13; 95% CI 1.3-infinity). The only ingredient in common between the two salsas was raw jalapeño peppers. Cultures of jalapeño peppers collected from an importer that supplied Restaurant Chain B and serrano peppers and irrigation water from a Mexican farm that supplied that importer with jalapeño and serrano peppers grew the outbreak strain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Jalapeño peppers, contaminated before arrival at the restaurants and served in uncooked fresh salsas, were the source of these infections. Our investigations, critical in understanding the broader multistate outbreak, exemplify an effective approach to investigating large foodborne outbreaks. Additional measures are needed to reduce produce contamination

Endemic, Notifiable Bioterrorism-Related Diseases, United States, 1992–1999

Little information is available in the United States regarding the incidence and distribution of diseases caused by critical microbiologic agents with the potential for use in acts of terrorism. We describe disease-specific, demographic, geographic, and seasonal distribution of selected bioterrorism-related conditions (anthrax, botulism, brucellosis, cholera, plague, tularemia, and viral encephalitides) reported to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System in 1992–1999. Tularemia and brucellosis were the most frequently reported diseases. Anthrax, plague, western equine encephalitis, and eastern equine encephalitis were rare. Higher incidence rates for cholera and plague were noted in the western United States and for tularemia in the central United States. Overall, the incidence of conditions caused by these critical agents in the United States is low. Individual case reports should be considered sentinel events. For potential bioterrorism-related conditions that are endemic and have low incidence, the use of nontraditional surveillance methods and complementary data sources may enhance our ability to rapidly detect changes in disease incidence

Cell-Autonomous Requirement for Rx Function in the Mammalian Retina and Posterior Pituitary

Rx is a paired-like homeobox gene that is required for vertebrate eye formation. Mice lacking Rx function do not develop eyes or the posterior pituitary. To determine whether Rx is required cell autonomously in these tissues, we generated embryonic chimeras consisting of wild type and Rx−/− cells. We found that in the eye, Rx-deficient cells cannot participate in the formation of the neuroretina, retina pigment epithelium and the distal part of the optic stalk. In addition, in the ventral forebrain, Rx function is required cell autonomously for the formation of the posterior pituitary. Interestingly, Rx−/− and wild type cells segregate before the morphogenesis of these two tissues begins. Our observations suggest that Rx function is not only required for the morphogenesis of the retina and posterior pituitary, but also prior to morphogenesis, for the sorting out of cells to form distinct fields of retinal/pituitary cells

Doctoral supervision as and for praxis

In this paper, the author revisits empirical material generated in her PhD research in light of (a) her recent experiences and conversations as course coordinator of the supervision course at the centre of the Special Issue, and (b) current supervision practice. Part of her PhD research included examination of her own supervisors’ pedagogical praxis while they were supervising her doctorate. This examination occurred, rather uniquely, in dialogue with her supervisors in supervision meetings and interviews, and also through analysis of reflective notes made about her experiences of being supervised during the PhD. At the end of the paper, the author relates the findings of her retrospective analysis to her own being, becoming, and praxis as a supervisor and academic developer involved with the professional learning of supervisors. The discussion builds on current doctoral education and higher education praxis literature by highlighting, among other things, the role of supervision experiences—as both supervisor and supervisee—in supervisor becoming, and how, supervision practice as praxis can be both enacted and nurtured within a supervision team

Todo lo puede: Promoting agency in poor children in Costa Rica

This study was conducted to contribute a qualitative inquiry regarding the role of teachers in the education of children who were born into the Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty (ITP) cycle in Latin America. Education is key to help students pull themselves out of poverty and yet the drop-out rates in primary school among children born into poverty in Latin America remains high. The purpose of the case study was to discover and describe how teachers can foster agency in students born into poverty. Agency is ability to initiate and carry out activities on one's own. The research focused on teachers' beliefs and assumptions about their students, the teachers' methodologies, the students' expressions of agency, and the construction of a Christian identity in the students. Data were collected through focus groups interviews with 3rd and 4th grade students, teacher interviews, and observations in a Christian elementary school affiliated with Latin America ChildCare and Fundación PIEDAD located in a zone of social vulnerability in San José, Costa Rica. Four practices within the educational community emerged from the data as promoting agency within students: (a) the use of adaptive constructivism techniques in education, (b) a focus on agency in the identity development of the students, (c) the use of narrative for meaning making in the lives of the students, and (d) the fostering of an experiential spirituality among the students, teachers, and staff. Recommendations for further research include longitudinal studies of students born into poverty, the role of agency in fostering school retention in secondary school, and studies of intrinsic motivations of students born into poverty

