The Voices of One Urban School District Taken Over by a State

This qualitative research investigates the experiences of education stakeholders in a city that requested a state takeover. Using the voices of stakeholders of one urban school district, this study reveals the real, yet unseen, mechanisms which led to the takeover. These same voices tell of the takeover’s resulting impact. These mechanisms are presented using the framework of critical realism to establish the truth found in each voice. Additionally, critical race theory is layered in to understand the mechanisms found in the counter-stories of the voices of one urban district taken over by a state. Not typically assessed in takeover research, existing literature is scant in its attention to elements of stakeholder voice. Yet, these voices add complexities and thickness to explanations of the lead up to and impact of takeovers. The current literature identifies the actual events of financial mismanagement and test scores/academics as the actual indicators of a district’s prerequisites for takeover. However, these two acts are inadequate in understanding what factors lead to takeovers and its resulting impact. The voices of the stakeholders will respond to these concerns, which are at the heart of the research questions for this study. This study focused on one urban district with a profile analogous to other urban districts taken over by a state and placed the local actors (the stakeholders) at the center of the investigation. In the extant literature, the findings reveal that the actual events (the seen) of takeovers are fiscal mismanagement, test scores, and board dysfunction. To explore the phenomenon of takeovers and the intersection of stakeholder voices additional data sources of newspaper articles and media, board of education meeting transcripts, and semi-structured interviews were used in this study. Interpretive phenomenological analysis and content analysis guided the data’s examination, leading to this study’s findings, which add depth to the findings in the literature. Moreover, the researcher of this study, who has worked as an educator in a district taken over by the state, provides an insider perspective. In response to the first research question, the findings tell us the voices point to three major areas of concern that led up to the takeover of the school district: (1) finances, (2) internal BOE concerns, and (3) safety. The subthemes of: (a) academics, (b) school policy, (c) people connections, and (d) personnel were also present in the concern of the voices prior to the takeover. The voices also tell us that, in response to research question two of this study, the impact of the takeover had four findings; the takeover: (1) had no impact, (2) attempted privatization, (3) excluded some parents and excluded other parents, and (4) exposed the relationship between the city and the district. Finally, the study’s recommendations and conclusions points to three implications for practice and several recommendations regarding community voice and takeovers

The Voices of One Urban School District Taken Over by a State

This qualitative research investigates the experiences of education stakeholders in a city that requested a state takeover. Using the voices of stakeholders of one urban school district, this study reveals the real, yet unseen, mechanisms which led to the takeover. These same voices tell of the takeover’s resulting impact. These mechanisms are presented using the framework of critical realism to establish the truth found in each voice. Additionally, critical race theory is layered in to understand the mechanisms found in the counter-stories of the voices of one urban district taken over by a state. Not typically assessed in takeover research, existing literature is scant in its attention to elements of stakeholder voice. Yet, these voices add complexities and thickness to explanations of the lead up to and impact of takeovers. The current literature identifies the actual events of financial mismanagement and test scores/academics as the actual indicators of a district’s prerequisites for takeover. However, these two acts are inadequate in understanding what factors lead to takeovers and its resulting impact. The voices of the stakeholders will respond to these concerns, which are at the heart of the research questions for this study. This study focused on one urban district with a profile analogous to other urban districts taken over by a state and placed the local actors (the stakeholders) at the center of the investigation. In the extant literature, the findings reveal that the actual events (the seen) of takeovers are fiscal mismanagement, test scores, and board dysfunction. To explore the phenomenon of takeovers and the intersection of stakeholder voices additional data sources of newspaper articles and media, board of education meeting transcripts, and semi-structured interviews were used in this study. Interpretive phenomenological analysis and content analysis guided the data’s examination, leading to this study’s findings, which add depth to the findings in the literature. Moreover, the researcher of this study, who has worked as an educator in a district taken over by the state, provides an insider perspective. In response to the first research question, the findings tell us the voices point to three major areas of concern that led up to the takeover of the school district: (1) finances, (2) internal BOE concerns, and (3) safety. The subthemes of: (a) academics, (b) school policy, (c) people connections, and (d) personnel were also present in the concern of the voices prior to the takeover. The voices also tell us that, in response to research question two of this study, the impact of the takeover had four findings; the takeover: (1) had no impact, (2) attempted privatization, (3) excluded some parents and excluded other parents, and (4) exposed the relationship between the city and the district. Finally, the study’s recommendations and conclusions points to three implications for practice and several recommendations regarding community voice and takeovers

