The Industry Advisory Board Event - A Decade of Best Practices

As the leading global advocate of quality construction education, the mission of the American Council for Construction Education1 (ACCE) is to promote, support, and accredit quality construction education programs. ACCE is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as the accrediting agency for master’s degree programs, four-year baccalaureate degree programs and two-year associate degree programs in construction, construction science, construction management, and construction technology. ACCE accredits approximately 100 construction programs at the associate, baccalaureate, and master’s degree levels. The Industry Advisory Board (IAB) Event is one of the educational programs offered annually at the ACCE mid-year meeting in February. Launched in 2010, the IAB Event has gained steady support and momentum from both the construction industry and ACCE accredited academic programs. The daylong IAB Event format includes multiple sessions that focus specifically on the needs of IAB members and the academic programs they support. The IAB Event offers workshops, seminars, panel discussions, presentations, and networking opportunities that have demonstrated proven value to industry, academia, and administrative participants, year after year. This event is unique in demonstrating practical and real-world examples, such as: • The roles and responsibilities of IAB membership. • Meaningful industry participation at the local IAB level. • Communication strategies to engage a network of industry professionals for the exchange of ideas in an open forum. • The tools, training, and resources necessary to create and maintain a “high-impact” IAB. The content of this paper examines the origins and evolution of the IAB Event; documents the progress of the event in terms of attendance; revenues and expenditures; programs, panel sessions, and workshops that have been presented; and outlines the value received by attendees in the form of evaluation surveys

Taxes, Natural Resource Endowment, and the Supply of Labor: New Evidence

Using the work – leisure choice model, this paper computes equilibrium hours-worked for a number of Arab, non-oil-producing and labor-abundant countries and major oil-producing, tax-free and labor-scarce countries, for which actual data are unavailable. We estimate hours-worked for the G7, and show that the model fits the data well. We use this evidence as a yardstick to evaluate the model for the Arab countries for which no actual data are available. The model explains hours-worked in Arab, non-oil-producing countries well, but it fails to explain hours-worked in the oil-producing – tax-free countries. With the effective marginal tax rate close to zero, hours-worked increase significantly. We show that natural resource endowment is a required predicting factor for the model in this case. It turned out that natural resource capital acts exactly as a tax. In other words, it increases the wedge between real wages and marginal productivity, hence, natural resource wedge. The higher the natural resource endowment the less hours people worked. Most importantly, we provide a wider support to the model and confirm that the labor supply is elastic in all Arab countries. This finding confirms previous research that workers respond to incentives, which has serious implications for tax and social security policies. We also provide some policy simulation pertinent to poverty and welfare.Hours-worked; labor wedge; natural resource endowment; poverty; welfare

Partnerships Promoting a Culture of Inclusion in Maine\u27s Early Childhood Workforce

This poster session highlighted the Maine UCEDD’s role as a statewide resource and collaborative partner in advancing inclusive practice in Maine’s early care and education system. It covered the delivery of a continuum of supports for inclusion; examined collaborations that create systemic impact; and reviewed the services needed to increase knowledge, skills and application of practices to improve the quality of early care and education settings in Maine.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ccids_posters/1009/thumbnail.jp

Expanding knowledge through sequential world views–a critical realist approach

This paper addresses concerns that critical realism is a philosophy in search of a method, and that little guidance exists for the application of the philosophy to social research. It advances the idea that the absence of a philosophically embedded method gives critical realists the freedom to choose methods best suited to answering research questions under investigation. The paper utilizes a study into business advisor knowledge transmission, explicating how a sequential world views approach can be used to progressively expand knowledge about the topic. In this context, the research design further illustrates the symbiotic relationship of two different research methods: in-depth interviews & focus groups. The paper does not imply that any method is better than any other, rather adopts the position that methods must always suit the research aim and provide the best approach for answering the research question. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

Purification of native HBHA from Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis.