Finding Worlds Worth Living in

This chapter discusses diverse views of worlds worth living in, as described by different groups of students, young people, and adults. It also high-lights how the project of research and writing that produced this volume is an example of critical praxis: history making action directed towards realising the good for humankind. Perhaps, in this, it is an example of what Anna Stetsenko calls a ‘transformative activist stance’. In researching and articulating views of worlds worth living in, the contributors to the volume, and the participants with whom they spoke, not only began to imagine worlds worth living in, they also began to realise them.

Leading for learning in higher education - challenges and possibilities

Leading for learning in higher education – challenges and possibilities Lill Langelotz and Kathleen Mahon, University of Borås, Sweden Few people would deny that universities are becoming increasingly complex educational environments due to significant changes in the nature of academic work and to changing societal expectations. University leaders face challenges and opportunities amidst this complexity, especially regarding responsibilities associated with student learning. The capacity of leaders and managers to respond is arguably affected by the arrangements and practices embedded within their own universities. Understanding these challenges and opportunities, and how current arrangements and practices contribute to or limit them, is central for finding sustainable ways of meeting educational responsibilities and supporting leading for student learning. This paper explores one Swedish university’s effort to enhance academic leading, and to understand the salient site-based arrangements and practices affecting leading for learning. These goals underpinned a series of four seminars on ‘Academic leading – with a focus on student learning’ developed for all staff in management positions (including administration). The seminars were inquiry-focused, generating participant artefacts (e.g., diagrams, PowerPoint presentations) that were used to inform seminar discussions. This material was also analysed as part of an ongoing practitioner inquiry aimed at understanding and addressing site-based challenges for academic leading. Both the seminars and analysis were theoretically framed by the ‘theory of practice architectures’[1]. Initial results show a need for explicitly focussing on the learning environment in everyday activities, and for clear articulation of goals and visions on both institutional and departmental levels. They also point to the importance of opportunities (i.e., time) for staff to reflect in organised ways on their practice and engage in professional learning activities and strategic development, as well as the need for further interrogation of activities that take up time that could otherwise be spent on developing good pedagogical work (e.g., administrative tasks). From a social-political perspective, the results emphasise the need for building trusting, productive staff relations within and between departments, faculties, and administration teams. The paper raises the question, on the basis of the analysis, of how we can more effectively and sustainably support leading for learning given the challenges and complexities of academic environments, by creating new practice architectures and/or by reorienting existing ones that constrain leading and professional learning in unhelpful ways. [1] Kemmis, S., Wilkinson, J., Edwards-Groves, C., Hardy, I., Grootenboer, P., &amp; Bristol, L. (2014). Changing practices, changing education. Singapore: Springer

Academic leading - with a focus on student learning

This report provides a summary and analysis of activities and material generated in the seminar series ‘Academic leading – with a focus on student learning’ developed for staff in management positions at the University of Borås (UB), 2017. The aims of the report are (a) to draw attention to some areas of need and concern that arose during discussions in the seminars (reflected in participants’ written responses in seminar activities); and (b) to make recommendations for consideration of the University’s executive team related to identified concerns/areas of need. Seminar discussions highlighted that there are currently many practices (including leading practices) and arrangements within the University that enhance, or support enhancement of, the learning environment. However, discussions also highlighted some constraining university arrangements and challenges faced in fulfilling leading/managing responsibilities that have implications for the learning environment. These include a range of issues from staff workloads to staffing issues and staff relations.  Such issues, it is argued in this report, warrant further discussion/investigation and potentially changes to practices and arrangements in order to sustain and create an environment more conducive to student learning and leading with a focus on student learning.  As well as offering some recommendations in this regard, the report also presents an evaluation of the seminars.