Total Marginality: Cumulative Marginality among African American Students at a Predominantly White Institution

This study examines the cumulative nature of marginality felt by African American undergraduates attending a Predominantly White institution (PWI). In-depth semi-structured interviews with ten African American college upperclassmen revealed the need for conceptualization of student marginality at PWIs. The participants detailed their exposure to varying levels of marginality in campus spaces, classrooms, course curriculum, residence halls, the community surrounding the institution, elements of their home environment, and interracial and intraracial interactions with students. This study moves beyond descriptive analyses (Feagin, Vera, & Imani 1996; Davis, Dias-Bowie, Greenberg, Klukken, Pollio, Thomas, & Thompson, 2004; Lewis, Ginsberg, Davis, & Smith, 2004) and offers total marginality as an emergent theory affirming the collective weight of marginality on student development. Recommendations for redressing total marginality are provided

White Male Privilege: An Intersectional Deconstruction

This research saliently deconstructs the philosophical writing of a white, privileged male by five diverse academic peers by using a methodology of deconstruction to analyze the initial author\u27s writing. Their reflects on his nascent perspectives address the stages of racism, mea culpa, the relationship between privilege, oppression, and classism, a feminist perspective, binary, and intersectionality. Further analysis connote for the need to deconstruct privilege in a literary context and to develop an autoethnography to fully delve into privilege beyond a superficial and neglectful narrative

Inflammatory and Angiogenic Factors at Mid-Pregnancy Are Associated with Spontaneous Preterm Birth in a Cohort of Tanzanian Women.

Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of perinatal mortality worldwide, with the greatest burden occurring in resource-constrained settings. Based on the hypothesis that altered placental angiogenesis and inflammation early in pregnancy lead to PTB, we examined whether levels of inflammatory and angiogenic mediators, measured early in pregnancy, were predictive of spontaneous PTB (sPTB).\ud Plasma samples were collected from a prospective cohort of primigravid Tanzanian women between 12-27 weeks gestation. A panel of 18 markers was screened on a training cohort of 426 women. Markers associated with sPTB in the training cohort were repeated in a test cohort of 628 women. All markers were measured by ELISA. In both the training and test cohorts plasma levels of IL-18BP, sICAM-1, sEndoglin and CHI3L1 were elevated and Leptin was lower at enrollment in women who subsequently experienced sPTB. In multivariate analysis women with plasma levels of CHI3L1, C5a, sICAM-1, AngptL3, sEndgolin, sFlt-1 and IL-18BP in the highest quartile had an increased risk of sPTB compared with those in the lowest quartile. Women with Leptin and Ang2 in the highest quartile had a reduced risk of sPTB compared with women in the lowest quartile. Levels of angiogenic and inflammatory mediators measured at mid-pregnancy were associated with subsequent sPTB. These findings provide insight into mechanisms underlying sPTB and suggest biomarkers that may have clinical utility in risk-stratifying pregnancies

New Insights into the Diversity of Marine Picoeukaryotes

Over the last decade, culture-independent surveys of marine picoeukaryotic diversity based on 18S ribosomal DNA clone libraries have unveiled numerous sequences of novel high-rank taxa. This newfound diversity has significantly altered our understanding of marine microbial food webs and the evolution of eukaryotes. However, the current picture of marine eukaryotic biodiversity may be significantly skewed by PCR amplification biases, occurrence of rDNA genes in multiple copies within a single cell, and the capacity of DNA to persist as extracellular material. In this study we performed an analysis of the metagenomic dataset from the Global Ocean Survey (GOS) expedition, seeking eukaryotic ribosomal signatures. This PCR-free approach revealed similar phylogenetic patterns to clone library surveys, suggesting that PCR steps do not impose major biases in the exploration of environmental DNA. The different cell size fractions within the GOS dataset, however, displayed a distinct picture. High protistan diversity in the <0.8 µm size fraction, in particular sequences from radiolarians and ciliates (and their absence in the 0.8–3 µm fraction), suggest that most of the DNA in this fraction comes from extracellular material from larger cells. In addition, we compared the phylogenetic patterns from rDNA and reverse transcribed rRNA 18S clone libraries from the same sample harvested in the Mediterranean Sea. The libraries revealed major differences, with taxa such as pelagophytes or picobiliphytes only detected in the 18S rRNA library. MAST (Marine Stramenopiles) appeared as potentially prominent grazers and we observed a significant decrease in the contribution of alveolate and radiolarian sequences, which overwhelmingly dominated rDNA libraries. The rRNA approach appears to be less affected by taxon-specific rDNA copy number and likely better depicts the biogeochemical significance of marine protists