International audienceBACKGROUND: Paratuberculosis remains today a major global problem in animal health, especially for dairy cattle. However, the diagnosis of its etiologic agent, Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (Map), still lacks sensitivity because of the lack of available antigens. Little is known about the virulence factors for this pathogen. In this study we have developed a method to produce and purify the heparin-binding hemagglutinin (HBHA), a major adhesin of Mycobacteria, from a culture of Map. FINDINGS: For this extremely slow-growing Mycobacterium, a culture was established in a 3-liter bioreactor. Using the bioreactor the amount of the Map biomass was increased 5-fold compared to a classical culture in flasks. The map-HBHA was purified from a Map lysate by heparin-Sepharose chromatography on HiTrap columns. Binding of map-HBHA onto heparin-Sepharose can be reduced in the presence of salt. Consequently, all steps of sample preparation and column equilibration were carried out in 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.2). The map-HBHA was eluted by a linear NaCl gradient. High resolution mass spectrometry analyses revealed that the native form of map-HBHA has posttranslational modifications, including the removal of the initiation methionine, acetylation of the alanine residue at the N-terminal extremity and the presence of methylated lysines in the C-terminal domain of the protein. CONCLUSIONS: An optimized culture of Map in a bioreactor was established to purify the native map-HBHA from a Map lysate by heparin-Sepharose chromatography. The availability of this antigen offers the possibility to study the structure of the protein and to examine its role in pathogenicity, in particular to better understand the specific interactions of Map with the intestinal tissue. The map-HBHA obtained in its native immunogenic form may also be useful to improve the diagnostic test, especially for the development of a new T-cell-based interferon gamma release assays

2.5D Representations Combining in vivo 3D MRI and ex vivo 2D MSI Approaches to Study the Lipid Distribution in the Whole Sheep Brain

National audienceMass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) provides easily high spatially resolved masses allowing characterization of endogenous lipids. These latter constitute about 70% of the composition of the white matter of the brain which can be implicated in developmental and/or cognitive troubles. In order to examine the molecular distribution of lipids in whole sheep brain, and especially in white/grey matter, we combined in vivo and ex vivo images, obtained in the same animals, using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and MSI, respectively. In order to view the topology of the molecular species within the organ, we propose the construction of a 2.5 D representation where a single section imaged with 2D MSI is localized within the tissue volume obtained by 3D MRI. 3D T1-weighted MPRAGE images were acquired on two anesthetized sheep with a 3 Tesla MRI (Siemens, Verio ®). The parameters of acquisition for the MPRAGE were: TR 2500ms, TE 3.2ms, FA 12, NEX 1, matrix 384×384, FOV 192mm, 288 slices with a thickness of 0.5mm. In order to improve data quality, the 3D MRI volumes have been pre-processed using in-house algorithms using volume fitting and Markov random field methods. T1 3D planes corresponding to MSI planes were reconstructed using Osirix imaging software.Brains were collected after sacrifice and frozen at -80°C. Frontal and sagittal 14 µm brain sections were performed with a cryostat adapted to large sections (CM3050 S, Leica) and mounted onto conductive ITO-coated slides. The spray of α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid matrix was performed using an Image Prep device (Bruker). Spectra were acquired using an UltrafleXtrem MALDI-TOF instrument (Bruker) in the 200–1200 m/z range with a spatial resolution set at 125 µm. Raw spectra were analyzed with SCiLS Lab software to generate 2D ion density maps and segmentation maps (data partitioning). The tissue sections analyzed by MSI were stained with cresyl violet to manually delimitate neuronal nuclei and areas. This histological map was used to delineate the MRI and MSI 2D views and overlay them regardless the same brain areas used as fiducials. After, a 2.5 D representation was proposed to visualize the lipid distribution within the entire organ.In conclusion, in this study, frontal and sagittal whole sheep brain sections analyzed by MSI showed a clear difference in lipid distribution between different compartments of brain tissues, especially between grey and white matter, until the cerebral envelopment presenting circumvolution. Furthermore, the alignment of 2D MALDI-imaging with T1-weighted images showed that MSI can provide finer details on the structural connectivity of myelinated fiber tracts. Here, the 2.5 D representation combining MRI and MSI was presented as an alternative approach to 3D anatomical and molecular atlas providing a perfect topology of the molecular species within an organ. For the moment, 3D MSI of whole sheep brain is a challenge, while the 2.5 D construction demonstrated to be a capable tool for exploring molecular distributions throughout sample volumes.Nowadays, the reported results may serve as a starting point for further experiments associating MSI and dynamic and functional MRI, especially for the characterization of brain

