War on the Wards: The collapse of health care infrastructure resulting from violent conflict

Introduction: While utilizing satellite images to verify reports of hospital damage resulting from armed conflict allows for remote assessment, the use of private satellites to gain access to images prohibits widespread use. The questions this study sought to answer were: Is it possible to replicate the findings of previous reports of hospital damage that used the services of private satellite imagery using open source software, such as Google Earth? What variations exist among the different sites where damage to hospitals is visible, and what gradation is possible? Is this methodology applicable to other examples of armed conflict? Methods: Using the map of bombed Syrian hospitals published and maintained by Physicians for Human Rights, hospitals were selected according to their location and the time period of the attack. These coordinates were entered into Google maps and once the attack was verified, a grade of damage was assigned. This methodology was then applied to reports of similar attacks in Iraq. Results: While much information can be gleaned from open source data such as Google Earth, the level of detail in satellite images is lower and coordinates data is less specific. [Further results pending.] Conclusion: There is room for the use of open source satellite technology to track and grade the damage done to health care infrastructure during armed conflict. [More conclusions pending.

From Scalability to Subsidiarity in Addressing Online Harm

Large social media platforms are generally designed for scalability—the ambition to increase in size without a fundamental change in form. This means that to address harm among users, they favor automated moderation wherever possible and typically apply a uniform set of rules. This article contrasts scalability with restorative and transformative justice approaches to harm, which are usually context-sensitive, relational, and individualized. We argue that subsidiarity—the principle that local social units should have meaningful autonomy within larger systems—might foster the balance between context and scale that is needed for improving responses to harm

Poverty, race, and the 1968 Poor People's Campaign

textIn May 1968, a racially, geographically, and politically diverse coalition of poor people joined forces to make themselves visible to the nation and protest the unseen poverty they suffered from on a daily basis. Under the leadership of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) between 3,000 and 5,000 African American, Mexican American, American Indian, Puerto Rican, and white Appalachian poor people caravanned to Washington, D.C., and built a temporary city--Resurrection City--on the symbolic space of the National Mall, where they remained for over six weeks as part of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign. The caravans and temporary shantytown brought poverty into the national spotlight, exposing the bleak conditions impoverished people experienced on a daily basis. In Resurrection City volunteers provided participants with social services and basic necessities they lacked at home, while participants conducted daily protests at nearby government agencies, demanding assistance for the basic need of housing, food, and jobs. The ultimate goal of the 1968 Poor People's Campaign was to produce a radical redistribution of wealth in the U.S., but most involved in the movement hoped, if nothing more, to expose the pervasiveness of poverty and persuade Congress to fund new programs and improve the administration and benefits of existing ones. This radical social experiment was the first national, multiracial anti-poverty movement of the era, yet it has received scant scholarly attention. "Civil Rights' 'Unfinished Business'" provides a comprehensive narrative of this significant yet neglected movement that reveals the complexity of national, grassroots, multiracial, class-based activism that challenged the nation to face the problem of poverty during the most tumultuous years of the era. Civil rights scholars tend to dismissively characterize the Poor People's Campaign (PPC) as the last gasp of the civil rights movement--a failed campaign with no substantial lasting consequences. However, this dissertation argues that rather than simply being Martin Luther King Jr.'s "last crusade," the PPC represents civil rights' "unfinished business." The problems this campaign tried to address--hunger, joblessness, homelessness, inadequate health care, a failed welfare system--still persist, and people of color, particularly women and children, continue to experience poverty and its effects disproportionately.American Studie

The effects of antibiotics on the microbiome throughout development and alternative approaches for therapeutic modulation

The widespread use of antibiotics in the past 80 years has saved millions of human lives, facilitated technological progress and killed incalculable numbers of microbes, both pathogenic and commensal. Human-associated microbes perform an array of important functions, and we are now just beginning to understand the ways in which antibiotics have reshaped their ecology and the functional consequences of these changes. Mounting evidence shows that antibiotics influence the function of the immune system, our ability to resist infection, and our capacity for processing food. Therefore, it is now more important than ever to revisit how we use antibiotics. This review summarizes current research on the short-term and long-term consequences of antibiotic use on the human microbiome, from early life to adulthood, and its effect on diseases such as malnutrition, obesity, diabetes, and Clostridium difficile infection. Motivated by the consequences of inappropriate antibiotic use, we explore recent progress in the development of antivirulence approaches for resisting infection while minimizing resistance to therapy. We close the article by discussing probiotics and fecal microbiota transplants, which promise to restore the microbiota after damage of the microbiome. Together, the results of studies in this field emphasize the importance of developing a mechanistic understanding of gut ecology to enable the development of new therapeutic strategies and to rationally limit the use of antibiotic compounds