Measurement of CP violation parameters and polarisation fractions in Bs0→J/ψK‾∗0 {\mathrm{B}}_{\mathrm{s}}^0\to \mathrm{J}/\psi {\overline{\mathrm{K}}}^{\ast 0} decays

The first measurement of ${C\!P}$ asymmetries in the decay ${B_s^0\to J/\psi \overline{K}^{*}(892)^{0}}$ and an updated measurement of its branching fraction and polarisation fractions are presented. The results are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3.0\,fb^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of $7$ and $8\,\mathrm{TeV}$. Together with constraints from ${B^0\to J/\psi \rho^0}$, the results are used to constrain additional contributions due to penguin diagrams in the ${C\!P}$-violating phase ${{\phi}_{s}}$, measured through ${B_s^0}$ decays to charmonium.The first measurement of CP asymmetries in the decay ${B}_s^0\to J/\psi {\overline{\mathrm{K}}}^{\ast }{(892)}^0$ and an updated measurement of its branching fraction and polarisation fractions are presented. The results are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb^{−}^{1} of proton-proton collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. Together with constraints from B$^{0}$ → J/ψ ρ$^{0}$, the results are used to constrain additional contributions due to penguin diagrams in the CP -violating phase ϕ$_{s}$ , measured through B$_{s}^{0}$ decays to charmonium.The first measurement of ${C\!P}$ asymmetries in the decay ${B_s^0\to J/\psi \overline{K}^{*}(892)^{0}}$ and an updated measurement of its branching fraction and polarisation fractions are presented. The results are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3.0\,fb^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of $7$ and $8\,\mathrm{TeV}$. Together with constraints from ${B^0\to J/\psi \rho^0}$, the results are used to constrain additional contributions due to penguin diagrams in the ${C\!P}$-violating phase ${{\phi}_{s}}$, measured through ${B_s^0}$ decays to charmonium

Host biomarkers are associated with progression to dengue haemorrhagic fever: a nested case-control study

Objectives: Dengue represents the most important arboviral infection worldwide. Onset of circulatory collapse can be unpredictable. Biomarkers that can identify individuals at risk of plasma leakage may facilitate better triage and clinical management. Design: Using a nested case-control design, we randomly selected subjects from a prospective cohort study of dengue in Colombia (n = 1582). Using serum collected within 96 hours of fever onset, we tested 19 biomarkers by ELISA in cases (developed dengue hemorrhagic fever or dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS); n = 46), and controls (uncomplicated dengue fever (DF); n = 65) and healthy controls (HC); n = 15. Results: Ang-1 levels were lower and angptl3, sKDR, sEng, sICAM-1, CRP, CXCL10/IP-10, IL-18 binding protein, CHI3L1, C5a and Factor D levels were increased in dengue compared to HC. sICAM-1, sEng and CXCL10/IP-10 were further elevated in subjects who subsequently developed DHF/DSS (p = 0.008, p = 0.028 and p = 0.025, respectively). In a logistic regression model, age (odds ratio (OR) (95% CI): 0.95 (0.92-0.98), p = 0.001), hyperesthesia/hyperalgesia (OR; 3.8 (1.4-10.4), p = 0.008) and elevated sICAM-1 (>298ng/mL: OR; 6.3 (1.5-25.7), p = 0.011) at presentation were independently associated with progression to DHF/DSS. Conclusions: These results suggest that inflammation and endothelial activation are important pathways in the pathogenesis of dengue and sICAM-1 levels may identify individuals at risk of plasma leakage

Dysregulation of angiopoietin-1 plays a mechanistic role in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria

Cerebral malaria is a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Interventions targeting the underlying pathophysiology of cerebral malaria may improve outcomes compared to treatment with antimalarials alone. Microvascular leak plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria. The angiopoietin (Ang)-Tie-2 system is a critical regulator of vascular function. We show that Ang-1 expression and soluble Tie-2 expression were associated with disease severity and outcome in a prospective study of Ugandan children with severe malaria and in a preclinical murine model of experimental cerebral malaria. Ang-1 was necessary for maintenance of vascular integrity and survival in a mouse model of cerebral malaria. Therapeutic administration of Ang-1 preserved blood-brain barrier integrity and, in combination with artesunate treatment, improved survival beyond that with artesunate alone. These data define a role for dysregulation of the Ang-Tie-2 axis in the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria and support the evaluation of Ang-Tie-2-based interventions as potential adjunctive therapies for treating severe malaria