The nature of professional small business advisor knowledge and the knowledge transmission process : A regional Australian perspective

This thesis specifically examines the relationship between professional business advisor (PBA) knowledge and the knowledge transmission actions undertaken by such advisors when addressing the knowledge requirements of businesses, specifically Regional Australian small businesses. The thesis adopts a qualitative research approach to explore perceptions of individuals who provide advisory services to small businesses, within the context of Regional Australia. The analysis undertaken is a practical application of the critical realist research paradigm to explain how human agency, social structures, and mechanisms interact in the process of creating a knowledge transmission event by PBAs. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis brings together key concepts from scholarly research disciplines of knowledge management, information management, communications, services marketing and business advice. The conceptual framework reflects the research aims and provides the basis for the research methodology. The framework is of a unique critical realist research design that allows the study to progress through sequential world views. Each world view allows the continual broadening of the reality being studied, enabling more focused answers to the research questions posed. This study focuses on PBAs who service small businesses operating in four inner regional and two outer regional locations within the State of Victoria. Over the six regions, a total of 29 face-to-face interviews were conducted, along with one focus group in each region. The findings from this database, using the conceptual framework as a guide, identified a complex, heterogeneous, open environment in which PBA knowledge transmission occurs. This research process recognises PBAs as social structures with causal powers whose knowledge stock is the primary mechanism through which these powers are exercised to generate a knowledge transmission event. A significant conclusion emerges that PBA tacit (and not explicit) knowledge is a conditional mechanism which gate-keeps whether the PBA knowledge transmission event is enacted.Doctor of Philosoph

Maine Head Start and Early Head Start Needs Assessment Report 2015 Annual Update

The Maine Head Start and Early Head Start Needs Assessment Report 2015 Annual Update presents findings from a broad survey of directors and staff representing the 11 non-tribal Head Start grantees in Maine. This report serves as one source of information from which to assess partnerships and develop a strategic plan for the MHSSCO to enhance collaboration with other Maine early childhood system partners to support families and children in Maine

Government funded business programs : advisory help or hindrance?

This study seeks, through the perspective of Professional Business Advisors (PBAs), to understand how government business programs help and/or hinder the provision of small business advisory services in a regional (non-metropolitan) Australian setting. An emergent theme identifies such programs as significant conduits for regional business knowledge transmission. However, those programs are also perceived by PBAs, who deliver such programs, as imposing substantial constraints for provision of such services. The identified constraining factors include issues of PBAs’ financial viability, ineligibility of businesses to access such programs, capriciousness of programs, and clash between technology utilisation and infrastructure reliability in some non-metropolitan regional areas. Regional Australian PBAs service a heterogeneous collection of businesses across large geographic areas. Yet, the potential for PBAs to support the process of knowledge transmission is severely constrained by current government programs aimed at start-up businesses, but ignoring organisational growth. Such constraints raise concerns that have regional policy implication

Government business programs and regional business knowledge transmission by professional business advisor

Based on research seeking to understand mechanisms affecting the provision of small business advisory services in a Regional (non-metropolitan) Australian setting, by what are called Professional Business Advisors (PBAs), an emergent theme identifies government business programs and initiatives as significant conduits for regional business knowledge transmission. However, those programs and initiatives are also perceived to impose substantial constraints for PBAs providing services in regional communities. The identified constraining factors include issues of financial viability for PBAs, ineligibility of many regional small businesses to access government funded initiatives, capriciousness of government programs, and clash between technology utilisation and infrastructure reliability in some non-metropolitan regional areas. Regional Australian PBAs service a heterogeneous collection of businesses across large geographic areas. Yet, the potential influence that these PBAs have in the process of knowledge transmission is severely constrained by current government programs aimed both at start-up regional businesses and those pursuing organisational growth. Such constraints raise concerns that have regional policy implications