Competencies and Experiences Needed by Entry Level International Agricultural Development Practitioners

The use of competencies within extension can be an effective way of training and developing extension practitioners (Stone, 1997). In preparation for careers in tomorrow’s agricultural sector, the National Research Council (2009) recognized the need to expose college students to international perspectives. The purpose of this study was to determine the competencies and experiences that entry level agricultural development practitioners need in order to successfully work in an international setting. A modified Delphi method was used to achieve this purpose. A panel of experts in international agricultural development from non–government organizations, government organizations, and academic institutions were selected through snowball sampling (Goodman, 1961). The panelists agreed on 26 competencies and 7 experiences that entry level agricultural development practitioners working internationally should have before entering the profession. The results of this study should be used when planning, designing, and implementing agricultural extension education programs at the university level

Unleasing Z Monster

Houston Community College will share experiences of creating what sometimes feels like an enormous and unrealizable task and what may seem to be a monstrous educational disruption, a Z-Degree. Building a Z-Degree might seem like simply a matter of packaging courses, but in reality, it requires design, intention, and cultivation. After years of piecemeal attempts to adopt and promote OER, HCC gained focus with a directive to launch a Z-Degree, which came from multiple stakeholders, including students, Board of Trustees, senior administration, and faculty champions. This commitment enabled us to secure external and internal funding sources, clarify policies and procedures, and ultimately place OER on a solid foundation for the future. We will share our process for revising and adopting an OER policy guide, identifying and recruiting faculty, and engaging with multiple stakeholders within the institution (Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, libraries, CTLE, and students). HCC has partnered with Lumen Learning to provide initial training and course hosting, and we are working with our Institute for Instructional Engagement & Development to create a sustainable infrastructure to build our capacity of OER course offerings. In some cases, it has been necessary to make compromises to bring critical programs on board, but the college has done so out of a commitment to the ultimate goal of building a complete degree plan and developing OERs options for the future. Finally, HCC is establishing a program for data collection and analysis in order to understand the effects of the initiative on key indicators. This session will include real time polls and Twitter feeds. It is aimed at all levels, but particularly colleges who want to launch a Z Degree

Teaching Hidden History: A Case Study of Dialogic Scaffolding in a Hybrid Graduate Course

Using an expanded version of Alexander’s (2008) theory of dialogic teaching developed by Rojas-Drummond, Torreblanca, Pedraza, Vélez, and Guzmán (2013), this case study explored how instructors and students in a hybrid graduate course engaged in the process of dialogic teaching and learning (DTL). In particular, we examined the ways in which scaffolding strategies used in the course supported inquiry-based learning. Our findings suggest that instructors and students engaged in all five dimensions of DTL as defined by Rojas-Drummond et al. (2013), and illuminate the ways in which scaffolding can facilitate inquiry-based learning in interdisciplinary instructional settings

A severe case of Pembrolizumab-induced triad of myasthenic crisis, myocarditis, and anti-SSA myositis

A man in his late 70s presented with one week of progressive chest and muscle pain, generalized weakness, and fatigue. He received a single infusion of pembrolizumab three weeks prior as adjuvant immunotherapy for stage IIb malignant melanoma after undergoing wide local surgical excision. He was started on steroids for pembrolizumab-induced myositis and myocarditis. Symptoms progressed to include severe dyspnea, dysphagia and eyelid ptosis requiring tracheostomy and PEG tube placement. Serologic studies ultimately confirmed myasthenia gravis and anti-SSA myositis.  He was emergently treated with plasma exchange, pyridostigmine, Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) and is making gradual improvement with physical therapy and oral prednisone taper. We report a severe case of Pembrolizumab-induced triad of myasthenic crisis, myocarditis with myositis specific anti-SSA 52kD Ab IgG autoantibody for the first time. More studies are needed to assess the clinical significance and prognostic value of this autoantibody in patients presenting with Pembrolizumab-induced triad