[Review of] V. Lynn Tyler, ed. Culturgrams: The Nations Around Us; Vol. 1, North and South America, Western and Eastern Europe

Ten years ago Brigham Young University conceived of and began to produce Culturgrams. Culturgrams appeared singly as four page cultural summaries of nearly eighty different countries. A Culturgram on a country is a briefing to aid understanding of, feeling for, and communication with other people. A Culturgram begins with an enlarged map of the country addressed, noting major cities and with a key in kilometres and miles. To the side of the large map is a smaller map placing the addressed country in relation to surrounding countries on its continent. The Culturgram then presents in narrative style some combination of the topics of: customs and courtesies, the people, lifestyle, the nation, useful words and phrases, and suggested readings

BY NEED AND BY NAME: SCHOOL LEADERS FOSTERING ENVIRONMENTS FOR GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN

Children raised by their grandparents are a steadily growing demographic in schools throughout the United States. When parents are unable to care for their children, grandparents sometimes assume the role of primary caregiver. This is especially true when they are faced with the threat of placing their grandchildren in the foster care system. More often than not, these grandparents are not adequately prepared for the challenges of raising children who have lost their parent through death, drug abuse or incarceration and few resources exist to guide elementary school principals to engage this demographic. Regardless of the growing numbers of caregiving grandparents there exists a dearth of research and literature to guide school leaders in effectively engaging these grandparents in school involvement. The purpose of this study was to understand principals’ experiences with grandparents raising grandchildren (GRG), to discover grandparent’s experiences and perspectives on their own experiences in their grandchildren’s schools, and finally, construct theory on how elementary principals create and nurture positive and productive relationships with grandparents raising grandchildren. Analysis of date contributed to the development of propositions that reflect study findings. These propositions contributed to the development of a framework toward theory: Although principals were cognizant of the challenges GRG face, this knowledge did not influence their leadership. As a result, their leadership practices created school environments in which GRGs were effectively engaged in two-way communication but limited decision-making. Furthermore, the schools did not provide a bridge to resources to meet many of the challenges GRG and their families faced

Comparative genomics and genomic diversity of Pseudomonas syringae clade 2b-a in Australia

A zucchini disease outbreak with unusual symptoms associated with Pseudomonas syringae clade 2b was identified in Bundaberg, Australia during autumn 2016. To investigate the genetic diversity of the 11 Australian isolates obtained from the outbreak, the genomes were compared to the publicly available P. syringae strains in phylogroup 2

MH-60 Seahawk / MQ-8 Fire Scout interoperability

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimitedAs part of a Naval Postgraduate School's capstone project in Systems Engineering, a project team from Cohort 311-0911 performed a Systems Engineering analysis. This Project focused on defining alternatives for enhanced Anti-Surface Warfare (ASUW) mission effectiveness through increased interoperability and integration for the Fire Scout Unmanned Air Vehicle and Seahawk helicopter. Specifically, the Project explored the available trade space for enhancing communications back to the ship for analysis and decision-making. Modeling and Simulation (MandS) was used to assess the impact of enhanced communication on specific Key performance Parameters (KPPs) and Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) associated with the ASUW mission. Once the trade space was defined, alternatives were analyzed and a recommendation provided that supports near-, mid-, and long-term mission enhancement

Psychometric Evaluation and Design of Patient-Centered Communication Measures for Cancer Care Settings

Objective To evaluate the psychometric properties of questions that assess patient perceptions of patient-provider communication and design measures of patient-centered communication (PCC). Methods Participants (adults with colon or rectal cancer living in North Carolina) completed a survey at 2 to 3 months post-diagnosis. The survey included 87 questions in six PCC Functions: Exchanging Information, Fostering Health Relationships, Making Decisions, Responding to Emotions, Enabling Patient Self-Management, and Managing Uncertainty. For each Function we conducted factor analyses, item response theory modeling, and tests for differential item functioning, and assessed reliability and construct validity. Results Participants included 501 respondents; 46% had a high school education or less. Reliability within each Function ranged from 0.90 to 0.96. The PCC-Ca-36 (36-question survey; reliability=0.94) and PCC-Ca-6 (6-question survey; reliability=0.92) measures differentiated between individuals with poor and good health (i.e., known-groups validity) and were highly correlated with the HINTS communication scale (i.e., convergent validity). Conclusion This study provides theory-grounded PCC measures found to be reliable and valid in colorectal cancer patients in North Carolina. Future work should evaluate measure validity over time and in other cancer populations. Practice implications The PCC-Ca-36 and PCC-Ca-6 measures may be used for surveillance, intervention research, and quality improvement initiatives